PTI: A neighbour of Talwars today told a CBI court hearing the Aarushi-Hemraj case that he never saw the door of their terrace locked and the couple's driver had twice come to take keys of his terrace on the day the girl's murder came to light, saying their own key was misplaced.        

 

Puneesh Rai Tandon, who lives on the right side of Talwars' L-32 house and was today fielded by the CBI, stated in the special CBI trial court here that he never saw the door of the terrace closed at the residential premises of the Talwars at Noida where the twin murder had taken place.        

 

He stated the door was closed on the day of the crime. 

 

Aarushi was found murdered on May 16, 2008 in her bedroom, while the body of Hemraj, domestic help of Rajesh and Nupur.  

Any decision by the United States to blacklist the Haqqani network as terrorists will negatively impact future relations with Pakistan, a senior Pakistani security official said Friday.

The Pakistan-based network has been blamed for some of the worst attacks in the last 10 years' of war in Afghanistan, such as a June assault on a lakeside hotel that killed 18 people and a 2011 siege on the US embassy in Kabul.

Read full story here

LeT founder and the key conspirator of the 26/11 Mumbai massacre, Hafiz Saeed, says that the "Indian foreign minister's visit is aimed at damaging the Kashmir issue.  Pakistan should not go ahead with trade." That's the tweet by Rezaul Hasan Laskar. "Trade with India should not be given prominence over the Kashmir issue, Saeed said during at the Friday sermon. 

Update on SM Krishna's visit to Pakistan. MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin tweets that Krishna has completed his discussions with representatives of various political parties and now heads to meet Pakistan PM Yousaf Raza Gilani.

India's problem of crony capitalism. Read

Economist Amit Bhaduri speaks about the current direction of the Indian economy.
Read

Six members of a family were fired on by unknown men at Swaroop Nagar in north-west Delhi. Unconfirmed reports say that three people have been killed.

Early reports say three people are believed to have been killed and five injured in the shootout in Delhi. Details awaited. 

Five people have been injured in a shootout at Swaroop Nagar in Delhi. Details awaited. 

Five Indian companies -- Larsen & Toubro, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, Tata Consultancy and Sun Pharma -- have made it to the list of 100 most innovative firms in the world prepared by US business magazine Forbes. Engineering giant L&T is ranked among the top ten companies, ahead of Google and Starbucks. L&T is ranked ninth in the list. US-based Salesforce.com tops the rankings.

The US also dominates the top five chart, as four out of the top five innovators -- Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Amazon.com, Red Hat -- are based in America.

The Obama administration has decided to blacklist as a terrorist organization the Haqqani network, the militant organization responsible for some of the deadliest attacks against American troops in Afghanistan, several American officials said late Thursday. Read

The words "modern India" are used today to describe a vast nation-state of more than a billion people, but they also imply a particular trajectory of history. Read

Russia's president says that more than one partner at once means you can "take it easy a bit' in bed. From JFK to Gaddafi, The Daily Beast has some solid sex advice from the top. Read

Just a day after Nokia unveiled Lumia 920, the firm has issued an apology for a fake advert after that appeared to have been shot using the flagship smartphone was revealed to have been filmed using professional equipment.  

The advert showed a man filming his girlfriend using the new smartphone while both of them were riding bicycles.  

The footage taken from professional equipment looked like it was the video captured using the new Nokia device.  

A split-screen sequence then showed what the smartphone's footage would look like with Nokia's optical image stabilisation feature turned on and switched off.  

The footage was intended to support the firm's claim that its technology helped reduce image blur. According to the BBC, the Verge tech site revealed the issue after it noticed a window reflection revealed a cameraman holding what appeared to be an SLR camera. The Verge's article said, 'too bad it''s faked'.   According to the report, Nokia''s blog acknowledged the problem in a post titled 'An apology is due'.

A day after a woman cop was beaten by a rampaging mob of protesting Congress workers in Bhubaneswar, the party's in-charge of the state, Jagdish Tytler, has issued an apology, reports NDTV.

