Hi everyone I hope you're all well thank you so much for tuning into another episode of our VGC 2019 battle series I hope you're all well having a great day and ready for some more VGC content on the channel we kicked off this week with this evald on team and I think today is going to be the last time that we'll be playing this exact variant and we'll mix things up going into Thursday Friday of this week before we change to a brand new team next week which I'm really looking forward to and like I've been saying all week so far please let me know down in the comments section below what build you would like to see I put a poll up on on YouTube yesterday so do check that out vote on there or leave a comment down below let me know what you'd like to see going forward a bit more fun exact builds that you'd like restricted parents that you'd like to see that we haven't touched upon yet let me know in the comment section below and I'll try and feature as many of them as possible going forward and especially going into next week we'll have a brand new one so just to recap the team as always we've got the type of thing in the metagrossy velta hit them on top the gradon and the thunderous theory now the him on top's been doing all right I don't really I'm not really convinced about it as much as the incineroar does perform a very nice job the wide gods really useful especially in some situation we've had a couple occasions this week where it has come off pretty well but on the whole part I probably would like to see incineroar back in that slot and you know incineroar is a top tier pokemon for a reason the u-turn there is specifically good and I think stew mentioned in one of our videos earlier in the week about the eject button as an option on him on top and it's definitely something I would explore going forward with the him on top in this team especially with the restricted weathers and things like that that he did state so without further ado though let's get into today's episode and hopefully it doesn't take too long to find an opponent but like I said tomorrow I'll switch things up I did mention a little bit I think in yesterday's episode about the jump bluff may be coming in so we might change things over there have a bit more fun with the team as we end the week with it it's still a core I really like but I feel like we want to just mix things up a little bit but we've got a first opponent as always guys if you do enjoy this content make sure to leave a like on the video do subscribe to the channel and as always leave your comments down below and I will make sure to get back to you as soon as possible what will jump straight into team preview right now so first opponent today is running a team of zernius shin ninja shin ninja every time you see that pokemon we've got the incineroar the landerus the uh rick waza and the taboo kind of standard x-ray team but with the shin ninja tagged in there um and we need to be especially careful for it because there could be that suck strategy going on with the taboo finny and the shin ninja which would leave us a little bit in a bit of a bad place but we do have the thunderous to kind of fall back on and I think thunderous here is going to be something I do want to bring puts a lot of pressure onto the taboo finny can hit the landerus therian foam with the hidden power ice along with that rick waza um so it's just kind of picking apart the other pokemon and if the soak strategy does come out then it does give us a little bit of a fall back there um I think I will leave thunderous um maybe valtul here could be good but then the thing is you know we need to be a bit careful because if the zernius comes out as a lead then things would get a little bit tricky quite quickly um I'm thinking valtul hit him on top and metagross but then I'm not really sure if that's going to be the right thing to do it's just I want the dark typing for the shin ninja if we if we don't see the suck strategy um and leaving groudon is that the best call maybe let's try it I mean we'll go with it I'm still not convincing myself really I'm not I'm not but I don't know I don't know I feel like we've got to change it up a little bit for these sort of matchups because they've not gone they've not been going swimmingly well they've not been super consistent we've not been getting the results that we've wanted every time we've had some extra matches where we've we've come out okay we've had some extra matchups where we've not come out so good so it's good to experiment and I think the pokemon we've got here are justified for the reasons that we're bringing them we are going to see the landeress and the uh requires to come out as a lead for ourselves um now one of the things we could do here is potentially just switch thunderous out to hitman top it's unlikely that we're going to see a dragnocent into that slot because we are resisted and I feel like the valto is probably the one thing that you would want to target down here more than anything else um so hitman top coming in gives us a little bit of breathing room with that fake out the next turn and we can just protect the valto here there's no threat of speed control on my opponent side of the field I mean they could see a dragon dance it's very very rare that we'll see that but I would imagine the requiser and the landeress probably both gonna want to attack here and getting this intimidate off onto both these physical type attackers it's pretty huge for us here so we'll try this going into this turn one as we see the requiser mega vault shed its skin and turn into this ultimate dragon that it is um I think double into the valto here I think like a rock slide and a dragnocent makes a lot of sense for my opponent here we'll just protect them with our valto avoid any damage going into this turn so do see the dragnocent into that valto and the landeress go for u-turn and then there's going to be into the hitman top they're going to be able to reposition a bit going into this next turn um interesting to see what comes in maybe the incinero but maybe the zonius as well if it is the zonius it does yeah put us in a little bit of an awkward position because we are going to need to try and maneuver our metagross onto the field and it's looking less and less likely that my opponent's got the type of finny in the back which we're kind of hoping that was there to activate a misty seed by us not bringing it ourselves the thing is if we don't fake out the um the zonius here it sets up geomancy and the problem is doing this with our requiser leaving the requiser unchecked it has got a free dragnocent into hitman top um now do we switch in metagross or do we switch in thunderous if we switch in thunderous we've got a quick taunt onto the zonius to shut down the next turn which might be a little bit better um but the metagross puts on a lot more offensive pressure so i i've been a bit more inclined to get the metagross in and it can take a dragnocent a little bit better than what thunderous can we are just going to see with drawn we're going to see the uh the strong winds disappear here as the type of finny now hits the field so we know that's around which is perfect but not so perfect because we are going to actually switch out aryveltal after getting the misty sea boost which is kind of backfiring on us a little bit where we could have stayed in and just snald and faked out the zonius which would have probably seen us in a bit of a better shape going into this next turn but we're not not too worried i mean we're not losing a pokemon so we've got that on our side we do get the fake out into the zonius flinch it we are probably putting a bit of pressure onto the zonius right now um i think it's probably a good time to bring in thunderous i don't know if i want a mega evolve to avoid the intimidate drop here but i would imagine probably going to see i just don't want to leave the zonius unchecked that's the problem so we could mega evolve it's so easy for the zonius just to protect here though um and i could i'm kind of tempted to ironhead the type of finny because you could see nitch is madness into that slot but i'm going to mega evolve just cover the zonius with an iron head here and switch into thunderous now which puts on a lot of pressure on that type of finny going into next turn and if the zonius does stick around and protect at least we've got the taunt going into that slot the following turn so here we go make mega metagross hitting the field it's whether or not our opponent plays a bit recklessly here yeah we are going to see the protector i'd say maybe a nitch is madness or a nice wind potentially from the type of finny here it's always tempting to go for that but leaving zonius unchecked is is risky it is very risky we are going to see that nitch is madness here into the metagross uh i imagine the next turn we probably do see the zonius switch out i'm going to go for the giga world havoc into the the type of finny or do we do we see the type of finny switch out into the landerous for the intimidate i could imagine that being a thing as well um so it's kind of like i want to taunt into taunt into the zonius and iron head into it at the same time but when you look at like look at the the bold position my opponent's got i think the one thing that you've got at the minute is the zonius is definitely threatened it's definitely shut down so i'd say you probably want to switch that slot out more than anything else which would make me want to go for the giga world havoc into the type of finny and just cover that slot on the zonius side with an iron head and i think we cover things a little bit better that way but when i'm going to see that we're going to see the landerous come in and we're going to waste as in and we could have taunted as well which is biggest annoying unless we see the zonius switch out now i mean a flinch here would be huge for us flinch flinch flinch squad come on flinch squad it's annoying that we're wasting as a move and we talked about we weighed up what my opponent might do here um we do get the flinch which is pretty huge for us um hidden part eyes probably take down the landerous here um and an iron head would definitely like we could double up into the landerous for sure uh the zonius is definitely pressured now i feel like an iron head into that slot would be a little bit waste for whereas doubling up into the landerous would probably be the better thing but then we've got to think do what do we do if the zonius gets set up now like do we do we get away with it i don't know if we do um if we let the zonius get boosted up which it quite possibly could i just think the the pressure that we've got here is just too much to allow it to not do anything so i want to ice punch hidden part eyes into the landerous here if we see the germansi go up i mean fair play to my opponent that's fine but we are going to see it actually protect this turn so we are going to be able to be able to remove this landerous from the field it's just whether or not that thunderous is faster it is so could have been a bit dicey but we do get rid of the landerous which is nice um and we'll probably see the requiser come in now but we've got the turn where we can switch in top for thunderous um get intimidate and as long as the the requiser doesn't have earth power i mean we could potentially just taunt the zonius stop it going for the germansi here and then preserve our metagross which might be a little bit better and go into him on top this way around which might be i think probably the smartest thing to do to be honest um because metagross is so important to us in this matchup we can't lose it and i think like earth power coming out here could really be detrimental to us so we do get the taunt into the zonius we're going to be able to shut down this germansi and i think that's the biggest thing for us right now oh crunch or that's the other thing you know at least him on top comes in takes that pretty nicely does get the defensive drop um and the moon blast coming out detecting that taunt um into the top but i mean i think it gives us a free switch into metagross now and i think we'll probably take a minus one crunch from a requiser so we've got that going for us the the zonius can't protect this next