news

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  Ex-NFL QB Steve McNair, woman found slain in Tenn.

  The shooting death of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair raised questions Sunday about his relationship with the 20-year-old woman whose body was found alongside his in his downtown condominium.

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  Honduran military told to turn back Zelaya's jet

  The Honduran president was preparing to fly home Sunday on a small jet, defying a military order from the government that ousted him to prevent the plane from landing. The U.N. General Assembly president planned to be his only international escort.

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  Federer beats Roddick for record 15th Grand Slam

  Roger Federer won his record 15th Grand Slam title Sunday, outlasting Andy Roddick for his sixth Wimbledon championship in a marathon match that went to 16-14 in the fifth set.

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  Obama seeks new start in sagging US-Russia ties

  Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev end a seven-year hiatus in U.S.-Russian summitry on Monday, with each declaring his determination to further cut nuclear arsenals and repair a badly damaged relationship.

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  Rove: Palin resignation part of a 'risky strategy'

  One of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's potential presidential rivals said Sunday that her abrupt resignation won't help her dodge scrutiny. President George W. Bush's chief political adviser said her strategy is, at best, unclear.

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  From Haiti, a surprise: good news about AIDS

  When Micheline Leon was diagnosed with HIV, her parents told her they would fit her for a coffin.

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  Obama plan could trim back financial powerhouses

  They are the biggest of the big — the Citigroups, the Goldman Sachses, the AIGs and other financial behemoths. The Obama administration doesn't want so many around anymore.

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  3 dead after NC fireworks go off, 1 in Pa. blast

  A third worker who had been preparing for an Independence Day celebration died from injuries suffered when a truckload of fireworks exploded on a dock at a remote North Carolina island, authorities said.

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  1.6M Jackson fans await word on memorial tickets

  The more than 1.6 million fans who registered for tickets to Michael Jackson's memorial service will learn Sunday whether they are among the lucky few to win tickets for the Tuesday ceremony.

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  Cavendish wins Tour's 2nd stage; Armstrong in pack

  Britain's Mark Cavendish won the second stage of the Tour de France in searing heat Sunday, with seven-time champion Lance Armstrong finishing safely in the trailing pack.

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  North Korea may have shot mid-range missile

  The U.S. pointman for sanctions on North Korea begins talks in Malaysia on Sunday, possibly on links banks have to the North's finances, while a report said Pyongyang may have shot mid-range missiles in a series fired on Saturday.

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  Obama heads to Moscow for "reset" summit

  President Barack Obama heads to Moscow on Sunday promising a far-reaching effort to "reset" U.S.-Russia relations that hit a post-Cold War low under the Bush administration.

• Crash probe locates doomed Yemeni flight recorders

  French investigators said on Sunday they had detected the signal from the flight recorders from a Yemeni jet that crashed last week with more than 150 people on board.

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  Pakistani jets pound Taliban on Afghan border

  Pakistani warplanes bombed Taliban positions in the northwest Sunday, killing at least five insurgents, residents said, as militants distributed leaflets warning area tribesmen not to rise up against them.

• Time to review policy on gays in U.S. military: Powell

  American attitudes have changed and the "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward gays serving in the U.S. military should be reviewed, former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Colin Powell said on Sunday.

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  Ousted Honduran president seeks to return after OAS move

  Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya prepared to fly back home on Sunday, setting the stage for a possible confrontation as the interim government that has defied international pressure said it would not let him enter the country.

• Disney worker dies in Florida monorail collision

  A Walt Disney World employee died on Sunday in a collision of monorail trains carrying tourists at the theme-park complex in central Florida, according to a theme park spokeswoman.

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  McCain says Palin to play leadership role as ex-Governor

  Republican Senator John McCain expressed support for his former presidential running mate, Sarah Palin, on Saturday as Washington speculated about why the Alaska governor abruptly announced her resignation.

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  Autopsy planned for slain NFL star Steve McNair

  Autopsies were being performed on Sunday on the bodies of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair and a female friend who were found shot to death on Saturday in a Nashville apartment, police said.

• Settlements, regional peace on Israel-U.S. agenda

  Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he would discuss with a U.S. envoy Monday a compromise over a peace plan calling for an Israeli settlement freeze and seek ways to promote regional peace.

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• In Philly schools, most students get a free lunch

  For students at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, there IS such a thing as a free lunch — and a free breakfast, too. With no strings attached.

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  Ex-NFL QB Steve McNair, woman found slain in Tenn.

  The shooting death of former NFL quarterback Steve McNair raised questions Sunday about his relationship with the 20-year-old woman whose body was found alongside his in his downtown condominium.

