General news

• Rick Parfitt obituary

  24-12-2016 22:33 via theguardian.com
  
  Status Quo singer and guitarist who racked up more than 60 UK hit singles in one of the most successful UK bands of all time
  The raucous chugging sound of Status Quo has been a constant presence for almost half a century of rock’n’roll, ever since the band gave up on the idea of playing psychedelic music at the end of the 1960s in favour of a grittier approach. The singer and rhythm guitarist Rick Parfitt, who has died aged 68 from an infection, had been a pivotal member of the band
  
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• Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt was a hard rocker with a soft centre

  24-12-2016 21:32
  During our interview in Spain in September he told me he'd stopped drinking. The band were always planning to keep playing without Rick, but there was always the possibility that he might return for a cameo role in their final ever gig, if indeed there is a final-ever gig.
  
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• 'Icon of rock'

  24-12-2016 20:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  One of rock's most recognisable guitarists, Rick Parfitt, has died aged 68. Here are some of your memories.
  
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• Murder charges after Altrincham lap dancing bar brawl

  24-12-2016 18:04 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Two men are charged with murder after a brawl outside a lap dancing bar left a 32-year-old father dead.
  
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• Sam Allardyce: New Crystal Palace boss 'moving on' from 'dark' England exit

  24-12-2016 17:23 via bbc.co.uk
  
  New Crystal Palace boss Sam Allardyce is "moving on" from his "dark" exit from the England job - but could yet face FA sanction.
  
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• Number of urgent operations cancelled in England hits record high

  24-12-2016 17:19 via theguardian.com
  
  NHS cancelled 446 urgent operations in November, almost double the number in the same month last yearThe number of NHS patients in England who had urgent operations cancelled hit record numbers in November, soaring to almost double the level a year ago, according to government data.
  Opposition parties seized on the figures from NHS England as fresh evidence that ministers have failed to address underlying problems, particularly the underfunding of social care. Continue reading...
  
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• The Obamas have released their last Christmas message and it might make you cry

  24-12-2016 17:11
  
  Season’s greetings from Barack and Michelle, y’all.
  
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• Two charged with terror offences and one of being an Islamic State member

  24-12-2016 17:06
  A man and a woman have been charged with terrorism offences, following their arrest earlier this month. Munir Hassan Mohammed, 35, of Leopold Street, Derby, and Rowaida El Hassan, 32, of Willesden Lane, London, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Saturday morning. Mohammed is charged with engaging in the preparation of an act of terrorism, being a member of Islamic State and possessing a record of how to build an explosive device inside a mobile phone.
  
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• Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt has died

  24-12-2016 16:41 via bbc.co.uk
  
  David Sillito looks back at the life of Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt who has died aged 68.
  
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• Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt dies in hospital in Spain at 68

  24-12-2016 16:30
  Status Quo's Rick Parfitt has died in hospital in Spain after suffering a severe infection, his manager has said. "He died in hospital in Marbella, Spain as a result of a severe infection, having been admitted to hospital on Thursday evening following complications to a shoulder injury incurred by a previous fall. "This tragic news comes at a time when Rick was hugely looking forward to launching a solo career with an album and autobiography planned for 2017 following his departure from Status Q
  
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• Obituary: Rick Parfitt

  24-12-2016 16:22 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Guitarist whose five-decade partnership with Francis Rossi formed the backbone of Status Quo.
  
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• Suspect in Geordie Shore Aimee Spencer fall death released

  24-12-2016 16:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A man arrested over the death of Geordie Shore star Aimee Spencer is released without charge.
  
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• How Hallam FC began Feast of Stephen’s glut of Christmas football

  24-12-2016 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Since the first Boxing Day match 156 years ago, fans have gorged on festive servings of goals, none more so than in 1963 when Fulham beat Ipswich 10-1When Hallam FC entertain Pontefract Collieries in the North Eastern Counties Football League Division One at Sandygate Road on Boxing Day, the club based in the Sheffield suburb of Crosspool will continue a tradition they helped start exactly 156 years ago. An offshoot of the local cricket club, Hallam FC are the world’s second oldest footbal
  
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• Travellers face Christmas rail closures due to planned work

  24-12-2016 14:54 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Passengers face rail disruption over the festive period, with 200 planned sets of engineering works.
  
