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Quebec firm to pay $10M to avoid charges over bribes promised to Philippine officials

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

A Quebec forensics company promised millions of dollars in bribes to officials in the Philippines, including a cabinet minister and his brother, as it sought lucrative police contracts, according to a statement of facts attached to a deal the firm struck to avoid prosecution in Canada.The deal between Ultra Electronics Forensic Technology Inc. and federal prosecutors has been approved by the Superior Court of Quebec and is Canada’s second remediation agreement — also known as deferred prosecution — since the mechanism was added to the Criminal Code in 2018 to address corporate wrongdoing. The other deal was struck between Quebec provincial prosecutors and SNC-Lavalin over corruption in its contract to refurbish the Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal.The latest agreement requires the Montreal firm to pay about $10.5 million, co-operate with investigations, report to prosecutors about implementing the agreement and abide by an anti-bribery and corruption program overseen by an e...

Halifax fire officials worry about sudden ‘reburn’ of northwest of city

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

Halifax’s deputy fire chief says an out-of-control wildfire burning northwest of the city has not grown beyond the evacuation perimeter, where 200 homes and structures have been either damaged or destroyed since the fire started Sunday.But Deputy Chief David Meldrum stressed at a late-day news conference Tuesday that the blaze is not out, adding it can still “wake up and gain new energy.”No deaths or injuries have been reported as a result of the fire.But about 16,000 people have been ordered to leave their Halifax-area homes, most of which are within a 30-minute drive of the port city’s downtown.An evacuation order for another 2,000 people has been issued in southwestern Nova Scotia, where a 100-square-kilometre fire continues to grow northwest of Barrington, N.S.Fire officials have voiced concern about a potential “reburn” due to the extended forecast calling for hot, windy weather today and Thursday, and no rain until Friday night at the earlie...

Statistics Canada to release GDP figures for the first quarter of 2023 today

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada is set to release today its latest reading on how the economy fared in March, as well as for the first quarter of the year.The federal agency’s preliminary estimate suggested real gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 2.5 per cent during the first three months of 2023.However, after posting slight growth in February, Statistics Canada’s initial estimate released last month suggested the economy contracted by 0.1 per cent in March. The GDP report comes ahead of the Bank of Canada’s interest rate decision next week. The central bank, which is focused on returning inflation to its two per cent target, paused its aggressive rate hiking cycle earlier this year.However, governor Tiff Macklem has signalled that the Bank of Canada is still evaluating whether interest rates need to go higher to tame inflation which ticked higher in April.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 31, 2023.The Canadian Press

Funded deals, investment totals fall as VCs adjust to new normal: BDC

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s venture capitalists settled into a new normal marked by fewer and more cautious investments last year — and a new report suggests the pattern will continue.Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) said Wednesday that venture capital lending, which focuses on early stage companies with significant growth potential, dropped in 2022 and is expected to remain slow as companies grapple with higher interest rates, a wave of tech layoffs and the fallout from the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank.The research found the number of venture capital deals done in 2022 shrank by 12 per cent from the year before to 706, while the total amount invested declined 34 per cent to $10 billion. The average deal size pulled back 24 per cent to $14.2 million over the same period.“We’ve entered into a more challenging time,” said Jérôme Nycz, executive vice-president at BDC Capital.“We’ve gone a long way in the last 10 years in creating a more mature...

Freedom Mobile workers seeking union after acquisition: Teamsters Canada

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

TORONTO — On the heels of the sale of Freedom Mobile, labour union Teamsters Canada said retail and call centre employees at the telecom company are interested in unionization. As a condition of the merger between Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc., which was closed in April, Shaw agreed to sell Freedom Mobile to Quebecor’s Videotron. New ownership can lead to change in workplaces, and so workers concerned about their future have been reaching out to the union, said Christopher Monette, director of public affairs at Teamsters Canada. Since the merger, the union has had “hundreds of conversations” with workers across the country, said Monette.“It’s been very positive,” he said. “The campaign is progressing rapidly.”No major changes to Freedom Mobile’s retail or call centre workforce have been announced since the acquisition, but Monette said it has “set off a wave of uncertainty and anxiety among workers at the company, who are now looking for ways to prote...

