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Ancestry Pulls Slavery-Era Ad After Backlash

Ancestry.com on Friday apologized for an ad that showed a mixed-race couple discussing escaping to the North during the Civil War era.

The ad drew widespread criticism on social media for whitewashing slavery, prompting the DNA testing company to remove it from TV and its YouTube channel. Ancestry started running the ad on TV on April 15, according to research firm iSpot.TV.

The ad is part of a campaign by Ancestry showing stories from the past to pique viewers' curiosity about their ancestors. It depicts a white man holding up a ring and telling a black woman wearing Civil War-era clothing that they can be together if they escape to the North. The woman says nothing as the scene fades to black, with the line: "Without you, the story stops here."

Critics pointed out that the ad ignores the fact that mixed race couplings during the slavery era were usually not romantic love stories but instead due to rape and violence against slaves.

Many took to Twitter to express complaints about the ad.

"I used this service a few years ago. And when I realized I was more than 10% European, I wept," tweeted Brittany Packnett. "Not from shame for who I am, but from anger from the trauma of how it may have come to be. This commercial spits on the trauma in our veins and the fight of our ancestors."

In an emailed statement, Ancestry said the ad was intended to be part of its effort to tell "important stories from history."

"We very much appreciate the feedback we have received and apologize for any offense that the ad may have caused," the company said in the statement.

M.J. McCallum, creative director of Muse Communications, called the ad "thoughtless," but said it could happen to any company that doesn't prioritize having diverse representation in its ranks.

"I believe it's the responsibility of brands and their agencies to foster inclusive environments," he said. "They must encourage their team members to be open, honest and vulnerable to topics like race and culture."

The Ancestry ad joins a long list of missteps by marketers that are at best tone-deaf and at worst racist.

In 2017, Dove stopped using a Facebook GIF that showed a black woman removing a brown shirt and transforming into a white woman. The ad was meant to show different types of people can use Dove but many saw it as saying the black woman was "dirty" and the white woman was "clean." Dove apologized .

In 2018, a Heineken ad with the tagline "Sometimes, Lighter Is Better," showed a bartender sliding a bottle of Heineken down a bar where several people of color were sitting before it stops in front of a light-skinned woman. Heineken apologized and pulled the ad after an online outcry in which many people, including Chance the Rapper , called the ad racist.

And in February , Gucci pulled a sweater off the market after complaints that the oversized collar designed to cover the face resembled blackface makeup. Italian designer Prada, Katy Perry's fashion line and H&M have also pulled similar racially insensitivity items.

"The idea that an ad won't be offensive simply because no one who approved it was offended is just not acceptable anymore," McCallum said. "Yes, there is always a chance that even the best of intentions will be misinterpreted, but there are reliable resources and skilled professionals available for brands to tap into."

Source: NewsMax America

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Chicago police union president says they’re ‘upset’ charges were dropped against Jussie Smollett

The president of Chicago’s police union on Tuesday said they were unhappy that prosecutors dropped charges against “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, adding that the move validates their request for federal authorities to investigate the county’s top prosecutor.

Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) President Kevin Graham told Fox News that the move by prosecutors was unusual considering what he described as the strong case pulled together by the city’s police force. The union was not given a heads up to the announcement, he said.

“Charges were dropped, and we certainly are upset,” Graham said. “I’m upset about it. I have not received a satisfactory answer about what is going on.”

CHICAGO PD SUPERINTENDENT EDDIE JOHNSON, RAHM EMANUEL CALL JUSSIE SMOLLETT CHARGES BEING DROPPED ‘WHITEWASH OF JUSTICE’

Earlier Tuesday, the Cook County State Attorney’s office announced that all 16 felony counts against Smollett, 36, were dropped and the record in the case was sealed.

Smollett told police he was attacked by two masked men as he was walking home from a Chicago Subway sandwich shop at around 2 a.m on Jan. 29. The actor, who is black and openly gay, said the masked men beat him, made derogatory comments and yelled "This is MAGA country" — an apparent reference to President Donald Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."

Last week, the FOP asked federal authorities to look into Cook County Prosecutor Kimberly Foxx, who previously recused herself from the Smollett investigation.

JUSSIE SMOLLETT HOAX CHARGES DROPPED, ACTOR WANTS TO ‘MOVE ON WITH MY LIFE’

“Graham made the request to U.S. Attorney John Lausch in a March 15 letter concerning reports that Ms. Foxx attempted to influence the police investigation at the behest of an attorney and family members of Jussie Smollett,” the union said in a March 18 entry of their blog.

