Football: Money troubles raises corruption risk
Posted: 19 May 2012 1817 hrs
ZAGREB: There are thousands of players like Mario Cizmek in football, professionals who never fulfilled their early promise yet whose passion for the game takes them to unfashionable clubs to earn a living from the game they love.
Cizmek represented his native Croatia at under-20 and under-21 level. A diagnosis of diabetes halted his rise and he never made it to the big leagues. Instead he became a journeyman, playing for clubs as far afield as Israel and Iceland.
The 36-year-old midfielder, though, has since made a name for himself for the wrong reasons after admitting involvement in fixing eight matches in 2010, raising the prospect of time in jail and a ban from playing the sport for life.
Cizmek said his life started to unravel after his club, Croatia Sesvete, failed to pay his salary, which amounted to roughly 3,000 euros (about $3,900) a month.
"A month or two is not a problem but I did not get my wages for a full year," he told AFP.
He owed the state about 35,000 euros (dollars) in taxes and social contributions and did not want to ask friends and family for loans anymore.
"You lose your dignity and become an easy target," he said, revealing how the organisers of the match-fixing worked on cultivating susceptible players for months.
Cizmek said he received between 2,000 and 3,000 euros ($2,600-3,900) a match and was one of 15 players and football officials sentenced by a Zagreb court last December for rigging eight Croatian First Division (HNL) matches.
For that, he was sentenced to 10 months in jail in the country's first trial of its kind. He is now waiting for Croatia's Supreme Court to give its final ruling. If it finds against him, he will go to prison.
Cizmek stressed that the difficulties he faced did not justify his behaviour and now wants his experience to serve as an example to young players tempted to follow the same path.
"You get just a bit and you can lose almost everything," he said. "Football was my whole life and I lost it," he said.
"You feel so stupid and miserable... thinking, 'How is it possible that I'm doing this after a honest career spanning 20 years?'"
Cizmek, though, is not an isolated case in the global game.
In Turkey, nearly 100 people, including officials and players from top sides like Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Besiktas, are currently on trial over claims that at least 19 first and second division matches were fixed during the 2010-11 season.
Italian prosecutors are also grappling with fresh claims of graft, six years after current Serie A champions Juventus were stripped of two league titles and relegated to Serie B for trying to influence refereeing appointments.
Corruption allegations have also rocked the fledgling league in China, while the probe in Croatia was launched in late 2009 after German police provided information about match-rigging and betting fraud across Europe.
Football's world governing body FIFA has launched a new drive against corruption in the game, including an appeal for assistance to Interpol and the establishment of protection programmes for those who blow the whistle on match-fixing.
FIFA estimates that between 400 and 500 billion euros are generated each year by betting on sport -- both legal and illegal -- with between five and 15 billion euros stemming from fixed matches, making it hugely attractive for organised crime.
But in a special "Black Book", the global football players union FIFPro said there was "a clear link between the non-payment of wages and match-fixing".
It found that more than 40 per cent of professional players in 12 Eastern European countries did not have their salaries paid on time.
Cizek said the reality of fixing matches is more mundane than simply making mistakes on the pitch and with most first division sides in Croatia struggling financially, it's easy to see how players can succumb to temptation.
"There were eight of us (from the same club involved in match-fixing) on the pitch, it was enough just not to play with 100 percent effort," he explained.
Marketing and sponsorship income have dropped dramatically in less high-profile leagues like Croatia due to the economic crisis, while poor quality games and fans turned off by a string of scandals has left clubs playing to almost empty stadiums.
Anti-graft prosecutors in Croatia suspect several top football officials of taking bribes and fixing matches.
"The current situation within Croatian football is the most critical ever" since the former Yugoslav republic gained independence in 1991, said leading sports journalist Robert Matteoni.
"The main problem is poor management of the federation and clubs, which are on verge of financial collapse."
The Croatian league has vowed to slim down from 16 clubs currently to just 10 by 2014.
"Simply, Croatia's economic environment cannot support 16 professional clubs," added Croatian football federation (HNS) secretary-general Zorislav Srebric.
To tackle the problem, Croatia's centre-left government is drafting a new law on sports aimed at bringing more transparency in management and money flows.
