Monday, April 27, 2026

Snapchat stops promoting Donald Trump’s account

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Snapchat says it has stopped promoting President Donald Trump’s account.

As a result, it will no longer feature in the app’s Discover section. The firm said it would “not amplify voices who incite racial violence and injustice”.

The decision follows Mr Trump saying that “vicious dogs” and “ominous weapons” would have been used on protesters if they had breached the White House fence.

It follows Twitter’s decision to hide some of the president’s posts.

Snapchat’s parent company Snap said: “Racial violence and injustice have no place in our society and we stand together with all who seek peace, love, equality, and justice in America.”

The move is likely to feed into tensions between the White House and social media, which escalated when Twitter added fact-checking tags to some of the President’s tweets last week.

The president subsequently signed an executive order seeking to curb legal protections offered to the industry.

Twitter later hid one of the president’s tweets for breaking its rules on “glorifying violence”.

Snapchat’s action will also put further pressure on Facebook.

Its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has resisted internal and external calls to intervene in regard to posts on its platform. Mr Zuckerberg has said the firm’s free speech principles mean the president’s posts should be left up unaltered.

President Trump has more than one million followers on Snapchat, according to the Bloomberg news agency. It said the app is seen as being a “key battleground” by Mr Trump’s re-election campaign because it offers a way to reach first-time voters.

The president’s account will not be suspended or deleted.

However, the fact it will not feature in Discover means that his posts will only be seen by people who subscribe to or search for his account directly.

Snapchat based its decision on remarks Mr Trump had posted to Twitter rather than its own platform.

On Monday, Snap’s chief executive Evan Speigel had sent a memo to staff in which he detailed his views on the civil unrest sparked by the killing of George Floyd.

“Every minute we are silent in the face of evil and wrongdoing we are acting in support of evildoers,” Mr Speigel wrote.

“As for Snapchat, we simply cannot promote accounts in America that are linked to people who incite racial violence, whether they do so on or off our platform.”

“Our Discover content platform is a curated platform, where we decide what we promote,” he added.

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A.C.L.U. Sues Minneapolis, Claiming Police Tactics Violated Freedom of Press

Dozens of journalists covering the nationwide protests against racism and police brutality have said they were attacked, arrested, intimidated with weapons or shot with nonlethal projectiles while doing their jobs.

In response, the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota on Tuesday filed what is believed to be the first lawsuit accusing a city of abridging the constitutionally mandated freedom of the press.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Jared Goyette, a freelance journalist who has contributed to The Washington Post and The Guardian in recent days, named the City of Minneapolis along with several law enforcement officials as defendants. The A.C.L.U. is seeking class-action status for the suit, which was filed in Federal District Court in Minnesota.

The Minneapolis city attorney, Erik Nilsson, said in a statement Wednesday that “we will review the allegations and take them seriously.”

“We continue to support the First Amendment rights of everyone in Minneapolis,” he added.

According to the complaint, Mr. Goyette was reporting on a protest in south Minneapolis last Wednesday when he was shot in the face with what the suit described as “less-lethal ballistic ammunition.” At the time, he was helping an injured person, and there was no warning before the projectile was fired, the suit said. Mr. Goyette was identifiable as a member of the press by a camera attached to a stand and his notepad, the suit said.

“These acts would chill a reasonable person from continuing to engage in a constitutionally protected activity,” the lawsuit said. “These acts did, in fact, chill plaintiff and the plaintiff class from continuing to observe and record some events of public interest, including constitutionally protected demonstrations and the conduct of law enforcement officers on duty in a public place.”

Minneapolis, the city where George Floyd was killed while in police custody on May 25, has been the site of numerous protests. Many journalists who covered those demonstrations and others around the country told The New York Times that they were targeted by police officers while doing their jobs, even as they wore press badges or informed law enforcement officials that they were journalists.

The A.C.L.U. said this lawsuit would not be the last it would file on behalf of journalists who had been harmed while covering the protests.

“We will not let these official abuses go unanswered,” Brian Hauss, a lawyer with the A.C.L.U.’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, said in a statement. “This is the first of many lawsuits the A.C.L.U. intends to file across the country. Law enforcement officers who target journalists will be held accountable.”

Journalists are not immune to crowd-control orders, but the First Amendment is widely recognized to confer protections on the work of public documentation. Many cities, including Minneapolis, have seemingly recognized the special status of journalists by exempting them from the curfews that have gone into effect in recent days.

The A.C.L.U. lawsuit noted other journalists targeted by law enforcement in Minneapolis while covering recent protests, drawn from Twitter posts and news reports.

