Wednesday 30 January 2013

Libyan scientists get DNA training to identify Libya’s mass grave victims


DNA experts at the UNT Health Science Center will help train Libyan scientists to analyze the remains of an estimated 20,000 people found in mass graves in Libya following the uprising of 2011 in an effort to identify them. The mass graves are thought to contain remains of people who went missing during the 42-year regime of Muammar Gaddafi. The identification work is expected to take several years.

The Libyan scientists will be trained at the Center for Human Identification at UNTHSC in Fort Worth, Texas, under the direction and supervision of world-renowned forensic scientist Arthur Eisenberg, PhD, chairman and professor of Forensic and Investigative Genetics at UNTHSC. The Libyan scientists will then lead a new lab that is being developed in Tripoli and is scheduled to be ready later this year. Laboratory equipment for the DNA analysis is provided by Life Technologies, a leader in forensic DNA technologies.

"The University of North Texas Health Science Center, with its extensive experience in the identification of missing persons and human decedents, is extremely pleased to partner with Life Technologies in the training of the Libyan forensic scientists to help them complete their mission," said Eisenberg, who also serves as director of the UNT Center for Human Identification.

The humanitarian project is funded in part by Repsol, a Spanish-based oil company which donated $2.5 million through its foundation to the Libyan government in 2012 to help establish a state-of-the-art laboratory to identify and generate profiles from human remains as well as generate references from associated relatives of missing people.

The Center is a world leader in forensic genetics, and its scientists have participated in such high-profile identification efforts as those associated with the Pinochet regime in Chile, and the World Trade Center victims after the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Wednesday 30 January 2013

http://www.hsc.unt.edu/news/newsrelease.cfm?ID=1149

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San Diego Company to Help Identify up to 20,000 Human Remains Found in Libya's Mass Graves


Life Technologies Corporation today announced it will provide a complete laboratory solution to identify an estimated 20,000 human remains found in various mass graves in Libya following the uprising of 2011 and to address missing persons cases from the 42-year regime of Muammar Gaddafi. This identification work is expected to take several years.

Life Technologies, a leader in forensic DNA technologies, will provide the infrastructure, including the expertise, training, and the forensic instruments and materials to validate the workflow and process DNA samples through its Dubai-based distributor Integrated Gulf Biosystems (IGB).

"It is our hope that many families will find the answers to what happened to their loved ones," said Peter Silvester, President, Life Technologies, Europe, Middle East & Africa. "By providing the laboratory setup and forensic expertise we will help train Libyan scientists in the very latest instruments, technology and protocols to enable them in their work and help promote reconciliation in Libya."

Life Technologies will create two separate DNA lines - one geared toward reference samples and the second focusing on processing samples from human remains. Fifty-thousand samples will be processed per year. Human remains samples will be processed using PrepFiler® BTA chemistry optimized to isolate DNA from bones and teeth in combination with AmpFlSTR® NGM SElect™ PCR Amplification Kit and MiniFiler™ Kit, designed for heavily degraded samples. Reference samples will be processed using direct amplification technology combining Copan NUCLEIC-CARD™ with NGM SElect™ Express.

The laboratory will utilise the latest generation of genetic analysers and ancillary equipment and will be functionally validated under the quality assurance standards and guidelines required by the ASCLAD-LAB, SWGDAM and ISO 17025. Some training of Libyan scientists will take place in the United States under the direction and supervision of Dr. Arthur Eisenberg, a world renowned forensic scientist, leading up to the lab's opening in Tripoli.

"The University of North Texas Health Science Center, with its extensive experience in the identification of missing persons and human decedents, is extremely pleased to partner with Life Technologies in the training of the Libyan forensic scientists to help them complete their mission," said Dr. Eisenberg, Director of the UNT Center for Human Identification.

The humanitarian project is funded in part by Repsol, a Spanish-based oil company which donated to the Libyan government through its foundation, $2.5 million in 2012 to help establish a state-of-the-art laboratory to identify and generate profiles from human remains and references from associated relatives of missing people.

