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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Lamar Odom has admitted he is jealous that Kourtney Kardashian is pregnant
The Dallas Mavericks basketball star and his wife Khloe, Kourtney’s sister, have been desperate for a child of their own since tying the knot in 2009 and Lamar confessed seeing his sister-in-law pregnant has made him realise what he is missing out on. The sportsman – who has two children, Destiny, 13, and 10-year-old Lamar [...]
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Monday, January 30, 2012
Drug Addiction May Make Users More Vulnerable to Stress
Head Lines |
Mind & Brain
See Inside
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ECK: Depression and substance abuse modify the same brain circuitt
?| January 30, 2012
Image: Malcolm Case-Green Alamy
Mood disorders such as depression are known to increase drug abuse risk. Yet mounting evidence suggests that substance abuse also makes people more vulnerable to depression and the negative effects of stress, according to Eric J. Nestler, chair of neuroscience at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He and his team reported new details about the link between depression and drug abuse in Neuron in August.
The team found that mice given cocaine daily for a week?a simulation of chronic drug abuse in humans?were more likely than their drug-free counter?parts to display behaviors reminiscent of depression after being subjected to socially stressful situations involving an aggressive and intimidating mouse. The drug-treated mice became lethar?gic and reluctant to interact with other mice following a shorter-than-usual bout of this ?social defeat? stress, which is commonly used to study depression in mice.
Most striking, the researchers found that the cocaine use led to the same molecular changes in the nucleus accumbens, a reward region, as are found in mice prone to stress and depression. The mice had lower levels of a molecule that polices the activity of certain genes and keeps at least one signaling circuit in check.
When the researchers artificially dialed down or up the levels of this regulatory molecule in the nucleus accumbens, they were able to produce or protect against depression in mice. This effect suggests that shifts in that brain region can cause?and are not just a side effect of?depression.
Testing for such changes in the human brain is trickier, of course.The team did find low levels of some of the same gene-regulating com?ponents in postmortem tissue sam?ples from the nucleus accumbens of people diagnosed with depression, hinting that humans with the disorder might experience altered signaling in this brain region, too.
If so, the findings may provide clues about why cases of drug abuse and depression sometimes spiral out of control, given that drug-induced de?pression is believed to ratchet up the chances of subsequent abuse in the same way that naturally occurring depression can.
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Private investors near deal on Greek debt (AP)
ATHENS, Greece ? Greece and investors who have bought its bonds have reached a tentative deal to significantly reduce the country's debt and pave the way for it to receive a much-needed euro130 billion bailout.
Negotiators for the investors announced the tentative agreement Saturday and said it could become final next week.
Under the agreement, the euro206 billion worth of Greek bonds that investors own would be exchanged for new bonds worth 60 percent less. That will help Greece remain solvent and avoid a potentially devastating blow to Europe's already weakened financial system.
Private investors would receive new bonds whose face value is half of the existing bonds. The new bonds would have a longer maturity and pay an average interest rate of slightly less than 4 percent. The existing bonds pay an average interest rate of 5 percent, according to the think tank Re-Define.
The deal would reduce Greece's annual interest expense on the bonds from about $10 billion to about $4 billion. And when the bonds mature, instead of paying bondholders euro206 billion, Greece will have to pay only euro103 billion.
Without the deal, which would reduce Greece's debt load by at least euro120 billion, the bonds held by banks, insurance companies and hedge funds would likely become worthless. Many of these investors also hold debt from other countries that use the euro, which could also lose value in the event of a Greek default.
The agreement taking shape is a key step before Greece can get a second, euro130 billion bailout from its European Union partners and the International Monetary Fund. Besides restructuring its debt with private investors, Greece must also take other steps before getting aid. It must cut its deficit and boost the competitiveness of its economy through layoffs of government employees and the sale of several state companies, among other moves.
This would be Greece's second bailout. The EU and the IMF signed off on a euro110 billion aid package for Greece in May 2010, most of which has already been disbursed.
Greece faces a euro14.5 billion bond repayment on March 20, which it cannot afford without additional help.
Private investors hold roughly two-thirds of Greece's debt, which has reached an unsustainable level ? nearly 160 percent of the country's annual economic output. By restructuring the debt held by private investors, Greece and its EU partners are hoping to bring that ratio closer to 120 percent by the end of this decade. Without a deal, analysts forecast that ratio ballooning to 200 percent by the end of this year as the Greek economy falters.
In return for the first bailout, Greece's public creditors ? the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank ? have unprecedented powers over Greek spending. However, Greece's problems will not be fixed simply by cutting government spending. In order to bring its debts to a more manageable level, the country must also find ways boost economic output, which would enable it to collect more taxes.
If no debt-exchange deal is reached with private creditors and Greece is forced to default, it would very likely spook Europe's ? and possibly the world's ? financial markets. It could even lead Greece to withdraw from the euro.
Sarah Ketterer, co-manager of Causeway International Value Fund, a $1.4 billion mutual fund that invests in European stocks, said the region's markets have rebounded this month largely on expectations that negotiators would reach a deal along the lines of the one being finalized now.
Any last-minute breakdown in the talks could trigger a sharp decline in European markets, she said. But a rally is unlikely if negotiations succeed.
"The equity markets have ... largely already discounted this, and you can see that in the confidence that has returned in European equities since the end of December, and especially for financial stocks," Ketterer said.
She said there "really was no other option" than reaching a deal for bondholders to take a haircut of 50 percent or more.
Ketterer said a Greek deal could help restore bond market confidence. That would help Italy manage its own debt crisis ? one that Ketterer views as more critical than Greece's because of Italy's greater size.
