Business World

Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard has dropped its 16.2 billion euro ($24.9 billion Cdn) bid to acquire European retailer Carrefour SA after the takeover plan ran into stiff opposition from the French government, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. The decision to end merger talks came after a …

How we work was heating up to be an important debate long before the pandemic added rocket fuel to remote working capacity. Now, millions of people have spent the past 10 months in a pandemic-imposed trial. They have set up a corner of their home as an all-in-one office, school …

Encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram are seeing huge upticks in downloads from Apple and Google’s app stores. Facebook-owned WhatsApp, by contrast, is seeing its growth decline following a fiasco that forced the company to clarify a privacy update it had sent to users. Mobile app analytics firm Sensor Tower …

The number of Americans filing first-time applications for unemployment benefits surged last week, confirming a weakening in labour market conditions as a worsening COVID-19 pandemic disrupts operations at restaurants and other businesses. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits totalled a seasonally adjusted 965,000 for the week ended Jan. 9, compared …

The federal sick leave program that was created to make sure people wouldn’t face financial hardship if they have to miss work due to COVID-19 is facing criticism for not protecting enough people who need it. The Canada recovery sickness benefit (CRSB) was designed to make it easier for workers …

Aphria Inc. chief executive Irwin Simon is seeing green as Democrat Joe Biden prepares to be sworn in as president of the United States next week. Simon said Thursday that he has his sights set on the burgeoning U.S. pot market for the Leamington, Ont.,-based cannabis company. “The recent election …

Last spring, a campaign official for Joe Biden said the Democratic nominee would cancel a key permit for the Keystone XL pipeline if he became president. Although that is a pretty clear signal, supporters of the project have wondered and debated if he’d really pull the pin. Now, with his …

American casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who built lavish gambling palaces that made him one of the world’s richest men and became a potent supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has died at age 87. Adelson, who headed the world’s largest casino company, Las Vegas …

The Atlantic Lottery Corporation says it’s preparing to expand a new online casino to allow play by residents of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, after quietly launching a site New Brunswickers could access in August 2020. That website allows New Brunswick residents to gamble up to $500 on a …

The federal government announced a suite of new regulations today meant to ensure that Canadian companies are not complicit in human rights abuses or the use of forced labour in China’s Xinjiang province. The measures include new requirements for firms that do business in the region and a pledge to …