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☆ Gulmarg: Snow has returned to Asia’s highest ski resort. Here’s what visitors going there now can expect
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Ramaa Reddy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —In early January, anyone who visited the ski resort village of Gulmarg in Indian-administered Kashmir with hopes of actually skiing was out of luck. A severe snow shortage, blamed on dry weather, threatened to derail the entire winter season, leaving both travelers and tourism operators disappointed. Regardless of whether you’re a full-time athlete or someone who enjoys skiing and snowboarding for fun, Gulmarg offers a winter experience like no other. Today, travelers headed for Asia’s highest ski resort can enjoy over 1,330 vertical meters (4,363 feet) of skiable terrain, with lifts offering access to four separate skiing zones on Mount Apharwat. Many of those visitors don’t ski but just ride up the gondola to play in the snow and take in the views at the top.

Persons: Mukhtar Ahmad, Nanga Parbat, ”, Brian Newman, Newman, “, ” Mehmood Ahmad Lone, –, nans, Kababs, Rogan Josh, Kati, It’s, Mount Apharwat, Colonel Mirza Zahid Baig, Gulmarg, Javedh Ahmad Reshi Organizations: CNN, El, El Nino, Adventure, Hindustan Times, Newman’s, US Department of State, Warfare, USA Locations: Gulmarg, Kashmir, India, Mount Apharwat, British, Apharwat, Nanga, Colorado, Europe, North America, Pakistan, Khyber, Highland, Hilltop, Kashmir’s, Srinagar, Mount

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — For decades, India has focused its defense policy on its land borders with rivals Pakistan and China. Unless you are a maritime power you can never aspire to be a global power,” Chawla said. India, already a regional power, is positioning itself “as a global player today, an upcoming global power,” he said. Though we don’t own it, but we are probably the most capable and responsible resident naval power,” Chawla said. Chawla said India doesn't have “strength to project power into the South China Sea right now” because of the vast Chinese maritime assets there.

Persons: Adm, Anil Kumar Chawla, “, ” Chawla, ”, Darshana, Chawla, it’s Organizations: Pakistan, Hamas, U.S, Carnegie Endowment, International, Ocean Initiative, NATO Locations: SRINAGAR, India, China, Yemen, Iran, Tehran, Red, Gaza, U.S, Visakhapatnam, Marshall, Gulf, Aden, Picardy, “ China, South China, Beijing, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Australia, Japan, Pacific, South, Asia, asia

But as with many popular winter ski destinations right now, this resort town in Indian-administered Kashmir is facing a snow shortage due to unseasonably dry weather, disappointing both travelers and tourism operators. Tauseef Mustafa/AFP/Getty ImagesDespite the lack of snow, a staff member of the Gulmarg Ski Resort reached by phone who did not wish to be named told CNN Travel their hotels have been experiencing very high occupancy rates in recent days. This is definitely affecting the tourism sector.”Tourists learn to ski on a gentle Gulmarg slope in February 2021. “What would they do here without the snow?”‘The demand is still there’Tourists visit the Gulmarg Ski Resort on January 10, 2024. So the loss of snow (will also be) compensated.”Yaqoob notes that the snowfall season in Gulmarg is traditionally from November to February-March.

Persons: Tauseef Mustafa, Asif Ahmad Bhat, “, ”, ’ Bhat, Sahil Ahmed Lone, Yawar Nazir, he’s, Lone, they’ve, Nasir Kachroo, Gulmarg –, Raja, it’s Organizations: CNN, CNN Travel, ”, El Nino Locations: Gulmarg, Indian, Kashmir, Srinagar, India, Pakistan, AFP, “, Leh, Ladakh, Uttarakhand

[1/6] Ola electric scooters are seen outside the Ola Electric Service Centre, in Thane on the outskirts of Mumbai, India, October 25, 2023. Aggarwal's Ola Electric, which he likens to Tesla in the West, is zipping towards a stock-market listing after going from zero to 338,000 e-scooter sales in about two years. But he acknowledged service capacity issues and said Ola was "aggressively" bolstering its service network by adding 100 new centres and hiring more technicians. 'TESLA FOR WEST, OLA FOR REST'Aggarwal often declares, "Tesla is for the West, Ola for the rest", and he's a man in a hurry. "Electric vehicles are new to people so they aren't aware of how to ride the vehicle to maximise optimal output," he said.