Changes in the football federation leadership are also imminent, media reports have suggested.
- AFP/fa
Better Business Planning, Inc. Connects its Local Community Through Social Media - YAHOO!
With the unveiling of the agency’s Illinois insurance blog, the team at Better Business Planning hopes to better serve both the insurance and social needs of its neighbors.
Itaska, Illinois (PRWEB) May 19, 2012
Local Illinois insurance agency, Better Business Planning, Inc., has proudly launched an interactive social media strategy geared toward strengthening both business and personal bonds within the community. With the unveiling of the agency’s Illinois insurance blog, the team at Better Business Planning hopes to better serve both the insurance and social needs of its neighbors.The fresh new blog will allow members of the surrounding Illinois community to conveniently access relevant insurance advice, as well as local community news. From video clips and accompanying links to personal greetings and insurance tips, the innovative Better Business Planning blog will provide Illinois companies with truly valuable information. The blog includes access to content regarding both general and specific insurance requirements. Whether individuals need to stay safe on the road with Illinois vehicle insurance or a company wants to obtain Illinois group health insurance to save its employees money, Better Business Planning will use its expertise to effectively address these needs.
This revitalized approach to connecting with local consumers coincides with the agency’s mission to not only continue to serve their loyal customers but to expand its service for all of those in need of reliable coverage. The fresh, new blog also comes with collaborative links to the agency’s Facebook and Twitter, while allowing visitors to grab hold of advanced insurance knowledge by subscribing to the Better Business Planning RSS feed. Current and potential customers can now receive in-depth, community-centered insurance information right at their fingertips.
Better Business Planning’s use of social media will bring a modern feel to the way the agency engages with and markets to the community. Whether businesses want to look into Illinois group health insurance or simply want to know what’s going on in their neighborhood, they can find the answers they are looking for with Better Business Planning.
About Better Business Planning, Inc.:
In 1977, Better Business Planning was founded at a kitchen table in a western suburb of Chicago with the mission of providing quality Illinois insurance solutions. Through the years, the agency has perfected its craft and now offers a variety of group insurance coverages throughout the entire state of Illinois. The staff at Better Business Planning is dedicated to servicing clients’ specialized Illinois insurance needs. We continue to strive to improve the quality and affordability of benefits for all of our customers and their employees.
Jennifer Nottage
Astonish Results
(401) 921-6220
Email Information
Xpress Money may use the UAE as trial market for transaction service - Zawya.com
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Gulf News
Dubai The UAE could be one of two trial markets as the UK-headquartered payment services company Xpress Money makes a move into the individual to business (or business to individual as the case may be) transaction space. Its home market could be the other test market with the trials expected to start post-summer.
“There are very few payments facilitators who are already offering such a service capability and those who are got into it quite recently,” said Sudhesh Giriyan, who heads the regional operations at Xpress Money. “By getting in ourselves at the earliest we expect to narrow any advantage the others may have.
“As of now, we are trying to feel the market out by talking to institutional clients.”
Sources at local remittance houses reckon this is the way forward for the industry. Having institutional clients readily translates into substantial funds flowing through the remittance pipeline and that can only be a good thing for all industry players.
Xpress Money — which came into being in 1999 — only services individual to individual payments, with the UAE — where it has 350 locations operated by various exchange houses — and the GCC being one of its top transactional markets globally. Last year it entered the US and more recently Australia. The plans are to extend coverage to Latin America.
Widely rated
That is why the company wants to get into payment settlements involving individual to business and vice-versa. This category is widely rated within the industry as the next big thing.
Such services could be utilised to make an airline booking, whereby a customer can do the needful at a physical location where the Xpress Money service is available, or for a business to send salary contributions to outstation employees.
“We are formulating the systems and will also require having in place strict compliance practices,” said Giriyan. “Also, future corporate clients would need to be assured that we can provide optimum coverage through physical locations and that’s being addressed. We will also need to maintain bank accounts.
“It’s different to the typical compliance requirements for individual to individual and quite exhaustive.”
Not that remittance volumes involving individuals are showing any signs of slacking off. The estimated volumes last year through the GCC corridor were estimated at $76 billion (Dh278.9 billion). Saudi Arabia alone would account for more than $25 billion, enough to place it among the Top Three worldwide.
