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BARCELONA next event Wednesday 29th May - The unstoppable evolution of the Internet over the years with regards to the number of users and the market is provoking brands to take necessary precaution with their online identity in a world that can naturally be hostile.
Rafael Gimeno-Bayón, specialist lawyer in digital law, will tackle the following vital questions for any company in today's world:
- How to legally plan an Internet brand in an International Market? Is the registration of a brand enough?
- What protection system can we implement to warn or control logos, usurpation or reputational attacks?
- How to keep an eye of competition?
- Is it possible to retract damaging comments or content against the brand online? Is it possible to evaluate the damage to online reputation?
7pm - registration
7.10pm - presentation
7.15pm to 8.15pm - talk
8.15pm to 8.30pm - Q&A
8.30pm to 9pm - networking
For more info, click here
15€ for non Chamber members
RSVP to
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or +34 93 317 32 20
(Location: EADA Business School, C/ Aragó, 204, 08011 Barcelona)
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Madrid, 07.05.13
Lord Green, UK Minister for Trade & Investment, unites with the Governing Council of the British Chamber of Commerce
Lord Green participated in a private meeting with members of the Governing Council of the British Chamber of Commerce in Spain to discuss the potential of a strategic partnership between the Chamber and UK Trade & Investment Services in Spain.
The objective of the partnership is to use the membership resources of the British Chamber of Commerce to provide a “welcome network” to British exporters to Spain.
(Lord Green with President of the BCCS, Roger Cooke)
Madrid, 07.05.13
UK Trade & Investment Minister Lord Green spells out recipe for economic growth in Europe
Lord Green participated at a conference held on 7th May at the Casino de Madrid and organised by the International Relations Commission of CEDE, the British Embassy, KPMG and the British Chamber of Commerce in Spain.
As Head of Trade and Investment, Lord Green is responsible for the British government's efforts to double British exports to reach one billion pounds in 2020, as well as to attract more direct investment into the UK.
Speaking to Spanish business leaders at the Casino de Madrid, he said that “around Europe, people are impatient to know when they can expect economies to start rebounding and the jobs market to pick up”.
(Lord Green talks to the audience in Madrid)
Lord Green said the key ingredients of a recipe for growth included the needs to:
• deepen trade between EU member states and to realise the full potential of the Single Market.
• open up the EU to trade with countries outside Europe – the developed world and the emerging economies.
• cut regulation and to make European markets more productive and competitive .
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The British Chamber of Commerce in Spain celebrated on the 24th April its AGM in the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados, with the sponsorship of the London School of Economic and with the collaboration of Cava Gramona.
Our thanks go to the members who attended this meeting in which the successes of the past year were shared in addition to future proposals for 2013.
The President, Roger Cooke, introduced the new Governing Council, chosen in the elections of last year's report. The President highlighted the stable financial situation of the Chamber, with 270 members in its 3 headquarters in Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga, among them the main Spanish investors in the UK and British companies in Spain, and he stressed the impact of the difficult situation with live in.
The meeting also included the financial report of 2012 as well as the budget for 2013 from the Treasurer, Jerome Scannell and a synopsis of the current member situation while addressing the events of the Chamber, given by the National Director, Eva Prada.
We closed the event with two guest speakers, Sra. Lucía Figar, Minister of Education, Youth and Sport who spoke about the economic implications of the candidacy of Madrid to the Olympics Games 2020 and Sr. Martín Phelan, Director of UK Trade & Investment who examined the growing collaboration between the commercial services of the British Embassy and the British Chamber of Commerce in Spain.
Photographs courtesy of Rubén Campos Estudio
Governing Council (left to right) - Pedro León y Francia, Jerome Scannell, Mireia Rius, Adam Austerfield, Roger Cooke, Eva Prada, Chris Dottie, Ariadna Hernández and Juan Arsuaga.
Lucía Figar de Lacalle, Minister for Education, Youth and Sport
Martin Phelan, Director of UK Trade & Investment
BCCS Treasurer, Jerome Scannell
National Director, Eva Prada
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The British Council launched their new English language training assessment tool in the Spanish market on 16 April targeted primarily at the business community and, who better to help them with attracting potential clients to their launch than the UKTI team at the Embassy in Madrid.
The BC team approached UKTI about holding the launch at the Embassy and for specific support with targeting potential customers, which we gladly offered through our Overseas Market Introduction Service. We suggested engaging the British Chamber of Commerce in Spain to highlight the importance of English in the business world; the Chamber in turn invited one of their members to speak and provide real world examples of how mastering the English language can be critical when negotiating and signing major contracts. The launch itself was a great success, attracting an audience of over 100.