turn um so we can definitely bring in bring in land metagross and pressure the iron head onto that slot and we kind of are forcing a switch out there um so i feel like what we want to do is kind of stay on top of things and probably just hit in part ice i mean what we could do is just go thunderbolt into the zonius catch the finny on the switching and bring in ai velta because i feel like the zonius actually switches here to get rid of the um get rid of the taunt for a late game sweep potentially and the finny comes in in that slot we've got to see no switch no okay well i mean we're still going to be able to and the thing is like what we notice here is that um thunder is actually at speeds the zonius and the requiser which is nice we're going to see it doesn't mean it's not going to be so great for evelta but at the same time we can thunderbolt we kind of got our opponent pinned with the zonius here um and we know if a thunderous at speeds the requiser we know that i metagross at speeds the requiser so that's a big bit of information for us so we can try and get a foul play into this requiser now um and if we can we should be able to remove the zonius the zonius to switch out though the type of finny you're going to hit the field two thunderbolts should get this finny though um just about if we can kind of withstand what the the the requiser checks out at us so there's a thunderbolt yeah more more of those they'll do the job there's a crunch into the thunderous now doc or we should probably will take us down yeah but we'll get a foul play into this requiser and now we're setting ourselves up pretty nicely to to close this game out yeah um and metagross coming in so ice punch the requiser we'll be able to get it's just the finny what is that going to be able to do if an icy winds does put itself in a little bit of a better position um one of the things we could potentially do is just um ice punch the ray and tailwind do we want a tailwind it's just to kind of get around the icy wind that's what i'm thinking um at this point that's probably my opponent's best way to get around everything strong winds will weaken the ice punch but we still should have enough to pick up the knock out here um and if we do see an icy wind then it puts us in a decent position going into this next turn um because the one the drop that we'll get still puts us a little bit faster than the zonius there's the icy wind yeah of both of them but yeah eveltos on its last legs for sure now i'd imagine the zonius to come in protect and another icy wind fired off but then that still just resets so we can we can afford to go i think uh iron head into the zonius and probably protect the valto here um because even another icy wind my opponent needs two icy winds to really get the get the jump on metagross um so we will just go for an iron head into the zonius here um hmm did we just snarl or do we do we foul play the finny just to put it in range i think foul play it shouldn't proc the berry and then put it in iron hand rage i think that'll probably be the better thing to do rather than protect the valto which we could do preserve it for another turn um but i think at this point we've got our opponent pinned so we should be able to close this one out and they've accepted that and very good game and a nice way for us to kick off today and a bit of an unorthodox kind of selection for us to kind of go into that first one but like i said at the start going into that battle it did make a lot of sense for us to pick those pokemon and it turned out that they they did make the most sense and they did the job for us so a lot of the time um sometimes it doesn't work out like that but sometimes when you can like theory that sort of thing it does come into it so it's good just taking a little bit of time before clicking in to select the right pokemon for yourself but we'll skip over to our our rating screen and we'll get back on the hunt for our next opponent and hopefully it doesn't take too long but uh that's a nice one for us to kick off with today it would be really nice for us to finish with a victory in our next one just to say ta-da a nice send off for this team that we're playing at the minute because like i've been saying and repeating it's probably getting like a broken record but i do like this call a lot um but i do at the same time want to have a bit more fun with this this eval don kind of call before we finish up with it and go on to something else next week um we'll stick with trainer version one because we very rarely have that unless i forget to set the music and then we we do have it but uh it's always a nice one to have reminiscent of tournament settings as well and um it's a little bit sad i don't have any tournaments for the rest of the season now i'm just a spectator but i'll be doing lots of content on the channel kind of i think that's one of the pluses well like i'm not playing for worlds this year because of of thea coming along and stuff like that so it does mean that i can concentrate a little bit more on content so it's it's good for you guys i guess as well that do enjoy this but we've got our next opponent so we'll jump straight into to improve you okay the next team that we're facing today is tapu lele incinero groudon mutu crobat bronzon so we've got mutu groudon here we've got a bit of a psychic spam team which is uh straight away screams to me like we're gonna see gravity hypnosis uh gravity on the scoff tapu lele hypnosis on the crobat for sure uh the gravity would also support the groudon and then you've got the trick room switch there the mutu obviously thrives under a psychic terrain as well so we need to be very careful of that yveltal does extremely well here but i mean one thing we have to be a bit careful of is the uh the fact that yveltal isn't on the floor um but if we do see gravity does help us out quite a lot doesn't it um okay do we just bite the bullet i mean i mean one thing we could do is go thunderous here i just i just i would prefer yveltal over everything else i don't want to lead tapu finny because i want tapu finny to be a switch in i think meagross isn't bad here as well um but hitmontop with with wide guard could be extremely useful so i think although the the psychic spam is pretty nasty here i think i've probably got tapu finny groudon hitmontop yveltal um and go that route with everything and we'll click in and we'll get into this first one today well the second one the second one because it's the second game isn't it brain brain fog next week it's not going to be an excuse next week i should have caught up with sleep i actually started a new job next week which is like another thing i was meant to start this week but i put a back week because i think with everything that went on pregnancy and everything they are just into life and stuff like that probably would have been a little bit too much for me so it's good as well it means i can get caught up with this sort of stuff relax at home get used to everything and then and then start a new job next week which would be very exciting i've got a little bit more of a commute though now so i'll be cycling to work should set up my phone so i can video video conference chat to you guys on my way to work in the mornings right we're gonna say tapu lele and me too lee for my opponent um so we've got a pretty nice switching to tapu finny here and just a tailwind or a snarl here to give us a speed advantage going into the next turn i think i will just tailwind here and switch into tapu finny with him on top we'll probably see them you too mega revolver and one of the things we need to watch out for is the um miracle eye psychic attack into evelfo because that is something that players have been doing recently and i've never actually come across it yet on battle spot but it is something to just be a little aware of but i think with the misty seed boost uh here on outside of the field we should be all right i feel um so we'll see him on top as we said we are going to switch it out bring tapu finny and get rid of the psychic turn which is like one of the big things uh that my opponent will want to try and get back um later in this match but evelto in this matchup does extremely well aside from the miracle eye but we'll see what my opponent goes for here as the mutu is going to reveal that it is mega mutu why bursting out of its pod and becoming that crazy strong mega mutu variation here we are going to just see a moon blast into evelto this will be a decent chunk of damage but because of the misty seed we do take that a little bit better here and we are going to see a gravity now which helps us out immensely if we do see any sort of hypnosis spam coming in for the rest of this game we do get the tailwind up now and we do have the option to go for that snarl heel pulse if we'd like to which kind of puts evelto in such a perfect position going into the rest of this game um we could go light screen as well that is an option because snarl has hiccups along the way but i feel like i'd probably be better going for the snarl and the heel pulse here just to keep us alive and kicking rather than take another moon blast um i'm not going to say that snarl is going to do this the thing that i was going to say that snarl does do because if i say it would miss the tabulele we just don't want that to happen so we do hit thankfully um tepifini will still outspeed both of these pokemon so we should get the heel pulse off oh it doesn't actually outspeed tabulele so it's a good job we dig over the heel pulse here because we are on wow we are lucky i really thought that was going to take us down there i really did um but we get the heel pulse off which is nice um so we'll just go for another snarl and we will go for another heel pulse and now we should be in a fine position now i didn't expect tabulele and mutu to outspeed tabufini and tailwind and this is maybe one thing that we look at for the team in future you know you want that tabufini to be outspeeding both and tailwind um and it wouldn't take much to do to actually feasibly do that and i think it puts you in a much better position where you're not on tender hooks going into that turn thinking oh we need to survive that auroras pier but we managed to kind of get through this snarl coming in quite useful there for us um i thought the auroras would definitely do a little bit more damage we are going to see the tabulele with retreat now ground i'm going to hit the field um this is all right this is fine because me too is not really going to be doing too much to us you know my opponent probably going to try and maneuver the tabulele back onto the field at some point but what i'm going to try and do next turn is get our tabufini out of here so we've got that terrain to switch back into disrupt that psychotrim when it comes back on we also get him on top onto the field as well it's got the um the why god support that really helps us against the ground on more than anything else because that's likely what's going to happen going into this next turn uh as we do get a snarl off into the the bronze on and the ground on we'll probably see a trick room set up as well from the the ground on but uh from the bronze on support that ground on but i mean i don't mind that too much because if we can get rid of both of these targets before the trick room runs out then we're not in a bad position at all i'm just going to actually protect do i protect or do i actually go for a foul play into the ground on i just don't want to take unnecessary damage here and i think i'd rather utilize a turn with fake out the next turn and have a full full healthy valto rather than having a half health from repressive blades and then have the why god support going into the next end here and the hit on top's one of those pokemon we can quite happily bring in it's going to be able to soak up the damage from repressive blades or a fire punch in this this case it's not likely we'll see that but we are going to see the bronze on switch straight out for that tapulele here um get the psychic turn back up onto the field and that does put a bit more pressure onto our hit on top going into this next turn as we do protect our evelto maybe going for this and all that would have been a little bit better