The Speaker Editors

100% of $1m Victoria Apartments Sold Off-Market in Q2

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Victoria
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In the second quarter of 2016, all of the apartment buildings with a value of $1 million CAD or more sold “off market,” according to Colliers International, as reported by SCMP.

“Off market” sales are when buyers approach property owners with cash offers, even though the owners aren’t selling at the moment.

Prices have shot up in Victoria. Apartments have gone from $152,000 to $186,000 (for the average apartment building) in the last year, and reports are that the most recent sales are much higher still.

It is thought that prices in areas around Vancouver are being driven up due to overflow of the same reasons Vancouver homes have been driven into “crisis” levels: mass immigration, particularly from China, as well as safe, relatively easy investment and money laundering opportunities.

4 Top Banks To Create New Digital Currency

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UBS, Deutsche Bank, Santander, and BNY Mellon are working on a new blockchain-based digital currency.

Currently, the new currency is being referred to by the banks simply as “utility settlement coin.”

The four banks involved belong to the R3 consortium of 50 institutions looking into improving distributed ledger tech.

“You need a form of digital cash on the distributed ledger in order to get maximum benefit from these technologies,” said Hyder Jaffrey at UBS. “What that allows us to do is to take away the time these processes take, such as waiting for payment to arrive. That frees up capital trapped during the process.

The move is significant because it is the first time such a group of first-rate banks have set about creating a specific currency, although Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are also working on digital currencies.

For banks, the main benefit of digital currency is easing transactions between institutions by removing the third party settlement. Banks spend around $65 to 80 million every year on settlement and other associated processes, and it has been estimated that using a blockchain-based digital currency could reduce that by around $20 million.

Americans Apologize for Lochte

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Scrawled on the “Leave a special message to Rio” wall many Americans chose to write “Sorry about Lochte” and other apologies as they departed, in addition to warm thanks to Brazil.

Ryan Lochte’s lies have become front page news across America and other nations. The New York Daily News referred to him as the “Lochte Ness Monster” and the Post as “The Ugly American,” hearkening to negative stereotypes of loud, brash American behavior in other countries.

Since the news, Americans have been voicing both embarrassment and anger at the Olympic swimmer sent to represent them.

Lochte himself has been apologizing non-stop since his lies became known, making several emotional sorries part of every interview. The athlete has also lost all his endorsement deals as a result of the mistake.

ryan lochte

Should Heavy Duty Trucks Have Speed Limiters? There’s a New Law Being Passed to Do This

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65 miles per hour is the max heavy trucks will be allowed to go under a new law expected to be published in a matter of weeks, if the DOT has accepted the ATA’s recommendations, but details of the bill have not yet been made public.

The American Trucking Associations asked that a 65 mile limit apply to all trucks weighing over 26,000 pounds.

The requirement has been in the works since 2014, when it was proposed by the ATA and Roadsafe America, and will be implemented by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Not much is known about exactly what the new law will contain, such as time frames and speed limits.

What do you think? (Survey should appear right below this. If it doesn’t, please just refresh the page.)


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Saudi Oil Is Going Public – Biggest IPO in History

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The Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Aramco, with an estimated value of over $2 trillion, is going public.

The exact value of the nationally-owned company has never been officially provided by Saudi Arabia, but because of the upcoming partial privatization — a move to prepare the country for a post-oil era — the book value might soon be public.

Oil revenue, which accounts for 90 percent of Saudi Arabia’s export earnings, and half its GDP, has decreased in recent years, and this decrease has resulted in an almost $200 billion budget shortfall.

Prince Mohammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia plans to sell “less than 5 percent” of Aramco, and begin a phase of investment-generated earning.

That 5 percent equates to around $100 billion — the largest public offering in history, much larger than Alibaba, which has held the record since 2014 for its $25 billion IPO.

Bon Iver Just Dropped 2 New Tracks on YouTube

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Bon Iver’s teaser last month, which contained one line of lyrics, “It might be over soon,” was followed up Saturday by two new songs being uploaded to the band’s YouTube channel.

The two songs were uploaded in the form of seven videos, because they have various language hard subtitles.

The two songs are titled “d E A T h b R E a s T” and “(OVER S∞∞N)”

The two songs are part of Bon Iver’s new album, expected to be released in September.

