Senators send John Kerry some love

If he does say so himself, Sen. John Kerry has an impressive record.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday approved an over-the-top resolution honoring the Massachusetts Democrat. It also voted out of committee his nomination to be secretary of state, and just hours later the full Senate voted to confirm Kerry.

The resolution describes Kerry in glowing terms, praising “everything but his strong jawline,” as one amused reader put it (though perhaps a follow-up resolution could take care of that omission).

In an odd wrinkle, the resolution was touted in a news release from the committee, which Kerry still technically chaired at the time (New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez is taking over the gavel).

A sample of the resolution’s effusive prose: “honor, conviction and a sense of civility,” “great skill,” “patience, fair-mindedness and tenacity.” And let’s not forget: “a voice of courage and conscience” and “uncommon passion and commitment.”

It places him, too, in no less august company than John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and John Sherman.

Vatican, too

A recent Loop item noted that outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, despite a record number of countries visited, was one of only two secretaries since Richard Nixon’s administration not to visit the Vatican — along with
Warren Christopher
.

We were relying on the official records compiled by the State Department historian’s office.

But some former top aides to Christopher insist the records are wrong, and they are pretty sure they were at the Vatican with Pope John Paul II, President Bill Clinton and Christopher.

Well, let’s see.

The historian’s records say Christopher “accompanied President Clinton to meetings with Prime Minister Berlusconi, President Scalfaro, and senior Italian officials.” He was in Rome and the resort town of Nettuno in June 1994, the record says.

No mention of the Vatican or the pope.

We asked The Washington Post’s Fact Checker, Glenn Kessler, about this. He unearthed a briefing transcript in which Ray Flynn, as Clinton’s ambassador to the Vatican, introduces Christopher by saying that “if only he looked like Gregory Peck, he’d be the greatest public official in America” and notes that they met on that June 2 with the Vatican’s secretary of state.

Flynn told us via e-mail that Christopher was at the Vatican. In addition, Flynn has a picture on Page 110 of his 2001 book on John Paul II of a gathering at the Vatican with John Paul II, Clinton, Flynn and, yes, Christopher.

So the column should have said that Clinton is the only secretary of state since Nixon’s first secretary of state, William Rogers, to bypass the Holy See.

Exterior department

An Interior Department official whose official travel and other conduct was being investigated has resigned.

Tony Babauta
, the assistant secretary for insular affairs, is leaving the agency Feb. 1, a spokesman tells the Loop, though Babauta has been on administrative leave since Nov. 17 while the investigation was pending.

President Obama named Babauta, a native of Guam, to the position in 2009. He was tasked with overseeing U.S. territories including Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Interior’s inspector general reportedly was looking into Babauta’s travels as well as grants awarded by his office.

His attorney responded to the Loop’s request for comment by sending his client’s resignation letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, in which Babauta defended his record, saying that he thought he had “improved” the office he ran and that his work had “benefitted my island brothers and sisters.”

He also urged Salazar to maintain the practice of having a presidential appointee serve in the position he was vacating. Before he was named to the job, a “lower-level” official had run the office of insular affairs, he noted.

Babauta’s job is being filled by Eileen Sobeck, the acting deputy assistant secretary.

In transit

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, an Obama favorite and, at least for now, the only Republican in the Cabinet, said Tuesday that he will leave the administration as soon as a successor is confirmed.

The news was not unexpected. LaHood has always been uncertain about what he wanted to do. He indicated in 2011 that he was leaving at the end of the first term but then seemed to hedge.

Earlier this month, when a White House official listed some of the Cabinet members who were staying, LaHood, a former seven-term member of Congress, was not on the list.

With Emily Heil

The blog: washingtonpost.com/intheloop. Twitter: @InTheLoopWP.

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US judge postpones Texas woman's execution

CHICAGO: A Texas judge on Tuesday granted a last-minute reprieve to death row inmate Kimberly McCarthy, who had been scheduled to become the first woman executed in the United States since 2010.

District Judge Larry Mitchell postponed her execution until April 3 after her lawyers asked for time to bring forward an appeal on grounds of racial discrimination.