Persons: Francis Mascarenhas, it's, Elon Musk, Aggarwal's Ola, Tesla, Ola, Devendra Ghuge, Aggarwal, Ola EVs, Ravi Bhatia, Bhatia, Japan's SoftBank, Ronald Radhakrishnan, Koradia, Riddhima Talwani, Aditi Shah, Rishika Sadam, Sriram, Arpan Chaturvedi, Anushree, Pandya, Francis Mascerehnas, Varun Vyas, Munsif, Jatindra, Saurabh Sharma, Sumit Khanna, Jose Devasia, Aditya Kalra Organizations: Ola Electric Service Centre, REUTERS, Staff, Reuters, JATO Dynamics, WEST, OLA, West, Singapore's Temasek, Industry, Hero Electric, TVS, EV, Ola, Fayaz Bukhari, Thomson Locations: Thane, Mumbai, India, THANE, HYDERABAD, DELHI, MUMBAI, Chennai, Bengaluru, India's, U.S, China, Kochi, New Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jose, Srinagar

☆ Three Bangladeshi tourists die in houseboat fire in India's Kashmir
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-11 | by ( Rupam Jain | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SRINAGAR, India Nov 11 (Reuters) - Three Bangladeshi tourists died in India's Kashmir region when some of the houseboats stationed in the picturesque Dal lake caught fire on Saturday, a police official said. "Three tourists Bangladeshi nationals were killed in one of the five houseboats destroyed due to fire," the police official said, adding that seven others were injured. Government figures show the Jammu and Kashmir region received over 16.2 million tourists in 2022, a record high since British colonial rule ended in 1947. The area is known for its snow-topped Himalayan mountains, fast-flowing rivers, meadows and wooden houseboats around beautiful lakes. Hindu-majority India has been fighting a decades-long separatist Islamist insurgency in Kashmir, which is also claimed by neighbouring Pakistan.

Persons: Narendra Modi's, Fayaz Bukhari, Rupam Jain, Christina Fincher Organizations: Police, Thomson Locations: SRINAGAR, India, India's Kashmir, Dal, Jammu, Kashmir, Pakistan

☆ India’s elderly population will double and overtake the number of children by 2050
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-02 | by ( Charmaine Jacob | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

India's elderly population is predicted to double by 2050 and overtake the number of children in the country, according to the United Nations Population Fund. The number of people aged 60 and above will increase from 149 million in 2022 to 347 million in 2050, the UNFPA said in a report earlier this week. "By 2050, one in every five individuals will be an elderly in India," the UNFPA said. The amount of people aged 60 years and above worldwide is forecasted to double and hit 2.1 billion by 2050, the UNFPA said. "This increase in the number and share of older persons will be visible across all regions of the world," the report stated, highlighting that less developed regions will see a marginally higher increase in its elderly population.

Organizations: United Nations Population Fund, United Nations, UNFPA Locations: Srinagar, India

A G20 logo is pictured in front of the main venue of the summit in New Delhi, India, August 24, 2023. The heads of the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organisation and World Health Organisation will also be present. DEFENCE IN THE SKIESThe city will be guarded by nearly 130,000 security personnel, including the 80,000-strong Delhi Police, officials said. Modi inaugurated a $300 million venue in the capital in July to host the summit meeting - a conch shell-shaped building that can seat more than 3,000. The government has also leased 20 bullet-proof limousines at a cost of 180 million Indian rupees ($2.18 million) for ferrying leaders.

Persons: Adnan Abidi, Narendra Modi, Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak, Saudi Arabia's Mohammed Bin Salman, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Sergei Lavrov, Dependra Pathak, Pathak, Ranvir Singh, Biden, Modi, Rupam Jain, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: REUTERS, NEW, India, British, Foreign, United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organisation, World Health, Delhi Police, Border Security Force, Indian Air Force, Reuters, Thomson Locations: New Delhi, India, Delhi, NEW DELHI, U.S, Saudi, Beijing, Japan, Australia, France, Germany, Ukraine, Pragati, Gurugram, New, Arunachal Pradesh, Srinagar, Kashmir

☆ From ice cream to cattle feed: Here are the winners and losers as the summer heat bears down
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

With temperatures hitting all-time highs, consumers are turning to ice cream and chilled drinks to beat the heat — and analysts say some sectors could benefit. Several Southeast Asian cities hit record high temperatures in May as global climate change exacerbates heat waves and air pollution in the region. A street vendor selling bottles of chilled water amid high temperatures in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Tuesday, June 6, 2023. "Use of air-conditioning will skyrocket, benefiting the HVAC industry but leading to extremely high levels of energy usage," said Allison Malmsten, public research director at Daxue Consulting. Cattle feeding at a cattle farm on December 13, 2020 in Pingliang, Gansu Province of China.

