tv Newscast BBC News January 27, 2023 7:30pm-8:01pm GMT
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this is bbc news. the headlines: lawyers for the family of tyre nichols — the black man who died after he was stopped for an alleged traffic violation in the state of tennessee — say the police culture in the us killed him. five officers each face multiple charges, including murder. seven people are reported to have been killed at a synagogue injerusalem. israel's ambulance service says that ten more people have been wounded. israeli police have described the shooting as a terror attack. people in auckland, new zealand's largest city, have had to evacuate their homes as heavy rains caused major flooding in some parts of the city. auckland's mayor declared a state of emergency on friday, as rising floodwaters left streets and homes swamped. events are taking place to mark international holocaust memorial day. held on the anniversary
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of the liberation of the auschwitz—birkenau death camp, the day honours all those murdered by the nazis during the second world war. you're watching bbc news. now it is time for newscast. newscast... newscast from the bbc. hello, it's adam in the studio. and chris in the studio. and we're going to bejoined in the studio by lots of interesting guests on this episode of newscast. but first of all, chris, give us an update on what is happening with the tax affairs of nadhim zahawi, the tory party chairman, who was chancellor, of course. yeah, so he has now said that he is willing for revenue and customs, the tax people, to share details of his tax affairs that are normally shrouded in confidentiality, because that's the way it works in the uk... that is why apparently the prime minister didn't know anything about this. ..with the ethics adviser to the prime minister, who is crawling all over some elements of this to work out
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if nadhim zahawi, as the conservative party chairman and minister without portfolio, has broken the rule book, the ministerial code. so mr zahawi clearly thinks that this detail from the taxman will help corroborate his argument that says, "look, yeah, there was a conversation with hmrc and i did get clobbered for a massive tax bill, and a penalty for being careless but not deliberate" in how he handled his tax affairs. the prime minister is still saying, "let's wait for this ethics adviser to do his work," some in government are saying they hope he gets a move on, because meanwhile you've basically got a party chairman who is kind of padlocked in his office, because he can't really show his face in public. and one of his mainjobs is to go on television and say how amazing the conservative party is. yeah, and there's local elections coming up that are likely to be quite difficult for the conservatives, so this is an issue that they need to resolve. someone quite senior the other day was saying they hoped this would be resolved in a week. there's a difference
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between what you hope for and what happens. but there is a reason why they would want to get on with it. i would say, from our vast experience of these kinds of stories, a week seems like quite a fast turnaround for that kind of problem. i raised an eyebrow when that was said. but there are those who you can speak to who will say, purely on what has happened in the last week, which is the prime minister said just over a week ago, effectively, there was nothing to see here, everything has been done, quote, in full, as far as all of this is concerned, followed by at the weekend this revelation that he had, mr zahawi, paid a penalty to the tax authority, if you look at the ministerial code, there may be a case, depending on what other evidence sir laurie magnus, the adviser, assembles, to be able to make an argument that the ministerial code has been broken. but we should emphasise mr zahawi says he thinks he's behaved properly throughout. and we can pick up some of that with ourfirst visitor in the newscast studio. it is david lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, from labour. hello, david! hi! thank you for giving us a very long speech about foreign policy to digest this week. i'm sure chris read every single word, yeah?
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we'll talk about that in a second. but we were just talking about nadhim zahawi, former chancellor, and his tax affairs. i know you'll probably want to have a pop at the government for not following the rules, but ijust wonder, is there a lesson in this for all ministers of all governments when it comes to their personal finances? look, i do think that we forget that the vast majority of people watching or listening will be paying their tax paye, have no sort of discussion about how much is taken out of their pay packet and seriously can't contemplate owing the tax man over £4 million. i mean, it's hard to compute how far removed from people that is. i remember during expenses, when one minister at the time was able to write a staggering... ..a cheque and thought that that would bring an end to the situation, and of course all it caused was outrage among the public, because most people didn't have that kind of money.
