General news

• Women in Scotland will be able to take abortion pill at home

  26-10-2017 23:53
  Scotland has become the first place in the UK where women can take the abortion pillat home.The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) welcomed the decision, saying it would spare women both the "difficulties associated with having to make more than one clinic visit" and "the risk of symptoms on their way home, having taken the medication in a clinic".The abortion pill - which is actually two different medicines administered separately - can be taken at the same time, or with a gap of a few d
  
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• Trump: Opioid 'national shame' a public health emergency - BBC News

  26-10-2017 23:45
  BBC News
  Trump: Opioid 'national shame' a public health emergency
  BBC News
  US President Donald Trump has called America's painkiller-addiction crisis a "national shame" as he declared it a public health emergency. Mr Trump announced a plan to target the abuse of opioids, which kill more than 140 Americans each day.
  Trump declares opioids a public health emergency but pledges no new moneyChicago Tribune
  Trump declares US opioid emergency but pledges no new moneyDaily Mail
  The Opioid Crisis Is a
  
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• Catalan crisis: Regional MPs debate Spain takeover bid - BBC News

  26-10-2017 23:11
  BBC News
  Catalan crisis: Regional MPs debate Spain takeover bid
  BBC News
  Backers and opponents of independence in Catalonia have clashed in parliament over the way forward as the Spanish government is set to reassert control. The debate began after Catalan President Carles Puigdemont did not reveal a favoured course of ...
  Showdown between Spain and Catalonia headed to crunchDaily Mail
  Catalonia crisis deepens as region's president rules out snap electionThe Guardian
  Puigdemont rules out e
  
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• Sarah Gotham and Craig Forbes: Pair jailed for livestreaming child abuse to US paedophile

  26-10-2017 23:05
  Sarah Gotham, 34, and Craig Forbes, 36, drugged then sexually abused the youngster while streaming their assaults to convicted sex offender Kori Ellis, 42, in the US.Plymouth Crown Court heard the British pair filmed themselves indecently touching the girl on several occasions so Ellis could view the footage in California over Skype in 2012 and 2013.Gotham and Forbes had met Ellis, a female paedophile living in the state, via a "chat roulette" site called Omegle by entering the word "paedo" or "
  
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• Probation Service Reform Labelled 'Monumental Failure' After Shocking BBC Panorama Documentary

  26-10-2017 22:21
  The Labour Party has damned the part-privatisation of the probation service as a “monumental failure” after a shocking BBC documentary revealed serious failings in the system.
  
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• This guy gave his grandmother trendy sunglasses and now all her friends own a pair too

  26-10-2017 22:10
  Ian Price stopped wearing the shades after his girlfriend said she didn’t like them, so passed them on to Carolyn.
  
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• Labour accuses Theresa May of ‘stitch-up’ over response to defeats

  26-10-2017 21:55
  Labour accused Theresa May of a “great stitch-up” after the government announced that ministers would be given 12 weeks to respond when they are defeated on motions raised by the opposition.Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the House of Commons, said on Thursday she would take up a proposal made by the veteran Eurosceptic MP Peter Bone for a minister to be obliged to issue a response within 12 weeks whenever the government lost an opposition day debate.
  
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• Scottish women to be allowed to take abortion pill at home - Evening Times

  26-10-2017 21:37
  Evening Times
  Scottish women to be allowed to take abortion pill at home
  Evening Times
  Women in Scotland are to be the first in the UK to be allowed to take the abortion pill at home. The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) has been lobbying to change the law in the UK and welcomed the development. Scotland's Chief Medical Officer ...and more »
  
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• Tom Tugendhat: 'It would be great to be prime minister'

  26-10-2017 21:00
  Tom Tugendhat: ‘I will serve at whatever level I’m asked to.’.Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative rising star who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee, has said it would be great to be prime minister, foreign secretary or defence secretary one day.It’s a huge privilege to be serving, because parliament has asked me to, as chair of the foreign affairs committee.
  