but as we do see a sword stance come out from this ground on not so great not so great um now it's here when it does pitter out now we're not in the best of positions here because we can go for i mean i think we go foul play and for sure because the ground on is not going to be it could be faster than eveltole i wouldn't have thought it would be um i think we will go there and i'm going to just switch back in to tapulele here and get rid of the psychic turn because the foul play should take down that ground on it's just whether or not eveltole out speeds it but in this sort of team where you're seeing a ground on with a bronze on you've got to imagine that it's probably a slow variation of ground on the other thing that you've got to worry about is a protect on the ground on in the moon blast but we're not going to see that we're just going to see the moon blast here it's all about whether eveltole can out speed the ground on or not which yeah we do and i mean plus plus two plus one oh it's not quite enough but the precipice blades actually comes off and we lose eveltole that's pretty bad for us gravity does turn to normal hmm okay it's not the worst we've got our own ground on to come in um gravity's gone back to normal but we can i think we've been in eruption here and we're going to be in the safe position probably i see wind as well because the moon blast's not really going to be doing too much to us eruption will be enough to get both these targets even after a moon blast and what we could do is set up a light screen maybe um just for when the me too comes in but i don't expect me to to really be able to do too much damage it's got side shock so it's not really causing us too many issues here but at the end of the day the light screen is probably going to do this more good than not i go into those these latter turns of this game um we'll see what my opponent does yeah groudon gonna withdraw gonna see me too bronze on okay once i'm come out eruption i'll take down both these now moon blast it might be into the lele you know uh the finish sorry yeah makes more sense that's fine i think groudon now can close this game up because we're gonna have our misty terrain up on the field and we know our groudon's gonna outspeed the opposing groudon because of the the eveltole outspeeding it there and the me too is going to be prone to a fake out this next turn from from our him on top so i think we've got enough in the tank to kind of close this one out so a little bit hairy for a minute and um i really thought the file player would take down the groudon maybe the intimidate there wasn't the best thing from my him on top but at the time we didn't know that's what groudon was going to be going for and i think eveltole to have a fin kind of showed that it's it's got enough to deal with that kind of psychic spam team that kind of comes out we've still got to be a bit wary about the me too obviously we've got the intimidate onto the groudon and the me too here but we can just fake out eruption here we might say double protect and this is where feint would be really good on hit my top as well a really nice option here so we'll just go for that eruption and we'll go for the fake out into the me too hopefully the me too decides not to protect here and try and deal with this groudon um and that would be the best case scenario for us we're not going to see any fake outs we do get the fake out into the me too here me too just flinch and there's your option it will be enough to take down the poison groudon and the me too so two nice wins for us today to say goodbye to this team and that is brilliant because like i said at the start of the episode i'm going to switch things up tomorrow i'm going to have a little bit more fun with the evelbon core and see what we can do with it and introduce some nice things and if you've got any desperate desires that you'd like to see played on friday's episode let me know and i'll make sure that we do feature them in friday's episode i'll put my own twist on something fun tomorrow but if you've got um options that you'd like to see played on friday with this team pokemon certain pokemon that you'd like to see do shout out leave a comment down below and i will make sure to try and feature them if i can obviously if we've got a bunch of them i'll just pick the best ones most interesting ones going into friday's episode and we'll feature that before we say goodbye to evelton and groudon at the end of the week before we get that new team so do keep your comments coming down below though about what cause you'd like to see restricted combinations or just general pokemon you'd like to see featured next week and i will make sure to do my best to feature them going forward but thank you so much for tuning in guys i hope you have a great rest of your day and i will see you all for the next one very soon so until then take care and bye bye


Hello, everyone. I'm Rola Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times. It's good to be here, and many thanks for all of you who are joining us. We have a great lineup for you this morning to discuss the government's response to the pandemic, the fiscal and monetary support that we've seen has been extraordinary. It's like the magic monetary. So we're going to look at the impact of the massive stimulus, the lessons that have been learned, and the current health of the financial system. Now, I'm delighted to be joined by Anna Botin, Group Executive Chairman at Santander and Hamad Al-Jadan, Minister of Finance of Saudi Arabia. Yi Gang, Governor of the Central Bank of China and Thomas Berl, CEO of AXA. A warm welcome to all of you. Just a word on the format of this session. I'm going to be moderating a discussion between the panelists for about 30 minutes, and then I will take questions from the audience. So I can see the questions in the Zoom chat, so please keep them coming throughout the session. Governor, if I may start with you, it's good to have you. It's been a year since the outbreak of the pandemic, which started in Wuhan. China's economy is recovering. Growth was up 6.5% in the fourth quarter. What are you projecting for this year? And the growth is still driven by the same playbook. Consumption is down, industrial production is up, still a big trade surplus. So can one speak of a more sustainable consumption led shift? Yes, that's a very good question. I think the Chinese economy is already getting more and more consumption driven. That is a healthy structural change. I think this is a sustainable trend, which will continue. As you said that you see we are in a pandemic crisis. Like January last year, COVID-19 became more severe in the world due to cold weather. The uncertainty of COVID-19 is on the rise. In China, you mentioned that they have been controlling the COVID-19 fairly well. Thanks to the rigorous measures such as varying masks, wash hands, tracing, testing and social distancing. So that they continue and consistent doing the above measures. So we can in general other control in China so far from the beginning of the pandemic. We have a worst beginning, but after a few months in Wuhan. And basically since last March, the country's large scale of COVID-19 has been by in large control. So that they still continue our measure. And we have also start the vaccine process as scheduled beginning with healthy workers and some other high scale group. And we will continue to take any active part in international cooperation. China will work for greater accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries. Second, I want to say a little bit about China's economic and financial development under the COVID-19. Last year China GDP, as you mentioned, the last quarter of last year grew at about 6.5%. For the whole year last year, China GDP grew by 2.3%. Consumer price index is 2.5% and the unemployment rate last year is about 5.6%, which is lower than 6% the expectation. As of the end of last year, renminbi appreciate against US dollar about 7%. People's Bank of China injected more than 9 trillion renminbi, which is equivalent to 1.5 trillion US dollar liquidity into the market last year. And it also launched two targeted facilities to support micro and small businesses. At the end of December, broad money M2 grew about 10.1% and total social finance growth about 13%. So that's particularly the condition is pretty sound. The monetary policy will continue to prompting up the economy, but at the same time will also watch for the risks. One risk is the macro leverage ratio of China increased somewhat last year. The second risk is non-performance loans start to grow in. And also we also look at the external risk, which is look at the capital flow situation. Looking forward, I think our monetary policy will continue and they will keep a dedicated balance between supporting economic recovery at the same time preventing risk. We will ensure that the policy are consistent and stable and will not exit from supporting policy prematurely. You asked the prediction for this year. I think that we will largely depend on the assumption on the COVID-19 trend. My large probability prediction at this year, Chinese GDP will grow more or less along the potential growth level that is more or less resuming to the normal trend. And the third, lastly, I want to mention green finance. The COVID-19 crisis once again highlights the importance of harmony between man and the nature. It also reminds us the immediate risk of climate change. Today, President Xi reiterated that China, they are going to achieve a peak carbon emission before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. The People's Bank of China, which is the central bank of China, stands ready to support this climate commitment through better resources allocation and risk management and market-based pricing by putting in place a green financial system. The system will include five pillars, namely, first, the system of green financial standard. Second, supervision and disclosure requirements for green financial institutions. Third, incentive and credit support for emission reduction. Fourth, the market of green finance products such as green loan, green bonds and carbon futures. Fifth, the international cooperation on green finance. Thank you very much. Let me just follow up with one question. I started by asking you about consumption-led growth. In the fourth quarter, there was no sign of any shift to consumption-led growth. I think the impact of COVID-19, they are directly on the consumption, especially service consumption, like a restaurant, party and airline and train traveling theaters and so on and so forth. So that in Chinese economy and consumption account for about 60% of the growth. But during the pandemic, the percentage of consumption decreased. And I think as we control the pandemic consumption will resume to the more or less normal level. And the other trend is right now in China, our saving rate is starting to decline a little bit every year. So that that is a good indication that more growth comes from consumption. Our export this year will continue to be pretty good. But I think the economic policy, the monetary policy, macroeconomic policy, physical policy, all focusing on maximized employment. If we have stable employment, that will guarantee very good consumption. So that by and large, our macroeconomic policy and the monetary policy would focus on consumption and make China to a smooth transition to a consumption-driven economy. Domestic demand would be by and large the most important and the bulk of the entire economy. Thank you. I'll come back to you a bit later, Governor, when we when we discuss fintech. I want to turn to the picture of course has been very different outside China and outside Asia. How do you see the medium term impact of the pandemic in Europe and the Americas? And then we'll move on to the financial sector specifically. Hello, Rula. It's great to be with you and everybody. So in Europe, clearly, we have suffered a lot in 2020. We're looking at the GDP. It's probably going to fall around 5%. And in this regard, southern countries like Spain, Italy, and a few others are going to suffer more. And my view is that for 2021, actually, this is my very strong belief that vaccination is the most