McCarthy -- who has been on death row for 14 years -- had been due to be executed at 6:00 pm, 2300 GMT, after the US Supreme Court rejected her previous appeal.

"The previous warrant of execution is hereby recalled," Mitchell wrote in a two-page order issued five hours before she was set to die.

"We are very pleased that we will now have an opportunity to present evidence of discrimination in the selection of the jury that sentenced Kimberly McCarthy to death," defence attorney Maurie Levin told AFP in an email.

"As recognised by the US Supreme Court (Miller-El v. Dretke, 2005), these facts must be understood in the context of the troubling and long-standing history of racial discrimination in jury selection in Dallas County, including at the time of Ms McCarthy's trial."

McCarthy, 51, is African American. Her victim, 70-year-old retired professor Dorothy Booth, was Caucasian.

Despite the fact that her home county is 22.5 per cent African American, only one non-Caucasian juror judged McCarthy and three non-Caucasian jurors "were unilaterally excluded by the state despite being fully qualified to serve," her lawyers wrote.

They further argued that 42 per cent of people sentenced to death in Dallas county were African American while 70 per cent of the 24 men exonerated with DNA evidence in the same county were African Americans.

"A remedy is not only warranted, but demanded," her lawyers argued Monday in a letter urging Texas Governor Rick Perry to issue a 30-day reprieve.

McCarthy was set to be just the 13th woman executed since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976.

She was convicted of forcing her way into her elderly neighbour's home near Dallas under the pretext of borrowing some sugar in 1997, court records show.

She then smashed Booth in the face with a candle stick, stabbed her five times and cut off her finger to steal her diamond ring.

McCarthy drove off in Booth's Mercedes and tried to buy some crack, court documents showed. She also used Booth's credit cards at least four times and pawned her wedding ring for US$200 before she was caught.

Prosecutors also accused her of killing two other elderly people.

She was sentenced to death in 1998, saw her conviction overturned on appeal and then was convicted and condemned again in a second trial in 2002.

"It is a shame that courts allowed Ms McCarthy to come so close to execution before granting the stay," said Richard Dieter, director of the Death Penalty Information Centre.

"There certainly are signs and a history of racial discrimination in jury selection in Dallas County."

There is also a good chance that she would not be sentenced to death if tried now due to mitigating factors like her drug addiction, Dieter told AFP.

Texas was sentencing as many as 40 people to death a year before the courts began providing juries with the alternative sentence of life without parole. That number has now since dropped to about eight people a year, Dieter said.

McCarthy would have been the fourth woman executed in Texas since 1976, out of a total of 493. Nine other women are among the 304 people on the state's death row.

A dozen women were among the 1,321 people executed since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre. Of the 3,199 people on death row as of October 1, 63 were women and 42 per cent were African American.

- AFP/jc

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Free power behind Punjab's decline: Report

CHANDIGARH: Punjab's biggest strength, its agriculture, is proving to be its curse as well. A report, Economic Freedom of the States in India, 2012, has analyzed the reason for Punjab's decline from 6th position to 12th and has put the blame at the doors of politicians for monopolizing trade in mandis and inflicting the curse of free rural electricity on the entire state.

The report, which was recently published, has been authored by eminent economists including Swaminathan S A Aiyar, a research fellow at the Cato Institute USA, Bibek Debroy, professor at centre for policy research, Ashok Gulati, chairman of the commission for agricultural costs and prices besides Lavessh Bhandari, also an eminent economist.

Busting the 'myths', doled out as excuses by politicians for Punjab slipping badly on the economic front, Aiyar said, " Being a border state is no excuse. Gujarat too is a border state, is the most industrialized and fastest growing state. Terrorism caused decline, yes, but 1992, when it ended, was long time ago. Chattisgarh has worse situation presently fighting Maoists, so does Orissa and Bihar, but they have surged ahead of Punjab registering 10% growth, way ahead of 'peaceful' Punjab."

