Category: Travel

Corporate China’s shiniest star was just days away from seeing his Ant Group list on the stock market in a record $37 billion deal, when he chose to launch a blistering public attack on the country’s financial watchdogs and banks.The regulatory system was stifling innovation and must be reformed to fuel growth, billionaire Ma told a summit in Shanghai on Oct. 24 attended by the great and the good of China’s financial, regulatory and political establishment.Chinese banks, he said, operated with a “pawnshop” mentality.It was this speech that set off a chain of events that ultimately torpedoed the listing of Ant, the fintech titan Ma founded, according to interviews with government officials, company executives and investors. They all requested anonymity to disclose confidential details.

Source: How billionaire Jack Ma fell to earth and took Ant’s mega IPO with him | Reuters

0sharesFrom Garmin to Suunto, Roger Hughes looks at 7 of the best sailing watches available right now. With the arrival of another of those significant birthdays, (I’m not telling which one), my wife asked me if I would like a sailing watch. She knew I have never owned a decent sailing watch, and the ancient seven-day wind-up ships chronometer on our schooner was unreliable – especially when we forgot to wind it up.Of course, nowadays you don’t need a ship’s clock to tell the time accurately, because any number of digital gadgets, including your mobile phone, will give microsecond accuracy.I actually didn’t know what a sailing watch was until I started looking at them on the web. The first thing which struck me was the sheer number – actually absolutely hundreds – of watches that go by the name ‘sailing watches’.It seems like every watchmaker in the world makes wrist-watches that they call sailing watches. But many are just ordinary chronograph stop-watches with fancy dials. Some are horrendously expensive fashion watches, which I would be frightened to even wear on a boat.

Source: Best sailing watches: 7 options that actually help on your boat – YBW

MOMENT IN TIME: PHOTO ARCHIVES

Boris Johnson had barely finished telling the nation about new English lockdown arrangements on Saturday night when the BBC, correctly reading the mood of its primetime audience, cut live to Strictly Come Dancing.It is easy to imagine Johnson on the other side of that switchover. There is a parallel universe where “Boris” is one of the sequin-clad celebrities waiting in an Elstree studio for the jaunty music to strike up while someone with natural gravitas delivers the serious message from Downing Street. In this scenario, Johnson’s political career fizzled out after a second term as mayor of London but his fame stayed alight. He was an obvious match for Strictly. (The judges deride his shambolic dances and dishevelled appearance, but he appeals over their heads to the voting public, who keep returning him to the dancefloor – for a laugh: a welcome distraction from the pandemic.)

Source: Trump and Johnson have shown countries need leaders, not celebrity politicians | Rafael Behr | Opinion | The Guardian

It takes a lot more than an impressive resume to land a job at Amazon.Even in its early years, when the online retailer had just 2,100 employees, founder and CEO Jeff Bezos was fastidious about hiring the strongest employees possible.In fact, according to Nicholas Lovejoy, who joined the company as its fifth employee in 1995, Bezos would grill every candidate himself. “One of his mottos was that each time we hired someone, he or she should raise the bar for the next hire,” Lovejoy said in a 1999 interview with Wired.Jeff Bezos’ 3-question hiring testToday, given his busy schedule and Amazon’s rapid growth, it’s unlikely that Bezos — who has a current net worth of $192 billion, according to Forbes — has the time to meet with every candidate.But, to ensure that the company would retain its high standards, Bezos outlined three key questions for leaders to consider before hiring new employees in his 1998 letter to shareholders.Although written 22 years ago, these are timeless questions that both hiring managers and candidates should think about before any job interview:

Source: Jeff Bezos’ 3-question rule for hiring new Amazon employees

Leishmania is a flesh-eating parasite that affects millions of people each year, in 98 countries and territories — but isn’t native to Canada and the United States. So why are veterinarians starting to report Leishmania here, so far from this parasite’s natural warm climate?Leishmania are microscopic parasites transmitted by sandfly bites, and cause a disease called leishmaniosis. There are several forms of this disease, affecting the skin, mucous membranes and internal organs. Some forms of the disease lead to severe disfigurement, others death.Leishmaniosis is classified as a neglected tropical disease by the World Health Organization, primarily affecting those in tropical and subtropical regions. The disease particularly affects populations lacking access to adequate housing and sanitation services.Leishmaniosis is a zoonotic disease, meaning it can be transmitted from animals to humans; dogs are the reservoir for this parasite.

Source: A flesh-eating parasite carried by dogs is making its way to North America

QUEBEC — Recommendations issued by Quebec’s Human Rights Commission nine years ago intended to combat racism in Quebec society have not been implemented, the commission reported on Wednesday.It’s another reminder of the systemic nature of racism in the province and the need to address it, the leaders of the commission said. Their declarations struck a jarring contrast to Premier François Legault’s continued refusal to say systemic racism exists in Quebec.

Source: Systemic racism: Little movement on recommendations, commission says | Montreal Gazette

Goldman Sachs agreed to pay more than $2.9 billion to regulators to resolve probes into its central role in an international scandal.The bank’s parent company entered a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department that should allow it to avoid having to exit certain business operations.The bank’s Malaysian subsidiary formally pleaded guilty for its role in the 1MDB debacle, admitting to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.Goldman ignored red flags that came up during due diligence on the 1MDB deals in pursuit of fees, authorities said.

Source: Goldman agrees to pay more than $2.9 billion to resolve 1MDB probes

SpaceX is expanding the beta test of its Starlink satellite internet service, reaching out via email on Monday to people who expressed interest in signing up for the service.Called the “Better Than Nothing Beta” test, according to multiple screenshots of the email seen by CNBC, initial Starlink service is priced at $99 a month – plus a $499 upfront cost to order the Starlink Kit.That kit includes a user terminal to connect to the satellites, a mounting tripod and a wifi router

Source: SpaceX Starlink service priced at $99 a month, public beta test begins