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Karl Mathiesen

@karlmathiesen.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1 following 63 posts

Senior Correspondent at the Observer

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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
NEW: The UK's Ministry of Defence paid a security technology consultancy to research solar radiation management, a controversial field of geoengineering, amid fears it will raise geopolitical tensions, new documents reveal. observer.co.uk/news/science...
observer.co.uk
MoD revealed to be funding research into ‘sun-dimming’ te...
New documents show the UK government has paid consultants to investigate the controversial field of solar geoengineering amid security concerns over global heating
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
‘Mum, you don’t know what it’s like inside my head’: how ADHD culture wars put lives at risk observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
observer.co.uk
‘Mum, you don’t know what it’s like inside my head’: how ...
Rightwing politicians say the condition is overdiagnosed, but evidence shows the opposite is the case. Now doctors and families are braced for disappointing results from a second review into the condi...
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Corbin Hiar @corbinhiar.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Super excited to announce that @karlmathiesen.bsky.social and I won an award from @spj-posts.bsky.social for our coverage of solar geoengineering. www.spj.org/sdx25/#print... The judges said we had “important impact and compelling writing with each story.” youtu.be/793dRna5st4?...
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
You can read the piece here www.politico.com/news/magazin...
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
AWARD WIN: @corbinhiar.bsky.social and I won a National Headliner Award for magazine writing. The judges said we "captured the unsettling ambiguity of a geoengineering plan to release reflective particles into the atmosphere in an attempt to dim sunlight and “throw global warming into reverse.”"
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
She Spoke Out About Gaza. The US Turned Her Life Upside Down. My profile of UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese for POLITICO Magazine. www.politico.com/news/magazin...
politico.com
She Spoke Out About Gaza. Now She Can’t Use a Credit Card.
After accusing governments and corporations of complicity in Gaza, the U.N. investigator for Palestine territories now finds herself in Washington’s crosshairs.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Hey Leo. I think we maybe had broadly the same experience but perhaps different risk tolerance? I'm uncomfortable not knowing exactly what the payback time will be. And not having independent verification of that. But still I went forward. I think that will be a deal breaker for many others.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
I didn't include this in the piece for space reasons, but we did add cooling capabilities for our heat pump, which cost an extra £5800 to have cooling in our loft and first floor. It's tempting to think it's a mad luxury. But I think actually it's becoming as fundamental as heat.
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Rarian Rakista @rakista.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
I live in Oregon and we've had HVAC being taught in community colleges for decades. Two year degrees standard, costs stable, and professional. The UK is instead trying to retrain their mid career boiler engineers into HVAC techs in a few weeks, and learning on the job. Go with longer training.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
New from me: I got a heat pump. It really didn't need to be this hard. www.politico.eu/article/new-...
politico.eu
My heat pump hell
In the middle of a global energy crisis, the U.K. Labour government is in a battle to save its heat pump plans from Nigel Farage.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
NEW: Europe's rightwing populists risk being only the “beneficiaries of other movements’ weaknesses” rather than serious parties of government, warns one of their intellectual champions Frank Furedi in an interview with me. www.politico.eu/article/the-...
politico.eu
Europe’s populists are winning. But can they govern?
The man Viktor Orbán sent to shake up Brussels on why Europe’s rising right-wing wave may not be ready for power.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
The fossil fuel era is by no means over. But disorder is replacing the order that fossil fuels built. Once the world had an apex predator. Now it’s pythons vs. gators in the Everglades. www.politico.com/newsletters/...
politico.com
POLITICO Forecast
Global power is in flux. Your daily guide to what comes next.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
The State Dept tapped the Heritage Foundation last year for a list of friendly European orgs the US could fund to help spread MAGA across the Atlantic. Much more here: www.politico.eu/article/maga...
politico.eu
The MAGA-friendly European think tanks Trump wants to fund
The Heritage Foundation identified European groups for U.S. backing.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
🚗 Bringing all the governments of the world — bar the United States — to Brazil for a UN climate conference showed the doom and gloom over the cost of doing something to stop climate change is a peculiarly Western pathology. Dispatch from Belém. www.politico.com/news/magazin...
politico.com
A Test Drive Through Brazil in Donald Trump’s Worst Nightmare
The biggest story of the climate summit might be the brand-new EVs on the streets outside.