(OVER S∞∞N)

d E A T h b R E a s T

11 Bomb Attacks and Arsons in Thailand

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Between Thursday Afternoon and Friday morning, bombs exploded and buildings were set on fire in several cities in Thailand, including Trang, Hua Hin and Phuket.

Rumors are swirling in Thailand about who is behind the attacks, but police have caught one perpetrator who informed them of 11 bombs planted in Hua Hin, reportedly.

So far, three people have died and dozens have been injured by the bombs.

The locations include important tourism areas for Thailand, and many of the victims are foreigners.

August 12 is a national holiday in the country, the queen’s birthday, referred to as “Mother’s Day,” and on August 7 Thais voted in a referendum for a new constitution, signifying what many to consider to be a victory for the country’s military-led government and paving the way for a general election in 2017.

List of attack locations:

August 11:

3.20 pm: Bomb blast at Centre Point in Trang killed 1 injured 7.
10.15 pm: Bomb blast at Hua Hin in Prachuap Khiri Khan in front of Johnny Bar and Rain Tree Bar killed 1 injured 20, ten of which were foreigners.

August 12:

2.30 am: Fire at Lee Mart Department Store in Trang, around Bt100 million in damage.
8.02 am: Two bomb blasts in front of Surat Thani Police Station killed 1 injured many.
8.05 am: Two bomb blasts in Phuket’s Patong Beach many people injured.
8.50 am: Fire at Lotus Department Store in Nakorn Si Thammarat.
9.14 am: The other two bomb blasts at Hua Hin Clock Tower in Prachuap Khiri Khan.
10.00am: Hua Hin Market Village evacuated.
10:05am: Suspicious device found at 19 Rai, close to Hua Hin Immigration office
10.30am: Explosion in Phang Nga, no reports of casualties.
11:10am: Suspicious device found at Hua Hin train station

Breivik Trial Judge Dropped

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The state’s appeal of the ruling in favor of Norwegian political mass killer Anders Breivik has undergone a change in judges.

Justice Ellen Mo was set to preside over the appeal — in May the Oslo District Court found that Breivik’s charges that the state was treating him unfairly according to the EU Convention on Human Rights, ie violating his human rights, and the state appealed the decision — but her service in government has caused her to be dropped.

Mo served briefly under the Labour Government in 2000-2001. She was Finance Minister under premier Jens Stoltenbert.

Breivik’s attacks targeted the Labour Party, whose policies Breivik considered detrimental to Norway. In particular, the mass immigration policies that Breivik and a minority of Norwegians at the time took issue with. Since that time, largely due to several large-scale attacks in various Western countries and a change in media coverage of violence committed by Muslims, more Norwegians have taken stances against mass immigration.

The appeal will begin November 29 and is expected to take around four days.

PFAS Contaminated Water May Effect Many More People Than the 6 Million Reported

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According to scientists, the number of Americans drinking PFAS-contaminated water may be much higher than the 6 million figure initially reported.

A recent Harvard Harvard study found that almost across 30 states tested, 194 of 4864 water supplies contained PFASs (perfluoroalkyl substances) — a chemical that has been around for 60 years and which is used for nonstick cooking utensils, as well as food packaging and firefighting foams.

The chemicals break down slowly and remain in our environment for a long time, including in drinking water.

PFASs have been linked to cancer and other health problrms.

The water supplies in a few states accounted for most of the contaminated sources: California, New Jersey, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Georgia, Minnesota, Arizona, Massachusetts, and Illinois, in order of contamination levels.

“For many years, chemicals with unknown toxicities, such as PFASs, were allowed to be used and released to the environment, and we now have to face the severe consequences,” lead author Xindi Hu, a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard Chan School and Environmental Science and Engineering at SEAS, said in a statement.

She said the number of water supplies contaminated with PFASs may be much higher than the 6 million initially reported, however.

“The actual number of people exposed may be even higher than our study found, because government data for levels of these compounds in drinking water are lacking for almost a third of the US population — about 100 million people,” she said.

Use of PFASs by large companies has led to many lawsuits. For example, DuPont is currently facing 3500 personal injury lawsuits for illegal dumping of PFOA byproducts (perflurooctanoic acid) into the Ohio Rive, leading to kidney and testicular cancer and other ailments, according to the plaintiffs.

