24News.ca

OTTAWA -- The federal government is giving U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin the first crack at inking a contract to design Canada's $60-billion fleet of new warships. Government officials say Lockheed's proposed design beat out two rival submissions in what has been a long and extremely sensitive competition to design replacements for the navy's entire frigate and destroyer fleets. Source

MONTREAL - SNC-Lavalin is trying to rally public support as it prepares to endure a lengthy criminal trial after federal prosecutors refused to negotiate a compensation agreement. The Montreal-based engineering and construction firm submitted a letter from its chief executive that was published today in four of Canada's most influential newspapers. Source

Canadian retail trade fell by 0.1 per cent in August – the second drop in three months – thanks, in part, to lower sales at gas stations and clothing and accessories stores, according to Statistics Canada. Source

OTTAWA - The Liberal government's annual financial report card to be released today will show Ottawa ran a shortfall of $19 billion in fiscal year 2017-18, which ended March 31. The deficit is slightly smaller than Finance Minister Bill Morneau's prediction of $19.4 billion in last winter's budget. Source

The federal government ran up a $19-billion deficit last fiscal year, despite a big boost in tax revenues. Canadians paid an additional $9.9 billion in personal income taxes in 2017-18 and corporate tax added an additional $5.5 billion, compared to the previous year, thanks chiefly to a fast-growing economy. Source

The annual pace of inflation slowed more than expected in September as increases in the price of gasoline eased compared with August. Statistics Canada said Friday the consumer price index in September was up 2.2 per cent from a year ago compared with a year-over-year increase of 2.8 per cent in August. Source

PARIS -- A global financial body says governments worldwide must establish rules for virtual currencies like bitcoin to stop criminals from using them to launder money or finance terrorism. The Financial Action Task Force said Friday that from next year it will start assessing whether countries are doing enough to fight criminal use of virtual currencies. Source

OTTAWA -- The annual pace of inflation slowed more than expected in September as increases in the price of gasoline eased compared with August. Statistics Canada said Friday the consumer price index in September was up 2.2 per cent from a year ago compared with a year-over-year increase of 2.8 per cent in August. Source

OTTAWA -- The annual pace of inflation slowed more than expected in September as increases in the price of gasoline continued to ease. Statistics Canada said Friday the consumer price index in September was up 2.2 per cent from a year ago compared with a year-over-year increase of 2.8 per cent in August. Source

BERLIN -- The number of people in Britain seeking to restore their German citizenship has jumped following the U.K.'s decision to leave the European Union. A German government response to opposition lawmakers published Friday says 1,667 people applied to Germany's embassy in London last year to reclaim the citizenship they or their ancestors were stripped of by the Nazis. Source