The usual rhetoric doled out by politicians that Punjab is landlocked and has lost out to other states, has been slammed in the report citing example of fast growing neighboring Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which too are landlocked. "Punjab may not have rich minerals and ores but it has the biggest natural wealth - its fertile soil, which no other state can boast of," he said.

Citing real reasons for Punjab's decline, the report says, "Punjab used to have large revenue surpluses in its glory days but now it has the highest fiscal deficit. This high figure arises out of huge unwarranted subsidies, the chief culprit being free power to farmers, so that the government is not even able to pay salaries on time, leading to demoralization and cynicism among staff, who look for avenues to make money illegally. The excuse of terrorism wears thin since the state has been given debt relief by three finance commissions in a row for insurgency that died 20 years ago."

"Free electricity to farmers is sinking Punjab," says Aiyar. The report too states that apart from the destruction of acquifers, free farm electricity has now become the biggest cause of state's fiscal troubles, costing Rs 5,000 crore every year.

The report has sought to put into black and white, a known truth, which the politicians and bureaucracy keeps silent about. "Why is there so much control of government on agriculture. Why are the farmers not allowed freedom?" said Aiyar.

The report says, apart from wheat and paddy, "in case of other crops, the mandis have obtained a trade monopoly that is mercilessly exploited by a limited group of traders with political connections." Former chief secretary SC Aggarwal has been quoted saying, "several bureaucrats have attempted to end the monopoly of mandis but met with severe political resistance - traders are prominent politicians and are also traditional financers of leading political parties."

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Timbuktu’s vulnerable manuscripts are city’s "gold"

French and Malian troops surrounded Timbuktu on Monday and began combing the labyrinthine city for Islamist fighters. Witnesses, however, said the Islamists, who claim an affiliation to al Qaeda and had imposed a Taliban-style rule in the northern Malian city over the last ten months, slipped into the desert a few days earlier.

But before fleeing, the militants reportedly set fire to several buildings and many rare manuscripts. There are conflicting reports as to how many manuscripts were actually destroyed. (Video: Roots of the Mali Crisis.)

On Monday, Sky News posted an interview with a man identifying himself as an employee of the Ahmed Baba Institute, a government-run repository for rare books and manuscripts, the oldest of which date back to the city's founding in the 12th century. The man said some 3,000 of the institute's 20,000 manuscripts had been destroyed or looted by the Islamists.

Video showed what appeared to be a large pile of charred manuscripts and the special boxes made to preserve them in front of one of the institute's buildings.

However, a member of the University of Cape Town Timbuktu Manuscript Project told eNews Channel Africa on Tuesday that he had spoken with the director of the Ahmed Baba Institute, Mahmoud Zouber, who said that nearly all of its manuscripts had been removed from the buildings and taken to secure locations months earlier. (Read "The Telltale Scribes of Timbuktu" in National Geographic magazine.)

A Written Legacy

The written word is deeply rooted in Timbuktu's rich history. The city emerged as a wealthy center of trade, Islam, and learning during the 13th century, attracting a number of Sufi religious scholars. They in turn took on students, forming schools affiliated with's Timbuktu's three main mosques.

The scholars imported parchment and vellum manuscripts via the caravan system that connected northern Africa with the Mediterranean and Arabia. Wealthy families had the documents copied and illuminated by local scribes, building extensive libraries containing works of religion, art, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, history, geography, and culture.

"The manuscripts are the city's real gold," said Mohammed Aghali, a tour guide from Timbuktu. "The manuscripts, our mosques, and our history—these are our treasures. Without them, what is Timbuktu?"

This isn't the first time that an occupying army has threatened Timbuktu's cultural heritage. The Moroccan army invaded the city in 1591 to take control of the gold trade. In the process of securing the city, they killed or deported most of Timbuktu's scholars, including the city's most famous teacher, Ahmed Baba al Massufi, who was held in exile in Marrakesh for many years and forced to teach in a pasha's court. He finally returned to Timbuktu in 1611, and it is for him that the Ahmed Baba Institute was named.