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• Terror bid suspects appear in court

  24-12-2016 14:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A man and a woman who were arrested during anti-terrorism raids appear in court charged with making preparations for a terrorism attack.
  
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• Royal baby tragedy for Zara and Mike Tindall

  24-12-2016 14:25
  The Queen's granddaughter Zara Tindall has lost her baby, a spokeswoman for her and her husband, Mike, has said. The spokeswoman did not provide details of the circumstances surrounding the loss, but Zara, 35, is not believed to be in any medical danger. "Very sadly, Zara and Mike Tindall have lost their baby.
  
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• England’s Mako Vunipola could miss Six Nations with suspected ligament injury

  24-12-2016 14:19 via theguardian.com
  
  • Prop was forced off in Saracens’ European Champions Cup win at Sale
  • 25-year-old could potentially be sidelined for 12 weeks with knee strainThe England prop Mako Vunipola’s participation in the Six Nations Championship is in doubt. Vunipola suffered suspected ligament damage in his left knee after being forced off in Saracens’ European Champions Cup win at Sale last weekend. Related: Chris Ashton makes try-scoring return as Saracens see off NewcastleContinue readi
  
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• ‘Only skeletons, not people’: diaries shed new light on siege of Leningrad

  24-12-2016 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Academic says contemporary accounts of suffering are very different to stories survivors now tell of triumphant resistanceThe discovery of a huge number of unpublished diaries has given an extraordinary insight into one of the most notorious and brutal military sieges in history.The siege of Leningrad by German and Finnish forces lasted 872 days, from September 1941 to 27 January 1944. Up to 2 million lives were lost, including about 800,000 civilians or 40% of the population of the city now cal
  
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• Christmas music: an annual scourge or a holiday delight?

  24-12-2016 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  It’s incessant, but is that a good thing or a bad one? Two writers weigh inChristmas music is inescapable this time of year, making it impossible to hold a neutral opinion about the genre. But what causes people to fall into one camp or the other? Here, two writers flesh out the very personal reasons that the same annual din makes one desolate and the other merry.Continue reading...
  
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• Squalor of temporary housing holds back UK homeless, says report

  24-12-2016 13:43 via theguardian.com
  
  Failings in system mean users struggle to take steps towards more permanent accommodation, IPPR research findsPeople without a home can spend as long as 36 years living in and out of often dilapidated hostels, B&Bs and refuges while waiting for help to find a permanent residence, a damning report reveals.
  A system designed to aid the destitute is instead said to be abandoning those seeking stability while offering them unacceptably squalid conditions in which to live, according to a report b
  
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• Sam Allardyce: losing England job ‘one of the darkest moments of my career’

  24-12-2016 13:36 via theguardian.com
  
  • New Crystal Palace manager reflects on 67-day stint in charge of England
  • ‘The early reaction was a bit hysterical to say the least’Sam Allardyce has admitted losing the England job was one of the “darkest moments” of his career. Related: Sam Allardyce the organiser will bring normality back to Crystal PalaceContinue reading...
  
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• Bake Off mince pie bid entices 16 to Shippea Hill station

  24-12-2016 13:20 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A former Great British Bake Off finalist serves mince pies at England's quietest railway station to boost passenger numbers.
  
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• Trump Tower's revolving door of big-name visitors – in pictures

  24-12-2016 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Many great and good, and not so great or good, people have marched into Trump Tower for a word in the ear of the president-elect. Here’s a who’s whoTrump’s transition reality show: Kanye West, a naked cowboy and a month to goContinue reading...
  
