TORONTO (Reuters) – BlackBerry’s (BB.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (BBRY.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) share price has more than doubled over the last six months as buzz around its new smartphones has boosted investor confidence, but some traders are betting big that talk of a turnaround is over-hyped.

Nasdaq data released on Tuesday shows that short interest in the stock is at record levels and has more than doubled over the course of the last year.

TORONTO (Reuters) – Nearly two months after its formal unveiling, BlackBerry’s new Z10 smartphone finally went on sale in the hyper-competitive U.S. market on Friday, where its performance may well decide whether BlackBerry can reestablish itself as an industry leader.

BlackBerry, which is already selling the new touch-screen smartphone in about 25 countries, aims to make the Z10′s new operating system the clear No. 3 platform on the market, a realistic but still difficult challenge, analysts say.

HONG KONG/TORONTO, March 19 (Reuters) – The Taiwanese
supplier behind the see-through yoga pants recalled by Lululemon
Athletica Inc said on Tuesday it followed design
specifications and the Canadian retailer had merely misjudged
customer tastes.

Lululemon said late Monday it had recalled batches of its
stretchy black signature yoga pants because of an unacceptable
“level of sheerness” created during the manufacturing process.

TORONTO, March 18 (Reuters) – Lululemon Athletica Inc
is pulling shipments of unexpectedly sheer women’s yoga
pants from its stores, in a move the athletic clothing maker
said would hurt its bottom line.

Shares of the Canadian company, known for its pricey women’s
workout gear, fell more than 6 percent after it said the move
will “have a significant impact” on financial results and lead
to a shortage of its signature black luon fabric yoga pants in
its stores.

TORONTO (Reuters) – BlackBerry will offer technology to separate and make secure both work and personal data on mobile devices powered by Google Inc’s Android platform and by Apple Inc’s iOS operating system, the company said on Thursday.

The new feature could help BlackBerry sell high-margin services to enterprise clients even if many, or all, of their workers are using smartphones made by BlackBerry’s competitors. That may be crucial for the company as it has lost a vast amount of market share to the iPhone and to Android devices, such as Samsung Electronics Co’s (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Galaxy line.

TORONTO, March 14 (Reuters) – Diamond Fields International
Ltd, a Canadian mining company that shot to fame
following the discovery of the massive Voisey’s Bay nickel
deposit, said on Thursday it is being de-listed for failing to
meet Toronto Stock Exchange requirements.

The company, originally founded as Diamond Fields Resources
Inc by Jean-Raymond Boulle in 1993, was credited with finding
the Voisey’s Bay deposit – widely viewed as one of the greatest
mineral finds in Canada in decades – in the eastern province of
Newfoundland and Labrador.

TORONTO, March 14 (Reuters) – Canadian regulators unveiled
proposals on Thursday on the use of poison pills as a takeover
defense that are likely to make hostile corporate takeovers in
the country more difficult.

The two sets of proposals, laid out by provincial securities
regulators, aim to bring more coherence to Canada’s regulatory
regime after conflicting rulings by some provincial regulators
on poison pills, which companies use to fend off unwanted
suitors.

TORONTO (Reuters) – BlackBerry will offer technology to separate and secure work and personal data on mobile devices powered by Google Inc’s Android platform and Apple Inc’s iOS operating system, the company said on Thursday.

The new Secure Work Space feature will be available before the end of June will be managed through BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, the platform that allows BlackBerry’s corporate and government clients to handle devices using different operating systems on their networks.

TORONTO, March 13 (Reuters) – BlackBerry’s volatile
shares surged on Wednesday after the smartphone maker said one
of its established partners had placed an order for 1 million
BlackBerry 10 smartphones, with shipments set to begin
immediately.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company said it is the largest
ever single purchase order in its history, a big fillip for the
company that is attempting to regain relevance in the
ultra-competitive smartphone market, where it has ceded ground
to rivals like Apple Inc’s iPhone, Samsung Electronics’
line of Galaxy devices and other devices powered by Google Inc’s
Android operating system.

TORONTO, March 12 (Reuters) – First Quantum Minerals Ltd
moved closer to clinching its hostile acquisition of
fellow Canadian miner Inmet Mining Corp on Tuesday
after a majority of the base metal miner’s shareholders tendered
shares in favor of First Quantum’s C$5.1 billion ($5 billion)
bid.

First Quantum said in a statement that a total of 43.2
million Inmet shares, representing about 61.5 percent of
outstanding shares, had been tendered in favor of its offer. It
extended the offer to 11:59 p.m. EDT (1559 GMT) on March 21.