General news

• NHS could ban sale of soft drinks in hospitals

  25-04-2017 23:45
  
  Sugary soft drinks will be banned in hospital shops if retailers fail to cut their sales over the next 12 months.
  
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• Labour promises pay rise for NHS staff

  25-04-2017 23:40
  Labour will deliver a pay rise to NHS staff if it wins the General Election, scrapping the existing cap on salaries as part of a three-point pledge for the health service.NHS pay increases are currently subject to a 1% cap that has kept rises below the rate of inflation for seven consecutive years and is due to continue until 2020.Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth will commit Labour to end the cap, introduce legislation to make "safe staffing" levels a matter of law and restore funding t
  
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• Madeleine McCann: Met Police rules out its four official suspects

  25-04-2017 23:29
  The only four official suspects investigated by the Met Police over the abduction of Madeleine McCann have been ruled out of the inquiry.The suspects were believed by Scotland Yard to have taken her during a burglary gone wrong at the McCanns' rented holiday apartment in Portugal.
  
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• Hyde Park bombing: Victims' families launch campaign to fund civil prosecution

  25-04-2017 23:19
  The families of soldiers killed in the 1982 Hyde Park bombing have launched a campaign to raise money for a civil prosecution.Four soldiers of the Household Calvary died in the IRA blast, which occurred as they rode to take part in the daily Changing of the Guard procession.Nobody has been convicted over the attack and victims' families have been unable to secure public funding for legal action.
  
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• Labour leadership agrees truce on immigration policy

  25-04-2017 23:00
  
  Labour’s leadership has reached a truce over the party’s immigration policy ahead of the election, with an agreement that free movement of labour across the EU will have to end at the point of Brexit.Jeremy Corbyn is understood to have signed up to the position along with other shadow cabinet members who have long been in favour of free movement, such as the shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott.
  
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• Conservatives warned: don't take 'landslide' election win for granted

  25-04-2017 22:30
  
  Conservative strategists are warning that the current crop of opinion polls suggesting Theresa May will cruise to victory in June’s general election could dissuade voters from turning out to vote for the party.The belief is that a landslide “election narrative” may also encourage others to back Labour and other opposition parties simply in an attempt to minimise the scale of the anticipated majority, prompting the prime minister to warn about the issue on Tuesday.On a campaign
  
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• Man, 81, held in Scotland over sexual abuse in youth football

  25-04-2017 22:24
  An 81-year-old man has been charged by police in Scotland investigating alleged historical sexual abuse in youth football.The man, understood to be former Celtic Boys Club official Frank Cairney, is expected to appear in court on Wednesday.Police Scotland launched a major inquiry into non-recent child abuse in youth football at the end of last year.
  
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• How do you make a citizen's arrest?

  25-04-2017 22:02
  
  The law allows members of the public to arrest a suspect, but there are rules to be followed.
  
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• A decade on, UK police say they may never solve Madeleine McCann case

  25-04-2017 22:02
  
  By Michael HoldenLONDON (Reuters) - Almost a decade after three-year-old Madeleine McCann vanished, London police said they were still following critical lines of inquiry but might never solve the case.McCann disappeared from her bedroom on May 3, 2007 during a family holiday in Portugal, while her parents were dining with friends at a nearby restaurant in the resort of Praia da Luz."Sadly investigations can never be 100 percent successful," said London Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner
  
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• Mirror Group settles dozens of celebrity phone-hacking claims

  25-04-2017 21:38
  Dozens of celebrities have received damages and an apology from Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) over phone-hacking.Lord Jeffrey Archer, Dame Mary Archer, ex-footballer Kevin Keegan, actress Patsy Kensit and former home secretary Charles Clarke were among 44 people whose cases were settled at London's High Court.It is understood some of the settlements exceed the £260,250 record damages awarded to actress and businesswoman Sadie Frost following a High Court trial in 2015.
  