effective 2021 economic policy. So obviously, this means uncertainty, but I do want to make a very important point and it has happened in the past. And that is when there is a crisis, Europe makes progress and there has been significant institutional progress in Europe during the crisis. And this is very important for the medium term. Just briefly, everybody knows the Reconstruction Fund. It's a historic initiative. We've never seen the European Union putting together $750 billion program and of course the ECB intervening early and decisively to make sure that national risk spreads don't go the way they want in the last crisis. So again, it's a critical step that Europe has taken towards federalization. For the first time, we have issued our own debt, the European Union and created taxes to service these liabilities. My last point is that the challenge for Europe now is how efficiently we use these funds and the governance. And of course, there's a conditionality which means reforms, which again are meant to speed up the digitalization and the energy transition. And Europe is going to do this together. And it's the only way to have a sustainable growth strategy. So great crisis, but also a great new opportunity. I like the vaccination is the best economic policy this year. Good line. Yes. Unlike 2008, the financial sector has not been at the heart of this crisis. In fact, it's been it's been quite resilient while the shock has been in the real more pronounced in the real economy. But I find bankers that I talk to quite sanguine about what could come next when the stimulus ends and bankruptcies begin. Or do you think banks are under playing the risks ahead? Well, look, you know, there is uncertainty, but I like to define myself and I define myself today as an optimist that worries a lot. So we do have to take great care. But the fact is the banking sector is liquid, well capitalized, highly regulated and intensively supervised. And this is something was a consequence of 2008. And we have not been part of the problem, but part of the solution. I mean, Santander has been lending one billion euros a day since the start of the pandemic with grown out loans. So, so yes, I do think, of course, we have to be prudent. Yes, there's a lot of uncertainty. I like to call this radical uncertainty and but there's a lot of good work that has happened. And we actually, you know, we do need at some point, I wrote about this in the FT a few weeks ago, do need to think ahead, how it is that the financial system can continue supporting the economy and can use the buffers that we have built in an effective way. So, you know, we need to be safe for depositors. We also need to support the economy, especially in Europe where banks are the majority of lending to SMEs, which are the hardest hit companies in this crisis, the most vulnerable, both companies and workers. Very true. Thomas, I wanted to bring you in here to talk about another risk, the impact of low interest rates. Much to celebrate there, but they are also creating asset bubbles. We're running, we just started a series yesterday about runaway markets. How worried are you and where specifically do you see bubbles? So it is true that, thank you, Roland. Good morning to everybody that low interest rates is certainly a concern. They were low before the crisis. They're even lower now. And the question is also how long will they stay low? And this is obviously a concern, certainly for the question around what is the behavior of economic actors when it comes to borrowing debt. But it also is the question, how do we make sure that we have sufficient savings and sufficient yield on the savings in order to pay for our retirements? For me personally, I do believe that the periods of low interest rates is necessary now in order to make sure that financial markets are continuing to work. That we can also, that states can also ensure that the necessary debt is being taken in order to cross this very difficult phase of the crisis. So it is absolutely necessary to have that. However, when I look forward, there are certainly clouds on the horizon. And one issue is clearly for me, how can we make sure that we exit this period of low interest rates in a way that it is on the one hand finding a good balance and not choking. That would be a very fine line. How do we get back to normality? And this is also then obviously linked as well to a second question. What is the reaction of the markets? It is clear that some markets have very, very high valuations today, in particular when you look at stocks. And so the question is, when it comes back to normal, what does it mean to these valuations? And how do we also see companies behaving when it comes to the exit from this negative interest rate period and low interest rate period? Because some companies have clearly been able to borrow that wouldn't have normally been able to borrow. And so this question around how do you exit the low interest rates period? How do you make sure that this is synchronized across the different geographies? And how do you make sure that this is a soft lending in also avoiding inflation coming back is certainly one of the major issues that the financial system needs to focus on post crisis. Indeed, it's quite a dilemma for policymakers because on the one hand, they need to avoid choking the recovery. But on the other hand, they don't want to encourage more risk taking. And it feels right now as if markets are assuming a very strong rebound in the second half of the year. As we see, though, and particularly in Europe, the vaccine and what Anna referred to as the most important economic policy is quite patchy. There's a lot more uncertainty. Do you think that this, I mean, do you agree with me that this is what the markets are assuming? And what should they really be looking at? I think when you both also look at us in saying that the financial markets have been stable, the central banks have really managed this first phase of the crisis extremely well. And we often forget that. And that I think is important to say, however, when we look forward, I do believe there is a clear risk of, I would say backlash. That pandemic lasts longer than expected. Because when you look at the scenario that the markets have been building in so far, it is very much based on a very strong rebound in the second half of 2021. And when we look at what we see today, the sanitary crisis still continuing, the delivery of vaccine rather slow than fast mutations coming up. And so the question is, how can the different states and the central banks accommodate this movement now with the necessary economic policy and accommodating for longer, making sure that also the financial discipline of the states is really kept. Because I think one thing is absolutely critical for me, which is the confidence in the financial markets. There is a lot of confidence now. We've seen that, as I said earlier, the economic actors have really managed the crisis very well. But there is also, I would say, no magic thinking. When I hear discussion coming up around debt cancellation, I would see that as a clear breach of trust of the markets. And for me, this would not be an option. When we look at other theories of getting back to a much stronger austerity, this is probably also not on the table. So finding the right balance now of continuing to manage the crisis well, but not destroying confidence in the market is something extremely important and extremely relevant for the success of this next phase. And very quickly, how do you rate regulators' performance during this crisis? You were critical of the European regulators' approach to dividends, for example, during the pandemic. So very quickly, how do you think they... I think regulators have managed this crisis very well because the 2008 crisis has been a very important learning ground for the industry. And we have certainly significantly increased the capital levels, increased the sovereignty, increased the prudence. And it has clearly shown that the majority of banks and insurers have survived and lived well in that crisis. So regulation does work. Where I do... where I did address my criticism was not on regulators per se, on the country, I think, that has worked really well, but was on the question around dividend payments and its consistency across Europe. If we live in a common Europe in which we should assume the same approach, the same regulatory approach, I would also then expect a very consistent treatment across Europe in terms of dividend payment. This has not been the case in 2020, but I have very strong hopes that for 2021 there is consistency and more consistency than 2020 around this topic. And then Sir Jadan said that the GPS presidency of the G20 was totally overtaken by the COVID crisis. And the main focus was on how wealthier nations could or should support the world's poorest nations. There was a debt relief initiative which enabled 73 of the world's poorest nations to suspend payments on bilateral loans. Did this deal go far enough? There has certainly been criticism that it hasn't, including from the World Bank. And there have been many calls for rich nations to allow the IMF to allocate more STRs. Should more have been done? And was the Trump administration the barrier? Thank you, Rola. And good morning, afternoon, everyone, wherever you are. I think 2020 has been a very, very difficult year for everyone. And Saudi is no exception. And during that time we obviously assumed the G20 presidency, but we're also we're dealing with two dual shocks of the pandemic and the commodities prices. But when it comes to the G20 itself, I think while we actually continued with the original mandate, the agenda that we have put forward at the beginning of 2019, we had to adapt very quickly. And the G20 kept together, had two summits in the same year. And they really, really believe that the G20 collectively acted in a very cooperative way throughout 2020. We started with the financing gap and the health, international health arena, where we cooperated with the EU and pledged north of 21 billion US dollars to bridge the gap in terms of research and development of vaccines, therapeutics and personal protective equipment. That was actually very, very helpful. And then we looked at what should we do in the short term and have very quickly, and for the first time the G20 have done this, adopted the debt service suspension initiative. We extended this, initially we agreed six months, we extended it to another six months, and then we agreed to extend it again if needed on April this year. Then we looked at the medium term and long term, and we started talking to the private sector, looking at ways that we can work with them, not only the multilateral and bilateral creditors, but also the private sector. And if I was in the shoes of one of the 73 nations or even beyond, I would love to see more action from the wealthier nations. I would like to see debt reduction, I would like to see debt forgiveness, but also at the same time, we need to make sure that we do not disrupt the market, we do not impose our will as sovereigns on the private sector. Otherwise we will harm these nations themselves, because if we force them to do any forgiveness, then they will not be actually making their money available next time to these countries. So we need to be really trying to balance that act, which we did. We worked with them, we adopted the new framework where basically we will look at each case, each of these countries in a case by case basis in terms of debt restructuring, and also for the first time the G20 agreed that they will look at debt relief at a sovereign level and forgiveness on a case by case basis if that's the last option. So there has been actually quite a lot of efforts within the G20, been talking to our Italian presidency for this year and they are continuing on that same line. They are continuing on the action plan of the G20, which actually for the first time monitors everything that the G20 committed to and what has been delivered. I am actually optimistic. While I hear my colleagues talk about the difficulties ahead, I think yes, we are not out of the woods yet, but I really believe that 21 is going to be a more positive here than what a lot