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• Readers recommend: share your songs about redemption

  26-10-2017 21:00 via theguardian.com
  Make your nomination in the comments and a reader will pick the best eligible tracks for a playlist next week – you have until Monday 30 October We’re looking for themes of redemption and atonement in music this week – for more on how to interpret the topic, keep an eye on the comments.
  You have until 11pm on Monday 30 October to post your nomination and make your justification. Regular RR contributor and first time guru who goes by AssameseGuy87 below the line will select from
  
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• Tory rebels warn they are 'deadly serious' about forcing Brexit concessions

  26-10-2017 20:58
  David Davis was forced to appear before MPs on Thursday and reiterate his pledge to give parliament a vote.Conservative rebels have warned the Brexit secretary, David Davis, that they are “deadly serious” about forcing concessions from the government on the EU withdrawal bill.As the leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, announced that the key piece of Brexit legislation would come back to the Commons on 14 November, former education secretary Nicky Morgan warned Davis not t
  
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• Parachute case wife tells court 'everything went black'

  26-10-2017 20:36
  Victoria Cilliers suffered a fractured spine and pelvis, and broken ribs in the near-fatal fall in April 2015.Mrs Cilliers admitted that she had previously lied in one of her police statements, exaggerating the length of time he spent in the toilet because she was "angry" and "out for his blood".Describing her freefall struggle to regain control of her parachute, Mrs Cilliers explained how she cut away the main canopy, and the reserve canopy then failed.
  
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• ‘Welcome and important’: academics on decolonising education

  26-10-2017 20:29
  A Cambridge research fellow, Malachi McIntosh, spoke of a ‘sepia-tinged nostalgia for a past that never was’.The debate sparked by a group of undergraduates at the University of Cambridge, on how and whether to “decolonise” British tertiary education by incorporating more black and minority ethnic voices, is spreading rapidly across universities and academic disciplines.Malachi McIntosh, a Cambridge research fellow and expert on 20th and 21st century Caribbean literature,
  
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• Anger as 'anti-Muslim extremist' Tapan Ghosh attends Parliament events

  26-10-2017 20:19
  TellMAMA, who record incidents of anti-Muslim hate crime, will submit a complaint to House of Commons officials over the appearance of Tapan Ghosh at a meeting and a reception last week.The independent organisation, which receive some public funding, criticised a failure to conduct "due diligence" on attendees of a Diwali celebration on the House of Commons terrace and a subsequent discussion in a parliamentary committee room.Mr Ghosh describes himself on Twitter as an "uncompromising Hindu acti
  
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• National Action 'head' charged over alleged plot to murder MP Rosie Cooper

  26-10-2017 20:04
  The reported leader of banned organisation National Action has been charged with encouragement to commit murder, relating to Labour MP Rosie Cooper.Christopher Lythgoe, 31, has also been charged with belonging to a proscribed organisation, along with five other men.Ms Cooper, MP for West Lancashire, said: "I would like to thank everyone involved in this case, especially the counter-terrorism police, for keeping me, my staff and the public safe.
  
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• UK high-security prisons lose one in four officers under Conservatives

  26-10-2017 20:00
  HMP Belmarsh has seen a near 40% drop in prison officer numbers – from 891 in 2010 to just 553.HMP Belmarsh, the category-A men’s prison that has inmates including serial killer Stephen Port and extreme Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary, has experienced a near 40% drop in prison officer numbers – from 891 in 2010 to just 553.The Ministry of Justice figures, which show a drop of more than 1,700 prison officers in total across the eight highest security prisons, come as new data w
  
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• Would-be jihadist fantasised about beheading of Katie Hopkins and helped husband prepare for terror attack - Telegraph.co.uk

  26-10-2017 19:39
  Telegraph.co.uk
  Would-be jihadist fantasised about beheading of Katie Hopkins and helped husband prepare for terror attack
  Telegraph.co.uk
  A woman bought her husband a hunting knife and lifelike plastic dummy to stab after she urged him to commit terrorist atrocities for her, a court has heard. Madihah Taheer had courted her partner with boasts that she held more extreme views than him ...
  The Birmingham couple who put IS at heart of marriageBBC News
  Woman convicted of helping future husband pr
  
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• 'Bloodhound' car kicks off bid to speed into record books