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Corbin Hiar @corbinhiar.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
NEW: A billionaire-backed global cooling startup is a few years away from potentially seeding the stratosphere with sunlight-reflecting particles. This is the inside story of how Stardust is developing planet-altering tech that it hopes to sell to the US government. www.politico.com/news/magazin...
politico.com
The Strange and Totally Real Plan to Blot Out the Sun and Reverse Global Warming
A 25-person startup is developing technology to block the sun and turn down the planet’s thermostat. The stakes are huge — and the company and its critics say regulations need to catch up.
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Patrick Caldwell @patcaldwell.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
"key threshold had already been crossed. Humanity had gained the power to turn down the sun, and barely anyone on the planet even knew. What’s more, that untested power was now effectively for sale." politico.com/news/magazin... Amazing story by @karlmathiesen.bsky.social & @corbinhiar.bsky.social
politico.com
The Strange and Totally Real Plan to Blot Out the Sun and Reverse Global Warming
A 25-person startup is developing technology to block the sun and turn down the planet’s thermostat. The stakes are huge — and the company and its critics say regulations need to catch up.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
Stardust. The Israeli-U.S. company with a strange and totally real plan to block out the sun and reverse global warming. Reporting this story involved a complete relearning of what I thought I knew about the climate future. w/@corbinhiar.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/magazin...
politico.com
The Strange and Totally Real Plan to Blot Out the Sun and Reverse Global Warming
A 25-person startup is developing technology to block the sun and turn down the planet’s thermostat. The stakes are huge — and the company and its critics say regulations need to catch up.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
NEW: Climate summit proposal dodges call to accelerate move from fossil fuels www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
politico.com
Climate summit proposal dodges call to accelerate move from fossil fuels
The final text of a proposed deal would be a disappointment for European countries and low-lying Pacific island nations.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
NEW: The sad, sorry state of COP www.politico.com/newsletters/...
politico.com
The sad, sorry state of COP
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
🚨'The worst environmental setback in Brazil's history.' Just a week after COP30 ends, it looks almost certain that Brazil's agribusiness dominated Congress will strip almost all oversight of damaging projects. My report from Brasília. www.politico.eu/article/braz...
politico.eu
Brazilian lawmakers seek to decimate green laws one week after hosting climate summit
Changes would damage President Lula’s efforts to cast Brazil as an environmental leader.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
NEW: Geoengineering startup Stardust Solutions has been secretly lobbying Congress for months w/ @corbinhiar.bsky.social subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
subscriber.politicopro.com
E&E News: Geoengineering startup has been secretly lobbying Congress for months
Stardust Solutions hired Holland & Knight, but the lobbying giant says it "inadvertently" failed to publicly disclose its work for the startup, as required by law.
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Corbin Hiar @corbinhiar.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Stardust's new investors include the billionaire Chris Sacca and the Agnelli family, an Italian industrial dynasty. The startup plans to spend the cash on "controlled outdoor experiments," the CEO says. But critics remain skeptical of its business plan: "I don't think that is, at all, reasonable."
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
A once-outlandish idea for reversing global warming takes a major step toward reality. w/ @corbinhiar.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/glob...
politico.eu
Israeli-American global cooling startup raises $60M to test sun-reflecting technology
The fundraising haul marks strong enthusiasm for experiments aimed at lowering temperatures, said the company. But it also raises questions about commercializing technologies with potentially damag…
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
"Some were left wondering what Hoekstra hoped to achieve when he attacked Beijing for a “clearly disappointing” climate plan — especially after the EU had failed to present its own strategy." w. @l-guillot.bsky.social and @marieccles.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/wopk...
politico.eu
Hoekstra’s mano a mano with China wobbles climate summit
EU’s top climate envoy’s war of words sparks fears of diplomatic discord ahead of COP30.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
A question I thought it would be easier to find the answer to than it is. Can any climate scientists on here tell me how to calculate how much excess CO2 there is in the atmosphere now as opposed to pre-industrial levels? ie 280ppm vs 425ppm expressed as tons?