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  Harvard pres.: School has tough choices in decline

  Drew Gilpin Faust started as Harvard's president when the university's prosperity seemed limitless. With its ballooning wealth, Harvard planned almost frenzied growth, from a building boom into Boston to vast increases in student financial aid.

• Walt Disney World monorail crash kills employee

  Two monorail trains crashed early Sunday morning in the Magic Kingdom section of Walt Disney World, killing one train's operator, emergency officials said.

• `Transformers,' `Ice Age' tie for No. 1 at $42.5M

  Prehistoric creatures and robots were in a photo finish for the Fourth of July box-office crown Sunday, with "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" tied with $42.5 million each.

• Texas teen says father wrapped chain around him

  Authorities in Texas have accused a man of wrapping a 20-foot chain around his teenage son's neck and spraying him in the face with Mace.

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  3 dead after NC fireworks go off, 1 in Pa. blast

  A third worker who had been preparing for an Independence Day celebration died from injuries suffered when a truckload of fireworks exploded on a dock at a remote North Carolina island, authorities said.

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  Former D.C. Mayor Barry charged with stalking

  Police say former Washington Mayor Marion Barry has been arrested and charged with stalking a woman.

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  Coroner: Teen 5th killed by apparent serial killer

  A teenage girl shot while helping her father in their family's small furniture and appliance store died Saturday, becoming the fifth victim of a suspected serial killer terrorizing a small South Carolina community, authorities said.

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  Palin takes to Web for hints of political future

  Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin didn't wait long to give some hint of what her political life might look like after she leaves office at the end of the month.

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  Honduran military told to turn back Zelaya's jet

  The Honduran president was preparing to fly home Sunday on a small jet, defying a military order from the government that ousted him to prevent the plane from landing. The U.N. General Assembly president planned to be his only international escort.

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  Iran: British-Greek reporter held for weeks freed

  Iran said Sunday it has released a British-Greek journalist detained for two weeks during its postelection crackdown as opposition forces pressing their claims of fraud called for parliament to dismiss President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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  From Haiti, a surprise: good news about AIDS

  When Micheline Leon was diagnosed with HIV, her parents told her they would fit her for a coffin.

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  Zimbabwe vows to pull troops out of diamond fields

  Zimbabwe has promised to withdraw its soldiers from diamond fields in the east, an official newspaper reported Sunday — a week after a rights group alleged the military was committing killings and abuses in the area.

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  Obama backs Medvedev's judicial reforms

  President Barack Obama said strengthening human rights and the rule of law in Russia should be a part of the much-heralded "reset" in U.S.-Russian relations, according to an interview with an embattled Russian opposition newspaper.

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  Earn our trust or go, Afghan villagers tell Marines

  The mullah's message was blunt. We don't trust you and if you don't earn our trust, our first meeting will be our last.

• Crash probe locates doomed Yemeni flight recorders

  French investigators said on Sunday they had detected the signal from the flight recorders from a Yemeni jet that crashed last week with more than 150 people on board.

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  Mexican ruling party to struggle at mid-term vote

  Mexicans voted on Sunday in mid-term elections for Congress where President Felipe Calderon's party is likely to lose ground, leaving him with an uphill struggle to achieve economic reforms.

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  North Korea may have shot mid-range missile

  The U.S. pointman for sanctions on North Korea begins talks in Malaysia on Sunday, possibly on links banks have to the North's finances, while a report said Pyongyang may have shot mid-range missiles in a series fired on Saturday.

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  Ex-bodyguard's opposition seen winning Bulgarian poll

  Bulgaria's opposition center-right GERB party was set to win most seats in Sunday's parliamentary election, increasing the prospect of reforms to combat widespread corruption.

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  Obama seeks new start in sagging US-Russia ties

  Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev end a seven-year hiatus in U.S.-Russian summitry on Monday, with each declaring his determination to further cut nuclear arsenals and repair a badly damaged relationship.

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  Mullen advises 'measured' approach to gay policy

  The nation's top military officer said Sunday he has advised President Barack Obama to move "in a measured way" in changing the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bans gays from serving openly in the military.

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  Rove: Palin resignation part of a 'risky strategy'

  One of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's potential presidential rivals said Sunday that her abrupt resignation won't help her dodge scrutiny. President George W. Bush's chief political adviser said her strategy is, at best, unclear.

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  Biden: Israel free to set own course on Iran

  Vice President Joe Biden signaled that the Obama administration would not stand in the way if Israel chose to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, even as the top U.S. military officer said any attack on Iran would be destabilizing.

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  Biden predicts more jobs because of stimulus money

  The Obama administration "misread" the depth of the economic troubles it inherited and still expects more new jobs in the long term as the spending pace from the $787 billion stimulus plan quickens, Vice President Joe Biden said.

