Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
The White house on Tuesday lauded the termination of a proposed US$30 billion tie-up between Aon and Willis Towers Watson that would have created the largest insurance broker in the world.
Last month, the Justice Department sued to block the all-stock deal, saying that it could eliminate competition, raise prices and hamper innovation.
And this month, President Joe Biden signed an executive order targeting what he labeled anticompetitive practices in tech, health care and other parts of the economy, declaring it would fortify an American ideal "that true capitalism depends on fair and open competition."
"These companies provide insurance brokerage services to thousands of American businesses and charge billions a year for their services," said White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday. "The merger would have raised prices for a wide swath of American businesses that need to use a broker to obtain insurance and benefit packages for their employees. Those higher insurance costs would ultimately have led Americans to pay more for all kinds of products and services such as banking services, hospital care, cars, and trucks."
Psaki said the challenge to the Aon tie-up with Willis Towers Watson was "what the president was talking about when he called for more robust enforcement of the antitrust laws and his executive order to promote competition."
Aon CEO Greg Case said in a prepared statement that the companies reached an impasse with the Justice Department and "the inability to secure an expedited resolution of the litigation brought us to this point."
Both companies are based in London and incorporated in Ireland.
Aon PLC will pay a US$1 billion termination fee to Willis Towers Watson.
Shares of Aon rose 2.8 per cent Tuesday.
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
A bus carrying worshippers headed to an Easter festival plunged off a bridge on a mountain pass and burst into flames in South Africa on Thursday, killing at least 45 people, authorities said.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
Premier Wab Kinew and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre met at the Manitoba legislature Thursday afternoon.
Rainfall warnings of up to 90 millimetres and other alerts have been issued for six Canadian provinces, according to the latest forecasts.
B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack.
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Newfoundland’s unique version of the Pine Marten has grown out of its threatened designation.
A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.
There’s a group of people in Saskatoon that proudly call themselves dumpster divers, and they’re turning the city’s trash into treasure.
Ontario is facing a larger than anticipated deficit but the Doug Ford government still plans to balance its books before the next provincial election.