'no' means 'no'

i was hosting drinks, as usual. the idea is people show up, some of them i know, some of them i don't. we have sometimes really interesting conversations, sometimes less so, while enjoying a drink, which may or may not be alcoholic. 

the other night, this guy showed up as the first and, for the first 45 mns, only guest. he offered to buy me a drink. i had just got myself a tall cup of nice tea so i declined. first, he seemed upset i wasn't drinking alcohol and insisted he would get me something else. a cup of tea really wasn't fit for drinks. again, i declined. not 5 mns later did he reiterate his wish to ply me with alcohol. after yet another try, i ended up telling him i didn't actually drink alcohol. he seemed flabbergasted. how was that possible? i could tell this wasn't going the way he was hoping. as no one else had yet appeared, he asked if the plan was that we were going to dinner afterwards. err...no. i told him he was free to have dinner, or to leave and have dinner, but i would not be eating. but again, he insisted. it would be on him, no worries (presumably thinking my unemployed status was the reason for my refusal). so i explained i had, in fact, already eaten (which i had). this clearly wasn't going to sway him because he not only asked for the menu but told me to choose what we would share. and then came back with another proposal for a drink! needless to say i was relieved when a second guest arrived! 

this guy was by far the pushiest i'd ever met. not only that, but he was easily nearing 60 and i really would have thought someone that age would have behaved better. 

the Panama Papers

so this story broke out yesterday and is basically all that is talked about in France at the moment. on the French version of the yahoo main page, there are 10 stories on this (at the time of writing). is it because it's outrageous, because 1,000 French people are on the list, including a political party and several high-public profiles, or because it's France? originally, i thought the former, cos what else, really? but i looked at some other yahoo pages and was rather surprised by what i found.

on the US version, not only is this story not making the headlines but there doesn't seem to be a single article on this. NOT ONE. and it's not like there's anything massive going on right now that would take the limelight. no. yet there is not a single mention of this. i was watching a political affairs show on this yesterday and someone pointed out it was rather odd that amid all the big hot-shots of the world named in this investigation (including heads of state), there was a definite lack of anyone American on the list. huh. maybe that was why? 

i then went to the UK version. barely better: just one story, and not very prominent either - it comes after an article on the Voice, a village being for sale and 3 stories about football.

the Australian version: 2 articles. the Swedish one: 1 article. the Canadian one: 4 articles (on the English version, couldn't find anything on the French one). the Malaysian one: 4 articles - and here i have to say kudos to Malaysia for having more than the UK!

i get that this is not going to be the main news in some countries but must admit i am rather flabbergasted by the results of my quick search. i also know that the yahoo main page is not the most reliable source of information but still.

Comment: 2.5 hours after originally posting this, the US Yahoo page finally had this as their top story line, with another article further below about why Americans weren't on the list