"We are sorry that the woman cop got injured," Tytler said as he apologised, but quickly added that "there are two sides of the story. Our people have also been injured. The cops mercilessly attacked us first."

At least 35 people, including those who attacked the policewoman, have been arrested for the clashes that took place outside the state Assembly yesterday, Bhubaneswar Police Commissioner Sunil Roy said, adding that more arrests would follow.

It's taken a while to react, but a reaction nevertheless from the Congress on the BJP's defence of the Parliament washout and the coalgate allegations. (See our posts from 14:18 onwards) Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal says, "BJP will have to answer a lot many questions. We will expose their bundle of lies." 

The question of whether alien life exists could be answered within 40 years. Read

A frenzied two-day auction in late August demonstrated India's growing appetite for estate sales, arts and antiques.On the block were items from the estate of Jamshed Jehangir Bhabha, the mastermind behind the National Center for the Performing Arts in Mumbai, India's only national arts center. Read

The Maharashtra government has asked the Centre to amend the PCPNDT Act, 1994 so that sex selective abortion can be treated as murder, punishable under section 302 of the IPC. According to the letter sent to the Centre by the state government, determination of sex of the foetus is an offence under PCPNDT Act and the punishment under section 23(3) is imprisonment up to three years and Rs 10,000 as fine. For subsequent offence, the punishment is imprisonment which may extend to five years and fine upto Rs 50,000.

With Monsoon Session of Parliament coming to an end, BJP today said the party will now go to the streets to make people aware of the government's "wrongdoings" on various fronts.

"We are not demanding mid-term polls but we want the government to go. The reason being the government has not only failed on all fronts but is also deeply involved in corruption," BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters outside Parliament.

Naidu said, "It is not one issue of 2G or coal allocation or CAG reports...(There have been) scam after scam and the government is neck-deep in corruption. We will go from Parliament to the streets now and tell people about it and create awareness in public."

Hina Rabbani Khar tells NDTV, "I believe it is my message India noticed, and not my clothes."

Well, this is what the Guardian reported during the July-August visit last year. Accessories and style have media swooning, but is Hina Rabbani Khar really in charge of policy on Kashmir? Read

Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt, who is travelling with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on his visit to Pakistan, examines the relevance of the visa agreement that is bound to have significant impact on the relations between the countries. Read

Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar made headlines in India during her August 2011 visit for many things, not diplomacy.  Read

A collective cheer for the amazing Asha Bhosle and early wishes for her birthday tomorrow. The melodious voice behind classic numbers like Chura liya hai tumne, Dum maaro dum and Mera Kuchh Saamaan, says she has cut down on Bollywood singing as the songs she is offered lack melody.

Asha, who celebrates her 79th birthday tomorrow, has sung more than 12000 songs in a career spanning more than six decades. "I now take up very few playback assignments because I don't enjoy it that much anymore. Everything is computerised now and today's songs lack melody.

"Somebody offered me a song 'Dil ke jhopdi mein mashal jala de', which I refused. I can never sing songs like 'Halkat jawaani'. I don't need to prove myself anymore," Asha said. 

@BDUTT Just interviewed the young & personable Hina Rabbani Khar. She says India and Pakistan are all set to sign a visa liberalisation agreement.

Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar told Indian media that India should not be too emotional on the issue of 26/11, reports Sheela Bhatt in Islamabad. In response to a question on Kashmir, she said that Kashmir remains a core issue.

She also said that Pakistan has no love lost for Hafiz Saeed and individuals like him. " Hafiz Saeed is no crony of the Pakistani government," says Khar in an interview to NDTV 

The Supreme Court orders the CBI to lodge ab FIR and "probe comprehensively" the illegal extraction of iron ore and its export from Karnataka. The CBI has been asked to submit its report within six weeks.

Industry body CII said today that the government should not cancel the allocation of coal blocks that are under the scanner after a CAG report simply because there is a "political" demand to do so. "Everything should go by the law. Action (cancellation of coal blocks) should not be taken because there is a political demand (for it)," CII President Adi Godrej said today.