The defendants in the suit “interfered with the news media’s right to cover public events by refusing access to areas where events were unfolding and creating obstacles to the reporters’ movement about the city,” the lawsuit said. “These incidents constitute flagrant infringements on the constitutional rights of individual reporters, as well as the public’s interest in the dissemination of accurate information and accountability of government.”

The lawsuit asked for a declaration of constitutional violation and an injunction. It asserted that the defendants had retaliated against Mr. Goyette and other journalists for exercising their First Amendment rights; had unlawfully “seized” Mr. Goyette and others, under the Fourth Amendment, in their attacks; and denied them due process of law.

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3 More Former Cops Charged In The Killing Of George Floyd

Three more former Minnesota police officers have been charged in the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who died after an officer kneeled on his neck during an arrest.

The office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison charged Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng on Wednesday with aiding and abetting Floyd’s murder.

The Hennepin County prosecutor had already arrested Derek Chauvin, the former police officer seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck, last week, charging him with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Ellison’s office is also upgrading the charges against Chauvin to include second-degree murder without intent, in addition to the existing charges. Chauvin’s bail, which was previously set at $500,000, is now $1 million.

At a press conference in St. Paul on Wednesday, Ellison 

“This is a significant step forward on the road to justice, and we are gratified that this important action was brought before George Floyd’s body was laid to rest,” Ben Crump, an attorney for Floyd’s family, said in a statement.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) tapped Ellison, a former progressive congressman and civil rights attorney, on Sunday to take over the case from Hennepin County prosecutor Mike Freeman. Walz said he made the decision to put Ellison in charge after consulting with Floyd’s family.

Floyd was killed on May 25 after the officers arrested him for allegedly attempting to make a purchase at a store with a fraudulent $20 bill. As seen in video of Floyd’s arrest, Chauvin used his knee to hold Floyd down by the neck even as Floyd’s pleads, “Please, man, I can’t breathe.”

Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd, who was apparently in handcuffs, even after he stopped speaking and moving. He remained there as onlookers shouted at other officers to attend to Floyd.

In another video, three other officers can be seen crowding around Floyd, who is on the floor, during the arrest.

According to the Minneapolis Police Department, Floyd was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a hospital.

Floyd’s death, like other police killings of Black men, has sparked days of protests and public outcry in Minneapolis and across the country.

Chauvin, Thao, Lane and Keung were fired from the police department, but protesters and community leaders demanded that the officers be arrested and charged with murder.

The Minneapolis Police Department initially claimed that Floyd was physically resisting arrest. However, surveillance footage obtained by CNN which captured a portion of the arrest does not support that claim.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), a former Hennepin County prosecutor, hailed the decision on Twitter as “another important step for justice.” 

The Fraternal Order of Police denounced Floyd’s arrest and killing in an official statement last week.

“I do not believe this incident should be allowed to define our profession or the Minneapolis Police Department, but there is no doubt that this incident has diminished the trust and respect our communities have for the men and women of law enforcement,” Fraternal Order of Police President Patrick Yoes said in a statement. 

“Based on the by-stander’s video from this incident, we witnessed a man in distress pleading for help,” Yoes said. “The fact that he was a suspect in custody is immaterial—police officers should at all times render aid to those who need it.  Police officers need to treat all of our citizens with respect and understanding and should be held to the very highest standards for their conduct.”

During an interview with CNN last week, Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, called for the protests to remain peaceful but he also said demonstrators were “torn and hurt because they’re tired of seeing Black men die. Constantly, over and over again.”

“These officers, they need to be arrested right now. They need to be arrested and held accountable about everything because these people want justice right now,” Philonise Floyd told CNN, calling for the death penalty.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.



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D.C. National Guard To Investigate Helicopter’s ‘Show Of Force’ Against Protesters

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Guard of the District of Columbia is investigating the use of one of its helicopters to make a “show of force” against protesters near the White House, while President Donald Trump is encouraging authorities to get tougher to quell the unrest over George Floyd’s death.

The helicopter, normally designated for use in medical evacuations, hovered low enough to create a deafening noise and spray protesters with rotor wash on Monday. The commanding general of the D.C. Guard, Maj. Gen. William Walker, said in a statement Wednesday that he directed the investigation, and officials

The investigation comes as the federal government has promised to maximize its law enforcement presence in the nation’s capital. Scores of heavily-armed federal officers in tactical gear have been on the district’s streets for days, after demonstrators set fires, broke store windows and stole items from the shelves and left police officers injured.

