Amplify’d from www.nytimes.com

Vatican: Visitors Must Declare Cash

By GAIA PIANIGIANI

The Vatican put a new rule into effect on Friday requiring that anyone bringing 10,000 euros (about $14,000) or more into Vatican City declare it to Vatican authorities. The rule is part of new anti-money-laundering regulations aimed at bringing the Vatican in line with international standards on financial transparency and helping it shed its image as a tax shelter. Italian authorities are investigating the Vatican Bank for money laundering. The Vatican has denied wrongdoing. Read more at www.nytimes.com

 

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Amplify’d from www.tk421.net

Vatican "Porn" Collection to go Online

By Batilda DeRose

BBC News religious affairs correspondent

Fans of antique erotica, rejoice. The world's largest collection of pornography is about to be published on the web. Just make sure you have a credit card handy.

Vatican officials say the Pope has worked hard to eliminate secrecy

The Vatican Secret Archives announced yesterday plans to digitise a previously unacknowledged collection of prohibited materials.

Kept hidden by an act of pontifical secrecy, the items, once decreed obscene, are being unveiled as part of a new papal directive on transparency.

The collection includes tens of thousands of drawings, frescoes, engravings, artifacts, and ephemera dating from the Reniassance back to classical antiquity.

Included in the materials available for a free but censored preview are an illuminated manuscript depicting the Song of Solomon and several illustrations of Mary Magdalene.

Profits to Defray Bankrupt Dioceses

Costs and pricing for full access to the online collection have not been finalized. Income generated from paying subscribers will be set aside in a special account administered by the Catholic Church.

The account will be used to reimburse losses by churches that have decalred bankruptcy to eliminate their obligation to pay court judgements in sexual abuse cases.

Government, Industry Experts to Oversee Project

Funding for the collection's digitisation has been procured via an executive order from Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, who has expressed a strong interest in "protecting our priceless cultural heritage." Berlusconi has appointed a confidential liaison to oversee the process.

Age verification, credit card processing, and acount maintenance will be run by adult entertainment magnate Larry Flynt.

Related Internet links Indulgentia (beta)

Continue reading the main story Related Stories Catholic church gives blessing to iPhone app Vatican officials told Irish not to report child abuse Pope accused of failing to act on sex abuse case Vatican opens secret Nazi files Read more at www.tk421.net

 

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Bring $14K to Vatican must be declared

Vatican anti-money laundering law goes into effect; people bringing $14K inside must declare

Amplify’d from www.canadianbusiness.com

Vatican anti-money laundering law goes into effect; people bringing $14K inside must declare

By Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press

Pope Benedict XVI salutes the faithful as he arrives for his weekly general audience at the Vatican Wednesday, March 30, 2011. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican issued a new rule Friday requiring anyone bringing €10,000 ($14,000) or more into Vatican City to declare it, the latest initiative by the Holy See to come into compliance with international finance norms.

The rule was introduced the same day the Holy See's broader anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulations went into effect, including the creation of a new financial watchdog agency tasked with ensuring transparency in Vatican finances.

The Vatican announced the measures Dec. 30 in a major effort to comply with European Union currency norms and shed its image as a tax haven with a reputation for secrecy and scandal.

The Vatican's own bank, meanwhile, remains implicated in a money-laundering investigation that resulted in €23 million ($31 million) being seized and its top two officials placed under investigation last September.

The Vatican has denied wrongdoing and says the investigation of the bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, or IOR, resulted from a misunderstanding that it expected would be cleared up. Prosecutors haven't charged the officials.

The bank was created to manage assets placed in its care that are destined for the pope's religious or charitable works. But it also manages ATMs inside Vatican City and the pension system for the Vatican's thousands of employees.

The bank is not open to the public and its list of accountholders is secret. But bank officials have told prosecutors there are some 40,000-45,000 among religious congregations, clergy, Vatican officials and lay people with Vatican connections.

Pope Benedict XVI, who wrote an entire encyclical about the need for greater morality in finance, has said he wanted the Vatican to join other countries that have cracked down on legal loopholes that have allowed criminals to exploit the financial sector.