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• Homeless in Alaska: life and death on the freezing streets

  24-12-2016 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Alaska has some of the highest per capita rates of homelessness and alcoholism in America – and as the temperature drops, the number of homeless deaths risesAs soon as she glimpsed at the body on the icy street, Marie Nickolai knew it was Jackie Amaktoolik. He’d been drinking outside. People said he had collapsed.She wept as friends coaxed her from the scene. “That’s my brother,” she said. Continue reading...
  
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• Awkward! The blog to ease that horrible office conversation no one wants to have

  24-12-2016 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From the receptionist who can’t stop hugging people to co-workers’ racist Halloween costumes, Alison Green’s Ask a Manager blog takes a boss’s-eye viewIs it OK to have a Christmas party at Hooters? How can I tell my co-workers their Halloween costumes are racist? I accidentally hugged the CEO. How embarrassed should I be?
  These are the kinds of questions that often land in Alison Green’s mailbox. Green is the manager behind the popular Ask a Manager blog, which she
  
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• Weather warnings as Storm Conor to arrive on Christmas Day

  24-12-2016 12:53
  Power has been restored to over 20,000 homes in Scotland after storm Barbara brought high winds and disrupted travel - but a new storm is brewing. Conor is forecast to sweep over parts of the country through Christmas Day and Boxing Day, bringing further misery for travellers. All 13,000 customers whose households were affected by a lightning strike in Lewis and Harris have been reconnected within two hours.
  
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• Norfolk residents prepare to welcome Royal family for Christmas

  24-12-2016 12:45
  People in Norfolk are preparing to welcome the Royal family for Christmas, describing it as the perfect place for them to get some rest and privacy at this time of year. The Queen traditionally spends Christmas at Sandringham House with her family, at the heart of the 20,000-acre Sandringham Estate. The trip to Norfolk has become an important part of the Royal calendar and the Queen and Prince Philip usually stay until after the anniversary of her father's death on 6 February.
  
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• Eating disorder helpline to open on Christmas Day

  24-12-2016 12:33
  The abundance of food over Christmas can make it a particularly difficult time for people with eating disorders. Tom Quinn from the charity said: "On Christmas day we will have our helpline open as we do every day of the year, because we know that Christmas can be a particularly challenging time for people with eating disorders. "There's an increased focus on food, and that can make it a very anxious and stressful time for people who have this serious mental illness.
  
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• What happened next: the refugee who came to stay and other stories

  24-12-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  What became of Helen Pidd’s Syrian lodger? Which blind date couples are still together? We follow up Weekend magazine stories of 2016After Helen Pidd and Yasser, her Syrian lodger, wrote about their house-share in January, they were inundated with offers of help, dinner invitations and football tickets. Readers asked how they, too, could host a refugee: an 89-year-old retired academic put up a friend of Yasser’s. Continue reading...
  
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• Braintree house fire: Fatal blaze caused by candle

  24-12-2016 11:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A house blaze that killed a mother and daughter was accidentally started by a candle, Essex Fire Service says.
  
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• Berlin, Aleppo and the shooting in Ankara – the 20 photographs of the week

  24-12-2016 11:08 via theguardian.com
  
  The Berlin Christmas market attack, the evacuation of eastern Aleppo and the shooting of the Russian ambassador to Turkey – the news of the week captured by the world’s best photojournalists Continue reading...
  
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• Readers' travel photography competition: 2016 – the winners

  24-12-2016 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In 2016, Guardian readers entered thousands of fantastic images to our monthly travel photo competition. Here are each month’s best shots. Scroll to see the overall winner and runners-up, judged by Mick Ryan of Fotovue. Monthly winners are on display until 10 January at the Guardian’s London office Continue reading...
  