The Trump administration has made an effort to show a use of force in Washington. Hours before a 7 p.m. curfew on Tuesday, cars were being stopped at military checkpoints downtown, and a cavalry of armored military vehicles could be seen driving through the district.

Mayor Muriel Bowser said the administration had floated the idea of taking over the Metropolitan Police Department, a proposal she strongly rejected. She threatened to take legal action if the federal government attempted to do so.

Two Defense Department officials said the administration had ordered military aircraft to fly above Washington on Monday night as a “show of force” against demonstrators. They were protesting the death of Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis policeman pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after Floyd stopped moving and pleading for air. Police made over 300 arrests, mainly for violating the district’s curfew.

Earlier Monday evening, law enforcement officers on foot and horseback moved aggressively to clear protesters away from Lafayette Park near the White House before President Donald Trump walked to a nearby church for a photo opportunity.

After participating in the show of force, Arlington County in Virginia pulled out its officers, saying they were used “for a purpose not worthy of our mutual aid obligations.” County officials said in a statement their officers never wielded their batons and did not fire rubber bullets or tear gas.

After watching the scene unfold on live television, the police chief ordered all the officers to return to Virginia. Officials said they were reevaluating the mutual aid agreements to ensure officers “are never again put in a situation where they are asked to take action that is inconsistent with our values.”

The U.S. Park Police said it gave three warnings over a loudspeaker before clearing the area of protesters, some of whom authorities said were becoming violent, throwing projectiles and trying to grab weapons. The agency said it used smoke canisters and pepper balls to disperse the crowd.

Attorney General William Barr ordered law enforcement to clear the park and push back the perimeter around the White House when he arrived there Monday evening, before the president’s remarks, and that led to police using force to disperse protesters, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

Officials had decided the perimeter had to be moved by at least one full block, after fires were set in the park the night before, the person said. When Barr arrived, he was surprised it hadn’t been done and directed action to be taken, according to the person, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

In a Monday call with governors, Trump and Barr encouraged more aggressive action against those who cause violence during protests. Trump said he was “taking immediate presidential action to stop the violence and restore security and safety in America.”

The president urged governors to deploy the National Guard, which he credited with helping calm the situation Sunday night in Minneapolis, and demanded that similarly tough measures be taken in cities that also experienced spasms of violence, including New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

Between the protests and the response to the coronavirus pandemic, the National Guard has been deployed at its highest level in recent history, surpassing the number of troops sent to the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. More than 66,700 soldiers and airmen have been activated — 45,000 to assist with the pandemic and more than 17,000 to help with the protests.

The Justice Department had deployed agents from every one of its agencies, including the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team, an elite tactical unit, and riot teams from the Bureau of Prisons.

The Park Police and Secret Service have had dozens of officers out in riot gear in Washington for the last few nights, in addition to the Metropolitan Police Department. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other Homeland Security agencies were also dispatched.

Most of the protesters have been peaceful and tried to discourage violence. Trump, Barr and others have tried to blame some of the civil unrest on left-wing extremist groups, including antifa, and other “anarchists.” Short for anti-fascists, antifa is an umbrella term for far-left-leaning militant groups that resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations.

Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Lolita C. Baldor and Ashraf Khalil in Washington; James LaPorta in Delray Beach, Florida; and Sarah Blake Morgan in West Jefferson, North Carolina, contributed to this report.



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NFL QB: Drew Brees: ‘I Will Never Agree With Anybody Disrespecting The Flag’

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees will not be happy if players take a knee in protest during the 2020 season. Brees told Yahoo! Finance he viewed the gesture as disrespectful to the flag, which is something he “will never agree with.”

Brees, 41, also compared the sacrifices of those in the military to the sacrifices made by those who fought for civil rights.

“I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country. Let me just tell what I see or what I feel when the national anthem is played and when I look at the flag of the United States.

“I envision my two grandfathers, who fought for this country during World War II, one in the Army and one in the Marine Corp. Both risking their lives to protect our country and to try to make our country and this world a better place.

“So every time I stand with my hand over my heart looking at that flag and singing the national anthem, that’s what I think about. And in many cases, that brings me to tears, thinking about all that has been sacrificed. Not just those in the military, but for that matter, those throughout the civil rights movements of the ’60s, and all that has been endured by so many people up until this point. And is everything right with our country right now? No, it is not.

“We still have a long way to go. But I think what you do by standing there and showing respect to the flag with your hand over your heart, is it shows unity. It shows that we are all in this together, we can all do better and that we are all part of the solution.”

Brees’ comments about “disrespecting the flag” come days after Los Angeles Chargers coach Anthony Lynn explained how Colin Kaepernick’s protest was misunderstood. In a wide-ranging interview with LZ Granderson of the Los Angeles Times, Lynn explained Kaepernick was protesting criminal justice reform and police brutality, not the flag.