AmpFlSTR® NGM SElect™ PCR Amplification Kit, Copan NUCLEIC-CARD™, MiniFiler™ Kit and NGM SElect™ Express are for forensic and paternity use only. PrepFiler® BTA is for research use only, not for use in diagnostic procedures.

Wednesday 30 January 2013

http://www.ibtimes.com/press-release/20130130/life-technologies-help-identify-20000-human-remains-found-libyas-mass-grave-0

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8 killed, 13 wounded in factory blast in southeast Turkey


Eight people were killed and 15 were wounded in an explosion at a galvanization plant in the southeastern province of Gaziantep today, Dogan news agency has reported.

Those injured in the blast are not in any critical danger, reports said.

Gaziantep metropolitan mayor was quoted as saying that the cause of explosion is still unknown and firefighters and medical teams are undertaking rescue work.

The explosion might have occurred due to high pressure in a steam boiler, according to initial information.

Wednesday 30 January 2013

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-01/30/c_132139413.htm

http://www.news.az/articles/turkey/75846

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Tazreen victims: some solace for families


After two months of agonising wait, the family members of 11 victims of Tazreen fire could finally find a sense of closure as they paid respect to their loved ones at Jurain graveyard in the capital yesterday.

A day after DNA tests confirmed the identities of the 11 victims, their family members spotted the graves of the ill-fated garment workers, whose bodies were burnt beyond recognition in the country's worst industrial blaze.

Kabir Hossain sat in front of the grave of his wife, Lucky Begum, telling her resting soul how much he and his six-year-old son missed her. Sprinkling water on her grave, he muttered, “He [the boy] cries for you all the time...”

Abdul Malek, whose wife perished in the fire leaving behind three children, said, “My youngest daughter, who is only 5-year-old, keeps asking me where her mother is. I fail to give her any answer.”

The relatives of the victims said they had gone from one place to another for the last two months with a hope that the bodies of their loved ones would be identified. But none could offer them any help.

“When we went to the BGMEA, they told us to go to the deputy commissioner's office. But the officials at the DC office said they could not offer us any help. Then we went to the medical [Dhaka Medical College and Hospital], they said none from the BGMEA had asked for DNA report,” said Kamal Uddin.

They said it had been hard for them to wait for the news that the bodies were finally identified. Many of them had to spend days in the capital, leaving behind their jobs and children back home. But for the family members of two other victims, the wait is far from over as the bodies of their dear ones are yet to be identified.

While others prayed in front of the graves, Motin sat in a corner, stone-faced, unable to process the fact that his sister's body was not among the 53 corpses buried there.

“How could she just disappear?” he cried, over and over again, clutching his sister's voter ID in one hand. “How can they just say she cannot be found anywhere?”

Abdul Jabbar, too, was devastated realising that the mother of his 18-month-old son was not there.

“Where do we go now?” he asked.

The relatives said none from the BGMEA or the government had contacted them. Garments Workers Unity Forum, Activists-Anthropologists and Garments Sramik Shonghoti had helped them identify the graves.

Saydia Gulrukh, a member of Activists-Anthropologists, a platform of anthropologists who have closely followed the workers' plight since the Tazreen incident, suspected some anomalies in the report.

Referring to fire victim Fatema Akhtar, whose body could not be identified, she said Fatema's husband had provided his blood sample on the 24th of this month while the report was finalised on the 28th.

“Are we to believe that they completed the DNA profiling process in three days when they have been consistently telling us what a lengthy process it is?” she argued.

The relatives say they now have only one plea to the authorities, and that is to make arrangements for burying the bodies in their ancestral homes.