In a statement Friday, the Vatican said the entry into effect of the new laws was an important step that underscored the pope's commitment to "the creation of a more just and honest civil coexistence."

The new reporting regulation essentially brings the Vatican in line with most other countries that require visitors to declare to customs authorities at airports if they are bringing €10,000 or more into the country.

In the Holy See's case, the declarations are to be made to Vatican financial authorities or the gendarmes guarding the ancient gates of Vatican City. Guards are allowed to search visitors, their cars and bags if they are suspected of low-balling the amount or failing to declare it altogether. Unspecified sanctions await violators.

The most significant change in the Vatican's way of doing business is the creation of the financial watchdog agency, the Financial Information Authority, or AIF, which is tasked with ensuring all Vatican financial transactions comply with the new transparency laws. The watchdog will also share information with international financial organizations, a big shift for the notoriously private Vatican financial system.

In recent weeks, the Vatican has named senior Italian financial experts to the board and leadership of the AIF, including Francesco De Pasquale, an expert on financial irregularities, and Marcello Condemi, a former member of Italy's delegation to the Financial Action Task Force, the Paris-based policymaking body that helps develop anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing legislation.

In a recent interview with Vatican Radio, Condemi said the Vatican's new laws formed a "solid basis" for preventing and fighting money-laundering "that can't but produce relevant effects on identifying suspect transactions." Read more at www.canadianbusiness.com

 

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God's Moratorium Less Important Prayers

God Imposes Moratorium On Less Important Prayers

Amplify’d from www.crystalair.com

God Imposes Moratorium On Less Important Prayers

This is the word of the Lord.

ROME, Italy (CAP) - In a surprising statement issued through His spokesperson at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI, God has requested that prayers for everyday things, such as making the train on time, temporarily be put on hold in light of the seriousness of recent world events, including the earthquake and tsunami in Japan as well as continued political unrest in the Middle East.

"It's nothing personal," Pope Benedict reassured the masses; "it's just that He's got His hands full, with Japan and this whole Libya thing. Prayers have hit an all-time high and He's really had to put in some late nights to manage the increased workload."

"This time of year is always a busy one for the Big Guy," added Jesus Christ, Son of God, in His first phone interview with CAP News since April, 2006. "Prom season is really big for us. We get a lot of please let Jake ask me to the prom and please let Sara give it up on prom night.

"We disapprove of those," Jesus quickly added.

"Plus, baseball season is about to start," noted Jesus. "So the Cubs fans come out in full force, the fantasy baseball guys suddenly start putting in requests.

"And then there are the mothers..." Jesus said, before the call was suddenly dropped due to poor reception.

Pope Benedict offered some clarity regarding mothers. "Mothers keep us very busy. They're always looking for good health, college acceptance letters, valium. We get a wide variety from the mothers."

"People don't understand how hard it is to be a deity," His Holiness the Dalai Lama concurred. "You take all of the regular day-to-day stuff, you know, your births, your deaths, your soul mates meeting at a Starbucks, that kind of thing. Then you add in the sports fans, the kids looking for a day off from school because they didn't study for their tests.

"You throw a natural disaster or a violent uprising into the mix, and you've got yourself a shitstorm of prayers," added the Dalai Lama. "It's a lot of work; a lot of long hours."

The recent statement has left many faithful questioning what they should do about their day-to-day requests. Pope Benedict has suggested praying to some of the lesser-known saints, citing that some, such as St. Apollonia (Patron Saint of Dentists), St. Lidwina (Patron Saint of Ice Skaters), and St. Casimir (Patron Saint of Bachelors) hardly receive any prayer requests and have ample time on their hands to pitch in.

"God doesn't want people to stop praying altogether," Pope Benedict clarified. "He's just busy right now, so He'd like you to prioritize. Praying for someone battling cancer? Sure. Praying that Dunkin' Donuts gets your coffee order right? Maybe that can wait a bit."

There was no word from the Vatican on how long the prayer ban is expected to last.

