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 | February 9, 2015 |
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| POLITICAL NEWS |
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NY Daily News: DHS Could Furlough More Than 30,000 Employees If Congress Doesn’t Fund Agency
The Department of Homeland Security will be forced to furlough at least 30,000 employees if Congress fails to fund the critical department by the end of the month, the agency’s chief said Sunday. “I am on Capitol Hill now virtually every working day talking to Democrats and Republicans about the importance of a fully funded Department of Homeland Security in these times in particular,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on CNN’s “State of the Union." The department is currently funded through Feb. 27 as part of the “cromnibus” continuing resolution/omnibus spending bill hybrid to fund most of the government through next year that was passed in December. Read more..
Politico: Ted Cruz Sharply Criticizes GOP Leadership On DHS Funding Strategy
[In an interview Sunday with CNN,] Cruz harshly criticized Republican leaders for their strategy on funding DHS. And he particularly pushed back against the notion that the strategy — blocking Obama’s immigration executive order in providing funding for DHS, which will run out on Feb. 27 — was his idea. “It’s now up to leadership to lay out their strategy,” Cruz said, when asked about the GOP endgame on the issue. “I told them this was not a winning strategy, and they went down this road anyway, fighting tooth and nail.” The senator noted that he urged Republican leaders not to pass the $1.01 trillion spending bill in December which set the funding deadline for DHS, noting that it would waste the party’s “leverage” in the fight against the White House immigration plan. Read more..
Bloomberg Politics: New Hampshire Poll: Jeb Bush Grabs Narrow Lead
Jeb Bush has taken a slight lead over other potential Republican presidential candidates in a new Bloomberg Politics/Saint Anselm New Hampshire poll, even though his party’s voters have doubts about his famous last name and his positions on immigration and education. Even if Bush should overcome those doubts to prevail in what is shaping up as one of the most wide-open Republican primaries in the state's recent history, the poll suggests that he is deeply unpopular with likely general-election voters. It's a worrisome sign for his campaign in a battleground state that both parties have targeted during the past several presidential elections. The poll also shows former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dominating her potential Democratic rivals. Clinton, who won the state’s presidential primary in 2008, is the first choice of 56 percent of Democratic primary voters. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who has said she isn't running, is second at 15 percent, while Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont both have 8 percent. Read more..
Washington Post: In Iowa, Republican Field Wide Open As Moderates Stake Their Caucus Claims
Political observers in Iowa say the field is wide open and that numerous candidates have a legitimate shot to win or do well enough to come out with momentum. That is partly because moderates within the Iowa Republican Party, led by Gov. Terry Branstad, have reasserted themselves into the caucus process after watching social conservatives dominate in 2008 and 2012. The GOP hopefuls, who at the moment number around two dozen, are already battling one another for supporters and potential staff members amid regular visits to the state. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who is near the top of early polling in the state, campaigned here Friday night and spent Saturday at an Iowa State basketball game, where he met several of the school’s influential boosters. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will speak Monday night to Republicans in Dallas County, one of the state’s fastest-growing suburbs and an area his advisers see as a ripe political target. Read more..
NYT: Economic Plan Is A Quandary for Hillary Clinton’s Campaign
With advice from more than 200 policy experts, Hillary Rodham Clinton is trying to answer what has emerged as a central question of her early presidential campaign strategy: how to address the anger about income inequality without overly vilifying the wealthy. Mrs. Clinton has not had to wade into domestic policy since before she became secretary of state in 2009, and she has spent the past few months engaged in policy discussions with economists on the left and closer to the Democratic Party’s center who are grappling with the discontent set off by the gap between rich and poor. Sorting through the often divergent advice to develop an economic plan could affect the timing and planning of the official announcement of her campaign. Although people close to Mrs. Clinton say she has not yet settled on a specific platform, she is expected to embrace several principles. They include standard Democratic initiatives like raising the minimum wage, investing in infrastructure, closing corporate tax loopholes and cutting taxes for the middle class. Read more..