Wednesday 30 January 2013

http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=267193

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Ireland: Law Reform Commission publishes report on civil law of missing persons


REPORT RECOMMENDS LAW TO ALLOW FAMILY OF MISSING PERSONS TO DEAL WITH ANY IMMEDIATE FINANCIAL ISSUES FOR MISSING PERSONS; AND TO ALLOW FAMILY APPLY FOR A DECLARATION OF PRESUMED DEATH TO A CORONER OR THE CIRCUIT COURT; RECOMMENDATIONS RECOGNISE PROBLEM OF “THE DISAPPEARED”

Wednesday 30th January 2013:

The Law Reform Commission’s Report on Civil Law Aspects of Missing Persons will be launched by Mr David Stanton TD (Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality) at the Commission’s offices at 6 pm this evening. The Report makes 19 recommendations for reform of the law and also contains a Draft Civil Law (Missing Persons) Bill to implement these.

The Statistics on Missing Persons in Ireland

Between 7,000 and 8,000 people are reported missing every year in Ireland, almost 20 every day. Most of these actually turn up within a very short time and less than 1% remain missing for a long time. According to the most recent figures from the Garda Missing Persons Bureau, between 2003 and 2011 there were 62,426 missing person reports; of these 382 people remain missing.

Northern Ireland’s “the Disappeared”

In the context of the violence in Northern Ireland from the 1970s to the late 1990s, this also includes “the Disappeared,” a group of 17 people who are presumed to have been killed but whose bodies had not been found. The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains, established after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement to locate their remains, has to date located 10 bodies so that 7 of “the Disappeared” remain missing. Against this background in 2009 the Northern Ireland Assembly passed the Presumption of Death Act (Northern Ireland) 2009, which allows relatives to apply to court for a presumption of death order. Immediate Problems When a Person Goes Missing: How to Pay Bills

Having talked to representatives of missing persons during the consultation process leading up to finalising the Report, the Law Reform Commission concludes that there is a need to have a statutory framework to deal with some immediate practical problems for family members (often referred to as those left behind). In particular, there is a need to allow access to a missing person’s bank account (especially where the bank account is in his or her sole name) so that bills can be paid. The Commission therefore recommends that legislation should be enacted to allow the family left behind to apply to the Circuit Court after a person has been missing for 90 days to allow interim management of the missing person’s property. This would allow the family to pay bills or, for example, to renew insurance on a car or motorbike. This process could be in place for up to 2 years (with a possible extension of 2 more years).

Presumption of Death Orders

The current law is primarily based on a long-established rule that there is a presumption that a missing person is alive for up to 7 years, and that a presumption of death applies after 7 years. These are rebuttable presumptions, which means that a person can be presumed dead where they have been missing for less than 7 years, and an absence of 7 years does not always lead to a declaration of presumed death. The current law is limited in that family members may apply to the High Court to have the estate of the missing persons administered, but this does not allow them to obtain a death certificate. In some cases, an inquest can be held involving a missing person; and if it is almost certain that the missing person has died, a coroner can then make a declaration of death under the Coroners Act 1962, which allows the family to obtain a death certificate. This happened in 2011 in the inquest into Mrs Alice Clifford, who went missing from a Dublin hospital in 1979 aged 57.

The Commission’s Report recommends reform of the law on presumed death, in particular to ensure that families can deal as far as possible in the least expensive way with the emotional trauma of their loved one going missing. This would include clarifying the existing law on inquests to allow families of missing persons to apply for a coroner’s inquest and to have a declaration of presumed death; this would apply to cases where death is virtually certain. In cases where death is highly probable the Commission recommends that an application to the Circuit Court would be needed to provide not only for the administration of the missing person’s estate but also to make a presumption of death order, allowing the family of the missing person to obtain a death certificate. This would have the same legal effect as any other death certificate. The Commission recommends that, as far as possible, the law in the State should mirror the provisions of the 2009 Northern Ireland legislation, so that any cases involving “the Disappeared” that might be dealt with in the State would be based on a similar legal framework.

What Happens if the Missing Person Returns?

The Report also deals with the rare situations where a missing person who has been declared dead is actually alive and returns. The Commission recommends that the proposed legislation would allow the person to have property returned to him or her, subject to any irreversible orders that have been made in the meantime, such as selling property. In addition, any person applying for orders under the proposed legislation would usually be required to take out an insurance bond to cover any financial loss to the missing person that might arise.