Reiterating his stand that there is no need to cancel all the coal licences as being demanded by the principal Opposition BJP, Godrej said the Government can't unilaterally take such a decision without giving out details. Action should be taken if there are clear signs that law has been violated, he said, adding, "the Government should not allow any malfeasance".

CAG has said the Government suffered a presumptive loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore in coal block allocations during 2004-2008, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held the coal portfolio.

Pak Foreign Secretary Hina Rabbani Khar terms the talks with Indian counterpart SM Krishna as positive and very good.

The government must remove the subsidy on diesel, LPG and kerosene, and protect the poor from the impact through cash transfers, says Darryl D'Monte. Read

The government may hike petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene prices simultaneously as early as next week, with Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy today
saying "difficult and painful" decisions need to be taken.

A low intensity earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter Scale shook Assam and other North East states at around midnight last night, the Regional Meteorological Centre said here. No casualty or damage to property had been reported so far.

Moving on, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh writes for the Hindu on Bangladesh and how it has shown that it is possible to have superior social outcomes at lower per capita incomes and rates of economic growth. Read

Arun Jaitley said BJP has felt that the government attempted to introduce the controversial SC/ST Promotions quota bill because it wanted to divert attention from the Coalgate scam.  

Before the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die today, Speaker Meira Kumar said it was sad that Parliament could not transact normal business during the session. "In our democracy, sometimes there are forms of dissent, which disturb us. But we are all staunch believers in the functioning democracy of our country and I am very hopeful that a solution will be found, situation will normalise and Parliament will function," she said after the session ended.

As Jatin Gandhi writes in Open magazine, "The coal scam goes right up to the very top of both parties. In five of the eight years under CAG's scanner, the PM headed the Coal and Mines Ministry. On the other side of the divide, BJP President Nitin Gadkari's close aide, Ajay Sancheti, is among the alleged beneficiaries of the allotments in question. That might explain why both the Congress and BJP would like to avoid a debate."

More fire and brimstone from the BJP. Arun Jaitely says the last time Parliament was not allowed to function over the 2G scam, the then telecom minister A Raja quit. "The UPA has been acting like Gulf Sheikhs. No Parliament is the price of coalgate," he thunders.

Coal block allocations were discretionary, arbitrary and corrupt. The UPA is committed to Kleptocracy.

Arun Jaitley addressing the meet now says, the party's demands on the coal scam remain the same. "It's sad to see the steps, or the lack of steps taken by the government. Competitive bidding of coal blocks has not even begun as yet," Jaitley frowns.

He says the battle will now move out of Parliament (when was it in Parliament, anyway) on to the streets. Jaitley says Coalgate is a textbook case of crony capitalism where businessmen and politicians linked to the UPA made windfall gains.

Sushma Swaraj says, "Being in majority (referring to the Congress) does not give you the right to loot. We withdrew our demands for the immediate resignation of the PM. Stalling parliament was a tactic to force the government to act. We sought cancellation of allotment and an independent probe, but the government did not agree, though most parties were with us on the issue. For all this, we blame the PM."

Sushma Swaraj defends the Parliament washout saying the party was hurt by the government's casual response to the violence in Assam. 

As the monsoon session of Parliament is adjourned sine die, the PM addresses a press conference outside the House. The PM said the washout of Parliament is a negation of democracy and the Constitution. Parliamentary institutions have to be allowed to function and not taking advantage of Parliament is not acceptable. The PM ended the short presser saying he had great respect for CAG, but we need to discuss it in Parliament.

Minutes later, the BJP begins its press conference with Sushma Swaraj's address to the media. 

Cracking the whip on the Paralympic Committee of India after receiving complaints from the participants in the London Games, Sports Minister Ajay Maken today issued a show cause notice to the body.

"On the basis of petitions received from participating paralympic athletes and others, show cause notice being issued to the PCI," Maken wrote on his twitter page. Arjuna awardee powerlifter Farman Basha is among the parathletes who have complained of official apathy, saying that the passes of escorts and coaches at the Games Village are being used by officials of the PCI.

"My wife, Antonia sold her jewellery so I could represent India at the Games. She was also supposed to help me get my way around the events. She's my soul mate and I owe my success to her.