Persons: Bain, Zara Lightowler, Kuo, David Kuo, Allison Malmsten, Daxue, Rice Organizations: Getty, Company's, Vitasoy, Cola, PepsiCo, Bloomberg, Unilever, Smart Investor ., Daxue Consulting, Visual China, Co's, Sustainability Locations: Srinagar, Indian, Kashmir, Asia, El, Southeast Asia, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Pingliang, Gansu Province, China, Laos, Malaysia

☆ Akhand Bharat: Why a map in India's new Parliament is making its neighbors nervous
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Akhand Bharat,” tweeted Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi alongside a photograph of the map. “Akhand Bharat in (the) New Parliament. It also took place on the birthday of the late Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the man widely considered to have developed the Hindutva ideology and one of the first proponents of Akhand Bharat. “We have to see the dream of Akhand Bharat in this lifetime and it has started with (this),” said deputy chief minister of the state of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis. Faisal Khan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images/FileExperts say such rhetoric has made India’s neighbors nervous.

Persons: Arindam Bagchi, Ashoka, Akhand Bharat, Bharat, ”, Pralhad Joshi, Akhand, Manoj Kotak, Bharat ”, Bharat ’, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, –, KP Sharma Oli, Baburam Bhattarai, Shahriar Alam, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, “, Salil Tripathi, Narendra Modi, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Savarkar, Modi, Amit Shah, Praful, Sushant Singh, Manjunath Kiran, Critics, Devendra Fadnavis, Faisal Khan, Ayesha Jalal, Fahd Humayun Organizations: CNN, India’s Ministry, External Affairs, Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, Parliamentary, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, stoke, Mahasabha, Hindustan Times, Centre for Policy Research, Getty, India’s, Anadolu Agency, Tufts University Locations: Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, New Delhi, India, Afghanistan, Myanmar, “, Kathmandu, New York, Mumbai, ” India, Indian, Kashmir, Karnataka, Bangalore, Maharashtra, Srinagar

☆ Hundreds rally in Pakistan-ruled Kashmir against India G20 meet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Abu Arqam Naqash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, May 22 (Reuters) - Hundreds of people rallied in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Monday to protest arch rival India's decision to host a G20 tourism meeting in its part of the disputed Himalayan region, said a government official. Several protesters demonstrated in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and other cities, chanting: "Go India go back and boycott, boycott G20 boycott!" He termed the G20 gathering as illegal, and an attempt by India to seek legitimacy over its control of the disputed region. The G20 tourism working group meeting is the first international event in the region since the conversion. India at present holds it presidency, and is set to host its annual summit in New Delhi in September.

☆ China opposes G20 meeting in Indian-rule Kashmir and will skip it
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, May 19 (Reuters) - China said on Friday that it is opposed to a G20 tourism meeting next week in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir in India and will not attend. "China is firmly opposed to holding any kind of G20 meetings in disputed territory, and will not attend such meetings," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said. In 2019, India split the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir to create the two federal territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, will host a meeting of the tourism working group for G20 members on May 22-24. Kashmir is claimed in full but ruled in part by nuclear-armed neighbours India and China-ally Pakistan, which has also opposed India's decision to hold a G20 meeting in Kashmir.

☆ India constructs world's highest railway bridge above Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir region
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Tara Subramaniam | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —India is now home to the world’s tallest railway bridge. Some 35 meters (over 10 feet) taller than the Eiffel Tower, the Chenab Bridge sits 359 meters (around 109 feet) above the Chenab River in India’s contentious Jammu and Kashmir region. The 1,315 meter-long (4,314 feet) bridge is part of a broader project to make the Kashmir Valley accessible by the Indian Railway network. In addition to the Chenab Bridge, the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project involves what will become the country’s longest transportation tunnel and Indian Railways’ first cable bridge. “Once we will be connected by train with the rest of India, it will be a big boost to this industry, agriculture as well as fruit.”The Chenab bridge is part of efforts to link Kashmir with the rest of India.