For further information/interview with a Commission representatives contact:

Winifred McCourt, McCourt CFL T: 087-2446004

Background Notes for Editors

The Law Reform Commission is an independent statutory body whose main role is to keep the law under review and to make proposals for reform. To date, the Commission has published over 180 documents (Working Papers, Consultation Papers and Reports) containing reform proposals, available at www.lawreform.ie. About 70% of these proposals have led on to reforming legislation. The Report will be available on the Commission’s website from the afternoon of publication on 30th January 2013.

Click for report Wednesday 30 January 2013 http://www.lawreform.ie/news/law-reform-commission-publishes-report-on-civil-law-of-missing-persons.388.html

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Bodies of 17 victims in the plane crash identified


Relatives identified 17 bodies of victims of the Chellenger-200 air crash near Almaty, BNews.kz correspondent reports. This morning the identification of the victims, who were aboard of the plane Challenger CRJ-200 of SCAT airline, crashed near Almaty is started at the Almaty forensic identification center. At present the bodies of 17 people, including five crew members and 12 passengers are identified. Four people have not been identified yet.

Yesterday the expertise delivered 21 bodies to the center of Forensic Medicine, all of them were the passengers of flight № 760 with the route "Kokshetau-Almaty".

Remind that, yesterday, January 29, at 01.30 pm local time, without having reached about 5 kilometers to the Almaty city airport, the Challenger-200 plane of JSC SCAT Airline which was carrying out a flight No. 760 on a route "Kokshetau-Almaty" crashed. As a result of the disaster 21 people were killed, among them there was a two-year-old child aboard.

A criminal case have been initiated over the plane crash. Also, the SCAT airline allocates three million tenge per family. The SCAT company undertakes obligations and costs of delivery of the bodies to their homes.

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev announced Jan. 31 a day of national mourning for the loss of life in a plane crash near Almaty.

Wednesday 30 January 2013

http://bnews.kz/en/news/post/122335/

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Jewish views on tattoos


Twenty five years ago, you would have been hard-pressed to find a Jewish person with a tattoo that they did not receive at Auschwitz during the Holocaust.

Even more so, you would have had a hard time finding a Jewish person who would willingly show off that tattoo. It just wasn't something that was spoken of, or practiced, especially in the Jewish community.

But it's 2013, and like Bob Dylan, a Jew himself so eloquently wrote "the times they are a-changin' " and it seems as if an increasing number of Jews are getting tattoos despite what tradition and the Torah says or the potential wrath of their Jewish mother. Additionally, it is becoming more and more popular to get a Jewish tattoo, or a tattoo that inspires Jewish pride in its wearer.

Before the growing trend is examined, it's important to find out where the prohibition of tattooing comes from and what, if any, are the consequences of having a tattoo.

The biblical source

Most rabbis and Jewish leaders point to a verse in Leviticus 19:28 that states: "You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves: I am the Lord."

In a paper adopted by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly, Rabbi Alan B. Lucas explains that the second half of the passage "or incise any marks on yourselves" is where the general prohibition against tattooing originates. While many agree that this passage is the source for the prohibition, Lucas goes on to explain that many different reasons as to why the rule against tattooing exist.

He cites a passage in Mishnah Makkot 3:6 that states, "If a man wrote (on his skin) pricked-in-writing, he is not culpable unless he writes it and pricks it in with ink or eye-paint or anything that leaves a lasting mark," reasoning that the permanent nature of tattoos is the basis for the prohibition. Additionally, a passage from Maimonides that states, "This was a custom among the pagans who marked themselves for idolatry" (Laws of Idolatry 12:11) leads many to believe that the reasoning is based on the fact that pagans used to tattoo the names of their gods on their bodies as a sign of loyalty, and we, as Jews need to distinguish ourselves from them and not carry out their practices.

Rabbi Jessy Gross, the community outreach rabbi at the Jewish Community Center in Baltimore, explained that tattooing in the Jewish religion may be prohibited because many believe Jews are created "b'tselem Elokim" or in the image of God.