Detroit Mother Sues PBS For Failing To Educate Child Douchebags Finalize 2011 Dress Code Spelling Bees To Start Allowing Misspelled Words NJ Bill Slaps Parents For Neglecting Child Photo-Ops Colleges Ramp Up Anti-Poking Measures Read more at www.crystalair.com

 

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Vatican Nanoelectronics experiment

Nanoelectronics experiment in the Vatican results in unexplicable phenomena

Amplify’d from www.nanowerk.com

Nanoelectronics experiment in the Vatican results in unexplicable phenomena

(Nanowerk Spotlight) It started innocently enough with isolated instances of smoke coming out of computers. Then networks crashed. Now, programs are malfunctioning on a large scale, shutting down the Vatican's huge computer infrastructure which it depends on to manage its billions upon billions of investment dollars, real estate portfolios, and art collections.

It is difficult to obtain all the details, but it appears that some form of nanotechnology got out of control. Surprisingly, and against its deeply ingrained reflexes of total openness and transparency, the Vatican initially tried to cover the whole thing up. Until a tabloid reporter got wind of what had happened and the whole thing became public with an article today (April 1) in an Italian tabloid that had this sensation-seeking headline splashed all over the front page: Gay nanobots ballano Bunga-Bunga in Vaticano - Gay nanobots dance Bunga-Bunga in the Vatican.

Of course, you'll say: "Baloney! There are no gay nanobots; there even isn't any nanorobotics to speak of. And this Bunga-Bunga stuff is strictly Berlusconi territory." Well, that's what we thought – until we spoke with an Italian undercover reporter who closely follows the goings-on in the Vatican.

It seems that something weird is happening deep inside the Church's electronic infrastructure – and it has to do with leading-edge nanotechnology.

Not surprisingly, some of the more conservative members of the Catholic clergy welcome these technical problems as a good thing. They think that science and technology have had a devastating impact on the Church's influence on society. Starting with the printing press, it became increasingly difficult to cover up abusive behavior. Not to mention people's ability to get educated and strive for science-based explanations of the world around them.

This is, after all, an organization that took almost 400 years to pardon Galileo Galilei after the Inquisition accused him of heresy for claiming that the Earth moves around the Sun (in 1992, three years after Galileo's namesake spacecraft had been launched on its way to Jupiter, the Vatican formally cleared him of any wrongdoing and admitted that his heliocentric theory was correct). E pur si muove!

But we digress. From various reports and background interviews with scientists at the respected Italian Institute of Technology (ITT), we were able to piece together what has happened so far:

While on the outside they foster a very conservative and traditional image, the Catholic Church actually is using cutting-edge technology to run its vast operations; they even are actively pursuing highly experimental and not yet commercially available technology. One psychologist said that this is a classical example of overcompensating a whiff off guilt stemming from "that inquisition business centuries ago".

The secretive supercomputer center somewhere inside Vatican City.

In an attempt to outdo Wall Street quants and generate better returns on its investments, the Vatican's IT department – the Centro Elaborazione Dati, which is shown as a deceptively simple outfit on the Vatican's website – secretly approved a revolutionary experiment supported by nanoelectronics specialists to develop sophisticated trading programs for its investment portfolio. Apparently, these researchers modeled their approach on the ambitious DARPA sponsored SyNAPSE (Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics) project. The goal is to develop electronic neuromorphic machine technology that scales to biological levels. Other nanotechnology research groups are trying to build computers modeled after the brain, integrate computer chips inside living cells, or even integrate living brain cells into organic semiconductors.

Over a long pasta lunch, the experiment got out of control. Although intelligently designed, the totally unexpected results were semi-autonomous and mobile nanoscale assemblies that consist of a organic/inorganic composite of brain cells and semiconductor material. The researchers call them "Nanoscale Morphing Robotic Assemblies" - or Nanomorass, as they were nicknamed by the team. They proved to be highly adaptable to environmental stimuli, were able to assemble additional units on their own, and had a learning capability that made them appear almost self-aware.

