#friday expected business of GOLD 2018

[ingek73]

Here Are 20 Headlines Comparing Meghan Markle To Kate Middleton That Might Show Why She And Prince Harry Are Cutting Off Royal Reporters

Over the years, Meghan has been shamed for the same things for which her sister-in-law, Kate, has been praised.

Ellie Hall

BuzzFeed News Reporter

Last updated on January 13, 2020, at 12:00 p.m. ET

Posted on January 13, 2020, at 10:40 a.m. ET

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (aka Prince Harry and Meghan Markle) didn't just shockingly "step back" as senior members of the royal family this week — they gave the UK media a big "fuck-you" for years of what they said was biased and unfair coverage.

The couple's new website on breaking up with years of royal protocol laid out — among a lot of other things — their media strategy, stating that they will no longer participate in the traditional royal press system that grants exclusive access to a select group of UK outlets.

Britain’s royal correspondents, they said, are seen as reliable sources of information. "This misconception propels coverage that is often carried by other outlets around the world, amplifying frequent misreporting," they wrote. Removing themselves from "royal rota" coverage has sparked an outcry among UK media and drew a protest from the National Union of Journalists.

This isn't a new complaint from the royal couple — they just took an unprecedented step to do something about it. Harry and Meghan have said publicly that they believe they have been treated unfairly by the UK press since the moment news broke of their relationship — that they are bullied, that there are racist undertones to coverage of them, and that they have been held to a different standard than Harry's brother and sister-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (aka Prince William and Kate Middleton).

The UK media outlets that currently make up the royal rota are the Daily Express, the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, the Evening Standard, the Telegraph, the Times, and the Sun.

Here is a look at 20 stories from these outlets that appear to show a double standard between press coverage of Meghan and Kate. BuzzFeed News has reached out to all of the outlets featured below for comment.

Kate: "Bumping along nicely! The Duchess was seen placing a protective hand on her tummy as she exited the event." Daily Mail: March 22, 2018

Meghan: "Personally, I find the cradling a bit like those signs in the back of cars: Baby on Board. Virtue signaling, as though the rest of us barren harridans deserve to burn alive in our cars." Daily Mail: Jan. 26, 2019

Kate and William: "Prince William was given one of the green fruit – wrapped up in a bow – by a little boy who's mother is suffering during her pregnancy too... 'He said he'd take it to [Kate] and see what happens – and said good luck for [the boy's] mummy.'" Express: Sept. 14, 2017

Meghan: "The pregnant Duchess of Sussex and so-called 'avocado on toast whisperer' is wolfing down a fruit linked to water shortages, illegal deforestation and all round general environmental devastation." Express: Jan. 23, 2019

Kate: "Royal sources said yesterday that the Queen understood and endorsed William and Kate’s decision not to spend Christmas Day with her. One said: ‘Her Majesty understands that it is a dilemma that many young couples face and acknowledges how close Catherine’s relationship is with her family." Daily Mail: Dec. 16, 2016

Meghan: "The fact is the Queen expects to have the family around her for the festive season... to the Queen, for whom the tradition of the family gathering is a key date in her calendar, Harry and Meghan’s absence will be a matter of great sadness. It will also be a source of frustration." Daily Mail: Nov. 13, 2019

Kate and William: "Creating their own companies will allow William and Kate to bring out, should they ever chose to, myriad items of officially-endorsed merchandise from tea towels to coffee cups... Kensington Palace officials said they were doing the ‘sensible thing’ in protecting the couple’s rights." Daily Mail: Jan. 17, 2014

Meghan and Harry: "The Sussexes want to stamp their name on dozens of products including T-shirts, hoodies, journals and gloves for their newly-created foundation Sussex Royal... Experts said Harry and Meghan were actively preparing to quit the Royal Family months ago by filing trade mark applications to commercially protect their brand." Daily Mail: Jan. 9, 2020

Kate and William: "Prince William yesterday backed brother Harry’s brave admission of his mental anguish — and blasted the monarchy’s 'stiff upper lip' tradition... William said: 'There may be a time and a place for the ‘stiff upper lip’ but not at the expense of your health... '

"'Catherine and I are clear we want both George and Charlotte to grow up feeling able to talk about their emotions and feelings. Over the past year we have visited a number of schools together where we have been amazed listening to children talk about some quite difficult subjects in a clear and emotionally articulate way, something most adults would struggle with. Seeing this has really given me hope things are changing and there is a generation coming up who find it normal to talk openly about emotions.'” Sun: April 19, 2017

Meghan and Harry: "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have bucked royal tradition once again with their latest TV interview — in which they claimed they were 'existing, not living.' The couple ditched the stiff upper lip of previous Royal Family generations and flew the flag for 'Generation Therapy' as they revealed their emotions to the world - but were they right to do so?

"What you make of 'fragile' Prince Harry and Meghan's comments may depend on your generation. Sun parents and kids reveal what they think of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex airing their emotions in public - and whether they have the right to moan in such positions of privilege..." Sun: Oct. 23, 2019

Kate: "It was reported that new Duchess of Cambridge requested her favorite scented candles and toiletries from luxury fragrance brand Jo Malone be delivered to scent the Abbey. A selection of candles, handwashes and lotions was requested, specifically in citrus spring scents including Orange Blossom, Grapefruit and the ever-popular Lime, Basil & Mandarin." Daily Mail: May 4, 2011

Meghan: "'Meghan wanted staff to go around with these atomizers, like spritzer guns, and spray the chapel with scent before anyone arrived. Royal Household staff stepped in and told her office politely, but firmly, that this was the queen's chapel and it simply wasn't appropriate. I don't believe they said no because they thought it could affect the chapel in any way. It was simply the principle of the thing. This is a place that has held royal weddings, funerals and even contains the royal vault. I don't believe a request of that nature had been made before.'" Daily Mail: Nov. 30, 2018

Kate: "As far as bridal bouquets go there was nothing particularly regal about Kate Middleton’s modest arrangement of simple, seasonal flowers. Like the bride herself the bouquet was effortlessly elegant and understated.

"Yet behind that modest posy lay a secret story. Kate, the commoner-turned-duchess, had painstakingly selected blooms with real meaning. She is evidently well-versed in the language of flowers, a little-known romantic relic from the 19th century.

"Hence the use of lilac in her bouquet, which signifies the first emotions of love, the lily of the valley meaning a return of happiness, hyacinth standing for constancy, myrtle meaning love and the ivy, which represents fidelity. Then of course there was the suitably named Sweet William, which is shorthand for gallantry." Express: Aug. 29, 2011

Meghan: "[Meghan Markle] was holding a wedding bouquet which flowers were replicated in Princess Charlotte and the other bridesmaids’ flower crowns. Express.co.uk can now reveal the children’ crowns were made of flowers that can be deadly, especially for children. Meghan’s bouquet was made of forget-me-nots as well as sweet peas, lily of the valley, astilbe, jasmine, and astrantia...

"Lily of the valley is a highly poisonous woodland flowering plant and ingestion could be deadly... As Meghan’s bridesmaids were so young, having this flower on their heads could be considered a dangerous decision. Other brides have also used this flowers including Kate Middleton, Princess Eugenie and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall." Express: Oct. 13, 2019

Kate and William: "The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh missed the small family affair. The decision is understood not to have been taken on health grounds, and to have been mutually agreed by the Queen and the Cambridges some time ago. The Queen, 92, has a busy week ahead, with high-profile celebrations in central London marking the centenary of the RAF on Tuesday, and a visit by US President Donald Trump in Windsor on Friday." Daily Mail: July 9, 2018

Meghan and Harry: "The situation has surprised some senior staff at Buckingham Palace, who feel that the duke and duchess should have planned the day better. ‘There is huge support for the couple in not wanting to conform to tradition. They are young, they are striking out on a different path from other members of the Royal Family and there is enormous goodwill for them. But they shouldn’t do that without regard for tradition,’ said one. ‘Her Majesty was already scheduled to be in Scotland for her annual Holyrood Week and had a prior engagement at the weekend. There is a feeling amongst some that they should have been more accommodating about the date.’" Daily Mail: July 4, 2019

Kate: "It is a fashion conundrum not many of us will ever face, but what exactly does one wear for tea with the Queen? The Duchess of Cambridge met this challenge head on yesterday by co-ordinating her outfit with the Queen’s powder blue ensemble... The Queen, on her first ­official event to mark her Diamond Jubilee, was dressed in a pastel hat and two-piece coat dress with military-style rows of gold buttons designed by Angela Kelly. Looking relaxed and elegant, her outfit was perfect for what looked like a fun official engagement with the girls." Mirror: Feb. 14, 2013

Meghan: "The Queen's aides had told [Meghan] she would be wearing a green hat as a mark of respect to those who died in the Grenfell Tower fire. The Queen is said to have been 'baffled' when Meghan turned up without a hat as she didn't realize she was supposed to wear one too. A senior aide said: 'I don't think the Duchess fully understood. This was not a request. Those are for others to make, not the Queen.' The Queen's staff are said to have noted the Duchess's mistake or 'lack of deference'" Mirror: Oct. 29, 2018

Kate: "We see a woman in her prime: stylish, confident and positively radiant, nailing outfit after outfit in the style stakes — and it’s a joy to witness... That old uniform of girlish dresses, tan tights and nude heels has been replaced by dazzling super-chic outfits to satisfy even the most exacting fashionista." Daily Mail: June 16, 2019

Meghan: "Proper royalty is about tradition and duty, self-effacing service and loyalty — year after year after year, season after season... That is not to say that a monarchy cannot or must not move with the times — simply that it has to resist the temptation to be buffeted by passing cultural trends. Fashion is the exact opposite. And as fashion’s most famous bible, Vogue exemplifies the transient nature of the beast." Daily Mail: July 29, 2019

[wroteasongabouther]

>> Darling <<      part 4 ➭ harry tequila always wins

fic page // talk to me about it!

warnings: smut, alcohol, cursing, and maybe some second-hand embarrassment

authors note: if you started reading this fic over a year ago and are here for by far the latest update ever thank you deserve a gold star. lets hope the next update wont take me so long. buckle up boys and girls, it’s a long one.. hope u like it xx

—

December 3rd, 2021

To be a great business woman meant you also needed to be a great sociallite.

Parties were being held nearly every weekend here in New York by the wealthy business men and woman. And with it becoming a younger crowd year by year, the parties got bigger and better. Tonight’s theme was a white out party. You suppose it worked out well as the first snowfall of the year hits the city the very same night.

It’s no surprise that your stylist outdid herself. You wore a bralette styled top, high waisted white pants, white heels, and of course a flare of your extra self with a white faux fur jacket. With your freshly highlighted hair blown out by the cold winter wind and a dark red lip, you knew you were the hottest one to walk into the party. The long stares from both men and woman told you so too.

Upon your arrival, you waste no time give your very expensive jacket to coat check before making your way to the bar. The alluring feel to be all wide eyed and enjoy these parties were long over for you. No, instead you needed nice buzz to actually make it through any of these events.

“You look amazing tonight,” a fellow business woman from Westbrook Atlantic grins as you approach an awaiting group.

“Thank you,” you smile, “crazy how it’s snowing today, right?”

The handful of people you had the attention of all nod and give you the usual fake-interested look you were getting used to now. But then suddenly their gaze all fall to the new addiction to the group. Looking to your left, you see you won’t be avoiding Harry tonight.

He had spotted you and made his choice of socializing tonight it seems. You roll your eyes as everyone asks Harry about his newest deal. Stupid deal may you say, he was going to lose a shit ton of money in the end result.

“You’ve made better choices,” you state with a tight smile before bringing your drink to your lips.

“Oh really?” He challenges you, raising a brow.

“Yeah, I met with Vanessa just last month actually. Sure she’s got the assets but does she really have the brain to carry out such a deal she proposed?” You say.

Harry catches onto your play of words immediately, the others around maybe not so much. While they have questions, Harry simply gives you the slightest glare. If he really expected you to be the same girl who shut up and agreed with him while around business talks, he was sadly mistaken.

You didn’t see the harm in poking some fun at him. This Vanessa girl probably dressed as she did when you had her come to your office too. You didn’t think her boobs could be pushed any higher and her butt screamed fake. Something you’re sure Harry liked about her proposal. It wouldn’t surprise you if he signed with her and then fucked her right afterwards. 

Anything to get his dick wet, you knew his damn ways.

“I’m not sure that’s a way for a woman in your position to be speaking of other woman in the business,” Harry says, his lips just twitching to curl up into his well known smirk. “Are you insinuating that Vanessa couldn’t hold up a good deal, because she’s a woman,” he’s playing one of his stupid games, and earning spectators around you two. 

“That’s not at all-”

“You’d think that you’d be jumping at the opportunity to help woman in this business, not to try and tear them down,” 

“I’d say the same thing if it was a lousy man giving me the same proposal that she did,” you state through gritted teeth. 

How could he start such a conversation? He knew damn well that the people around the two of you would start rumours off any little lie he made up. He also knew that you once scolded him for the very same thing. Back when you worked for him. You always knew a part of him didn’t think a woman could handle any serious CEO business - but you also proved him wrong each and every day.

“Quite the statements you’ve made tonight, miss,” Harry smirks, “I should go speak with Mr Griffen, please, excuse me.” 

And then he’s wondering off. Not before turning to look over his shoulder at you with that same devious smirk on his face. He knew what he had done, planned it rather quickly on the spot too. 

You didn’t get a chance to talk to Harry again the whole night. No, instead you were playing damage control to the mess that Harry started at the beginning of the night. Woman were coming up to you, bickering your ear off about how disrespectful you could be for saying a woman didn’t have the brains for this business. Then you’d have to repeat over and over again your apology for the misunderstanding Harry had of your words. And as you did this, Harry always stood a fair distance away that he could catch your gaze every few moments.

And now here you were at the end of what had to have been the least fun you’ve ever had at an event before.

You’re tipping your head back and feeling the burn of liquor drain down your throat. It was unlike you to do a ton of shots though, in fact you’ve only gotten truly wasted three whole times in your life. And that’s what you were planning on doing, getting so freaking wasted that you’d forget about the horror of a night tonight turned into. You think back on the other times you’ve gotten wasted in your short life time.

The first time was at the fresh age of 16, Peter McDonald had stole a bottle of some brown substance and brought it over to some party - letting you grip the neck of it for most of the night. Thing was, it was your first party you ever attended. You didn’t know when to put the bottle down.

Plus, Peter was just trying to get into your pants. 

Too bad you puked all over them before the night was over and ended up being yelled at by your parents for days on end over the whole ordeal.

The other 2 times were because of the very reason you knew you were downing your fifth shot in the past ten minutes. His green eyes taunting you from across the bar. Why hadn’t he left yet? You think as you glare at him. A shiver runs across your skin as another shot of tequila burns down your throat.

“Give me another, Darren,” you order the bartender the moment you shot glasses hits the bar top. 

Flashbacks to the first time you had legally gotten black out drunk came flooding back as the familiar middle aged bartender poured you another shot of tequila. 

  —

December 14th, 2018

“I need this,” you say. It sounded like you were trying to convince yourself as you stared at the reflection staring back at you.

“Babe, you like so need this,” your best friend, and roommate, Samantha states from where the bathroom she’s currently made a mess up while getting ready.

You really freaking needed this night out on the town with your girls. Breanne and Chelsea were meeting you two at the club, the three of them had this master plan of begging you to come but after the first month of working for Harry had passed by - you needed this. So you did yourself up, curling your hair and putting on maybe a bit too much highlighter. Samantha let you borrow her newest black lace bodysuit - clearly meant to be a piece of sexy lingerie.

You wondered if Harry liked lingerie.

Shaking your head slightly, you focus back on your reflection as you touch up your lipstick. Before sliding it into the front pocket of your leather material pants. On second thought, you take out the lipstick seeing as the pants were too tight for anything to really fit in the pockets. So you open your closet and find the small white purse you kept hidden away for nights like this.

“Okay, Bre and Chels are like hailing a cab down now so we should leave soon too in order to meet up in line together,” Samantha explains, eyes cast down on her phone before looking up. Her eyes go wide at the sight of you all dressed up. “Or maybe we can skip the line all together if you just like pout those pretty lips at security,” she smiles.

“Oh shut up,” you roll your eyes and walk to where your phone was charging to unplug it and slip it into your purse. “Should I wear the boots or the open toe heels?”

“Heels, you’re already going to be cold in that top so might as well freeze your perfect little toes too,”

“My toes aren’t perfect,”

“Oh yes they are,” Samantha huffs while sipping up her thigh high boots. She went for a mini skirt and crop top look tonight, obviously looking hot as hell. Didn’t take much effort from her though.

“Ok you perv,” you chuckle.

Samantha laughs along with you and within minutes you’re both downstairs making minimal effort in hailing down a cab. Of course Samantha makes another comment about how your “hotness” got them a cab right away on this busy Friday evening in New York. But it was New York, there was cabs everywhere you looked.

You’re flipping your hair out of your face while looking down the line at the club when someone from behind the ropes steps up to you. He’s wearing a navy suit with a white button up under - the top two buttons undone, a gold chain barely visible around his neck.

“Hey,” he says, a grin upon his face. And it’s a nice face. He must be Lebanese if you had to guess. Perfectly Styles black hair, with perfectly trimmed facial hair and piercing blue eyes.

“Hi,” you reply.

“How many are in your party, beautiful?” He slides the compliment in smoothly. You can’t help the blush that creeps to your cheeks. At this point you notice the ear piece and thin wire that is tucked nearly behind his ear before disappearing under his shirt.

“Four,” you answer with a smile.

“Perfect, I’d love to escort you in,”

“Okay,” you nod.

Samantha doesn’t waste any time grabbing onto Breanna and Chelsea and pulling them from the line, all three of them picking up their pace in order to cut in line with you. The gorgeous man smiles at you all before unhooking the rope and letting you through.

“Told you so,” Samantha is singing in your ear as you all stick close together in the buzzing club.

You quickly figure out the man that let you in is one of the managers of the establishment. He orders a round of tequila shots, then a few drinks too. At first he’s friendly to the four of you, but then he’s turned his back to your friends and is asking you questions.