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• From coffee to carpets, British consumers count the pennies

  25-04-2017 21:38
  
  By James DaveyLONDON (Reuters) - Britons are cutting back on their daily coffee fix and hesitating before splashing out on bigger items such as new carpets, retailers said on Tuesday, further signs that consumer spending is slowing sharply ahead of a national election in June.Britons are starting to feel the strain of rising prices after last year's vote to leave the European Union sent the pound plunging, recent data and industry surveys have indicated.Official data last week showed British ret
  
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• Riyadh's new financial hub struggles with ownership uncertainty

  25-04-2017 21:11
  
  By Katie Paul and Andrew TorchiaRIYADH (Reuters) - A glitzy $10 billion financial district in Riyadh hopes to open its first phase for business this year but is struggling with red tape and uncertainty about its ownership, showing the challenges facing Saudi Arabia's economic reforms.The plan to build the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) began in 2006, but the project has been plagued by construction delays, cost overruns and doubts about finding enough tenants.The government said in 2016
  
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• Millicent Fawcett was a heroine deserving of a statue | Letters

  25-04-2017 20:49
  
  Rachel Holmes (Opinion, 15 April) does Millicent Fawcett less than justice.Of course Millicent was the daughter of her time and place (born in 1847 to a local businessman in a small coastal town in Suffolk).
  
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• We must leave the EU to renationalise rail | Letters

  25-04-2017 20:46
  
  The Berlaymont building, headquarters of the European commission in Brussels. Europe’s railways will be open to competitive tender from 2019, writes John Draper. Photograph: pbombaert/Getty Images
  
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• Boris Johnson won't take centre stage in Tory campaign

  25-04-2017 20:25
  
  Boris Johnson was undoubtedly the star of the Vote Leave campaign, but the Foreign Secretary looks set to take a more minor role in Theresa May’s election push.Three Cabinet sources told Sky News Mr Johnson was not on the core team of campaign figureheads, suggesting that the gaffe-prone Foreign Secretary will be used more sparingly on the national airwaves as Team May look to tightly control the message and avoid any slip-ups.Senior party sources told Sky News the faces of the campaign ar
  
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• Leaked Labour script puts 'core party issues' above Brexit

  25-04-2017 20:22
  
  A leaked general election script for Labour MPs reveals that the party will direct its campaign focus to core issues including schools, social care and the NHS, rather than immigration, defence and Brexit.The document passed to the Guardian reveals that the party’s dominant line of attack will be that the Conservatives are for “the privileged few” and that Labour will be “for the many, not the few”.MPs are told to emphasise that the election “is not a rerun of
  
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• The Sun threatens legal action over alleged MailOnline copyright breach

  25-04-2017 20:01
  
  The Sun has accused MailOnline of stealing exclusive content and threatened legal proceedings in a sign of the escalating battle for digital news revenues.Lawyers at the Sun, still the biggest selling popular newspaper in the UK but with far fewer readers than the MailOnline, sent the letter claiming copyright infringement earlier this week.The row over the Mail’s alleged misuse of exclusive footage of Adam Johnson, the disgraced footballer in prison for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old f
  
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• Analysis: May's election 'theme' on Brexit plan

  25-04-2017 19:55
  
  Sky's Jon Craig reports from Westminster on today's election campaign focus on Brexit.
  
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• Tim Farron says he doesn't believe gay sex is a sin

  25-04-2017 19:49
  
  The Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, has confirmed that he does not believe gay sex to be a sin, saying that while he had no wish to “pontificate on theological matters”, he also did not want people to misunderstand his religious beliefs.During a campaign visit last week, Farron insisted he had been misinterpreted.The idea of homosexuality being a sin was “not a statement that I make, this is something I get asked because of my faith”, he told the Guardian.
  
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• Hermaphrodite dog fully recovered after sex-change surgery

  25-04-2017 19:37
  An "intersex" dog born with male and female genitals has made a full recovery after having rare gender reassignment surgery.Molly, a Jack Russell puppy, was taken to a vet when her owners, Mary and Frank Finlay, noticed she would get excited before going to the toilet and squat to pee in their home, but lift her leg outside.Vet Ross Allan discovered that, despite appearing to be completely female, she was a male pseudo hermaphrodite or "intersex" as it is more commonly known, with elements of bo
  
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• Wales: May woos voters in Labour heartlands with vow to 'stop ducking' social care

  25-04-2017 19:03
  
  Theresa May speaks to supporters at a community centre in Bridgend, Wales.Theresa May has promised to “stop ducking” the issue of social care as she travelled to Wales to kickstart a Conservative campaign that intends to target voters in Labour heartlands who have never backed her party before.
  