The highlight of the event was of course the presentation of APTIS by the team from the British Council : Fiona Mitchell, Director Examinations in Spain and Bernadette Maguire, Adviser, Examinations and Accreditations, and the designer of the APTIS test, Professor Barry O’Sullivan. They all did a great job in presenting their new product which aroused a lot of interest amongst the HR Managers and language departments within universities, who made up most of the audience.
The result was an example of real team work across the Madrid network: joint opening by our Giles Paxman Ambassador in Spain, Rod Pryde, Director of the British Council in Spain and Roger Cooke, Chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in Spain. It was also a perfect example of collaboration between UK government organisations in Post, of how we all complement each other and in doing so, have a much more powerful impact on our customers.
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On Wednesday 10th April, ILV Silver, SNAbogados and DVC-International held a seminar on how to maximize the value of intellectual property. The seminar touched upon many subjects relating to the protection of IP and also it examined ways to pay less tax and demonstrated how to maximize the value of copyrights, patents and brands.
The event was well-attended with people from a wide variety of companies and it was rounded-up with the help of tea and coffee after what was an extremely intriguing and inciteful presentation.
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On Tuesday 2nd April, a Fokker 70 took off from the airport of Manston Kent, in the UK.
KLM now operates two daily flights between the airport Amsterdam-Schiphol and Manston, the international airport of the county of Kent. KLM is amplifying its already extensive network of flights to the UKs capitals with Manston Kent operating a total of 14 destinations. This new destination offers clients that travel to and from Kent an alternative to the crowded nearby motorways and to the London airports.
Flights to Manston-Kent provide a trip to one of the most beautiful corners of England where one can visit Canterbury Cathedral, the White Cliffs of Dover or Leeds Castle.
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She died "peacefully" after suffering a stroke while staying at the Ritz
hotel in central London. Lady Thatcher had been staying at the hotel
since being discharged from hospital at the end of last year.
She will not have a state funeral but will be accorded the same status
as Princess Diana and the Queen Mother. A ceremonial funeral is one rung
down from a state funeral - normally reserved for monarchs - and
requires the consent of the Queen.
Lady Thatcher was born Margaret Roberts, the daughter of a shopkeeper
and Conservative councillor in Grantham, Lincolnshire, in 1925. She
first became an MP in 1959.
Having been education secretary, she successfully challenged
former PM Edward Heath for her party's leadership in 1975 and won
general elections in 1979, 1983 and 1987.
Click here for full story (courtesy of BBC News)
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Tuesday, 05 February 2013
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Tras obtener la licencia de juego en junio para operar en el país, el líder del sector ha decidido ampliar su cartera de productos con este lanzamiento que representa el 40% de la facturación total de esta actividad. En el mercado español, Betfair ofrece apuestas deportivas para eventos de fútbol, baloncesto, tenis y motor, entre otros, así como productos de casino.
El crecimiento del juego online es destacado dentro del experimentado por el e-commerce en España y cuenta con buenas perspectivas. Los seis primeros meses desde la concesión de licencias, la facturación total del juego por Internet se elevó a 2.354 millones de euros y de estos ingresos, el Estado recaudó aproximadamente 140 millones de euros en impuestos.
Betfair siempre ha apostado por las nuevas tecnologías y las facilidades que ofrecen a los usuarios y recientemente la compañía ha lanzado su aplicación para iPhone en España que logró ser líder de descargas a los pocos días de estar en la App Store.
Betfair posee también licencias de apuestas en Italia, Dinamarca Gibraltar, los EE.UU., Tasmania y Malta. Betfair, a nivel internacional, procesa en la actualidad más de siete millones de transacciones diarias entre sus más de cuatro millones de usuarios registrados en todo el mundo y emplea a más de 2.000 trabajadores en todo el mundo principalmente en las oficinas de Londres, Malta y Australia.
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Spain’s new ‘Single Market Law’
will be warmly welcomed by foreign investors, says the British Embassy and
British Chamber of Commerce, following moves by the Spanish government to open
up Spain’s domestic market.
The legislation announced by the
government will cut red tape across the 17 autonomous communities of Spain and
make it easier for British companies to set up and expand their business
activities and create jobs in the regions.
‘Simpler rules and a
level playing field are vital to economic growth and to companies looking to
expand overseas,’ says Martin Phelan, Director Iberia for UK Trade &
Investment, based in Madrid. ‘We think British firms will welcome this change.’
