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

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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.

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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.

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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 AT asked that 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 American Trucking Associations and Roadsafe America, and will be implemented by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

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

What do you think?

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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 nationally-owned company’s value has never been officially provided by Saudi Arabia, but because of the upcoming partial privatization — seen as 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 revenue.

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.

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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 called “d E A T h b R E a s T” and “(OVER S∞∞N)”

(OVER S∞∞N)

d E A T h b R E a s T

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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” the unique styles of the hip hop duo.

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 over $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 Marylin 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.”

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Crimean Tatars - The Struggle Of A Nation

It is three o’clock at night. Your front door is being knocked on heavily. Not completely awake, you come closer to the door. When you open it, the soldier who breaks in tells you to get prepared to leave the house in 15 minutes. You are not aware that these are your last minutes in the house which you have been living in for years…

The entire Crimean Tatar population, an ethnic Turkic nation living in Crimea for centuries, were exiled from their own land on May the 18th , 1944 by Joseph Stalin on charges of collaborating with the Germans in WW2. After a very secret and planned preparation, soldiers carried out the order of Stalin to clear all Crimea from Crimean Tatars in one night.

Nearly half of the population, (approximately 125000 of 250000 consisting only women, kids and elderlies since the men had been fighting for Red Army,) starved or died of various illnesses due to the inhumanly conditions in livestock wagons which were carrying them to the deserts of Middle Asia and Ural Mountains.

All Crimean Tatar houses were given to Russian or Ukrainian settlers and village names were changed into Russian in one night. Books, cemeteries, anything related to Crimean Tatar existence were destroyed brutally by Soviets.

Crimean Tatars in exile were forced to work in Kolhozes, were prohibited from leaving their location, speaking their native Crimean Tatar language even mentioning their ethnic identity and their dreadful exile experience by strict rules, disobedience against which resulted in death or imprisonment in labour camps not less than 10 years.

After Stalin’s death, all nations who were exiled by Soviets, were allowed to return to their homeland except Crimean Tatars. Only after a long and painful struggle Crimean Tatars gained the right to rejoin their beloved homeland in 90’s.

Starting a new life in their own homeland was not easy as they were exposed to intense suppression from Russians and Ukrainians who captured their land and houses half a century ago.

After 72 years, Crimean Peninsula still remains its exclusive statue which can not be shared by Ukraine and Russia as Crimean Tatars, the indigenous inhabitants of Crimea, are too few in number to claim their independence in the land of their own ancestors.

Letter by Emre Seven

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BC Budget Does Little For Rural Communities, Stikine MLA Says

Criticism of the new B.C. budget was provided at the provincial legislature today by the MLA of Stikine, who said the many of the main points of the budget meant little to rural and northern communities.

“This is not a budget for rural communities,” Douglas said. “I will be saying ‘No’ to this budget.”

In rural and northern communities, MLA Doug Donaldson said, there is little home transfer to speaker of, so the new house transfer tax break will have no real impact on most residents there. Canada-wide, tranfers account for only 20 percent of the market, he noted, and in the communities he represented the percentage was considerably smaller.

People renovate their homes and live in them while they renovate in most rural and northern communities, Douglas explained, and while there are many people looking to buy houses in his area, they were mostly first time home buyers who would be buying new houses.

The MLA took issue with two main points: the budget included no home energy improvements — a serious challenge in his area is heating houses, many of which have poor insulation, he said — and there were no breaks for drivers.

B.C. Hydro rates have increased 28 percent under the current premier, in order for the company build more electricity generating capacity to service the dramatic population increase in the Lower Mainland and to maintain and upgrade its equipment. However, there was no provision for improving energy efficiency or in any way reducing heating costs.

Drivers are paying 30 percent more for ICBC since 2011, Douglas pointed out. In rural and northern communities, almost all transportation is necessarily by personal vehicle. He gave the example of a resident needing to use a basic medical diagnostic tool such as an MRI, for which they would need to travel to a larger town or city.

  However, Douglas said, while the B.C. budget was funded by 95 million in profits from ICBC, there was nothing specifically for those who paid into that funding source.

By Justin Munce

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Government Wants More Immigrants Without Language Proficiency, Immigration Minister Says

The requirements people must meet before they can become Canadian citizens, such as English proficiency, are to be reduced, according to the Canadian government, in order to make it easier for foreigners to obtain citizenship.

Immigration Minister John McCallum said Thursday that the government intended to make changes to the Citizenship Act of Canada:

“We are in general trying to reduce the barriers people have to overcome to become a citizen,” McCallum said in an interview on CBC News Network’s Power & Politics.

Currently, those wishing to become Canadian citizens must first prove proficiency in either English or French by taking a language test.

While changes the government may make to the language test “have not been announced yet,” McCallum said, the Liberals are “certainly not ditching it.” He did not specify what changes would be made, but did mention reducing the age requirement for language proficiency.