“So what do you do for work?” He asks. It’s a regular old question, but one that causes your stomach to turn and heart to pick up its pace.

“Um, I’m an assistant for a pretty big businessman I guess,” you answer with a shrug before bringing your drink to your lips and taking a generous sip.

“Oh nice,” he smiles, “do you like it?”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” you stumble on your answer, eyes drifting over his shoulder to where your three friends were now taking shots with some other girls.

“Suppose work isn’t a great talking subject for you, huh?” The man teases. “Did you want another shot?”

You nod, giving him a tight smile before he waves over the bartender again. Just as your tipping your head back, the manager seems to be called away as he presses a few fingers to his left ear in order to hear what’s being said into the earpiece in his right ear. Next thing you know he’s telling the bartender to put your drinks on his tab, brushing back your hair off your shoulder gently to whisper into your ear.

“Enjoy your night off, hopefully you’ll stick around long enough for me to escort you out,” he says, leaning back to give you a wink before he’s slipping away from you at the bar and into the crowd.

“Did you get his number?” Breanna asks as the three of your friends walk up to you.

“No,” you shrug and slowly let the corner of your lips curl upwards, “but I got our drinks covered for the night,”

“Oh my god!” Chelsea shouts, her mouth wide open in shock.

“That’s it, you’re coming out with us all the time now, you hot bitch,” Breanna exclaims before pushing her chest into the bar, her breasts nearly spilling right out of the top she’s wearing, as she waves down a bartender. “We’ll get eight tequila shots, please,” she shouts out with a grin.

“Oh, we’re so getting wasted tonight,” Chelsea smiles, pulling up her phone to take a video of the bartender pouring the shots - of course turning the camera to you after, causing you to giggle and hide your face.

“You need this, Y/N,” Samantha repeats her words from earlier in the night, “you’ve been working like a damn dog, now let’s let loose and enjoy this night,”

After downing the two tequila shots each, Chelsea is leading the way to the dance floor. The thumping of the bass, with the crazy light show and within seconds you can feel all those shots you just took. You’re jumping up and down, grabbing onto Samantha’s shoulder to shout out the lyrics of the song playing around you. And for almost two hours, you never once think of Harry.

That is until you’re sitting alone in a booth, pulling your phone out for the first time tonight to see a ton of messages from your boss - and your potential booty call? No, you tell yourself as you read the texts.

Harry: I need you to change my schedule for next weekend, clear all meetings. I will still take phone calls.

Harry: I also need my dry cleaning picked up before noon tomorrow.

Harry: Coffee and breakfast by 7.

Harry: And don’t wear any underwear.

Harry: Hello?

Harry: Y/N look at your damn phone.

Harry: Call me right when you get these messages.

You sigh before typing away at your screen.

Y/N: I don’t think I’m fit to call you at this moment, Mr Styles..

Harry: What do you mean by that? And why are ignoring my texts?

Y/N: I mean that I am currently unable to talk on the phone. Not in the best state of mind for a quick chat with my boss.

Harry: What the hell do you mean?

Harry: Are you drunk?

You rolls your eyes at your screen. Before you can even type out your response, Harry has sent another message.

Harry: Where are you?

Y/N: it’s none of your business actually

Harry: Actually it is completely my business, if you value your damn job I suggest you tell me what the hell you think you’re doing.

Y/N: I’m just living my life Harry. Let me live.

And with that, you slide your phone back into your purse. Your hearts racing as you stare across the booth. A hiccup passes your lips. Then all of a sudden you don’t feel so good. Slipping out from the booth you push your way past the people in VIP to get to the bathrooms. Once the door of the stall is shut behind you, you’re leaning over the toilet and taking deep breathes. Nothing comes up, thank god, but it was a close call.

Maybe that feeling in your stomach wasn’t the threat of tequila coming back up. Maybe it was because you just told off your freaking boss.

You groan and lean your head back against the cool metal of the stall. Tequila made you do some dumb shit.

You don’t remember how long you stood in the stall before someone knocking and asking if you’re alright. Then you’re back in the VIP section and unable to find any of your friends. Pulling out your cell phone, you go to unlock it and call up Samantha but instead you’re bombarded by incoming calls from Mr Harry Styles.

“And somehow you look just as stunning with a frown on your face,” you turn at the voice of the bar manager. “What’s got you frowning?” He asks, stepping up in front of you now.

“I-I don’t know where my friends are and my stupid boss is bugging me,” you explain, not even realizing that you’re pouting afterwards.

“I could check the cameras for your friends, if you wanted to come to the back with me?” He’s peering at you through his lashes. Something that maybe a couple hours ago you’d find sexy, and maybe you would go to the back with him for a quick fuck. But now all you could picture was Harry’s stupid green eyes and stupid stupid face.

“I think I’m going to go home,” and with that statement you turn on your heels to head out of this place. Only you seem to have forgotten in your foggy drunken state just how unstable you are, falling forward straight onto the floor.

“Shit,” the manager cursed as he kneels down beside you. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” you grumble while brushing your hands on your thighs, leaning back on your feet as you sat on the dirty bar floor. Suppose these pants were trash now, you think while looking at the scuffed material at your knees.

“Here, let me help you find a cab,”

“I need another shot,” you order while taking his hands and getting back to your feet.

“I think you’ve had enough-“

“No,” you snap, “I need another damn shot now,”

“Okay,” he nods and leads you to the bar instead.

Maybe it’s the powerful tone you used. Or maybe it’s cause he still wants to fuck you. But the bar manager nods and leads you to the bar once again. One shot turns into two as you try to blur out the thoughts of Harry. God where did Samantha go? You think while glancing around the club.

“I’ve got to go back to work,” the bar manager tries again. You sigh and close your eyes, resting your chin in the palm of your hand as your elbow rests on the sticky bar top. “Keep an eye on her,” he says to the bartender.

It doesn’t take long before another guy is slide up next to you. He’s cute, got that typical ‘I’ll fuck you then never talk to you again’ hair cut that’s shaved at the sides and long at the top. Clean shaved and sporting a coy smile.

“Dance with me,” he say.

You’re about to grab ahold of his hand and let him lead the way when you suddenly recognize Breanna and Chelsea walking towards you. A grin spreads across your face at the sight of your friends.

“Hey!” You shout while wrapping them both in for a hug.

The fuckboy seems to get the clue you’ve lost interest in him and walks off without you. It’s probably for the best, you’d look like an outright fool trying to dance all sexy out there. Tequila made for some sloppy dancing from you.

“We’re about to head out,” Breanna states, rubbing your back which brings a soft smile from you.

“Have you seen Samantha?” You ask.

“Not since she started making out with that guy back on the dance floor,” Breanna says.

“Pretty sure she left with him,” Chelsea adds.

“Nice,” you smirk and lean your head on Breanna’s shoulder. “Well, I for one had a ton of fun with you girls tonight,” you’re shouting out the words with maybe a bit too much excitement. Breanna and Chelsea laugh, hugging you once more before asking if you were ok by yourself.

You had hope a certain gorgeous bar manager would be making his way back to the VIP section.

After your friends have left, you’re walking back to the bar and leaning over it slightly as you go on your tip toes in order to get the bartenders attention. He’s watching you in between pouring a few shots for some other customers. Then as your pushing your cleavage together he’s resting both hands on either side of where you were leaning towards him, head tilting up with a smirk.

“You’re trouble,” he states, voice much lower than you expected. He’s hot. Like slightly older guy kinda hot. He’s got a nice moustache, a few lines around his grey eyes. Hell, he’s like really hot for his age - you think while biting down on your bottom lip.

“Maybe,” you counter back. “I’d like another shot of tequila, please,” you order with a smile while slowly leaning back from the bar.

The bartender doesn’t move at first, instead his eyes are drinking you in. Suppose this bodysuit - or lingerie or whatever - was really working for you. Then all of a sudden his grey eyes flicker over your shoulder. He stiffen immediately, then stands up straight and tall. What in the world-

“Actually she won’t be having any more tequila,” you could recognize that voice anywhere. Harry was here. Like right here, stepping up beside you in the same suit he was wearing earlier today. The same suit you had your hands wrapped around as he fucked you in the janitors closet. “Seems you’ve given her enough tonight Darren,” Harry adds with a dark look to the bartender.

“Um, no,” you pipe up, leaning back over the bar quickly to grasp the bartender - Darren’s attention. “Tequila, now,” you demand this time.

Darren looks from you, back to Harry, then back to you again to give you a small smile. And then he’s walking away. What the hell, you think.

“What are you doing here?” You question, turning a bit too quickly to face Harry as you sway a little bit. Harry reacts by grabbing your arm to settle your drunken movements. You shrug from his grasp right away. Seems Harry doesn’t like it, eyes narrowing in at you before his hand is back by his side.

“I’m here to take you home, think you’ve had enough fun tonight,” he says the word fun with more of an angry tone.

“No,”

“No?” Harry raises an eyebrow at you.

“Yes, no,” you say while lifting your chin up.

“Not making a lot of sense, darling,” he mutters. You notice how his jaw is clenched, eyes hard before they wander around the VIP section.

He seems to find who or whatever he’s looking for as he takes a few steps behind you. This is your chance, you think with a smile as you turn back to the bartender and flip your hair from your face. He’s standing back in front of you as you give him a wave.

“Tequila, please,” you sing.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea-“

“Look, Denis,” you pause as your eyes narrow into small slits. “If you don’t pour me another double shot of tequila so I can continue on with my night, I will make your life a living hell,”

“Put the claws away, Y/N,” Harry’s back standing behind you. “No more to drink, you’re leaving now,”

“No!” You shout at him as you turn to face him maybe a bit too quickly. Your stomach sloshing at the movements. “You’re not the boss of me,” you add.

“Actually, I am,” he smirks. Bastard, you think as you glare at him. “Put her tab on my card, Darren,” Harry says, his eyes not leaving yours as he places his credit card on the bar.

“The manager was covering my tab tonight,” you state, lips curling up into a smirk to match his.

“Actually, I fired him,”

“Fired? What do you think you just own this whole damn city?” You question, crossing your arms at your chest.

“Well, I do own this club,” Harry says, “so, yes, he’s fired,”

“Bullshit,” you roll your eyes as the anger seems to be rolling off you now. Your drunk was no more happy all thanks to your crazy boss.

“Thank you,” Harry says to Darren as he takes back his card, eyes skimming the receipt briefly. “Jesus, were you trying to drink yourself to bloody stupidity?” he asks before shoving the receipt into his pocket.

“Well my friends were with me, so like they had some drinks too obviously,” you shrug and lean back against the bar.

“Where are your friends now?”

You shrug again and find yourself watching him through your blurring vision. Didn’t matter how many men here tried to make a move. Harry Styles was by far the hottest most sexy of them all. Maybe it was a good call to not have another shot of tequila so you could fuck the-

Your thoughts are cut short as you feel sick suddenly. Running past Harry, you push open the bathroom door, locking the first open stall in sight before clasping to your knees and throwing up into the toilet bowl. Your ears are ringing as you barely make out the sounds in the bathroom around you. Some girl is shouting, then your heads in the toilet again as you gag out more contents of your stomach.

“Y/N,” Harry’s voice is soft from the other side of the stall. You close your eyes and lean against the side of the stall, the metal was cool like it was earlier too. “Are you okay?” Harry asks.

“I’m fine, Harry,” you answer in a sarcastic tone, smiling as you look over to see his favourite YSL boots on the other side of the door.

“Unlock the door,” he orders.

You roll your eyes and stand on your wobbly heels. Placing both hands on the door, you let out a deep breath before whipping the door open and pushing passed Harry. You needed to rinse your mouth, you think while stepping up to the sink. After doing so you look up into the mirror. Your eyes find Harry in the reflection right away. He has his back to you for a few moments, shoulders rise up before falling slowly back down to his composed posture he always has. When he turns around to face you, taking the step steps towards you, you can see the anger in his eyes.

You fucked up.

“Don’t yell at me,” the words slip past your lips before you can stop them. Then suddenly you’re pouting at him too.

Damn tequila.

“I want to do a lot more than yell at you, pet,” Harry says through clenched teeth.

It’s the first time you’re alone with him now. Glancing around you notice that Harry had kicked everyone out of the bathroom. You brush your hands against your hips, the lace rough before you touch the cool leather of your pants. Harry looks at you through the reflection in the mirror, he’s towering over your figure - so close you can feel his hot breath on your neck. 

“Like what?” You question, your tone once again taken over from the tequila in your system - what were you doing teasing your boss after you just threw up only moments ago? 

Harry doesn’t answer - verbally. Instead he grips your hips with both his hands, his touch rough and firm, pulling your body into his. You react with a quick gasp, then he’s lifting one hand up to your throat. Harry gently squeezes, while you widen your eyes and stare at him in the mirror once again. There’s no denying how your core is pulsing between your legs. There’s also no missing the hardness pressed against your lower back. A glimpse of desire crosses Harry’s face. Lips spread into a wicked smile, his eyes hooded as they gaze back at you through the reflection. 

“I want to fuck the recklessness out of you,” he speaks as though he’s craving the mere idea of it. 

Harry tights his grip at your throat as his other hand snakes around to the front of your pants. There wasn’t a doubt in your mind that he would do exactly what he just stated he wanted. Harry Styles made it pretty clear over this past month that he always got what he wanted. 

“I want you to know who’s the boss of you,” he continues, “I want you to stutter over my name as I show you exactly who’s the boss of you,”

A whimper gets caught in your throat as you ache to be touched. You had learnt over time that Harry had a way with his words - and he knew it too. The way he’d just simply reword something to sound more seductive in the office, it always got to you. 

“I want it,” you utter the three words Harry loved the most. 

He pops the button of your pants undone, sliding down the zipper before running his fingertip over the lace that was apart of your bodysuit situation. The motion causes you to quiver under his touch, you moving only results in Harry’s grip tightening - both at you throat and your hip. 

You don’t even realize that you had closed your eyes as they flutter open once more and catch Harry’s dark greens in the mirror. His chest is rising and falling at a faster pace than normal. In that moment it’s almost as though you read his mind.

“Please,” you say just above a whisper. 

Harry has your pants to your knees in only two swift movements, and that’s impressive considering just how tight the leather material was. He rips the material of the bodysuit just as quick, the veins in his hands pulsing as he does so, and you barely have a second to think of how upset Samantha is going to be you ripped her lingerie. Your bare bum is lifted up to the damp counter top, your hands falling back to grip on of the sinks while your head smacks back into the mirror. Harry’s hands are at his own body now, but only for a few moments as he slips his hard cock out of his pants. 

Your stomach feels like giants are stomping inside, while you can hear your own pulse in your ears loud and clear. There’s no sound coming from your mouth but it’s open, maybe in shock or maybe in anticipation - you were too drunk to really know. 

Harry only brushes the tip of him between your soaking slits once before he’s pushing himself into you - hard. You gasp, a burning feeling overcoming you between your legs. But then he’s moving, fast, pounding into you in quick hard meaningful thrusts. With each thrust a gasp escapes your lips. Harry moves a hand back to your throat, which you react by leaning back more in order to give his hand more room to choke you. The warm feeling in the pit of your stomach grows quick as Harry fucks you hard on the bathroom sink. 

You lose it when he rubs your clit, not soft in any way, no he wants to get your release out of the way almost. And when your body is pulsing under his touch, waves of your orgasm rippling through your entire body, he slips out of you completely and flips your body so your stomach is flat against the counter. Harry positions himself between your legs again before entering your warm wet cunt. You moan at the sensitive feeling as he fucks you some more. 

Lifting your head, you meet your own glassy eyes first. Glassy from the drinks you’ve downed tonight, and from the pleasure you’re feeling right in this moment now. Just has Harry’s thrusts begin to slow, you raise your gaze to look at him instead. What a sight, you think as his eyes are closed and his mouth is open. Within seconds you feel him finish inside of you. Warm and oozing between your thighs as he slips out slowly. 

You shut your eyes for a moment as you focus on your breathing. This was by far the quickest fuck you and Harry have had. Maybe even the roughest. And it was definitely hot. God, just thinking about how his hand felt around your throat made you want to pull him in for another round. 

“Pull up your pants,” Harry demands. 

Your eyes flutter open, meeting Harry’s serious eyes. Standing on wobbling feet, you reach for your pants and pull them up to your hips again. You have to tuck in the ends of the bodysuit, while you could still feel the wetness between your thighs. Suppose Harry didn’t feel like helping you clean up today. 

“Where are your keys?” Harry’s questions causes you to turn and look at where he stood now. He was by the stall, going through your purse. 

“My roommate has them,” you answer. 

“And she is where?” 

“I, I don’t know,” you reply sheepishly. Eyes cast down to the floor as you realize you’ve made yourself look like even a biggest fool in front of Harry. 

“Suppose you can stay at mine,” Harry mutters. 

You nod while brushing your hands through your hair. There was this feeling at the pit of your stomach. Tonight was gone to absolute shit. Harry was going to fire you. Let you sleep at his house, and then fire you tomorrow morning. There was no way in hell any of your behaviour was acceptable tonight. How you told him off, ignored his messages, and then somehow managed to fuck him in the public washroom. Your thoughts are running a million miles an hour as Harry leads the way from the bathroom to where he had a car waiting for the two of you outside the club. 

Harry doesn’t speak in the car. So neither do you. In fact the cool feeling of the window against your cheek causes you to close your eyes and nearly doze off to sleep. But you’re still aware of the situation you’re currently in, so you force yourself to stay awake till you got into whatever sleeping arrangement Harry had for you. 

You steal one glance at Harry during the car ride. The lights from the city night casting into the car and lighting up his high feature of his face. He’s got his knuckles pressed against his lips, something he did while in deep thought quite often, you had taken note of it over the past while now. His eyes are focused forward, but you know he’s zoned out in whatever thoughts are clouding his head. Maybe it was how he was going to fire you tomorrow. You open your mouth for only a second, thinking of slipping out a quick apology, but instead you press them tightly closed once more and look back out the window beside you. Right now you wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and get rid of this foggy feeling all that tequila gave you. 