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so i do think that nadhim zahawi is in big trouble as a consequence of this, and in most governments, of whatever colour, you would have stepped down, resigned — to clear your name, as it were. let's talk about foreign affairs matters now, he says very grandly. so you were in parliament on thursday afternoon talking about how the government is not going to sign up to some of the recommendations that came out of the windrush scandal, when people who moved over here from the caribbean in the middle of the last century ended up not being properly documented. wasn't itjust going to be more bureaucracy that was going to be introduced, and actually there was an argument for not pursuing all this stuff? just make the existing system work better? ijust think that that scandal so touched a nerve amongst the british public, who were just staggered that fellow citizens could be treated in this way, when the government said, "look, we are accepting the recommendations in full and we are going to compensate the victims," it meant something and it cut through. so to quietly slip out,
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in a written statement today, suella braverman could not even be bothered, the home secretary, to come to the house and make the case, ijust think is outrageous, absolutely outrageous. so not only have they dropped some of the recommendations, and there was an important recommendation about having a migrants commissioner, this is sort of making a distinction between those that come to this country as economic migrants and those who are obviously coming as refugees and claiming asylum, dropping that recommendation and others. but also actually, it turns out that half of the compensation has not been paid. that is significant, and i think it will rumble on over the next few days, as it should. let's talk about your big—picture vision for a labour government's outlook on foreign affairs and britain's place in the world. i'm conscious that even assiduous newscasters, our audience, may not have digested every syllable of your speech the other day. scandalous!
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so on the particular, there's a lot more to foreign affairs than just our relationship with our nearest neighbours who are in the european union, but on that question, distil for us the essence of your instinct about how a labour government approaches our nearest neighbours, many of them in the european union, with us out of the european union, if you were foreign secretary. well, there are some big trends in foreign policy that make the world more dangerous. big geopolitical blocs opening up, with china being really the biggest, emerging as a superpower. 73 countries now owe more debt to china than than any bank, 120 are their biggest trading partner. so china being very big, russia, iran, of course, and then important powers like turkey, india sitting somewhere in the middle. so that's happening. you then have a sort of weaponised interdependence. what i mean by that is energy,
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migration, artificial intelligence become tools that those who would cause us harm can use against us. and, of course, the big theme is that all foreign policy is now domestic policy. what that means is that, for us, with a seat on the security council, sixth richest economy in the world, we need to be connected to our allies and partners. so my big theme was britain reconnected in the world, and that helps us both abroad and at home, importantly. and of course, at the moment we're disconnected from europe, we're disconnected from the united states because of the northern ireland protocol and the undermining of the good friday agreement. we're far from global britain — we're isolated britain, and a labour government would reverse that. so in specific terms, then, in terms of our relationship with the european union, how much closer does it get under a labour government,
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and what do you say to those who say, "well, that's not what we voted for in 2016"? well, look, we've said very clearly that we're not going back into the single market, we're not going back into a customs union. we're not revisiting those debates about being in the economic union that is the eu. however, most people don't realise that we haven't even got a structured dialogue with europe. what does that mean? there's no basis on which we meet to discuss issues of concern — climate, migration, artificial intelligence, quantum. these are the big, big tides... you think ursula von der leyen wouldn't take prime minister keir starmer�*s phone call if he just called her to discuss those things? well, you shouldn't be... it's not helpful to have an ad—hoc arrangement. the big foreign policy security challenge this week was a load of countries trying to convince germany and the us to send tanks to ukraine. and then once the us jumped, germanyjumped, too. that all happened without
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a security partnership with the eu. hang on, there was another story this week. there was a story this week about sanctions in the uk, enforcement, and the head of wagner basically being able to use money... that russian mercenary group. ..you know, to access a lawyer to challenge journalists questioning him. so sanctions policy is beyond the remit of nato. cyber terrorism is beyond the remit of nato. there are procurement issues beyond the conventional military arsenal that's beyond beyond nato. so that's why the security pact is so important. and by the way, there are issues around organised crime and other things that you would wrap up into a security deal as well. when you talked about "fixing" the northern ireland protocol, to use your words for it, are you on the same page as the government when it comes to "there should be no checks at all on some goods going to northern ireland", or would you accept that there will be some checks on everything? when i was in northern ireland
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two weeks ago, everyone on both sides can see that, you know, the deal that was struck is not working. and i think the eu accept that. so you want to minimise all of those checks. but the point is, you can roll up your sleeves and get on with the negotiation. 80% of it is actually around agriculture. you can get a deal on that, surely you can get a deal on that. we're not far off the green and red lanes. the big issues are the new issues that the erg put on the table, particularly in relation to the european court ofjustice. the european research group of conservative mps. yes! who i guess you're suggesting are going to dig their heels in. well, the big question is, can rishi sunak... he appears weak in relation to the european research group members of his party. can he deliver this deal, or will they block it? you mentioned a few minutes ago about the desire to minimise checks, which doesn't necessarily
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mean, obviously, getting rid of them entirely. and for as long as there are checks, there's going to be people in, say, the democratic unionists saying, "look, that's still a border within the uk and we're not willing to make it work and therefore we're not going to go back into devolved government," and you've still got the issue of stormont. well, obviously there is that danger. many might say that boris johnson was warned about this border that would be emerging, and he said that it wouldn't happen. but nevertheless, we must find a way through this for the future of northern ireland and for everyone there. you mentioned rishi sunak, the prime minister. at prime minister's questions this week, keir starmer made a joke about the size of the job of being prime minister. was that a dig at rishi sunak�*s height? and bear in mind, he's not a lot shorter than me. you two are both taller than me. he looks...small. small? because of his height. i think it's more about being weak, i don't think it's about... you did say small as well. you're picking on him because he's not very tall?
