First, links to reports from Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Tass, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Russian missile debris falls on Kyiv children’s hospital, no casualties – Ukraine. From Reuters. KYIV — Missile fragments crashed into the grounds of a children’s hospital in Kyiv today and explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital as air defences responded to a morning Russian air strike. Explosions were also reported in the western region of Khmelnytskyi where . . . READ MORE . . . 

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Russia says strike hit foreign mercenary base in Zaporizhzhia. From AFP.  Russia’s defense ministry said today its forces hit a location where “foreign mercenaries” were quartered in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, after Kyiv said a Russian missile struck a hotel on Thursday evening, leaving one dead and 16 injured. Local media . . . . . . READ MORE . . .

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Turkey may host third round of international consultations on Ukraine — Hurriyet daily. From Tass. ANKARA — Turkey may play host to the third round of consultations on resolving the Ukraine crisis following the last meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Turkish daily Hurriyet reported. According to its article, the next meeting is scheduled for October. READ MORE . . .

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As tensions mount, Poland plans to deploy troops to its border with Belarus. Reported by Sarah McCammon and Rob Schmitz | NPR  Poland is planning to send ten thousand troops to its border with Belarus to counter what the government sees as a security threat from Russia’s ally, and host to Wagner militia fighters. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Links to reports in English and Spanish from the Associated Press, and from Reuters and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on its initials below. NOTE: Click HERE or scroll down for today’s first entry. — MCM

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Anti-corruption presidential candidate is assassinated in Ecuador as country reels from violence, by Gonzalo Solano and Regina Garcia Cano | AP  QUITO — An Ecuadorian presidential candidate who recently pledged to root out corruption and lock up the country’s “thieves” was fatally shot at a political rally in the capital as the South American country reels from drug-related crime and violence. Fernando Villavicencio, 59, who was known for speaking up against cartels, was assassinated Wednesday, less than two weeks before a special presidential election. He was not a front-runner, but . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ecuador en estado de emergencia tras asesinato de candidato presidencial que denunciaba corrupción, por Gonzalo Solano | AP  QUITO — Ecuador permanecía el jueves en estado de emergencia nacional tras el asesinato del candidato presidencial Fernando Villavicencio, un hecho sin precedentes que ha sumido al país en uno de los momentos más aciagos de su historia democrática. El presidente Guillermo Lasso publicó en su cuenta de X, que el crimen del candidato será investigado por la Agencia Federal de Investigaciones de Estados Unidos (FBI, por sus siglas en inglés) que “aceptó nuestra petición y en las próximas horas una delegación llegará al país”. LEA MÁS . . .

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Ecuador in shock after presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio assassinated, by Alexandra Valencia | Reuters QUITO — One dead suspect and six others arrested in the assassination of Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio are Colombians, Ecuadorean police said tday, and the government said it was pursuing the “intellectual authors” of the murder. The fatal shooting on Wednesday night . . . READ MORE . . .

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Slain Ecuador candidate fearlessly took on drug cartels and corruption, by Gabreila Molina and Megan Janetsky | AP  QUITO — The Ecuadorian presidential candidate fatally shot at a political rally fearlessly took on his country’s criminal networks and the political elite that he accused of corruption at the hands of organized crime. Fernando Villavicencio, a journalist before entering politics, waged a yearslong . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ecuador reels after leading presidential candidate is assassinated. Reported by Simeon Tegel | NPR  With just over a week to go until election day, Ecuador is under a state of emergency and in shock after the assassination of a presidential candidate at a campaign rally. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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For now, links to reports from the Kyiv Post, Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press, Reuters, Tass, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Mass evacuation ordered in Kharkiv region amid escalating Russian attacks. From the Kyiv Post. A mandatory evacuation has been ordered in 37 settlements in the Kupyansk district in north-eastern Ukraine due to an increase in Russian attacks in the region. Oleh Synegubov, the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, said this afternoon the evacuation could affect more than 11,000 civilians, including approximately 600 children. “The enemy has . . . READ MORE . . .

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Northeast Ukraine town urges evacuation in face of Russian advance.  From AFP. Authorities in the northeastern Ukrainian town of Kupiansk urged vulnerable residents to leave the area today citing an uptick in Russian attacks on the settlement. The evacuation order came as Poland is planning to move up to 10,000 additional troops to the border with Belarus to support . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia intercepts drones heading for Moscow for the second straight day. From AP. LONDON — Russian air defense systems today shot down two drones heading toward Moscow for the second straight day, officials said, with the attack disrupting flights at two international airports as Ukraine appeared to step up its assault on Russian soil. One drone was downed in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow and another near a major Moscow ring road, according to . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine’s navy announces Black Sea humanitarian corridor but says Russian threat remains. From Reuters. KYIV — Ukraine’s navy said a new temporary Black Sea “humanitarian corridor” had started working today and that the first ships were expected to use it within days. Oleh Chalyk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian navy, said . . . READ MORE . . . 