“You can sleep in the guest bedroom, first door on the left down that way.” Harry states, pointing to the hallway at your left as the private elevator for his penthouse opens up. 

Harry walks out into the open concept quick. Obviously over the wow factor his home held. It was stunning. The living room, dining room, and kitchen were all one big room. Floor to high ceiling windows across from the wall with the elevator gave him and his guests the best view of the city you could ever imagine. It was decorated with minimalist taste, only greys and blacks - absolutely no colour besides the deep chestnut wood of the floors beneath your feet. You especially liked the dark cabinets and granite that complimented his kitchen beautifully. Harry’s standing at the biggest stainless steel fridge you’ve ever seen. 

He closes it and has one bottle of water and one bottle of blue Gatorade in his hand. You begin walking to where he is now, impressed by the appliances in the kitchen. He had a freaking high quality espresso machine that you’ve seen in a Starbucks.

“Drink this when you wake up,” Harry says. He meets your eyes for the first time since leaving the club. “There should be Advil in the cupboard of the en suite too. And drink some of this before you go to sleep,” he orders while placing the Gatorade down first and then the water bottle. 

“I know how to help a hangover, Harry,” you state, “I was once in university, you know,” 

“I do know,” he nods, “was just thinking you spend that time and all those student loans on your education, not partying,” 

“I didn’t always party,” you mutter under your breath. Harry stares at you across the island that you stood on the other side of it. “I just, I needed to let loose and have some fun tonight. I’m sorry that I got you involved in my personal bullcrap of a night,” you finally say half of whats heavy on your chest. 

Harry nods once. Then his eyes fall to where a clock was in the kitchen. You follow his gaze and catch sight of the time too. It was nearing 2 in the morning now. A yawn escapes your lips. 

“Have a good sleep, darling,” Harry says softly before he’s walking out of the open room and down one of the two hallways. 

Sadly he walks down the other hallway, opposite to the one he directed you to where the bed you’d be sleeping in was. You imagine sharing a bed with Harry again like you had the one time back at the hotel, the first time you two had had sex. Since that night you hadn’t fallen asleep beside him since. He fucked you at the office, in the back of cars, and even in the bathroom of a club now.

You ignore these thoughts and grab the two bottles that Harry had gotten for you before finding the bedroom you’d be sleeping in. There was nothing more you wanted right now than to get under the blanket and sleep. Well, maybe you wanted this night to have never happened - then you would be able to sleep peacefully knowing your job wasn’t about to be done for. 

The next morning you woke up to the sun shining in your eyes. The first thing that you notice as you sit up are how your clothes that you had left on the floor are now gone. Then your head begins to pound, letting out a deep breath you reach for the Gatorade. But sitting beside it is a note.

‘come into the office whenever you start feeling better- Harry’

You throw up in the shower. It’s not by any means your best moment, but it happens, and after getting nice and clean - in one of the greatest showers ever - you walk back out to the bedroom. Harry’s guest bedroom. Your bosses guest freaking bedroom. You shake your head at yourself and turn to see another note tapped to the closet door. 

‘got you a few things to chose from - Harry’

He was buying you clothes after last night? You sigh and open the door to reveal the decent sized walk in, you couldn’t imagine what the master bedroom was like if this was only a guest bedroom. Inside you see a few items hung in the otherwise empty closet, as well as a pair of shoes sitting on the floor neatly. 

There’s two dresses and a blouse and skirt hung up. All tags say Gucci on them, which honestly makes your head spin just thinking of how much they are worth but it could also be the killer hangover you were nursing while sipping on the Gatorade Harry had gotten for you last night. With little to no want to even be standing right now, you grab for the first hanger and put the simple cream colour dress with green and red stripes on. It zips completely up the front, from bottom to top. Suppose Harry would like the easy access of this dress, you think. Too bad he would no longer be your boss after the crap you put him through last night. 

There’s no underwear, that should be noted, but you’re not really that surprised that Harry hadn’t gotten you any sort of under garments at all. He wasn’t a fan of underwear at all really. You decide to throw your hair up as it’s still a bit damp, then you find your purse and walk to the bedroom door. The heels click against the hardwood flooring while you walk to the large open concept living space of Harry’s home. 

He’s not home, obviously, hence the first note you had read this morning. Going into the office so early on a Saturday only meant that things were just as busy as ever - business didn’t even stop for the holidays. You take another generous sip of the Gatorade and check your phone for the time. 

Suppose it’s better to get this over with, you think. It was only 8 in the morning, only an hour later than when you’d typically head into work. You ignore the text messages from your friends, only making sure there wasn’t any new ones from Harry. There isn’t. You let out another sigh and head towards the elevator that’s inside Harry’s house. Because who doesn’t have a private elevator right? You take in the view one last time with a longing look - you wanted this view. You wanted this life. And yet you managed to fuck up your only passage into this lifestyle by drinking far too much tequila and fucking your boss. Your professors would be so proud. 

“Miss,” you recognize Harry’s driver as you enter the lobby. He’s waiting for you it seems, standing from one of the couches as you walk towards him. “Mr Styles has told me to take you into work this morning,” he states. 

“Well,” you pause, swallowing back the threat of vomiting for the third time this morning. “Let’s get going then,” you say with a tight smile.  

You nearly fall asleep on the short ride to the Styles Enterprises building. Harry’s driver opens the door for you, which you simply give him a smile and short thank you in return. Maybe he’d like to give you a ride home to your crap apartment after, stop by a few cafes on the way home to find a new job too. You let out a sigh and ignore the rest of the people around the building that do recognize you. 

This was by far one of the worst hangovers of your life, you think while finishing the rest of the Gatorade and tossing the bottle in the bin under your desk. Harry’s office door is closed. As it always is. Checking the calendar on your desk, you make sure he’s not in a meeting or on an important call. There’s nothing written down, so you drop your purse off and walk to the large doors. 

“Come in,” Harry calls from inside after you knock. 

He’s sitting at his desk, his back straight as a board as he types away whatever business stuff he had to attend to at this hour. God you were too hungover for this. You stop only a foot in front of his desk and wait for him to look up. It takes only a few breaths before Harry’s gaze falls to you. He lets his eyes draw up the length of you, from the black heels to the mess of hair upon your head. He probably notices the few small bruises at your knees from whatever you did last night. Or maybe he notices the small red marks at your neck. You remember what those are from, 100-percent, you’d never forget it. 

“Did you not read my note?” Harry questions.

“Yeah, I did,” you nod, pausing to lick your lips, “just thought I’d get this whole losing my job thing over with,”

“Losing your job?” He raises a brow, pushing his chair back a bit from the desk. You raise your eyebrows as well, tilting your head at him. 

“You really expect me to believe you’re not going to fire me after what happened last night?”

“You were enjoying a night out with friends, I admit I was being pushy with my text messages,” Harry says as he stands from his desk. You stay silent at his words. You rarely hear Harry ever admit he’s wrong. In fact you can’t think of a time, work related or not. It may also be because your brain’s working a bit slower this morning. 

“You’re being serious?” You ask, “I’m not fired?” 

You watch Harry’s every step as he makes his way around his desk and towards you. There’s not missing how your heart rate picks up again. Damn him, you think. He looked so good today in his grey suit and baby blue shirt. The top two buttons were undone which makes you think he must really be having a tough morning. You wonder how you can help. 

“Miss, if you could get me another coffee, and make sure my next weekend is freed up,” Harry says. 

“Of course,” you nod. 

Harry reaches forward, the backs of his fingers gently touching the marks at your neck. You hold your breath. He blinks slowly, eyes still on them as he probably recalls last night in the bathroom. Then he’s reaching up to your hair, tugging at the elastic that was keeping it up. You reach up to help, letting your hair down. 

“Maybe it’s best to keep your hair down, darling,” he says, a sly smile curling at his mouth. 

“Right,” you breathe out. 

Harry’s so close. So close that you can’t help but look down at his lips. 

“Coffee, please,” he smiles. 

You nod again and turn to walk out of his office. And maybe stop by the woman’s washroom to empty out your stomach yet again this morning. The mere thought of vomiting makes you feel even more sick. 

“Y/N,” Harry calls. You turn back around, lifting your brows as you fear opening your mouth would resulting in vomit ending up on the floor of Harry’s office. “Make sure your calendar is clear for next weekend too, you’ll be joining me” he exclaims. 

“Sorry?”

“Is there an issue?” Harry questions, his eyes barely raise from where they were looking down at some papers in his hands. 

“It’s nothing, just had some plans-”

“Another night with tequila?” 

“No-” 

“Good, then cancel your plans. Or I’ll think about that whole you losing your job thing again,” Harry says. You can only nod before you turn away and walk out of his office. 

These past 24 hours have been the wildest of your entire life, you’re sure of it. You try to forget about it all as you sit at your desk and begin to clear Harry’s schedule for the upcoming weekend. What for? Well that was the burning question now, seeing as you were to join him. You hoped it was to travel somewhere nice - you could enjoy Hawaii in December. 

—

December 3rd 2021

You catch sight of Harry in the thinning crowd of the night. Though you hadn’t done much socializing after trying to cover yourself from the load of crap Harry started earlier in the night. While Harry had been buttering up anyone and everyone. You especially didn’t like the attention he was giving that blonde, her hair looked fake for Godsake. 

“Lovely coat,” Harry says as he steps up in front of you. 

“Oh shut it, before I kick you out of my club,” you spit back. All these drinks in your system meant you didn’t have the time to put up with him right now. Truthfully you just wanted Michael to get here and bring you home. 

“Such a petty move, by the way, buying this bar,” he states, eyes wandering around the room. 

“Thought that bar manager deserved his job back after your jealousy got him fired after all,” you ramble back at him, tightening your coat at your chest as the front doors open a few feet away from you. “Besides, you put it on the market, I just saw a good business opportunity,” you add. 

“Questionable statements, all of them,” Harry says. 

You don’t have a response. So instead you press your lips together tightly, eyeing Harry for the millionth time tonight. God you wanted nothing more than to hit him. Maybe you’d hire someone to do it. A few ideas came to mind as big bold letters reading ‘PAYBACK’ flashed through your head. You pull your mouth up to a smirk, crossing your arms at your chest now. 

“I didn’t realize we were going to be playing these games so soon, Styles,” you say. 

“Thought you knew the business by now, darling,” Harry’s smirk matches yours. It was like fighting fire with fire. And you loved it. 

“Oh you taught me plenty about this side of the business, don’t you worry,” you say, taking one stop forward and bringing your fingers up to the collar of his white dress shirt. You smooth your fingers slowly over the material a few times. “I’ll play dirty,” you pause and lean towards him till your lips brush against his ear, “if that’s what you want,” you say. 

You think for only a second that you’d stunned him to silence. But you never had the upper hand. A gasp pushes passed your lips as he places a hand at your lower back and presses you flesh against his front. Turning your head, you meet his gleaming eyes and devious smile. 

“You’ve always know exactly how dirty I like it, darling,” he says. 

He’s only close for a few seconds. As you’re too tipsy to push away immediately - or maybe too turned on. Either way, you give him a quick look before bringing your hands to his shoulders and pushing away from his hold. There’s no more words to be exchanged, you think as you walk to the front doors and find Michael standing there with the door open waiting for you. You don’t miss the questioning look in his eyes. 

“Take me home, Michael,” you hiss at him. 

Of course, you’re not angry at him. Oh no, it’s the mischievous green eyed bastard of a man that has managed to weasel his way back into your life - even after all the damage he’s done to you.

[iamallyetnotatall]

Operation Spider-Boss Pt.2

This is part 25 of ? in my ‘Turning Tables’ series where Tony was dusted but Peter wasn’t.

Summary: One year later, Friday reminds Pepper of Operation Spider-Boss.

AO3

July 2018

"Boss?" Friday interrupts her in the middle of signing paperwork.

"Mm?" She signs her name and moves on to the next page.

"As per your request, it has been a year to the minute that I last brought up Operation: Spider-Boss. Are you ready to initiate the protocol?"

"Oh, that."

She sets down her pen and crosses her arms over the desk. Right. It's Tony's last request that she hasn't yet followed up on.

She'll bring Peter into board meetings and discuss business things with him to get his input and to guide his thoughts in the right direction, but she's been hesitant to bring up Tony's actual plans for him. He's still so young, and there's so much on his plate. He's going into his last year of high school, he's just put on the Spider-man suit again... He'll be off to train with Natasha in a handful of days.

"Friday, show me Peter, please."

A new tab opens on her computer and a feed to the camera in the living room appears. There are cameras all over the building for security purposes, though they're hardly used. In view is Peter laying on a baby pink fleece blanket on his back while holding Morgan above him, bringing her down to kiss her face and making funny expressions at her. She's in a cozy onesie covered in rainbows and unicorns and her hair is slowly growing out, but she's still so small and weighs nothing to Peter and his super strength.

She watches for a handful of minutes.

Peter sets Morgan down on his stomach and wraps his arms around her to keep from rolling off of him. He simply holds her. His mouth is moving, he must be telling her a story, but Pepper doesn't ask for audio. She's already a bit uncomfortable watching someone who doesn't know they're being watched.

"Postpone for one more year, Friday. Maybe next summer when he's getting ready for college he'll be in the right place for this conversation."

"Yes, boss."

She waits another couple of minutes before closing the video feed on her computer.

A teenager and an infant; it should sound like she has her hands full, but she counts herself lucky.

Mostly.

She clicks on her phone and the latest headline she'd been halfway through reading pops up. There's Peter in his suit swinging through the city. Spider-man has returned. He's in a new suit, and everyone points it out enthusiastically.

It's red and gold and it makes her heart ache. Tony created it for him, as a sort of 'sidekick' suit to his own. She remembers his ramblings. He'd come to bed late, too late but earlier than years ago, and he'd whisper his thoughts to her and she'd listen half-attentively. He built this specific suit expecting to give it to Peter on his 18th birthday, and with the intention that they would work together more closely on future missions.

It wasn't so much an Avengers initiation as simply an acknowledgment that Peter would hold a greater part in his work life, and not just time sitting in their lab wreaking havoc.

Tony had held so much hope in his relationship with Peter. He'd taken him on as a son without ever saying so out loud, or probably even to himself, and those expectations sit on her shoulders now. A year and some later, she's starting to feel that hope too.

She closes the tab on her phone; they have nothing good to say anyway.

Between the teenager and the infant, it's clear right now the teenager is going to be harder on her heart.

It's been a long day, she decides. She turns off the computer, sets the half-read paperwork aside, and heads off to the living room to join her kids.

There's many years ahead of them. For now, she wants Peter to enjoy this before she drops the bomb of Tony's true dreams on him.

[totalboxofficecollections]

Box Office: GOLD 2018 Expected Opening Day Business | Day 1 Income

Box Office: GOLD 2018 Expected Opening Day Business | Day 1 Income

GOLD expected collection on release day,friday expected business of GOLD 2018,Box Office: GOLD 2018 Expected Opening Day Business | Day 1 Income,GOLD 2018 movie collection on 1st day,GOLD 2018 movie business on friday,first day show expected collection of GOLD 2018 movie,GOLD 2018 movie business on friday,GOLD 2018 movie business on first day,opening day business of GOLD 2018 movie,GOLD 2018…

[missuniverse2019-blog]