of people think. So the Trump administration was not a barrier to doing more? You will be surprised actually Rona. I mean, I am, Trump is behind us now, but you will be surprised that one of the most cooperative G20 countries when it came to these initiatives, supporting these initiatives, as actually convincing some of the difficult countries who found some of these initiatives more difficult. Actually US and secret immigration was very helpful and I have received actually a lot of support, not only from secret immigration and the US administration, but also from Europe, from China. I think G20 throughout 2020 has been actually significantly cooperative. Let me ask you about the Covax initiative and the G20 pledge to ensure global access to the vaccines. That does not at this stage seem to be going very well and we know the risks of not vaccinating the developing world. What should be done here? Well, I think everybody realizes that if anyone is left behind, we are all at risk. So I think that is very clear in the minds of everybody, including the G20. We supported that accelerator, including the Covax initiative and that is continuing. Actually, I was talking to them last week and there are actually plans to increase and accelerate the vaccination distribution to the least fortunate countries. Saudi Arabia itself is thinking of a serious initiative to provide significant more support in actual vaccination. So we are negotiating with a lot of the vaccination companies to provide more vaccination to particularly low income countries in this part of the world and Africa. I think there is around the world available. That is right. That is absolutely right. In addition to Covax, we are trying to see what can we do to some of the countries. Yemen, for example, some of the African nations that cannot afford it and will not be able to get enough from Covax quickly trying to get something faster than that. Okay. Governor, I'd like to go back to you now and talk about innovation. The general view is that central banks have not really kept up with the innovation in the financial sector, whether it's FinTech, stablecoins, crypto, but they are coming around to it. So let me ask you what have been the benefits of China's FinTech revolution and how can the central bank at this stage ensure that tight regulation will not do more harm than that? Thank you. I think it is obvious to see that financial innovation, especially in the FinTech area, that promote financial inclusive services. So that make the financial services to a large number of people, including small and medium enterprises, low income people, and lower the transaction cost a lot. And also reaching far more deep in the markets that we haven't been reached by the traditional financial industry. So that benefit is obvious. But at the same time, maybe we can see also some risks like consumer information protection and also some monopoly potential and also some misuse of the monopoly power and so on and so forth. So that I think by and large people's bank of China in the past decade, they have been consistently supporting financial innovation, especially in the FinTech area, mobile payment services, inclusive finance, micro loans, and so on and so forth. I think the key point is that well, you have an environment that courage financial innovation. At the same time, you see the legal framework has to be very clear. For example, the ownership of the data and how to protect consumer privacy and also how to safeguard the abuse of some monopoly power. That is very important. And you know that people from China recently, they have announced the regulation on the third party payment regulation on mobile payment and also to protect consumers data that regulation in this regard. Also, at the end, I have to mention the international cooperation. The discussion internationally, especially in Europe, the recent two act version of market act and then also the other act discussed recently have been circulating around the world which provide a hint to us. That is, in order to do the innovation FinTech, because it's very easy to cross border so that we'd better to have international cooperation and jointly with Europe, with the US and other developing countries. Jointly, we can getting closer to a common consensus of the regulatory framework that would be a benefit to everybody, especially far benefit to the low income people by using the inclusive finance. That's very interesting that you're looking at the European acts. I wanted to ask you about and financial. It released, as you know, its practice in late August. It got the final approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to list in October. So, can you tell us why the IPO was stopped in November and do you think that the Securities Regulatory Commission made a mistake in approving it? I think it's a complicated issue. I want to mention that first everything is ruled by law so that we have to follow the legal procedure. And they obviously the security and IPO authority obviously find some problem and also some relevant agency is investigating the suspect problems related to monopoly. But you can see that every procedure is according to the legal framework and also they emphasize the protection of property rights and also they emphasize that this is a nonstop service to the financial market. You can see the mobile payment provided by RDA has been normal and actually the consumers feeling and the consumers satisfaction in the process is entirely satisfied so that I think as long as they follow the legal framework and everything according to the legal procedure and also have a general discussion of the society what is the general consumer wants and what their problem some of them complaining they are privacy being violated and so on so forth. But I would say that this is a process and also this prevents the problem solved it will go back to the track to continue consideration according to law. And lead to an IPO presumably. I would say that you just follow the standard of legal structure. You will have the result. Okay. Anna. FinTech firms have grown massively in recent years become better to banks. Jamie Diamond recently said that banks should be scared. I don't think I can say the word but it's SHI dot dot. Are you are you as scared as him? No look I would say the same thing as I say in general how I feel as a banker is that I'm optimistic that war is all the time. I think digitization is a huge opportunity. It's the path to growth to strengthen the financial system. It allows us to reach more people financial inclusion you know back to digitizing in certain countries in 2020 including the UK 80% of our sales have been through those channels. So all we need and I think Jamie said this I've said this many times we need a level playing field and I think the governor has alluded to that in three key areas. One is data. Second is access to critical infrastructures and third is innovation. So if you're asking banks to compete with a hand tied behind our backs that's not fair. If banks are required as we are in Europe to share our payments data with other companies as we are in the PSD to then others should be required to open their data because data is critical to being competitive in the digital economy. So we need to manage it in a way that is fair open and in the interest of citizens. And again I'm referring to Europe but the same would be said globally especially we want to avoid a future where we have two separate global economies. So again we need to fix this we need to fix this in an orderly way we're not asked for any favors when we make these we want to be able to compete fairly. And as again has been referred to by the governor the digital markets and data act would go a long way towards solving these issues. We of course have comments but we need to make these happen fast. And again we need to do this in a way that is diverse that supports the diversity fair competitive you know economy that we have in Europe. So we need international cooperation and we need to make this happen. Not just in Europe but globally. And you know that this happens. I am confident we can compete. I'd like to bring ministers and Thomas to a to answer a question from Manuela Stefania. No sorry the question is from Jurgen Richtering first vice president of the EBRD. And the question is what are the limitations of the so-called magic monetary. Minister would you like to take that one up. Two things let me just comment on the previous discussion. And I think this is actually very interesting. I think while I agree totally with the earlier comment I think still the conventional banks are underestimating the disruption that is coming from digital. Players I'm not suggesting that we should not provide level playing field. I think absolutely right. I think not only level playing here but also we need to protect the depositors money and we need to make sure that these people have actually money that does not belong to them. So they need to be subject to the same regulatory framework. But still I really believe that banks if they are not careful if they are not innovative enough. And quick they will be left behind. And this is not I'm not talking in Europe. I'm talking in Saudi and beyond and the region. So people should not underestimate what is happening in the digital arena. And when it comes to generally and I'll tell you in Saudi there will need to be a very delicate balance when it comes to what the monetary policy can do and can do. While we are a big currency to the US dollar and the central bank has limitations in terms of interest rates. But they have also a lot of tools as we have seen throughout 2020 to actually support the banking system to relax some of the regulatory requirements to ensure that the banks are and the financial system is stable and supportive. I really believe that what we are seeing now is that central banks are clearly playing a very clear role in terms of economic growth in terms of supporting growth and some supporting markets. But we also need to be very careful. We need to make sure that we balance between not inflating the markets and not causing even more risks but not all throwing or drawing the stimulus measures prematurely. I think we this is possibly the time when you need more stimulus package because now firms are thinking about yes things are looking positive. If we need to invest so we need to push them but you need to be very very careful and you need to balance what you are doing otherwise you could risk more than what you are benefiting the economy. Thomas we bear what are the limitations of the magic money tree. The question here is how do we make sure that the I use the words magic money tree remains an exception to manage a crisis and does not become a normality. To which we get used to over the next 10 years because it clearly if it was to become a normality has questions around the distortion of our economy. Lots of people are talking about this famous word of zombification so that yes the policy is helping the market in general to recover to survive to deal well. But we also do not want to take away the natural selection mechanism or market that favors the survival of innovative companies and also correct mistakes that companies have made that for me is the first And the second one is clearly a longer term one around the role of banks when you look central banks through this very very large program of monetary policy are in effect taking decisions on the allocation of credit in the economy which traditionally was always the role of the banks And I think this remaining an exception an exception and not becoming normality is very important also for the functioning of for the good. And this combined with what is the role of traditional banks versus the central banks in the long term so just two limitations that I think are important to clarify as this continues. A good note on which to end this panel because we have to end it we have run out of time exception rather than normality but also I say this in the hope that we are going to return to some form of normality in the coming months. Thank you to my panelists for a fascinating discussion and thank you to the audience for listening to us. Have a great rest of the day.


