DOW down 400

NEW YORK-- Oil producer BP plans to slash more than 4,000 jobs over the next two years as oil prices plummet.

BP will reduce its global upstream staff from 24,000 to "well below" 20,000 by the end of 2017, the company said in an emailed statement.

BP's upstream operations are made up primarily of its of exploration and production activities for oil and gas, and employs people in at least half a dozen U.S. states, including Texas, Alaska, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

"This is part of a move being announced at a number of our offices today," the company said in the statement.

The London-based company declined to comment on how many of the cuts might impact its 17,000 U.S. staff.

The federal government will contribute $20 million for a new centre being billed as an international hub for stem-cell therapy in Toronto, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today.

The money will go to the Centre of Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) to establish and create a new Centre for Advanced Therapeutic Cell Technologies.

The  facility will be the first to use a collaborative approach between publicly funded research institutions and the private sector.

"We must do more to prevent and treat disease in this country," said Trudeau, who described regenerative medicine as "the future," and a branch of medicine that "Canada and Ontario are quite good at."

A news release from the Prime Minister's Office says regenerative medicine has shown promise in treating and preventing diseases, including using stem cells to repair and replace cells damaged by cancer, heart conditions and other medical disorders.

"We're going to be saving people's lives with this centre," MP Chrystia Freeland, Canada's international trade minister, said Wednesday.

Toronto-based Corus Entertainment is buying Calgary-based Shaw Media from Shaw Communications in a $2.65-billion deal, Corus said this morning.

Shaw Media includes the Global Television network and 19 specialty channels including HGTV Canada, Food Network Canada and Showcase — formerly part of the Canwest business group before it was split up.

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Corus already owns a number of other specialty TV channels as well as a network of radio stations and the Nelvana animation studio.

Both companies are controlled by the Shaw family through its voting shares. Calgary-based Shaw Communications will become a large shareholder in Corus as a result of the deal, owning 40 per cent of the company and pledging to not sell off any of its stake for the first 12 months.

The Shaw family living trust has provided written commitment to Corus' board of directors indicating its support for the acquisition, which involves both cash and shares.

386 at this moment

how about oil?