68th Miss Universe Live Stream

A few Miss Universe 2019 applicants endured significant falls in front of an audience at the show's bathing suit preliminaries.The occasion is being held at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis in Georgia, USA, Friday night, December 6 Saturday morning, December 7, Philippine time.Miss France Maëva Coucke fell hard in front of an audience towards the finish of her runway walk due to the elusive stage. The group of spectators gived a shout out to her and the 25-year-old model had the option to recoup and complete her pasarela.Candidates from in excess of 90 nations will go after the title of Miss Universe in a three hour broadcast challenge communicate Sunday from Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. Miss Universe Time Miss Universe Start Time Miss Universe TV Channel Miss Universe TV Coverage Both Fox and Telemundo will air the occasion live from the 330 section of land scene, which has 12 soundstages and opened in October. For those without television, and a live stream of the occasion will be accessible from Fox, anyway there will be no live stream on the Miss Universe site. Watchers can tune in at 8 p.m. EST.Comedian Steve Harvey will have the occasion as the show's hopefuls clash in the long standing night outfit, bathing suit and individual explanation classifications. It takes a ton of work to contend in a Miss Universe exhibition, Insider wrote in an article alongside photographs of the up-and-comers, who landed in the challenge's host city prior this week. In addition to the fact that contestants follow severe weight control plans and exercise schedules to get ready, yet they additionally should land at the exhibition ahead of schedule to get fitted for their outfits and meet their kindred members. Miss Universe Live Miss Universe Live Free Miss Universe Live Stream Watch Miss Universe Essentially making it into the challenge, established by Catalina Bathing suits in 1952, is a significant test in itself. The challenge rules state every member must be in any event 18 and under 28 when the national challenge starts. Likewise, hopefuls can't be hitched or pregnant and can seek the Miss Universe crown just once.Steve Harvey will have the worldwide occasion that highlights ladies from in excess of 90 nations go after the Miss Universe crown crosswise over classifications including meeting, individual proclamation, evening outfit and bathing suit. Prior this week, 2018 Miss Universe victor Catriona Dark and extravagance gems fashioner Pascal Mouawad landed in Atlanta to uncover the crown during the current year's occasion. As indicated by reports, the Intensity of Solidarity creation was made with 18 karat gold and in excess of 1,770 precious stones, with a 62.83 carat brilliant canary jewel at its middle. Miss Universe 2019 Miss Universe 2019 Live Miss Universe 2019 Live Free Miss Universe 2019 Live Stream Watch Miss Universe 2019 At the point when I claimed Miss Universe, they generally had extraordinary individuals, Trump allegedly revealed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in April, not long after that nation's political race. Ukraine was in every case well represented.According to reports before the 2016 U.S. political race, Trump gloated about having strolled in on expo hopefuls who were sincerely busy evolving. That disclosure surfaced alongside the 2005 Access Hollywood video wherein Trump discusses snatching ladies by the private parts. The Miss Universe show presently says it is by ladies, for ladies and enables ladies to understand their own, proficient and altruistic objectives through encounters that construct fearlessness and go about as impetuses for future success.While it is too early to anticipate who the victor of Miss Universe 2019 will be, famous web journals and sports wagering locales place high chances on Paweensuda Saetan Drouin of Thailand, Gazini Ganados of the Philippines and Julia Horta of Brazil. Miss Universe 2019 Time Miss Universe 2019 Start Time Miss Universe 2019 TV Channel Miss Universe 2019 TV Coverage The current year's hopefuls keep on increasing present expectations for being a Miss Universe. These ladies are assorted, aggressive and solid, the association told Newsweek in an email Friday evening. We have pilots, designers, legal advisors and a fireman in the current year's class of Miss Universe contenders. Airing live from Atlanta unexpectedly, the current year's show will enable the group of spectators to become familiar with the contenders than any time in recent memory, with four open doors for candidates to talk during the live broadcast. The Philippines' beat Gazini Ganados has been getting positive audits on the outfits she's been wearing at the Miss Universe 2019 pageant.Like ruling Miss Universe Catriona Dim and her different ancestors, Gazini worked with different style beauticians to exhibit Filipino plans and craftmanship in her outfits at Atlanta, Georgia.During one of her breaks in Los Angeles, she was spotted wearing an orange outfit by Russ Cuevas. On Sunday December 8, 90 ladies from around the world will seek the pined for Miss Universe title. The show will air on FOX at 7 p.m. EST.Ahead of the show, various contenders have shared a look at what they resemble without cosmetics. Furthermore, through their cosmetics free headshots, you can see exactly how similarly dazzling their characteristic magnificence is contrasted with their dramatic glitz. 68th Miss Universe 68th Miss Universe Live 68th Miss Universe Live Free 68th Miss Universe Live Stream Watch 68th Miss Universe Miss Universe Laos Vichitta Phonevilay approached adherents to help her after she posted photographs of herself wearing the national outfit on her Facebook page.The ensemble was structured by Khamphee Arangkan, who additionally planned the national outfit for a year ago's Miss Universe challenger that won the Best National Outfit grant at the pageant.For the current year's national ensemble, he put together the plan with respect to the elephant, the national image of Laos. He said the elephant was a solid, kind and glorious animal, all ideals that are like the characteristics found in Laos and its people.In our lifetimes, a few of us may never experience a portion of the miracles of the world, for example, the sublime rainforests or the lofty Lao elephant, " he said.Future ages may never have the chance to see these wonders. Like the rainforests, our elephants are tragically vanishing at a fast rate because of the attacks of humankind. 68th Miss Universe Time 68th Miss Universe Start Time 68th Miss Universe TV Channel 68th Miss Universe TV Coverage Regardless of whether we have never been to the Amazon, or got an elephant together close, we can even now feel the agony of losing nature to the destruction of rapidly spreading fire and atmosphere change.We must join, regardless of what nation we are from, to support our Earth. Our creatures and woods have no voices, so we should battle together and stand up to secure and save them, " he added.In her post, Vichitta expressed gratitude toward Lou Sensouphone of Well known Lighting for the photographs of herself in the national ensemble and Khamphee for his plan. In the wake of landing in Atlanta, US, she said she was eager to meet and remain with her flat mate, Miss Universe Thailand Paweensuda Drouin.She added that she was glad to join different exercises identified with the exhibition with companions and other contestants.She said she would put forth a valiant effort to advance Laos and its culture.The last round of Miss Universe 2019 will be hung on Dec 8, and Vichitta asked every single Lao individuals to applaud her so she could rise the champ of the challenge.

[omgrachwrites]

Somewhere Across the Ocean (Tom Holland)

Pairing: Tom Holland x Original Character

Summary: Cassidy Porter has always had a hard time being herself, especially in front of her friends. She can truly be herself when she starts online talking with a sweet boy, Tom. But when he unknowingly walks into her real life it’s his heart that might be getting broken. Author!Tom, college au

Warnings: fluff, swearing

Words: 2145

A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoy this part even though it’s just to start things off! Please let me know what you think and let me know if you would like to be tagged, I love you all! xxx

next part | masterlist

Part One

Friday 8th June 2018

As soon as Cass walked through the impressive mahogany hallway in her dad’s house, the delicious scent of red onion and peppers washed over her. The smell of it reminded Cass of one of her earliest recalled memories. It had been when she lived with her grandmother and her father in the country in the baby blue house with the huge white washed front porch.

The smell of the vegetables reminded her of blood red sunsets and the smell of honeysuckle as she sat in her grandmother’s arms as she sang softly to Cass while her dad grilled beef burgers on the barbeque. It put a smile on her face, her dad was taking the time to cook again and that meant that he was in a pretty good mood.

“Hey! It smells amazing in here,” Cass grinned as she skipped into the kitchen and pulled herself up to sit on top of the white marble counter. Her dad Nick looked up from where he was chopping up some onions, a metal spoon in his mouth so his eyes wouldn’t water. Cass winced as Nick took the spoon from his mouth, the metal scraping against his top teeth.

“Thank you sweetie how was your day?” he asked, wrapping his strong arms around her, his nose nestled in her dark hair that smelled of coffee. Cass shrugged with a smile as she snagged a little bit of pepper, crunching it between her teeth with relish.

“It was okay I guess. Same old, same old,” she rolled her hazel eyes with a giggle, nothing exciting really ever happened to her while she worked since she was just a normal barista in a normal café within a bookstore, “some kid decided that he didn’t want his hot chocolate anymore so he spat it all over me, fun times.”

“You know, I can give you an allowance for college accommodation, you don’t have to do it all on your own by the way,” he smiled and Cass shrugged, she had always been pretty independent.

“It’s okay, you know I want to do it on my own,” she replied and Nick nodded.

She smiled before frowning in confusion as she absent mindedly glanced out the windows of the patio doors and onto the veranda. The table had been made up with unlit candles, the fancy ones that were set in crystal holders. There were three chairs seated around the polished wooden table instead of just two, they only ever ate out on the veranda on special occasions such as birthdays. Her eyebrows knitted together and she looked back at Nick who was looking anywhere but at her and he was nervously running his fingers through his shaggy blonde hair – Cass had been pleading with him for a while now to cut it.

“Dad?” she started slowly as she pushed herself off of the counter, Nick busied himself with preparing a side salad, “what’s going on?”

After a couple of moments he rubbed a hand over his face, “Megan is coming over for dinner, both she and I want you to meet her.”

“Oh,” Cass deflated slightly, her heart dropping to the pit of her stomach where it settled like a rock, “is that why you were disappointed when I told you that I want to live on campus?”

Cass wanted nothing more than for her dad to be happy, her mom had died when Cass was just a kid and she suspected that her dad hadn’t really gotten over it. However, Cass was very much aware of the types of women that were attracted to Nick; they were shallow, young gold diggers. Nick was the best-selling author of a couple of cookery books and he owned a couple of restaurants, he had kept his fortune pretty well.

“That’s part of the reason but the bigger part is the fact that you’re my baby girl and I’m not quite ready to let you go yet,” he beamed, his eyes getting slightly misty as he pressed a sloppy kiss to her cheek. Cass giggled, shoving him away playfully feigning a look of disgust, “I could really use your support tonight.”

He looked so hopeful that Cass couldn’t possibly refuse him, “yeah of course dad, let me get changed out of these clothes,” she smiled and he nodded.

“Okay, don’t spend too long on your computer speaking to that boy, I know what you’re like,” he winked. A laugh and a smirk was his response as Cass padded up the stairs.

A couple of months ago she was commenting on a forum thread about Harry Potter – it sounded geeky but she just loved the books and the movies, not that she’d ever admit it to anyone. She had started speaking to some guy called Tom from England. They clicked almost instantly so they started to converse through the private messaging function on the site. She knew her dad would worry about her talking to a stranger so she had told Nick that Tom was her friend in real life.

He was incredibly sweet but Cass had to admit to herself that he could be some sort of weirdo, she didn’t know how old she was or even what he looked like, she only knew his name. However, that didn’t stop her from grinning when she opened her messages to see that she had an unread message from Tom.

From: Tom Holland

‘So mad! I did that Hogwarts house quiz on Facebook and it told me that I’m a Hufflepuff; I’m definitely not a Hufflepuff right? I’m a cool Slytherin! Anyway, how was your day darling? Xx’

Cass giggled at his message and decided to toy with him just a little.

To: Tom Holland

‘I definitely think that you could be a Hufflepuff, you’re adorable Tom! Have some Hufflepuff pride man! I had a pretty boring day, but my dad’s girlfriend is coming over so meeting her for the first time will be a lot of fun. Not. How was your day? Xx’

She sent her message off and started to get ready for the night ahead, deciding on a nice white top and jeans. She sprayed her dark hair with a sweet smelling hairspray so that it would smell less like coffee - there wasn’t enough time for a shower. Cass checked her messages and saw that Tom hadn’t replied yet so she closed the lid of her laptop and she made her way down the stairs to help her dad.

He was pretty frantic when she entered the kitchen, “oh god! Megan is gonna be here in like ten minutes and I’m not even ready yet! Can you open this bottle of wine?” he babbled, thrusting a bottle of rose wine into her hands, Cass opened her mouth to try and calm him but she was blocked out by his frantic tirade, “can you set the table too?!” he pleaded, his eyes were the size of dinner plates.

Cass fought back a giggle; she knew that laughing really wouldn’t help him in this situation, “dad calm down. Please, I’ll sort everything, just go and get ready you really need to,” she gestured at his outfit that consisted of a white shirt, sweatpants and bare feet, thankfully one of Nick’s talents was that he could easily get changed in five minutes, Cass had no idea why he was panicking so much.

Nick smiled at her gratefully and pressed a kiss to her forehead before he all but ran upstairs. Cass popped the cork from the wine bottle and placed it back in the fridge so it could chill as much as possible before she set the veranda table with their finest cutlery. She couldn’t blame her dad for wanting to have dinner outside; the evening sun was so warm. The ringing of the doorbell a few moments later startled her and she internally cursed her dad for taking longer than five minutes to get ready.

“Fuck,” she muttered darkly, bracing herself as she as she pulled the door open.

Her eyes went wide for just a moment; the woman on the other side of the door was not at all what she expected. The woman, Megan had wavy brown hair that fell just past her collar bones, her makeup was very minimal, no inch of plastic surgery and she was only a couple of years younger than Nick. She was wearing a dark blue dress that flowed just past her knee, she was beautiful. Beautifully ordinary. Cass gathered herself and forced out a smile as she introduced herself.

“Hi, you must be Megan, I’m Cassidy but you can call me Cass,” Cass smiled, holding out her hand for Megan to take.

Megan beamed at Cass, her green eyes sparkling as instead she pulled Cass into a tight hug. Cass hesitated before wrapping her arms around Megan, returning the hug, “It’s so nice to meet you Cass, please call me Meg. You look really beautiful by the way.”

Dinner was actually pretty nice, it was nice to feel the warmth of the sun beating down on them and it was so nice for Cass to see the way Meg looked at Nick – like he put all the stars in the sky just for her. Cass actually liked her so far.

“Mm, this chicken is delicious, I can’t wait to have your famous brownies for dessert,” Meg grinned at Cass before she leaned over the table to kiss Nick. Cass smiled before playfully glaring at her dad for giving her secret recipe away, “so Cass your dad tells me that you’re doing Art at NYU and you’re pretty good, that’s exciting,” Meg smiled kindly before sipping from her glass, leaving a faint pink stain.

Cass’s smile faltered slightly while she played with her food, she wasn’t used to people – other than her dad – supporting what she wanted to do.

“Yeah, I guess so; my friends from high school that are attending the college want me to join the cheer team.”

Friends was a strong word to describe those girls, sure they were nice to her face but she was guessing that they were very bitchy about her behind her back. They were nothing more than trust fund brats that couldn’t buy their way into an Ivy League school.

“Oh yeah, you want to?” her dad asked with a smile before sighing when Cass bit her lip and dropped her eyes to her plate, pulling her sunglasses over her eyes.

“You know that you don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do right?” Meg gave her a sympathetic smile, reaching across the table to take Cass’s hand, squeezing it comfortingly, “friends can be tough.”

Cass smiled at her, slowly slipping her hand from Meg’s grasp, she wasn’t really that comfortable with the whole stepmom thing already. Instead she changed the subject after sipping some of her raspberry lemonade, “so, what do you do for a living Meg?”

“Oh, I work in an elementary school for children with additional needs,” she paused, taking a swallow of wine, “it’s very challenging but very rewarding,” she smiled while Nick beamed at her with pride.

Cass grinned, that was such a selfless job to have, “I bet it is,” she replied, her respect for Meg rising considerably.

------------------------------------------------------------

The following evening, many miles away from New York Tom was only just replying to the message that his online friend had sent him. She really was something but he didn’t even know her name, he only knew that she lived somewhere in America. He chuckled, running his fingers through his curls as he started to type out his reply.

To: C.Rose

‘Please don’t call me adorable, it’s embarrassing, I’m really scary! Definitely more fitting for Slytherin! I’m just going to a party and I’m packing because I’m moving away for school in less than a week xx’

“Are you speaking to your girlfriend that actually might be a 50 year old man?” Harrison, Tom’s best friend snickered, leaning against the doorframe. Tom gave him a death glare as he logged out of the site.

“You’re a dick.”

“C’mon mate! There will be loads of girls at this party dying to shag you,” Haz smirked, clapping Tom on the shoulder.

“Like who?” he asked even though he really wasn’t that interested.

“Well, there’s Sammy, Abby, Claire, Faith, Emma, the list really is endless!” Haz sounded proud as he checked all the girls off the list. Tom scoffed, pulling on his jacket, even though it was summer it was still a cold night.

“What’s the point? We’re leaving for New York in less than a week.”

“Have a one night stand, love them and leave them! Wham bam, thank you ma’am,” Haz chuckled as they left the flat.

“Hey, Haz?”

“Yeah?”

“You really are an absolute arsehole.”

------------------------------------------------------------ 

@void-imaginations @marvelellie

[tessmontyart]

2018 Year In Review

Another year, another review 💕(I actually typed most of this up before 2019 and then got distracted, whoops)

To put things short, 2018 has been AWESOME :D Exhausting and fast, but awesome.

I started it off pretty uncertain how things were going to go, dreading it would be a repeat of 2017′s boring TAFE courses and endless job rejections. But the miracle happened - a 2D animation studio opened up near me, I applied, did an animation test and got the job!

The job was a contract from 1st of April - 21st of December, so I spent the majority of my year going to work to animate characters for a really crazy but hilarious new kids show called Spongo Fuzz and Jalapena, due to air mid 2019 :) 

It was honestly the most fun job I have ever had and I can’t wait for the next project! 🎉 I have never been this exhausted in my life, though. 😅I had already booked a whole bunch of conventions before I got the job, and didn’t want to cancel them so I was working nonstop - Animation during the day and intensive convention prep every night. 

I also had the bright idea of creating a full colour 26 page comic -with a tight deadline - so I was madly working to the point I didn’t even have time for dinner half the time :’) I am sort of happy with the comic, but also kind of wish I never had the idea in the first place. 😅

I tabled at a ton of conventions; Melbourne Supanova, Central Coast ComiCon, Other Worlds Zine Fair, Sydney Supanova, SMASH and Canberra Gamma Con. If next year doesn’t go so well on the job side of things I’m hoping to add a few more conventions to that list - Brisbane Supanova, Oz Comic Con and Animaga to name a few. I’ve already booked Sydney Madman Anime Festival!

2018 was the year my partner and I celebrated our 4th year together, and he never fails to amaze me with his continuous love and support. I was too sick to attend the first day of SMASH, so he set up and ran the whole stall for me while I stayed at home. Same with Sydney Supanova, I was too bogged down in animation work and couldn’t afford to take the Friday off, so he set up and ran the stall for me on Friday, then we ran the stall together on the weekend. He also tended to my every need when I broke my toe, cooked all my meals when I was busy with work and even packaged + posted all my Etsy orders every day because I was always working during post office hours. He listened to all the problems I was having with my stall setup and helped make shelves and decorations to make it look and function better. I was getting stressed because my desk space was too small, BAM he bought me a brand new desk with plenty of storage. I was getting stressed that I had so much on my convention to-do-list and couldn’t keep track of all my project ideas, BAM, he sets up a whiteboard and helps me brainstorm everything so I can keep track of all my thoughts and ideas and what to prioritise for future conventions. I didn’t even ask him to do any of this, he just loves to help me and make me happy and I am forever blissed and happy to be able to spend my life with such a wonderful human! 

(Home made High Tea I made for him on Valentines Day) 

Arsty Highlilghts / accomplishments:

🌸I designed 9 cute Houseki no Kuni acrylic charms which have been doing really well at conventions!

🌸I also drew a cute series of ‘Sleepy Gem’ Houseki no Kuni / Steven Universe holographic prints, which I’m quite proud of 😊

🌸I created my 2nd enamel pin design, which already needed 2 reorders because they were so popular! ;w; I never knew I could make something that so many people love *sob* I’ve already planned to make these into a series! (already designed some deer ones, and thinking of doing foxes next ^_^ )

🌸I also tried getting gold foil prints done for the first time, which was pretty cool! I got the american sizes mixed up though so I might try for the bigger size next time :) (grainy photo cause its a screenshot from a video)

🌸I’ve been taking steps to make my stall look more ‘professional’, and got a really neat wooden sign made for me by my friend as_sweet_as_jasmine!

🌸I’ve started revamping my favourite series of posters - the Eevee Gijinka girls :) I plan to have them all done and ready for 2019s conventions! 

🌸This was the year I got an iPad, so I could do digital art on-the-go. Honestly its helped me so much, and I can’t wait to be able to use it more (sorta didn’t get a chance to touch it while i was working!)

🌸I got Copic Markers for my birthday so I had a whole new medium to play with! These mixed with using a brush pen for inking really make my inktobers pop and I’m eager to draw more with them  :) 

🌸Speaking of Inktober, it was a huge accomplishment for me to put effort into a decent artwork every day this year! Usually theres a few dud ones when I lacked inspiration, but I somehow managed to make it work ;w; So when it came time to printing the books, theres 31 illustrations rather than 25 like the others :) Also the whole rainbow theme idea came from how cool I think it would look flipping through a rainbow book - so I managed to make that happen and couldn’t be happier!