  26-10-2017 19:37
  The Bloodhound Supersonic Car, effectively a fighter jet on wheels, on Thursday kicked off a bid to roar into the record books by eventually reaching 1,000 mph (1,610 kmh).It was the first public trial of the vehicle, powered by an EJ200 jet engine from a Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet, ahead of a world record bid in South Africa in the next few years.Twenty years after setting the current world land speed record of 763 mph in the Bloodhound's predecessor, Andy Green, a British air force pilot,
  
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• Carney: Rise in inflation had been 'anticipated'

  26-10-2017 19:35
  Bank of England governor Mark Carney told MPs on the Treasury Select Committee that a rise in inflation to more than 3% had been anticipated.
  
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• EU probes UK tax-avoidance scheme over fears it 'goes against its purpose'

  26-10-2017 19:31
  Britain is being investigated by the EU over the legality of a tax exemption scheme for multinational companies.EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the probe would look at whether it breached rules banning big firms paying less tax than other companies.The scheme facing scrutiny came into force in 2013, and forms part of a broader anti-tax avoidance plan.
  
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• Daily Telegraph Admits 'Decolonise' Cambridge Curriculum Story Was Wrong As Student Lola Olufemi Condemns Newspaper

  26-10-2017 19:29
  The Daily Telegraph has admitted its story suggesting the University of Cambridge was being “forced” to drop white writers from its curriculum was inaccurate, as the black student who featured on its front page spoke out after suffering “racist and sexist abuse” as a result.
  
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• Retail sales fall sharpest since recession, says poll

  26-10-2017 19:27
  Retail sales fell this month at their steepest rate since the recession, according to new figures that add to anxiety over the strength of the economy days ahead of an expected interest rate hike.It adds to fears over the resilience of consumer demand at a time when household finances are being squeezed, with wage growth failing to keep pace with inflation, which is at a five-year high.Some experts warn that a widely expected increase in the Bank of England's base rate next week from 0.25% to 0.
  
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• Louis Theroux responds to parody Twitter account by filming himself reading joke tweet

  26-10-2017 19:25
  Louis Theroux Bot imagines new and bizarre topics for the documentary maker to explore.
  
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• Root and branch opposition to Sheffield tree plan | Letters

  26-10-2017 19:21
  George Monbiot writes a rather hyperbolic article (With just one contract, corporate and state power has subverted democracy, 25 October).A handful of (often masked) protesters might have found George easy to persuade, but a brief look at our FAQ will show there is no issue of people versus profit, and no massacre.Tree replacement is always a last resort and happens only if a tree is dead, dying, diseased, dangerous or damaging.
  
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• Haringey a test case for local democracy | Letters

  26-10-2017 19:20
  While the construction of Spurs’ new stadium continues apace, plans for wider redevelopment of the area are being judicially reviewed.Aditya Chakrabortty (It’s one man against a housing juggernaut, 25 October) is right that the high court case to stop Haringey’s HDV regeneration plans is an important one, with potentially far reaching implications for people in a number of areas facing top-down plans to change housing.No one faced with having their home demolished in north Tott
  
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• A tricky centenary for Theresa May to celebrate | Brief letters

  26-10-2017 19:17
  Theresa May said at prime minister’s questions this week that she thinks it is important that we mark the centenary of the election of the first female MP next year.Since the woman in question was Constance Markievicz, a member of Sinn Féin who had been imprisoned and sentenced to death for her part in the fighting in Dublin in 1916, I look forward Mrs May’s taking part in this commemoration with great interest.Teaching women’s studies some years ago, I looked at the sta
  
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• Our concern and disappointment over article on personality disorders | Letter

  26-10-2017 19:15
  As a group of mental health professionals and people with lived experience, we were shocked and disappointed with the tone and content of the piece.Personality disorder is a recognised mental health condition and people who have this diagnosis have suffered many years of stigma and discrimination.People with a diagnosis of personality disorder (there are a range of conditions within this cluster) exist within a world of rejection and harm.
  