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• This guy dressed as a gorilla is crawling the London Marathon - still

  25-04-2017 18:59
  
  He expects to finish the race on Friday.
  
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• Kim Jong-May received with rapture and adulation in Bridgend

  25-04-2017 18:54
  
  Kim-Jong-May salutes her Welsh generals and calls for, er ... strong and stable leadership.The Tory drill sergeant was putting his troops through their final paces in the Brackla community centre just outside Bridgend in Wales.
  
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• Tom Hardy tackles motorbike theft suspect in south west London

  25-04-2017 18:42
  Actor Tom Hardy has proved he is not just an action hero on screen after chasing down and catching a suspected thief in south west London.After seeing two youths on a motorbike jump a red light and hit a £50,000 Mercedes at a junction on Sheen Road in Richmond on Sunday, Hardy sprang into action.While the passenger on the motorbike was quickly apprehended, the rider - who attempted to flee - was pursued by the 39-year-old actor through gardens and a building site, described by one witness
  
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• Mike Samwell: Family of Manchester car theft murder victim pays tribute

  25-04-2017 18:37
  The family of a former Royal Navy officer who was run over by thieves as he tried to prevent them from stealing his car has paid tribute a "wonderful husband, brother and son".Mike Samwell, 35, died after confronting intruders who broke into his home and took his Audi S3 as he slept upstairs with his wife Jessica around 3am on Sunday.
  
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• Court to hold hearing on UK air quality report delay - campaigners

  25-04-2017 18:28
  
  London's High Court will hold a hearing on Thursday over the British government's bid to postpone publishing its plans to reduce air pollution, environmental campaigners said on Tuesday.The government is obliged to draw up a new plan to meet nitrogen dioxide limits set by the European Union after the High Court ruled in November that a calculation of future vehicle emissions was too optimistic.The government says the delay is needed to comply with rules that bar public officials from engaging in
  
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• Here's a handy video to explain what you need to know about the election

  25-04-2017 17:57
  
  The countdown is on to June 8.
  
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• Germany's Grammer says can issue shares to partner after injunction lifted

  25-04-2017 17:54
  Germany's Grammerwon a victory in its efforts to dilute the influence of an activist shareholder after a regional court lifted a temporary injunction on the exercise of a convertible bond, the automotive interiors maker said on Tuesday.Grammer management planned to bring China's Ningbo Jifengon board as a "white knight" against Bosnia's Hastor, which owns a stake of at least 20 percent in Grammer and has criticised Grammer's management.
  
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• Mexico can retaliate against US over tuna feud: WTO

  25-04-2017 17:52
  
  Mexican fishermen unload tuna fish from a boat in the harbor of Ensenada in the Mexican state of Baja California
  
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• Conservative party ignored police requests to hand over internal bullying report

  25-04-2017 17:46
  
  Elliot Johnson, a Tory party activist, killed himself in 2015 and left a note alleging he was bullied by election aide Mark Clarke.The Conservatives have failed to hand over a report on allegations of bullying within the party to police despite repeated requests from detectives, it has emerged.British Transport police (BTP) have asked the Tory party to disclose the full report on the bullying inquiry, which was launched after allegations were made against the former election aide and failed parl
  
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• Sir Philip Green: Stop using me as a 'political football'

  25-04-2017 17:40
  
  Sir Philip Green has complained of being used as a "political football" after MP Frank Field warned he might still be stripped of his knighthood despite his £363m BHS pension scheme settlement.The letter comes a year to the day after BHS collapsed into administration, putting 11,000 employees out of work and leaving 19,000 facing shortfalls in retirement earnings - and likely to have to fall back on the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) lifeboat scheme.Sir Philip said: "I made a commitment to
  
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• Marathon fundraiser: Virgin move 'not enough'

  25-04-2017 17:35
  
  One of the UK's most successful fundraisers has told Sky News that Virgin Money Giving's offer of a 10% boost to make up for donations lost after its website crashed is inadequate.
  