“But it’s still the US that is the biggest remittance market by far and the recession does not seem to have had any impact,” said Giriyan. “Last year it was estimated at $51.6 billion and it’s not difficult to see why — the whole of Latin America depends on individual remittances coming out of the US and so are many markets in Asia.
“China, India and Mexico remain the biggest recipients of remittance transactions, which goes to show that customer to customer volumes are not saturated. But customer to business opens up a whole new stream of opportunities.”
By Manoj Nair?Associate Editor
© Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
DTI Business Registration Grows 8% - Manila Bulleting Online
MANILA, Philippines — Business registration in 2011 was up 8 percent over the previous year indicating that more Filipinos are into the entrepreneurial mode this year.
Data from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) showed there were a total of 318,920 businesses registration in 2011 compared to 294,410 in 2010.
The significant increase in business name (BN) registrations last year was attributed to the DTI’s electronic Business Name Registration System or EBNRS which was launched in October 2010. The EBNRS automated the registration processes which led to a faster and more efficient handling of transactions.
“The EBNRS is one of the Department’s anti-red tape initiatives in line with the government’s policy of streamlining the bureaucratic processes and curbing corruption in the frontline agencies," said DTI Secretary Gregory L. Domingo.
Domingo has emphasized the government’s effort to improve the ease of doing business in the country by undertaking reforms such as automation of business registration processes to attract more investments in the country.
“We are continuously studying our processes to simplify business registration and license applications to improve the Philippine business environment. We are closely working with other government offices and the local government units or LGUs to make business easier in the country,” Domingo said.
The application through the EBNRS only takes 15 minutes, and only requires a one-page application form and one signature compared to the previous application scheme. This has drastically improved the process by cutting the length of time, the number of documents and signatures required to register a business name.
With EBNRS in place, entrepreneurs can get their DTI Business Name Registration Certificate in less than 30 minutes. “The automated system not only made the transactions easier for businesses but also for the Department,” said Domingo.
Registration of business name with DTI is only the first step for an entrepreneur to start a business. Other regulatory agencies require businesses to register, as well as the local government units (LGUs) to issue them permits and other licenses to operate. (BCM)
Valley business on the brink - Worcester Telegram & Gazette
The lack of a plan across communities hampers development and mires daily life with traffic hassles and long slogs between housing, shopping and work. Development that does come may be haphazard.
“There are so many infrastructure issues that are coming to light now. Developers can go to another town and have it all ready,” said Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jeannie Hebert, who spearheads economic development in the valley.
“What we're talking about here is (an opportunity for) development by choice, not by chance,” said Vera L. Kolias, principal planner for the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission, or CMRPC.
CMRPC launched a Blackstone Valley Prioritization Project this spring, focusing on identifying economic development, transportation, workforce and preservation priorities in eight of 11 towns in the Blackstone Valley. Grafton, Upton and Hopedale were included in a similar project CMRPC recently undertook with the 495/MetroWest Development Compact.
Lawrence B. Adams, CMRPC executive director, said that coordinated, regional plans for development would be most likely to get state and federal grants that can make or break a project. “The state's role is to identify where their investments will have the best return,” he said.
CMRPC staff and partners from the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce and the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission are meeting over the next few weeks with planning boards and officials in Sutton, Mendon, Northbridge, Douglas, Uxbridge and Blackstone to target priority areas in their towns. More regional events, including a public forum to bring together the issues from each town, will be held in June.
While planners talk of traffic corridors, spot locations, expedited permitting and infrastructure — words that make the average citizen's eyes glaze over — it comes down to quality of life.
Job creation, for example, creates more travel and congestion if people don't have public transportation or housing nearby; and if you build housing, you have to provide for services that families who live in those houses need, explained Mr. Adams. At the same time, you don't want to harm the character of small towns.
These impacts of growth cross town lines.
Shopping is one of the regional needs both created by and affecting growth.
Cold Spring Brook Place, a mixed-use retail parcel that would include a grocery store and bank, has sat undeveloped along Route 146 in Sutton for a decade, an example of hurdles facing business development. Originally delayed by lack of water and sewer and the costly requirements for roadway improvements, and then a victim of the economy and the former developer's bankruptcy, the site may get a boost soon.