Washington Post: Cruz Looking At 2016 ‘Very Seriously’
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) reiterated Sunday that he is looking at the possibility of a presidential campaign "very, very seriously" but declined to hit back against criticism lobbed at him by a fellow Texas Republican. In an interview with The Washington Post this week, former Texas governor Rick Perry jabbed at Cruz, noting that President Obama was also a young U.S. senator when he was elected as president. “I think it’s one of the selling points, if you will, to the American people as they decide who is going to follow Barack Obama,” Perry said. “I think they’re going to make a rather radical shift away from a young, untested United States senator whose policies have really failed.” Cruz, speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," shrugged off the criticism and said that Perry had done a good and effective job as governor. "People occasionally throw rocks in politics," Cruz said. "That's his choice." Read more..
NYT: Working Families Party Calls On Elizabeth Warren To Run For President
Leaders of New York’s Working Families Party on Sunday urged Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to seek the Democratic nomination for president next year, formally calling on her to enter the 2016 race for the White House. By voting to encourage a Warren candidacy, the Working Families Party became the latest liberal group to support her as a potential primary challenger to former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has not formally announced that she will seek the Democratic nomination but is the presumed favorite. Several organizations on the left, led by MoveOn.org and Democracy for America, have already organized a campaign designed to lure Ms. Warren, with her brand of economic populism, into making a bid for the presidency. Read more..
Gallup: Obama On Pace To Have Most Polarized Approval Ratings
So far in his presidency, there has been an average party gap of 70 points in Obama's approval ratings, which, if it continues, would be easily the highest for any president to date. Bush is second with a 61-point gap throughout his presidency, followed by Clinton (56) and Reagan (52). The other presidents had party gaps of no more than 41 points. Obama's more polarized ratings are attributable mainly to lower support from the opposition party than his predecessors received. His average 13% approval rating among Republicans is 10 points lower than Bush's 23% approval rating among Democrats and 13 points below Clinton's 26% approval among Republicans. All other presidents had approval ratings of at least 30% from the opposition party. Obama's approval rating from Democrats, 83%, almost exactly matches the average approval ratings that the prior four presidents received from supporters of their own party. Read more..
AP-GFK: Majority Approves Of Obama Job On Unemployment
Americans' views of President Barack Obama have improved slightly in the past two months, and opinions are more positive about the direction of the country and the health of the economy, an Associated Press-GfK poll finds. A slim majority now approves of the way Obama is handling unemployment, according to the poll, conducted before Friday's release of a surprisingly strong jobs report. Forty-seven percent of those surveyed approve of how Obama is doing his job, compared with 41 percent in December, and 51 percent approve of his handling of unemployment, compared with 44 percent before. Nearly half say the economy is good now, while 41 percent thought that in December. In December 2013, only one-third called the economy good. Approval of the way Obama is handling the economy improved slightly, 41 percent to 45 percent, over the past two months. Read more..
Huffington Post: Ben Carson Lays Out Timeline For Deciding On A 2016 Presidential Run
Dr. Ben Carson said on Sunday that he would make a formal announcement by May about a possible 2016 presidential run. Asked by "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace whether he would set up an exploratory committee in the next few weeks and make an announcement by May, Carson said he thought that "sounded like a reasonable timeframe. Absolutely." When Wallace tried to press Carson on whether he would definitely announce that he was running for president in the spring, the former neurosurgeon became a little more ambiguous. Read more..
Huffington Post: BuzzFeed To Interview Obama On Tuesday
BuzzFeed will interview President Obama on Tuesday, Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith announced on Sunday. "This will be our first interview with a sitting president of the United States,"Smith said. " It’s a nice tribute to the work my colleagues have done to take this place from an ambitious, zany experiment to one of the most ambitious new news and media organizations in the world." The interview is part of the White House's recent efforts to appeal to voters using new media. Last month, Obama fielded questions with three other popular new media figures: YouTube stars Hank Green, Bethany Mota and Glozell Green. Read more..