Two Italian intelligence staffers among four dead in Italy lake storm

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

Four people, including two Italians who worked for the intelligence service, died on Sunday (28 May) after a tourist boat capsized when a storm hit Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, local officials said.A pensioner who was formerly a member of the Israeli security forces and the Russian wife of the boat captain also died in the accident, Israel's foreign ministry and local media said.The 16-metre (52.5-feet) long boat was carrying 25 people when it was hit by a sudden, violent storm on Sunday evening, sinking the vessel near the town of Lisanza, at the southern end of the lake.Most of the passengers and crew managed to escape and either swam ashore or else were pulled to safety by other boats.The dead Italians were named as Claudio Alonzi, 62, and Tiziana Barnobi, 53. The senior government official tasked with overseeing Italy's secret services, Alfredo Mantovano, expressed his sympathy to families of the victims.Italian media said they had gone to Lake Maggiore to celebrate a friend...

Miss Manners: We are stung that the ‘cool’ neighbors didn’t clue us in

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

DEAR MISS MANNERS: In our neighborhood, there is a core group of about 25 residents who are very close, often taking trips together. We do not belong to that group, though we are friendly with them.We host an annual event at our home, and when the invitations went out for this year’s gathering, three members of the group responded that they would be out of town; the others did not respond at all. Lo and behold, it turns out the entire group would be on a weekend trip together.Had any one of them let us know about the conflict, we’d have gladly changed the date. We are stung — not because we want to join the “cool kids” on their outings, but because we feel it was rude that no one clued us in that we had selected a bad date for so many.Related ArticlesAdvice | Miss Manners: Her sheepish greeting always makes me feel awkward Advice | Miss Manners: Must I order sheep’s brains if I don’t want to share my food? Adv...

Dear Abby: I have news about my co-worker that his girlfriend should know

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

DEAR ABBY: A guy at work, “Leon,” is my age, very friendly and down-to-earth. When we’ve worked together, we have had great conversations, and he has told me a lot about his girlfriend who he’s been with for years.I feel guilty knowing this because Leon is having an affair with a girl here at work who’s almost a decade his junior, and they’ve started getting very brazen about it.He tells people he’s tempted by her but would not cross the line. The girl, however, tells very different, detailed and personal stories about their rendezvous.Related ArticlesAdvice | Dear Abby: What the bridesmaid told me sent my wedding stress off the charts Advice | Dear Abby: I walked into the bedroom and I can’t forget what I saw Advice | Dear Abby: My friends’ comments about my wedding are hurting my feelings Advice | Dear Abby: The team is shunning me because I stood up for my wife Ad...

Palestinian group says Israeli airstrike targeting its positions in eastern Lebanon has killed five fighters, wounded 10

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Palestinian group says Israeli airstrike targeting its positions in eastern Lebanon has killed five fighters, wounded 10.Source

Sports minister: Djokovic must abstain from political messages at French Open

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:39 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French Sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said Wednesday that Novak Djokovic’s political message about Kosovo was “not appropriate” and warned the former top-ranked Serb player that he should not do it again.Speaking on TV station France 2, Oudea-Castera said French Open director Amelie Mauresmo spoke with Djokovic and his entourage to insist on the principle of “neutrality” on the field of play. “When it comes to defending human rights and bringing people together around universal values, a sportsperson is free to do so,” she said. But Oudea-Castera added that Djokovic’s message was “militant, very political” and “must not be repeated.” Djokovic has drawn criticism from Kosovo’s tennis federation after offering his thoughts on clashes in northern Kosovo between ethnic Serbs and police and NATO peacekeepers.After a first-round victory in Paris on Monday, Djokovic wrote in Serbian on the lens of a courtside TV camera: “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia. S...