“People completely misunderstood Colin and what he was trying to do,” Lynn said. “People talked about disrespecting the flag . . . the flag covers a lot — patriotism and civil rights and other things. And Colin was speaking out against the injustice and a lot of people didn’t catch on to that because it was happening during the national anthem. They thought it was disrespectful to the flag.”

“I was surprised by the number of people who didn’t know why he was protesting. I got letters from people. I had people walk up to me and ask, ‘Coach, what are you going to do if someone on your team protests?’ And I had to explain to them that Colin is taking a knee for criminal justice [reform] and police brutality and once you broke it down, they were like, “Oh, we didn’t know that. We thought he was protesting the flag.” And that was the case for a lot of people I came across.”

Kaepernick was inspired to take a knee during the national anthem after speaking to Nate Boyer, a retired Army Green Beret.

The death of George Floyd, and the protests surrounding his death, has sparked conversation over whether more NFL players will take a knee in 2020. A number of NFL players have spoken out following Floyd’s death, including Joe Burrow, D.K. Metcalf, Richard Sherman and Carson Wentz.

Floyd died in police custody after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was seen on video forcing his knee into Floyd’s neck for nine minutes. Floyd repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe throughout the video. Bystanders urged Chauvin to assist Floyd.

Saints receiver Michael Thomas appeared to respond to Brees’ comments Wednesday.

On Tuesday, a Blackout Tuesday hashtag circulated encouraging people to take a break from social media to reflect on racism. A number of athletes, celebrities, companies and sports teams took part in the movement, including Brees.



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George Floyd death: Thousands protest in London

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Protestors near the Foreign Office, during an anti-racism demonstration in London, on June 3, 2020 | Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images

Black Lives Matter demonstration makes its way across the capital.

LONDON — Thousands of people marched through London on Wednesday evening over the death of George Floyd in the United States.

The death of Floyd — an unarmed black man who died after being pinned down by a police officer’s knee to the neck for nearly nine minutes — has led to mass protests across the U.S. and beyond, including in Paris on Tuesday. On Wednesday evening it was announced that the charge against the officer, Derek Chauvin, would be increased to second-degree murder.

London’s Black Lives Matter demonstration began in Hyde Park before heading south through the city to Victoria Station. At the station, protesters held signs asking for justice for Belly Mujinga, a railway worker who died after being spat at by a man who claimed to have coronavirus. The case was closed with no further action taken last month, despite the Crown Prosecution Service making it a criminal offense to use coronavirus as a weapon or threat.

Some videos posted on social media showed minor scuffles between police and protesters outside Downing Street and Sky News reported that a police officer was punched in the face. But most reports showed a peaceful, if angry demonstration. Star Wars actor John Boyega led a chant of “no justice, no peace,” while former shadow cabinet minister Barry Gardiner joined protesters in taking a knee outside parliament.

While the protests were ongoing in the capital, police constables from across the country released a statement saying they “stand alongside” those protesting Floyd’s death, and calling for “justice and accountability.” More protests are expected around the U.K including in Birmingham, Newcastle and Glasgow.

Earlier Wednesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the killing of Floyd had been “appalling and inexcusable” and that he “perfectly understood people’s right to protest.”

When further pressed on the issue by the Scottish National Party’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford, Johnson said that “of course black lives matter.”



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‘Agents of SHIELD’s Jeff Ward on Time-Hopping & That Hydra Twist


‘Agents of SHIELD’ Star Jeff Ward on Deke & Daisy and the Final Season’s Hydra Twist (Exclusive) | Entertainment Tonight


































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Snap to stop promoting Trump’s account because of threats against protesters

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The decision may be one of the strongest stances yet from a social media company | Denis Charles/AFP via Getty Images

‘We will not amplify voices who incite racial violence and injustice by giving them free promotion on Discover,’ the company said.

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The multimedia messaging app Snapchat said it will stop promoting U.S. President Donald Trump’s account to other users because of the threats he has made on other social media platforms about unleashing violence against protesters.

The decision, which the company made over the weekend and announced Wednesday, may be one of the strongest stances yet from a social media company as the industry grapples with how to handle incendiary remarks from the country’s most powerful leader.

Snap’s action is notably stronger and more sweeping than the fact-checking and warning labels Twitter slapped on Trump’s account last week, especially because Snap is reacting to statements the president has made elsewhere. And it comes from a platform that is popular among millennials and other young users.