Two years ago, the state committed to funding $6 million to widen the road and improve traffic flow on that section of Route 146, removing one major headache from a new developer.
Jennifer S. Hager, planning director for Sutton, said a purchase and sale agreement was recently signed for Cold Spring Brook Place.
“It's basically about state funding,” Ms. Hager said about the benefits of looking at development from a regional perspective. “Now the developer doesn't have to shell out $6 million worth of improvements.
“The regional impact (of Cold Spring Brook Place) put it in line for funding, so the state gets the biggest bang for the buck. The (Blackstone Valley Prioritization) project will identify areas like that.”
Michael G. DeCaro, president and CEO of Classic Envelope Inc., has been counting on regional development support since he moved his business from the Whitinsville section of Northbridge across Route 146 to Douglas last month, a move that allowed him to add at least 25 new jobs. A crucial element to bringing in the infrastructure Classic Envelope requires, including natural gas, sewerage and larger water lines, is a plan to build a road between Gilboa Street, near his plant in the former Hayward-Schuster mill and Whitins Road in Sutton, across from the Sutton Industrial Park.
Once the road is built, “Then you get gas lines, sewer lines, you can bring in an industrial park and bring in jobs for people; hopefully transit, too,” Mr. DeCaro said.
The West Side Connector Road, as the plan is called, would open up 300 acres of industrial and office-zoned land in Douglas and Sutton, without changing the rural character of the towns. It has received preliminary approval from the Sutton, Douglas and Northbridge planning boards and conservation commissions, according to Douglas Town Engineer William Cundiff, but the towns are waiting for a cost estimate from consulting engineers. There are other pieces of putting together a multitown project that need to occur before grants can be sought, too, and the process, according to Mr. DeCaro, is frustratingly slow.
Craig L. Blais, president and CEO of Worcester Business Development Corporation, said his nonprofit organization has offered to work with the towns like it did with developing CenTech Park in Grafton and Shrewsbury. He said a project like this “needs someone to quarterback it, to get up everyday to pursue grants.
“That's one area that we could make a difference in.”
Mr. Blais said that having a regional development “roadmap” that is expected to come out of the Blackstone Valley Prioritization Project will be useful in grant requests to show that both private developers and local communities will benefit from a project.
“Coming into a community knowing that this process has occurred adds to predictability,” Ms. Kolias said. “Time is money.”
Ms. Hebert said, “This project is going to open doors to a lot of communities.”
CMRPC plans to conduct a similar project later this summer with 13 towns arcing around Worcester from Southbridge to Boylston.
A schedule of Blackstone Valley Prioritization Project public meetings can be found at www.cmrpc.org.
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Passage of money measures part of statewide trend - Statesman Journal
How they fared
Summary of how property tax measures fared in Tuesdays election, courtesy of the League of Oregon Cities.
CITIES (7)
Albany: Levy for public safety, 54 percent yes
Bay City: Levy for fire protection, 84 percent yes
Dundee: Bond for fire station, 59 percent yes
Forest Grove: Levy for public safety and community services, 61 percent yes
Hillsboro: Levy for police, fire and parks, 78 percent yes
Stayton: Levy for library, pool and parks, 66 percent yes
Union: Levy for library, 65 percent yes
COUNTIES (7)
Benton County: Levy for proposed Alsea human services district, 65 percent yes
Clatsop County: Bond for jail improvements, 56 percent no
Josephine County: Levy for criminal justice operations, 57 percent no
Malheur County: Levy for extension service district, 56 percent yes
Multnomah County: Levy for library operations, 85 percent yes
Tillamook County: Levy for library operations, 53 percent yes
Tillamook County: Levy for veterans office, 82 percent yes
FIRE DISTRICTS (12)
Dexter: Levy for equipment and operations, 62 percent yes
Dundee: Bond for fire station, 58 percent yes
Estacada: Bond for fire station, 50 percent no
Illinois Valley: Levy for equipment, 55 percent yes
Junction City: Levy for operations, 60 percent yes
Knappa-Svensen-Burnside: Bond for equipment and improvements, 55 percent no
Lookingglass: New district with tax rate, 77 percent no
Lyons: Bond for equipment, 52 percent no
Marion County 1: Levy for operations, 58 percent yes