The immigration minister also said that the government planned to make it impossible to take away Canadian citizenship for any reason.

By Justin Munce

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Fuel Prices Expected To Swing Up And Down $20 A Barrel This Year

The average price of retail diesel has dropped to a record low — under $2 a gallon for the first time in 12 years, and gas is currently around $1.72 a gallon.

The prices are tied to a huge supply of diesel and a warmer winter, according to the Energy Information Administration analysit Sean Hill.

The near future of the oil market is expected to involve a return to stability after a period of wide fluctuation, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

They are calling the near future of oil “trendless.” It will just swing up and down between $20 a barrel and $40, possibly dipping down into the teens, until a price is found at which supply and demand are brought back into balance.

The “trendless” trend is expected to last 6-9 months, according to the experts.

Sources: TTNews, Bloomberg

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Seven Trucks Shot In Past Two Nights On Highway 75

Wal-Mart has said that three trucks were shot Sunday night and three more were shot on Monday night while travelling along a stretch of highway in Oklahoma.

In addition, one other commercial vehicle — reported to have been a Swift truck — and one personal vehicle were hit over the last two nights.

The shooter is suspected to have been firing from the west side of the U.S. 75 highway between 106th Street North and 156th Street North, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, which is assisting in the investigation led by the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office.

The trucker drivers involved reported hearing loud noises at that point along the highway between the hours of 8:30 and 11:30 p.m., which they thought was something hitting their vehicle or a noise from the truck, but did not realize it was gunshots until they found the bullet holes later on.

The trucks were travelling between Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s distribution center near Ochelata and other destinations when they were struck.

By Andy Stern For ongoing coverage, refer to Tulsa World

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BC To Collect Data On Real Estate Buyer Nationality

Announced in the B.C. Budget Speech Tuesday, data about real estate buyer nationality will again be collected in the province due to widespread concern about the effects of foreign investment.

Such data was collected in the past, but was stopped in 1998. Since that time, house prices have skyrocketed in B.C., particularly in areas in and around Vancouver. Many Canadians are blaming foreign investment and mass immigration for the changes, but data that would furnish a practical assessment of the situation is lacking.

B.C. Finance Minister Mike de Jong made that announcement in Tuesday’s Budget Speech that the province would again be collecting nationality data starting this summer.

However, de Jong noted, nationality will only be collected when the buyer is not a citizen or resident of Canada. He also commented that foreign ownership of Canadian real estate is legal and even “encouraged” by the government.

The relevant portion of the Budget Speech:

x

By Justin Munce

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How Will The New Mortgage Rates Effect The Housing Market?

In an effort to deal with “house prices that have been elevated,” the Canadian federal government raised down payments on houses over $500,000. Analysts have questioned whether the new policy will have any meaningful effect on the market at all, while many Canadians say the change only makes it harder for new Canadian home buyers, and may make it easier for what many are pointing to as the main cause of the ongoing massive increases in house prices — foreign ownership.

Beginning this month, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation requires a 10 percent down payment on any portion of a mortgage it insures above half a million dollars. Any portion up to $500,000 will require the same down payment as before — 5 percent.

How this change effects house buyers will likely depend on where those house buyers live. In Canada overall, the average price of a home is under $500,000. Not counting Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto, where prices have shot up 23-35 percent in the last five years, the average house costs $337,000, and if you exclude B.C. and Ontario, the price is under $300,000. In these regions, a $500,000 house would be a more expensive dwelling and would be in excess of what they typical home buyer would be looking for.

Read more: Home Prices Up 12% In Canada, But Down When BC And Ontario Factored Out

However, in Toronto and around Vancouver, the average is above $500,000. Even the Fraser Valley now has an average house price of half a million dollars. In these regions, all home buyers — even new families starting out — will be effected by the change.

There seems to be a discrepancy between what government officials and housing analysts are saying about the new mortgage rate and what Canadian citizens are saying about it, however.

The federal government said of the matter that they wanted to make sure they created an environment that protects home buyers by insuring that they have enough equity in their homes.

Analysis have said that the change will effect less than 3 percent of Vancouver home buyers, and that a strong B.C. economy and high employment rate are the cause of the huge housing price changes in Vancouver.

However, reading the responses to these statements (try either of the above links, or any other news story on housing prices) the most prevalent thread is one pointing at something the federal government and real estate analysts are not mentioning: foreign buyers, especially Chinese buyers.

The majority of commenters on news stories on this subject are to voice this concern. Yet it is not raised by local or federal politicians.

They have also pointed out that increasing the price for houses at this level will only make it more difficult for local buyers to own a house, and won’t effect foreign buyers who are already coming with a down payment that is larger than the required minimum.

What do you think, Canadians? How will the new mortgage rates effect the housing market?