"Jews believe that our bodies aren't really ours and if God wanted us to have a tattoo, then we would have been born with it. Who are we to manipulate the merchandise that's on loan to us from God?" she said.

The end of the passage "I am the Lord" has also been interpreted to mean that it is prohibited to get the name of God tattooed on your body, a rule that Gross feels has been "black and white agreed upon by all generations," and widely upheld.

Debunking a myth

Many choose to not get a tattoo for fear that they will not be allowed a burial in a Jewish cemetery. While it is not certain where this mythical rule came from, it is widely agreed upon by rabbis that this rule is false.

"There is a teaching that active sinners cannot be buried in a Jewish cemetery, and it's a myth that has been perpetuated over time," said Rabbi Shira Stutman of Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in the District. "The mind-set is if someone is going to eat pork, once they die they're no longer eating pork, so they can be buried in a Jewish cemetery, but if someone has a tattoo - they'll still have it when they die, so they would still be an active sinner and not able to be buried in a Jewish cemetery - it's not true."

Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, executive vice president of The Rabbinical Assembly, agreed with Stutman and added that not only are Jews with tattoos allowed to be buried in a Jewish cemetery, but they may also participate in Jewish ceremonies and services.

"Those who violate the prohibition may be buried in a Jewish cemetery. While we discourage people from the practice of getting tattoos, if we are presented with someone that has a tattoo, we don't exclude them from any Jewish practice," she said.

Why get a tattoo?

In her rabbinic thesis for the Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, Rabbi Rochelle Tulik reasoned that many Jews today are using tattoos as a way to embrace their Jewish identity and display their Jewish pride on their bodies. She made the decision to test her theory, and surveyed nearly 500 people, 147 with tattoos. She found that of the 147, 40 percent of those with tattoos identified their tattoos as Jewish in some way.

"As with most tattoos, an overarching theme was a desire for the image or words to indicate some aspect of a person's identity (usually their Jewishness, but sometimes something more)," Tulik writes.

Stutman added that the number of students she sees with Hebrew or Jewish tattoos is on the rise.

"They see it as a subversive mark of pride and say 'I'm so proud to be Jewish, I'm going to get a foot-high Jewish star tattooed on me,' " she said.

Twenty-four-year-old Michelle Komrower got her first tattoo of the Hebrew word ahava (love) as a way to permanently combine her love for Judaism, and love for herself.

"I got this tattoo in Jerusalem when I was in Israel for the year. During this time I was going through a really rough time emotionally, a lot of which had to do with low self-confidence, and this was sort of a reminder to love myself and to love others," she said.

Since that first tattoo on her foot, Komrower has gotten two more, a dove on her hip and anklet with a feather on her other foot.

"My second and third tattoos symbolize coming to peace with myself, and a freedom from self-judgment and judgment of others," said Komrower, who grew up keeping Shabbat and kashrut in a Conservative home. "My tattoos, especially my Hebrew tattoo will always be with me and always remind me that Judaism is an important part of my life."

Similar to Komrower, Ethan, who chose not to have his last name published, got the Hebrew words "koach panimi" or resilience, tattooed on his shoulder when he turned 20.

"It's very personal to me as I have been through a lot of things in my life. It's a reminder when I see it everyday that life goes on, and it's important to keep pushing forward and not fret the small stuff," he said.

Remembering the past

One of the major deterrents for Jews thinking about getting tattoos is the Holocaust and the Jews in Auschwitz who without asking for them and being humiliated by the Nazis by losing their name and becoming a number," he said.

While young Jews like Komrower understand the negative stigma associated with Jews, the Holocaust and tattoos, she hopes that survivors understand that she means no disrespect with her three pieces of what she termed as body art.

"Getting a tattoo for me is about the art and beauty, and I understand how those forced to get them in the Holocaust would have a difficult time relating to that," said Komrower. "I don't feel that getting a tattoo should imply that young Jews have forgotten about the horrible things that went on in the Holocaust."

In her rabbinic thesis, Tulik brings up the example of photographer Marina Vainshtein, who has dedicated her skin to be a Holocaust memorial complete with prisoners in striped pajamas, swastikas and ashes.