Roger Cooke, President of the British Chamber
of Commerce in Spain, adds: ‘This is good news for British companies wanting to
invest. Our members say this is one of the main barriers they
experience when doing business in Spain.’
The new law, based on
the European Union ‘single market’ model, means that permits issued in one
region will automatically be valid for the others. This will remove the
complexities and costs currently associated with complying with 17 different
sets of regulation. The Spanish government has said the reform will add 1.5%
(approximately €15bn) to GDP over the next decade.
A national Single Market Council
(SMC) will be responsible for ensuring that all new regional legislation abides
by single market principles. It will be
chaired by the central Ministry of Finance and Public Administration and made
up of representatives from central and regional governments.
Companies will be able to take
any infringement of the new ‘freedom of establishment’ to the CMNC, the single
regulator that the government is setting up. Cases will be fast-tracked, with a
commitment to providing a response within five days, avoiding lengthy legal
procedures.
The new law requires tenders for
all public contracts at all levels of government to be published on a single
public procurement platform. An anti-discrimination policy, whereby
professional qualifications from one region will be valid in another, also
seeks to tackle discrepancies between regions.
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Wednesday, 23 January 2013
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The British Chamber of Commerce in Spain held its emblematic New Year Cocktail in the prestigious Land Rover store in Madrid on the 17th January to which over 100 chamber members and guests attended.
It was a pleasure to see both old and new faces in what proved to be an excellent event to meet and make new contacts and to win many prizes in our traditional raffle. We extend our thanks to the Land Rover team for their collaboration in the event and for giving the evening a quintessential British ambience. In addition, we thanks the companies who provided such generous gifts for the raffle; these include Avon, Bacardi, Bang & Olufsen, Burberry, Diego Zamora-Licor 43, Hotel Ritz, Martin Miller's Gin, El Hotelito, The Apartment Service and Vueling. We wish you a very successful 2013 and we hope to see you at many of our exciting events this year!  Óscar Oñate and Belén Lacalle from Land Rover with Roger Cooke, Eva Prada and Adam Austerfield from the BCCS     |
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Wednesday, 19 December 2012
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On 21st November, the British Chamber of Commerce in Spain held a luncheon with Economist Edward Hugh in the H10 Catalonia Plaza Hotel during which the problems concerning the Euro were discussed and analysed, primarily in relation to Spain but also to the global situation.
Hugh discussed how with Spain having not yet requested a bailout, the main short term cost is the extra interest being paid on borrowed money; a sum that is paid out of Spanish pocket, and hence the current situation.
As a result, people are now investing more money into their pensions and not into social security – a flawed indexing system that needs restructuring so that it no longer generates deficit and will tempt people back to work seeing as unemployment will most probably stay above the 20% threshold for the remainder of this decade.
In addition to referring to the Catalonian independence debate, about which Hugh stated there should be two votes, one external (rest of Spain) and one internal (solely Catalonia), he also touched upon the seriousness of the crisis on a global scale, especially when looking at USA. Despite the fact they have the Federal Reserve and their own currency, they are not immune to the kinds of problems faced by Euro countries. They have a large “baby boom” population who are now retiring, and paying for pensions and health care is just as much of a headache there as it is here in Spain.
In short, the event was well-attended and thoroughly enjoyed by all. Our thanks go to Edward Hugh for providing us with such an insightful talk and also to H10 Catalonia Plaza Hotel for putting on a delicious spread and making the event run so fluidly.
(Photo courtesy of Gareth Lloyd-Evans -
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Wednesday, 17 October 2012
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The Welcome Back from the Summer Cocktail on the 9th October in Barcelona at the stunning Hotel Claris proved to be a great way to ease back into work after what has been a well-deserved summer break.
The event, which notably was very well attended, flowed beautifully with the aid of canapés, drinks and a location overlooking Barcelona. It was the perfect opportunity to re-establish old links and network with new members to the Chamber. This could not have been achieved without the cooperation and hospitality from the Hotel Claris and its staff.
The BCCS also had the pleasure in welcoming new members to the Chamber in Barcelona, Madrid and Andulcia: Roger Cooke as President, Eva Prada as National Director and the new team Polly Haydn-Jones (Madrid), Niall Drury (Andalucia), Rebecca Phillips, Issy Spanswick and Alex Fletcher from Barcelona.
Our congratulations once again go to Hervé Caillau from Relais & Chateaux for winning the lucky dip prize of a night stay for two in the Hotel Claris.