Hiding the Texts

In addition to the Ahmed Baba Institute, Timbuktu is home to more than 60 private libraries, some with collections containing several thousand manuscripts and others with only a precious handful. (Read about the fall of Timbuktu.)

Sidi Ahmed, a reporter based in Timbuktu who recently fled to the Malian capital Bamako, said Monday that nearly all the libraries, including the world-renowned Mamma Haidara and the Fondo Kati libraries, had secreted their collections before the Islamist forces had taken the city.

"The people here have long memories," he said. "They are used to hiding their manuscripts. They go into the desert and bury them until it is safe."

Though it appears most of the manuscripts are safe, the Islamists' occupation took a heavy toll on Timbuktu.

Women were flogged for not covering their hair or wearing bright colors. Girls were forbidden from attending school, and boys were recruited into the fighters' ranks.

Music was banned. Local imams who dared speak out against the occupiers were barred from speaking in their mosques. In a move reminiscent of the Taliban's destruction of Afghanistan's famous Bamiyan Buddha sculptures, Islamist fighters bulldozed 14 ancient mud-brick mausoleums and cemeteries that held the remains of revered Sufi saints.

A spokesman for the Islamists said it was "un-Islamic" for locals to "worship idols."

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Jodi Arias Borrowed Gas Cans Before Killing Ex

Accused murderer Jodi Arias borrowed two five-gallon gas cans from a former boyfriend the day before she drove to Arizona to kill another ex, Travis Alexander, according to testimony in Arias' murder trial today.

In cross examination, prosecutors also forced Arias' former live-in boyfriend Darryl Brewer to describe his sex life with Arias as "pretty aggressive."

Brewer, 52, dated Arias for four years and shared a home with her in California for two years. He told the court today that Arias called him in May 2008, asking to borrow gas cans, but would not explain why. She called him again at least two more times, and arrived at his house on June 2008, to borrow the cans.

On the day she picked up the gas cans she told Brewer that she was going to visit friends in California and Arizona.

Prosecutors argue that Arias then drove to Mesa, Ariz., where she allegedly had sex with Alexander, took nude photos of him, and then stabbed him 27 times, slashed his throat, and shot him twice in the head. She is charged with murder and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Arias, who claims she killed Alexander in self defense, had approached prosecutors two years ago offering to plea to a second degree murder charge, which could carry a 25 year term, but the state rejected the offer, Nancy Grace reported on Good Morning America today.

Brewer said that Arias never returned the gas cans. The pair had been broken up two years earlier and they had only spoken "sporadically," he said.

Jodi Arias Murder Trial: Reported Plea Deal Attempt Watch Video

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Prosecutors also showed receipts from Arias' trip from her California home to Alexander's home in Mesa, showing that she purchased a 10 gallons of gas at one gas station the night before she drove to Arizona, and then another 10 gallons from a different gas station 10 minutes later. Prosecutors are expected to argue she brought the gas with her to fill up her car secretly on the way to Alexander's home, showing premeditation for the murder.

Arias' attorneys called Brewer as one of their first witnesses as they began mounting their case that Arias killed Alexander in self defense, arguing that Alexander was controlling and abusive toward Arias.

They asked Brewer to explain how he and Arias had been in a stable relationship for four years, from 2002 to 2006, and had bought a home together before Arias met Alexander at a business conference and began to change.

"I saw a lot of changes in Jodi. She became a different person than I had known previously," Brewer said, describing how Arias' behavior changed in May 2006 when she joined a company called Pre-Paid Legal. There, she met Alexander and began seeing him. She continued to live with Brewer.

"She had continued to pay the mortgage, but she was not paying other household bills, she began getting into debt or financial trouble," Brewer said. "For me it seemed she was not as rational or logical."

Arias also converted to Mormonism while living with Brewer, telling him that he could no longer curse and she would no longer have sex with him because she was saving herself for marriage.

The pair had previously had an "enthusiastic" and "aggressive" sex life, Brewer admitted to prosecutors. They had engaged in anal sex, Arias had taken nude photos of Brewer, and Arias had purchased breast implants in 2006, he testified.