The investors who own Greek bonds are being represented by Charles Dallara, managing director of the Washington-based Institute of International Finance, and Jean Lemierre, senior adviser to the chairman of the French bank BNP Paribas.
___
Elena Becatoros in Athens and Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels contributed.
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Apple claims top smartphone vendor spot after Q4 results, iPhone is now 8.3% of all mobile phones
Strategy Analytics has crunched most of the fourth quarter results announced this week (including Apple's), and figures the iPhone maker is now the top manufacturer, but only by a sliver.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/bkHLbkUcfUs/story01.htm
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Twitter's new censorship plan rouses global furor (AP)
NEW YORK ? Twitter, a tool of choice for dissidents and activists around the world, found itself the target of global outrage Friday after unveiling plans to allow country-specific censorship of tweets that might break local laws.
It was a stunning role reversal for a youthful company that prides itself in promoting unfettered expression, 140 characters at a time. Twitter insisted its commitment to free speech remains firm, and sought to explain the nuances of its policy, while critics ? in a barrage of tweets ? proposed a Twitter boycott and demanded that the censorship initiative be scrapped.
"This is very bad news," tweeted Egyptian activist Mahmoud Salem, who operates under the name "Sandmonkey," Later, he wrote, "Is it safe to say that (hash)Twitter is selling us out?"
In China, where activists have embraced Twitter even though it's blocked inside the country, artist and activist Ai Weiwei tweeted in response to the news: "If Twitter censors, I'll stop tweeting."
One often-relayed tweet bore the headline of a Forbes magazine technology blog item: "Twitter Commits Social Suicide"
San Francisco-based Twitter, founded in 2006, depicted the new system as a step forward. Previously, when Twitter erased a tweet, it vanished throughout the world. Under the new policy, a tweet breaking a law in one country can be taken down there and still be seen elsewhere.
Twitter said it will post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed, and will post the removal requests it receives from governments, companies and individuals at the website chillingeffects.org.
The critics are jumping to the wrong conclusions, said Alexander Macgilliviray, Twitter's general counsel.
"This is a good thing for freedom of expression, transparency and accountability," he said. "This launch is about us keeping content up whenever we can and to be extremely transparent with the world when we don't. I would hope people realize our philosophy hasn't changed."
Some defenders of Internet free expression came to Twitter's defense.
"Twitter is being pilloried for being honest about something that all Internet platforms have to wrestle with," said Cindy Cohn, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "As long as this censorship happens in a secret way, we're all losers."
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland credited Twitter with being upfront about the potential for censorship and said some other companies are not as forthright.
As for whether the new policy would be harmful, Nuland said that wouldn't be known until after it's implemented.
Reporters Without Borders, which advocates globally for press freedom, sent a letter to Twitter's executive chairman, Jack Dorsey, urging that the censorship policy be ditched immediately.
"By finally choosing to align itself with the censors, Twitter is depriving cyberdissidents in repressive countries of a crucial tool for information and organization," the letter said. "Twitter's position that freedom of expression is interpreted differently from country to country is unacceptable."
Reporters Without Borders noted that Twitter was earning praise from free-speech advocates a year ago for enabling Egyptian dissidents to continue tweeting after the Internet was disconnected.
"We are very disappointed by this U-turn now," it said.
Twitter said it has no plans to remove tweets unless it receives a request from government officials, companies or another outside party that believes the message is illegal. No message will be removed until an internal review determines there is a legal problem, according to Macgilliviray.
"It's a thing of last resort," he said. "The first thing we do is we try to make sure content doesn't get withheld anywhere. But if we feel like we have to withhold it, then we are transparent and we will withhold it narrowly."
Macgilliviray said the new policy has nothing to do with a recent $300 million investment by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Mac or any other financial contribution.
In its brief existence, Twitter has established itself as one of the world's most powerful megaphones. Streams of tweets have played pivotal roles in political protests throughout the world, including the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States and the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia and Syria.
Indeed, many of the tweets calling for a boycott of Twitter on Saturday ? using the hashtag (hash)TwitterBlackout ? came from the Middle East.
"This decision is really worrying," said Larbi Hilali, a pro-democracy blogger and tweeter from Morocco. "If it is applied, there will be a Twitter for democratic countries and a Twitter for the others."
In Cuba, opposition blogger Yoani Sanchez said she would launch a personal Twitter boycott of unspecified length.
"Twitter will remove messages at the request of governments," she tweeted. "It is we citizens who will end up losing with these new rules..."
In the wake of the announcement, cyberspace was abuzz with suggestions for how any future country-specific censorship could be circumvented. Some Twitter users said this could be done by employing tips from Twitter's own help center to alter one's "Country" setting. Other Twitter users were skeptical that this would work.
While Twitter has embraced its role as a catalyst for free speech, it also wants to expand its audience from about 100 million active users now to more than 1 billion. Doing so may require it to engage with more governments and possibly to face more pressure to censor tweets; if it defies a law in a country where it has employees, those people could be arrested.
Theoretically, such arrests could occur even in democracies ? for example, if a tweet violated Britain's strict libel laws or the prohibitions in France and Germany against certain pro-Nazi expressions.
"It's a tough problem that a company faces once they branch out beyond one set of offices in California into that big bad world out there," said Rebecca MacKinnon of Global Voices Online, an international network of bloggers and citizen journalists. "We'll have to see how it plays out ? how it is and isn't used."
MacKinnon said some other major social networks already employ geo-filtering along the lines of Twitter's new policy ? blocking content in a specific jurisdiction for legal reasons while making it available elsewhere.
Many of the critics assailing the new policy suggested that it was devised as part of a long-term plan for Twitter to enter China, where its service is currently blocked.