Foxx previously asked Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson to let the FBI investigate Smollett's alleged attack after the former chief of staff to former first lady Michelle Obama reportedly contacted Foxx to inform her that Smollett's family had concerns about the probe.

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The latest development in the case highlights “why we wanted an investigation in the first place,” Graham told Fox News. “I think we were right on target.”

“I can’t think of a better way to make sure that the information doesn’t come to the light of day than by dropping the charges and making sure all the records are sealed,” he added.

Fox News’ Andrew Keiper and Jessica Sager contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News National

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German institutes slash 2019 growth forecast as industry orders tumble

FILE PHOTO: Aerial view of containers at a loading terminal in the port of Hamburg
FILE PHOTO: Aerial view of containers at a loading terminal in the port of Hamburg, Germany August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer/File Photo

April 4, 2019

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s leading economic institutes slashed their forecasts for 2019 growth by more than half on Thursday and warned growth could slow much further if Britain quits the European Union without an agreement.

Separately, data from the Economy Ministry showed industrial orders fell in February, by 4.2 percent – their biggest drop in more than two years – as foreign demand slumped. That confounded expectations for a 0.3 percent increase.

The institutes cut their overall forecast for this year to 0.8 percent from a previous 1.9 percent and said risks had increased since autumn. They pointed to Britain’s expected departure from the EU and trade conflict between the United States and China.

Germany has long been the euro zone’s economic powerhouse, but it narrowly skirted a recession at the end of last year and posted its weakest growth in five years in 2018.

The forecasts were completed by March 29, the date Britain was originally due to leave the EU, when the institutes assumed it would not quit without an agreement on the terms. The deadline has since been extended to April 12.

The institutes’ estimates feed into the government’s own growth projections, which will be updated later this month. In January, the government forecast growth of 1.0 percent for this year.

“The long-term upswing of the German economy has come to an end,” Oliver Holtemoeller, one of the economists involved in the report, said.

Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said the economic slowdown Germany saw during the second half of 2018 would be overcome during the course of this year and replaced by an economic upswing.

The Economy Ministry revised the orders figure for January to show a decline of 2.1 percent.

“Awful new-order data suggests that German industry is still suffering from Brexit woes and global uncertainties,” said ING economist Carsten Brzeski.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin and Madeline Chambers; editing by Thomas Escritt, Larry King)

Source: OANN

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversees test of new tactical guided weapon: KCNA

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a flight training of Korean People's Army Air Force at undisclosed location
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gives guidance while attending a flight training of Korean People's Army Air Force at undisclosed location in this April 16, 2019 photo released on April 17, 2019 by North Korea's Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS

April 17, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the testing of a new type of tactical guided weapon on Wednesday, state media Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Thursday.

KCNA did not describe exactly what the weapon is, but “tactical” implies a short-range weapon, as opposed to the long-range ballistic missiles that have been seen as a threat to the United States.

Nevertheless, the missile has a “peculiar mode of guiding flight” and “a powerful warhead,” KCNA said, and is the first public weapons test since the second U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi ended with no agreement in February.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee, editing by G Crosse)

Source: OANN

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Venezuelans find ways to cope with inflation and hunger

Francibel Contreras brings her three malnourished children to a soup kitchen in the dangerous hillside Caracas slum of Petare where they scoop in spoonfuls of rice and scrambled eggs in what could be their only meal of the day.

Part of the tragedy of daily life in socialist Venezuela can be glimpsed in this small volunteer soup kitchen in the heart of one of Latin America's biggest slums, which helps dozens of children as well as unemployed mothers who can no longer feed them.

Some Venezuelans manage to endure the nation's economic meltdown by clinging to the shrinking number of well-paid jobs or by receiving some of the hundreds of millions of dollars sent home by friends and relatives abroad — a quantity that has swollen in recent years as millions of Venezuelans have fled.

But a growing percentage of people across the country, especially in slums like Petare, are struggling to cope.

Contreras's husband, Jorge Flores, used to have a small stand at a local market selling things like bananas and yucca, eggs and lunchmeat — trying to scrape out a profit in a place where hyperinflation often made his wholesale costs double from day to day. Then he was robbed at gunpoint by a local gang. And his brother crashed the motorcycle he used to supply his stand.

