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July 16 - July 29, 2007 
 Weekly News In Review
 Vol 2, Issue 15
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The Weekly News In Review Newsletter is a compilation of the news articles that have appeared on the Understand The Times website during the previous week.


 July 15 - Zanzibar fishermen land ancient fish (Living Fossil)
 Article: Creation/Evolution - Evoution Assumptions Exposed

Fishermen in Zanzibar have caught a coelacanth, an ancient fish once thought to have become extinct when it disappeared from fossil records 80 million years ago, an official said on Sunday.
Researcher Nariman Jidawi of Zanzibar's Institute of Marine Science said the fish was caught off the tropical island's northern tip.

"The fishermen informed us they had caught this strange fish and we quickly rushed to find it was a coelacanth," he told Reuters, adding that it weighed 27 kg (60 lb) and was 1.34 meters long.

The coelacanth, known from fossil records dating back more than 360 million years, was believed to have become extinct some 80 million years ago until one was caught off the eastern coast of South Africa in 1938 -- a major zoological find.

None has since been caught in South African waters, but around 30 have been caught in recent years off Tanzania, possibly because diminishing shallow-water resources have forced fishermen to cast their nets in the deeper waters where coelacanths live, experts say.



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 July 13 - Young Christians, Muslims, Jews Explore Unity in Diversity
 Article: One World Religion

Young Christian, Jewish and Muslim adults have gathered from around the world to explore inter-faith relations and unity in diversity during a summer seminar at the World Council of Churches' (WCC) Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland.

The July seminar has brought together 21 participants from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the Americas to take a closer look at the question, 'How can we affirm our identity as Muslims, Jews and Christians not in separation or against each other but in relation to one another?'

The participants will also speculate on what the future holds as the traditional "one nation, one culture and one religion" gives way to greater cultural and religious diversity.

The one-month programme "Building an Interfaith Community" is designed to "prepare the future generation of leaders in churches, other faith communities and society at large for the challenges of living peacefully in a world of religious plurality", the WCC said.

Each day starts with a moment of shared prayer and spirituality, prepared alternately by the Christian, the Jewish and the Muslim participants.



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 July 20 - Israel slams Iran-Syria alliance
 Article: Israel And The Last Days

Israel on Friday denounced an alliance between Iran and Syria that it said cast doubts on Syrian peace intentions, following a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Damascus
 
"The fact that the Damascus regime chose Ahmadinejad as a partner in a strategic alliance raises serious doubt on recent statements from Syria on its intentions for peace," foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev told AFP.

"You cannot be friends with someone who embodies the most extreme refusal of peace (with Israel) and expect the international community to consider Syria a country working for peace," he added.

Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit said the visit by Ahmadinejad -- who has caused fear and alarm in Israel over calls for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map -- had "weakened Syria's position as a partner for peace."



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 News Alert - July 20 - '08 Int'l Eucharistic Congress youth organizer sees signs of renewal
 Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days

Comment from Understand The TImes:

The Roman Catholic New Evangelization program designed to rekindle amazement centered on the Roman Catholic Eucharistic Christ continues to esculate. Now that Pope Benedict has announced that the Roman Catholic Church is the "only true church," expect to see more and more people joining the ranks of Romanism as they are seduced by Emerging Church tactics such as "Ancient-Future" Christianity. 

 
OTTAWA, Canada (CCN) - Next June's 2008 International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City is meeting with such interest and enthusiasm, organizers may have to develop a "Plan B" to accommodate more people.

"We can sense that something is happening, something with profound implications for the faith of our country," said Ottawa-native Debra Violette, 32, in an interview from Quebec City, where she has been working for the past year and a half as the Congress's assistant director for youth.

"I think there is a renewal in our church, especially a renewal of the Eucharist," she said. "If the renewal works through the Eucharist, which is the center of our faith, it's a true renewal. I think it will bear a lot of fruit."



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 July 16 - Most Christians support Israel AND Palestine,
 Article: Israel And The Last Days

New York City, July 16, 2007 - As Pastor John Hagee prepares for his annual Christians United for Israel (CUFI) gathering this week in Washington, D.C., two leaders of the National Council of Churches USA (NCC) are reminding observers that most Christians do not share CUFI's stated goals.

"John Hagee's message differs greatly with what theologians have taught for centuries," said Dr. Antonios Kireopoulos, NCC's Associated General Secretary for International Affairs and Peace.

"The Christian Gospel is clear that salvation came through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ," said Dr. Kireopoulos. "To supplement this message is to pervert the Gospel Hagee claims to preach."