Photos courteousy of Gareth Lloyd-Evans (
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FABREGAT PERULLES SALES ABOGADOS inaugura sus nuevas oficinas en Barcelona.
El nuevo despacho de FPS en BARCELONA está ubicado en plaza Bonanova nº 4,1º-1ª
La firma de abogados, especializada en el tráfico jurídico hispano-alemán, ha ampliado su equipo con la incorporación de 2 nuevos profesionales.
La Firma ofrece, en sus despachos de Barcelona, Cambrils (Tarragona) y Pollença (Mallorca), asesoramiento jurídico especializado a empresas e inversores en sus transacciones nacionales e internacionales. Las áreas de ejercicio de la Firma incluyen disciplinas de derecho privado y de derecho público, entre las que destacan las fusiones yadquisiciones, derecho mercantil, derecho procesal y concursal, derecho inmobiliario y urbanístico y derecho medioambiental.
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On May 23rd the Chamber held a Cocktail to Introduce Roger Cooke as the new President and
the recently inaugurated Governing
Council. The event was a real success, and all our members enjoyed
themselves greatly. Hotel Golf Confort
were generous; they provided drinks a plenty, canapés and a freshly cooked
paella. Our guests did not leave empty handed thanks to Rajapack, La Galeta Maria and La
Campana Turrón, who kindly offered lots of goodies for them to take home. Gareth Llyod-Evans took some great
shots of the evening. Thank you to all our members for attending the event.
Photos by Gareth William Lloyd-Evans:
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On June 7th the Chamber
held a seminar in conjunction with Roca
Junyent on fiscal and labour reform in Spain. On the
outset, this may not sound like the most titillating subject matter or exciting
way to spend a Thursday morning. The seminar was, however, very well presented,
highly informative and pertinent to the current economic situation in Spain.
We would like to thank Roca Junyent
for running this seminar, and offering our members the chance to
attend.
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The Cocktail to Introduce the New President and Governing Council took place recently on 30th May in Madrid. The location was provided by the British Embassy in the beautiful garden of the Ambassador’s Residence. The event was extremely well attended and enjoyed by all. We would like to thank our Sponsors Hays Recruiting Experts Worldwide for their fantastic support for this event, our photographer Carlos Estevez for capturing the best moments, and the British Embassy for collaborating with this event and providing the perfect location.
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The latest
Public Affairs Commission UK Government Monitoring Document has been carried
out recently. It is a monthly document, this one being the 4th in
its series, which contains information from various select committees such as
the Treasury and Public Affairs Committee detailing any relevant news, changes,
or plans of new legislations. The news concerns themes to do with Business and
Governments across Europe. Please click
here if you would like to see a full PDF version of the document.
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Adam
Austerfield, Director of LSE Enterprise in Spain and President of the British
Chamber of Commerce in Madrid, was interviewed on 18 May about the Spanish
economy on BBC Radio 5 Live Drive. You can listen to him at http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01hn1y9/ (scroll to 8 minutes and 30 seconds)until Friday 25 May, or read an
approximate transcript below.
It’s
the real estate bubble which is at the heart of this crisis I guess?
That’s one of the fundamental domestic
problems. If you think of 1.2 million empty and unsold houses which are still
on the books of many of the cajas and banks, this can only take five years,
possibly a decade to unwind.
The second problem however is of course
unemployment. We have about 23% unemployment in Spain as a whole, some figures
are quoting around 50% for youth unemployment for under 25s. Whilst those
figures are probably a little excessive, as you’ve got to remember that in the
boom times Spain probably had 8 or 9% unemployment, which would be crisis level
in the UK – there’s a large degree of grey economy in Spain –those two
fundamental domestic problems are critical.
Where
does Spain go next, because at the moment the economy is in recession.
It is in recession, again, andit’s going to
be a long tortuous process. With the scale of the unemployment and the
structural reforms that take years to implement, let alone to take effect,
we’re talking five or ten years before Spain starts to recover in a serious
way. And if that means going cap in hand to Brussels, if that means credit lines
in the way Hungarians have done in the past, I think that’s entirely possible,
whereas 12 months ago I don’t think that was on the table.
And
in the meantime there’s the immediate problem of the banks, which are
presumably very much extended because of the property boom, I think that’s
where the money’s come from, isn’t it – how are you going to get out of that?
When things really hit rock bottom,
especially round the coastal areas in Spain, you’re beginning to see signs of
the kind of distressed asset funds who will pick up properties that were valued
at let’s say half a million euros, but which companies with funds external from
Spain can pick up from 50 to 100,000 euros. So they’re paying less than half
the list price, and everyone is so desperate, whether it’s the banks or
individuals, that those houses are being sold. So there’s a little bit of
liquidity right at the bottom of the market but the market’s probably got a
good bit further to go. A good 15, even 20%more.