Washington Post: Alabama Set To Become 37th State To Allow Gay Marriage
Alabama on Monday will become the 37th state where same-sex couples can legally wed unless the U.S. Supreme Court orders a last-minute stay of a federal judge’s decision overturning the state’s ban on gay marriage. The ruling brings same-sex marriage to a state that is considered one of the Bible Belt’s most socially conservative. Although same-sex marriage is legal in much of the nation, more than half of the 14 states still enforcing bans on it are located in the South, a swath of resistance stretching from roughly Texas to Kentucky. Couples are expected to seek marriage licenses at courthouses around Alabama on Monday morning when the ruling by U.S. District Judge Callie Granade overturning Alabama’s ban goes into effect. Read more..
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| ISLAMIC STATE LATEST |
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Washington Post: Jordan Says Its Airstrikes Are Targeting Islamic State Leadership
Jordan’s air force has carried out 56 airstrikes against Islamic State weapon depots and training camps in Syria and Iraq in the days since the extremist group revealed it had burned a Jordanian pilot to death, Jordanian military officials said Sunday. A top Jordanian air force commander vowed that his country will continue its offensive until the Islamist militants are “wiped off the face of the Earth.” ... As the Jordanian bombing campaign entered its fourth day Sunday, details of the airstrikes were presented at a rare news briefing at a special operations training center on the outskirts of the capital, Amman. A principal focus of the three days of strikes has been Islamic State personnel, Jordanian military officials said, asserting that the kingdom’s fighter jets had destroyed 19 locations harboring Islamic State commanders and fighters. Read more..
National Review: Cruz: ‘If Need Be, We Should’ Put American Boots On The Ground To Fight ISIS
Senator Ted Cruz said that “if need be, we should” put American boots on the ground to accomplish the mission of destroying the Islamic State. Speaking to George Stephanopoulos on This Week Sunday, Cruz said that his preferred policy to combat the Islamic State would be to first arm and aggressively support Kurdish Peshmerga forces on the ground in their fight against the terrorist group. Stephanopoulos pushed him on what he would do if that proved to be insufficient: “If that’s not enough, would you be willing to send American ground troops into the battle?” “Look, we need to accomplish the mission,” Cruz said. “The mission should be defeating ISIS before they succeed in carrying out more horrific acts of terror, before they succeed in murdering Americans. If need be, we should go that step, but it should be driven by the mission." Read more..
Foreign Policy: Kayla Mueller’s Parents Opposed Military Mission to Rescue Her From Islamic State
The parents of an American woman being held hostage by the Islamic State did not want the U.S. military to launch a risky mission to rescue her, and instead asked that her release be negotiated, according to a military official familiar with the discussions. As a result, the official said gatekeepers within the U.S. government rejected some military plans that may have helped locate Kayla Mueller before they were proposed to President Barack Obama. At least one option involved ordering a special operations task force to target individuals believed to be part of the terrorist network that kidnapped her, the official said. The U.S. and allies in the coalition against the Islamic State continued airstrikes in Syria and Iraq Friday, the U.S. defense department said in a statement Saturday morning. Read more..
The Guardian: US Delivers $25M Of Weapons To Lebanon For Fight Against Islamic Extremists
The US ambassador to Lebanon said on Sunday that $25m-worth of weapons and ammunition had arrived in Beirut, the latest American assistance to Lebanon’s army as it fights Islamic extremists along the border with Syria. Ambassador David Hale said the equipment includes more than 70 M198 howitzers and more than 26 million rounds of ammunition and artillery “of all shapes and sizes, including heavy artillery”. Read more..