Pastor Hagee's efforts are the latest in a century old apocalyptic movement that began in earnest in the 19th century. Sometimes called Christian Zionism because of its uncritical support for the State of Israel, it is based on a literal reading of Biblical apocalyptic texts.

CUFI's position of uncritical support for Israel separates it from the Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, and traditional Protestant Churches, all of whom support Israel while at the same time advocate for a Palestinian state, Kireopoulos said.

The NCC advocates for a two-state solution, with a secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state. The NCC position, approved by the NCC's 35 member denominations, is based on the Christian imperative to seek justice for all people. The NCC has stated the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories is unsupportable. This position is shared by Churches worldwide, and is counter to the position espoused by CUFI.



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 News Alert - July 23 - Catholic, other religious leaders, laity try silence when peace talks fail
 Article: One World Religion

Comment from Understand The Times
 
Buddhist meditation brings Buddhists, Catholics, Hindus, Muslims and Protestants together. The Emerging Church is bringing about a one world religion for peace.
 
ANURADHAPURA, Sri Lanka (UCAN) - Silence filled the soundproof room as people sat on the floor, their eyes closed.

This odd grouping of people in a strange setting seemed to be doing nothing.

They had come together at Nuwarawewa Rest House, a well-known tourist hotel in Anuradhapura, 200 kilometers (about 125 miles) north of Colombo.

Amid the barely audible hum of the air conditioners, more than 100 people - half of them local religious leaders, the other half lay guests - meditated on peace for six hours a day for five days, July 3-7.

Intense extended meditation was the cornerstone of the "Peace Building and Reconciliation" workshop run by Centre for Peace Building and Reconciliation (CPBR), which says meditation is common to all religions. So the Buddhists, Catholics, Hindus, Muslims and Protestants all sat in silence and meditated.

The organizers used silence to stress the urgent need for peace in a country plagued by decades of civil war between Tamil separatists and the Sinhalese- led government. They chose a conference room overlooking a large reservoir built by a long dead king that is renowned for its calm serenity.

To Sri Lankan Buddhists, ancient Anuradhapura is sacred because that is where bhavana (meditation) was introduced to Sri Lanka about 2,200 years ago.



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 July 24 - Holy Land church must say 'enough' to occupation, 'logic of violence,' archbishop says
 Article: Isreal And The Last Days

MAYNOOTH, Ireland (CNS) - The Catholic Church in the Holy Land, in the face of "painful suffering," must "raise our voices to say 'enough'" to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories, to killings, to other human-rights violations and to "the logic of violence," said the coadjutor of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Addressing more than 100 members of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher here, Coadjutor Archbishop Fouad Twal made a heartfelt appeal for negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians "mediated by an impartial party" and an end to "threats and violence from both sides," and said that Christians have a vital role to play in building peace in the Holy Land.

"In front of this painful suffering, we raise our voices to say 'enough': enough to the occupation and the suffering of human beings; enough to killing and to unchecked violence; enough to the lack of security and stability; enough to the violations of human rights and human dignity of all men and women, whoever they may be; enough to the logic of violence," he said.

"It is time to stand in front of God, who is the father of all, and the judge of all, in order to change our ways and return to him," he added.

Archbishop Twal, who noted that he is set to "take the responsibility of the Latin Patriarchate" from Patriarch Michel Sabbah in 2008, said that Jerusalem is "the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict      the key to peace in the Middle East      and that (which) urges us to scrutinize the future."

While noting that the Christian community there, made up of about 370,000 of 17 million living in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Territories, is a "demographically modest" 2 percent of the population, the archbishop stressed that "it still has great influence and can help shape the future of the Holy Land."

Yet, the Holy Land community of Palestinian and Jordanian Arab Christians, Israeli Hebrew-speaking Christians, foreign-born Christians coming from Eastern Europe, Asia and other countries and pilgrims from throughout the world is under siege, Archbishop Twal said.

"This sad situation created separation among individuals and peoples, man became the enemy of man, and the language of force and violence prevailed. Our churches were affected negatively: closed borders separated our faithful, and obscured the hopes for living in dignity and for a better future; many have left the land of their ancestors, diminishing the size of our Christian communities," the archbishop said, noting that the number of Christian Palestinians, who live outside the Holy Land, is more than double the number still living there.

It is a paradox, he said, that the conflict that exists is centered in the place that is the home to the world's three major monotheistic religions.

"Conscious of the unique significance of Jerusalem ," the archbishop said, "in front of God and humanity, we find it fitting, that the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faithful, work together, with sincerity and in mutual trust, so that this city, may truly be able to fulfil its divine calling: a universal symbol of fraternity and peace and a place of encounter and reconciliation among religions and peoples."