China's Communist Party remains highly sensitive to any organized challenge to its rule and responded sharply to the Arab Spring, cracking down last year after calls for a "Jasmine Revolution" in China. Many Chinese nonetheless find ways around the so-called Great Firewall that has blocked social networking sites such as Facebook.
Google for several years agreed to censor its search results in China to gain better access to the country's vast population, but stopped that practice two years after engaging in a high-profile showdown with Chain's government. Google now routes its Chinese search results through Hong Kong, where the censorship rules are less restrictive.
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt declined to comment on Twitter's action and instead limited his comments to his own company.
"I can assure you we will apply our universally tough principles against censorship on all Google products," he told reporters in Davos, Switzerland.
Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, said it was a matter of trying to adhere to different local laws.
"I think what they (Twitter officials) are wrestling with is what all of us wrestle with ? and everyone wants to focus on China, but it is actually a global issue ? which is laws in these different countries vary," Drummond said.
"Americans tend to think copyright is a real bad problem, so we have to regulate that on the Internet. In France and Germany, they care about Nazis' issues and so forth," he added. "In China, there are other issues that we call censorship. And so how you respect all the laws or follow all the laws to the extent you think they should be followed while still allowing people to get the content elsewhere?"
Craig Newman, a New York lawyer and former journalist who has advised Internet companies on censorship issues, said Twitter's new policy and the subsequent backlash are both understandable, given the difficult ethical issues at stake.
On one hand, he said, Twitter could put its employees in peril if it was deemed to be breaking local laws.
"On the other hand, Twitter has become this huge social force and people view it as some sort of digital town square, where people can say whatever they want," he said. "Twitter could have taken a stand and refused to enter any countries with the most restrictive laws against free speech."
___
Associated Press writers Paul Schemm in Rabat, Morocco, Michael Liedtke in San Francisco, Peter Orsi in Havana, Cuba, Cara Anna in New York and Ben Hubbard in Cairo contributed to this story.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
US Supreme Court won't review Venezuela suit (AP)
COLUMBUS, Ohio ? An Ohio investment group's lawsuit seeking to collect $100 million on three-decade-old Venezuelan promissory notes is headed back to a federal judge for further deliberations.
The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear the case was a setback for Venezuela, which argued that federal law protects it from U.S. lawsuits because it is a foreign state.
The high court declined on Monday to accept Venezuela's appeal of a 2010 federal appeals court decision that said the suit filed by Skye Ventures of Columbus could go forward in the U.S.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also said a lower court must determine whether the case should be tried in Venezuela, which will be the next step.
Skye seeks payment on the notes from a defunct government-sponsored bank.
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Microsoft paid Nokia $250 million to adopt Windows Phone, Q4 earnings report reveals
Microsoft and Nokia have historically been pretty tight-lipped about the value of their Windows Phone partnership, but the cat leapt out of the bag this morning, courtesy of Espoo's Q4 2011 earnings report. As SlashGear's Chris Davies noticed, Nokia received about $250 million from Redmond during the fourth quarter of 2011, as part of the companies' "broad strategic agreement." Under the agreement, the manufacturer receives so-called "platform support payments" from Microsoft -- which, in turn, receives software licensing payments from Nokia. The $250 million Microsoft doled out last quarter is the first of these transactions. All told, Nokia expects the payments both to and from Microsoft to total "in the billions of US Dollars."
Microsoft paid Nokia $250 million to adopt Windows Phone, Q4 earnings report reveals originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Friday, January 27, 2012
FACT CHECK: Debate over 'ghetto language' ad
Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, look toward moderator Wolf Blitzer of CNN as they participate in the Republican presidential candidates debate in Jacksonville, Fla., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican presidential candidates, from left, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, look toward moderator Wolf Blitzer of CNN as they participate in the Republican presidential candidates debate in Jacksonville, Fla., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican presidential candidates, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talk during a commercial break at the Republican presidential candidates debate in Jacksonville, Fla., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican presidential candidate former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum participates in the Republican presidential candidates debate in Jacksonville, Fla., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Mitt Romney accuses Newt Gingrich of calling Spanish a "ghetto language." Close, but not quite.
Gingrich denies doing so and said he merely promoted the use of English, "period." That's even more of a stretch.
The last Republican presidential debate before the GOP Florida primary Thursday brought viewers a blitz of charges and countercharges over immigration, the financial lives of the candidates and more. Here are how some of the claims compare with the facts:
GINGRICH: "It's taken totally out of context.... I did not say it about Spanish. I said in general about all languages. We are better for children to learn English in general, period."
THE FACTS: At issue is Romney's Spanish-language radio ad running in Florida that says Gingrich branded Spanish a ghetto language in a 2007 speech. In the contentious remarks in question, much more came after Gingrich's "period."
In his speech to the National Federation of Republican Women, Gingrich advocated making English the official language, a position he still holds, and added: "We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto."
He did not explicitly call Spanish a ghetto language. But at the time, the remark was widely taken to mean Spanish, overwhelmingly the main foreign language spoken in the United States and the primary language of many immigrants.
Gingrich recognized as much when, in response to a Hispanic backlash against his remark, he made an online video days after the speech in which he more or less apologized for his choice of words and for producing "a bad feeling within the Latino community."
___
ROMNEY on the same topic: "I doubt that's my ad, but we'll take a look and find out."
THE FACTS: It's his ad.
___
RICK SANTORUM: "You had a president of the United States that held (up) a Colombian free trade agreement. Colombia, who's out there on the front lines working with us against the narco-terrorists, standing up to Chavez in South America ? and what did we do? ... The president of the United States sided with organized labor and the environmental groups and held Colombia hanging out to dry for three years."
