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

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:56 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 10:36:56 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 10:36:56 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 10:36:56 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 10:36:56 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 10:36:56 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 10:36:56 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...

Revitalized Alonso gives Spaniards hope of ending winning drought at home in F1

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:56 GMT

It’s been nearly a decade since there was this much hype surrounding the Spanish Grand Prix.The last time the Formula One crowd in Spain had such high hopes of celebrating a victory by Fernando Alonso — the country’s biggest racing idol — was back in 2013, when the two-time champion was driving for Ferrari.Alonso went on to win that race in Barcelona, but since then has never been in a realistic position to make it to the top step of the podium again at home. That was his last win in F1 anywhere, and the last by any Spaniard in the local race.The 41-year-old Alonso arrives revitalized with an Aston Martin team that is one of the surprises of the season and has been running near the top from the start. Alonso has five podium finishes in six races so far, and is coming off a season-best second-place finish in Monaco last weekend.“One step higher than any other podium this year, but we’re still aiming for one step (higher) hopefully in the future races,” Alonso said. “Barcelona i...

Corea del Norte dice que el lanzamiento de un satélite fracasó y planea intentarlo de nuevo

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:56 GMT

Seúl (CNN) — El intento de Corea del Norte de poner en el espacio un satélite militar de reconocimiento fracasó este miércoles al averiarse la segunda etapa del cohete, informó la estatal Agencia Central de Noticias de Corea (KCNA), que añadió que Pyongyang planeaba realizar un segundo lanzamiento lo antes posible.“El nuevo cohete vehículo de satélite, Chollima-1, se estrelló en el Mar Occidental al perder la propulsión debido a un arranque anormal del motor de la 2ª etapa después de que la 1ª etapa se separara durante el vuelo normal”, dijo KCNA.Según el informe, “la fiabilidad y estabilidad del nuevo sistema de motores” era “baja” y el combustible utilizado “inestable”, lo que provocó el fracaso de la misión.La Agencia Nacional de Desarrollo Espacial de Corea del Norte dijo que investigaría el fallo “urgentemente” y llevaría a cabo otro lanzamiento tras nuevas pruebas, informó KCNA.Corea del Norte asegura que está l...

Aitana Bonmatí aims for 2nd Women’s Champions League title with Barcelona

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:36:56 GMT

SANT JOAN DESPÍ, Spain (AP) — When Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmatí was the only girl playing on her village’s soccer team, she quickly learned that she would have to fight for the game she loved.That character-forging experience has helped the 25-year-old Bonmatí lead her team to a fourth Women’s Champions League final in five years. On Saturday, the Spanish club will face German team Wolfsburg in Eindhoven for the title.Back in her younger days, her opponents weren’t the source of trouble. It was her own teammates.“I was the only girl and I remember having lots of fights. The boys had a hard time accepting that a girl could play soccer,” Bonmatí told The Associated Press recently in an interview at the stadium where Barcelona’s women play most of their games. “It was like ‘I can’t step on a girl,’ or ‘How can a girl play ahead of me?’“But I don’t blame those boys, it was an issue of education and society as a whole,” she said about her childhood in Sant Pere d...