Archbishop Twal said that it is now "time to intensify action" through negotiations that can lead to an end of the Israeli occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Such a state, with "borders clearly defined," can give both Israelis and Palestinians "human dignity, security and equal opportunity."

Negotiations, he added, cannot be "made under threat" if they are to be effective. "The negotiations we need require real dialogue, mediated by an impartial party," he said. "Unfortunately, what we see, threats and violence from both sides."

"Only a return to the negotiating table on an equal footing, with due respect for international law, is capable of disclosing a future of brotherhood and peace for those who live in this blessed land," he said. "All individuals [must] see their fundamental rights guaranteed: both the Israeli people and the Palestinian people are equally entitled to live in their own homeland in dignity and security."

The Catholic Church of the Holy Land must work through the frustration and desperation of "the ongoing injustice and the lack of peace," Archbishop Twal said.

The church there has a vocation and a mission, he stressed. "Our vocation is to remain, despite our small number, in the land, where Jesus preached, redeemed humanity and founded the church," he said. "Our mission is to be witnesses of the gospel of love and reconciliation, being a bridge amidst a Moslem and Jewish majority."

During the Mass that preceded Archbishop Twal's remarks, Archbishop Sean Brady of Armagh and primate of All-Ireland, addressed the current plight of the Christian community in the Holy Land and the need for a new initiative to establish a just peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

"It is very sad to see so many Christians leave the Holy Land. What a shame to hear Bethlehem, so dear to Christians, now described as a vanishing Christian community, an isolated town, with boarded up shops and surrounded on three sides by an eight-meter high concrete wall. I believe the Christian presence in the Holy Land is a moderating influence and is essential to achieving peace."

Renewing the call for both Jewish and Palestinian leaders to continue to work towards bringing all the interested parties to the negotiating table, Archbishop Brady said that "the future of all peoples of the Holy Land depends on the securing of a just and lasting peace."

"Only a just and lasting peace with the Palestinians will offer security to Israel. Only a just peace will set Israel free from its present anxiety. That just peace will only be found if and when the needs of the weak are given priority over the wishes of the powerful and both sides begin to hear each others voices and to recognize each others rights," he said.



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 July 24 - Hundreds Celebrate Movement to 'Be Christian Together'
 Article: Ecumenical Movement - Protestants Uniting With Roman Catholics

A new generation of Christians has advanced itself into a 50-year- old ecumenical movement and is learning just how diverse faith groups are "being Christian together."
 
A hundred college students joined hundreds of participants from 80 Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Pentecostal, Anglican, and Evangelical denominations and organizations over the past several days to discuss the progress of Christian unity and its future.

"I think it's very good to see this fresh new wave of young scholars interested in talking with each other about what they find in common and what distinctives they bring to the understanding of Christian faith," commented Wesley M. Pattilo, associate general secretary for Communication at the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) - a network of 35 various faith groups that constitute 45 million members across the nation.

Noted church historian and Lutheran pastor Dr. Martin Marty addressed the growing number of constituents in the ecumenical dialogue over the last half century. Participants highlighted the progress between Protestant groups and the Roman Catholic Church.

His Eminence Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., theologian and author, praised the work of bilateral dialogues since the Second Vatican Council. He said decades of conversation between Roman Catholic and Orthodox, Anglican and Orthodox, Lutheran and Roman Catholic, just to name a few, "have been of immense value for dispelling past prejudices, for identifying real but hitherto unrecognized agreements, and for enabling parties to see that they can say more together than they previously deemed possible."

Just last summer at the 19th World Methodist Conference, Lutherans, Roman Catholics and Methodists signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification - a 1999 document that articulates a common understanding of justification by God's grace through faith in Christ - marking a major achievement in ecumenical dialogue.

"We are becoming Christian together," Marty suggested in his address last week at the Faith and Order conference, according to the NCC News Service.



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 July 23 - Evangelicals, Muslims start rare dialogue
 Article: Ecumenical Movement - Christianity Uniting With Other Religions

WASHINGTON - They sat facing each other, 14 evangelical preachers on one side, 12 U.S- based Arab diplomats on the other. Nabil Fahmy, the Egyptian ambassador to the U.S., listened as introductions began, and he found himself amazed.

"Robertson, Falwell, Youssef. ... I had heard these names before," Fahmy later recounted, "and I have to admit I was surprised they were here."