THE FACTS: When President Barack Obama took office, he actually tried to revive a free-trade deal with Colombia that had been negotiated by his Republican predecessor but left to languish without congressional approval, just as he tried to make similar progress with South Korean and Panamanian free-trade pacts. He bucked considerable opposition from organized labor and fellow Democrats in doing so.
Obama did hold off on submitting the three deals to Congress as his administration tried to negotiate more palatable terms to Democrats. He finally submitted them in 2011 and Congress approved them in the fall ? with substantial GOP support and a fair amount of Democratic opposition.
___
ROMNEY: Fannie and Freddie are "offering mortgages again to people who can't possibly repay them. We're creating another housing bubble, which will hurt the American people."
THE FACTS: If there is another housing bubble forming, most homebuilders, mortgage lenders and real estate agents would like to find it. Instead, the housing market remains depressed, with sales low and home prices falling.
Fannie and Freddie don't sell or offer any mortgages. Their function has always been to support the housing market by purchasing mortgages from banks, packaging them into bonds and guaranteeing the bonds against default. This proved costly when the housing bubble burst: The two entities were formally taken over by the government in 2008 and have since cost taxpayers $150 billion.
The two mortgage giants are still functioning under government receivership, and now own or guarantee nearly all new mortgages, because banks are reluctant to make loans without the agencies' support. But banks have significantly toughened their credit standards since the housing bubble and are requiring higher credit scores and bigger down payments. That is causing an increasing number of home sales contracts to fall through as would-be buyers are unable to get mortgage loans.
___
SANTORUM: Criticized the Obama administration for its "abysmal treatment" of allies in Latin America, and said Obama has a "consistent policy of siding with the leftists, siding with the Marxists, siding with those who don't support democracy."
THE FACTS: Obama has not sided with the leading leftists, such as those ruling Cuba and Venezuela, and instead has roundly criticized them.
It's true that Latin America has been on the back burner for much of Obama's tenure, as he concentrated on other parts of the world, including the Middle East. But Obama visited three countries in Latin America last year, and the Panamanian and Colombian trade agreements were part of the biggest round of trade liberalization since the North American Free Trade Agreement and other pacts of that era.
___
ROMNEY: "My investments are not made by me. My investments for the last 10 years have been in a blind trust, managed by a trustee."
THE FACTS: Not all of his investments have been in a blind trust. Romney's personal financial disclosure forms show he owned between $250,001 and $500,000 in the Federated Government Obligation Fund, which contained mutual-fund notes of politically sensitive Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. An addendum to Romney' disclosure forms says that certain assets ? including the federated fund ? were outside the scope of his blind trust.
The investment was not on Romney's 2007 financial form, making it a relatively new one ? just as the housing and financial crises were hitting Americans full force.
___
RON PAUL: Obama "promises to end the wars, but the wars expand."
THE FACTS: By the most obvious measures, the wars are shrinking. Last month, the U.S. pulled its last troops out of Iraq, fulfilling a pledge by Obama to end the war there.
Obama did escalate America's fight in Afghanistan, announcing in December 2009 that he was sending an additional 33,000 troops.
The U.S. and its NATO partners in late 2010 agreed to end the combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014. As part of that plan, Obama fulfilled his promise to bring 10,000 troops home from Afghanistan by the end of last year, and is moving ahead with plans to pull an additional 23,000 out by this fall. There are now about 90,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
___
Associated Press writers Tom Raum, Lolita C. Baldor, Jim Drinkard, Christopher S. Rugaber and Jack Gillum contributed to this report.
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Westboro Baptist Church Members Protest at Joe Paterno???s Funeral (ContributorNetwork)
COMMENTARY | Joe Paterno, a hero to many in State College, Pa., is the latest victim of the Westboro Baptist Church. Paterno died after a short battle with lung cancer at the age of 85. The legendary coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football team is being honored with memorial services at most of the local campuses as well as the large main campus. Each event that students may participate has been booked up. A free memorial service held at the Bryce Jordan Center ran out of 10,000 tickets after just seven minutes.
Previously, the church had stated that it planned to protest the funeral of 9-year-old Christina Greene, who was killed in the same shooting that Representative Gabrielle Giffords was severely injured in. Thankfully, the church never showed up because a local radio station offered the group free airtime. It is unfortunate that the group tries to get national attention by causing families and friends more pain when the individuals are at their lowest.
Paterno's image was tarnished in recent months. In November, news broke that a former member of the coaching staff, Jerry Sandusky, was being charged with sexual assault. He allegedly committed the sexual assaults on young boys. There were also allegations that Penn State knew but did nothing. A former graduate assistant, Mike McQueary, had said he witnessed the assault and went to Joe Paterno with the information. Paterno called Tim Curry and Gary Schultz to inform them of what McQueary said. Schultz was Vice President of the university at the time and in charge of the campus police. Although in hindsight, Paterno does regret not going further, he had not been charged with any legal wrongdoing. The same day that Paterno announced he would leave at the end of the season, the Board of Trustees for Penn State University decided that was not soon enough and fired him immediately.
The coach may not be perfect, but he, his family and friends did not deserve to have the Westboro Baptist Church protesting his funeral and carrying signs for all those who attend to read. Typically, the church announces an intent to go to the specific and high-profile funeral. He is a legend and he deserved respect. This was not a time to focus on scandal, but to come together and remember the good times. What allegedly happened in Happy Valley was awful and, if it is true, the people responsible deserve all the penalties that the judge can give them.
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Murdoch-backed music startup bankrupt before launch (Reuters)
(Reuters) ? Beyond Oblivion, a digital music startup backed by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and investment bank Allen & Co Director Stanley Shuman has filed for bankruptcy protection after spending millions of dollars building a service that never saw the light of day.