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| Sam Smith and Beck dominate the #Grammys. Our full report on the night’s big winners: http://rol.st/1AMsu4O |
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| WINTER WEATHER |
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AP: Another Big Storm Bears Down On New England
Winter-weary New England, which has been battered recently by a series of major snowstorms, braced Sunday for even more. Light flurries fell in the morning, but the "long duration" storm is expected to intensify on Sunday night. The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings for central New York, the western Catskills and much of New England through early Tuesday. The snow is likely to cause problems for commuters on Monday, though it's not expected to accumulate as rapidly as in some of the earlier storms, including a record-busting late January blizzard. There also is little risk seen of significant coastal flooding, a problem during last month's winter blasts. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said he'll give an update the city's storm response Sunday afternoon at City Hall. Read more..
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| PRESSURE ON RUSSIA OVER UKRAINE MOUNTS & OTHER STORIES FOR THIS MONDAY MORNING... |
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Yahoo News: Four-Way Emergency Ukraine Summit Planned In Minsk
The leaders of Ukraine, Germany and France are pushing for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in a frantic bid to halt escalating bloodshed in eastern Ukraine. The four leaders discussed the meeting in a phone call Sunday as part of their efforts to achieve a "comprehensive settlement" in the conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels, Berlin said. Putin, however, warned that the summit planned in the Belarussian capital Minsk would only take place if the leaders agreed on a "number of points" by then. "We will be aiming for Wednesday, if by that time we manage to agree on a number of points which we've been intensely discussing lately," Putin told Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko Sunday in televised remarks. Read more..
WSJ: John Kerry Says Ukraine ‘Assistance’ Coming, But Coy About Details
The United States will provide more “assistance” to Ukraine, beyond just economic aid, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in an interview aired Sunday, leaving the door open for the Obama administration supply Ukraine with defensive weaponry to combat Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine. “I have no doubt that additional assistance of economic kind and other kinds will be going to Ukraine,” Mr. Kerry said in an interview taped on Saturday for NBC’s Meet the Press. “And we do so understanding that there is no military solution. The solution is a political, diplomatic one. But President Putin’s got to make the decision to take an off ramp. And we have to make it clear to him that we are absolutely committed to the sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine no matter what.” Read more..
AP: Iranian Officials Say Now Is The Time For A Nuclear Deal
With an approaching deadline on reaching a nuclear deal with Tehran, Iranian officials on Sunday signaled a willingness to come to an agreement, with Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif telling a gathering of the world's top diplomats and defense officials that "this is the opportunity." The United States and its five negotiating partners, the other members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, hope to clinch a deal setting long-term limits on Tehran's enrichment of uranium and other activity that could produce material for use in nuclear weapons. Both sides are under increasing pressure ahead of two deadlines: to agree on main points by late March, and to reach a comprehensive deal by June 30. Zarif said that now was the window of opportunity to come up with a final deal. He met individually at the Munich security conference with each country involved, except France which was scheduled later Sunday. Read more..
NBC News: HSBC Admits Swiss Bank Failings Over Client Taxes
British bank HSBC Holdings Plc. admitted failings by its Swiss subsidiary Sunday in response to media reports that it helped wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars of assets. "We acknowledge and are accountable for past compliance and control failures," HSBC said Sunday after news outlets, including French newspaper Le Monde and Britain's The Guardian, published allegations about its Swiss private bank. The Guardian, along with other news outlet bbvvts, cited documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists via Le Monde. Read more..
NYT: Consumer Protection Agency Seeks Limits On Payday Lenders
In the world of consumer finance, they are chameleons: payday lenders that alter their practices and shift their products ever so slightly to work around state laws aimed at stamping out short-term loans that can come with interest rates exceeding 300 percent. Such maneuvers by the roughly $46 billion payday loan industry, state regulators say, have frustrated their efforts to protect consumers. Now, for the first time, a federal regulator is entering the fray, drafting regulations that could sharply reduce the number of unaffordable loans that lenders can make. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created after the 2008 financial crisis, will soon release the first draft of federal regulations to govern a wide range of short-term loans. Read more..