"Sadly, today she's stranded outside the Games Village, because Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) members are using the free facilities meant for athletes and their support staff," he wrote in a petition. Officials from PCI have, however, denied these allegations.

"We cannot have an escort for every athlete. We have 10 athletes and only six people have been sanctioned to stay inside the Games Village. We are managing things with some people coming early at the Village and leaving late in the evening," an official from PCI said.

A massive blaze at a fire-cracker factory in Tamil Nadu Wednesday that killed some 40 people has put the industry's poor safety record under the spotlight. Read

Also see: Internet use jumps in rural India

In other news: The World Bank's new chief economist, Kaushik Basu, said reaching out to people who live in extreme poverty is a top priority for him in his new role. Read

Also read:

Mohammed Hanif's column for the Guardian: How to commit blasphemy in Pakistan

William Dalrymple's column also for the Guaridan: Is Pakistan's hard line on blasphemy softening?

A Pakistani court has given bail to a young Christian girl, who was arrested after being falsely implicated in a blasphemy case by the cleric of a mosque in Islamabad.

The court of the Additional District and Sessions Judge, where a two-and-a-half-hour-long hearing this morning was marked by noisy arguments between the lawyers of both sides, announced its verdict on the bail petition of Rimsha Masih just now.

The lawyer of the man who accused Rimsha of blasphemy said her counsel had not submitted key documents in court. On the other hand, the police officer investigating the case told the judge that several witnesses had testified before a magistrate that she was falsely implicated due to evidence planted by Khalid Chishti, the imam of the mosque.

Chishti was arrested last week after a man testified that he had seen the cleric stuffing pages of the Quran in the bag belonging to Rimsha. The bag originally contained only some other papers and ashes. Rimsha was arrested on August 16 after an angry mob surrounded a police station and demanded that action be taken against her. 

The fire that broke out on the 12th floor of the FIFC building in Bandra Kurla Complex of suburban Mumbai this morning has been doused. Ten labourers, who were trapped in the under-construction building, were rescued and the fire was brought under control after two hours. "10-12 labourers were working on the interior decoration of the building, which is not operational," senior police inspector Chandrakant Bhosle said.

As many as 16 aerial ladder platforms (ALP) were pressed into service which managed to douse the flames with the help of six fire tenders and as many water tankers, fire officials said. The fire broke out at around 10.45 AM on the 12th floor of the First International Financial Centre (FIFC) high rise building and spread to the 13th floor, they said.

AQ Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb and the worst nuclear proliferator in history, is launching a new political movement. His goal? No less than to become Pakistan's Nelson Mandela. Read

And here's the interview with AQ Khan.

Pakistan's terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad idea to develop battlefield nukes. Read why on the Foreign Policy.

Speaking about the objective of his visit to Pakistan, external affairs minister SM Krishna said, "My endeavour during this visit will be to promote the objectives that I have just mentioned". The Minister was received at the airport by Pakistan High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir and Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal. Krishna will call on Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf later in the day.

He will also hold meeting with leaders from various Pakistan political parties. While no substantive outcome is expected from the visit, both the countries are likely to sign a new liberalised visa agreement which would be a boost for people-to-people contact.

@PRSLegislative Rajya Sabha chairman making valedictory remarks: "Session likely to be remembered for work not done." Parliament adjourns sine die.

SM Krishna reaches Pakistan and in his first statement there says India wants a terror-free atmosphere with Pakistan. He said India was committed to finding solutions for issues via dialogue and wants Pakistan to be stable and prosperous.

Krishna is on a three-day visit to Pakistan to hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar during which he will stress for expeditious conclusion of Mumbai attacks trial. Ahead of his visit, Krishna had made it clear that "it would be unrealistic to expect a barbaric terror attack such as Mumbai not to cause a major setback to our efforts to build peace and co-operation".