Journalists were given a preview of the New York start-up service that aimed to give away a limitless library of digital music with devices that had the Beyond Oblivion software pre-installed.
Such a plan would have had music licensing costs running at tens of millions dollars even before it achieved any scale.
Beyond Oblivion owed creditors between $100 million and $500 million, with estimated assets of less than $10 million, according to a Chapter 11 filing at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York.
Its two largest unsecured creditors were major music companies Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group who are each owed $50 million, for what is described as "trade debt."
The board of directors, which includes Shuman and News Corp's digital chief Jon Miller, agreed to wind down operations earlier this month.
Beyond Oblivion, which was founded in 2008 by British entrepreneur and music producer Adam Kidron, raised nearly $90 million in venture funding in its last two years.
News Corp originally paid $9.2 million for a 23 percent stake in Beyond Oblivion in April 2010, according to company regulatory filings. At that time Shuman, a News Corp director emeritus, had an 18 percent stake. News Corp said in the filing that Shuman did not receive compensation for his Beyond Oblivion board service.
In the News Corp's fiscal year through June 30, 2011, the company pumped an additional $2 million into the digital music company. As of June 30, News Corp and Shuman owned around 20 percent and 14 percent respectively.
While relatively small in the context of News Corp's $45 billion market capitalization, the collapse of Beyond Oblivion is the latest misstep with digital start-ups for Murdoch's company.
Murdoch, who has flirted with Internet businesses since the first dot-com boom in the late 1990s, famously bought social network leader MySpace for $580 million in 2005, only to see it lose its stature to Facebook. MySpace was sold last year for just $35 million.
Earlier this month on Twitter, Murdoch said about his company's role with MySpace: "We screwed up in every way possible, learned lots of valuable expensive lessons."
Last year, Murdoch launched a tablet-only news magazine called The Daily, which has so far been slow to make a major impact with consumers.
News Corp Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey has said he expects the company to focus more on building the digital monetization of the major media brands it already owns such as Fox, the Wall Street Journal and its various TV shows and movies rather than try to start new digital businesses.
(Reporting By Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Jon Jones? future: One writer?s view of top prospects at 205 pounds
The most annoying conversation that emerges following a champion's dominant victory, are the cries of a division being cleared out. It's almost never the case.
Champs age, suffer injuries and the field of developing fighters beneath them eventually catches up.
Jon Jones is already getting that ridiculous treatment at light heavyweight, so Adam Hill from the Las Vegas Review-Journal put together a list over at ESPN.com to shine a light on the guys who may end Jones' dominance at 205 pounds. Phil Davis was tabbed the No. 1 prospect contender.
The parameters he used were active fighters who have not held a UFC belt in the weight class and haven't previously fought for a title in the weight class.
Check out the entire list here (sorry it's Insider access only). The list included fighters like:
8. Ryan Jimmo (16-1), UFC
The Canadian got knocked out in the first round of his MMA debut way back in 2007. Since then, he's lost one fight ....
3. Gegard Mousasi (32-3), Strikeforce
Though just 26 years old, Mousasi has fought 37 pro MMA bouts already and is an undefeated kickboxer. He also is a proficient wrestler and displays above-average grappling skills ...2.Alexander Gustafsson (13-1), UFC
This one is all about potential. The 6-foot-5 Swede is only getting better, and being teammates with Davis at Alliance MMA in San Diego can only help. Gustafsson, whose only loss came at Davis' hands in April 2010, has reeled off four straight stoppage victories, with visible improvement each time ...
He also listed Ryan Bader, Stanislav Nedkov, Thiago Silva and Rafael Cavalcante. Who did Hill miss?
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US military raid in Somalia frees American, Dane (AP)
MOGADISHU, Somalia ? U.S. Special Forces troops flew into Somalia on a nighttime helicopter raid early Wednesday, freed an American and a Danish hostage and killed nine of the kidnappers in a mission that President Barack Obama said he personally authorized.
The Danish Refugee Council confirmed that the two aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, were freed and "are on their way to be reunited with their families."
The raiders came in very quickly, catching the guards as they were sleeping after having chewed the narcotic leaf qat for much of the evening, a pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein told The Associated Press by phone. Hussein said he was not present at the site but had spoken with other pirates who were, and that they told him nine pirates had been killed in the raid and three were missing.
A second pirate who gave his name as Ahmed Hashi said two helicopters attacked at about 2 a.m. about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the Somali town of Adado where the hostages were being held.
Buchanan, 32, and Thisted, 60, were working with a de-mining unit of the Danish Refugee Council when they were kidnapped in October.
The U.S. military's Africa Command, based in Stuttgart, Germany, confirmed that nine kidnappers were killed.
"Last night's mission, boldly conducted by some of our nation's most courageous, competent, and committed special operations forces, exemplifies United States Africa Command's mission to protect Americans and American interests in Africa," said Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command.
Obama seemed to refer to the mission before his State of the Union address in Washington Tuesday night. By then it was already Wednesday morning in Somalia. As he entered the House chamber in the U.S. Capitol, Obama pointed at Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in the crowd and said, "Good job tonight."
"As Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission, and the dedicated professionals who supported their efforts," Obama said in a statement released by the White House Wednesday. He said he had authorized the rescue mission on Monday.
"Jessica Buchanan was selflessly serving her fellow human beings when she was taken hostage by criminals and pirates who showed no regard for her health and well-being," Obama said. "The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice."
A Western official said the helicopters and the hostages flew to a U.S. military base called Camp Lemonnier in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti after the raid. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been released publicly.