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• Anarchist Cookbook case: Student Joshua Walker cleared of terrorism offence

  26-10-2017 19:09
  Joshua Walker, 27, had a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook under his mattress in his university bedsit in Dan-y-Coed, Aberystwyth.Police found the 111-page document after the university student was detained at Gatwick airport in December 2016, on his return from Syria.Mr Walker, from Bristol, said he had spent the summer helping Kurdish forces fight against Islamic State, and claimed he had even acted as an interpreter for US special forces during his time in the Middle East.
  
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• Madihah Taheer, Who Fantasised About Beheading Katie Hopkins, Convicted Of Terrorism Offences

  26-10-2017 18:54
  A woman who fantasised about beheading Katie Hopkins and wanted the leader of Britain First murdered has been convicted of terrorism offences.
  
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• How You Can Support Your Employees' Mental Health

  26-10-2017 18:46
  The Stevenson-Farmer independent review into workplace mental health revealed today that 300,000 people with a long-term mental health problem lose their jobs each year.
  
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• This guy let his sister give him a manicure and it’s taking Twitter by storm

  26-10-2017 18:41
  “Certain things don’t make you less of a man.”
  
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• National Action charges: Man accused of MP murder threat - BBC News

  26-10-2017 18:33
  BBC News
  National Action charges: Man accused of MP murder threat
  BBC News
  A man arrested as part of an investigation into the far-right group, National Action, has been charged with encouragement to commit murder. The BBC understands the charge against Christopher Lythgoe, 31, from Cheshire, relates to Labour MP Rosie ...
  National Action Head Christopher Lythgoe Charged Over Alleged Murder Plot Relating To Labour MP Rosie CooperHuffPost UK
  National Action 'head' charged over alleged plot
  
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• UK sets date for parliamentary showdown on crucial Brexit laws

  26-10-2017 18:19
  The British government said on Thursday its key piece of Brexit legislation would be debated in parliament on Nov. 14 and 15, the next stage in what is expected to be a tortuous lawmaking process that will test Prime Minister Theresa May's authority.The European Union (Withdrawal) Bill is central to the government's plan to leave the EU in March 2019, repealing the laws that made Britain an EU member and transposing existing EU law into British law.As a result, the bill's passage through parliam
  
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• This guy is covered in yoghurt and it’s all Jennifer Aniston’s fault

  26-10-2017 18:12
  Jennifer says…
  
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• Bloodhound car tested ahead of 1,000mph record attempt

  26-10-2017 18:07 via bbc.co.uk
  The 'world's fastest car' goes through its first public tests ahead of a land speed record attempt.
  
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• Man charged with encouragement to murder an MP

  26-10-2017 17:59
  The men will appear at Westminster magistrates court on Friday.A man arrested as part of an inquiry into banned neo-Nazi terror group National Action has been charged with encouragement to murder an MP.Police said Christopher Lythgoe, 31, from Warrington, Cheshire, had been charged with encouragement to murder the Labour MP for West Lancashire, Rosie Cooper.
  
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• TfL's contactless fare system to be used in New York subway

  26-10-2017 17:53
  The contactless fare system developed in-house by Transport for London is going overseas, to be used on the New York subway.TfL developers built the system, which allows commuters to use their contactless cards in the same way as Oyster cards, after being dissatisfied with what the market could offer.TFL struck a £15m deal to allow a firm called Cubic to use the system in its bid to run the tap and pay systems in New York City, according to the MayorWatch website.
  
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• National Action head charged over alleged MP murder plot

  26-10-2017 17:44
  The leader of banned organisation National Action has been charged with encouragement to commit murder, relating to Labour MP Rosie Cooper.The West Lancashire MP said: "I would like to thank everyone involved in this case, especially the counter-terrorism police, for keeping me, my staff and the public safe.The charges come as a result of a co-ordinated investigation by officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North East and North West, supported by Wales Extremism and Counter Terrorism Unit and
  
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• UK Labour Party women urged to speak out about sexual harassment

  26-10-2017 17:42
  A group of women members of Britain's opposition Labour Party have set up a website calling on fellow members who have experienced sexual harassment within party ranks to tell their stories anonymously to try and improve Labour's culture.The initiative comes after dozens of allegations of sexual harassment against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein inspired hundreds of thousands of women around the world to share their own experiences on social media under the hashtag #MeToo.The new website, La
  
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• Why I Wrote The Book I Wish I Had At The Start Of My Transition

  26-10-2017 17:37
  If you've watched this week's episodes of New Activists, you'll know my book To My Trans Sisters, is finally out!
  