Another ISI-sponsored terror attack will spell doom for Pakistan. The message is clear from foreign minister SM Krishna as he prepares to meet his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar in Islamabad. 'They (Pakistan) know it would be disastrous if, god forbid, any other misadventure on the part of Pakistan takes place,' Krishna warned the neighbour in an exclusive interview to Mail Today ahead of his three-day bilateral visit to Pakistan starting Friday. Read more 

An energized electorate inspired by a groundbreaking election and expectations as high as Mount Everest had grown accustomed to greeting him with spontaneous chants of  "yes we can."He promised to take "bold, swift action" on the ailing economy and break the partisan grip on Washington by ending what he called "petty grievances and false promises." Read

75% time wasted, 2nd worst session clocked. Read the TOI story onthe monsoon session of Parliament. 

So, the Lok Sabha has been adjourned sine die, and the Rajya Sabha will soon follow (adjourned till 12:45 pm as of now). According to data analysed by PRS Legislative Research, Lok Sabha worked for 22% of the scheduled time while Rajya Sabha was marginally better with members transacting business for 29% of the total time. The worst session of this Parliament was the winter of 2010, when just 3% of the scheduled time could be utilized. 

Rajya Sabha has been adjourned till 12:45 pm over what else, but, coalgate.  Coal is the flavour of the season and Anurag Kashyap's films on the coal mining mafia of the Dhanbad region in Jharkhand, Gangs of Wasseypur 1 & 2, have fuelled an interest in the sleepy town, hitherto known only for its coal mines and research institutes. Read more

Rajdeep Sardesai's open letter to MNS chief Raj Thackeray...

When you set up the MNS a few years ago, I thought you were aiming to break with the past: to represent a new, self-confident Maharashtrian identity that would co-exist with growing economic competition. Unfortunately, you have chosen to revive an ugly parochialism which is premised on insecurity and anger towards the "other".

Read more

Update on the fire at Bandra Kurla Complex -- Six fire tenders, six water tankers and four special appliances vehicles have been rushed to the spot. The fire broke out at around 10.45 am on the 11th floor of the First International Financial Centre (FIFC) high rise building and spread till the 13th floor.

News from the petroleum ministry should bring some cheer. Petroleum minister Jaipal Reddy has announced that there will be NO fuel hike for now. State-owned oil marketing companies were all set to increase the price of petrol by Rs 5 a litre with effect from Saturday, while the prices of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene was supposed to have been increased next week. 

Early reports indicate that the building has been evacuated. For those of you who aren't familiar with Mumbai, Bandra-Kurla Complex is a financial hub and houses commercial establishments. So far five water tankers and five fire tenders are at the site.   

News of a fire at a commercial building at the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai. Five fire engines have been rushed to the site. The fire is on the 12th floor of the FIFC building. 

Update from Parliament or rather outside it... The BJP-led NDA) staged a protest inside the Parliament complex against the ruling Congress Party for wasting the entire Monsoon Session of Parliament over the coal blocks allocation scam.
 
BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar had earlier blamed the Congress Party for wasting the Parliament''s time in the Monsoon Session by failing to cancel the allotted coal blocks and conducting an impartial probe into the scam.
 
"This is to protest against  the government''s refusal to accept the legitimate demand for an impartial probe and cancellation of all the allotments," said Javadekar.

Read Jatin Gandhi's piece on Open magazine: Who needs Parliament?

Meanwhile, External Affairs minister SM Krishna leaves for a three-day visit to Pakistan today. He spoke to Pakistan's Tribune newspaper today.

Read Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna's interview... 

Trinamool's Derek O'Brien tries attempts humour in the monsoon session washout. @quizderek At 12-45 today the members of the RS will do at least one thing in unison.Sing Vande Mataram...then adjourned sine die

Back in India, our inspirational leaders have ensured that Parliament has been adjourned till noon. 

Barack Obama the orator or Barack Obama the President? Even stevens as of now. Seeking re-election for his second term, US President Barack Obama has said that the presidential polls against his Republican challenger Mitt Romney will be a choice between two "fundamentally different visions for the future" that will impact generations to come.

"On every issue, the choice you face won't be just between two candidates or two parties. It will be a choice between two different paths for America. A choice between two fundamentally different visions for the future," Obama said as he accepted the Democratic Party nomination to run for presidential elections on November 6.