The timing of the raid may have been made more urgent by a medical condition. The Danish Refugee Council had been trying to work with Somali elders to win the hostages' freedom but had found little success.
"One of the hostages has a disease that was very serious and that had to be solved," Danish Foreign Minister Villy Soevndal told Denmark's TV2 channel. Soevndal did not provide any more details.
Soevndal congratulated the Americans for the raid and said he had been informed of the action.
Panetta visited Camp Lemonnier just over a month ago. A key U.S. ally in this region, Djibouti has the only U.S. base in sub-Saharan Africa. It hosts the military's Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.
The Danish Refugee Council said both freed hostages are unharmed "and at a safe location." The group said in a separate statement that the two "are on their way to be reunited with their families."
Ann Mary Olsen, head of the Danish Refugee Council's international department, was the one who informed the family of Hagen Thisted of the successful military operation.
"They (the family) were very happy and incredibly relieved that it is over," she said.
The two aid workers appear to have been kidnapped by criminals ? sometimes referred to as pirates ? and not by Somalia's al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab. As large ships at sea have increased their defenses against pirate attacks, gangs have looked for other money making opportunities like land-based kidnappings.
The Danish Refugee Council had earlier enlisted traditional Somali elders and members of civil society to seek the release of the two hostages.
"We are really happy with the successful release of the innocents kidnapped by evildoers," said Mohamud Sahal, an elder in Galkayo town, by phone. "They were guests who were treated brutally. That was against Islam and our culture ... These men (pirates) have spoiled our good customs and culture, so Somalis should fight back."
Buchanan and Hagen Thisted were seized in October from the portion of Galkayo town under the control of a government-allied clan militia. The aid agency has said that Somalis held demonstrations demanding the pair's quick release.
Their Somali colleague was detained by police on suspicion of being involved in their kidnapping.
The two hostages were working in northern Somalia for the Danish Demining Group, whose experts have been clearing mines and unexploded ordnance in conflict zones in Africa and the Middle East.
Several hostages are still being held in Somalia, including a British tourist, two Spanish doctors seized from neighboring Kenya, and an American journalist kidnapped on Saturday.
___
Associated Press reporters Jason Straziuso in Nairobi, Kenya, and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark contributed to this report. Houreld reported from Nairobi.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Blast destroys police station in north Nigeria (Reuters)
KANO, Nigeria (Reuters) ? A powerful blast destroyed a police station in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, a senior police official said, the latest in a series of blasts in the country's second biggest city since Islamist insurgents stepped up their campaign there.
"The explosives also affected some surrounding buildings. It was a big bang. For now, I can not say how many of our men are affected or whether the bomber died," the police source said.
Islamist sect Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a coordinated series of gun and bomb attacks in Kano Friday that killed 186 people in their deadliest strike yet.
The new focus on Kano, an ancient city once at the heart of caravan routes connecting Africa's interior with the Mediterranean, underscores the sect's growing ambition. Gunfire was also heard there early Tuesday, witnesses said.
From drive by shootings and petrol bombings in its northeastern heartland in Maiduguri, Boko Haram has spread across the north and have struck the capital Abuja.
The Islamists have killed at least 935 people since it launched an uprising in 2009, including more than 250 in the first weeks of this year, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.
Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sinful" in the Hausa language spoken in northern Nigeria, is loosely modeled on Afghanistan's Taliban. It has claimed responsibility for bombing churches, police stations, military facilities, banks and beer parlors in the mainly Muslim north of Nigeria.
The sect focuses its attacks mostly on the police, military and government, but has increased its attacks on Christian institutions. It says it is fighting enemies who have wronged its members through violence, arrests or economic neglect and corruption.
The United States-Nigeria binational security commission met Tuesday. Discussions included the latest Boko Haram attacks and finding ways to stem the violence, diplomatic sources said. The commission usually meets at least once a year.
"Boko Haram's attacks show a complete and utter disregard for human life," said Corinne Dufka, senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.
"The Nigerian authorities need to call a halt to this campaign of terror and bring to justice those responsible for planning and carrying out these reprehensible crimes."
The report said 550 people were killed in 115 separate attacks by Boko Haram last year, mostly in the far northeastern state of Borno, where the sect was founded in 2002.
Boko Haram has moved from drive-by shootings and petrol bombs to suicide attacks using large and increasingly sophisticated explosives. A suicide car bomb last year killed 25 people at the United Nations headquarters in the capital Abuja.
In July 2009 the sect launched an uprising in the northeast in which more than 800 people were killed in five days of fighting with security forces.
The sect originally said it wanted sharia (Islamic law) to be applied more widely across Nigeria.
President Goodluck Jonathan has been severely criticized for not getting a grip on a group he says has infiltrated the police, military and all areas of government.
"Jonathan's inability to respond effectively, or articulate a credible strategy, reinforces the growing perception of a deep leadership void in Abuja," London-based risk adviser Eurasia Group said in a research note Tuesday.
"So far militarization of the region and strict curfews have only had limited effect and huge (military) spending outlays in 2012 offer little hope for a credible broader strategy."
(Reporting by Tim Cocks, Joe Brock and Mike Oboh; Writing by Joe Brock; editing by Tim Pearce)
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Love hits 3 at buzzer, Timberwolves top Clippers
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love (42) hits a three point shot to win the game as Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, center, defends during the second half of their NBA basketball game, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in Los Angeles. The Timberwolves won 101-98. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love (42) hits a three point shot to win the game as Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, center, defends during the second half of their NBA basketball game, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in Los Angeles. The Timberwolves won 101-98. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love (42) reacts with guard Wayne Ellington (22) after hitting a three point shot to win the game during the second half of their NBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in Los Angeles. The Timberwolves won 101-98. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love (42) reacts along with guard Luke Ridnour (13) and guard Wayne Ellington (22) after hitting a three point shot to win the game during the second half of their NBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Clippers, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in Los Angeles. The Timberwolves won 101-98. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love, left, tries to pass the ball as Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin defends during the first half of their NBA basketball game, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Clippers guard Mo Williams, center, puts up a shot as Minnesota Timberwolves center Darko Milicic, left, of Serbia and forward Kevin Love defend during the first half of their NBA basketball game, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Now that they are on their first three-game winning streak in almost two years, Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves are enjoying the ride.