"For her, tattoos represent a form of explicit personal commemoration and a continuation of historial memory," writes Tulik. "During WWII, Jews were tattooed against their will in a way that went against the mitzvot. How powerful then for Jews to reclaim the art as an act of defiance to those who tried to use these laws against them." In the conclusion of his paper, Lucas clarified that, according to the Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 180:2 which states: "If it (the tattoo) was done in the flesh of another, the one to whom it was done is blameless," meaning that the Jews who involuntarily received tattoos in the Holocaust did not violate the Torah's prohibition of getting a tattoo.

A complicated issue

For many rabbis who work with young Jewish adults, the issue of Jews and tattoos falls into a larger category of the way that young Jews are defining their Judaism today. Tulik attributes the increase in Jews getting tattoos to the low number of young Jews becoming affiliated with synagogues and traditional communities and the fact that in mainstream American society, tattooing in general is becoming more commonplace and accepted.

"Young Jews are part of a much more mixed, integrated community where they have to figure out how to be Jewish in their worlds that aren't necessarily Jewish. They're trying to figure out how they can be like them [their non-Jewish peers], but also be Jewish at the same time. That's why they get a Jewish tattoo, or get a tattoo that somehow identifies them as Jewish. It's a way for them to encounter the cultural shift of tattoos being cool, and incorporating them into their own identity. They're looking at the rules of Judaism differently than they did 50 years ago.

"It's a complicated and evolving issue because as young Jews work to redefine their Judaism, they're not living in a world where we can just say, don't do this because I told you so."

Wednesday 30 January 2013

http://washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&SubSectionID=4&ArticleID=18783

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Police recover 17 bodies from well in northern Mexico, 14 identified as missing musicians


Police pulled 17 bodies from a well in northern Mexico and 14 of them have been identified as members of a musical band kidnapped by gunmen last week, an official said Tuesday.

Investigators have finished searching the well but are still trying to determine a motive in the killings of the Kombo Kolombia band members and crew, said a Nuevo Leon state official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly on the case.

Kombo Kolombia was playing at a ranch in the town of Hidalgo when 10 gunmen entered the warehouse where the private party was being held Friday and forced 18 musicians and crew members into waiting vehicles.

One of the musicians escaped and led authorities to the well. Officials haven't said how the man was able to get away from his captors.

"We still don't know for sure if (the escape) happened purposely so the whereabouts of these people could be known quickly," Nuevo Leon state security spokesman Jorge Domene told Radio Formula.

A forensic official said Monday the victims, all men, had been tortured but Domene denied that. He said the surviving member told authorities the musicians had been shot one by one.

He said investigators are looking into whether the attack was vengeance by drug traffickers but wouldn't give any other details.

Kombo Kolombia played a Colombian style of music known as vallenato, which is popular in working class neighbourhoods in Monterrey and other parts of Nuevo Leon state. Most of the group's musicians were from the area, except for the keyboard player who is Colombian and had Mexican residency.

The band regularly played on the weekend at bars in downtown Monterrey, capital of Nuevo Leon state. At least two of the bars where they had played had been attacked by gunmen.

Nuevo Leon state, on the border with Texas, has been the scene of a turf battle between members of the Gulf and Zetas drug cartels. The Zetas were hit men for the Gulf cartel until they split in 2010, unleashing their bloody war.

Wednesday 30 January 2013

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Police+recover+bodies+from+well+northern+Mexico+identified/7892948/story.html#ixzz2JU9LFoJw

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7 dead, 6 trapped in NE China mine accident


Seven workers died and six others were trapped in a coal mine accident in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province,the provincial coal mine safety administration said Wednesday.

Three worker entered the Yongsheng colliery in Dongning County to do maintenance work but fainted due to poisonous gas in the colliery at around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, the administration said.

Rescuers were sent to the site, but some of them were also poisoned.

The rescue work is still underway on Wednesday.

Wednesday 30 January 2013

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2013-01/30/content_27836350.htm

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