“We will not amplify voices who incite racial violence and injustice by giving them free promotion on Discover,” the company said in a statement. The action applies to Snap’s “Discover” feature, a curated section of the app that allows people to find the accounts of celebrities, news organizations and other prominent users.

“Racial violence and injustice have no place in our society and we stand together with all who seek peace, love, equality, and justice in America,” the company continued.

No other platform has taken action based on Trump’s rhetoric elsewhere online. Twitter, for instance, labeled one of his tweets as “glorifying violence” for containing the phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” and before that it placed fact-checking notices on two of his tweets alleging widespread fraud in mail-in voting.

Facebook, in contrast, has declined to take any action on the same words posted to its platform.

Snap made its decision after a tweet on Saturday in which the president remarked, in part, that any demonstrators who intruded onto the White House grounds would be “greeted with the most vicious dogs and ominous weapons, I have ever seen.”

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel wrote in a blog post the following day that the company “simply cannot promote accounts in America that are linked to people who incite racial violence, whether they do so on or off our platform.”

The New York Times first reported Snap’s decision.

This article is part of POLITICO’s premium Tech policy coverage: Pro Technology. Our expert journalism and suite of policy intelligence tools allow you to seamlessly search, track and understand the developments and stakeholders shaping EU Tech policy and driving decisions impacting your industry. Email pro@politico.eu with the code ‘TECH’ for a complimentary trial.



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Active-Duty Troops Deployed To D.C. Region Return Home

WASHINGTON (AP) — Active-duty troops brought in to help if needed with the civil unrest in the nation’s capitol are beginning to return to their home base, after two days of more peaceful demonstrations in Washington, D.C., senior defense officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The officials said that about 200 soldiers with the 82nd Airborne’s immediate response force will be the first to leave on Wednesday. The remainder of the active-duty troops, who have all been kept at military bases outside the city in northern Virginia and Maryland, will also get pulled home in the coming days if conditions allow, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss imminent troop movements. The active-duty troops were available, but were not used in response to the protests.

The departure of the troops comes as Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters Wednesday that current conditions do not warrant using military forces for law enforcement in containing the protests. Trump has in recent days talked about using the military to quell violent protests in U.S. cities.

About 1,300 active-duty troops were brought in to the Capitol region early this week as protests turned violent, in the aftermath of the death in Minnesota of a black man, George Floyd, who died after a white police officer pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck for several minutes.

The active-duty unit that will be last to remain on alert is the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment, which is normally most visible as the soldiers who stand at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The troops, known as the Old Guard, are based close to D.C. at Fort Myer, Virginia, and have been on 30-minute alert status. So, they would continue to be prepared to respond to any emergency in the region within a half hour for as long as needed.

Pentagon leaders have consistently said there continues to be no intent to use the active-duty forces in any law enforcement capacity. They would be used to assist the National Guard or other forces.

Only two states have so far sent National Guard troops to D.C. About 300 are from Indiana and 1,000 from Tennessee. Other states turned down requests for forces.



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Tonight on: The latest Generations – The Legacy (Episode 138, S29 – Wednesday, 3 June 2020)

Tonight on Generations The Legacy:

Gog’Flo tells Lesedi to clean up her own mess. Palesa’s friends are disgusted about her behaviour. Gadaffi spots something at the hospital which leaves him dazed and pained.

Watch: Generations – The Legacy’s latest episode 138, S29 – 3 June 2020

The latest episode will appear here after it aired. You might need to refresh or restart your browser if you are on a mobile and do not see the episode. Episodes are available for seven days after they first aired. If you don’t see the latest episode or it is not working it might have been removed from the source and unfortunately it is out of our control.

If you missed any other episodes, find more Generations episodes to watch here.

Thursday on Generations: The Legacy

Returning from the dead isn’t as easy as it might seem… Pele makes an arrest which he hopes will be in vain. Lucy receives a distressing phone call.

Read all about what’s happening in Generations: The Legacy in June over here.

What is Generations: The Legacy?

Nontle is worried when it seems like her love potion worked. Jerah’s lies are fast catching up with him. Mazwi is furious about his brother’s betrayal.

A place where drama, suspense and intrigue are the name of the game when you’re up against enemies you don’t even know you have. A place where people will stop at nothing to get their lovers even if it means resorting to violence, seduction and even murder.

Where can I watch Generations: The Legacy episodes?

Episodes air on SABC1 Mondays to Fridays at 20:00, DSTV Channel 191. If you’re unable to catch the latest episode when it airs, we’ll be publishing full episodes from the SABC. Stick with us, and you’ll never miss an episode again.

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