So Flores abandoned the market stall and looked for other work. He does some plumbing jobs and the family has turned its living room into a barbershop, sheltered beneath a corrugated metal roof held down by loose bricks and planks. It's decorated with origami-like stars that the family has made out Venezuela's colorful but rapidly depreciating bolivar bills.

"Our currency is worthless," Contreras said. "These days, I prefer trading a bag of flour for a manicure or a haircut."

The scarcity of milk, medicine and other basics — along with routine violence — has eroded support for socialist President Nicolas Maduro even in poor neighborhoods like Petare that once were his strongholds. Maduro says there's an opposition-led plot to oust him from power and says U.S. economic sanctions and local opposition sabotage are responsible for the meltdown.

Various local polls show he retains support from roughly a fifth of the population, many of them ideological stalwarts, government-connected insiders or poor voters dependent on government handouts, including the so-called CLAP boxes of oil, flour, rice, pasta, canned tuna and other goods that arrive several times a year.

Contreras' family of four gets those boxes, but it's not enough to get by on for long. For months, they've been relying on the soup kitchen launched by opposition politicians as the main source of protein for their children. On a recent day, her 7-year-old son Jorbeicker played a pickup soccer game in the hilly, dusty streets in front of her home, while her husband practiced styling his mother's hair.

"I'm barely getting by," Flores said, scissors in hand.

The four-day power outage that brought most of Venezuela to a halt this month added to Flores' misery. He wasn't able to use the electric clippers needed to give customers the sort of trims they demand.

"It hit us in a big way," he said. "You absolutely need the clippers."

The couple estimates the power outage cost the family the equivalent of $11 in missed haircuts — a significant sum in a country where the minimum wage amounts to $6 a month, even if most people supplement that figure by working side jobs and pooling resources with friends and neighbors.

Contreras and Flores charge 2,500 bolivars — about 70 U.S. cents — for a trim. A government-subsidized kilogram of flour can cost almost three times that, and Contreras says that lines for the rationed goods can be endless and she sometimes comes back empty-handed. She also said she feels unsafe in the lines. Dozens of people have been killed in gang crossfires over the years, and some have been crushed to death when lines of shoppers turned into stampedes of desperate looters.

Next-door neighbor Dugleidi Salcedo sent her 4-year-old daughter to live with an aunt in the city of Maracay, two hours away, because she could no longer feed her. "My boys cry," the single mother of four said. "But they resist more than her when I tell them that there's no food."

After walking back from the soup kitchen, she opened the rusty door to her home of scraped, mint-colored walls. Inside, her 11-year-old son Daniel, who was born partially paralyzed and with developmental disabilities, lay on a stained couch while flies flew over his twisted, uncovered legs.

When she took the lid off a plastic container to show her last bag of flour, a cockroach crawled out, making her jump back and scream.

"This is so tough," she said. "I don't have a job. I don't have any money."

Salcedo used to sell baked goods and juices to neighbors from the window of her kitchen. Then, her fridge broke down and she couldn't find the money to fix it.

These days, she relies on the kindness of neighbors, or asks a friend who owns a small food shop for credit while she waits for loans from family members in other parts of Venezuela.

"This country has never been as bad," the 28-year-old said. "Just buying some rice or flour is something so hard, so expensive, and often, they don't even have any."

A few days later, thieves broke into the soup kitchen and stole food. Then, a fire broke out in the slum, burning 17 homes to the ground. It was caused by candles that were apparently being used for light after a power outage — an almost everyday occurrence in many parts of Venezuela. Opposition lawmaker Manuela Bolivar, whose Nodriza Project runs the soup kitchen, said that when firefighters arrived, they lacked water and had to put out the blaze with dirt.

"It's a social earthquake," Bolivar said.

"They lose their homes. They're left in the open air. The soup kitchen was robbed. It's so many adversities: It's the infections, the lack of water and food."

At an outdoor market a short distance from Petare in the middle-class district of Los Dos Caminos, Carmen Gimenez shopped for carrots and other vegetables for a stew. When her 14-year-old daughter Camila asked if they could take some other products, she told her that they would have to stick to the basics.

Although she has a job at a bank, she still struggles to make ends meet.

"It doesn't matter where you live. The need is the same," said Gimenez, 43.

"The poor, the rich, and the middle class — we're all suffering somehow because the government has leveled us all downwards," she adds with anger. "How did they dominate us? Through the stomach."