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i think it's small in character, isn't it? i mean, hejust appears a shrunken figure with these... again with the size references, you can't help yourself! ..with these giants, suella braverman and others, sitting behind him pulling the strings. i think it's a reference to that, and people will take from it what they will, i suppose. let's look at this tweet, which shows you and your boss, keir starmer, at the football! so that was arsenal versus spurs, what was the score? we lost — badly. so spurs lost to arsenal, to explain for the non—football aficionados, the mp for tottenham, and then keir starmer is a proud arsenal fan. but how did it work, did you go together? no, no, no, we went together last year. so which end were you in? oh, god, i don't know. well, you must remember! or were you in a special vip area? no, we weren't in the directors'
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box, but we had very nice seats. keir starmer is, like, a properfootie fan, isn't he? i know some people say, "oh, is this just an act?" when you talk to him, he's really into it. i can't stress enough that he is animated, his language... is bad? is not always what people would expect. really?! four—letter words? he is at his... well... that wasn't a denial. and he's very, you know, he's looking at the whole game and he's very strategic about what ought to or not be happening. effin�* this and jeffin' that? i wonder if this is the way he is looking at the political game, you know? is he going to move his right back shadow foreign secretary...? take him to the football and you'll get an angle. you really will. you find yourself thinking, "i hope
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i'm not going to be substituted." laughter. sent to the stands! i found myself calling him boss at the end of the game. thanks, david. cheers, david. chris, well spotted that he said they would minimise, or aim to minimize, checks under a labour government, not eliminate them altogether. because of course the dup, the democratic unionist party, who need to support the deal if the stormont assembly in northern ireland is going to come back, they want all checks gone. they want none at all. yeah, so when at the moment you start hearing noises, which occasionally we do, from the eu side, the uk side, saying, "look, things might be improving, we might be able to do a new deal," it doesn't mean that the dup will buy it. well, we can find out what the dup might be thinking, because we have someone who knows about that stuff incredibly well, because she used to be the leader of the party. and was first minister of northern ireland. it's dame arlene foster. hello. although you will always be
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arlene phillips to me, because of that time i stood next to you and a woman ran up and said, "it's arlene phillips!" i was, like, "hmm..." i feel sorry for arlene phillips. because the amount of time she's been called arlene foster and i've been called arlene phillips, it must be awful for somebody not involved in politics to be called that. so, next week, we are planning to do a little brexitcast reunion, our old podcast. but the issue is, we can't say anything about the negotiations that are going onjust now, because the uk and the eu are having quite secret talks about tweaking... in the tunnel. in the tunnel, or is it even a tunnel? because they even dispute that and can't agree on that. about what changes you could have to the northern ireland protocol, the bit of the brexit deal that applies lots of eu rules in northern ireland. what's your sense about where they're getting to? any clues? i don't really have a sense, actually, if i'm entirely honest, because if people are in the tunnel, then there's very little that's said outside of that. but, i mean, it's very clear what needs to happen. and i read somewhere yesterday that
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people were saying, "oh, well, rishi sunak will do a deal without the dup." that doesn't really work, because of course in powersharing, in northern ireland, you need the majority of unionists and the majority of nationalists to agree. and sometimes i think that that's not really understood across the uk because it is a different form of devolution. it's not the same as scotland, it's not the same as wales, it's not about majority rule. the whole point about the belfast agreement, which is 25 years old in april, was the fact that we had a power sharing arrangement. and for that to mean anything, everybody has to be not happy but content with what's going on. and what would content look like for you guys? we've seen, haven't we, part of the stuff that's been kicked around in the last couple of weeks and months, this idea of some sort of data sharing arrangement to try and work out how you can address some of the concerns about trade between great britain and northern ireland? when you hear that, what do you make of it and what does the dup need to see when we get — if we get — down the track to a point where there is some sort of deal for you guys to say, "ok, this is fine and we could go
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back into power sharing government"? well, of course i'm not a member of the dup any more, but i entirely accept what you're asking me. but i'm conscious you can look in on it with an authority that plenty of us can't. yeah, that's fair enough. but i think what is important to say is the data sharing piece was something that the eu had been asking for right from the get go, because they were saying, "well, we can't make an assessment on diversion of trade when we don't know what the data says." so the uk government, that's actually a concession from the uk government to give the data sharing information, because it's sovereign data. they're giving that data to the eu and saying, "here's the data." so, actually, that was a bit of mood music forthe eu, then, to make a move and say, "ok, you've given us this, there's good faith, they're bona fides, let's move to deal with the northern ireland protocol in an effective way." i haven't seen any change to the eu mandate as yet, unless i've missed it. but if that is the case, then they haven't got the mandate to make the changes that are necessary to the northern ireland protocol in order for the northern ireland protocol to be acceptable to unionists.
