Maven Error: Failed to resolve POM

After downloading Maven M2 Plug-in, My first build gave me this error. Just so annoying. It kept breaking at.

Failed to resolve POM for org.apache.maven.doxia:doxia:1.0-alpha-7 due to Missing:
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1) org.apache.maven.doxia:doxia:pom:1.0-alpha-7
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1 required artifact is missing.

This could also happen to other POMs. doxia is just an example. The direct log indicated it could not find anything from

central (http://repo1.maven.org/maven2, releases=true, snapshots=false),
plexus.snapshots (http://oss.repository.sonatype.org/content/repositories/plexus-snapshots, releases=false, snapshots=true), 
apache.snapshots (http://repository.apache.org/snapshots, releases=false, snapshots=true) 

But it clearly exists in
http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/apache/maven/doxia/doxia/

[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-resources-plugin:2.4.1:resources (default-resources) on project iwe: Execution default-resources of goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-resources-plugin:2.4.1:resources failed: Plugin org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-resources-plugin:2.4.1 or one of its dependencies could not be resolved: Unable to get dependency information for org.apache.maven.doxia:doxia-sink-api:jar:1.0-alpha-7: Failed to process POM for org.apache.maven.doxia:doxia-sink-api:jar:1.0-alpha-7: Non-resolvable parent POM org.apache.maven.doxia:doxia:1.0-alpha-7 for org.apache.maven.doxia:doxia-sink-api:1.0-alpha-7: Failed to resolve POM for org.apache.maven.doxia:doxia:1.0-alpha-7 due to Missing:
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1) org.apache.maven.doxia:doxia:pom:1.0-alpha-7
----------
1 required artifact is missing.

for artifact: 
org.apache.maven.doxia:doxia:pom:1.0-alpha-7

from the specified remote repositories:
central (http://repo1.maven.org/maven2, releases=true, snapshots=false),
plexus.snapshots (http://oss.repository.sonatype.org/content/repositories/plexus-snapshots, releases=false, snapshots=true),
apache.snapshots (http://repository.apache.org/snapshots, releases=false, snapshots=true)
-> [Help 1]
[ERROR] 
[ERROR] To see the full stack trace of the errors, re-run Maven with the -e switch.
[ERROR] Re-run Maven using the -X switch to enable full debug logging.
[ERROR] 
[ERROR] For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles:
[ERROR] [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/PluginResolutionException

Full log available @ http://sar.pastebin.com/raw.php?i=nvfyJ40S

Apparently The solution is found, least expectedly, in the last URL (in the comments, aamof). By the nature and verbiage of the output, we keep looking under repo1.maven.org/maven2, but will have to eventually, lose to mild to extreme annoyance. The URL again, lists out all the different reasons a dependency resolution may fail, except this particular case. Thanks to Matthew McCullough, the actual problem can be solved by merely deleting the .lastUpdated file.

If the artifact is either found or not found, a file is written to your ~/.m2/repository of the format myfavoritetool-plugin-2.0.4.maven-plugin.lastUpdated that keeps track of the fact that a remote repo was asked for this artifact.

Once this file is written, remote sites are NOT checked again for updates. To force a check of remote sites for updates to releases OR snapshots of traditional artifacts AND plugin artifacts, issue the -U flag to Maven. This is, in long form, called --update-snapshots, but truly updates both releases and snapshots. I'm submitting a patch to remove mention of --update-snapshots from the mvn -h help output. This patch was submitted as http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/MNG-4537

Unfortunately, the page was not found during my relentless Googling.It pays to read the comments sometimes. Someone needs to update the page.