☆ Activists gather for Earth Day, urge action to avoid 'dystopian' future
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Climate impacts are here," Areeba Hamid, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK, said on Friday as climate change activists walked down the street outside parliament, some dressed in green costumes and green paint. Activists led by the Extinction Rebellion group have gathered in London to kick off a four-day action, billed "The Big One", to coincide with Earth Day. [1/5] Peru's shamans perform a traditional ritual and make an offer to "Pachamama" (Mother Earth) on the eve of "Earth Day", in Lima, Peru April 21, 2023. In Peru, shamans on Friday made an offering to the "Pachamama", or Mother Earth. Holding yellow flowers and rattles, the shamans walked around a papier-mache globe as they performed a cleansing ritual.

☆ Kashmir's traditional Ramadan drummers wake neighbours up for pre-dawn meals
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Fayaz Bukhari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Devout Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during Ramadan, and usually eat a meal before the sun comes up. Jinded says his family has been playing the role of "Sahar Khans", named for the pre-dawn Ramadan meal called Sahri, for generations. Kashmir's Ramadan drummers are not paid, but as the month nears its end, people tend to become generous. "Ramadan drummers are an important part of our tradition," said Sheikh Ghulam Nabi, a tailor in Srinagar's old town. "They add to the festive atmosphere of the holy month."

☆ Pakistan condemns India's decision to hold G20 meetings in Kashmir
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Danish Ismail/File PhotoISLAMABAD, April 11 (Reuters) - Pakistan on Tuesday condemned India's decision to hold Group of 20 meetings in the disputed Himalayan territory of Kashmir next month, calling the move "irresponsible". India currently holds the rotating year-long presidency of the G20 and is set to host a leaders' summit in New Delhi in early September. India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request seeking comment on the statement from Pakistan. New Delhi has long accused Pakistan of stoking a decades-long separatist insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority region in India. Pakistan also accuses India of human rights violations in the parts of Kashmir under its control, a charge New Delhi rejects.

☆ India's Jammu and Kashmir gets first foreign investment from Dubai's Emaar
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Fayaz Bukhari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SRINAGAR, March 20 (Reuters) - Indian Kashmir is to get its first foreign investment, with Dubai’s Emaar Group due to build a $60 million shopping and office complex, as the government looks to stabilise a region where Muslim separatists have for years battled the government. The 5 billion rupee ($60.50 million) development will include a shopping mall and multi-purpose commercial tower in Srinagar, the capital of the Muslim-majority Himalayan region, Emaar announced at an investment summit in the city. The announcement on Sunday of what the region's government said was its first foreign investment comes after the central government said last week that Jammu and Kashmir had received record investment of 15 billion rupees ($181 million) in the first 10 months of the 2022-23 (April-March) fiscal year. Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU) CEO Amit Jain told reporters that the investment would have a ripple effect. Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir in full but rule in part, and have fought two of their three wars over it.

The government said the BBC had failed to respond to repeated requests to clarify its tax affairs related to the profits and remittances from its Indian operations. The documentary, which was only broadcast in Britain, accused Modi of fostering a climate of impunity that fuelled the violence. Reuters spoke to eight Indian journalists, industry executives and media analysts who said that some media which reported critically on the government have been targeted with inspections by government agencies, the suspension of state advertising, and the arrest of reporters. Modi's government has vigorously denied the BBC tax inspection - the first against an international news organisation in decades - was a response to the film. Gupta said there had been complaints after the government reduced its advertising spending but that was not an assault on media freedom.

☆ Two foreign skiers killed in avalanche in Indian Kashmir, police say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Fayaz Bukhari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Security force personnel carry the body of a foreign skier, who was killed after an avalanche hit in the Affarwat area, in the ski resort of Gulmarg, in Kashmir region, February 1, 2023. REUTERS/StringerSRINAGAR, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Two foreign skiers were killed and nearly 20 others rescued in Indian Kashmir on Wednesday after an avalanche swept through the popular ski resort of Gulmarg, police said. The skiers are all foreign nationals but the police has yet to make their nationalities public. Another 19 foreign nationals have been rescued by authorities, local police said on Twitter, adding that the bodies of the two deceased skiers have been shifted to a hospital. A video of the avalanche shared on social media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed a wall of snow roaring down a mountainside, sending skiers and other onlookers scurrying for safety.