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and i say acceptable to unionists because it's about getting devolution up and running again in northern ireland and the dup have been very clear what needs to happen for that. they have set out very clearly seven tests. those tests are actually cleverly, and i wasn't in the party at the time that these were set, they were set in the words of, dare i say it, former prime minister borisjohnson, promises that have been made actually in relation to northern ireland. that there wouldn't be an irish sea border, that there wouldn't be any new regulatory border without the consent of the northern ireland assembly. so all of those tests will be looked at in terms of what is agreed, if indeed there is going to be an agreement out of whether there is or not a tunnel at the present moment in time. it seems, then, on the face of it that there doesn't seem to be hardly any prospect at all of devolution of devolved government come back to northern ireland any time soon.
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given those tests, given how high that bar is, even if some sort of deal is done, it seems entirely possible the dup could still say, "it's not good enough for us." well, they could, of course. but the fact is it's not actually that difficult to deal with these issues. and i think it's very interesting to listen to... it must be difficult. no, no, no. otherwise it would have been sorted. well, you would think that, wouldn't you? but if you listen to people like bertie ahern and tony blair, who have been speaking... former prime ministers, ireland and uk. ..who were around at the time of the belfast agreement and who had to deal with huge issues at the time, and they're saying, "actually, these things can be dealt with." there are solutions there, if there is the will, the political will on both sides to deal with these issues. and you will remember at the time of the brexit negotiations coming to an end, the alternative arrangements commission came forward with what they thought were arrangements that could be put in place to deal with the protocol, not have the so—called hard border on the island of ireland through a digital means, through trusted traders, through small business exemptions. they were dismissed as being unicorn ideas. now some of those unicorn
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ideas are coming back. would northern ireland be better governed right now if there was a functioning executive and assembly, versus what is currently happening? well, on the 7th of february, the house of lords is going to look at the northern ireland budget debate and that's something that should be in the northern ireland assembly at this point. i know, i'm asking you quite a straightforward question, though, about the principle of how northern ireland is governed. now, i take the point that, you know, there are those in northern ireland who have profound concerns about the protocol. but do you accept it would be better if there was a devolved government and assembly versus there not being? in other words... as with everything in northern ireland, it's not that straightforward. but i'm trying to get to the essence of, "is there any grounds, if there is some movement,
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that the dup might be able to look at the tests it set and said, �*look, there's enough here for us to move because in the round it would be better off for the people of northern ireland to have proper devolved government rather than the alternative�*"? and equally, during the brexit negotiations, lots of people said, "0h, because there isn't a northern irish executive and there isn't a northern ireland assembly sitting then either, that actually the voice of northern ireland wasn't heard properly in the negotiations." so, actually, wouldn't it be a better thing to to put the... well, i'm trying to get my metaphors right. put the cart before the horse, rather than the horse before the cart. do it the other way around. bring back the assembly, then do the deal. yeah, of course. when we didn't have government for three years over a culture act. so, i mean, let's be clear about that. the hypocrisy of some in northern ireland around not having a government now is quite stark for those of us who were out of government during that time. but we've had a sinn fein finance minister since 2016. first of all, it was me. we had conor murphy recently.