🌸I passed 1000 sales on Etsy!! 😱As well as 1000 followers on instagram! Crazy right??

General 2018 highlights

🌸2018 was the year one of my best friends got married! I made cute little clay wedding cake toppers for her :)

🌸The year Owl City’s 7th album Cinematic came out!! All the tracks are so GOOD and exactly the sound all us hootowls were longing for. Also Be Brave is a tearjerker, in a good way. What an amazing human Abbey is to Adam <3 

🌸The year Spyro Reignited Trilogy came out!! It’s absolutely amazing, and I love every second of it. Every time I play it I just can’t help but stand there looking around at every detail because everything is just so gorgeous *_* And the nostalgia is so real.

🌸Not exactly a highlight but the year Tumblr went NSFW free, and lost hundreds of thousands of users 😂I’m still here though. Got a dumb tradition to keep up ya know.

🌸The year my work had a hilarious Christmas party where we had to dress up as a character from Spongo Fuzz and Jalapena. It was the first time I actually put effort into a cosplay by myself 😂(possibly the last) (wont put a photo up for embarrassing reasons)

🌸the year I broke my toe for the first time xD;; definitely not a highlight but a first! I couldn’t walk for weeks! it sucked!!! T__T

🌸The year my friend successfully funded his kickstarter for his own cartoon ‘Nurry Brothers Adventure World’ :D So proud of him. I’m gonna help him animate!

🌸The year Lano and Woodley reunited with their amazing show ‘Fly’!! I loved it so much I saw it twice :D 

🌸The year I tried doing Halloween for the first time - I bought a bunch of lollies and chocolates and decorations on my letterbox/door to let people know I was participating. I got 2 different groups of people at the door, 5 people all up 😂More than I expected tbh!

🌸I tried Ruby chocolate for the first time! It was ok .. just kinda tasted like berry yoghurt flavoured white chocolate though ;w; 

SO! What’s coming for 2019?

I’m not really sure at the moment, but I have high hopes for Cheeky Little Studios (the animation company I worked for) - so I guess I’ll just have to wait and see if any of their next projects get concrete start dates :) I’m not as terrified of the year as I usually am when its just one big question mark. I know I can make decent money through conventions and commissions in the meant time so I’ll just continue doing what I love! 

LAST YEAR I SAID:

“I am crossing my fingers for an animation job I applied for a while ago” - I GOT IT! :D

“I plan to do even more conventions. Hopefully I can get into Oz Comic Con!" - didn’t end up applying because I was busy with the job, but keen to try for 2019 :)

"I’m keen to apply for like Animaga in Melbourne, as well as Madman Anime Fest in Brisbane and Melbourne.” - didn’t end up doing so for the same reason above, but that might change this year :)

“I also want to make a lot more non-fandom things for market stalls, as well as a comic and zines!” - I made the comic, as well as 3 inktober zines and a cute ‘if I fits I sits’ cat zine! As well as a bunch of cute original enamel pin ideas and my whole inktober was original art :D 

“Hopefully I’ll hit 1k followers on fb/ig? :D that will make me feel important lol” - I hit 1k on instagram!! I felt very important xD

“I’m also hoping to go on a holiday this year." - I didn’t, for job reasons ... buuut I’m booked in for a cruise in Italy / Greece this September that I’m extremely excited for!

“PLEASE BE KIND 2018, I’M BEGGING YOU 😱” - You were very very kind to me, 2018. 2019, please follow suit! 

(man this is the 7th year of review I’ve done. Can’t believe I’ve been on tumblr this long 😅)

[2017] [2016] [2015] [2014] [2013] [2012]

[taylordmorris]

Gloom Lifts From Emerging Currencies After Rate Hikes: EM Review

New Post has been published on https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/gloom-lifts-from-emerging-currencies-after-rate-hikes-em-review

Gloom Lifts From Emerging Currencies After Rate Hikes: EM Review

© Bloomberg. Pedestrians gather near a gold and currency exchange store at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, on Friday, Aug. 17, 2018. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan argued citizens should buy gold, then he said sell. Add dramatic swings in the lira, and the country’s traders are now enthusiastically doing both. Photographer: Ismail Ferdous/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Emerging-market assets gained last week as Russia unexpectedly raised interest rates and Turkey hiked its one-week repo rate by more than forecast.

Highlights for the week ended Sept. 14:

Turkey’s lira was the best performer among 22 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg; policy makers defied President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by jacking up rates more than expected to bolster the flagging lira, lifting rates by 625 basis points to 24 percent; the decision came just after Erdogan said the nation “should cut this high interest rate”

Russia’s ruble flipped to gains from losses on Friday after the central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates for the first time since 2014; inflation risks have been mounting with a slumping currency and threats of U.S. sanctions

President Donald Trump is said to have instructed aides to proceed with tariffs on about $200 billion of Chinese products, even as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin proposed another round of trade talks with Beijing

China’s economic momentum weakened a notch in August, with a continued slowdown in investment overshadowing solid retail sales and industrial production data

The White House sent contradictory messages to North Korea, announcing it’s ready to start planning a second meeting with Kim Jong Un just hours after President Trump’s top national security adviser said nuclear talks were stalled

Asia:

The onshore and offshore both declined for a third week; more than 60 percent of U.S. businesses operating in China were hurt by the initial round of tariffs between the Chinese and U.S. governments, with 74 percent foreseeing harm from future U.S. tariffs and 68% from potential Chinese retaliatory duties, according to a survey of more than 430 American companies

S&P Global Ratings lowered its credit ratings on seven Chinese local government financing vehicles by one notch

South Korean won strengthened; the country’s jobless rate rose to 4.2 percent in August, the highest since January 2010 and up from 3.8 percent in July; it will be difficult for the country’s job situation to improve in the short term

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said it is time to start thinking about rate increases

Demand-side inflationary pressure remains tepid and it’s “dangerous” to take preemptive monetary measures at this stage, Bank of Korea board member Shin In-seok said

The economy is continuing to recover, led by exports and domestic consumption, the finance ministry said in its monthly green book report

President Moon Jae-in asked heads of the country’s four biggest conglomerates — Samsung (KS:), Hyundai Motor, SK, and LG — to join his visit to Pyongyang to participate in the inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week, Chosun Ilbo reported

India’s rupee dropped to a record low before trimming the week’s loss; the government unveiled measures to prop up the sagging currency, including steps to facilitate bond issuance by local companies and possible curbs on imports

Officials from the finance ministry have asked the Reserve Bank of India to do more to maintain adequate liquidity in the banking system, people with knowledge of the matter said

The nation’s inflation eased below 4 percent for the first time in 10 months

The Indonesian rupiah posted its first weekly gain in five; Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said authorities want to tighten some rules on exporters and are seeking a fair share of export earnings to be retained in the country

Thailand’s SET Index of stocks rallied as King Maha Vajiralongkorn approved two laws, one for the election of members of parliament, and the other for the selection of senators, according to an announcement in the Royal Gazette

Thailand has no need to raise the key interest rate now as the nation’s inflation remains benign, Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said

The government plans to borrow 1.16 trillion baht ($36 billion) in fiscal year 2019

The Malaysian ringgit rose, halting a 12-week losing streak; the trade war may benefit Malaysia over the next year or so, especially in electronics and steel industries; in the long term, U.S.-China trade conflicts would be negative for the country, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said

Lim said Malaysia is paring expectations for how much money it can recoup from the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, and the country would be “very lucky” to get back just half

Recouping all funds lost through 1MDB may not be possible as the government wouldn’t be able to sell assets at the purchase price and some funds have been squandered, Anwar Ibrahim, president-elect of ruling People’s Justice Party, said

Police are investigating bond sales and transactions by institutions linked to 1MDB, according to Deputy Inspector General Noor Rashid Ibrahim

The Philippine peso weakened a fifth straight week, prompting the central bank to have reactivated a hedging program first introduced during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis to support the peso; the program offers currency forward contracts to bank clients with foreign exchange obligations of at least $50,000

President Rodrigo Duterte agreed to nine measures to contain inflation and a corresponding executive order to implement them immediately, Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said

First-half current-account deficit came in at $3.1 billion, compared with a $130 million shortfall a year ago

EMEA:

Turkish lira advanced a second week; President Erdogan appointed himself chairman of Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund and got rid of the entire management staff that had presided over two years of inaction

Gross domestic product rose 5.2 percent during the three months through June from a year earlier

Russia’s ruble halted a 3-week slump as policy makers said they’ll “consider the necessity of further increases” after lifting their benchmark to 7.5 percent, a level last seen in March, from 7.25 percent

Governor Elvira Nabiullina, who first broached the possibility of a rate hike earlier this month, said easing may not resume for more than a year

The two Russians accused by the U.K. of carrying out a nerve-agent attack on a former spy denied the charges in an interview with RT state television

Russia’s economy expanded faster than was earlier estimated in the second quarter

South Africa’s rand strengthened; the country’s stable ratings outlook means there’s little chance of a change in its assessment soon, Moody’s Investors Service said

Business confidence declined to the lowest level this year as industries raised concern about policy uncertainty

South Africa may collect less revenue than forecast and trim its growth prediction for the year after the economy fell into a recession, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said

The Hungarian forint rose; the European Parliament adopted a recommendation to punish the country for the perceived erosion of the rule of law, a process that is still unlikely to yield concrete sanctions

Prime Minister Viktor Orban received an unprecedented EU censure as European lawmakers called for his government to face possible sanctions for eroding democratic standards

Ukraine was given a boost in its fight with Russia over a defaulted $3 billion bond after the U.K. Court of Appeal ordered a full-blown trial

Polish zloty climbed; the country’s Monetary Policy Council kept FX intervention as an option while maintaining a floating exchange rate, according to its policy guidelines for 2019 published on the parliament’s website

Saudi Arabia is said to be raising about $2 billion from the sale of Islamic bonds

The nation’s sovereign wealth fund will sign an $11 billion loan, marking its first-ever borrowing, people familiar with the matter said

Ghana’s long-term foreign currency debt rating was upgraded to B from B- by Standard & Poor’s

Latin America:

The Brazilian real was the second worst performer; right-wing presidential front-runner Jair Bolsonaro underwent more surgery Wednesday evening after being stabbed on Sept. 6; Bolsonaro’s son said he is not in shape for the first round campaigning

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva endorsed his running mate Fernando Haddad as the Workers Party’s candidate after electoral officials barred the imprisoned former president from running in the October vote

The latest XP/Ipespe poll published Friday showed Bolsonaro leading the pack with 26% support in a 1st round scenario, rising from 23% in prior survey; the former Ceara state Governor Ciro Gomes secured 12 percent while Fernando Haddad captured 10 percent voter support

Argentina’s peso was the worst EM performer, setting a new record low on a closing basis as the IMF said it would delay a $3b disbursement to the nation until talks finish

The government is aiming to save 196 billion pesos ($4.9 billion) through spending cuts next year as it attempts to reach a fiscal balance, according to a report by La Nacion newspaper

August national consumer price index increased 3.9 percent in the month

The Mexican peso was the best performer in Latin America, mostly tracking gains across emerging-market peers; Mexico is open to moving ahead with a bilateral trade pact with the U.S. if Canada can’t reach a deal on Nafta with the Trump administration, FT reported

President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s chief of staff Alfonso Romo said the new government will respect oil contracts and work with companies that already have contracts to achieve success; comments are reassuring to the market, according to a client note from Citigroup (NYSE:)

Upcoming data:

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.

Read More https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/gloom-lifts-from-emerging-currencies-after-rate-hikes-em-review

[breakbit]

Gloom Lifts From Emerging Currencies After Rate Hikes: EM Review

New Post has been published on https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/gloom-lifts-from-emerging-currencies-after-rate-hikes-em-review

Gloom Lifts From Emerging Currencies After Rate Hikes: EM Review

© Bloomberg. Pedestrians gather near a gold and currency exchange store at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, on Friday, Aug. 17, 2018. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan argued citizens should buy gold, then he said sell. Add dramatic swings in the lira, and the country’s traders are now enthusiastically doing both. Photographer: Ismail Ferdous/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Emerging-market assets gained last week as Russia unexpectedly raised interest rates and Turkey hiked its one-week repo rate by more than forecast.

Highlights for the week ended Sept. 14:

Turkey’s lira was the best performer among 22 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg; policy makers defied President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by jacking up rates more than expected to bolster the flagging lira, lifting rates by 625 basis points to 24 percent; the decision came just after Erdogan said the nation “should cut this high interest rate”

Russia’s ruble flipped to gains from losses on Friday after the central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates for the first time since 2014; inflation risks have been mounting with a slumping currency and threats of U.S. sanctions

President Donald Trump is said to have instructed aides to proceed with tariffs on about $200 billion of Chinese products, even as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin proposed another round of trade talks with Beijing

China’s economic momentum weakened a notch in August, with a continued slowdown in investment overshadowing solid retail sales and industrial production data

The White House sent contradictory messages to North Korea, announcing it’s ready to start planning a second meeting with Kim Jong Un just hours after President Trump’s top national security adviser said nuclear talks were stalled

Asia:

The onshore and offshore both declined for a third week; more than 60 percent of U.S. businesses operating in China were hurt by the initial round of tariffs between the Chinese and U.S. governments, with 74 percent foreseeing harm from future U.S. tariffs and 68% from potential Chinese retaliatory duties, according to a survey of more than 430 American companies

S&P Global Ratings lowered its credit ratings on seven Chinese local government financing vehicles by one notch

South Korean won strengthened; the country’s jobless rate rose to 4.2 percent in August, the highest since January 2010 and up from 3.8 percent in July; it will be difficult for the country’s job situation to improve in the short term

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said it is time to start thinking about rate increases

Demand-side inflationary pressure remains tepid and it’s “dangerous” to take preemptive monetary measures at this stage, Bank of Korea board member Shin In-seok said

The economy is continuing to recover, led by exports and domestic consumption, the finance ministry said in its monthly green book report

President Moon Jae-in asked heads of the country’s four biggest conglomerates — Samsung (KS:), Hyundai Motor, SK, and LG — to join his visit to Pyongyang to participate in the inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week, Chosun Ilbo reported

India’s rupee dropped to a record low before trimming the week’s loss; the government unveiled measures to prop up the sagging currency, including steps to facilitate bond issuance by local companies and possible curbs on imports

Officials from the finance ministry have asked the Reserve Bank of India to do more to maintain adequate liquidity in the banking system, people with knowledge of the matter said

The nation’s inflation eased below 4 percent for the first time in 10 months

The Indonesian rupiah posted its first weekly gain in five; Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said authorities want to tighten some rules on exporters and are seeking a fair share of export earnings to be retained in the country

Thailand’s SET Index of stocks rallied as King Maha Vajiralongkorn approved two laws, one for the election of members of parliament, and the other for the selection of senators, according to an announcement in the Royal Gazette

Thailand has no need to raise the key interest rate now as the nation’s inflation remains benign, Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said

The government plans to borrow 1.16 trillion baht ($36 billion) in fiscal year 2019

The Malaysian ringgit rose, halting a 12-week losing streak; the trade war may benefit Malaysia over the next year or so, especially in electronics and steel industries; in the long term, U.S.-China trade conflicts would be negative for the country, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said

Lim said Malaysia is paring expectations for how much money it can recoup from the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, and the country would be “very lucky” to get back just half

Recouping all funds lost through 1MDB may not be possible as the government wouldn’t be able to sell assets at the purchase price and some funds have been squandered, Anwar Ibrahim, president-elect of ruling People’s Justice Party, said

Police are investigating bond sales and transactions by institutions linked to 1MDB, according to Deputy Inspector General Noor Rashid Ibrahim

The Philippine peso weakened a fifth straight week, prompting the central bank to have reactivated a hedging program first introduced during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis to support the peso; the program offers currency forward contracts to bank clients with foreign exchange obligations of at least $50,000

President Rodrigo Duterte agreed to nine measures to contain inflation and a corresponding executive order to implement them immediately, Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said

First-half current-account deficit came in at $3.1 billion, compared with a $130 million shortfall a year ago

EMEA:

Turkish lira advanced a second week; President Erdogan appointed himself chairman of Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund and got rid of the entire management staff that had presided over two years of inaction

Gross domestic product rose 5.2 percent during the three months through June from a year earlier

Russia’s ruble halted a 3-week slump as policy makers said they’ll “consider the necessity of further increases” after lifting their benchmark to 7.5 percent, a level last seen in March, from 7.25 percent

Governor Elvira Nabiullina, who first broached the possibility of a rate hike earlier this month, said easing may not resume for more than a year

The two Russians accused by the U.K. of carrying out a nerve-agent attack on a former spy denied the charges in an interview with RT state television

Russia’s economy expanded faster than was earlier estimated in the second quarter

South Africa’s rand strengthened; the country’s stable ratings outlook means there’s little chance of a change in its assessment soon, Moody’s Investors Service said

Business confidence declined to the lowest level this year as industries raised concern about policy uncertainty

South Africa may collect less revenue than forecast and trim its growth prediction for the year after the economy fell into a recession, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said

The Hungarian forint rose; the European Parliament adopted a recommendation to punish the country for the perceived erosion of the rule of law, a process that is still unlikely to yield concrete sanctions

Prime Minister Viktor Orban received an unprecedented EU censure as European lawmakers called for his government to face possible sanctions for eroding democratic standards

Ukraine was given a boost in its fight with Russia over a defaulted $3 billion bond after the U.K. Court of Appeal ordered a full-blown trial

Polish zloty climbed; the country’s Monetary Policy Council kept FX intervention as an option while maintaining a floating exchange rate, according to its policy guidelines for 2019 published on the parliament’s website

Saudi Arabia is said to be raising about $2 billion from the sale of Islamic bonds

The nation’s sovereign wealth fund will sign an $11 billion loan, marking its first-ever borrowing, people familiar with the matter said

Ghana’s long-term foreign currency debt rating was upgraded to B from B- by Standard & Poor’s

Latin America:

The Brazilian real was the second worst performer; right-wing presidential front-runner Jair Bolsonaro underwent more surgery Wednesday evening after being stabbed on Sept. 6; Bolsonaro’s son said he is not in shape for the first round campaigning

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva endorsed his running mate Fernando Haddad as the Workers Party’s candidate after electoral officials barred the imprisoned former president from running in the October vote

The latest XP/Ipespe poll published Friday showed Bolsonaro leading the pack with 26% support in a 1st round scenario, rising from 23% in prior survey; the former Ceara state Governor Ciro Gomes secured 12 percent while Fernando Haddad captured 10 percent voter support

Argentina’s peso was the worst EM performer, setting a new record low on a closing basis as the IMF said it would delay a $3b disbursement to the nation until talks finish

The government is aiming to save 196 billion pesos ($4.9 billion) through spending cuts next year as it attempts to reach a fiscal balance, according to a report by La Nacion newspaper

August national consumer price index increased 3.9 percent in the month

The Mexican peso was the best performer in Latin America, mostly tracking gains across emerging-market peers; Mexico is open to moving ahead with a bilateral trade pact with the U.S. if Canada can’t reach a deal on Nafta with the Trump administration, FT reported

President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s chief of staff Alfonso Romo said the new government will respect oil contracts and work with companies that already have contracts to achieve success; comments are reassuring to the market, according to a client note from Citigroup (NYSE:)

Upcoming data:

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.