Suicide Squad Director David Ayer ‘Ripping Off’ Die Antwoord Style, Yolandi Instagrams

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After attending the premiere of director David Ayer’s “Suicide Squad,” South African band Die Antwoord sent out a message on Instagram calling out the director for “ripping off” their unique zef styles.

The Instagram message came from Yolandi Visser’s prawn_star account, and read:

“Cara [Delevingne] & Jared [Leto] told us how much u were talkin abt us on set but u never asked our permision to rip us off,” messaged Yolandi.

“An when ninja texted u sayin wassup wif dat u said nothin like a scared lil bitch. U were jus flauntin our names pretendin to b down. u aint down an u never will b. but before we knew da extent of ur two face nature – u invited us to ur movie premiere(which i didnt wanna go to) but ninja went , tinkin ur solid guy an mayb there was jus a lil “misunderstandin”. Den poor ninja had to sit thru dat hole bullshit movie. An u even got da nerve to say wassup to him smilin – an ninja has to b nice cus he is there wif his kid. But we all tink u wack.”

Yolandi included some advice in her message to the director, whose film has already brought in almost $200 million in its first two weekends at the box office:

“U shud start a crew called:,’im a fake fuck’ ask kanye if he wants to join u. Cum show ur pretty face at my studios. U know Muggs & u know where da Soul Assasin Studios at. we watin for u.”

Yolandi posted a video with her message showing a few of the style elements the band reckons Ayer ripped off, including a photo of Marilyn Manson as well:

“yes David Ayer u jockin our style. callin ninja up before your movie came our pretendin 2b down, so it looks OK when u bite our black & white graf style & our opening sequence to umshiniwam & an all da lil tiny details u nibbeld dat other people wont see but we notice.”

Thailand Telecom Regulator Approves Plan to Track Tourists With Phone Tech

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Thailand has been considering tracking tourists with phone technology, and now plans have been approved by the nation’s telecom regulator.

The purpose of the move is to catch visitors who overstay their visa, according to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), who also considers the technology not to be an invasion of privacy.

Phones for tourists would come with special SIM cards that would have tracking that could not be disabled.

The regulator also made mention of how the tracking could be used on Thai nationals as well, saying it could help police catch criminals on the run, although police would need a warrant in these cases.

The government stated they liked the plan: “It will be helpful, if any foreigner comes and commit crimes, because in the past they have been able to flee or it can be difficult to find them,” said Pongsathorn Chansri, an official in the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.

Tourists will still be able to use SIMs brought from their own countries and use those, however, said NBTC.

New Law Prohibits States From Labeling GE Fish

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States are no longer allowed to label genetically engineered fish, according to Steve Mashuda, a litigator who is managing attorney for the Oceans program at Earth Justice.

Mashuda has been involved in a legal challenge to the government’s approval of GE salmon for human consumption.

Recently the House and Senate passed a bill prohibiting states from from labeling these fish. And on Friday, July 29, the bill was signed into law.

“Additionally, the FDA is still failing to analyze and prevent the risks these fish can cause to wild salmon and the environment,” wrote Mashuda in a notice about the recent developments.

Mashuda’s team will challenge the decision in court, he stated.

“[W]e’re up against powerful forces trying to bring these fish to market at any expense.”

The fish in question are the spawn of a company called AquaBounty Technologies and are engineered in laboratories to grow twice as fast as wild salmon.

AquaBounty plans to produce the GE salmon eggs on Prince Edward Island, Canada, and send the salmon on a 5,000-mile journey before they reach U.S. supermarkets.

The salmon will be grown to market size in a facility in Panama, processed into fillets, then shipped to the United States for sale.

AquaBounty has publicly announced plans to ultimately grow its GE fish in the United States and other places around the world. Despite this, the FDA has chosen to limit the scope of its review to the Canada and Panama facilities.

U.S. Atlantic salmon, and many populations of Pacific salmon, are protected by the Endangered Species Act and in danger of extinction.

“Not only can these engineered salmon crossbreed with wild native fish, they can also threaten wild populations by out-competing them for scarce resources and habitat, or by introducing new diseases,” warned Mashuda.