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Russia says ‘improved’ positions along front in Kharkiv region. From AFP. The Russian army said today it had improved its positions on the front line in northeastern Ukraine around Kupiansk, where Kyiv has reported increasing Russian attacks. “In the . . . READ MORE . . .

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Peaceful settlement possible if Kiev stops hostilities, terrorist attacks — diplomat. From Tass.  MOSCOW — A peaceful settlement in Ukraine is possible only if Kiev stops hostilities and terrorist attacks, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said today. “On our behalf, we continue maintaining our principled stance that . . . READ MORE . . .

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We meet female soccer players in Ukraine who are training during wartime. Reported by Jenna McLaughlin | NPR  Many of the players on one Ukrainian professional women’s soccer team have experienced hardships of war, but they’re still watching the Women’s World Cup and cheering on their favorite players. Click HERE to listen and read.

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First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Tass, the Kyiv Post, the Moscow Times, and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Huge blast at Moscow area factory adds to Russian jitters as new drone attacks are blamed on Ukraine, by Daria Litvinova and Emma Burrows | AP  TALLINN, Estonia — An explosion today on the grounds a factory north of Moscow that makes optical equipment for Russia’s security forces injured 45 people, six of them severely, officials said. The blast occurred at a warehouse storing fireworks on the grounds of the Zagorsk optics manufacturing plant, according to . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia shoots down two combat drones headed for capital: Moscow mayor. From AFP. Russian air defences have shot down two armed drones headed for Moscow, the city’s mayor said, the latest in a surge of drone attacks on Russia’s capital city. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said early today that one drone was downed in the Domodedovo area on the southern outskirts of the city, while the second . . . READ MORE . . .

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Poland, Ukraine to form joint military unit, says Shoigu. From Tass. MOSCOW — Poland is planning to form a joint Polish Ukrainian military unit ostensibly for security, but with the ulterior motive of occupying western Ukraine, Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergey Shoigu today. He drew attention to the dangers associated with Poland’s militarization . . . READ MORE . . .

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Dnipro Devils ‘raid Russian-occupied river town,’ by Pete Shmigel | The Kyiv Post  Ukraine’s special forces have reportedly conducted a daring raid of a settlement on the occupied left-bank of the Dnipro River, as Kyiv may be spreading out its slow-paced summer offensive. According to the independent Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and its sources, early  Tuesday Ukrainian forces landed up to seven boats – each carrying around six to seven soldiers – near the settlement of Kozachi Laheri, then broke through Russian defensive lines, and advanced . . . READ MORE . . .

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3 years after anti-Lukashenko protests, Belarusians in Ukrainian army seek to enact change through force, by Milàn Czerny | The Moscow Times  Some Belarusians are opposing the Russian invasion of Ukraine by enlisting with the Ukrainian army. One of them, Andrzej Kshetussky, estimates that approximately 400 Belarusian fighters are currently on the frontlines. Members of the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment speak with one another in the Belarusian language. In the past week alone, four of its fighters in the have been killed. READ MORE . . .

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From drone videos to selfies at the front, Ukraine is the most documented war ever. Reported by Greg Myre | NPR  When I started covering wars back in the 1980s, a typical day was often like this: You woke up in a place with no electricity, no phone service, no television or newspapers. The Internet didn’t exist. You started every day from scratch. My experience in Ukraine has been different. Very different. Click HERE to listen and read.

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First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Tass, the Moscow Times, and the Kyiv Post; other articles are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, a link to commentary from a U.S. presidential candidate’s website. — MCM

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Russian missiles kill 7 in Ukrainian city and Kyiv accuses Moscow of targeting rescue. From AP. KYIV — The death toll from two Russian missile strikes that hit apartment blocks and other buildings in an eastern Ukrainian city climbed to seven, with 81 people injured, authorities said today, as officials accused the Kremlin’s forces of targeting rescue workers. The dead . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukrainian presidential office moves to clarify provisions of its ‘peace formula.’ From Tass. MOSCOW — The office of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has released a document titled “Ukraine’s Peace Formula Philosophy,” which clarifies each of the ten points of Kiev’s initiative to resolve the conflict. In particular, the document . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia pulls thousands of Soviet-era military vehicles from major storage facility. From the Moscow Times. Russia’s largest known military equipment storage facility has been stripped of nearly half of the Soviet-era tanks and armored vehicles that were stored on its grounds before Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, The Moscow Times’ Russian service reported, analyzing satellite imagery of the storage site. The Vagzhanovo military equipment depot — located . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia’s helicopter losses mount further. From the Kyiv Post. Despite being billed by the Kremlin as the world’s best helicopter gunship, Russia may have just lost its 40th Ka-52 Alligator. According to the latest release from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), the latest doomed chopper . . . READ MORE . . .