Brewer said that after Arias began to change, he made arrangements to move closer to his son from his first marriage, and he and Arias broke up.

They kept in touch with occasional phone calls until Arias asked to borrow the gas cans in June 2008, and then called him a week after borrowing the cans to say that her friend had been killed.

Martinez, reading notes from an interview Brewer gave to authorities during the investigation into Alexander's death, asked if Arias had ever mentioned needing an "alibi." Brewer said he did not recall any conversation about alibis.

"After this date of June 4, 2008," Martinez asked, "you received a call from Jodi Arias, and she was very agitated?"

"She was sad," Brewer said.

"Did she tell you that her friend had been killed and she did not have an alibi?"

"I don't remember that," Brewer said.

Arias was arrested a month after Alexander was found dead, in July 2008.

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Bipartisan group of senators to unveil framework for immigration overhaul

A key group of senators from both parties will unveil on Monday the framework of a broad overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws, including a pathway to citizenship for more than 11 million illegal immigrants.

The detailed, four-page statement of principles will carry the signatures of four Republicans and four Democrats, a bipartisan push that would have been unimaginable just months ago on one of the country’s most emotionally divisive issues.

The document is intended to provide guideposts that would allow legislation to be drafted by the end of March, including a potentially controversial “tough but fair” route to citizenship for those now living in the country illegally.

[Do you think the new immigration plan will work? Discuss this and other immigration issues in The Washington Post’s new political forums.]

It would allow undocumented immigrants with otherwise clean criminal records to quickly achieve probationary legal residency after paying a fine and back taxes.

But they could pursue full citizenship — giving them the right to vote and access to government benefits — only after new measures are in place to prevent a future influx of illegal immigrants.

Those would include additional border security, a new program to help employers verify the legal status of their employees and more-stringent checks to prevent immigrants from overstaying visas.

And those undocumented immigrants seeking citizenship would be required to go to the end of the waiting list to get a green card that would allow permanent residency and eventual citizenship, behind those who had already legally applied at the time of the law’s enactment.

The goal is to balance a fervent desire by advocates and many Democrats to allow illegal immigrants to emerge from society’s shadows without fear of deportation with a concern held by many Republicans that doing so would only encourage more illegal immigration.

“We will ensure that this is a successful permanent reform to our immigration system that will not need to be revisited,” the group asserts in its statement of principles.

The framework identifies two groups as deserving of special consideration for a separate and potentially speedier pathway to full citizenship: young people who were brought to the country illegally as minors and agricultural workers whose labor, often at subsistence wages, has long been critical to the nation’s food supply.

Expanding visas

The plan also addresses the need to expand available visas for high-tech workers and promises to make green cards available for those who pursue graduate education in certain fields in the United States.

“We must reduce backlogs in the family and employment visa categories so that future immigrants view our future legal immigration system as the exclusive means for entry into the United States,” the group will declare.

The new proposal marks the most substantive bipartisan step Congress has taken toward new immigration laws since a comprehensive reform bill failed on the floor of the Senate in 2007.

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Golf: Tiger wins Torrey Pines title for 75th career crown

LA JOLLA: World No. 2 Tiger Woods captured his 75th career title on Monday, winning the US PGA Farmers Insurance Open by four strokes for his record-setting eighth career triumph at Torrey Pines.

Despite struggling in windy conditions Monday over the final 11 holes, Woods showed flashes of the form that has brought him 14 major titles as he chases the all-time record of 18 won by Jack Nicklaus.

Woods won his most recent major title at the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines and has also won the PGA event staged at Torrey Pines seven times. No other PGA player has won so many times on a single course.

A fog delay Saturday led to the Monday finish, with darkness halting Woods on Sunday after seven holes.

Woods completed a final-round par 72 Monday despite going three-over in the closing stretch, finishing 72 holes on 14-under par 274. Brandt Snedeker, the 2012 winner, and Josh Teater shared second on 278.

Woods had two bogeys and a double bogey between the 14th and 17th holes, but managed a par at the par-5 18th to close out the victory.

