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Financial technology company Square, Inc. says it has reached an agreement to acquire a "significant majority ownership" of Tidal, the music streaming service partly owned by Jay-Z. Under the deal announced today, Square will pay $297 million US in cash and stock for Tidal, Jay-Z will be named to Square's board of directors, and he and other artists who currently own shares in Tidal will remain stakeholders. Source

TORONTO -- With many of Quebec’s iconic sugar shacks at risk of permanently closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of them have come together to launch a gourmet meal box initiative they hope will help keep their traditional businesses alive for another year. Source

TORONTO -- Ontario is reporting fewer than 1,000 new cases of COVID-19 for the third straight day. On Thursday, provincial health officials logged 994 infections of the novel coronavirus, as well as 10 more deaths linked to the disease. Source

SIDNEY, OHIO -- Warning: Details below may be disturbing to readers. A registered sex offender from Ohio has admitted using dating sites to connect with impoverished women in the Philippines and offering them money in return for sexually explicit photos of their children. Source

A shallow, powerful earthquake struck off the northeastern coast of New Zealand on Thursday, with officials warning of a possible tsunami threat. There were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties. New Zealand's National Emergency Management Agency said it was still assessing whether the quake had triggered a tsunami that could affect the country. Source

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND -- Officials in New Zealand issued a tsunami warning for coastal areas after a shallow, powerful earthquake struck off the northeastern coast on Thursday night. There were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties. Source

At least seven Afghan civilians were shot and killed by a group of gunmen overnight in the country's east and a physician died when a bomb attached to her rickshaw exploded on Thursday, provincial officials said. Source

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS -- A Dutch court on Thursday dropped the case against a father who isolated his children in a remote farmhouse for a decade, saying that he was mentally unfit for trial. The 68-year old, identified only as Gerrit Jan van D. Source

IONE, CALIF -- A California serial killer who authorities say strangled and raped at least seven women was fatally choked himself in a state prison, officials said Wednesday. Roger Reece Kibbe, 81, known as the "I-5 Strangler" in the 1970s and 1980s, was spotted unresponsive Sunday in his cell at Mule Creek State Prison southeast of Sacramento -- his 40-year-old cellmate standing nearby. Source

LONDON -- British police said on Thursday they had ruled out a criminal investigation into the famous 1995 BBC interview with the late Diana, Princess of Wales after complaints from her brother that she had been tricked into taking part with the use of forged documents. Source