Pleasant Hill: Bond for fire station and equipment, 51 percent no
Sheridan: Levy for operations, 62 percent yes
Sublimity: Bond for equipment, 64 percent yes
SCHOOLS (9)
Banks: Bond for maintenance, 50 percent yes
Canby: Levy for operations, 59 percent no
Central Curry: Levy for operations, 56 percent no
David Douglas: Bond for construction, 65 percent yes
Jefferson County: Bond for construction, 55 percent yes
Klamath Falls: Levy for operations, 57 percent yes
Myrtle Point: Bond for maintenance, 51 percent yes
North Douglas: Bond for upgrades, 67 percent yes
Sweet Home: Levy for pool operations, 51 percent yes
OTHERS (5)
Deschutes County: Levy for proposed 911 district, 52 percent no
Josephine Soil & Water Conservation: Levy for operations. 55 percent no
Umpqua Community College: Bond for construction, 71 percent no
Union County Vector Control: Levy for operations, 76 percent yes
Western Lane Ambulance: Levy for operations, 54 percent yes
Staycations offer more options for less money - Wave 3
Casino money ready to flow - Columbus Dispatch
Guards await the arrival of the first players at the downtown Horseshoe Casino Cleveland before its opening on Monday.
Pro-gambling interests have invested heavily on a simple bet: There is money to be made in Ohio.
Construction costs alone for four casinos will approach $1.5 billion. Millions more were spent convincing Ohioans that casino gambling would give the state a much-needed economic jolt — a campaign debt that as of January was still being paid off.
As the state’s first casino opened in Cleveland on Monday, a review by the Dayton Daily News showed that as of January, subsidiaries of Penn National Gaming Inc. and Rock Gaming were still making contributions to the group that led the 2009 campaign to amend the Ohio constitution and allow casinos in Ohio.
Penn National and Rock each will develop two of the Ohio casinos, which will open in stages through the spring of 2013.
“I don’t know the casino business, but I do know a lot of money flows through it,” state Sen. Bill Beagle, R-Tipp City, said. “I don’t know if they would have invested all that money into a campaign if they felt the risks outweighed the benefits.”
The opening of the $350 million Horseshoe Casino Cleveland will be followed by the $320 million Hollywood Casino Toledo, the $400 million Hollywood Casino Columbus and the $400 million Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati.
The building bonanza follows one of the most-expensive issue campaigns in the history of Ohio, as gambling companies sold voters on a promise of jobs if allowed to open casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.
According to campaign-finance reports filed in January with the Ohio secretary of state, Rock and Penn subsidiaries made $1.8 million in in-kind contributions to the Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee, the political-action committee that led the 2009 Ohio Issue 3 campaign effort. The donation of anything of value is considered an in-kind contribution, such as if a donor pays a consultant’s fee or a printing bill for services provided to a campaign.
Bob Tenenbaum, spokesman for the PAC and for Penn National, which is building the casinos in Toledo and Columbus, said the contributions are paying off obligations incurred during the campaign. State records show those contributions funded campaign strategy, voter outreach and consulting fees.
“This is a significant amount of money, but Ohio is a large state,” said Tenenbaum, whose company also is considering relocating a harness-racing track to Dayton.
Supporters of the ballot issue overall contributed a little more than $47 million in cash and $18 million for in-kind services to the PAC from 2009 through December 2011.
State Rep. Clayton Luckie, D-Dayton, who supported the casino ballot issue and favors allowing slot machines at Ohio’s seven horse-racing tracks, said the campaign contributions were private funds, and the companies’ prerogative to make.
“It was their money. I’m glad they chose to spend it in Ohio,” Luckie said. “Our constituents were gambling anyway in other states. Now, we have more control over it.”
No magic bullet
The billion-dollar bet that gambling companies placed on bringing casinos to Ohio shows how convinced they are there is money to be made here. But, state officials and economists say gambling alone won’t create the economic windfall some expect.
Overall, Ohio’s four casinos and video lottery terminals proposed for the state’s horse tracks are expected to generate revenue of about $2.7 billion a year, said Rob Nichols, spokesman for Gov. John Kasich. The state’s estimated annual take: $475 million a year from the casinos and $425 million from the slot machines, once all are operational.