Read More https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/gloom-lifts-from-emerging-currencies-after-rate-hikes-em-review

[scottspizzatours]

Why I Celebrated 10 Years of Pizza Touring with a Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pizza

Tuesday was the new Friday when I was growing up in suburban New Jersey in the 1990s. That’s the night my family would visit our local Pizza Hut, conveniently located directly in the middle of my hometown. It was one of those vintage red-roofed hut-shaped structures we now see disguised as burger joints, bookstores, and veterinary clinics (thanks to the blog Used to Be a Pizza Hut for documenting them). I remember so much about that Pizza Hut from the salad bar in the center to the textured red Coca Cola cups to the stained glass light fixtures to the terribly slow service. We had at least half a dozen independent pizzerias in this 25,000 person commuter town, which we patronized regularly, but Pizza Hut was for special occasions. It was a pizza restaurant, not a slice shop like all the others. A visit there was reserved for special occasions: Tuesdays.

I don’t know if it was the policy of the Pizza Hut company or of my local location, but Tuesday night was specially designated Book It night. This was Pizza Hut’s program that awarded a free personal pan pizza to any participant who read five books in one month. Every participant got a neat hologram pin with five blank spaces in which we paced a gold star for every book we read. It was a brilliant ploy to bring in bodies on an otherwise slow night and it totally worked. Most tables had at least one kid enjoying a personal pan pizza while the rest of their families paid full price. There was even a free toy when Pizza Hut had a media partnership to tout. The only one I clearly remember was the pair of futuristic sunglasses that somehow promoted Back to the Future II. No, I don’t think I have them anymore.

Those visits to Pizza Hut stuck with me, as I’m sure they did with most kids whose schools made the devil’s pact with Pizza Hut. My personal pan pizza consumption definitely trailed off when I aged out of the Book It program and I honestly don’t remember the last time I had one. Come to think of it, I hadn’t really eaten much Pizza Hut pizza since the late 1990s with he exception of one time my friends and I ordered a “Four-by-Four” meal (I think it was four pizzas, four orders of bread sticks, four liters of soda, and four trips to the cardiologist). I knew the company had been sold to Pepsi Co by the Carney brothers, who founded the company in 1958, and again to Yum Brands. The magic vibe was missing so I just wrote them off as a piece of the past that will never be the same again.

As I starting giving pizza tours of NYC and writing for pizza magazines and all that good stuff, one of the most frequently asked questions was that of the big chain pizzerias. People asked me every day which I prefer out of the Big Four (Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Papa John’s, and Little Caesar’s). Since I eat at some of the greatest pizzerias on Earth on a daily basis, there’s just not a lot of room in my life for the big chains. I briefly worked at Domino’s back in 2012 just because I was curious, I met “Papa” John Schnatter in 2015 as part of a food blogger event, and I even visited Little Caesar’s Store #001 last year as part of a Detroit pizza research trip; but Pizza Hut was a blind spot on for me since the last time I had it was easily 15 years ago. I’ve been tempted on multiple occasions, especially since there’s a Pizza Hut counter in the Target right around the corner from my apartment, but the time was never right... until April 27, 2018.

Almost exactly six months after I rented a school bus and took 25 of my friends on a citywide pizza-eating adventure, I launched my company Scott’s Pizza Tours. My first official tour rolled on April 27, 2008. We hit four pizzerias across Manhattan and the Bronx and it was magical. But I was terrified. I had never owned a business, never ran a business, never wanted to run a business. I just wanted to eat pizza. I had a blast every time I ran a tour, but I was always terrified that I wasn’t qualified to tell anybody anything about something simple like pizza. I named the company Scott’s Pizza Tours because I wanted to be clear that this tour was my own personal perspective. A more generic name might imply that I was claiming some higher understanding or superiority and I desperately did not want to do that. I was only 26 years old when I started running tours and knew that plenty of my customers (if anybody even showed up) would be much older than me and therefore far more experienced in terms of quantity of pizza consumed. That’s why I did my best to research the objective points of pizza history so that the story I’d tell would be about the facts and not about the subjectivity of food preferences.

Running tours was a blast. I had more fun than I ever imagined and did my best to stay ten steps ahead of my tour guests’ questions. I studied so much that people were shocked when I’d respond to the question I’ve gotten on almost every single tour, “How long have you been doing this?” I remember answering, “Six months,” and wondering what it might be like when and if I hit three years, five years, or even longer! I keep data on every tour and wondered if I’d ever reach the point of being able to say I’d run 500 tours. Now when I tell people I’ve been doing this for over a decade and I’ve personally done over 2,500 tours, they don’t believe it. Then they ask my favorite question: “What’s your real job?” I’m having too much fun for this to be my real job, but that’s exactly what it is.

I knew I had to eat pizza on my tenth anniversary. Would I eat it from one of the pizzerias I frequent on tours? Would I go to a pizzeria I’ve had on my to-do list for the past decade? Would I take a trip to one of the famous pizzerias beyond the five boroughs of NYC? No. I decided to go to Target. Why take the chance of disappointing myself with a new pizza? Why do the boring thing and have a slice I had the day before? Why take the chance of pissing off all the pizzeria owners whose pizza I didn’t celebrate with when I could piss of ALL the pizzeria owners by checking in with an old friend? I knew what I had to do.

When I realized I was waiting in the PICK UP line, I scooted over to the ORDER HERE line and placed my request for a personal pepperoni pizza. I watched as it was slapped together, a real paint-by-numbers situation. It took about six minutes to roll across the conveyor belt oven (I timed it) and my walk home took another eight. I sat down in my living room and ate two slices. I didn’t expect it to be like the pizza I ate on Tuesday nights as a kid. I ate it because it felt like returning to my roots was the right thing to do. I’m glad I chose to celebrate 10 years of pizza touring with a personal pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut. Now I know I never have to eat one again.

[jettadarkwynd]

Gloom Lifts From Emerging Currencies After Rate Hikes: EM Review

New Post has been published on https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/gloom-lifts-from-emerging-currencies-after-rate-hikes-em-review

Gloom Lifts From Emerging Currencies After Rate Hikes: EM Review

© Bloomberg. Pedestrians gather near a gold and currency exchange store at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, on Friday, Aug. 17, 2018. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan argued citizens should buy gold, then he said sell. Add dramatic swings in the lira, and the country’s traders are now enthusiastically doing both. Photographer: Ismail Ferdous/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Emerging-market assets gained last week as Russia unexpectedly raised interest rates and Turkey hiked its one-week repo rate by more than forecast.

Highlights for the week ended Sept. 14:

Turkey’s lira was the best performer among 22 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg; policy makers defied President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by jacking up rates more than expected to bolster the flagging lira, lifting rates by 625 basis points to 24 percent; the decision came just after Erdogan said the nation “should cut this high interest rate”

Russia’s ruble flipped to gains from losses on Friday after the central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates for the first time since 2014; inflation risks have been mounting with a slumping currency and threats of U.S. sanctions

President Donald Trump is said to have instructed aides to proceed with tariffs on about $200 billion of Chinese products, even as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin proposed another round of trade talks with Beijing

China’s economic momentum weakened a notch in August, with a continued slowdown in investment overshadowing solid retail sales and industrial production data

The White House sent contradictory messages to North Korea, announcing it’s ready to start planning a second meeting with Kim Jong Un just hours after President Trump’s top national security adviser said nuclear talks were stalled

Asia:

The onshore and offshore both declined for a third week; more than 60 percent of U.S. businesses operating in China were hurt by the initial round of tariffs between the Chinese and U.S. governments, with 74 percent foreseeing harm from future U.S. tariffs and 68% from potential Chinese retaliatory duties, according to a survey of more than 430 American companies

S&P Global Ratings lowered its credit ratings on seven Chinese local government financing vehicles by one notch

South Korean won strengthened; the country’s jobless rate rose to 4.2 percent in August, the highest since January 2010 and up from 3.8 percent in July; it will be difficult for the country’s job situation to improve in the short term

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said it is time to start thinking about rate increases

Demand-side inflationary pressure remains tepid and it’s “dangerous” to take preemptive monetary measures at this stage, Bank of Korea board member Shin In-seok said

The economy is continuing to recover, led by exports and domestic consumption, the finance ministry said in its monthly green book report

President Moon Jae-in asked heads of the country’s four biggest conglomerates — Samsung (KS:), Hyundai Motor, SK, and LG — to join his visit to Pyongyang to participate in the inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week, Chosun Ilbo reported

India’s rupee dropped to a record low before trimming the week’s loss; the government unveiled measures to prop up the sagging currency, including steps to facilitate bond issuance by local companies and possible curbs on imports

Officials from the finance ministry have asked the Reserve Bank of India to do more to maintain adequate liquidity in the banking system, people with knowledge of the matter said

The nation’s inflation eased below 4 percent for the first time in 10 months

The Indonesian rupiah posted its first weekly gain in five; Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said authorities want to tighten some rules on exporters and are seeking a fair share of export earnings to be retained in the country

Thailand’s SET Index of stocks rallied as King Maha Vajiralongkorn approved two laws, one for the election of members of parliament, and the other for the selection of senators, according to an announcement in the Royal Gazette

Thailand has no need to raise the key interest rate now as the nation’s inflation remains benign, Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said

The government plans to borrow 1.16 trillion baht ($36 billion) in fiscal year 2019

The Malaysian ringgit rose, halting a 12-week losing streak; the trade war may benefit Malaysia over the next year or so, especially in electronics and steel industries; in the long term, U.S.-China trade conflicts would be negative for the country, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said

Lim said Malaysia is paring expectations for how much money it can recoup from the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, and the country would be “very lucky” to get back just half

Recouping all funds lost through 1MDB may not be possible as the government wouldn’t be able to sell assets at the purchase price and some funds have been squandered, Anwar Ibrahim, president-elect of ruling People’s Justice Party, said

Police are investigating bond sales and transactions by institutions linked to 1MDB, according to Deputy Inspector General Noor Rashid Ibrahim

The Philippine peso weakened a fifth straight week, prompting the central bank to have reactivated a hedging program first introduced during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis to support the peso; the program offers currency forward contracts to bank clients with foreign exchange obligations of at least $50,000

President Rodrigo Duterte agreed to nine measures to contain inflation and a corresponding executive order to implement them immediately, Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said

First-half current-account deficit came in at $3.1 billion, compared with a $130 million shortfall a year ago

EMEA:

Turkish lira advanced a second week; President Erdogan appointed himself chairman of Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund and got rid of the entire management staff that had presided over two years of inaction

Gross domestic product rose 5.2 percent during the three months through June from a year earlier

Russia’s ruble halted a 3-week slump as policy makers said they’ll “consider the necessity of further increases” after lifting their benchmark to 7.5 percent, a level last seen in March, from 7.25 percent

Governor Elvira Nabiullina, who first broached the possibility of a rate hike earlier this month, said easing may not resume for more than a year

The two Russians accused by the U.K. of carrying out a nerve-agent attack on a former spy denied the charges in an interview with RT state television

Russia’s economy expanded faster than was earlier estimated in the second quarter

South Africa’s rand strengthened; the country’s stable ratings outlook means there’s little chance of a change in its assessment soon, Moody’s Investors Service said

Business confidence declined to the lowest level this year as industries raised concern about policy uncertainty

South Africa may collect less revenue than forecast and trim its growth prediction for the year after the economy fell into a recession, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said

The Hungarian forint rose; the European Parliament adopted a recommendation to punish the country for the perceived erosion of the rule of law, a process that is still unlikely to yield concrete sanctions

Prime Minister Viktor Orban received an unprecedented EU censure as European lawmakers called for his government to face possible sanctions for eroding democratic standards

Ukraine was given a boost in its fight with Russia over a defaulted $3 billion bond after the U.K. Court of Appeal ordered a full-blown trial

Polish zloty climbed; the country’s Monetary Policy Council kept FX intervention as an option while maintaining a floating exchange rate, according to its policy guidelines for 2019 published on the parliament’s website

Saudi Arabia is said to be raising about $2 billion from the sale of Islamic bonds

The nation’s sovereign wealth fund will sign an $11 billion loan, marking its first-ever borrowing, people familiar with the matter said

Ghana’s long-term foreign currency debt rating was upgraded to B from B- by Standard & Poor’s

Latin America:

The Brazilian real was the second worst performer; right-wing presidential front-runner Jair Bolsonaro underwent more surgery Wednesday evening after being stabbed on Sept. 6; Bolsonaro’s son said he is not in shape for the first round campaigning

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva endorsed his running mate Fernando Haddad as the Workers Party’s candidate after electoral officials barred the imprisoned former president from running in the October vote

The latest XP/Ipespe poll published Friday showed Bolsonaro leading the pack with 26% support in a 1st round scenario, rising from 23% in prior survey; the former Ceara state Governor Ciro Gomes secured 12 percent while Fernando Haddad captured 10 percent voter support

Argentina’s peso was the worst EM performer, setting a new record low on a closing basis as the IMF said it would delay a $3b disbursement to the nation until talks finish

The government is aiming to save 196 billion pesos ($4.9 billion) through spending cuts next year as it attempts to reach a fiscal balance, according to a report by La Nacion newspaper

August national consumer price index increased 3.9 percent in the month

The Mexican peso was the best performer in Latin America, mostly tracking gains across emerging-market peers; Mexico is open to moving ahead with a bilateral trade pact with the U.S. if Canada can’t reach a deal on Nafta with the Trump administration, FT reported

President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s chief of staff Alfonso Romo said the new government will respect oil contracts and work with companies that already have contracts to achieve success; comments are reassuring to the market, according to a client note from Citigroup (NYSE:)

Upcoming data:

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.

Read More https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/gloom-lifts-from-emerging-currencies-after-rate-hikes-em-review

[cute1dfacts]

Gloom Lifts From Emerging Currencies After Rate Hikes: EM Review

New Post has been published on https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/gloom-lifts-from-emerging-currencies-after-rate-hikes-em-review

Gloom Lifts From Emerging Currencies After Rate Hikes: EM Review

© Bloomberg. Pedestrians gather near a gold and currency exchange store at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, on Friday, Aug. 17, 2018. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan argued citizens should buy gold, then he said sell. Add dramatic swings in the lira, and the country’s traders are now enthusiastically doing both. Photographer: Ismail Ferdous/Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Emerging-market assets gained last week as Russia unexpectedly raised interest rates and Turkey hiked its one-week repo rate by more than forecast.