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  McCain says Palin to play leadership role as ex-Governor

  Republican Senator John McCain expressed support for his former presidential running mate, Sarah Palin, on Saturday as Washington speculated about why the Alaska governor abruptly announced her resignation.

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  Obama heads to Moscow for "reset" summit

  President Barack Obama heads to Moscow on Sunday promising a far-reaching effort to "reset" U.S.-Russia relations that hit a post-Cold War low under the Bush administration.

• Time to review policy on gays in U.S. military: Powell

  American attitudes have changed and the "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward gays serving in the U.S. military should be reviewed, former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Colin Powell said on Sunday.

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  Obama says U.S. a strong partner of Iraq despite pullout

  President Barack Obama said on Saturday Iraq faced difficult days ahead after taking control of its towns and cities from U.S. forces but he pledged to remain a strong partner on behalf of the country's security and prosperity.

• White House does not favor second stimulus now: Biden

  President Barack Obama and his advisers do not favor second stimulus package now to cut the highest U.S. unemployment rate in nearly 26 years, Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview aired on Sunday.

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• Calif. regulators warn of pot's cancer capability

  It might take Californians a puff or two to get their heads around an apparent contradiction recently enshrined in state law. The same marijuana smoke that doctors can recommend to ease cancer patients' suffering must soon come with a warning saying it causes the disease.

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  Jackson kids face hurdles to coping with his death

  No matter how unusual their lives may have been so far, Michael Jackson's children now face a universal trauma felt by all kids who suddenly lose a parent.

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  Mexico wins praise for swine flu response

  As swine flu runs rampant in the Southern Hemisphere winter, world health experts are concerned that some hard-hit countries have been reluctant to take forceful measures to protect public health.

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  Study: New flu inefficient in attacking people

  With swine flu continuing to spread around the world, researchers say they have found the reason it is — so far — more a series of local blazes than a wide-raging wildfire. The new virus, H1N1, has a protein on its surface that is not very efficient at binding with receptors in people's respiratory tracts, researchers at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology report in Friday'...

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  Advocates are back with real health care stories

  When carpenter Greg Douglas crashed his pickup truck, his toolbox hit him and smashed his ribs and collarbone. After a month in the hospital, the medical bills hit him even harder, totaling $165,000.

• Federal probe finds problems with chelation study

  A federal investigation has found that heart attack survivors enrolled in a study of a controversial alternative medicine treatment were not told enough about potential dangers from the drug being tested, including death.

• Scrub tech may have exposed thousands to hepatitis

  A former surgery technician may have exposed thousands of Colorado patients to hepatitis C when she swapped her own dirty syringes for ones filled with a powerful narcotic, federal authorities said Thursday.

• World health officials tackle swine flu challenges

  Swine flu is running wild in the Southern Hemisphere and is spreading rapidly through Europe, with Britain projected to reach 100,000 daily cases by the end of August. The virus is even showing signs of rebounding in Mexico.

• Fawcett's death spotlights a rare cancer

  In a perverse twist of medical fate, Farrah Fawcett has become the poster girl for anal cancer, a rare disease often linked to a sexually transmitted virus.

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  Jackson's hospital is known for 'raising the dead'

  When Michael Jackson went into cardiac arrest, rescuers took him to a place known for bringing the dead back to life. A world-renowned surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center has pioneered a way to revive people that most doctors would have long written off, including a woman whose heart had stopped for2 1/2 hours.

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  Iconic skyscrapers find new luster by going green

  When owners of the Empire State Building decided to blanket its towering facade this year with thousands of insulating windows, they were only partly interested in saving energy. They also needed tenants.

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  First Asian elephant born in Australian zoo

  A 265-pound (120-kilogram), big-eared and long-nosed bundle of joy was welcomed in Australia as an important step in helping to save the endangered Asian elephant.

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  Australian dinosaur that lived 98M years ago found

  Scientists have confirmed for the first time that Australia was once home to a dinosaur that was big, fast and terrifying, and they've named it like something from an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Meet the Australovenator.

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  Thai zoo's 1st baby panda goes on display

  Thousands of excited visitors flocked Saturday to a zoo in northern Thailand for the first public viewing of a baby panda, which has been featured on Thai front pages almost every day since her birth six weeks ago.

• Plant disease hits eastern US veggies early, hard

  Tomato plants have been removed from stores in half a dozen states as a destructive and infectious plant disease makes its earliest and most widespread appearance ever in the eastern United States.

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  Australia discovers 3 new large dinosaurs

  Fossils of three new species of dinosaurs have been discovered in Australia, including a meat-eater larger than Velociraptor from the Jurassic Park movies, suggesting Australia may have a more complex prehistoric past.