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• Virgin Money Giving adds 10% to London Marathon donations after website crash

  25-04-2017 17:33
  Virgin Money Giving will boost donations to the London Marathon by 10% after its website crashed.Thousands of people reportedly had problems accessing the official fundraising website on the day of the marathon and also in the days since then.
  
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• Fighting for every vote, May takes on 'separatists'

  25-04-2017 17:11
  
  By Elizabeth PiperLONDON (Reuters) - Despite her runaway lead in opinion polls, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday she would fight for every vote in an election she hopes will strengthen her in Brexit talks with the EU and help her prevent the break-up of the United Kingdom.In Wales, a largely rural country that has long been a stronghold of her Labour opponents but which voted in favour of Brexit last year, May took aim at opposition parties to press her argument that only she can win a
  
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• May takes election campaign to Wales

  25-04-2017 16:50
  
  Theresa May is in Wales following a poll suggesting a surge for the Conservatives, implying a potential crisis for Labour.
  
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• EU tightens Brexit demands on residence, banks - document

  25-04-2017 16:42
  
  By Alastair MacdonaldBRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders will insist Britain grant permanent residence to EU citizens who arrive before Brexit in 2019 and stay five more years, according to a draft negotiating plan they will endorse this weekend.In the latest sign of the bloc cranking up pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May to guarantee full rights after Britain's departure for the 3 million EU nationals living there, new draft guidelines include wording that diplomats said aims to hea
  
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• General Election 2017: May warns ministers against complacency

  25-04-2017 16:40
  Theresa May has warned her ministers not to think a General Election victory on 8 June is a done deal.The Prime Minister used a Cabinet meeting to remind them that polls had been proved wrong "repeatedly" in the EU referendum, the 2015 election and the US presidential election.Echoing comments made by Jeremy Corbyn himself, Mrs May pointed out the current Labour leader was considered a rank outsider to succeed Ed Miliband before pulling off a shock victory.
  
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• Suspended MP Simon Danczuk likely to stand for Labour in election

  25-04-2017 16:31
  
  Simon Danczuk is likely to stand as a Labour candidate in Rochdale because the party cannot conclude its disciplinary process against the MP in time for the election, the Guardian understands.Labour’s national executive committee has referred his case to the party’s highest disciplinary body, but two senior party sources close to the NEC said there was concern Danczuk could take the party to court if he is deselected, given that the party is yet to find him guilty of any offence.
  
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• Conservatives hold big lead over Labour before June election - poll

  25-04-2017 16:28
  
  British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives have a large lead over the opposition Labour Party, according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday by the Kantar research group.The survey showed the Conservatives had the support of 46 percent of likely voters in the June 8 election, ahead of Labour on 24 percent, the Liberal Democrats on 11 percent and the UK Independence Party on 8 percent.
  
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• Starmer: Tories Brexit strategy 'reckless'

  25-04-2017 16:20
  
  The shadow Brexit secretary said the party would put retaining the benefits of the single market and customs union at the centre of its negotiations with Brussels.
  
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• Cutting immigration not a priority for Labour in Brexit talks

  25-04-2017 16:18
  
  Cutting immigration would not be the main priority for a Labour government as it plans Britain's future outside the European Union.Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said the party would put retaining the benefits of the single market and customs union at the centre of its negotiations with Brussels, and bin Theresa May's "reckless" exit strategy.Sir Keir said EU nationals would have their right to remain in the UK guaranteed on day one of Jeremy Corbyn taking power, and Mr Corbyn would th
  
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• Election 2017: Tory MPs quit Remain campaign over election plan to oust Brexiteers