The initiative launched at that July 2 meeting came as a surprise to many. The evangelical community is known for its support of Israel, and many of its most outspoken leaders, such as Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell, have made incendiary comments about the Muslim world. But in recent months, an unusual rapprochement has begun between these two powerful communities, and the sons of some of those same pastors are participating.

Both sides have a lot to gain from a thaw. At a time when the evangelical leadership is seeking new outlets for influence, both domestically and abroad, it provides the possibility of an entree into the Arab world. For the representatives of the Arab-Muslim world, it offers the potential for improving relations with a previously hostile community as well as with Americans in general.

"These interfaith dialogues often take a long time to produce any tangible results," said John Green, a senior fellow at The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
"The evangelicals have had similar dialogues with the Jewish community and with Roman Catholics. The impediments to cooperation between evangelicals and Muslims are much larger, but more understanding could have a much greater effect."

 



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 July 24 - Cities And Economy Under Threat, Tourists Despair In Britain's Worst Floods In Memory
 Article: Signs Of The Last Times

Oxford (AFP) England

The fate of more English cities, towns and villages hung in the balance Tuesday as emergency crews built up defences against rising waters during Britain's worst floods in living memory. Queen Elizabeth II said she was "shocked and deeply concerned" by the floods across central and western England in a message of support to the hundreds of thousands of people affected by them, aides at Buckingham Palace said. 
 
"It was very difficult to predict exactly how the floods would affect the area. These were extraordinary events," Michael Ellam told reporters.

It left at least 350,000 homes without running water and 50,000 without power, but supplies were being restored.

Benn said some 140,000 people remained without running water after the treatment plant at Tewkesbury flooded, but he added that tanker trucks were shipping water to residents.

Britain's worst floods for 60 years could cost the nation's insurance sector up to 3.0 billion pounds (4.5 billion euros, 6.2 billion dollars), analysts said on Tuesday.

"The recent flooding is clearly catastrophic for those directly affected," Capital Economics analyst Paul Dales said.



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 News Alert - July 25 - Text of Pope Benedict XVI's message for World Youth Day
 Article: Rman Catholic Church And The Last Days

Comment from Understand The Times:
Pope Benedict is calling for a new pentecost (Catholics call this the Second Pentecost) as he continues to promote the "New Evangelization." The stage is being set for the great delusion that will unite Christianity and eventually other religions as "lying signs and wonders" deceive "even the elect."
 
The following is the message of the Pope Benedict XVI to the young people of the world on the occasion of the XXIII World Youth Day:

My dear young friends!

The underlying theme of the spiritual preparation for our meeting in Sydney is the Holy Spirit and mission. In 2006 we focused our attention on the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth. Now in 2007 we are seeking a deeper understanding of the Spirit of Love. We will continue our journey towards World Youth Day 2008 by reflecting on the Spirit of Fortitude and Witness that gives us the courage to live according to the gospel and to proclaim it boldly.

Therefore it is very important that each one of you young people - in your communities, and together with those responsible for your education - should be able to reflect on this principal agent of salvation history, namely the Holy Spirit or the spirit of Jesus. In this way you will be able to achieve the following lofty goals: to recognize the spirit's true identity, principally by listening to the word of God in the revelation of the Bible; to become clearly aware of his continuous, active presence in the life of the church, especially as you rediscover that the Holy Spirit is the "soul", the vital breath of Christian life itself, through the sacraments of Christian initiation - baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist; to grow thereby in an understanding of Jesus that becomes ever deeper and more joyful and, at the same time, to put the gospel into practice at the dawn of the third millennium.

We are the fruits of this mission of the church through the working of the Holy Spirit. We carry within us the seal of the father's love in Jesus Christ which is the Holy Spirit. Let us never forget this, because the spirit of the Lord always remembers every individual, and wishes, particularly through you young people, to stir up the wind and fire of a new Pentecost in the world.

You might ask, how can we allow ourselves to be renewed by the Holy Spirit and to grow in our spiritual lives? The answer, as you know, is this: we can do so by means of the Sacraments, because faith is born and is strengthened within us through the Sacraments, particularly those of Christian initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist, which are complementary and inseparable (cf. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1285). This truth concerning the three Sacraments that initiate our lives as Christians is perhaps neglected in the faith life of many Christians. They view them as events that took place in the past and have no real significance for today, like roots that lack life-giving nourishment. It happens that many young people distance themselves from their life of faith after they have received confirmation. There are also young people who have not even received this sacrament. Yet it is through the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and then, in an ongoing way, the Eucharist, that the Holy Spirit makes us children of the father, brothers and sisters of Jesus, members of his church, capable of a true witness to the gospel, and able to savor the joy of faith.