Highlights for the week ended Sept. 14:

Turkey’s lira was the best performer among 22 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg; policy makers defied President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by jacking up rates more than expected to bolster the flagging lira, lifting rates by 625 basis points to 24 percent; the decision came just after Erdogan said the nation “should cut this high interest rate”

Russia’s ruble flipped to gains from losses on Friday after the central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates for the first time since 2014; inflation risks have been mounting with a slumping currency and threats of U.S. sanctions

President Donald Trump is said to have instructed aides to proceed with tariffs on about $200 billion of Chinese products, even as Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin proposed another round of trade talks with Beijing

China’s economic momentum weakened a notch in August, with a continued slowdown in investment overshadowing solid retail sales and industrial production data

The White House sent contradictory messages to North Korea, announcing it’s ready to start planning a second meeting with Kim Jong Un just hours after President Trump’s top national security adviser said nuclear talks were stalled

Asia:

The onshore and offshore both declined for a third week; more than 60 percent of U.S. businesses operating in China were hurt by the initial round of tariffs between the Chinese and U.S. governments, with 74 percent foreseeing harm from future U.S. tariffs and 68% from potential Chinese retaliatory duties, according to a survey of more than 430 American companies

S&P Global Ratings lowered its credit ratings on seven Chinese local government financing vehicles by one notch

South Korean won strengthened; the country’s jobless rate rose to 4.2 percent in August, the highest since January 2010 and up from 3.8 percent in July; it will be difficult for the country’s job situation to improve in the short term

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said it is time to start thinking about rate increases

Demand-side inflationary pressure remains tepid and it’s “dangerous” to take preemptive monetary measures at this stage, Bank of Korea board member Shin In-seok said

The economy is continuing to recover, led by exports and domestic consumption, the finance ministry said in its monthly green book report

President Moon Jae-in asked heads of the country’s four biggest conglomerates — Samsung (KS:), Hyundai Motor, SK, and LG — to join his visit to Pyongyang to participate in the inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week, Chosun Ilbo reported

India’s rupee dropped to a record low before trimming the week’s loss; the government unveiled measures to prop up the sagging currency, including steps to facilitate bond issuance by local companies and possible curbs on imports

Officials from the finance ministry have asked the Reserve Bank of India to do more to maintain adequate liquidity in the banking system, people with knowledge of the matter said

The nation’s inflation eased below 4 percent for the first time in 10 months

The Indonesian rupiah posted its first weekly gain in five; Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said authorities want to tighten some rules on exporters and are seeking a fair share of export earnings to be retained in the country

Thailand’s SET Index of stocks rallied as King Maha Vajiralongkorn approved two laws, one for the election of members of parliament, and the other for the selection of senators, according to an announcement in the Royal Gazette

Thailand has no need to raise the key interest rate now as the nation’s inflation remains benign, Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong said

The government plans to borrow 1.16 trillion baht ($36 billion) in fiscal year 2019

The Malaysian ringgit rose, halting a 12-week losing streak; the trade war may benefit Malaysia over the next year or so, especially in electronics and steel industries; in the long term, U.S.-China trade conflicts would be negative for the country, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said

Lim said Malaysia is paring expectations for how much money it can recoup from the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, and the country would be “very lucky” to get back just half

Recouping all funds lost through 1MDB may not be possible as the government wouldn’t be able to sell assets at the purchase price and some funds have been squandered, Anwar Ibrahim, president-elect of ruling People’s Justice Party, said

Police are investigating bond sales and transactions by institutions linked to 1MDB, according to Deputy Inspector General Noor Rashid Ibrahim

The Philippine peso weakened a fifth straight week, prompting the central bank to have reactivated a hedging program first introduced during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis to support the peso; the program offers currency forward contracts to bank clients with foreign exchange obligations of at least $50,000

President Rodrigo Duterte agreed to nine measures to contain inflation and a corresponding executive order to implement them immediately, Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said

First-half current-account deficit came in at $3.1 billion, compared with a $130 million shortfall a year ago

EMEA:

Turkish lira advanced a second week; President Erdogan appointed himself chairman of Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund and got rid of the entire management staff that had presided over two years of inaction

Gross domestic product rose 5.2 percent during the three months through June from a year earlier

Russia’s ruble halted a 3-week slump as policy makers said they’ll “consider the necessity of further increases” after lifting their benchmark to 7.5 percent, a level last seen in March, from 7.25 percent

Governor Elvira Nabiullina, who first broached the possibility of a rate hike earlier this month, said easing may not resume for more than a year

The two Russians accused by the U.K. of carrying out a nerve-agent attack on a former spy denied the charges in an interview with RT state television

Russia’s economy expanded faster than was earlier estimated in the second quarter

South Africa’s rand strengthened; the country’s stable ratings outlook means there’s little chance of a change in its assessment soon, Moody’s Investors Service said

Business confidence declined to the lowest level this year as industries raised concern about policy uncertainty

South Africa may collect less revenue than forecast and trim its growth prediction for the year after the economy fell into a recession, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said

The Hungarian forint rose; the European Parliament adopted a recommendation to punish the country for the perceived erosion of the rule of law, a process that is still unlikely to yield concrete sanctions

Prime Minister Viktor Orban received an unprecedented EU censure as European lawmakers called for his government to face possible sanctions for eroding democratic standards

Ukraine was given a boost in its fight with Russia over a defaulted $3 billion bond after the U.K. Court of Appeal ordered a full-blown trial

Polish zloty climbed; the country’s Monetary Policy Council kept FX intervention as an option while maintaining a floating exchange rate, according to its policy guidelines for 2019 published on the parliament’s website

Saudi Arabia is said to be raising about $2 billion from the sale of Islamic bonds

The nation’s sovereign wealth fund will sign an $11 billion loan, marking its first-ever borrowing, people familiar with the matter said

Ghana’s long-term foreign currency debt rating was upgraded to B from B- by Standard & Poor’s

Latin America:

The Brazilian real was the second worst performer; right-wing presidential front-runner Jair Bolsonaro underwent more surgery Wednesday evening after being stabbed on Sept. 6; Bolsonaro’s son said he is not in shape for the first round campaigning

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva endorsed his running mate Fernando Haddad as the Workers Party’s candidate after electoral officials barred the imprisoned former president from running in the October vote

The latest XP/Ipespe poll published Friday showed Bolsonaro leading the pack with 26% support in a 1st round scenario, rising from 23% in prior survey; the former Ceara state Governor Ciro Gomes secured 12 percent while Fernando Haddad captured 10 percent voter support

Argentina’s peso was the worst EM performer, setting a new record low on a closing basis as the IMF said it would delay a $3b disbursement to the nation until talks finish

The government is aiming to save 196 billion pesos ($4.9 billion) through spending cuts next year as it attempts to reach a fiscal balance, according to a report by La Nacion newspaper

August national consumer price index increased 3.9 percent in the month

The Mexican peso was the best performer in Latin America, mostly tracking gains across emerging-market peers; Mexico is open to moving ahead with a bilateral trade pact with the U.S. if Canada can’t reach a deal on Nafta with the Trump administration, FT reported

President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s chief of staff Alfonso Romo said the new government will respect oil contracts and work with companies that already have contracts to achieve success; comments are reassuring to the market, according to a client note from Citigroup (NYSE:)

Upcoming data:

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.

Read More https://worldwide-finance.net/news/commodities-futures-news/gloom-lifts-from-emerging-currencies-after-rate-hikes-em-review

[mysticseasons]

From picnic table to Pyeongchang … How three Canadian medal contenders coordinated their Olympic comebacks

A luger, a bobsledder and a figure-skater are sitting on a picnic table on Parliament Hill …

Sounds like the start of a corny joke, doesn’t it?

It turned out be a turning-point type of conversation for a trio of Canadian Olympians and close pals — all legitimate medal contenders at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang.

“It’s so funny … Luge and bobsled, obviously those two sports have similarities. But ice dance?!?” said Scott Moir, one half of Canada’s darling duo with long-time skating partner and now fellow flag-bearer Tessa Virtue. “I mean … I guess we all wear tights. Those guys just don’t have as many sequins as I do. I bet they wish they did.”

Outfits aside, they are bonded by a picnic-table pact.

Without it, perhaps they wouldn’t be packing for Pyeongchang.

Rewind to June 2014, with Canada’s athletes from the Sochi Winter Olympics assembled in Ottawa for the so-called Celebration of Excellence.

At some point, three standouts from separate sports — Moir, luger Sam Edney and bobsled brakeman Jesse Lumsden — plopped themselves atop a table in an outdoor courtyard.

Talk turned to the future.

“The three of us, we were enjoying our time to celebrate and to cut loose, but we were all tired,” said Lumsden, a star running back in the Canadian Football League before retiring from pigskin to focus on his quest for Olympic glory. “We got talking about what comes next, and there was kind of this, ‘Well .. I’ll come back if you come back’ and ‘Well … if you’re coming back, then I’m coming back too.’ But we needed to take a break. And that’s sort of what it turned into.

“We’d keep in touch, and it was always like, ‘Where’s your head at? How ya feeling? You coming back still? I am if you are.’ So it’s been this continual thing. Sam went off to Victoria to go to school but always said, ‘I’m doing it. I’m making the comeback.’ And then Scotty and Tessa announced their comeback, as well.

“I’m not going to say that it’s because we promised each other we were going to do it, but none of us wanted to let each other down. We said that we were doing this together, and we wanted to see it through.”

Moir and Virtue will lead Canada’s contingent into the opening ceremonies next Friday in South Korea. After winning gold at Vancouver 2010 and then silver in Sochi, they’ll share flag-bearer duties, an honour that Moir never could have imagined four years back.

Because when the pride of Ilderton, Ont., arrived at the 2014 Celebration of Excellence, his mind was made up. Or at least he thought it was.

“I thought, for sure, I was done,” Moir admitted. “Those two guys had both played with the idea of maybe taking a bit of a break, and I know Jesse had a very clear plan where he would start to work back in bit-by-bit, year-by-year. And that was the first time I sort of thought of it like that. So for me, it was a huge moment, because I kind of thought, ‘Whoa, maybe I could take some time off AND come back for the Olympics.’ That kind of made that click.

“Sitting there on that bench in Ottawa … it planted a seed in my head.”

A legacy baby of the 1988 Winter Games, Calgary’s Edney skipped the following season on the World Cup luge circuit, cramming to complete a commerce degree.

Lumsden, who originally hails from Burlington, Ont., but now also calls Cowtown home, didn’t compete for the next two winters.

According to Moir, about a year passed before he and Virtue started to chat about a push for Pyeongchang, spit-balling about where they would train and what they might do differently. They made their comeback official early in 2016.

“Once we started to kind of play that game, we fell in love with the idea so much that it was something that we couldn’t live without,” said Moir, who turned 30 in the fall.

There is one other character in this picnic-table tale — Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau.

What does he have to do with it?

That day on Parliament Hill, a spotting of Trudeau — then leader of the opposition �� caused a fuss.

Athletes scrambled for selfies with the hunky politician.

Edney, Lumsden and Moir stayed put.

“All of a sudden, there was this big commotion, and it was like, ‘Holy jeez, what’s going on over there?!?’ ” Edney recalled. “And the three of us just took this moment. It was our moment, I guess. We had a bit of time, and it was like, ‘Boys, are we going to make this happen in another four years? Are we going to all band together?’

“We all made a bit of a pact that we could rely on each other and if there was ever a moment through the next cycle that we needed a hand or needed a buddy to chat things out or just talk about whatever, we would always be there for each other.

“I think somebody even said, ‘Boys, this is a great moment. We have to capture this.’ I don’t remember who took the photo, but we all threw on the serious faces, pondering what’s going to happen in the next Olympic quad.”

The future they were staring into is now.

When the picnic-table pact was made, Edney was motivated by “unfinished business.”

Canada’s luge relay team — Edney, Alex Gough and the tandem of Justin Snith and Tristan Walker — finished fourth in Sochi, missing the podium by one agonizing tenth-of-a-second. They learned in late December they had been upgraded to bronze due to the doping disqualification of two members of Russia’s silver-medal squad.

With the 33-year-old Edney as their elder statesman, Canada’s luge relay team is again a medal threat.

Lumsden, 35, is one of two brakemen who pushed pilot Justin Kripps to the overall World Cup crown in two-man bobsled this season. Kripps, Lumsden & Co. are among the frontrunners in four-man competition, too.

As two-time Olympic medallists and reigning world champions, there are sky-high expectations for Virtue and Moir.

“Four years away is such a long time, but I think we all know from our various sports that it goes by way quicker than you expect. I can look back to that moment and it doesn’t feel like that long ago,” Edney said. “For me, it was looking at setting a goal but also committing your life to being very different. I mean … the amount of effort and work that has to go into an Olympic quad and basically knowing that each moment over the next four years is going to either add up or take away from that Olympic moment …

“It’s a big life-changing decision. I guess it was nice, in that scenario, to know that you weren’t making that decision totally alone. When you have two other guys that are sort of in the same mindset, I think it’s easier to get stoked about it.”

It was, they all agree now, a good decision.

Hopefully, a golden one.

“Every time that there is a team selection, I just watch and think, ‘Thank God we came back,’ ” Moir said. “Because I couldn’t have sat at home and watched all of my friends have the time of their lives and compete in Korea without me.”

- Calgary Sun, Jan 28th 2018

[hanleykayla]

September 2, 2018

It’s 6:00am in Cape Coast and I am wrapped in a blanket, drinking a coffee, and looking out over the ocean from my balcony. And, I am finding a hard time finding the words to write for this post. I sat here yesterday afternoon and attempted to write as well, but I couldn’t find anything to say. It might because I finally told my mind to “shut up” (rightfully so), or its because I cannot slow down my thoughts enough to actually capture them. It is difficult trying to explain whats going on in your head when you don’t even understand it yourself. But whatever it is, with my lack of thoughts, my two-week-long headache seems to be going away, so I am going to sit here for as long as I can and enjoy this.

Monday-Friday this past week was somewhat uneventful. As a way to raise awareness about child labor and trafficking, Cheerful Hearts conducts “Child Rights Talks” in schools all around Central Ghana. The talks inform the students, age 6-16, about their rights as children and the difference between good and bad work. While I have never seen or led one of these talks myself yet, I was tasked with updating the talks to make them more “impactful.” Accepting this responsibility was a little challenging for me. I had a lot of questions and I didn’t feel like I, a complete foreigner to the students and their life, was the right person to do this alone. So, I asked everyone in the office if they could find a day during the week where everyone was free so I could host a brainstorming session. 

Tuesday was the decided upon day and boy, did I show up for it prepared with all the questions and a hope for productivity. As shared last week, I am aware of the difference in approach to time between Ghanian culture and my own, but it is taking a while to learn it, to fully digest it. Because let me tell you, my expectations were not met. I realized that I approached the conversation with too broad of questions, hoping to open the door to exploration and discussion, but rather I let a lot of tangential conversations walk in. I walked away from the day with notes that read differently that I anticipated, but I think maybe more useful than expected: “To do: Give people something to respond to; Use less time by being more direct with questions and focused on something that can generates specific opinions. This way, there is time for both productivity and flexibility in the work day.” 

We all want to shape something with our hands and say, “Hey! Look! I made this!”; We want to see a product out of work, whatever that is. But, when you’re in an environment, when you’re doing work that you can’t see what you're producing and you’re just going through the emotions, that’s when a psychological gap comes in. And, we tend to fill it with the questions of “What am I even doing here?” “What’s the point of all of this?” That’s why finding ways to feel productive in your life is so important.

So, I am trying to blend the two value systems of time and productivity and in result, I have begun to think about different ways to fundraise for Cheerful Hearts. I think this could be a process that doesn’t necessarily have a specific deadline, but is one thing that I am sure of that will make a impact and is something that I could accomplish while I am here. For now, this seems like a useful and appropriate thing to direct my attention to. I have a lot of ideas that I am excited and hopeful about that I cannot wait to share!

On Friday after our team meeting, some of the people I live with and I took a three-hour trotro ride to Cape Coast. It’s a costal town located to the west of Kasoa and is known for its role in the transatlantic slave trade. On Saturday morning, I visited the Cape Coast Castle, originally built in the 1640s for the trade of timber and gold, but eventually used as one of the largest slave castles that held slaves before they were boarded on to ships and sent to the Americas. I spent three hours there and it was a powerful experience that left me with a heavy weight to carry for the reminder of the weekend. 

Fortunately, there was more to the Coast this weekend to occupy my time than the haunting memories of the slave trade: the Oguaa Fetu Afahye Festival. Oguaa Fetu Afahye is an annual festival celebrated on the first Saturday of September. Similar to other festivals in Ghana, there is a history to this celebration: 

Once upon a time there had been a plague in Cape Coast as history has it. This was devastating and as such demanded that the people of Cape Coast call for an intervention from their gods. It is believed that the gods helped the people to eradicate the disease, hence, the name "Fetu" originally known as "Efin Tu" ("doing away with dirt”). The festival is about keeping the town clean and praising the gods that watch over them.

While the traditional celebration was on Saturday afternoon, which was celebrated with a parade and dancing, the height of the celebration occurred on Friday night. Known as “Orange Friday,” the whole town dresses up in orange, closes all their businesses, and takes to the streets. Unaware of this day, I was appropriately dressed in light blue, and if this or my white skin didn’t make me stand out already, I am sure that my overwhelmed facial expression did the trick. I was offered unrecognizable meat on sticks and marriage proposals, but all I accepted was some dance partners and a few photo opportunities. I also graciously accepted the advice of many to keep my phone out of sight because “there were a lot of bad people around here,” so sadly, I didn’t take as many photos or videos as I would have liked.

After all the hype of the festival, we are brought to here: 6am on a quiet beach with just me and the massive (!) waves. This is what I was expecting when I pictured my weekend on the Coast. And, while I really think I could have used some days of stillness and comfort, the experience I did have this weekend was invaluable in the culture that I saw and the people that I met. Last night, a man named Peter approached me, and I initially shut him down by responding to his simple “Hello” with a pretty blunt, “Hi, I don’t want to be your friend.” Which I am realizing sounds so cold as I type it, but for the past six weeks, I have been targeted daily only as an obroni that can either offer money or marriage - two things that I am not about to offer anyone. So, I have been conditioned to just assume that people only want to interact with me because of this. However, Peter met my rudeness with patience and did not shy away like I wanted him to. Rather than challenging my decision to not be his personal friend, he asked me why that was my first reaction to his presence, overall. I explained to him that because I am constantly approached and unaware of people’s intentions, I don’t know who to trust, and rather than giving people the benefit of the doubt, I am choosing the safe route of putting a guard up. He said he understood as much as he could, but wanted to reassure me that, just like anywhere, there is a diversity of people here. What could have been a ten-second interaction turned into a 30 minute discussion about how to have an open mind and heart when in discomfort. 

All of this, the office meeting, the weekend festival, the conversation with Peter, got me thinking about expectations. As much as I said that I didn’t have many expectations when coming here and that I wanted to just be open to learn, it would be a lie to say that I did not have any. I had the expectation that I had to fully accept and adapt to the living standards of my community and that if I really wanted to “get something out of this,” I needed to reject the standards I have back home. What I am realizing is that expectations are a framework to get you started, but then once you get moving, you get to decide what is next. 

For example, I feel guilt and shame when I decide to stay in a hotel with all the things that give me ease (AC, warm water, and wifi). “I came to Africa to experience this world, not to run back to my first-world comfort! What am I doing?!” But, the truth is, I grow restless when I go weeks without a full night’s sleep because of the heat. I would become uneasy if I didn’t know when I would be able to talk to my family and friends next. With the lesson of loose expectations, I am learning that adaptation can go both ways. I need to adapt to a new lifestyle and environment, but I need to give myself the freedom to adapt my beliefs about how things should be.

Don’t grow bitter towards your dream. Be curious and discover the world on your terms. Liberate yourself and give whatever you need to have the stamina to be present and full. Work just as hard for moments of joy and peace as you do for productivity and efficiency. 

[sabrinasu1998]

Oil hits highest in 3 years, Gold prices resolve higher, U.S. supplies end steady

 Gold prices work out higher

 Spot gold price resolved greater on Friday, a day after posting their sharpest everyday loss in a week, as capitalists remained to absorb the Federal Reserve's monetary policy strategies, along with China' s crackdown on cryptocurrencies and advancements linked to property titan Evergrande.

 Spot gold rose $1.90, or 0.1%, to clear up at $1,751.70 an ounce, Spot silver shed 25 cents, or 1.1%, to $22.425 an ounce.