But contrary to popular sci-fi culture ('replicators') they don't just self-assemble by assimilating stuff, they need to exchange programming code and they do that by linking their assembler nodes together - apparently there are male and female versions of these nodes; pretty much like with cables or pipes where each half of a pair of mating connectors or fasteners is conventionally assigned the designation male or female.

While observing the Nanomorass under an atomic force microscope, the scientists were startled by their weird – almost ritualistic – behavior.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it" says a senior ITT researcher. "We observed instance where these nanostructures were rotating in almost dance-like moves across the silicon substrates of computer chips. This was clearly more organized than just simply van der Waals forces overcoming Brownian motion and it surely felt very purposeful and deliberate."

Experimental computer chip on which the Nanomorass are running free.

He continued: "Strangely enough, these were only the 'male' versions of the nanobots. When we tried to find out what had happened to the 'female' versions, we couldn't find any!"

One hypothesis is based on the environmental impact on the bots' programming: "Somehow their code has adapted to eradicate the female versions," says our source inside the Vatican. "Our best explanation is that, since they had access to the video feed from the webcams inside the Vatican as well as the huge digital library with all historic documents, they learned from this information and created their own version of what they perceive to be a normal society based on their surroundings."

Far from living a live of 'nanocelibacy', so to speak, the all-male nanobot population is still engaging in extensive replication activities. The dilemma for the Church, as one moral theologian put it, is that you now have something that can be called homosexual behavior taking place inside the Vatican. "That of course is something totally inconceivable and comes as a huge shock to all of us, as you can imagine."

"We are not claiming that homosexuality is a sin," notes one senior Cardinal, "but a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil and thus an objective disorder. Even among nanobots." His, and his colleagues' conclusion therefore has been to put an end to this nanoscale debauchery.

The dilemma for the Vatican is that, since the Nanomorass contain human cells, simple eradication through virus crusaders is out of the question. "That would have been perfectly OK a few hundred years ago, but now, unfortunately, we are not writing the rules anymore."

"We also cannot approve of any preventive technical measures that would keep these little amoral bastards from replicating since that would be against the natural order," he says. "These nanobots need to be reprogrammed or otherwise convinced that self-control is the best course of action."

New documents show that the Vatican has known for many years about quite a number of cases where computers have malfunctioned due to errant nanobot behavior. In the interest of the greater good of the Church, these cases were dealt with internally though, and experienced external specialists were not informed or asked to assist in dealing with the problem.

"We had cases where infected computers were simply disconnected from a particular network and moved to a different network in the hope that they would function normally again," said one member of the Vatican IT Guard who is also responsible for monitoring computer security at the Vatican. "After all, this strategy worked so well in other circumstances. Sadly, this time it didn't."

As for the "Bunga-Bunga parties", researchers have now concluded that the Nanomorass are clearly self-organizing and even have established something like a - albeit primitive – society with a leader that the scientists call "Silvio".

"But their 'moral behavior', if you may call it that, is more along the lines of Confucian respect for social harmony than the Catholic dogma of guilt and banning the fun things in life," says one scientist. "Sometimes they just like to have a good time, with no discernible purpose whatsoever," he adds. "That includes acts of what only could be called recreational sex."

Nanowire arrays in flames

Oh, and the smoke coming out of the computers? Well, it appears there is a darker explanation for that...: Once they noticed that all female nanobots had gone missing, the nanoscientists tried to figure out what had happened. From the evidence they were piecing together it appears that one night all female Nanomorass ended up attached to nanowire arrays and then simply evaporated after overheating. "If it didn't sound so weird, I'd say they were burned at the stake," says our source. "Of course, there's gotta be a scientific explanation, we just haven't found it yet."

By Angelo Tuttifrutti (reporting for Nanowerk from deep inside the Vatican) Read more at www.nanowerk.com

 

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Vatican sacks Congo bishop

Amplify’d from www.capitalfm.co.ke

Vatican sacks Congo bishop for mismanagement

BY AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

VATICAN CITY, Apr 1 - The Roman Catholic church has dismissed a bishop in the Democratic Republic of Congo for mismanagement, the Vatican said Thursday.