Obama conceded that the path he is offering is not quick or easy. "I never have. You didn't elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. You elected me to tell you the truth. And the truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades," he said.

"It will require common effort, shared responsibility, and the kind of bold, persistent experimentation that Franklin Roosevelt pursued during the only crisis worse than this one. And by the way, those of us who carry on his party's legacy should remember that not every problem can be remedied with another government programme or dictate from Washington," Obama said.

"Know this, America: Our problems can be solved. Our challenges can be met. The path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better place. And I'm asking you to choose that future," Obama said.

"I'm asking you to rally around a set of goals for your country, goals in manufacturing, energy, education, national security, and the deficit; a real, achievable plan that will lead to new jobs, more opportunity, and rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation," he added.

"That's what we can do in the next four years, and that's why I'm running for a second term as President of the United States," he said in his speech in front of thousands of cheering Democratic Party delegates and supporters inside the jam packed Time Warner Cable Arena, having a capacity of 20,000.

The Monsoon session of Parliament ends on Friday but chances of any business in the House is very thin with the BJP continuing its protest over coal blocks allocations and the Samajwadi Party keeping up its opposition to the bill on quota in promotions for SCs and STs. This session may turn out to be one of the least productive sessions of all time.

About 30 bills were on government's agenda when the Monsoon session began on August 8. Some of the important bills like finance bills and the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill were to be taken up but that did not happen.

Only four bills were passed due to the deadlock in the Parliament.Today too there is little hope of proper functioning of the House as the National Democratic Alliance members will stage a sit in protest in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi inside the Parliament complex.A lot of public money is wasted due to the disruptions in Parliament. More

Amid furore over coal blocks allocation, the government will place its views before Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) by September 14 on the observations made by CAG.

"The Coal Ministry will submit its comments to the PAC on CAG's observations on coal blocks allocations by September 14," a top Coal Ministry official told PTI. The PAC, chaired by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi has decided to examine the government auditor's report on coal block allocations, along with three other latest reports of the official auditor CAG.

The Ministry is likely to contend before the Parliamentary panel that the estimates by the government auditor should not have been done in the manner it was made. The Comptroller and Auditor General in its recent report has estimated undue benefits to the tune of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to private players on account of coal blocks allocation to them without resorting to auction.

BJP and AIADMK on Friday demanded the resignation of Union minister and DMK leader Jagatrakshagan, whose name has been mentioned in connection with the coal-gate scam. 

"If you believe in a country where everyone gets a fair shot,  if you believe in a country where everyone plays by the same rule, I need you to go out and vote this November," Obama said.

"The election four years ago was not about me, it was about you. You are the change," Obama told the cheering audience.

In a strongly worded speech  to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte , United States President Barack Obama has sought a second term as the leader of the free world.

At least 60 people have died when a fishing boat carrying migrants sank off the western Turkish coast, officials have told the Anatolia news agency.

 

Dozens of survivors, mostly from Iraq and Syria, were able to swim through the Aegean waters to the shore, just 50 metres away, after the accident on Thursday.

 

Read more Al Jazeera

South African miners, arrested after the Marikana shooting, have been released by a Pretoria court after key players refused to sign a deal to end a deadly strike.

 

More than a 100 miners were held in a South African jail after being charged last week under an obscure apartheid-era security law with murdering their fellow miners, despite video of the incident clearly showing it was police who fired on the strikers.

 

Read more on Al Jazeera

In a highly anticipated address, United States President Barack Obama is to make a prime-time pitch for a second term, on the final day of the Democratic convention.

 

Read more on BBC

If FIR is lodged against me, I'll quit: Sibal

No need to form new party, declares Anna Hazare

13 injured in 'ULFA' triggered blast in Assam

US lifts sanctions on Nepal Maoists

Terror alert at 2 oil refineries in Mumbai

Cross-border poaching threat to conservation efforts: PM

Odisha: 100 injured as Cong supporters clash with cops

'Companies grabbed free coal, now they want to profit'

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