By David Farrell
Once given away or thrown in the trash, typewriters now sell for hundreds. Why are they making a comeback?
Retro-cool writing machines hot now, thanks in part to social media, celebrity fans and the joy of rediscovering vintage technology. – Jana G. Pruden, The Globe and Mail
Billionaires, Olympian and porn king among Canadians named in massive new leak exposing offshore accounts and secret tax havens of the global elite
A massive new leak of offshore financial records has exposed thousands of secretive shell companies used by the global elite — including world leaders, CEOs and criminals — to move trillions of dollars into tax havens with impunity.
Nearly 12 million documents leaked to the Washington, D.C.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) were shared with more than 600 reporters in 117 countries, including journalists at the Toronto Star and CBC in Canada.
It marks the biggest journalistic collaboration in history and pulls back the curtain on the shadowy world of offshore tax havens where secret assets, covert deals and hidden fortunes siphon off hundreds of billions of dollars in government tax revenue that could otherwise be spent for the public good. – Robert Cribb, Marco Chown Over & Sheila Wang, The Star
Stevie Van Zandt: 'You're going to see violence in my country that you haven't seen since the Civil War'
“The Republican Party no longer believe in democracy, equality, science, and are quite brazenly bragging about being white supremacists.” Stevie Van Zandt, sideman to Bruce Springsteen on stage and to Tony Soprano on screen, is angry, sad and scared for the future. The vocal opponent of Donald Trump is not letting the Democrats off the hook, either. “They are pathetic and weak and it’s just sad because they’re not warriors in a war.”
Politics has taken up a lot of Van Zandt’s life since he infamously left the E Street Band in 1984, both to pursue a solo career and to try and get Nelson Mandela out of jail and end apartheid in South Africa. – Sam Moore, The Independent
Goldman Flags $8.2T threat worse than China Evergrande
These days, international investment banks and news organizations worry that warning about China’s local government debt bubble will open them up to retaliation. Not a great look for Asia’s biggest economy as it puts out the welcome mat for BlackRock, JPMorgan, UBS and others rushing its way.
Local government borrowing schemes scratch at another where-there’s-smoke-there’s-fire worry: China’s massive shadow banking universe. To be sure, China’s government, as part of efforts to rein in shadow banking, has taken aim at more than $1 trillion of opaque products marketed as low risk and high yield. All too often, these so-called cash management products have channelled money into riskier borrowers such as developers. – William Pesek, Forbes
Why ports can’t unload their cargo ships
Cargo ships are so stuffed that ports are struggling to unload them and roads and highways are often not designed to handle the increase in containers. - Nicolás Rivero, Quartz
Mapped: The fastest (and slowest) Internet speeds in the world
How quickly did this page load for you?
The answer depends on the device you’re using, and where in the world you’re located. Average internet speeds vary wildly from country to country.
Which countries have the fastest internet connection? Using data from the Speedtest Global Index, this map ranks the fastest (and slowest) internet speeds worldwide, comparing both fixed broadband and mobile. – Carmen Ang, Visual Capitalist