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he didn't set a budget, the previous finance minister didn't set a budget. so, actually, you have to ask the question, "if sinn fein are in the finance portfolio, are we actually going to have a budget?" so the government are setting a budget now. it's not good. it's a real challenge for areas like education, for areas like policing. there's a real cut, and we heard today that the chief constable is saying he's going to have to cut his force down to the smallest ever in terms of the police service of northern ireland. that's not good because if you have less police, you have less policing, and the people of northern ireland will not welcome that. so it is a very good question, because if we had a devolved administration that was cohesive and working together with a common goal, then i think we would be better with devolution. but unfortunately we don't have that, because we were out of government for three years. that has caused huge difficulties in the health service. we didn't instigate reforms that were recommended by an independent body called the bengoa review. that wasn't done and we're suffering as a result of that. so it's notjust about
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getting devolution back. it's about having a cohesive government that works. it is quite weird to think we've now had more of a conversation about that issue in this studio than has been had at stormont, because there's no—one there. yes! so weird. you mentioned the 25th anniversary of the good friday agreement. is that agreement still in good shape? because after 25 years, you'd decorate your house after 25 years, wouldn't you? ijust wonder, does the good friday agreement need some tweaks or is it ok? well, it's not about tweaks. i mean, it is in severe difficulties at this present moment in time. i worry that... i mean, i didn't support the belfast agreement back in 1998 because there were fundamental problems, as i could see, at that time, particularly with victims' issues, the fact that we hadn't dealt with the legacy of the past. we're now seeing the outworkings of that, as you know, with the legacy bill that's coming forward from the government, which doesn't have support in northern ireland and should have been dealt with a long, long time ago. with hindsight, though, was it worth, to borrow adam's language from a few minutes ago, was it worth to put the cart before the horse in that instance,
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to do what was done nearly 25 years ago and then address some of these profound concerns that you talk about afterwards, rather than the other way round, delaying what was this big moment for northern ireland with the arrival of devolution? well, look, ifully... i, as i say, was against the belfast agreement, but i accepted that the people of northern ireland voted for it in a referendum, and therefore you had to work within the confines of that. that doesn't stop me from saying, however, that the legacy of the past wasn't dealt with. we did allow prisoners free from prison. terrorists who were convicted of some of the most heinous crimes were allowed to go free. however, their victims didn't have anyjustice. they didn't have their truth. and we're still dealing with that issue today. and i think that was an imbalance that is now coming into the 25th anniversary, and is still infecting northern ireland in a very real and tangible way.
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on a totally different note, you've had a show on gb news, the news channel. jacob rees—mogg hasjust been hired to get a show. so i understand. who do you think will get the most viewers? oh, that's a very controversial thing. i've been there since... goodness, i think it's august of last year. so he'sjohnny—come—lately. any tips? it's not for me to say. any broadcasting tips to jacob rees—mogg? well, if he asks me, i'll give him any advice he needs. 0k. i was going to say "thank you very much," but it looks like you're trying to steal our newscast mug. i'll take it on gb news tomorrow. oh, no—one�*s tried that trick before. many people have tried to get hold of one. really? is that gonzo marketing? is that what they call it? actually, that's a good idea. yeah. thank you very much. cheers. and that's all for this episode of newscast. but chris, you and i will be reunited next week for our brexitcast reunion. i know, the waves of nostalgia are washing over me. it'll be nice to see laura here. you'll be up in the screens... in a cupboard in brussels with katya. sitting awkwardly close together. one more thing from katya.
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exactly. and i've already read a 135—page document that i cannot wait to digest for you. cancel the weekend. publish it now. yeah, that'll be on bbc sounds at some point next week. right. bye! newscast. newscast from the bbc. hello. after a largely dry start to the weekend, sunday brings some rain into scotland and northern ireland. strengthening winds here as well. we have got a weather front working through scotland and northern ireland this evening and into the night with some rain, although it is weakening as it moves and eventually reaches into the far north of england. behind it, clearing skies in scotland, allowing a touch of frost here and there, but not as cold as last night. but a colder night ahead of that weather front through wales, more especially england, and more widespread frost. “1! potential in southern england, in the coldest rural spots. a few fog patches around. for wales and england, it's variable cloud, a few sunny spells. still have that weather front just edging south from northern
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england into parts of wales and the midlands. may produce a little drizzle. northern counties of northern england, northern ireland and scotland with the sunniest afternoon skies on saturday, just the odd shower in northern scotland. more cloud across the south going into sunday morning, so much more limited potential for any frost. and then on sunday, it's a windy day, especially in scotland, and outbreaks of rain moving south through scotland and into northern ireland.
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this is bbc news. the headlines. israeli police say that at least seven people have been killed in a mass shooting at a synagogue in eastjerusalem. the us is bracing for the release of police video of an arrest that led to the death of the black man, tyre nichols in memphis. hs mother says the footage will be disturbing i've never seen the video but what i've heard is very horrific, very horrific. here in the uk, the chancellor jeremy hunt has set out his plan to boost economic growth — prioritising reducing inflation and stabilising the economy. a state of emergency in new zealand's largest city auckland — after torrential rain caused severe flooding.
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