Is
Spain going to be able to withstand all this? There’s a strong family system in
Spain, they’re probably better able to withstand social pressures than perhaps
our country, but on the other hand, this is getting extreme, isn’t it?
It is getting extreme. There were some
cases in the culture where young people used to stay home for a long time,
perhaps until they got a significantjob, or got married and moved out, perhaps
in their late 20s or early 30s, but there was at least one earner in the
household, either father or mother or both, perhaps one of the children was
earning and so on. There are many households now where no one is earning and
everyone is on unemployment benefits, and that creates a very difficult and
depressive cycle even for the very strong cultural family ties that people have
in Spain, so it’s the most difficult that anyone I know there, with long
memories, has seen the country.
You’ve
been so expert at answering all these questions that I’ll ask you the
impossible one now Adam, is the Euro going to survive?
Thanks for that! It’s possible that the
Euro will survive of course. A lot of Spain’s problems are related to the wider
Euro problem of course and the Greek possibility of an exit may not be the end
for the Spanish membership of the Euro or for the Euro as a whole. In Spain in
fact the debt to GDP ratio is much lower than in the UK, Italy and other
countriesand certainly about half as much as it is in Greece. It’s got terrific
infrastructure and a lot of well qualified young people.So some of the
fundamentalsare good, however it all depends on the Greeks and the Germans
really, as much as the Spanish.
Very
expertly not answered, thank you Adam.
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The Leadership and Strategy Lunch with Pedro
Schwartz took place recently on 24th April in the
Intercontinental Hotel in Madrid.
We would like to thank Sr. Schwartz for his time and expertise. He
proved to be a very eloquent and informative speaker, showing good
humour and wit throughout the event and giving his original and expert opinion
in the Question & Answer session during dessert.
The
event was very well attended and enjoyed by all. We would also like to thank
the Intercontinental Hotel for their collaboration with this event and
for providing the wonderful three-course lunch.
Finally,
we would also like to thank our photographer Carlos Estévez for
attending the event and producing some wonderful photographs which can been
seen in this report. 
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Thursday, 23 February 2012
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Our representing organisation COBCOE (Council
of British Chambers of Commerce in Europe) has recently signed a Memorandum
of Understanding with the governments international business development
department UKTI (UK Trade and Investment). This now means that COBCOE is
officially a strategic partner of UKTI which will undoubtedly lead to an increased relationship
between them, and therefore the BCCS, and the government.
This new memorandum replaces a previous one made in 2002. The new
memorandum works more towards the collaboration of UKTI and COBCOE in the
development of new business initiatives throughout Europe.
This
agreement signifies an important opportunity for COBCOE and therefore for all
the European Chambers, it will help strengthen relationships between local and
diplomatic posts and will mean a step further in to working closely with UKTI
in relation to services we can provide for businesses everywhere.
We
hope this change will bring great opportunities and will encourage a close
relationship between our work and the government.
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Thursday, 26 January 2012
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Thursday, 12 January 2012
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Thursday, 15 December 2011
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The annual Christmas Lunch in collaboration with the British Hispanic Foundation took place in the Intercontinental Hotel in Madrid on 14th December.
The guest of honour and speaker was H.E. Mr Giles Paxman LVO, Ambassador of the UK to Spain who must be thanked for his wonderful speech.
Special thanks must also go to the British Hispanic Foundation for their collaboration and organisation of the event.
The 3 course lunch was enjoyed by all, as was the event as a whole. The event was very well attended and much positive feedback was received from many regular guests of this annual tradition.
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Granite Consultants Limited, members of the British Chamber of Commerce in Spain, is pleased to announce the
completion of its 65kW Rooftop Solar Installation at Fogars de la
Selva, Girona.
This project was privately funded and was
completed with the co operation of Granite Solar SL and Solosol Renovables. The
build was completed in August 2011, the farm was officially switched on in
November 2011 and it is now selling electricity to the national grid. The
company is undertaking further projects in 2012 for private and corporate
customers.
Granite Solar Projects can offer returns in excess of 10 per
cent per annum for companies interested in combining a sound investment strategy
with a greener public image. Customers in a position to take advantage of bank
financing can see even higher returns. In a time of financial uncertainty
Granite Consultants is providing an environmentally friendly and safe harbour
for investors.
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Tuesday, 29 November 2011
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