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• Premier League: 10 things to look out for in Boxing Day and festive fixtures

  24-12-2016 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Leicester hope to party like it’s 1963, Liverpool must find a way to stop Joe Allen scoring and it is eight years since Phil Brown’s infamous Hull City team talkEvery year for more than half a century folks have been hoping for a repeat of the Boxing Day fun of 1963, when the 10 top-flight fixtures produced a record tally of 66 goals. We can’t get an exact repeat of that this year because half of the teams who were in the First Division back then are now in the lower leagues (a
  
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• Literary quiz 2016: pit your wits against the authors – part 1

  24-12-2016 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Fingers on buzzers for brainteasers from Ian Rankin, Sarah Waters, Will Self, William Boyd, Shami Chakrabarti and moreIan Rankin: In which 2016 novel would you find a killer named Roderick Macrae?Out of Bounds by Val McDermid Home by Harlan CobenHis Bloody Project by Graeme Macra BurnetAlex Bellos: The title of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Gravity’s Rainbow is a reference to which geometric curve?the ellipsethe parabolathe hyperbolaMarina Lewycka: In which month did Chaucer’s pilgrim
  
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• ‘I’m at my desk by 9am. I even write on Christmas Day’

  24-12-2016 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Michael Bond, author of the Paddington stories, on living in London and listening in to other people’s conversationsI have been writing every day of my life, seven days a week, for almost 50 years. Even Christmas Day. But I still enjoy it. I have lived in the same house for the last 30 years and I have written in the same room ever since. When I first came to London, I went on a canal boat ride in Little Venice and I remember going past the street where I live now, thinking: &ldq
  
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• Irvine Welsh: ‘If I don’t have sex every day, I start to go a bit weird’

  24-12-2016 10:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The author on addiction, wrinkles, ‘big snogs’ and his toy rabbit BunnyBorn in Edinburgh, Irvine Welsh was working for the council and studying for an MBA at Heriot-Watt University when he wrote Trainspotting. Published in 1993, the novel was a hit, and in 1996 was made into a film by Danny Boyle. A sequel is released next month, and an immersive theatre adaptation of the original book runs at The Vaults, London SE1, until 15 January. Welsh’s latest novel, The Blade Artist
  
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• Yotam Ottolenghi’s noodle recipes for post-Christmas comfort

  24-12-2016 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Forget turkey sandwiches. The food I’ll be craving after the Christmas feast will feature noodles in a big wayEven people who love new recipe ideas hit saturation point at some time in the year. And that’s usually about now. We spend the weeks leading up to Christmas entertaining all the different possibilities being shared left, right and centre, and then, right at the last minute, remember that the traditional festive meal is nothing more than a big roast dinner with all sorts of t
  
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• So long, 2016: the year of the political earthquake

  24-12-2016 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Farewell Barack Obama, David Cameron and Europe: how will this year go down in history?On the evening of 8 November, the world gathered in front of TV screens for the news. In the early hours of 9 November, it began to dawn on us that what we were watching was no longer news but history. Not since 9/11 could many recall such a sense of incredulous dread, and as Florida fell to Donald Trump, I found myself seized by an eerie premonition. I saw schoolchildren turning over history examination paper
  
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• Modern Toss's review of 2016

  24-12-2016 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Brexit, Trump and post-truth fall under the cartoonists’ eye Continue reading...
  
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• 2016's best bits: wonderful wildlife

  24-12-2016 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From giant pandas to record numbers of blue butterflies, wildlife gave us plenty of reasons to rejoice this yearImagine a world where pandas are no longer endangered and an area of the Pacific twice the size of Texas has been turned into a marine protected area. Picture a Scotland where protected beavers roam, and an England where more large blue butterflies dance than at any time since the 1930s. Or dream of a Wales where the majestic crane breeds for the first time in 400 years.This isn’
  
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• 2016's best bits: why culture was crucial

  24-12-2016 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Beyoncé pushed boundaries, Ken Loach triumphed and British TV reigned supreme - the cultural highs of the year Finding the good news stories in a year in which the grim reaper more than overstayed his welcome in arts circles might seem like an unenviable task: 2016 did, after all, rob us of Victoria Wood, Leonard Cohen, Alan Rickman, Caroline Aherne, Ronnie Corbett, Harper Lee, Gene Wilder, Terry Wogan, Zaha Hadid, George Martin, and many more. There were also various puzzling new cultura
  