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This is the future the Biden administration risks, by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. | Kennedy 2024  According to U.S. National Security Council official Fiona Hill and former Israeli PM Naftali Bennett, Ukraine and Russia agreed on the terms of a negotiated peace in March 2022. Russia pledged to retreat to pre-invasion lines and Ukraine pledged not to join NATO in exchange for security guarantees from a number of Western countries. Leaders from Washington and London arrived to scuttle the deal and . . . READ MORE . . .

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Via Consortium News, a link to commentary written for ScheerPost. — MCM

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The mess Democrats have made, by Patrick Lawrence | ScheerPost / Consortium News  At writing, we are 16 months from the 2024 presidential election. If a week is a long time in politics, there is too strong a chance that the interim upon us will prove one of awful eventfulness. In my read, the risk of brazen lawlessness in the upper reaches of power and, in consequence, a constitutional crisis, is now greater than at any point in the postwar period. It is time to brace ourselves against this eventuality. Is there any other plausible conclusion as things now stand? I do not see one. Two reasons: . . . READ MORE . . .

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and Tass, and to commentary from the Epoch Times; other articles are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Russia unleashes missile and drone strikes against Ukraine, retaliating for an attack on a tanker. From AP. KYIV — Russia unleashed a missile and drone barrage Sunday across parts of Ukraine that killed six people, Kyiv officials said, as Moscow followed through on its promise to retaliate for an attack on a Russian tanker. Separately, Moscow’s second-largest airport briefly suspended flights early Sunday following a foiled drone attack near the Russian capital. READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine says U.S and German air defence systems ‘highly effective’, by Pavel Polityuk | Reuters * Zelenskiy says air defences helping Ukraine’s war effort * Russia launches more air strikes * Ukraine calls Jeddah talks productive; Russia says doomed | KYIV — Ukraine is seeing “significant results” from U.S. and German air defense systems, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, despite waves of Russian air strikes that Kyiv says targeted civilians and residential buildings. Russia said it had shot down a drone heading for Moscow in the third such attack in a week, while officials on both sides . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia says it has advanced 3 km in northeast Ukraine. From AFP. Russia said today its troops had advanced three kilometres (two miles) along the Kupiansk front in northeast Ukraine over the last three days, as it seeks to regain territories it lost earlier in its offensive. “Over the past three days, the advance of Russian troops… amounted to 11 kilometres along the front and more than three kilometres deep into the enemy’s defence,” Moscow’s defence ministry said. READ MORE . . .

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Russian army hits Ukraine’s drone command center east of Makarovka — Defense Ministry. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russia’s battle group East has wiped out a temporary deployment site of Ukrainian militants in the Ugledar district, manpower in the Uglesborochnaya district and a drone command center, the group’s spokesman Oleg Chekhov has said. “Howitzer . . . READ MORE . . .

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The terrifying timeliness of Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer,’ by Roger L. Simon | The Epoch Times I went to see “Oppenheimer” on July 24 and, despite a few longeurs, I was riveted by it. The bomb “Oppy” was building, and nuclear weapons in general, as we well know, are as close or closer to being used today than ever since World War II because of the endless war in Ukraine. READ MORE . . .

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A column in last Wednesday’s New York Times has touched a nerve. Among those who responded are a writer in Australia and one in Boston, the authors of the first two articles linked below. A link to the Times column follows. (Scroll further down or click HERE for today’s first entry.) — MCM

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Mainstream journalists, by Caitlin Johnstone | caitlinjohnstone.com.au  Iraq war cheerleader David Brooks’ article in The New York Times, “What if We’re the Bad Guys Here?” is another one of those tired old think pieces we’ve been seeing for the last eight years that asks, “Golly gosh could we coastal elites have played some role in the rise of Trumpism?” One worthwhile paragraph about the media stands out though: “Over the last decades we’ve taken over whole professions and locked everybody else out. When I began . . . READ MORE . . .