 China on Friday restated its crack down on cryptocurrencies, with individuals's Bank of China stating that online money does not have the very same lawful standing as lawful currency.

 The gold price will certainly damage past $1,840 resistance "if and also when there is confirmation that China will remove cryptocurrencies," Chintan Karnani, director of research study at Insignia Consultants, informed MarketWatch. There has to be a lot more "clearness" on a potential crypto restriction from China.

 " History recommends that crypto currencies have climbed sharply after any kind of significant rate crash (irrespective of news), so it is wait and see for cryptocurrencies," stated Karnani.

 The prejudice for gold is still to downside, as the Federal Reserve's declaration on monetary plan as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell's remarks from Wednesday are "digested by market," Jeff Wright, primary investment policeman at Wolfpack Capital, informed MarketWatch. The Fed taper of bond acquisitions "will certainly start by year end as well as rates will certainly start to tighten up more than likely in 2022."

 Wright additionally saw "risk-off" view in the U.S. equity markets Friday, as a result of Evergrande's passion settlement miss and also the feasible impact on the Chinese as well as U.S. economies, as encouraging for gold.

 Buck wallows near one-week reduced as haven need recedes

 The dollar wallowed near its lowest level in a week versus significant peers on Friday, as improved risk view erased current gains in the middle of relieving issues regarding virus from a possible China Evergrande Group default.

 Danger appetite returned, raising oil and international equities, also as hawkish remarks from the Bank of England pushed up returns worldwide, with those on 10-year U.S. Treasury keeps in mind hitting the greatest considering that July overnight at 1.437%.

 That fell short to assist the greenback however, with the U.S. dollar index, which gauges the money versus a basket of 6 opponents, reducing somewhat to 93.068 from Thursday, when it glided 0.36% and touched the lowest considering that Sept. 17 at 92.977. That got rid of gains for the week, and also set the index up for a 0.16% decline.

 " Risk view was unperturbed by the move in returns, instead taking its lead from information around Evergrande," Tapas Strickland, an analyst at National Australia Bank, wrote in a customer note.

 " Chinese authorities prepare restructuring teams, minimizing fears of a Lehman's- kind minute."

 Beijing injected fresh cash money into its economic system on Thursday, as embattled home giant Evergrande announced it would certainly make passion repayments on an onshore bond. There has been no word yet, nevertheless, on whether it likewise made discount coupon repayments on dollar bonds due that day, with even more due next week. learn more

 However, the mood enhanced, weighing on other safe havens like the yen and also lifting commodity-linked money like the Australian buck.

 The yen to US dollar reduced 0.05% to 110.385 after earlier striking 110.435, its weakest degree considering that Sept. 8.

 The euro included 0.05% to $1.1743, remaining to rebound from a greater than one-month reduced of $1.16835 reached Thursday.

 The Aussie rose 0.21% to $0.73105, as well as earlier touched a one-week high of $0.73165.

 Sterling was 0.07% higher at $1.3734, approaching the previous session's high of $1.3750, an initial given that Sept. 20.

 The BOE said 2 of its policymakers had actually chosen a very early end to pandemic-era federal government bond buying and markets brought forward their expectations for an interest rate rise to March.

 Oil strikes highest in almost 3 years as supply tightens

 Crude oil prices steadied on Friday near a two-month high of $77.50 a barrel and also were gone to a third straight week of gains, supported bOil costs increased for a 3rd week straight to a near three-year high up on Friday as worldwide outcome disruptions have forced power firms to draw large quantities of crude out of inventories.

 The rally was a little wetted by China's very first public sale of state crude reserves.

 Brent crude oil futures increased 84 cents, or 1.1%, to resolve at $78.09 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude increased 68 cents, or 0.9%, to work out at $73.98.

 That was the highest possible close for Brent since October 2018 and for WTI considering that July 2021, both for a second day straight.

 " As oil prices get on track to shut another week of gains, the market is valuing in an extended impact of supply disturbances, and also the likely storage draws that will be needed to fulfill refinery demand," claimed Louise Dickson, elderly oil markets expert at Rystad Energy.

 Some disturbances could last for months and also have already resulted in sharp attracts U.S. and also global supplies.

 U.S. crude oil refiners were hunting to replace Gulf crude, resorting to Canadian and iraqi oil, traders said.

 India's crude oil imports rose to a three-month top in August, rebounding from July's near one-year reduced.

 Some members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, referred to as OPEC+, have struggled to raise output due to under-investment or upkeep hold-ups during the pandemic.

 Russia stated it will continue to be a trusted supplier of power to international markets. Russian gas giant Gazprom had been charged of doing inadequate to raise its natural gas products to Europe, where prices have soared.

 Iran, which intends to export more oil, claimed it will certainly go back to talks on resuming compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear bargain "soon", but provided no particular day.

 Edward Moya, elderly market analyst at OANDA, stated: "Extra Iranian barrels of unrefined seem unlikely to be a 2021 story," noting negotiations "will be a lengthy drawn-out process."

 Kazakhstan's greatest oil manufacturer, Chevron-led Tengizchevroil (TCO), will certainly postpone elements of its $45.2 billion development task by three to 7 months.

 In the United States, drillers included 10 oil rigs this week, placing the oil as well as gas rig count up for a 14th month in a row.

 Brent could strike $80 by the end of September because of supply attracts, lower OPEC production and stronger Middle East demand, UBS experts wrote.

 China's very first public sale of state oil gets covered crude price gains. PetroChina as well as Hengli Petrochemical bought four cargoes completing regarding 4.43 million barrels, resources said.

 Experts likewise noted indebted China Evergrande remains a threat to oil costs after the firm's electrical automobile device advised it encountered an unclear future unless it got a quick injection of money.

 S&P 500 surges for a 3rd straight day to end a wild week of trading

 The S&P 500 and also the Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out gains on Friday, concluding an unstable week on Wall Street. A step by China to outlaw cryptocurrencies weighed on the technology market as well as Nike shares fell as supply chain problems coming from the pandemic hit the tennis shoe giant.

 The Dow Jones Industrial Average got 33.18 points, or 0.10%, to 34,798.00. The S&P 500 bordered 0.15% greater to 4,455.48 and also the Nasdaq Composite ticked down 0.03% to 15,047.70.

 " As poor as things started on Monday for stocks, a mid-week bounce and calmness on Friday isn't so negative," stated Ryan Detrick, chief market planner for LPL Financial. "Still, many of the fears over Evergrande, a slowing down economic situation, and proceeded supply chain concerns are still around."

 A suppression on bitcoin by China injured market sentiment overnight, specifically with innovation shares that depend upon crypto-related earnings. China's central bank declared all cryptocurrency-related activities unlawful on Friday. Abroad crypto exchanges providing solutions in landmass China are also unlawful, individuals's Bank of China claimed.

 Bitcoin went down 5% and also ether shed about 7% in reaction. Crypto-exchange Coinbase, which acquires the majority of its revenue from retail trading, and Robinhood, which last quarter made over half of its transaction-related earnings from crypto, lost over 2%.

 At the same time Nike verified the anxieties of financiers stressed over the pandemic creating chaos with supply chains and also elevating prices for business, specifically multinationals. Nike shares fell 6.2% after the sneaker giant lowered its financial 2022 overview because of a long term manufacturing shutdown in Vietnam, labor lacks and extensive transportation times. Nike anticipates full-year sales to increase at a mid-single-digit rate, compared to low double-digit development it forecast prior to.

 The company additionally reported quarterly earnings that missed out on experts' assumptions due to softening demand in North America as the delta variant flared up. Various other apparel manufacturers and sellers fell. PVH Corp fell 1%.

 Within the S&P, Nike's decrease was balanced out by gains in resuming stocks. Carnival included 3% after reporting quarterly earnings, while various other cruise lines and air carriers rose concerning 2%. Energy was also a leader.

 It's been a topsy-turvy week for markets. Stocks staged a two-day alleviation rally starting on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve signaled no imminent elimination of its ultra-easy financial plan. Capitalists also wager that the debt crisis of China's realty titan Evergrande wouldn't activate a causal sequence throughout global markets.

 Abroad crypto exchanges supplying services in mainland China are also illegal, the People's Bank of China stated.

 Nike shares fell 6.2% after the tennis shoe titan decreased its financial 2022 outlook because of a long term manufacturing closure in Vietnam, labor lacks and also extensive transportation times. PVH Corp fell 1%.

 Circus added 3% after reporting quarterly profits, while various other cruise ship lines and air service providers increased regarding 2%. Investors likewise wager that the debt dilemma of China's actual estate giant Evergrande would not set off a surge result throughout international markets.

[finance-expert]

State of Crypto: The SEC Takes on DeFi

The SEC is reportedly investigating decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and the parties behind them. While not unexpected, this is a new phase in the crypto-regulatory landscape. We may be able to predict how these investigations will proceed by looking at prominent historical examples.

You’re reading State of Crypto, a CoinDesk newsletter looking at the intersection of cryptocurrency and government. Click here to sign up for future editions.

DeFi investigation

The narrative

News broke Friday that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is conducting a probe into Uniswap Labs and other DeFi platforms. It’s unclear whether these investigations are still primarily for information-gathering purposes or whether there will be enforcement actions coming. Regardless, this is a pivotal, if expected, development in the regulator’s oversight of the crypto market.

Why it matters

How the SEC approaches DeFi might determine how well DeFi platforms survive in the coming years, particularly as the agency’s investigations mature. There are few details about the SEC’s investigations that are publicly available at this time, but we can look to the past to guesstimate how these investigations may proceed.

Breaking it down

The SEC has signaled for a few weeks now that it’s going to be taking a look at DeFi. I’ve written about this at least twice now, so news stories that the agency is actively looking into this segment of the crypto market are absolutely not a surprise.

To sum up what we do know: The SEC is reportedly investigating Uniswap Labs, the developer behind Uniswap, the leading decentralized exchange (DEX) on Ethereum. What’s a DEX, you may ask? Consider it a robot on the internet routing trades through various pools of funds, no middleman (beyond the software) needed. Other (unnamed) DeFi platforms may also be in the SEC’s crosshairs.

While we don’t yet know what the regulator is specifically looking for, we can find some clues in recent history that point to how the agency might approach DeFi and enforcement actions.

DeFi tea leaves

SEC Chair Gary Gensler has helpfully explained his views in detail a few times now. Most recently, he told the European Parliament that a lack of regulated brokers and clear-cut investor protection rules leaves “the investing public … vulnerable,” particularly to scams or other forms of abuse.

In the past he has also pointed to “promoters and sponsors” who write the software behind DeFi platforms and create their governance mechanisms. The theme that’s emerging so far is a focus on the centralized players that might help create or power DeFi projects (or even engage in what my colleague David Morris calls “decentralization theater”).

The SEC therefore doesn’t appear to be looking at the decentralized parts of DeFi, even if the projects themselves are adequately decentralized after launch. If a project isn’t fully decentralized in its earliest development stage, its backers may soon receive an inquiry.

This would explain why the SEC is investigating Uniswap Labs at any rate.

In a statement emailed to CoinDesk, an external spokesperson for Uniswap Labs said, “We are committed to complying with the laws and regulations governing our industry and to providing information to regulators that will assist them with any inquiry.”

Looking further back, the SEC may also look at how a DeFi platform actually operates – whether it provides a marketplace for tokens that the SEC considers securities and uses its own orderbook.

Past cases

The agency’s precedent here would be EtherDelta, the decentralized trading platform the SEC brought charges against in 2018 on allegations it acted as a securities trading platform.

At the time, the agency pointed to EtherDelta’s smart contract, order book, order display website and marketplace as evidence it was supporting illicit securities transactions.

The SEC also specifically brought charges against Zachary Coburn, who founded the platform but left over a year before the charges were filed.

So just because a platform is decentralized doesn’t mean the SEC won’t file charges against a centralized party with a significant role in setting it up.

It is worth noting here that there may be lines drawn between decentralized finance platforms generally and decentralized exchanges specifically, but the role of centralized developers or founders is salient to both types of entities.

In short, what the SEC is likely considering includes:

Investor protection concerns;

The role of centralized parties in these decentralized platforms;

Whether the tokens are securities in the SEC’s view.

Watch this space.

Bitcoin’s litmus test

Guest essay by Andrés Engler

Finally, the speculation on the use of bitcoin in El Salvador will end, and a real analysis can begin on whether the cryptocurrency is useful or not in a country in need of financial tools for its population.

Knowing like no other the power of social networks, President Nayib Bukele was extremely adept at joining an explosive tribe in search of state legitimacy. The Salvadoran case study was a win-win for both parties.

Still, Bukele had to back down in early battles against the financial establishment. The first stumbling block was the International Monetary Fund, which quickly issued a statement naming “a number of macroeconomic, financial and legal issues” that bitcoin would generate in that country, in the midst of negotiations for a $1 billion loan for the country.

Bukele, without much leeway in the international arena, made several concessions. The most striking was to desist from applying Article 7 of the law, which stipulated that all economic agents must accept bitcoin as a form of payment when offered by the person acquiring goods or services. In August, the president said the use of bitcoin as legal tender would not be mandatory, and the resulting question was obvious. If businesses are not forced to accept it, can bitcoin be considered legal tender?

The second concession, more symbolic but no less important, was saying the measure of the economy would be in dollars, and that salaries would be paid in that currency. It is worth remembering that although El Salvado has a central bank, the country does not issue its own currency but uses the U.S. dollar.

Despite the changes, bitcoin could have concrete benefits for El Salvador. It could save them $400 million that Salvadorans abroad send as remittances to their country, boost tourism and even create a mining industry if Bukele effectively makes available volcanic energy as promised.

On a continent-wide scale, the success of bitcoin in El Salvador – demonstrated in massive adoption and savings in remittances – could mean a domino effect of adoption in Latin America and developing countries in other continents.

So far, Bukele’s strategy has led different politicians in the region – from the North in Mexico to the far South in Argentina – to present bills to regulate the sector and, in some cases, promote it. Either way, bitcoin bills have been a gold mine for officials in search of votes and fame, and an important step in putting cryptocurrencies on the discussion table.

The bitcoin experiment will not only be a litmus test for Bukele but also for bitcoin itself and the discourse that proposes this cryptocurrency as a financial solution for underbanked territories.

The adoption of bitcoin in El Salvador will mean something unprecedented: the first state educational policy on crypto assets, with different offices where locals will learn to use the official digital wallet Chivo and gain knowledge about how bitcoin works and its usages, such as remittances.

Bitcoin is political

The adoption of bitcoin in El Salvador comes at a tumultuous political moment for the country. On Friday, the country’s Supreme Court – which has a pro-government tilt – declared it constitutional for the president to be reelected after his five-year term, generating pushback from the entire political opposition.

It is not the only issue. At least three opinion polls published last week showed the majority of Salvadorans do not agree with the use of bitcoin as legal tender in the country, with an average of between 65% and 70% of El Salvador’s population against it. Such a level of rejection was crystallized in some small marches that took place with only hundreds of people and unions opposed to Bukele, which could have political interests beyond bitcoin itself.

Thus, Bukele expressed days ago his frustration against those who criticized the use of bitcoin in the country for remittances.

“If you don’t want to, you can always go to Western Union and pay a commission. No problem at all,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

El Salvador’s political spectrum is on the lookout for any Bukele misstep, and has criticized the Bitcoin Law in different ways. Both the FMLN party (left) and Arena (right) are unforgiving of a president who wears a backwards cap, has broken with the status quo, entered Congress with the military to try and force the legislature to approve more military and police funding, and won the last legislative elections with a supermajority that gave him a majority in parliament.

“Some will prefer to believe the thieving opponents who have done nothing but loot our country, destroy it and pay for them to murder our people. Others will choose to believe the government. But in the end, everyone will realize the reality on Sept. 7,” Bukele wrote last week.

Tether’s reserves

In May, I filed a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request with the New York Attorney General’s Office asking for the documents detailing Tether’s reserve composition breakdown. My goal was to verify that Tether submitted similar documents to the NYAG that the company published when revealing its breakdown to the public (the pie charts, as Twitter has taken to calling them).

The NYAG FOIL officer who saw the request initially denied it, tying the request to a similar FOIL request made by another individual. CoinDesk appealed, and a different FOIL officer agreed with our appeal.

Procedurally, Tether had an opportunity to push back against the second officer’s decision, which it did in the form of a petition filed last week. I imagine we’re still close to the beginning of this process, so obviously more to come on this front.

Here’s more context on how we got here, including Tether’s full statement after filing.

You can follow the court filings here.

Biden’s ruleChanging of the guard

Emory University School of Law Professor Kristin Johnson might become President Joe Biden’s next nominee to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Bloomberg reported last week.

Elsewhere:

El Salvador Police Releases Bitcoin Law Critic Arrested for Alleged Bank Fraud: Police in El Salvador arrested Mario Gomez, an activist who has criticized the country’s Bitcoin Law, without a warrant on allegations of possible bank fraud. Police released Gomez hours later.

‘Crypto Dad’ Giancarlo to Quit BlockFi’s Board After 4 Months: Former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo has stepped down from BlockFi’s board of directors, though the company says he will remain an adviser. BlockFi is in the middle of a legal fight with five different state regulators over whether its interest accounts product violates securities laws.

BitConnect’s Top US Promoter Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charge: Glenn Arcaro, a U.S.-based promoter for BitConnect, pled guilty to a fraud charge from the U.S. Department of Justice on the same day the SEC filed charges against him, his company and BitConnect itself.

Outside CoinDesk:

(The Atlantic) Australia seems to be pioneering some new grounds in lockdown enforcement. Some of these measures include apps that require quarantined individuals to verify their location within 15 minutes of receiving a notification, for example. What could go wrong?

(Human Rights Watch) El Salvador’s legislature passed new laws that would allow local officials to fire any judges or prosecutors over the age of 60 or extend the term of judges and prosecutors at the government’s discretion, actions which could threaten judicial independence, according to the Human Rights Watch.

(The New York Times) The Times published an interesting interactive graphic explainer on crypto energy use. It’s worth taking a look at this.