Good evening, friends of the creaking door. This is your host to welcome you once again into the inner sanctum. Come on in for the crime of your life. And meet one of the illustrious inmates from our... Who's Who? This cadaver has cut up his Mr. Seymour blade. His wife had a tiff with him and punctuated it with a kitchen knife through the middle which is of course one way of making your points stay. All right then, lend a fear now to some grim happenings and hear what kind of profits our star Boris Karloff in the role of Mark Dever's reaped when he put up death for sale. The ashtray in the reception room is stuffed with half smoked cigarettes. The disheveled man waiting paces his caged animal steps this way and that each second his eyes dart to the door at the end of the room at the slightest sound. At last, the knob turns, the door swings wide open. Well, doctor. Your wife is in pretty bad shape. My wife. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought... Forget it. Bad shape. But you're going to pull out of it, right? Mr. Dever's... She's not going to pull out of it? Well, it doesn't look as if she will. What? There's a chance, only a very small one, but still a chance. You're lying. She's going to pull out of it. She's got to. We're doing everything we can look. Even if she has to die. You could pull her out of it for an hour, couldn't you? Just an hour so that she could sign something. Mr. Dever's... It means everything to me, doc. You could give her a shot or something, couldn't you? Good day, Mr. Dever's. I'll give you 5,000. Good. $10,000, doc, and you fool, you don't understand. You've got to do this for me. You've got to, you've got to, you... You do the same in my case, so would you, so would anybody. $50,000. I was one hour away from $50,000. Money that belongs to me, my money that I've waited seven long years for, and I won't be cheated out of it. Seven long years. It all seems so simple and so sure. We had a perfect plan for $50,000, and nothing was going to keep us from it, and nothing did. Up to three weeks ago, that was when Cora called me at the office. I just thought she was imagining things again as she had right along. I told her so, but she said no. This man was watching her night and day. He is, Mark. He's outside the house right now. Oh, come now, Cora. I tell you he is. Oh, you're just imagining things again. Why don't you try? I'm not imagining anything. He's right outside the house across the street, and I'm... You'll be positive after seven years. I know I've been wrong before, but this time I'm sure Elliot's come back and... What? The doorbell just rang. Who is it? Evelyn? I suppose so. We're supposed to go to the movies together. Good idea.  You're not coming home then. Not till I've finished at the office. All right, Mark. Suit yourself. Goodbye, darling. My best, Evelyn. Mark? Oh, all right. All right, I'm coming. I was on the phone, Evelyn. Aren't you going to ask me in? Of course, after all these years, you've probably forgotten who I am. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Elliot Starnes. Your beloved husband. Elliot, you're supposed to be... Yes, I know I'm supposed to be, Cora, but as you can see, I'm very much alive. I knew it was you this time. I knew it. I think you better ask me in, don't you? After all, it isn't very often that a husband comes back from the dead. Back from the dead. That's what he was all right. When Cora called me this time, I didn't say I couldn't leave the office. All right, Cora. Pull yourself together. But, Mark, you don't understand. Oh, yes, I do.  He wants $5,000 more to disappear again. Well, I didn't expect him to come back just to say hello. Of course, he wants more money. What are we going to do? He knows that we collect that 50,000 insurance money three weeks from now. He says if we don't come through with this five, he'll go straight to the insurance company himself.  He's in this thing as much as we are. He won't do anything to spoil his chances all he wants is money. The longer he's around, the more chance we take that somebody might recognize him. We can go to jail. We've waited a long time to get our hands on this money and I don't expect to be cheated out of it now. You're going to give him the five thousand. I don't know. Maybe. But... But nothing. When did he say he's coming back? Tonight. After midnight. All right. I'll be here. We'll handle Elliot once and for all and after this time, there won't be any coming back. I guess no matter how carefully you plan, there's always that one small thing you fail somehow to cover. Seven years before, I was sure we'd covered everything and it was clever. Really clever. The law says that if a body isn't recovered after seven years' time, a man is declared legally dead. So we found us a body, Cora, and I did. We found Elliot Starnes and sold him on debt for five thousand dollars. Sure I'll do it. I'll marry Cora and then disappear. For five thousand dollars, you can sell me on anything. He married Cora and a little while after the policy was issued, his automobile was found at the bottom of Ridgley's pond. Oh, the police dragged the water for days, but naturally didn't find the body and the insurance people exercised their right to withhold payment till Elliot was declared legally dead. I understand, gentlemen, and I don't even care about the money. All I care about is that my poor husband is dead. It was clever, all right, and Cora put on a good act. We knew we'd cash in while others had failed because we were at action. We were willing to wait for seven years. And wait we did. It was a perfect plan. Nothing was going to keep us from it. Nothing except... now Elliot had come back. He swore it'd never return and he'd gone back on his word. But by midnight, I'd made up my mind how to handle Elliot. No, Mark. The only way. The only way this fire that he wants, that's only the beginning. He'll hold us up all his life. No! He'll drain us dry of every cent of that 50,000. I won't let you do it. Yes, you will. We're in this fire. You won't back down now. I've got to. I never dreamed it would turn out like this. Not a few weeks and he'll be legally dead. There must be another way. Only this believe me. And after it's done, there'll be you and me and nobody the wiser. Go on. Open the door for him. What? Cora. Do what I say. I can't. All right. I'll be inside. Tell him everything is set. I will. Hello, Cora. Won't you come in, Elliot? Thank you, my dear. Don't mind if I do. Mark here yet, Cora? Yes. He's in the living room. Oh, fine. Then you and Mark have agreed on the deal for me. Yes, we have. Come in, Elliot. Everything's set. Mark is waiting for Elliot in the... you'll pardon the expression... living room. Whatever happens to Elliot actually serves him right. After all, here in the sanctum, we don't go for life, people walking around as if they were ghosts. It's enough to scare the death out of us. Poor Cora is so nervous. She just can't look a corpus to lick-tie in the prima facie. Well... enough grave philosophy. Suppose we let our star Boris Karlov take up our stock story where we left off. Everything was set. I planned to kill Elliot with the knife I held behind me and I felt absolutely no compunction about it. Are you... You're joking. No, Elliot. You're crazy. Cora, stop him. You'll never get away with it. Mark, no! I buried him in the back of the house. I say I did because Cora wasn't much used to anyone that night or for several days afterwards. She got over it as I knew she would. She got over it when she realized that I was right that we had gotten away with it and no one could ever know when no one would miss him. She got over it when I reminded her that in just one more week we'd be sharing that $50,000. Just one week. That's right, Cora. I've been a lot of trouble to you these past few days. I am sorry. Oh, forget it. It's all over. Yes, it is. I'll feel a lot better when the money's actually ours. Somehow, way in the back of my mind, I feel that maybe we won't... Look, darling, it's as good as ours now. There's nothing left in the way, not a single thing. One week. That's all. Now, wouldn't you know? Are you expecting anyone? No. Evelyn? Not at this hour. Well, whoever it is, get rid of them. Yes, darling. I'll get rid of them. Mrs. Don? Yes? Mrs. Elliot Stone? That's right. I want to talk to you. Here's my card. Well, I'm sorry. I'm busy right now. No, it's too busy to see me. I can promise you that. Oh, now, see here. Nice card, ain't it? Real fancy engraving. Mrs.... Mrs. Elliot Stone. That's right. I'm the woman Elliot married after he disappeared seven years ago. Now, I don't think you're going to be too busy to see me after all. Do you? Maybe it's fate. Maybe it's all in the cards. You work hard. You think out a plan that's letter perfect. Then up pops the unexpected, forcing you into the first desperate, step-delicate. First, Elliot Stones himself and his second wife that we didn't know existed. And here's our wedding license, just in case you don't believe me. There you can look at it. Take it easy, Cora. We believe you're his wife, Mrs. Stones. And he's got a birthmark. We said we believe you. Now, what do you want? Well, what does any good woman want? My husband. Then why come here? Where else would I go? I'm afraid we don't understand. Do we, Cora? No. I'm afraid you do. Now, look here. I'm afraid you understand all for well. Elliot told me. Told you what? What you two were doing. He also told me if he should fail to come home after a couple of days. Mrs. Stones, we haven't seen your husband for seven years. Now, you don't expect me to believe that, do you? I don't see why not. I do. You see, Mr. Divas, the other day with my own eyes, I seen Elliot walk into this house. But I didn't see him walk out again. Mr. Divas, you got nothing to say? But what do you want, Mrs. Stones? My husband, of course. Only since you killed him, I can't very well have that, can I? What? He's the only man I ever loved. And you killed him. I never should have let him come here. For days I've begged him not to. Mrs. Stones. I never should have let him come here. I know that now. But I want him back. I love him and I want Elliot back. Do you want your husband, Mrs. Stones? Or a substantial sum of money? Huh? How much? How can you talk about money at a time like this? Five thousand? I love my husband, Mr. Divas. Seventy-five hundred? Well, how much? Twenty-five thousand. What? In cash. Let me handle this corner. And if we refuse? Then I'll just naturally have to tell my story to the police. Call her. But you... Oh, let's drop all the small talk, Mr. Divas. I want twenty-five thousand and I want it fast. Now make up your mind. I don't make up my mind. Now, Mr. Divas, don't get rough.  I've taken steps against anything happening to me. No more. Better listen to her. You're not getting away with this. Then you don't get away with Elliot's murder. So healthy. Before you put that hand on me, you better have your lady friend look out that window. What? There's a taxi across the street. My taxi. And the driver knows I'm in here.  Elliot's ever-loving second wife is here to stay. And if you want to get her out of your life, the cost is going to be twenty-five thousand dollars. By this time tomorrow night. After she left, I had some work to do on Cora. It won't be the same way, Mark. Not another murder. You said anything like that. Promise me? Not the same way. Sure, sure, promise. After all, if we can get away with twenty-five thousand, is that so bad? I'd rather settle for none of it. That money won't do us any good now. Why not? It just won't. Oh, you're all upset. You'll feel differently the day after tomorrow when you sign those papers in the insurance office and they hand that fat check over to you. No, Mark. I'll never feel differently about it again. I knew I couldn't work Cora my way much longer. But it was just two more days. Two more days to get that fifty thousand. Just two things to settle in. Just two days. First, there was Mrs. Starn. When she came to my apartment the next night, I handed the envelope over to her. It's all here? You could open the envelope and count it if you like. I don't have to, do I? What if I cheated you? You wouldn't. I could always come back. You could always come back for more anyway. What do you think I am? Doesn't make any difference now what I do. Okay. No hard feelings. There are, but they won't bother me for long. Of course not. That money your collection will cure that. I'll be cured before then. That's your business. It's yours too now. I don't see how. Now do you see? Put that knife down. I will. Into you. No. Don't. Please. That door's locked. You can't get out. Don't. You can have the money back. There isn't any money in that envelope. What? Just strips of newspaper. Where can I get $25,000? I don't care about the money. I do. I cared about it for seven years. Cared enough to murder once and I can do it again. Now Mrs. Tharn, I have no hard feelings towards you. None at all. Just two things to take care of in just two days. The first, Mrs. Tharn's was taken care of and the second was now just an hour away. The 50,000 was waiting in the insurance office for Cora. All she had to do was sign her name on some papers to get it. You can imagine how relieved I was as I sat next to Cora when she drove to the insurance office. But it was different with Cora. Cora didn't say a word. There's nothing left to say, Mark. Oh, money won't make you talk, Cora. You wait and see. After you get your hands on the... Hey, you're taking the wrong street. No, Mark. Sure you are. This is the way. It's the only way left for us, Mark. Huh? We're driving straight out of town. We're never coming back. There'll be no more murders. Cora.  Now, where did you ever get that idea? I paid her and she left. I was outside your apartment house last night. All right. So you know now. What did you expect? I couldn't let it all go down the drain not after seven years? Turn the car around. No. You're going to sign those papers. I want that money. It's too late, Mark. Like fun it is. Let's go. You're turning it around. Mark, the wheel, let go of me. I wasn't even scratched in the crash. Cora wasn't that lucky. I rushed her here to the hospital. You heard what the doctor said. There's a chance.  No, the doctor doesn't understand. There's got to be more than only one small chance. I was one hour away from that $50,000. Money that belongs to me. Money that I've waited seven years for. And I won't be cheated out of it. Cora's got to live. She's got to sign those papers. Someone's waiting for you down the corridor, Mr. Devil. About Cora. There's still a chance, isn't there? No chance at all anymore. You're lying. The gentleman is waiting. You're lying. She's not dead. She can't be. The gentleman is from the police. She asked me to call. The lie. She's not dead. Mr. Divas, try to understand. She is... No. It's not true, and I won't listen to you. She's got to sign those papers. You've only got to keep her alive another hour.  You can do that. Mr. Divas, please. Seven years.  Seven years go down the drain. Seven years. It can't turn out that way. No. She's not dead. Though Mark's 50,000 went down the drain after all, and Mark went down the hatch of a scaffold. You know, I can't feel sorry for Mrs. Starnes. She should have known that a rolling widow gathers only moss leaves. Yes, sir. When you use a dead husband for blackmail, you're bound to end up face down. Oh, a footnote. When you're dealing with life insurance, remember, honesty is the best policy. Well, friends, it's time once again to close that creaking door. I'll hear next week at the same time. Well, friends, it's time once again to close that creaking door. I'll hear next week at the same time when we'll be back with a little hunk of horror. You'll be sure to listen, won't you? Until next week, then. Good night. Pleasant dream. Inner Sanctum has come to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.