☆ U.S. arms left in Afghanistan are turning up in a different conflict
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Junaid Kathju | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

At least six people were injured on Jan. 21 in two explosions in the city of Jammu. Though more than half of it was ground vehicles, it also included more than 316,000 weapons worth almost $512 million, plus ammunition and other accessories. The Defense Department report also pointed out that the operational condition of the Afghan army’s equipment was unknown. Manoj Sinha said the government was aware of the issue and that measures were in place to combat the infiltration of U.S. weapons into Kashmir. Kashmir police official Vijay Kumar also said authorities were fully capable of countering the militant threat.

☆ India's Gandhi ends 135-day march to revive Congress party in snowy Kashmir
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Fayaz Bukhari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"All secular parties must come together to liberate the country from BJP," D. Raja, General Secretary of the Communist Party of India, said at the rally. Several other opposition leaders failed to make it to the rally because flights into Srinagar's airport were cancelled due to the heavy snow. The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has controlled the Congress party for decades but has also overseen its recent decline. Rahul Gandhi resigned as Congress president after the last election. "I am not from the Congress party but want to support the cause Gandhi stands for," Ahmad said.

☆ India's Gen Z grapples with Modi's dark past in clashes over new documentary
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Yashraj Sharma | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Modi denies being complicit in the attacks, and India’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling last year that he should be cleared of all charges. The first part of the documentary is about Modi’s political career before he became prime minister. The second half of the BBC documentary, which aired in Britain this week, focuses on his leadership since then. Critics say Modi has promoted discrimination against India’s Muslim minority and quashed dissent, especially since his re-election in 2019. Students at Jamia Millia Islamia defied university warnings not to screen the BBC film.

☆ Six injured in Jammu blasts before India opposition leader Gandhi arrives
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Fayaz Bukhari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Modi wants to take control of India's part of the Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir, hotly contested by Muslim-majority Pakistan. Gandhi's march, which has been better received by the public than expected, is expected to culminate in Srinagar later this month. The first blast occurred around 0445 GMT, followed by another explosion, said another police official, who asked not be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media. Jaswinder Singh, who saw the first blast, said it occurred in a vehicle that was sent to a workshop for repairs. “There was a big bang and when I came out, I saw a blast had ripped apart a car.

"It's not just me and my children, future generations from our community in Jammu and Kashmir will vote for the BJP." A BJP victory in the disputed region could consolidate India's claim over the territory on the global stage. "We have taken a pledge to cross 50-plus seats to form the next government with a thumping majority," the BJP's president for Jammu and Kashmir, Ravinder Raina, told Reuters. Jammu has about 5.3 million inhabitants, 62% of whom are Hindu while Kashmir Valley has 6.7 million, 97% of them Muslim, according to a 2011 census. Previously unreported official records show just over 5.3 million certificates had been issued as of September.

☆ India revives network of village guards in Kashmir after militant attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Fayaz Bukhari | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SRINAGAR, Jan 12 (Reuters) - India is reviving a network of thousands of village guards in Jammu and Kashmir, including arming some with automatic rifles, after a militant attack in the disputed region killed seven civilians earlier in January, a police official said. The nuclear-armed neighbours claim the Himalayan region - that includes the Muslim majority Kashmir valley and Hindu-dominated Jammu - in full but control only parts of it. Authorities reactivated an almost defunct network of 26,000 Village Defence Guards (VDGs) after militants killed seven residents of a Hindu community in a remote village in Jammu's Rajouri district on Jan. 1. We have also provided automatic rifles to some." Basant Raj Thakur, a VDG from Jammu's Doda area, said that he supported the move to provide automatic weapons, replacing bolt-action rifles that some guards are currently armed with.

☆ India's jobless rate rises to 16-month high of 8.30% in Dec - CMIE
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Manoj Kumar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, Jan 1 (Reuters) - India's unemployment rate rose to 8.30% in December, the highest in 16 months, from 8.00% in the previous month, data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) showed on Sunday. The urban unemployment rate rose to 10.09% in December from 8.96% in the previous month, while the rural unemployment rate slipped to 7.44% from 7.55%, the data showed. "Most importantly, the employment rate has increased in December to 37.1%, which again is the highest since January 2022," he told Reuters. The unemployment rate had declined to 7.2% in the July-September quarter compared to 7.6% in the previous quarter, according to separate quarterly data compiled by state run National Statistical Office (NSO) and released in November. In December, the unemployment rate rose to 37.4% in the northern state of Haryana, followed by 28.5% in Rajasthan and 20.8% in Delhi, CMIE data showed.

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