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
After Environment Commissioner Roswall delays EU forest law blaming IT issues, the Commission's VP Teresa Ribera tells us she's really not convinced. “There may be [IT problems] — I don't know." "I think that it is very controversial to give it up." www.politico.eu/article/euro...
politico.eu
Don’t abandon forest law over IT problem, Ribera urges Commission
Vice president of the EU executive says computer issues not good enough reason to further delay anti-deforestation law.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
“Many in China now characterize the EU as a middle power." How Europe sabotaged it's place at the head of the climate pack. With @ziaweise.bsky.social and @saraschonhardt.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/euro...
politico.eu
Europe’s climate clout melts away
China stands ready to fill the gap as EU infighting leaves a vacuum in global climate talks.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
There's actually two typos in the ad. So we're very sorry, but it's a no.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
“If policymakers fail to act, they risk fueling the very populism they claim to fear.” @thisisbartosz.bsky.social‬ scoops an unvarnished view of the EU's climate backtracking from Connie Hedegaard. www.politico.eu/article/gree...
politico.eu
‘They should be ashamed’: Green backsliding is wrecking Europe, EU’s first climate chief warns
From wildfires to far-right gains, Connie Hedegaard says Europe can’t afford to go soft on climate while China races ahead and companies like BP backtrack.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
NEW: Saudi Aramco employee named lead author of global climate report www.politico.eu/article/saud...
politico.eu
Saudi Aramco employee named lead author of global climate report
Mustafa Babiker was proposed for the key role last month.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
Big job leading one of the best teams in the business... #journojobs jobs.mpleo.net/en/politico/...
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
NEW: Backroom deals, embassy contacts and brown liquor built a booming trade of American LNG to Europe. Now, the lobbyist who saw it all says the U.S. president’s dalliances with Vladimir Putin are an incoming “asteroid” for the industry. www.politico.eu/article/euro...
politico.eu
Europe learned to love American gas. This is how Trump wrecks it.
Backroom deals, embassy contacts and brown liquor built a booming export trade. Now, the lobbyist who saw it all says the U.S. president’s dalliances with Vladimir Putin are an incoming “aste…
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
‘She’s pretty much alone’: The EU’s greenest leader fights the tide Teresa Ribera, the EU's 2nd in charge, has won significant victories in secret against a combination of attacks and disinterest. w/ @ziaweise.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/tere...
politico.eu
‘She’s pretty much alone’: The EU’s greenest leader fights the tide
The European Commission’s second-most powerful politician is isolated, beleaguered and under attack — just like the green policy she has vowed to protect.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
NEW: Sudanese economist Mustafa Babiker — a long-term employee of the Saudi Aramco oil company — has been proposed as coordinating lead author of a crucial chapter of the next UN climate science report, a leaked document shows. www.politico.eu/article/saud...
politico.eu
Global climate science body roiled by controversies stoked by Saudis, US
The proposed selection of a Saudi Aramco oil company staffer as one of the authors of a key science report has been denounced as “political capture.”
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
NEW: EU climate chief lobbied Germany to back weakened 2040 goal www.politico.eu/article/eu-c...
politico.eu
EU climate chief lobbied Germany to back weakened 2040 goal
Wopke Hoekstra successfully pushed the incoming coalition to back foreign carbon credits, helping shift the EU-level 2040 talks.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
🇪🇺 I'm writing POLITICO's Brussels Playbook today – tell me what's happening in your world ... kmathiesen@politico.eu
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Zack Colman @zcolman.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
NEW: Trump is perfectly OK with ceding the clean energy economy to China. Some green tech advocates thought they could convince Trump to compete. Trump 2.0 sees putting money into it as enriching China and legitimizing clean energy. w/ @karlmathiesen.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2025/05...
politico.com
Some Republicans want to beat China on clean energy. Trump doesn’t care.
Efforts to preserve Biden-era tax breaks for green technology are running into an administration focused on fossil fuels — and unwilling to play on what it sees as Beijing's turf.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
NEW: One camp wants the United States to compete with Beijing on clean energy. The other says playing in that game would make the United States the loser. With @zcolman.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2025/05...
politico.com
Some Republicans want to beat China on clean energy. Trump doesn’t care.