Hello and welcome to the session. In this session we are going to discuss the following question and the question says that Dona works as a manager. Last year she earned $96,480 in addition. She earned $630 interest on her savings. She contributed $540 and $700 to her health saving account and retirement plan respectively. Itemized reductions are as follows. She paid property tax of $1,400. She also had medical expenses of $350 and she paid a local tax of $1,534. She also claimed an exemption of $4,535 for her son, decided by the taxing authority, calculate her taxable income. Now let us start with the solution of the given question. To calculate Dona's taxable income, we will follow the following steps. In the first step we will calculate total income. Dona's annual earnings are given as $96,480. In addition to this she also earned savings interest which is given as $630. So her total income will be given by annual earnings plus savings interest and this is equal to $96,480 plus $630 and this is equal to $97,110. So her total income is given by $97,110. Next we shall calculate adjusted gross income. We know that adjusted gross income is given by total income minus specific deductions. Here she made a contribution of $540 to her health saving account and $700 in retirement plan. So we will subtract these amounts from total income so adjusted gross income will be given by $97,110 minus $540 minus $700 and this is equal to $97,110 minus $1,240 and this is equal to $95,870. So adjusted gross income is equal to $95,870. Then we shall calculate deductions and subtract it from adjusted gross income. Here we are given itemized deductions and it is given that she paid property tax of $1,400. She also had medical expenses of $350 and she paid a local tax of $1,534. So total deduction will be given by property tax plus medical expenses plus local tax and this is equal to $1,400 plus $350 plus $1,534. This is equal to $3,284. Now taxable income is equal to adjusted gross income minus deductions. So this is equal to $95,870 minus $3,284 and this is equal to $92,586. And then we subtract exemptions from the amount calculated in the previous step then the obtained amount will be the taxable income. Here we are given that Dona claimed $4,535 as an exemption for her son. So exemptions will be given by $4,535. Thus taxable income is given by $92,586 minus exemptions. So this is equal to $92,586 minus $4,535 and this is equal to $88,051. So we can say that Dona's taxable income is $88,051. This is the required answer. This completes our session. Hope you enjoyed this session.


Hello everybody, hooded Cobra Commander 788 here and we are going to look at the 2021 G.I. Joe Classified series, Snake Eyes, G.I. Joe Origins, movie versions of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. I have them here in the packaging, we will take them out of the packaging to look at the figures and accessories, but let's look at the packaging first. For Snake Eyes we have a white background with the Arashikage symbol that's a nice contrast with the white in the background and the black figure in front of it. We have logos for the Snake Eyes movie and the G.I. Joe Classified series. We have some artwork here for Snake Eyes. This is not the best artwork for Snake Eyes by any stretch, but it's fine, it's acceptable. We have more artwork on the side showing the actor Henry Golding. We have Snake Eyes and we have that Arashikage symbol in a different style. On the back of the box we have some generic Snake Eyes movie artwork. This artwork is nice, it looks good, but it is not unique to this figure. This artwork is on all of the movie figures and there is no file card of any kind. On the top of the box we see this is number 16 in the series and on this side of the box we have these symbols which represent Snake Eyes' specialties. This one means he's dead, this one is some kind of sex toy I think. This one means stick a needle in his eye and this one means he likes snowflakes. Let's pull the figure out and take a look at it. Here is the figure and the accessories outside of the package. There are far fewer accessories than we normally get with classified action figures, but these accessories probably cost more than the typical classified accessories given the fact that one of the accessories is an alternate head with the likeness of the actor Henry Golding which probably had to be licensed. The figure comes with a katana sword. This is the morning light sword that was used in the movie. It has a silver blade with a touch of gold at the base and it has a black handle. The figure also comes with a sheath for the sword. The sheath is in base black plastic with gold paint. I think the gold paint looks excellent. There is a peg to attach the sheath to the figure and the sheath will fit the sword so Snake Eyes can holster his sword. Snake Eyes also includes these two daggers which I accidentally left in the packaging so I didn't include it in the accessory count at first. These daggers are fine but unfortunately there's no way to attach them to the figure. The only other accessory is the alternate head in the likeness of Henry Golding. It is a reasonable likeness of Henry Golding. It's not perfect but it's okay, it's acceptable. We will try this head on the figure later. Looking at the figure itself, the figure is in almost all black. It's a mix of glossy and matte black. There is a little bit of paint on the figure. There is a red Arashikage emblem on the left arm. There is a silver belt buckle but that appears to be the only spots of paint anywhere on the figure. That kind of makes sense since the first version of Snake Eyes had no paint applications at all. The articulation on this figure is excellent as it is on all classified figures. There's a wide range of motion for the head. There's a decent range of motion for the arms. They don't lift up quite as far as you would want them to but they do swivel at the shoulder. It does have double jointed elbows and it has a twist at the wrist. That's nice. It has a hinge at the rib cage so you can get some motion at the rib cage. The torso will twist with excellent range of motion. A wide split on the thighs and they have a thigh cut so the thighs will twist as well. It has double jointed knees and I just spotted some more paint. It has some tiny red dots on the knees. That's hardly noticeable. Moving on from that, it has hinged and rocker ankles. Really excellent articulation on this figure which is to be expected for a GI Joe classified figure. It does have one more item that I guess I should mention as an accessory. He has this strap on the back.  If you line those up, you should be able to peg in the sword through both of those holes and there you go. So Snake Eyes can wear his sword on his back. Let's try that alternate head. Let's pop off the standard head. There we go. It's got a little ball on the neck post and we popped the alternate head on so take some effort but there we go. Popped the alternate head on and we have Snake Eyes unmasked looking like Henry Golding and like I said, it's a reasonable likeness. The black on the uniform goes right up to his jawline, right up to his ears and I guess that's okay. That's pretty close to how it looked in the movie. This would be a problem if the skin on the neck were exposed at all. That would be an unpainted detail. This figure narrowly avoids that problem. Comparing movie Snake Eyes with the standard release GI Joe classified Snake Eyes, the standard release has a lot more detail. It has more paint applications and I just think it looks better than the movie version. The movie version doesn't look bad. The movie Snake Eyes is a bit more sleek and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that but the standard release just has a lot more going on. When you add the deluxe Snake Eyes to the mix, which has more color variety and all of the detail of the standard release, the movie release Snake Eyes just feels a little lacking. One thing I have to commend them for is using all unique parts for the movie Snake Eyes figure. It doesn't look like they reused any parts from the standard release. Comparing the packaging of this movie Snake Eyes with earlier versions, we have the deluxe Snake Eyes packaging, which I think is the best. I just think it looks great. But that white background and the red Arashikaka emblem of the movie release packaging I think is better than the standard release. Let's turn our attention to Storm Shadow starting with the packaging and that black background with the red Arashikaka emblem is a nice contrast to the white figure in front of it. On the front as with Snake Eyes we have some logos, we have some artwork and I like this artwork. I think this is better artwork than on the Snake Eyes packaging. On the side we have some additional artwork but not the likeness of the actor. I wonder if the actor did not approve of having his likeness on the packaging. Although he does have his likeness on one of the accessories. On the back of the box we have that same generic movie artwork, we've already seen this, nothing special here. We see this as number 17 in the series. On the other side of the box we have these symbols for his specialties. These are mostly the same as Snake Eyes except for this one which looks like a honeycomb so I believe this means Storm Shadow is a beekeeper. Now let's pull Storm Shadow out and take a look at this figure. This is the figure and the accessories outside of the packaging and right off the bat we see Storm Shadow has more accessories than Snake Eyes with two swords instead of one. There's a backpack that can hold both swords and the alternate head in the likeness of the actor Andrew Koji. Looking at these swords for Storm Shadow they appear to be the same as the sword for Snake Eyes but with white wrapping around that handle instead of black so they still look pretty good. Storm Shadow includes this off-white backpack with a sheath for each sword and a peg on the backside of it. There doesn't seem to be an up or down for this backpack. It can fit either way on the figure. It will hold both of Storm Shadow's swords. There is a right way to put the swords in though because of the holes in the sheath. To put the swords in you really need to put them in with the blades facing each other. The peg on this backpack will fit in the octagonal hole in the back of the figure. I just plug that in it fits pretty securely and now Storm Shadow can carry both of his swords. Basically we get to the alternate head. It is a reasonable likeness of Andrew Koji. I think it looks good and we will try it on the figure a little later. Looking at the figure itself we see the figure is not a bright white. It is a dull off-white and I think that's okay. What is not great is that there are