"It got a little ugly toward the end," Woods said. "I started losing my patience with slow play and lost my concentration there a little bit. But I was able to get my par there at 18 and got the win."

After missing the cut in his season opener at Abu Dhabi, Woods collected his first victory since last July at the US PGA National at Congressional.

- AFP/jc

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Shettar does a BSY, meets pontiffs to stave off crisis

BANGALORE: Chief minister Jagadish Shettar has garnered the support of over 65 pontiffs from various caste denominations to save his government. Shettar is doing exactly what former CM BS Yeddyurappa had done as CM, whenever there was a crisis and an outbreak of rebellion against him in the party.

To save his government from the MLAs supporting BSY, Shettar on Sunday morning met 65 pontiffs from various caste denominations, representing mutts from across the state, and sought their support. Most of the pontiffs were representatives of mutts belonging to SC, ST and OBC communities. He promised to keep up the BJP's tradition of rolling out goodies to the mutts and religious institutions for their social and educational activities. After the meeting, the pontiffs unanimously batted for Shettar and declared that he should be allowed to present the budget and complete his term.

Pontiff Madara Channaiah said: "Shettar has the vision of Kalyana Karnataka (welfare of Karnataka). It will help people. He is a good administrator. His government shouldn't be pulled down. He has promised to support mutts and religious institutions financially in the budget. He should be allowed to complete his term. All MLAs belonging to SC, ST and OBCs should support him.''

The CM said: "It is my good fortune that they met me and supported me. I am honoured. I've their blessings. The vision of Kalyana Karnataka is their wish. It is our duty to help in dharma jagriti (religious awareness) and social development. Our BJP government has always supported mutts in the past four-and-a-half years. We are committed to continue it. I am supporting the mutts and religious institutions in my budget.''

Fourteen rebel MLAs have planned to tender their resignations to the Speaker on Monday, sparking speculation over what BSY will do now, having got a taste of his own medicine on building a rapport with religious leaders. However, sources close to him said he is adamant about going ahead with his plans and may not yield to pressure tactics.

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Space Pictures This Week: Martian Gas, Cloud Trails

Image courtesy SDO/NASA

The sun is more than meets the eye, and researchers should know. They've equipped telescopes on Earth and in space with instruments that view the sun in at least ten different wavelengths of light, some of which are represented in this collage compiled by NASA and released January 22. (See more pictures of the sun.)

By viewing the different wavelengths of light given off by the sun, researchers can monitor its surface and atmosphere, picking up on activity that can create space weather.

If directed towards Earth, that weather can disrupt satellite communications and electronics—and result in spectacular auroras. (Read an article on solar storms in National Geographic magazine.)

The surface of the sun contains material at about 10,000°F (5,700°C), which gives off yellow-green light. Atoms at 11 million°F (6.3 million°C) gives off ultraviolet light, which scientists use to observe solar flares in the sun's corona. There are even instruments that image wavelengths of light highlighting the sun's magnetic field lines.

—Jane J. Lee

Published January 28, 2013

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Tokyo stocks open up 0.7%

TOKYO: Tokyo stocks opened 0.70 percent higher on Monday after the yen continued to fall against other major currencies.

The Nikkei 225 index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange was up 76.21 points at 11,002.86 at the start.

"The weaker yen continues to fuel the ongoing rally," said SMBC Nikko Securities general manager of equities Hiroichi Nishi.

"And with earnings reporting season kicking into high gear this week, companies' outlooks for the (January-March) fourth quarter will be closely watched," he told Dow Jones Newswires.

The dollar was at 91.09 yen in early Asian trade, up from 90.87 yen in New York Friday afternoon.

The euro rose to $1.3466 and 122.54 yen from $1.3457 and 122.28 yen in US trade.

Bullish Wall Street activity was also encouraging, with the much-watched S&P 500 closing above the 1,500 mark for the first time in five years on Friday.

The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.54 percent to 1,502.96 as strong earnings reports from Procter and Gamble, Halliburton and other equities propelled US markets higher.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.51 percent to 13,895.98, its best level since October 2007.

- AFP/de

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