Reuters: Greece's New PM Sets Up EU Clash With Bailout Rejection, Austerity Rollback
Leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras laid out plans on Sunday to dismantle Greece's "cruel" austerity program, ruling out any extension of its international bailout and setting himself on a collision course with his European partners. In his first major speech to parliament since storming to power last month, Tsipras rattled off a list of moves to reverse reforms imposed by European and International Monetary Fund lenders: from reinstating pension bonuses and canceling a property tax to ending mass layoffs and raising the minimum wage back to pre-crisis levels. Showing little intent to heed warnings from EU partners to stick to commitments in the 240 billion euro bailout, Tsipras said he intended to fully respect campaign pledges to heal the "wounds" of the austerity that was a condition of the money.Read more..
BBC: Colombia Farc: Guerrillas Invite Miss Universe To Talks
Rebels from Colombia's Farc militia have invited the newly crowned Miss Universe to assist their peace negotiations with the government. In a statement published on their website, the group said they were taking up an offer made by Colombia's Paulina Vega in her quest to win her title. Ms Vega, 22, has so far not responded to the offer. The rebel army has been in talks with the government for the past two years. It has waged an anti-government guerrilla war for the past 50 years. Representatives of both sides are trying to strike a deal but the talks in the Cuban capital, Havana, are deadlocked. Agreement has so far been reached on issues of land reform and bringing the Farc into formal politics, but a final peace deal remains elusive. Read more..
NBC News: Twenty-Two Killed In Riots Before A Soccer Match In Egypt
At least 22 Egyptian soccer fans were killed and "dozens" of others were injured in clashes on Sunday night when the security forces barred them from entering a stadium to watch a match in the local league, officials said. Egyptian domestic soccer competitions have been held before very limited crowds since more than 70 fans were killed three years ago in the most deadly sports riots in the country's history in Port Said. Egypt's public prosecutor in a statement said 22 people were killed when riots erupted before the match between Zamalek and Enppi in the local soccer league in Cairo. Read more..
NPR: Al-Jazeera English Journalists To Get Retrial In Egypt
Egypt says that it will retry two journalists working for Al-Jazeera English who have been jailed for more than a year on charges of "giving a platform" to the banned Muslim Brotherhood. The announcement of the new trial, set to begin on Feb. 12, comes days after the journalists' colleague, Australian Peter Greste, was suddenly released and deported. Following Greste's release on Feb. 1, Mohamed Fahmy, a dual citizen of Canada and Egypt, and Baher Mohamed remained in detention. The trio were arrested in December 2013 and convicted in June. Read more..
AP: China President Plans To Make 1st State Visit To US
A top Chinese diplomat has said President Xi Jinping plans to make his first state visit to the U.S. later this year, Chinese state media reported Monday. The official China Daily newspaper quoted China's ambassador to the U.S. Ciu Tiankai as saying Chinese and U.S. officials are discussing the visit. Ciu told Chinese reporters Sunday that no date had been determined yet. U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice said Friday that the U.S. has invited both Xi and Japanese President Shinzo Abe for state visits. Xi last met with U.S. President Barack Obama in November after an Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Beijing. The two also met in Rancho Mirage, California, during a more informal visit to the U.S. in June 2013. Read more..
WSJ: Delay To Nigerian Election Denounced At Home And Abroad
The opposition in Nigeria on Sunday joined the U.S. in condemning the government for delaying an election [in Nigeria], as businesses braced for a costly political stalemate in Africa’s top economy. A decision the night before by Nigeria’s electoral commission to postpone a Feb. 14 presidential election—because the military declined to provide security—was a “setback for democracy,” the All Progressives Congress said in a statement. The party, Nigeria’s first competitive opposition group, had hoped to win in Nigeria’s election next week. Instead, that vote has been delayed at least until March 28, prompting a raft of election observers to postpone their flights to this troubled democracy. Read more..