  25-04-2017 16:14
  
  Senior Tory MPs have quit the pro-EU campaign group Open Britain after it published an election hit list of Brexiteer MPs - most of whom are Conservatives.Nicky Morgan, Anna Soubry and Dominic Grieve, who all campaigned to Remain in the EU last year, said their position as part of the cross party group was "untenable" after it compiled a list of 20 MPs to target in the General Election.In an angry Facebook post, former Education Secretary Mrs Morgan wrote: "As long standing Conservative Party me
  
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• Election 2017: Ex-UKIP donor Arron Banks says party wrong to go to 'war' with Islam

  25-04-2017 16:13
  
  UKIP has been accused of going to "war" with Muslims by one of its most prominent supporters.Leader Paul Nuttall has unveiled plans to force girls at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) to undergo regular medical checks, as well as a ban on burkas in public and outlawing sharia law.The Muslim Council of Britain has said the policy - part of UKIP's "Integration Agenda" - was "deeply regrettable" and hit out at stereotyping around "bombs, beards and burkas".
  
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• Conservatives of May hold big lead over Labour before June election - poll

  25-04-2017 16:02
  
  British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives have a large lead over the opposition Labour Party, according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday by the Kantar research group.The survey showed the Conservatives had the support of 46 percent of likely voters in the June 8 election, ahead of Labour on 24 percent, the Liberal Democrats on 11 percent and the UK Independence Party on 8 percent.
  
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• Chocolate maker Nestle to cut 298 jobs in UK amid Poland move

  25-04-2017 15:54
  Confectionery giant Nestle is planning to cut 298 jobs in a shake-up of UK sites as it moves some production to Poland.The Swiss firm said the roles affected were mainly at plants in York and Fawdon, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with sites at Halifax and Girvan in Ayrshire also involved.Nestle said that under the plans the York site - acquired in its takeover of Rowntree's in 1988 - would see 143 jobs go - while 110 will be lost at Fawdon, 15 at Halifax and seven at Girvan, with a number of other sup
  
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• Labour predicted to lose hundreds of seats in local elections

  25-04-2017 15:26
  
  Labour is set to lose hundreds of council seats across Britain next week and cede control of Glasgow and Cardiff city councils, according to leading psephologists.The party is forecast to lose 75 councillors in England and more than 100 in Wales, and is said to be “heading for disaster” in Scotland where it is unlikely to retain control of any council.The timing of the local elections in England, Scotland and Wales, including for the first “metro mayors” in the West Midla
  
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• Edwina Currie is getting mercilessly trolled for asking how children can be going hungry when so many of them are fat

  25-04-2017 15:20
  
  The replies on Twitter have been savage.
  
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• Author Joanna Cannon: why I’m going back to the psychiatric wards

  25-04-2017 15:00
  
  Joanna Cannon: she started writing while working as a junior doctor ‘for therapy’.Joanna Cannon’s to-do list for next month includes attending the British Book Industry Awards in which her bestselling debut novel has been shortlisted, and pouring tea for people with dementia and their carers in a village hall.Cannon, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, who quit psychiatry more than two years ago to concentrate on writing, is returning to the NHS as a volunteer with Arts
  
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• LVMH's Arnault swoops to take full control of Christian Dior

  25-04-2017 14:58
  
  By Dominique Vidalon and Gilles GuillaumePARIS (Reuters) - French billionaire Bernard Arnault will combine the Christian Dior fashion brand with his LVMH luxury goods empire as part of a 12 billion euro ($13 billion) move to simplify his business interests - a restructuring long demanded by other investors.Under a series of complex transactions, LVMH , the world's largest luxury group, will buy the Christian Dior Couture brand from the Christian Diorholding company for 6.5 billion euros, includi
  
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• Treasury Committee chair Tyrie says will step down as MP

  25-04-2017 14:47
  British lawmaker Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of parliament's Treasury Committee, said on Tuesday he would not stand in the June 8 national election."After very careful thought, I have decided to stand down from parliament," Tyrie, a member of Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party, saidin a statement.Under Tyrie's chairmanship, the Treasury Committee focused on misconduct in the banking sector and holding Bank of England policymakers to account.
  
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