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‘Elites’ started killing newspapers decades ago, by Howie Carr | Boston Herald  Newspapers ain’t what they used to be, but it wasn’t only the Internet, wokeness and coronavirus that ruined them beyond repair. The Beautiful People started destroying newspapers long before any of the above catastrophes. And finally, David Brooks, a typical product of the . . . READ MORE . . .

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What if we’re the bad guys here? by David Brooks | The New York Times  I ask you to try on a vantage point in which we anti-Trumpers are not the eternal good guys. In fact, we’re the bad guys. This story begins in the 1960s, when high school grads had to go off to fight in Vietnam, but the children of the educated class got college deferments. It continues in the 1970s, when the authorities imposed busing on working-class areas in Boston, but not on the upscale communities like Wellesley where they themselves lived. The ideal that . . . READ MORE . . .

First, links to reports from the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, and Tass; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. Then, a link to commentary from the Kyiv Post. — MCM

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Overnight airstrikes kill three in Ukraine as Moscow airport halts flights after foiled drone attack. From AP. KYIV — Three people have died during a night of air strikes and intense shelling across Ukraine, officials said today, while Moscow’s second-largest airport briefly suspended flights following a foiled drone attack near the Russian capital. READ MORE . . .

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Russia says hit airbases in western Ukraine. From AFP. Russia said today that its forces struck military airbases in the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne regions in western Ukraine and that “all targets were hit.” Ukraine said it faced several waves of attacks . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia officials say Ukraine hit Donetsk university with cluster shells. From Reuters. * This content was produced in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations | DONETSK — Flames engulfed a university building’s wooden roof in Donetsk following Ukrainian shelling on Saturday, said an emergency official in the Russia-controlled city in eastern Ukraine. “As a result . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russia strikes Ukraine blood center, aeronautics group – Zelensky. From AFP. Moscow escalated its attacks in Ukraine on Saturday, with President Volodymyr Zelensky denouncing a deadly strike on a blood transfusion centre as a “war crime.” A separate strike struck a key aeronautics factory, both attacks coming just hours after Kyiv hit a Russian tanker in the Kerch Strait. “Rescue . . . READ MORE . . .

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Russian troops repel eight Ukraine’s attacks in Kupyansk area in past day — top brass. From Tass. MOSCOW — The Russian military have continued to improve the tactical situation in their areas of responsibility in the Kupyansk area in the past 24 hours, repelling eight attacks by Ukrainian troops, Defense Ministry spokesman Lt .Gen. Igor Konashenkov said. “In the Kupyansk area, assault units of the battlegroup West continued . . . READ MORE . . .

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How Washington misunderstood Putin, by Anders Aslund | The Kyiv Post  In 2021, current CIA head and Biden administration Cabinet member William J. Burns published his highly acclaimed memoir, The Back Channel: American Diplomacy in a Disordered World. Given his current prominence, I have just finished reading it to try to figure out where he actually stands on Russia and Ukraine. The book is substantial. Burns spells out his views in uncommon clarity. But the more I read, the more disappointed I became by his . . . READ MORE . . .

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For today, links to reports from Reuters, Tass, and National Public Radio, followed by a link to commentary from the Associated Press; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. — MCM

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Russian tanker hit by sea drone near Crimea Bridge. From Reuters. A sea drone attack damaged a Russian tanker near the strategic bridge linking Russia to the annexed peninsula of Crimea, Russian authorities said today. Russian media said the SIG vessel, approaching the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, was hit by Ukrainian drones. Ukraine’s Interfax agency , citing an unnamed Ukrainian security service source, also said . . . READ MORE . . .

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Drone boat detected in open sea near Sevastopol, says governor. From Tass. SEVASTOPOL — A drone boat has been detected in the open sea near Sevastopol, the Russian forces are now taking measures to destroy it, the city’s governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said. “In the maritime zone of Sevastopol, in the open sea, the Navy has detected a drone boat, which . . . READ MORE . . .

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Saudi Arabia is hosting a peace conference. Russia isn’t invited. Reported by Scott Simon and Michelle Kelemen | NPR  The conference is this weekend. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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How the use of drones in Ukraine has changed war as we know it. Reported by Scott Simon of NPR speaks with military analyst Kelly Grieco about how the use of drones in the war in Ukraine is changing the very nature of war. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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Russia’s war with Ukraine has generated its own fog, and mis- and disinformation are everywhere, by Jim Heintz | AP  TALLINN, Estonia — On the battlefields of Ukraine, the fog of war plagues soldiers. And far from the fighting, a related and just as disorienting miasma afflicts those who seek to understand what’s happening in the vast war. Disinformation, misinformation and absent information all cloud civilians’ understanding. Officials from each side . . . READ MORE . . .

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