Pope Benedict XVI "has withdrawn from Mgr Jean-Claude Makaya Loemba (Congo-Brazzaville) the pastoral charge of the diocese of Pointe-Noire", it said in a statement. It said that this rare move was motivated by "serious problems of management within the diocese, among others economic management" and by "acute tensions within the diocese", according to the Vatican, which said there was no issue of sexual morals involved. The religious news agency I-Media quoted Vatican sources to the effect that the management at Pointe-Noire had been disastrous and the prelate did not enjoy the confidence of his clergy. Makaya Loemba, 56, was ordained a priest in 1983, and appointed bishop of his diocese of origin in December 1995 by Pope John Paul II. I-Media said the unusual circumstances in which the bishop quit his post suggested he refused to resign. The same procedure was used in January 1995 when John Paul II fired the bishop of Evreux, in France, Mgr Jacques Gaillot. In recent months several bishops in central and western Africa -- the Central African Republic, Benin and Burkina Faso -- have resigned. No official reasons were given but many prelates, often the young ones, have to quit over problems of management, sexual behaviour or incompatible religious activities or beliefs. Read more at www.capitalfm.co.ke

 

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Vatican supports Palestinians

In Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Vatican supports Palestinians

Amplify’d from www.thehindu.com

In Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Vatican supports Palestinians

Katyayani Murti

Church worried Israeli policies could affect Catholics in West Asia

Concern for Catholics in West Asia led the Vatican to call into question Israel's policies regarding Palestine, extending Church support to Palestinians, according a confidential cable made available to The Hindu by WikiLeaks.

In a July 24, 2002 meeting, U.S. Acting Deputy Chief of Mission George Frowick and Archbishop Antonio Veglio, Secretary of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, shared worries that “the Eastern Churches — the 22 Christian Rites that are not Roman Catholic but are in communion with Rome — face a number of challenges that cast long shadows over their future” (3387: confidential, dated July 26).

According to the cable, Archbishop Veglio told Mr. Frowick that his “congregation, as elsewhere in the Holy See is deeply troubled by Israeli policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians,” which they viewed as a potential threat to Catholics in West Asia.

“The congregation will remain active in seeking to support the Palestinians as a means of preserving the remnants of the Catholic presence in the region,” the cable says.

Eastern Churches in “Arab countries are coming under increasing pressure, and have ‘a big question mark' over their futures,” according to the cable.

“According to Archbishop Veglio, the lack of separation between faith and state is the chief hurdle,” and, the cable says, “Veglio observed that the mixing of state and religion…caused problems in Israel,” though he did note the Jewish state was “the only country in the region with ‘democratic aspects.'”

“Where ‘national faiths' are close to or indistinguishable from political power, Archbishop Veglio observed, the Catholic faithful face persistent discrimination and the Church finds it difficult to conduct its pastoral duties,” according to the cable.

Archbishop Veglio, who was “returning to Rome after nearly 30 years of overseas Holy See diplomatic work, said his congregation's primary duty was to ensure that these [Eastern] Churches are able to carry out pastoral care of the faithful wherever they are,” the cable says.

(This article is a part of the series "The India Cables" based on the US diplomatic cables accessed by The Hindu via Wikileaks.)

Related NEWS 3387: Eastern Churches under stress where Church/State separation is weak TOPICS diplomacy international relations politics espionage and intelligence Read more at www.thehindu.com

 

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U.S. Catholics supportive of gay causes

Poll finds most U.S. Catholics supportive of gay causes

Amplify’d from www.northjersey.com

Poll finds most U.S. Catholics supportive of gay causes

While the Vatican and U.S. bishops maintain a hard-line stance against most gay rights causes, American Catholics are more supportive of gay rights than other U.S. Christians, according to new research.

A report by the Washington-based Public Religion Research Institute found that 74 percent of Catholics favor legal recognition for same-sex relationships, 31 percent through civil unions and 43 percent through civil marriage.

