The Tribune

• US Senator Edward Markey wants to give the world internet access.

The Massachusetts Democrat has introduced legislation to help expand quality and open access to the internet in the developing world. Markey said more than half of the world’s population remains offline, and developing countries remain far behind global averages.

As of 2016, more than 80 percent of households in the developed world had internet access, compared

with just 41 percent of households in developing countries and 11 percent in the world’s least developed countries.

Markey’s bill would direct the State Department and other federal agencies to encourage a competitive market for investment and innovation in internet infrastructure and services.

Markey said bridging the global digital divide can promote prosperity, strengthen democracy, expand educational opportunity, and provide better health care.

• Anyone wanting to invest in the company that owns Snapchat now has an opportunity to do something that early investors were unable to do: buy shares for less than they cost on the first day of trading.

After tumbling 12 per cent Monday, shares of Snap Inc. fell another 10 per cent Tuesday, closing at $21.44.

Snap priced its initial public offering of 200 million shares at $17 each. The shares opened at $24 apiece Thursday and jumped 44 percent on their first trading day.

Industry analysts grew leery of slowing user growth numbers last year and everyone is now trying to figure out the value of a young company that is quickly catching up to Twitter in the number of people who use it.

• Pope Francis has called on the faithful to consult the Bible with the same frequency as they might consult their cellphones for messages.

Francis urged a packed St. Peter’s Square following his weekly Angelus blessing Sunday to give the Bible the same place in daily life as cellphones, asking: “What would happen if we turned back when we forget it, if we opened it more times a day, if we read the message of God contained in the Bible the way we read messages on our cellphones.”

The message was a twist on Francis’ frequent use of social media to reach the faithful, including regular messages on Twitter.