“It’s helpful. Is it a magic bullet? Absolutely not,” Nichols said. “Ohio can’t expect gaming to lead the state back to prosperity. It’s going to take more than that.”
Peter Vanderhart, a professor of economics at Bowling Green State University, said he doesn’t think the casinos will have a dramatic impact on the state’s economy, although they will keep some Ohioans from spending their entertainment dollars at out-of-state casinos.
“I wouldn’t call it a bold new era,” Vanderhart said. “At the end of the day, these are service and entertainment jobs. It’s not like manufacturing, where you export a product that brings money back.”
Beagle said he thinks Ohioans have reason to be optimistic, as it appears the state is turning an economic corner. While it remains an unknown whether casinos will be the economic engine that supporters predicted, Beagle said the industry is creating jobs.
It was that prospect that drove many voters to support the casino issue in 2009, which was the state’s fifth major gambling referendum in two decades. A telephone survey of 687 voters, conducted a month before the election by the University of Cincinnati’s Institute for Policy Research for Ohio’s major newspapers, found a majority (53 percent) of casino backers cited the prospect of new jobs as the most important reason for their support of the issue.
The promise to voters made by the Issue 3 campaign: the casinos would create 34,000 jobs — 19,000 construction jobs and 15,000 permanent jobs.
Last week, Nichols said the state did not have an updated jobs number for the casinos, and Tenenbaum said it still is too early to tell how many jobs will be created.
But, he added, “We said 1,200 permanent jobs at the Toledo (casino), and we’ve already surpassed that and we’re not even open.”
Social consequences
Beagle said that voters made it clear they were ready for casinos in Ohio when they passed Issue 3.
“I have hope for great success for the casinos,” he said. “I’m optimistic for the economic benefits, but I also understand there are social costs.”
Ohio lawmakers are preparing for the potential social impact of gambling on communities by earmarking funds for addiction services, Beagle said. The version of HB 386, an overhaul of state gambling laws passed by the state Senate on Wednesday, would give the Ohio Lottery Commission discretion on how much video-slot-machine revenue to earmark — up to 1 percent — for gambling-addiction services.
A conference committee of House and Senate members will meet to reconcile differences between the two versions of the bill.
Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering, said she’s concerned about the proliferation of gambling in Ohio, beyond the four casinos.
“My sense is that every time we turn around, we’re discussing another venue: video lottery terminals at racetracks, charity card rooms,” Lehner said. “My concern is that we’re seeing an explosion of gambling without paying any real attention to the consequences.”
She said the state needs to pay more attention to gambling addictions and crime related to gaming.
Robert Walgate of the American Policy Roundtable, a conservative, anti-gambling group, has been making the case for three decades that casino gambling and good government don’t mix. Currently, the Roundtable leads a number of plaintiffs in a suit filed to enforce the constitutional language of Ohio Ballot Issue 3.
“Once voters say yes to ‘limited’ casino gambling, the industry takes yes to never mean no,” Walgate said. “Sadly, the governor and Statehouse politicians are only too willing to please the new casino overlords. The voters have been kicked to the curb along with the constitution.”
josmith@DaytonDailyNews.com
Local business - Medford Mail Tribune
E.N. Lippert Co. is expanding flooring store to Grants Pass
E.N. Lippert Co. will open a No Frills Flooring store in Grants Pass in June.
The Medford-based business will move into a 7,000-square-foot space and employ four in Grants Pass Shopping Center, 1100 N.E. E St.
The original No Frills Flooring store on Rossanley Drive in Medford opened in 1996. Lippert Co. also owns and operates Lipperts Carpet One stores in Medford and Grants Pass.
Reverse mortgage class will be offered Tuesday, May 22
Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Southern Oregon is offering a reverse mortgage class on Tuesday, May 22. Reverse mortgages are for people 62 years or older who want to tap into the equity of their homes. The class begins at 5 p.m. at 820 Crater Lake Ave., Suite 202, Medford.
The registration fee is $10 per person. Pre-registration is required. Call 541-779-2273.
Compiled from staff reports
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