Love hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer after Ricky Rubio's tying 3 with 20 seconds to play, lifting the Timberwolves to a pulsating 101-98 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night.
The Timberwolves, coming off consecutive home wins over Sacramento and Detroit, have won three straight for the first time since a four-game stretch from Jan. 29 to Feb. 6, 2010. After that, they lost 29 of their final 31 games.
"In the last two games we've missed a ton of shots, but our defense has picked up and we've executed down the stretch and we've given ourselves a chance to win," Love said. "So if we can continue to do that, eventually our offense will pick up and we'll be able to win a lot of ballgames."
Darko Milicic had 22 points and seven rebounds for Minnesota before fouling out with 1:01 left, and Love had 17 points and 14 rebounds.
Rubio, Minnesota's rookie point guard, missed his first 10 field goal attempts before draining a clutch 3 from in front of the Clippers' bench. He finished with nine points, six assists, six rebounds and three steals.
"He is unflappable. He missed every shot, and then he makes a big 3 to tie it," coach Rick Adelman said. "The thing I like about him is that he's a competitor. He doesn't back down from anybody and he keeps an even keel. He doesn't get too high or too low. He just plays. He's been very good all year. He's played in the fourth quarter of every game, even when he wasn't starting.
"He's got a real gift. He's a great passer in the open court and he's just a smart player. You've got to give him rope and let him go because he's got that ability. And because of him, we've really kind of changed and simplified things we've done just to put the ball in his hands. He's been better than I thought he was going to be."
Chauncey Billups missed a driving layup against Rubio coming out of a timeout, and Love got the rebound before Minnesota called a timeout with 1.5 seconds on the clock.
Luke Ridnour inbounded the ball in front of the midcourt line to a wide-open Love, whose only option was to catch and shoot from a few feet beyond the arc. The ball hit nothing but net as the sellout crowd groaned.
"Coach set up a great play for us. How I was that open, I don't really know, but I got a good look at it and I hit it," Love said. "I tried to hold up my hands as soon as I shot it, because it felt great when it left my hands. I knew it was in. For us to do that, especially out here in L.A., it's a big deal. The Clippers are a good team, and we just want to catch up and try to get back to .500."
Love's shot snapped the Clippers' seven-game home winning streak.
"I got triple-screened and he made the shot," Clippers center DeAndre Jordan said. "He's a great player and he's going to make shots. I have to try to keep a hand in his face and make it tough on him. We didn't finish the game like we were supposed to. We let them hang around, and we got beat."
Mo Williams scored 21 of his 25 points off the bench in the first half for the Clippers before getting ejected midway through the fourth quarter. Blake Griffin had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Billups finished with 20 points after getting into early foul trouble. Point guard Chris Paul missed his fourth straight game because of a left hamstring strain.
Williams received his second technical foul with 6:21 remaining, after he was called for fouling Rubio on a drive to the basket as Rubio lost his footing.
"I felt like it was a questionable call," Williams said. "I didn't say anything. I just reacted to it ? not in the direction of the referee, but towards our bench. I was surprised the technical was called, and it was at a crucial point in the game."
The Timberwolves closed to 91-90 with 4:37 remaining after four consecutive free throws by Rubio. Billups responded with a 3-pointer and two free throws for a 98-94 Clippers lead.
Clippers forward Caron Butler, who shot a career-worst 1 for 12 on Wednesday night in a 91-89 win over Dallas after hyperextending his right knee the previous night at Utah, did not play against the Timberwolves.
"Obviously, they were a different team tonight because they didn't have Chris or Caron," Love said. "It was a big break for us when Mo got ejected because he was really on a roll."
Michael Beasley missed his eighth straight game for the Timberwolves due to a sprained right foot. Reserve guard JJ Barea was back in Minnesota nursing a sprained ankle that also will keep him out of Saturday night's game at Utah. Center Brad Miller and guard Martell Webster, both of whom resumed practice this week, also didn't dress.
The Timberwolves, whose only other lead came after Milicic's game-opening basket, opened the third quarter with a 12-1 run that sliced an 11-point deficit to 62-60.
Notes: Billups overtook Peja Stojakovic for fourth place in career 3-pointers (1,762). Ahead of him are Ray Allen, Reggie Miller and Jason Kidd. ... An MRI taken Thursday on Butler's knee revealed no structural damage. It was the same knee he had surgery on last January, which sidelined him for the rest of the season, but coach Vinny Del Negro said this injury was not related. ... Adelman's teams are 61-20 against the Clippers, his best mark against any club.
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
First Thoughts: What we learned from Gingrich's 12-point victory
The morning after his victory in South Carolina, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich sits down with David Gregory to talk about his rivals, criticism of his campaign and the path toward Florida.
What we learned after Gingrich?s 12-point victory over Romney (40%-28%) last night in SC: 1) The GOP race is on? 2) Romney hasn?t closed the deal with conservative voters? And 3) this contest can change in the blink of an eye? Sunday morning?s developments: Romney will release his 2010 tax returns on Tuesday (State of the Union day)? Gingrich casts Romney as the establishment candidate, while Chris Christie said Gingrich ?embarrassed? the GOP? The debates mattered in SC, and so did the pro-Gingrich Super PAC? Romney?s two advantages in FL: money and early voting? And Romney?s one disadvantage in FL: In terms of ideology, it isn?t New Hampshire.
By NBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro
*** The race is on: Newt Gingrich's 12-point victory last night in South Carolina capped an extraordinary week in politics that taught us three things: 1) the GOP presidential race isn?t over; 2) Mitt Romney hasn?t closed the deal with conservative voters; and 3) this contest can change in the blink of an eye. Indeed, a week ago, it appeared that Romney was cruising to a win in the Palmetto State, that he was about to go 3-for-3 in the first three contests, and that conservatives and Republicans were beginning to unite around him. But as it turns out, Romney decisively lost South Carolina, he?s now 1-and-2 in the first three contests (after discovering he lost Iowa, too), and conservatives and Republicans -- according to last night?s exit polls -- are nowhere close to rallying around him. And now we move to Florida, where Romney has the ability to bounce back or where Gingrich can further upend this contest.
Full South Carolina primary results
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*** Sunday morning developments: Here are some of the breaking developments from the Sunday morning shows. On FOX, per NBC?s Garrett Haake, Romney said that he would release his 2010 tax returns on Tuesday (State of the Union day), as well as an estimate of his returns for 2011. On ?Meet the Press,? Gingrich portrayed himself as the ?Reagan populist conservative? in the race, and he cast Romney as the establishment candidate. ?Do you want the establishment?s candidate ? or someone who would fundamentally transform Washington?? he asked. And also on ?Meet,? Romney surrogate Chris Christie said this about Gingrich: ?I think Newt Gingrich has embarrassed the party? We all know the record. He was run out of his speakership.?
*** Conservatives break for Gingrich (and rebuke Romney): We?ve said this before and we?ll say it again: Romney is not going to be the de-facto nominee until he wins over the conservative base of his party (outside of New Hampshire). And last night in South Carolina, that base overwhelmingly broke for Gingrich. Among voters who described themselves as "very conservative" (who made up 36% of last night's primary electorate) Gingrich beat Romney, 48%-19%. Among Tea Party supporters, Gingrich had a 20-point edge, 45%-25%. And among those who are evangelicals or born-again Christians (who made up 65% of the electorate) Gingrich won, 44%-22%. And just as importantly, these folks finally coalesced around one anti-Romney alternative -- and that person was Gingrich. Also, don?t forget the role that religion played in South Carolina: Gingrich beat Romney, 46%-20%, among those who believe it matters that a candidate shares their religious views. Among those who don't believe it matters that a candidate share their religious views, Romney actually beat Gingrich, 39%-32%
*** Romney?s problem: message, not mechanics: Ultimately, Romney?s problem right now is message -- not mechanics. And as we saw in 2008, Romney doesn?t do the attack well. That?s what is going to make Monday night?s NBC debate so fascinating to watch.
*** The debates mattered -- and so did the pro-Gingrich Super PAC: Two things, in particular, benefited Gingrich (and hurt Romney) in South Carolina. First, as our NBC/Marist poll showed and then the exit polls confirmed, the debates fueled his momentum. Per the exits, Gingrich beat Romney among those who said they made up their minds in the ?last few days,? 43%-23%. Yet among those who said they made up their minds earlier than that, the score was even, 34%-34%.? But here?s a second factor that shouldn?t be overlooked. The pro-Gingrich Super PAC Winning Our Future (which spent $1.7 million in South Carolina) almost matched what the pro-Romney Restore Our Future spent ($2.5 million). Of course, Romney and his allies enjoyed a significant advertising advantage (a combined $4.4 million vs. $2.3 million for Gingrich and his allies). In Iowa, remember, Restore Our Future spent nearly $3 million hammering Gingrich, and there was very little response from Newt and his allies. That?s a big reason why Gingrich finished fourth in Iowa but won South Carolina.
*** Romney?s two advantages in Florida: But Romney has two advantages as we head into Florida on Jan. 31: money and early voting. Romney and the pro-Romney Super PAC Restore our Future have purchased more than $7 million of airtime in the Sunshine State. And how much advertising have Gingrich and his allies purchased? Zero. Also, per NBC?s Jamie Novogrod, more than 185,000 Republicans have already cast their votes via absentee ballot. And around 12,000 more Republicans have participated in early voting in the five counties where polling opened last week. What?s more, the snow birds are currently in Florida, and they?re more your Romney Republicans than Gingrich Republicans. So, despite his loss in South Carolina last night, Romney has to be the overwhelming favorite in Florida.
*** Romney?s disadvantage: Florida isn?t New Hampshire: But the GOP electorate in Florida has the potential to be unkind to Romney. Think South Carolina but with Cuban Americans in Miami thrown into the mix. According to the 2008 exit polls, 61% of Florida Republican primary voters considered themselves conservative (68% said they were conservative in South Carolina last night). And remember: Florida?s primary is closed, meaning that independents don?t get to vote. After all, it?s the same electorate that picked Rick Scott in 2010 over establishment favorite Bill McCollum. But the good news for Romney: Per the ?08 exits in Florida, only 39% were evangelicals or born-again Christians (compared with 65% who said they were evangelicals in South Carolina last night).
*** On the trail, per NBC?s Adam Perez: Today, Santorum stumps in Coral Springs, FL? And Romney holds a rally to discuss jobs in Ormond Beach, FL.
Countdown to Florida primary: 9 days
Countdown to Nevada caucuses: 13 days
Countdown to Super Tuesday: 44 days
Countdown to Election Day: 289 days
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