7-Eleven: Canadian retail giant makes £29.2bn takeover bid | BBC News

A Canadian convenience store giant has made a bid worth $38bn (£29.2bn) for the Japanese-owned 7-Eleven in what could be the country’s record foreign takeover.

Circle K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT) made the approach for the chain – a staple across Asia and North America – on Monday.

ACT’s footprint in the US and Canada would more than double to more than 20,000 sites if the deal goes ahead.

The news comes after the Japanese stock market was rocked by record swings earlier this month.

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Ukraine orders evacuation of city as Russia makes gains | BBC News

Ukrainian authorities have ordered the evacuation of a key city in the Donbas region as Russian forces continue to make gains in the east of the country, despite Ukraine’s ongoing offensive into Russia’s Kursk region.

Officials said families with children living in Pokrovsk and surrounding villages would be forced to leave.

The head of the city’s military government, Serhii Dobriak, said residents had at most two weeks to flee the Russian advance.

The strategically important city is one of Ukraine’s main defensive strongholds and a key logistical hub for Kyiv’s troops on the eastern front.

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These fintech companies are hiring, despite a rough market in 2024 | TechCrunch

The fintech segment, which saw massive growth during the pandemic and immediately after, has had a fairly rough 2024.

But while the rapid pace of funding has slowed, many fintechs are continuing to see growth and expand their teams. In an effort to better understand just how many fintechs might fit into this category, I put out a call asking for fintech companies that are hiring. After just over an hour, I had received more than a dozen responses. After just a few days, I heard from dozens more. The sheer number — and quality — of responses was surprising even to me, someone who writes about this space on a regular basis.

TechCrunch isn’t a job board, of course. This isn’t a listing of all available roles in fintech. But if you were recently laid off, are a recent graduate or are just looking for a change, this will be a good place to start. And we plan to update this page regularly over time.

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Selling a startup in an ‘acqui-hire’ is more lucrative than it seems, founders and VCs say | TechCrunch

While the best startups are doing well, even in this tough venture capital market, others are struggling to raise new funding. If they can’t raise and haven’t become self-sustaining businesses, their best bet is to get acquired, even if it’s for a fraction of their last valuation. The alternative would be to run out of money and shut down.

Such acquisitions may feel like a huge disappointment for founders and senior employees. They were dreaming of building a massive, highly valuable company that would make them rich. Instead, their equity could be worth little to nothing, they may have to take a role at the acquiring company, and they may even have to commit to work there for a period of time to get their full payout.

But selling under such circumstances is often not as poor an outcome for founders and key staff as it initially seems.

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Every American’s Social Security Number May Have Been Leaked | Entrepreneur

The social security number of every American may have been compromised in a massive cybersecurity breach that could threaten the identity of all citizens.

The hacking group USDoD claims that they’ve leaked 2.7 billion personal information records, including social security numbers, full names, and home addresses from a data broker called National Public Data (NPD).

NPD is a background check agency that gives sensitive personal information to potential employers and staffing agencies during screening processes, as well as private investigators

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Six Simple Ways to Make Money from Home in Just Six Months | Cool Business Ideas 

In today’s fast-paced digital world, the dream of working from home has never been more attainable. Thanks to the internet, countless individuals are discovering new ways to earn money without leaving their homes. Whether you’re looking to supplement your income or start a full-fledged career, there are simple, effective methods to achieve financial freedom from the comfort of your own home. This blog will explore six of the easiest ways to make money online over the next six months. Let’s get started!

The Growing Trend of Working from Home

Remote work is no longer a trend but a global movement. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this shift, with many companies adopting permanent work-from-home policies. For many, this shift has opened up new opportunities to earn money online. In fact, a recent survey revealed that nearly 60% of Americans would prefer to continue working from home post-pandemic.

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Apple Watch 10 rumors: Everything we know so far | Mashable

Apple Watch Series 10, also called “Apple Watch 10” or “Apple Watch X” among tech enthusiasts, should be fast approaching if the Cupertino-based tech giant follows its usual release schedule. We’re expecting the Apple Watch 10 launch alongside the iPhone 16 in September.

We’re not too far from September, so as you can imagine, the leaks, rumors, and spilled beans have been flooding in. From murmurs of a new blood pressure monitor to whispers about a new sleep apnea sensor, here’s everything we know about the Apple Watch 10.

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Google just dropped a new AI camera update — and you don’t need a new Pixel 9 for it | Mashable

Google has an AI update for its Magnifier app that’s geared towards people with low vision. And the best part is you don’t need a new Pixel 9 to use it.

Magnifier is an app was released last year as an accessibility tool that works with Pixel cameras to magnify text, details, and zoom in on distant objects. As of Tuesday, it has been updated with AI-powered capabilities to make gathering visual information easier.

The Made by Google event mostly focused on hardware, unveiling the Pixel 9 series, the Pixel Watch 3, and the Pixel Buds Pro 2, with a deep integration of AI-powered features for the new devices. However, not everything Google launched yesterday required a new gadget. Magnifier is available for Pixel 5 and newer.

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Texas sues General Motors, alleging illegal selling of driver data | CNN Business

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued General Motors Tuesday, alleging the carmaker illegally collected and sold drivers’ data to insurance companies without their consent or knowledge, according to a release from the AG’s office.

General Motors is the first car manufacturer to be hit with a lawsuit after the attorney general’s office opened an investigation into several manufacturers in June for allegedly collecting mass amount of data and then illegally selling it.

With the lack of a detailed, modern data privacy and security law at the federal law, many states are stepping in to pass their own regulations to protect consumers in the ever-growing data brokerage market.

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China economy: Young people in China aren’t spending on romance. That’s a problem | CNN Business

During China’s go-go years, young couples holding enormous bouquets of roses were a familiar sight during the Qixi Festival, an ancient holiday celebrating love and loyalty.

People would flock to social media to show off brand-new iPhones and Louis Vuitton handbags gifted by their partners, as well as photos of dinners at fancy restaurants, during the Chinese version of Valentine’s Day, which typically falls in July or August each year.

That was when China’s economic growth was the envy of the world. This year’s festival was on Saturday, and it was a very different story. People went online to complain about the lack of gift-giving and festive spirit, citing a sluggish economy and tough job market.

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