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• 2016's best bits: October to December

  24-12-2016 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From Prince Harry speaking out against racism to Ed Balls on Strictly, everything that cheered us up as the year ended With a smile as brilliant as her gold and green headtie, Margaret praised the Lord. “We never imagined we would see this day,” she said. “With the help of God, we were able to come out of bondage.” Around her, another 20 young women and their relatives, many in equally spectacular traditional dress provided by delighted authorities, danced and sang, and s
  
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• 2016's best bits: breakthroughs in science

  24-12-2016 10:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From the discovery of gravitational waves to a promising male contraceptive, it was a groundbreaking year for scienceIt came from beyond the Large Magellanic Cloud. The signal, a mere 20 milliseconds long, captured the moment when two black holes slammed together – a cataclysm that sent ripples through spacetime and onwards to Earth, where they made instruments chirp and scientists cheer. “We have detected gravitational waves,” said David Reitze of the Laser Interferometer Grav
  
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• Chrismukkah? I’ll light a candle to that

  24-12-2016 09:59 via theguardian.com
  
  I might say my prayers in Hebrew instead of Latin but I want to eat chocolate Santas for 10 days straight, too, OK?
  To begin a column by referencing The OC, a teen TV show that ended nine years ago, probably dates me only marginally less than the fact that the album I listened to most this year, Spotify tells me, was Pure R&B 90s. The cutting bleeding edge, that’s what you come here for, folks.The OC, a show that is discussed these days with baffling infrequency, brought a lot of
  
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• Eyewitness: Manila, Philippines

  24-12-2016 09:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Photographs from the Eyewitness series Continue reading...
  
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• Christmas Day? Groundhog Day? I can’t tell the difference | Deborah Orr

  24-12-2016 09:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Just because your children have left home doesn’t mean they don’t want a traditional Christmas – just like the ones they used to knowOne Sunday evening in late November, I popped in at the house of a couple I know, on a whim. At that point, hard as it now is to believe, I had barely registered Christmas was coming. My friends had, though. Marion – let’s call her – had a large pile of colourful sundries to the left of her on the table she sat at, and four equal
  
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• Swing low: 10 of the best festive earrings – in pictures

  24-12-2016 09:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Add a littles sparkle to your outfits with this festive jewellery – and not a bauble in sight Continue reading...
  
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• What is the true meaning of Christmas? It’s simple: watching television | Gareth McLean

  24-12-2016 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  There’s nothing better than festive traditions – Downton Abbey, Doctor Who, a selection of soaps – to bring unalloyed joy. And don’t forget the Queen’s speechApparently there are people who don’t watch television at Christmas. The mind boggles. What do these people do with all that time, traditionally spent with their families? If they’re not arguing over whether Coronation Street or EastEnders is better or explaining to Aunty Esther that yes, Doctor Who
  
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• What does your router name say about you?

  24-12-2016 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  What you call your wireless network might seem a trifling decision, but it’s a window into the way a person wants to present themselves in a connected worldWhat you choose to call your wireless network can say a lot about you. If you’re the attendee of an “alt-right” event at Texas A&M University who decided to promote genocide in the form of a network ID, it can say you are violently racist. While it is perhaps not surprising to see the USA’s new far-right whit
  
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• Clive James: ‘Trump’s boasts spring from an aching wish’

  24-12-2016 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Any man who drivels about women when he is alone with a man has no clue what to say when alone with a womanSince my family will be having a vast Christmas dinner with a raft of Australian fly-in guests spreading through several rooms, I have made it known, in my position as patriarch, that I favour a simple solution to the question of which big bird to feature, goose or turkey. Magisterially, I suggested that there should be both.Thus I dodged the question that stumped Theresa May, who
  
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