almost no other paint applications. No spots of color on this at all. Just a little bit of silver paint on the chest and the jacket thing, whatever that is. Snake Eyes had that red Arashikage emblem. This figure does not and this figure could really use a splash of color somewhere on it. Storm Shadow has that excellent classified articulation with a good range of motion on the head. There is a color here and that does get in the way a little bit. He has the same basic range of motion on the arms with those nice double-jointed elbows and the twist on the wrist. We do have a slight problem with the accessory piece that drapes from his belt. That does get in the way of articulation. Not so much at the waist but at the hip it really hinders that leg split. You have to kind of slide it up to get the full leg split and that looks a little odd. It still has the thigh cut so you can have that twist at the thigh. Still got the nice double-jointed knees and the rocker and hinged ankles. I like this masked Storm Shadow but let's go ahead and take this head off and try out the alternate head and the likeness of the actor that takes some force to pop that on. Now we have an unmasked Storm Shadow and I think this head looks pretty good but this head has a problem that the Snake Eyes head does not have and that is the neck. This neck looks like it's supposed to be skin and not part of the uniform and that white goes all the way up to the jaw line and the hairline and the ears and that looks like an unpainted detail. It worked okay on Snake Eyes but doesn't really work as well on Storm Shadow. The only other classified Storm Shadow figure I have to compare this with is the Arctic Mission Storm Shadow. It's not really a fair comparison. These figures have entirely different inspirations. I prefer the Arctic Mission Storm Shadow that white and black together look really good and I like the gold. It provides the spot of color that the movie figure really needs. As with Snake Eyes I have to commend them for not reusing parts. This movie Storm Shadow has entirely separate parts from the Arctic Mission version. That was my review of the GI Joe classified series movie versions of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow. I hope you enjoyed it. With the alternate heads like that it looks like they decapitated the actors doesn't it? That's not fair. The movie wasn't that bad. I hope you enjoyed it. I'll see you next time and until then remember only GI Joe is GI Joe.


Hi, oh that mic works. Oh my god. It's so exciting to finally be here on stage in Bangkok. I work here in Asia Hasn't this event been amazing so far? I love it. So really I could do this four times a year Yeah, as you already heard my name is Carol and I'm the culture and recruitment strategist at Yoast and also the head of cloud just hackathon I am originally from Luxembourg a very small country in Western Europe and Living in Germany for nine years now And I also consider myself an advocate for diversity inclusion and positive mental health in tech You probably already have guessed it. This talk is going to be about mental health So let's maybe start with the big elephant in the room Why did I choose to give a mental health talk today? well, I Struggle with depression and anxiety myself and I have decided not to be ashamed to share this publicly Also, I am a firm believer that as a society and a community We all have a responsibility to create a safe and welcoming space for people struggling with mental health issues So they can feel more comfortable and safe to open up to co-exist and to seek help if needed Seeing role models on stage was essential to me to be able to open up myself and As with so many other important topics around inclusion and diversity Representation matters here It helped me realize I was not alone in this and If now I can be a role model for just one single person in this room today or maybe later on WordPress TV Giving this talk will have been worth it ten times over Let's remove the stigma around mental health issues and let's start today So instead of fighting my elephant and trying to hide it I just decided to accept it as a part of me and bring it with me to Bangkok and You can see it here in the room brought by my awesome colleagues from team. Yoast so What are indicators that you should take a step back once in a while? Let's first talk about performance and motivation loss What do you are filling your regular day with does it actually spark joy? No matter if we're talking about your professional career your hobbies your volunteer work your family life It is important to understand that true ambition and efficiency Come and come are born and grow from within driven by passion So what are your passions and what personal values are attached to them? When we simply enjoy an activity or see it as an opportunity to explore to grow to learn and live to our fullest potential We are intrinsically motivated Extrinsic motivation on the other hand involves external rewards or is avoiding punishment Intrinsic motivation can be key to success and fulfillment So if you don't feel you're driven by intrinsic motivation at least partly You may want to change that Now let's talk about health physical and mental health are interconnected and interdependent and make no mistake Your body will tell you and show you eventually with brute force and all sorts of physical symptoms If you ignore signs of stress and feeling mentally unwell for an extended period of time Do you know the feeling when activities that you always found energizing suddenly drain all the energy out of you?  And even if every single task would be easy to complete You feel exhausted and you no longer manage to tackle a single one Well, this is all too familiar to me What about you? If your physical or mental health are already compromised it is about time to get to the bottom of it take a few steps back and I am well aware that taking care of your physical and mental health requires lots of time and This is where we are allowed to learn how to reevaluate our priorities and set them straight and Talking about priorities, I would like to investigate the concept of FOMO the fear of missing out with you We all live Incredibly fast-paced lives these days. We see unique opportunities Everywhere and we want to grab them all and preferably all at the same time There's always another email or social media account that we need to check for new messages, right? and oh wait Here's another project. I should get involved into because it could boost my career and What about squeezing one more event into the already full schedule? FOMO is real and very stressful and a common phenomenon in our society and in this community It increases the pressure and expectations. We are already placing on ourselves But what if I told you there's a way more pleasant counterpart to this? Meet Jomo the joy of missing out You don't have to run after every opportunity you don't have to attend every event and You certainly don't have to burn out while working or volunteering for an open source project Embrace the joy of missing out and celebrate self-care instead of FOMO For instance and as some of you may know I Really like myself a good party at a word camp But sometimes I'm just exhausted by all the networking I'm already doing during the day and I will never forget the first time where I decided at a word camp not to join the activities at night and Take a good bath order room service and enjoy myself some Netflix series while having pizza in my bed And oh my god. It was so so good Trust your intuition if the timing is not right and your priorities are not matched There will always be a next opportunity Start making your own conscious and responsible decisions and don't let FOMO decide for you and In this context, I would like to point out the principle decisions are made by those who show up in our community Is this really the message we want to spread in terms of sustainable contribution? This is fueling the fear of missing out Not to mention that decisions are most certainly not made that way in this project And one would have to be very privileged to comply to this and I believe we could do better than to increase Pressure on community folks to always be active and always be on Now that we know the indicators that tell us we need to act What can stepping back look like I? Like to distinguish between a reality check a health check and adjusting adjusting and resulting adjustments Who are you today? Compared to five or ten years ago What are your personal? Priorities today and what values are attached to them Human beings are designed to evolve and I am proud to say that I am not the same person today That what I was five years ago or even one year ago and I truly hope that in two years from here I will not be the same Carol you're seeing today. I love to evolve and I learn every day and That's why I feel the need to question myself my priorities and my personal values every now and then And I have found that in this regard. There's nothing more inspiring to me than traveling the world learning from people with different backgrounds with different cultures and Yeah, just like what I'm doing here right now at WordCamp Asia in Bangkok Learning and evolving while traveling means wealth to me so I decided to adapt my lifestyle accordingly and Today I live partly as a digital nomad together with my husband and little Buffy and we're traveling the world together This is a little Buffy by the way What does wealth mean to you and Are you already living your life according to your passions and personal values? If not Where can you start to adapt your lifestyle to get closer to where you want to be? Dare to become a pioneer and leave the comfort zone occasionally As you step back to do a little bit of self-discovery Change can be scary, especially when struggling with mental health issues But it doesn't always have to be a drastic change to start with Baby steps really can go a long way here When and they're gonna bring you forward the second part of the personal inventory would be the health check Say it with me.  You did not choose to get ill On the contrary you are choosing life and yourself by deciding to get better and you are all absolutely worth it Last but not least Please never see the steps back. We are talking about today as a regression. They are not Before anyone can jump over a canyon or an obstacle they first have to walk back In order to build up enough speed with a running start to even make that jump And to greater the distance the higher the obstacle well the longer the run up And the farther back you have to go But every step back is necessary to get you to the other side to overcome the obstacle and to finally move forward in the right direction and for good Thank you