___

Associated Press writer Scott Smith contributed to this story.

Source: Fox News World

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Ariana Grande to play Manchester, 2 years after arena bomb

Ariana Grande is returning to Manchester, two years after a suicide bomber killed 22 people at her concert in the northwest England city.

Organizers say Grande will be a headliner at the Manchester Pride Live event on Aug. 25. Chief executive Mark Fletcher said Monday that "we're truly honored to be welcoming Ariana back to the city to help us celebrate LGBT+ life."

Grande and Manchester were bound together in tragedy on May 22, 2017, when a bomber blew himself up at Manchester Arena as fans were leaving her show. The singer returned to the city two weeks later to take part in a memorial concert, which she helped to organize.

Manchester authorities named Grande an honorary citizen of the city for her work in the wake of the attack.

Source: Fox News World

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Airline SAS braces for pilot strike as midnight deadline nears

FILE PHOTO: A SAS Airbus A320 airplane takes off from the airport in Palma de Mallorca
FILE PHOTO: A Scandanavian Airlines, known as SAS, Airbus A320-200 airplane takes off from the airport in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, July 29, 2018. REUTERS/Paul Hanna/File Photo

April 25, 2019

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Seventy thousand travelers with SAS will see their flights canceled on Friday unless negotiators agree a last-minute deal to stop nearly all of its around 1,500 pilots going on strike after midnight, the carrier said on Thursday.

Swedish, Danish and Norwegian pilot unions earlier this month called a strike if there was no agreement on wages and other terms after an earlier round of talks broke down without the parties finding common ground.

National mediators in the three countries have been trying to broker a deal since last week between delegations of the two parties. SAS spokeswoman Freja Annamatz said negotiations were still ongoing.

A strike would affect 70 percent of SAS flights. The remaining 30 percent are operated by partners that would not be affected by strike action, Annamatz said.

Should a strike last through the weekend, around 170,000 travelers would be affected in total, she added.

Earlier this week, the airline offered travelers concerned about a possible strike the chance to reschedule flights for the April 26-29 period to another date free of charge.

SAS is in the midst of renewing an elderly and fuel-intensive fleet after spending years cutting costs in the face of cut-price competition from budget carriers such as Norwegian Air Shuttle and Ryanair.

The airline reported a bigger than expected loss for its fiscal first quarter in February, but said it still expected to run a profit for the full year.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Niklas Pollard and Jan Harvey)

Source: OANN

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Logo of the Exxon Mobil Corp is seen at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference in Rio de Janeiro
FILE PHOTO: A logo of the Exxon Mobil Corp is seen at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil September 24, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp on Friday reported first-quarter profit fell sharply on lower oil and gas prices and weakness in its refining and chemicals businesses that offset modest production gains.

The largest U.S. oil producer’s first quarter earnings fell to $2.35 billion, or 55 cents a share, from $4.65 billion, or $1.09 a share, a year ago.

Analysts had expected Exxon to earn 70 cents per share, according to Refinitiv Eikon estimates.

Shares were trading down about 2.7 percent in premarket trading on Friday.

Exxon’s oil equivalent production rose 2 percent to 4 million barrels per day, up from 3.9 million bpd in the same period the year prior. The company said its output in the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. shale basin, rose 140 percent over a year ago.

(Reporting by Jennifer Hiller; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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A Baha’i advocacy group has expressed concerns over the fate of minority Baha’is at the hands of Yemen’s Houthi rebels ahead of the appeals hearing for one of the community leaders sentenced to death.

The Baha’i International Community said in a statement Friday that the hearing for Hamed bin Haydara, detained in 2013 and sentenced to death last year on espionage and apostasy charges, is due on Tuesday.

The statement quotes Bani Dugal, the Baha’i community representative at the United Nations, as saying the prosecution hasn’t addressed Haydara’s appeal but is instead making “absurd, wide-ranging accusations.”

International rights groups have decried the prosecution of Yemeni Baha’is by the Iran-backed Houthis.

Iran has banned the Baha’i religion, which was founded in 1844 by a Persian nobleman considered a prophet by followers.

Source: Fox News World

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

April 26, 2019

By Rupam Jain and Hameed Farzad

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani encouraged newly-elected lawmakers to participate in the peace process with the Taliban as he opened on Friday the first session of parliament since a controversial election.

