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Larry Brooks says Mika Zibanejad is “very sensitive”.

Health care hero? The disturbing reaction to health care CEO’s killingBy Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle The Oliver Fire Department raised a total of $1,500 for Oliver’s Starfish Pack Program at its 10th Annual Drive-Thru Breakfast on Saturday morning (Nov. 23). “A big thank you to everyone who came out to the Drive Thru-Breakfast,” said the Oliver Fire Department (OFD) on social media. Fill ur boots – Oliver Fire Chief Bob Graham collects donations in a fireman’s boot. Don Urquhart photo The breakfast by donation consisted of a breakfast sandwich (English muffin, egg, cheese and ham), hash brown, apple and coffee or orange juice, all served up to the car window by Oliver firefighters inside the firehall. Fire Chief Bob Graham told the Times Chronicle that the event started off a bit slower than previous years, lacking the early rush which possibly explains the slightly lower donations than the $2,000 that is typically raised at the event. When it was suggested that the weather, cold and rainy, might be to blame for the lack of early morning rush Graham laughed and recounted the various cold and snowy drive-through events in past years, including one year in which everyone’s windows were frozen shut requiring them to open their doors to get the breakfast items. Last stop on the line for choice of beverage. Don Urquhart photo All proceeds go to the Starfish Pack Program which ensures students who rely on school breakfast and lunch programs on school days don’t go hungry on weekends. Each week, volunteers fill backpacks with 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners, and snacks and then deliver them to local schools for the students to take home on the weekend. The students return the empty backpacks to the school the following week, and our volunteers pick them up to be refilled for the following weekend. It costs approximately $600 to fill a backpack for a student for the full school year. For more information visit the Oliver Starfish or general Starfish website . Don Urquhart photo To contact the Oliver Starfish Pack Volunteer Coordinator, Sam Marsel, email [email protected] or call 250-488-7700. A donor form can be downloaded here .

NoneNEW YORK (AP) — U.S. consumers who were “tricked” into purchases they didn't want from Fortnite maker Epic Games are now starting to receive refund checks, the Federal Trade Commission said this week. Back in 2022, Epic agreed to pay a total of $520 million to settle complaints revolving around children’s privacy and payment methods on its popular Fortnite game. The FTC alleged the video game giant used deceptive online design tactics to trick Fortnite players, including children, into making unintended purchases “based on the press of a single button." Consumers could be charged while doing something as simple as attempting the wake the game from sleep mode, for example, or by pressing a nearby button when trying to preview an item, the agency said. The FTC also accused Epic of blocking some users who disputed the charges from accessing the content they purchased. Beyond a $275 million fine related to collecting personal information on players under the age of 13, the settlement included $245 million in customer refunds. Now, the first batch of those refunds are being sent out. On Monday, the FTC announced it was sending over 629,00 payments to eligible customers who submitted claims. About half of those refunds are PayPal payments, which should be redeemed within 30 days, and the rest are checks, which should be cashed within 90 days. The average refund is about $114, the FTC noted. This first round of payments amounts to a total of more than $72 million, according to the agency — leaving about $173 million left to be distributed. Impacted consumers can still apply for a refund online . People who are eligible for these payouts include Fortnite players who were charged in-game currency for items they didn’t want or saw their account locked after complaining to a credit card company about wrongful charges between January 2017 and September 2022 — as well as parents whose child made charges on their credit cards without their knowledge from January 2018 through November 2018. You can learn more about applying for a refund on the FTC's website . The deadline for submitting a claim is January 10, 2025. At the time the settlement was announced in December 2022, Epic said it accepted the agreement because it wanted "to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players.” The Cary, North Carolina-based added that it was already rolling out changes “to ensure our ecosystem meets the expectations of our players and regulators, which we hope will be a helpful guide for others in our industry.”FRANKFURT, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is all but certain to cut interest rates again on Thursday and signal further easing in 2025 as inflation in the euro zone is nearly back at its target and the economy is faltering. The ECB has already cut rates at three of its last four meetings. Debate has nevertheless shifted to whether it is easing policy fast enough to support an economy that is at risk of recession and facing political instability at home and the prospect of a fresh trade war with the United States. That question is likely to dominate Thursday's meeting but policy hawks, who still command a comfortable majority on the 26-member Governing Council, are likely to back just a small cut of 25 basis points, taking the benchmark rate to 3%. In a possible compromise with more dovish policymakers, the cut could come with tweaks to the ECB's guidance to make clear that further policy easing is coming provided there are no new shocks to inflation, which could hit the central bank's 2% target in the first half of 2025. "Fundamentals fully justify the December cut and a more dovish forward guidance, given the deterioration in the growth picture. Underlying inflationary pressures have eased and risks of further headwinds to growth have increased after the U.S. election results," Annalisa Piazza at MFS Investment Management said. A cut is warranted because fresh projections will show inflation, above target for three years now, back at 2% in a few months' time. That is partly because economies are barely growing across the 20 countries that share the euro. The outlook is so fraught with risk that some policymakers argue the ECB now risks undershooting its inflation target, as it did for nearly a decade before the pandemic, and should move more quickly to avoid falling behind the curve. But hawks say inflation is still a risk given rapid wage growth and the fast-rising cost of services, so that a steady stream of incremental steps is appropriate. U.S. protectionism and political instability in France and Germany are further reasons for caution. Governing Council members simply do not know what policies will be approved by president-elect Donald Trump's new U.S. administration, how Europe will respond - or what the economic impact will be. Political turmoil in France and Germany's upcoming election add to the uncertainty and could force the ECB to step in, reinforcing arguments that it should leave itself space to take bold action if needed. "The risk of a confidence crunch that could yet lead to a much steeper downturn in France, spreading through the euro zone via trade links, has inevitably risen," Sandra Horsfield at Investec said. "Keeping powder dry for such an eventuality might be wise. Besides, a steep cut now might fan rather than ease market qualms," she added. Financial markets have fully priced in a 25 basis point rate cut on Thursday, with the odds of a bigger step now close to zero - a big change from a few weeks ago when a half percentage point cut was seen as a real possibility. Investors then see a cut at every meeting until June, followed by at least one more cut in the second half of 2025, taking the deposit rate to at least 1.75% by year-end. Any change in the ECB's guidance for the future is likely to be at the margins. It could drop its reference to needing "restrictive" policy to tame inflation, an implicit signal that rates will come down at least to the so-called neutral level at which they are neither stimulating nor slowing economic activity. The problem is that neutral is an undefined concept and each policymaker has a different estimate, putting the range between 1.75% and 3%, with most seeing it between 2% and 2.5%. But the ECB is likely to keep its intentions vague after having burned itself repeatedly by making explicit commitments that proved difficult or impossible to keep. "Given the massive international geopolitical and policy uncertainty, the 'data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach to determining the appropriate level and duration of restriction' is still appropriate," Lorenzo Codogno at LC Macro Advisors said. Sign up here. Editing by Catherine Evans Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. , opens new tab

Miles to go: on one year of the Congress government in TelanganaGabriel mimics Gyokeres in cheeky goal celebration in Arsenal win over Sporting in Champions League