I therefore invite you to reflect on what I am writing to you. Nowadays it is particularly necessary to rediscover the sacrament of confirmation and its important place in our spiritual growth. Those who have received the sacraments of baptism and confirmation should remember that they have become "temples of the spirit": God lives within them. Always be aware of this and strive to allow the treasure within you to bring forth fruits of holiness. Those who are baptized but have not yet received the sacrament of confirmation, prepare to receive it knowing that in this way you will become "complete" Christians, since confirmation perfects baptismal grace (cf. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1302-1304).

I would like to add a word about the Eucharist. In order to grow in our Christian life, we need to be nourished by the body and blood of Christ. In fact, we are baptized and confirmed with a view to the Eucharist (cf. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1322; Sacramentum Caritatis, 17). "Source and summit" of the church's life, the Eucharist is a "perpetual Pentecost" since every time we celebrate Mass we receive the Holy Spirit who unites us more deeply with Christ and transforms us into him. My dear young friends, if you take part frequently in the eucharistic celebration, if you dedicate some of your time to adoration of the blessed sacrament, the source of love which is the Eucharist, you will acquire that joyful determination to dedicate your lives to following the gospel. At the same time it will be your experience that whenever our strength is not enough, it is the Holy Spirit who transforms us, filling us with his strength and making us witnesses suffused by the missionary fervor of the risen Christ.

My dear young friends, I hope to see very many of you in Sydney in July 2008. It will be a providential opportunity to experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit's power. Come in great numbers in order to be a sign of hope and to give appreciative support to the church community in Australia that is preparing to welcome you. For the young people of the country that will host you, it will be an exceptional opportunity to proclaim the beauty and joy of the gospel to a society that is secularized in so many ways. Australia, like all of Oceania, needs to rediscover its Christian roots. In the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Ecclesia in Oceania, Pope John Paul II wrote: "Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the church in Oceania is preparing for a new evangelization of peoples who today are hungering for Christ.... A new evangelization is the first priority for the church in Oceania" (no. 18).

I invite you to give time to prayer and to your spiritual formation during this last stage of the journey leading to the XXIII World Youth Day, so that in Sydney you will be able to renew the promises made at your baptism and confirmation. Together we shall invoke the Holy Spirit, confidently asking God for the gift of a new Pentecost for the church and for humanity in the third millennium.

May Mary, united in prayer with the Apostles in the Upper Room, accompany you throughout these months and obtain for all young Christians a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit to set their hearts on fire. Remember: the church has confidence in you! We pastors, especially, pray that you may love and lead others to love Jesus more and more and that you may follow him faithfully. With these sentiments I bless you all with deep affection.



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 July 25 - Pope: Creation vs. evolution clash an 'absurdity'
 Article: Creation/Evolution - Misc.

MSNBC News Services

LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI said the debate raging in some countries - particularly the United States and his native Germany - between creationism and evolution was an "absurdity," saying that evolution can coexist with faith.

The pontiff, speaking as he was concluding his holiday in northern Italy, also said that while there is much scientific proof to support evolution, the theory could not exclude a role by God.

"They are presented as alternatives that exclude each other," the pope said. "This clash is an absurdity because on one hand there is much scientific proof in favor of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life and being as such."

 



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 July 24 - Return of Latin mass sparks old vestment hunt
 Article: Roman Catholic Church And The Last Days

ROME (Reuters) - A decree this month by Pope Benedict allowing wider use of the old Latin mass has spawned a veritable cottage industry in helping Roman Catholic priests learn how to celebrate the centuries-old rite.

A Web site, helpline, DVDs and a training course at Oxford are among resources springing up for priests who want to celebrate the old-style mass but aren't sure which vestments to wear or where to get them, when to genuflect, how deep to bow, or how to clasp their hands in prayer.

"There will be priests who will say: 'Oh my God, I want to celebrate the old rite but I'm not sure of one or two things'," said Pietro Siffi, a 37-old Italian devotee of the old Latin rite who plans to offer free online and phone support.

"We will help them find the answer."

Before the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Catholic mass was an elaborate ritual led in Latin by a priest who faced east with the rest of the congregation, meaning they faced his back.

Vatican II reduced the formality and had the priest face the faithful to pray in their local language.

The old rite also includes hair-splitting specifics on which vestments can be used, what material they must be made of, where the candles should be placed on the altar, and the precise position of the priest's hands at various points in the liturgy.



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We hope the Weekly News In Review has been a blessing to you.

In Jesus,
Roger Oakland


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