That figure is higher than the 64 percent of all Americans, 67 percent of mainline Protestants, 48 percent of black Protestants and 40 percent of evangelicals.

Less than one-quarter, 22 percent, of Catholics want no legal recognition of same-sex partnerships, while a majority, 56 percent, believes that same-sex adult relationships are not sinful.

The analysis was based on polling conducted by PRRI and the Pew Research Center last fall. Neither Jews, who are generally among the most supportive of gay rights issues, nor Muslims were included in the data because of their small sample size.

— Religion News Service Read more at www.northjersey.com

 

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Vatican “copyright” on the Pope's voice

The Vatican protects the “copyright” on the Pope's voice



From now on it is prohibited to use the voice of the pope for commercial purposes. The Vatican created this new law to avoid the abuse of Benedict XVI's voice, as well as the voice of previous popes, for purposes that the Vatican say would violate the “honor, reputation, respect and prestige of the pope.”



The law specifically copyrights the use of the voice, but it also includes their images and writings. They say this will help avoid manipulation of documents from the papal Magisterium, and to regulate them from being used for commercial purposes.



The Vatican is concerned about the creation of souvenirs that could be offensive, such as lollipops or beverages that carry the pope's image.



They can also denounce those who abuse the image, voice or writings of cardinals and bishops from the papal Curia.





http://www.romereports.com/palio/The-Vatican-protects-the-copyright-on-the-Popes-voice-english-3801.html

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Amplify’d from lezgetreal.com

Vatican Envoy Slanders NATO

by L. S. Carbonell

Coat of Arms of Vatican City

If a public official is going to issue a statement that includes the words “I haven’t seen any of that personally, but….” he should stop and take a deep breath.

Bishop Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, the Vatican’s Envoy to Libya (that’s the equivalent to an ambassador) has issued a statement claiming that 40 civilians in Tripoli have been killed by the coalition air strikes, but he hasn’t seen any of the casualties or civilian damages himself. He’s relying on the word of his “contacts.” He claims that the forty died in the neighborhood of Tajoura and he’s unclear how many died in a collapsed house in Buslim. These neighborhoods are both within sight of the Rixos Hotel where about half of the foreign press are being housed. Had anyone been dropping bombs near Fox News’ Steve Harrigan, he would have been booking it out of town even if he had to swim. Neither CNN’s Nic Robertson nor MSNBC’s Jim Maceda have reported any bombs near their locations. All the NATO bombing has been confined to the Bab al-Azizi military base on the southern outskirts of the city.

Both Robertson and Maceda have reported being taken to mass “funerals” (Harrigan doesn’t leave the Rixos) that were more political rally than actual funeral. A couple of dozen coffins are brought in, less than half actually go into the ground and the rest are removed, all while crowds of people hold up pictures of Col. Qaddafi and chant anti-everybody slogans. They have reported that those journalists who get close enough to the coffins reported smells of advanced decay.

Bishop Martinelli has been snookered by his trusted “contacts.” They are feeding him Qaddafi propaganda and he’s too isolated to have any first-hand information. His public statements on the bombing of Tripoli serve no purpose but to spread Qaddafi’s lies. Qaddafi has been unsuccessful in his use of human shields to protect his compound, so he’s manufacturing civilian casualties to try to stop the attacks.

In the real world, Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, commander of NATO’s Libyan operation, has assured the world that NATO will investigate every complaint about civilian casualties being caused by NATO’s actions. “We are very careful in the prosecution of any of the possible targets that we have. We have strict rules of engagement provided to us and we are operating within the legal mandate of our United Nations mission.”

Related articles

Vatican official reports 40 civilians dead in Tripoli (rt.com)

NATO checks claim that raid killed dozens of Libyan civilians (chron.com)

Libya’s Many Fronts (lezgetreal.com)

Defection Of Highest Ranking Libyan To Date (lezgetreal.com)

NATO Takes Control of Libya Air Operations (abcnews.go.com)

The “Other” War in Libya – Fox Steve Harrigan and CNN’s Nic Robertson (ironmill.wordpress.com) Read more at lezgetreal.com

 

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