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  More than 800 wildlife species now extinct

  More than 800 animal and plant species have gone extinct in the past five centuries with nearly 17,000 now threatened with extinction, the International Union for Conservation of Nature reported on Thursday.

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  Loss of world's seagrass beds seen accelerating

  The world's seagrass meadows, a critical habitat for marine life and profit-maker for the fishing industry, are in decline due to coastal development and the losses are accelerating, according to a new study.

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  Vatican should learn from Galileo mess, prelate says

  The Catholic Church should not fear scientific progress and possibly repeat the mistake it made when it condemned astronomer Galileo in the 17th century, a Vatican official said on Thursday in a rare self-criticism.

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  Regenerated legs no big trick for salamanders

  Mexican salamanders who can re-grow amputated legs are not pulling off quite as big a biological trick as scientists had first thought, which may help doctors trying to regenerate human limbs.

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  Chestnut wins NY hot dog eating match, 3d in row

  Joey Chestnut chomped down a record 68 hot dogs, capturing his third straight July Fourth hot-dog eating contest at Coney Island, an annual showcase for flamboyant hot dogging contestants eager to show they really are what they eat.

• UK spy chief's family details posted on Facebook

  He's the spy who came in from the beach.

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  Pachyderms outdo people in cross-species chow bout

  In the fight of pachyderms vs. people — the pachyderms now have the upper trunk.

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  New Zealand airline issues nude safety video

  New Zealand's national airline has adopted a cheeky way to encourage passengers to watch its in-flight safety video: The cabin crew's uniforms are nothing but body paint.

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  NYPD rookie makes arrest moments after graduation

  A New York Police Department rookie just couldn't wait to get started.

• Illinois cabbie uses deodorant to disarm attacker

  Police in suburban Chicago say a taxi driver who didn't have Mace handy when he was attacked by a knife-wielding passenger instead disarmed the man with a can of aerosol deodorant.

• Calif. students get X-rated version of class DVD

  A Northern California elementary school teacher sent her students home for the summer with a video of class memories, only the DVD included six seconds of her having sex on a couch.

• Police: Conn. teens mishear sex screams, beat man

  A 16-year-old girl thought she heard her mother being assaulted by her boyfriend and rounded up some friends who beat him up, only to learn later that the couple actually were having sex, the woman and police said. The girl misinterpreted the woman's amorous screams, and she and four other teens wet to the woman's bedroom in the Torrington home on June 6, police Lt.

• Oregon woman obsessed with rabbits back in jail

  An Oregon woman obsessed with bunnies has been ordered back behind bars after police found her in a hotel room with more than a dozen rabbits.

• Va. woman rides to landfill in trash bin

  Workers at the Frederick County Landfill were surprised by what they found in a large trash bin trucked in from a Goodwill Industries store: a woman who had apparently gotten trapped. "They opened the door and she got out," said landfill manager Ron Kimble.

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• Geeks double as scourges and sages at media summit

  The media moguls attending an annual powwow staged by investment bank Allen & Co. used to be able to rest comfortably in the Idaho mountains as they mulled their next moves.

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  Omg! Positive tone boosts Yahoo celeb site to top

  Think of the most popular brands in celebrity news, and you'll probably come up with a small list that includes Entertainment Tonight, US Weekly and People.

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  Downturn dating: Hearts flutter as markets stutter

  Credit the recession for "staycations" and bringing us more game-night parties at home. But also give it a shout for spurring more first dates.

• UK spy chief's family details posted on Facebook

  He's the spy who came in from the beach.

• BT offers staff time off in exchange for pay cut

  Telecoms company BT Group PLC is offering staff a year off work in return for a 75 percent cut in that year's pay.

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  US wants privacy in new cyber security system

  The Obama administration is moving cautiously on a new pilot program that would both detect and stop cyber attacks against government computers, while trying to ensure citizen privacy protections.

• Web retailers, states tussle over tax rules

  In a big break for online shoppers, Web retailers generally don't have to charge sales taxes in states where they lack a store or some other physical presence.

• Companies pledge more openness about Web tracking

  Companies that track consumer behavior online for advertising purposes are vowing to make their practices more transparent and to give people a way to decline being shadowed.

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  PC makers voluntarily supply Web filter in China

  Several PC makers were including controversial Internet-filtering software with computers shipped in China on Thursday despite a government decision to postpone its plan to make such a step mandatory.

• Facebook plans to simplify privacy settings

  Facebook is overhauling its privacy controls over the next several weeks in an attempt to simplify its users' ability to control who sees the information they share on the site.

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