The Daily Beast: A Big Break In the ‘Serial’ Case: Subject Adnan Syed Wins Motion To Appeal Murder Case
The most (in)famous inmate in Maryland received some good news on Friday—but he is not a free man yet. Adnan Syed, the convicted murderer who became a national name thanks to Sarah Koenig’s wildly successful Serial podcast, won his motion to appeal and present new evidence to fight the state’s case that he killed Hae Min Lee back in 1998. “The Application for Leave to Appeal be and hereby is granted,” wrote Chief Judge Peter B. Krauser in his Friday ruling, which states a brief on Syed’s behalf must be filed by March 16. The state’s brief is due April 16, and a new court session will begin in June. Read more..
AP: Police: 5 Dead In Georgia Shooting
A man shot six people Saturday afternoon, killing four of them, including his ex-wife and several children before turning the gun on himself on a quiet, suburban street west of Atlanta, police and neighbors said. Horrified neighbors called 911 and tended to the severely injured victims as best they could before rescuers arrived. The shooting happened around 3 p.m. in a subdivision about 20 miles west of Atlanta, Douglas County Sheriff's Lt. Glenn Daniel said. The shooter, whose name was not immediately released, appeared to have targeted his ex-wife and his own family, including several children who tried to flee, Daniel said. Authorities did not release the names of the victims because they were still trying Saturday to contact the next of kin. Investigators believe the gunman killed himself at the end of the shooting spree. Read more..
Washington Post: SpaceX Forced To Scrub Launch
Elon Musk's SpaceX was forced to scrub a planned launch Sunday evening in which it was to attempt to land the first stage of a rocket onto a platform floating in the Atlantic Ocean. In a tweet, Musk said that an Air Force radar went down, forcing the cancellation, and that the company will try again Monday evening. The launch was the company's second attempt to land a rocket booster -- an event that, if successful, could be a significant step toward making space travel far more affordable. Last month, on the first attempt to land on the floating platform, which Musk calls an “autonomous spaceport droneship,” essentially a modified barge that is 300 feet long by 170 feet wide, the rocket crashed and exploded into a spectacular fireball. Read more..
NBC News: Bruised Australian Leader Tony Abbott Survives Challenge
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott survived a challenge to his leadership Monday after his ruling Liberal Party voted down a motion to unseat him after weeks of infighting, but the attempted revolt appears likely to weaken his grip on power. In a secret party room ballot, a vote to declare the positions of party leader and deputy leader vacant was defeated by 61 votes to 39, a party official told reporters. In a short televised statement after the vote, Abbott insisted the turmoil was over and called for unity within the party and the country. Read more..
Reuters: No Winner Of Powerball Jackpot, Lifting Top Prize To $450 Million
Powerball's jackpot climbed on Sunday to $450 million, one of the richest ever offered by the multi-state lottery, after the previous evening's drawing failed to produce any grand prize winners. The winning numbers in Saturday's drawing were 5, 10, 21 34 and 58, lottery officials said, and the Powerball number was 33. While no players qualified for the jackpot by picking all the numbers, ticketholders won about $30 million in lesser prizes, according the Powerball website. Read more..
ESPN: Dean Smith, Former North Carolina Tar Heels Coach, Dies At Ages 93
Dean Smith, the coaching innovator who won two national championships at North Carolina, an Olympic gold medal in 1976 and induction into basketball's Hall of Fame more than a decade before he left the bench, has died. He was 83. The retired coach died "peacefully" at his North Carolina home Saturday night, the school said in a statement Sunday from Smith's family. He was with his wife and five children. Smith had health issues in recent years, with the family saying in 2010 that he had a condition that was causing him to lose memory. He had kept a lower profile during that time. His wife, Linnea, accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom on his behalf from President Barack Obama in November 2013. Roy Williams, the current North Carolina coach who spent 10 years as Smith's assistant, said Smith "was the greatest there ever was on the court but far, far better off the court with people." "I'd like to say on behalf of all our players and coaches, past and present, that Dean Smith was the perfect picture of what a college basketball coach should have been," Williams said in a statement. "We love him, and we will miss him." Read more..
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