Ghani has invited thousands of politicians, religious scholars and rights activists to an assembly known as a loya jirga next week to discuss ways to end the 17-year war.

Several opposition leaders have said they will boycott the four-day assembly in Kabul, saying it was pulled together without their input and is being used by Ghani as he seeks a second term in a September presidential election.

“We have presented the peace plan on a regular basis and we are committed to it,” Ghani said in the first session since parliamentary elections marred by technical problems, militant attacks and accusations of voting fraud last year.

“Based on this plan, there will be no peace deal and negotiation that does not have the green card of the parliament,” he added.

Officials from the United States and the Taliban have held several rounds of talks to end the Afghan war.

U.S. negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, has reported some progress toward an accord on a U.S. troop withdrawal and on how the Taliban would prevent extremists from using Afghanistan to launch attacks as al Qaeda did on Sept. 11, 2001.

The insurgents have so far rejected U.S. demands for a ceasefire and talks on the country’s political future that would include Afghan government officials.

The loya jirga, a centuries-old institution used to build consensus among competing tribes, factions and ethnic groups, is an attempt by Ghani to influence the peace talks and cement his position for a second term, Afghan politicians and Western diplomats say.

Amid growing political divisions in Kabul, opposition politicians have demanded that Ghani step down when his mandate ends next month, and give way to an interim government to oversee peace talks with the Taliban. Ghani has ruled that out.

The country’s top court said last week Ghani can stay in office until the presidential election in September.

(Reporting by Hameed Farzad, Rupam Jain, Editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Thursday defended special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation while slamming former President Barack Obama’s administration for being slow to take action on Russian interference in U.S. elections and ex-FBI Director James Comey for telling Congress the agency was investigating collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“Our nation is safer, elections are more secure, and citizens are better informed about covert foreign influence schemes,” Rosenstein said in a speech to the Armenian Bar Association, marking his first public remarks after the Mueller report was released, reports CBS News.

He also pointed out that the investigation revealed a pattern of computer hacking and the use of social media to undermine elections as “only the tip of the iceberg of a comprehensive Russian strategy to influence elections, promote social discord, and undermine America, just like they do in many other countries,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

The Obama administration also made “critical decisions,” including choosing not to publicize the full story about Russian hackers and social media trolling, “and how they relate to a broader strategy to undermine America,” said Rosenstein.

He noted that the Mueller probe began after Comey disclosed during a hearing before Congress that President Donald Trump “pressured him to close the investigation and the president denied that the conversation occurred.”

Rosenstein said two years ago, when he was confirmed, he was told by a Republican senator that he would be in charge of the probe and that he’d report the results to the American people.

However, he said he didn’t promise to do that, because it is “not our job to render conclusive factual findings. We just decide whether it is appropriate to file criminal charges.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei’s factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Britain must get to the bottom of the leak of confidential discussions during a top-level security meeting about the role of China’s Huawei Technologies in 5G network supply chains, British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday.

News that Britain’s National Security Council, attended by senior ministers and spy chiefs, had agreed on Tuesday to bar Huawei from all core parts of the country’s 5G network and restrict its access to non-core elements was leaked to a national newspaper.

The leak of secret discussions has sparked anger in parliament and amongst Britain’s intelligence community. Britain’s most senior civil servant Mark Sedwill has launched an inquiry and written to ministers who were at the meeting.

“My understanding from London (is) that an investigation has been announced into apparent leaks from the NSC meeting earlier this week,” said Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

“To my knowledge there has never been a leak from a National Security Council meeting before and therefore I think it is very important that we get to the bottom of what happened here,” he told Reuters in a pooled interview.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday he could not rule out a criminal investigation. The majority of the ministers at the NSC meeting have said they were not involved, according to media reports.

Hammond said he was unaware of any previous leak from a meeting of the NSC.

“It’s not about the substance of what was apparently leaked. It’s not earth-shattering information. But it is important that we protect the principle that nothing that goes on in national security council meetings must ever be repeated outside the room.”

Allowing Huawei a reduced role in building its 5G network puts Britain at odds with the United States which has told allies not to use its technology at all because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

There have been concerns that the NSC’s conclusion, which sources confirmed to Reuters, could upset other allies in the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network – the Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

However, British ministers and intelligence officials have said any final decision on 5G would not put critical national infrastructure at risk. Ciaran Martin, head of the cyber center of Britain’s main eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, played down any threat of a rift in the Five Eyes alliance.

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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