Efforts to preserve Biden-era tax breaks for green technology are running into an administration focused on fossil fuels — and unwilling to play on what it sees as Beijing's turf.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
NEW: Lessons for Australia? Unreported details of how UK paid off Turkey for COP26. Inward investment conference in London Votes for Turkish UN candidates Backing for UN positions + 😬 according to 1 diplo a broken promise to back Turkey over Australia for COP31 www.politico.eu/article/aust...
politico.eu
Can Australia pay off Turkey to host COP31? The Brits did.
A previously unreported package of investment pledges and U.N. support got Turkey to back down last time.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
NEW: Confidential EU report warns UK plans to strip nature protections in planning reforms could breach of the Brexit trade deal. Also notes senior UK politicians "ridiculing" of green laws and Rachel Reeves banging on about newts and bats. www.politico.eu/article/newt...
politico.eu
EU warns Britain’s war on newts could violate Brexit deal
Leaked EU report raises alarm about U.K. planning bill’s bonfire of environmental protections.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
NEW: Trump officials arrived in the UK last week with a simple message: China is a malign actor, benefiting from misguided climate policies, and the world is better off copying America's newfound embrace of fossil fuels. It was met with a shrug. www.politico.eu/article/trum...
politico.eu
Trump’s efforts to split Europe and China on clean energy fall flat
The U.S. argument against the green transition felt “quiet and out of place,” said one official.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
NEW: The IEA's research has shown increasingly optimistic outlooks for clean power and gloomy forecasts for oil. The Trump administration wants that to change. w/ @saraschonhardt.bsky.social , @charliecooper8.bsky.social and @nicolascamut.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/dona...
politico.eu
Trump officials pressure world’s top energy agency to drop climate mission
U.S. and European officials are sparring in meetings of the International Energy Agency, which helps guide global investments and policies.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
“There can be no renewal of our relationship with nature without a renewal of humanity itself.” On the loss of a mighty moral voice on climate change. www.politico.eu/article/pope...
politico.eu
Pope Francis, the isolated climate moralist
In the weeks before his death, Francis repeated a decade-old plea for a break from both Trumpian greed and the left’s economic rationalism.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
You know how you know the European Commission doesn't take FOI requests seriously? It emails its responses in Comic Sans...
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
My POLITICO colleagues are covering the hell out of Trump's move to burn down the apparatus of state governance, science and industry that was supposed to be the bulwark against his fossil fuel agenda. politico.com
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Will the Trump 2.0 admin blithely ignore climate talks or try to derail them? Strong evidence for the latter here with @FonieMits scoop. www.politico.eu/article/dona...
politico.eu
Trump tells countries to ax talks on shipping carbon tax, or else
The attack on the shipping deal is part of a wider U.S. rejection of policies to fight climate change.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Breaking: EU has delayed its 2040 climate target until "before summer" next.politico.eu/news/196645
next.politico.eu
POLITICO Pro
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
"The president remains pleased with Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency initiative but both men have decided in recent days that it will soon be time for Musk to return to his businesses and take on a supporting role." www.politico.com/news/magazin...
politico.com
Trump Tells Inner Circle That Musk Will Leave Soon
The president is pleased with Musk but the decision comes as the tech mogul increasingly looks like a political liability.
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Adam Vaughan @adamvaughan.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Good story by @karlmathiesen.bsky.social et al: "Can Keir Starmer bring down bills before bills bring him down?" The obv & most progressive option, flagged in the piece, still seems to be shifting eco/social levies off elec bills & onto taxation, paid with tax rise www.politico.eu/article/can-...
politico.eu
Can Keir Starmer bring down bills before bills bring him down?
Downing Street is worried about rising energy bills. Every option for bringing them under control could bring political pain.
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Karl Mathiesen @karlmathiesen.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
"It's vital that stammered voices are featured in the media ... It reminds everyone that some people in our community stammer and have as much right to have their voices listened to as anyone." Lovely piece from top climate scientist @piersforster.bsky.social stamma.org/your-voice/i...
stamma.org
It's vital stammered voices like mine are featured in the media
Piers tells us about being the media's go-to climate expert, and what stammering has given him.
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