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• The FA has lost the trust of the public, says chairman Greg Clarke

  26-10-2017 17:37
  The Football Association has "lost the trust of the public" and must undergo a "top to bottom" cultural review, chairman Greg Clarke has said.In a speech to the FA Council, Mr Clarke said England's football governing body had failed to adequately handle allegations made against now-sacked women's manager Mark Sampson.Last week, FA chief executive Martin Glenn apologised to stars Eniola Aluko and Drew Spence for discriminatory comments made to them by Sampson.
  
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• Barratt pulls out of $8 billion London development project

  26-10-2017 17:23
  Enfield Council said it had informed Barratt its proposed bid terms for the Meridian Water development project were unacceptable, adding talks with the builder had been terminated after it formally withdrew its interest.The Council and Barratt declined to comment on what terms they had disagreed over.Barratt declined to say how much the project would have been worth to the company.
  
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• BBC reporter accused of HYSTERIA after saying Britain ‘doesn’t feel like my country now’

  26-10-2017 17:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  VETERAN BBC reporter John Simpson has been ridiculed online and branded a "deluded Liberal" after declaring Britain "doesn't feel like my country now".
  
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• Too early to say if new legislation needed for Brexit transition deal - PM May's spokeswoman

  26-10-2017 17:19
  Britain is not yet able to say if new legislation will be needed to implement a Brexit transition deal, Prime Minister Theresa May's spokeswoman said on Thursday, hours after a junior Brexit minister said the position was that it would be necessary."We are looking to negotiate and agree an implementation period, we will do whatever is required to implement that, but it's a bit early to say exactly what that would be because it will be determined by exactly how we negotiate," the spokeswoman said
  
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• Man shot dead in Accrington named locally as Lee Holt

  26-10-2017 17:01
  Police operations at a house in Accrington after a man was shot dead on Wednesday night.A Lancashire man who was shot dead – allegedly by a 14-year-old boy – has been identified by locals as 32-year-old Lee Holt.Holt was hit once in the chest at a house in Accrington on Wednesday night.
  
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• Working mindset

  26-10-2017 16:56 via bbc.co.uk
  Is enough being done to help mental health issues in the workplace?
  
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• Legal challenge to UK ruling party's Northern Irish alliance fails

  26-10-2017 16:47
  A London court on Thursday rejected a legal challenge against the deal between Britain’s ruling Conservatives and a Northern Ireland party that allowed the government to cobble together a parliamentary majority in June.    After losing their majority in a disastrous snap election on June 8, Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives secured support from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in return for a pledge to spend an extra 1 billion pounds in Northern Ireland.  &
  
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• National Action Head Christopher Lythgoe Charged Over Alleged Murder Plot Relating To Labour MP Rosie Cooper

  26-10-2017 16:42
  The leader of a neo-Nazi terror group has been charged with encouragement to commit murder.
  
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• London lawyers join banks in weighing up post-Brexit move to Dublin

  26-10-2017 16:30
  Brexit has prompted some London law firms to follow banks in examining a move to Ireland, the country's chief promoter told Reuters, posing a threat to one of London's biggest money spinners.Many international contracts in finance are written in English law, but lawyers say enforcing them in the European Union will become harder after Britain leaves.
  
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• David Davis hits rock bottom and then keeps falling over Brexit vote | John Crace

  26-10-2017 16:21
  David Davis: even if he was to make a firm commitment, how could anyone believe him?Finding himself on the Commons naughty step and up against an urgent question asking him to clarify his remarks to the Brexit select committee the previous day, in which he had said that parliament might only get a vote on Britain’s withdrawal after we had already left the EU, his first instinct was to lash out.The Brexit secretary couldn’t understand why his Thursday morning lie-in had been curtailed
  
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