By Justin Munce Photo: Brian Fagan

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Home Prices Up 12% In Canada, But Down When BC and Ontario Factored Out

Home prices are up in Canada, hovering around the record 6-year high point, but this is almost entirely due to trends in two areas: Greater Vancouver primarily and Greater Toronto on a smaller but still significant level, according to market authorities.

The Canadian Real Estate Association reported that Canada-wide, the average home price was now $454,000, up 12 percent on a year-by-year basis.

But factoring out the GVA and GTA, the average is only $337,000, up 5.4 percent.

Further, according to CREA, even this rise is due largely to price trends in areas near Vancouver.

Elsewhere in Canada, home prices are flat or declining.

Factoring out the provinces of B.C. and Ontario, the average home currently costs $294,000, a decline of 2.2 percent year-over-year.

The VGA home costs $761,000 on average, up 35 percent from 5 years ago, and houses in nearby areas such as the Fraser Valley are also up to nearly $500,000, representing a rise of over 23 percent in the last 5 years. In both of these areas, all types of dwellings are up — two-story single family, one-story, townhouse and apartment.

The biggest price rise in the last 5 years, though, was Toronto, where the average house price rose 42 percent to put it at $574,000, still $200,000 cheaper than Vancouver. All types of dwellings continue a steady rise in Greater Toronto — the steadiest rising trends of any market represented in CREA’s chart data.

By Justin Munce Images:CREA

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Are Albertans Mailing Their House Keys Back To The Bank?

A phenomenon known as “jingle mail,” where home-owners faced with mortgages they cannot pay mail their keys back to the bank, may be taking place in Alberta’s slumping economy, concerning the Canadian federal government.

The name of the game is “strategic default” — where those who have recently bought houses but have not paid for them find walking away more attractive than trying to pay off the rest of their investment.

The number to watch for is 20 percent, according insolvency experts. When high-end house prices drop that much, people start to consider the option.

This is because the downpayment on a house is also usually around 20 percent and, unlike all other Canadian provinces, the home owners often suffer no liability when they take this course since non-recourse residential mortgages are so common in Alberta. Lenders cannot take the home owner to court to seize their other assets.

The peak for housing prices in Alberta was in 2014, so many new house buyers are now under water. Their mortgages are higher than house appraisals for the houses purchased during the industrial boom that has now passed.

Since 2014, oil prices have plummeted and many Albertans who had been taking home above-average incomes are now without job prospects in their fields.

Jingle mail also was sent in the province in the 1980s when a trend of leaving Alberta for work in other provinces began.

This time, it has started in towns like Grande Prairie and Fort Mac where many people are involved in servicing the oil and gas industry in one way or another.

By Andy Stern

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Richmond To Ensure English On Signs On City Property

Due to the pressure of Canadians who have complained about Richmond’s predominantly-Chinese signs, the city has signed a contract for some signs — those at bus stops — to be predominantly English.

“We’ve had the ongoing issue in Richmond about signs on businesses being in Chinese only or predominantly in Chinese, and there’s great concerns and complaints in the community.” said Richmond city spokesman Ted Townsend.

“We’ve always made it clear that it’s our desire that signs should be at least 50 per cent English. In this case because the signs and bus shelters are on city land we can take a proactive approach and actually put in the requirement,” he said.

The signs on city land, Townsend said, would be “predominantly English.” The city’s move does not affect signs on property not belonging to the city, where most of the Chinese-language signs are located.

The city has been dealing with controversy over the use of Chinese language instead of English or combinations of both languages.

Over the past 30 years, the percentage of people who self-identify as Chinese living in Richmond has shot up from around 5 percent to over half, due to mass immigration into the area. In 1981, there were around 5,000 Chinese in the city; in 2011, 90,000, while white Richmondites have been leaving the city steadily over the same period of time. The current percentage of Chinese and white Canadians in the city is not known because more recent statistics are not available. The last Census was taken in 2011.

The matter of English requirements for signs came up in Richmond city business in 2013, when the local council voted against banning signs that do not contain English. In 2015, a petition for English only signs was also voted down by the council.

The city also recently made news for complaints from English tenants of a condo where the strata council, composed of Chinese speakers, decided to conduct all official business in Mandarin only.

Chinese Canadian council president Ed Mao had informed tenants that while they were free to come to meetings, the council had no intention of using English, the tenants reported.

One tenant filed a complaint with the B.C. Human Rights commission on behalf of himself and three others.

The issues of language for business and residential meetings are new ones for British Columbia. Neither has been the subject of legislation in the past, so no rules yet exist to restrict the use of languages in place of English.

By Justin Munce

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US Supreme Court Justice Scalia Dead

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the longest-serving justice on the court, is dead.

Salia was found dead Saturday morning at a ranch outside of Marfa, Texas, where the justice had been hunting quail.

A priest has been called to Marfa.

Scalia has served as justice on the Supreme Court since 1986 when he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan. He was 79 when he died.

By Justin Munce