tv The Context BBC News July 6, 2023 8:00pm-8:30pm BST
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as for prigozhin, he is in st petersburg. he may have gone to moscow this morning or somewhere else. he is not on the territory of belarus. the only thing that the kremlin is concerned about is potential for next armed rebellions from other actors and they are also really concerned about making sure that prigozhin doesn't go down as a martyr. so what is happening, what is actually going on — who knows? good evening, it is good to be back on the programme after a period of extended leave. the back is on the mend, i think, post—surgery. thank you to everyone who sent such kind messages. and a good night to return, plenty for us to get into — including the claim that yevgeny prighozin is back in russia. if you thought the wagner
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leader was in exile indefinitely, think again. what does that mean for the war in ukraine? difficult day for number ten. the standards committee says former government whip, chris pincher, should be suspended for eight weeks for groping two men in a london club. it will likely trigger another by—election. alongside that, the cabinet office lost a legal challenge today to prevent the covid inquiry from seeing borisjohnson's unredacted whatsapp messages and diaries. we will get into a busy day in westminster. but let us begin with that news from belarus that the boss of the wagner paramilitary group, yevgeny prigozhin, has returned to russia — according to the belarusian leader alexander lu kashenko. mr prigozhin, who led wagner's mutiny in russia last month, was supposed to have gone into exile in belarus — and yet the belarusian leader says he may now be back in st petersburg. for the past week or so, his whereabouts has been something of a mystery. we know his private jet had
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landed in minsk shortly after the rebellion, but not much since. and today, at a press conference in minsk, mr lukashenko said the question of whether the wagner units would relocate to belarus was still in the balance, and would depend on the decisions taken by moscow and by wagner. as for prigozhin, he is in st petersburg. he may have gone to moscow this morning or somewhere else. he is not on the territory of belarus. our russia editor steve rosenberg was at that news conference. well, less than two weeks ago, we were told that alexander lukashenko, the leader of belarus, had brokered a deal under which the wagner mutiny would end and yevgeny progozhin would move from russia to belarus, and any wagner fighters who wanted tojoin him in belarus could. today, mr lukashenko told us that actually, yevgeny progozhin is not in belarus, he was in st petersburg and he may be in moscow today. and, the wagnerfighters
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are not in belarus. he indicated that they went back to their camps in russian—occupied eastern ukraine. mr lukashenko also said that he is going to be discussing the situation with wagner with vladimir putin in the nearest future. although the kremlin hasn't given any date for that discussion, so what is happening, what is actually going on... who knows? vitaly the rush editor from bbc monitoring is not entirely convinced that prigozhin was ever in belarus. well, all we have in terms of pointers to him being there are the statements made by alexander lukashenko about ten days ago when he said that, yes, it prigozhin is
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in belarus. now he is saying that he is not, does that mean that he has left belarus? are we to believe alexander lukashenko at all? all of this only adds to the uncertainty surrounding the leader of the wagner mercenary group. what i do and after watching russian state tv is that it seems to have embarked on a campaign to discredit prigozhin and that is important because there have been questions about whether this mutiny was real. but now, audiences in russia are to believe that yevgeny progozhin is greedy, he is motivated by this lust for money, various tv channels in russia showing pictures set to be from his home, very opulent, piles of cash, ingots of gold, guns, wigs, fake passports and they brought up his criminal past as
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well. he'd spent nine years injail in the 1980s. the message is clear that yevgeny progozhin is a criminal who is after money and he is not a fighterforjustice who is after money and he is not a fighter forjustice as he claims. from this message to row back to him being a very patriotic fighter in ukraine, ithink being a very patriotic fighter in ukraine, i think that'll be really difficult. bill ukraine, i think that'll be really difficult. �* ., , , ukraine, i think that'll be really difficult. ., , , ., difficult. all of this is important because they — difficult. all of this is important because they were _ difficult. all of this is important because they were all- difficult. all of this is important because they were all of - difficult. all of this is important because they were all of these | because they were all of these questions about whether he might be rehabilitated if the war was to go wrong again for the russians in ukraine. maybe he would be brought back as mr popular. and as you say, they seem to be destroying his reputation. why would he go back to saint petersburg? because saint petersburg, as we all know, is a stronghold for the president, vladimir putin. find stronghold for the president, vladimir putin.— vladimir putin. and it is also prigozhin's _ vladimir putin. and it is also prigozhin's home _ vladimir putin. and it is also prigozhin's home city. - vladimir putin. and it is also prigozhin's home city. that l vladimir putin. and it is also | prigozhin's home city. that is vladimir putin. and it is also - prigozhin's home city. that is where they met, back when mr prigozhin was
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in charge of a chain of really expensive restaurants. and that friendship, that relationship, developed into what we are seeing today. st petersburg is also where prigozhin's home was. that is one reason why he might want to go there, but also, a lot of questions are being asked right now about what he might be doing in belarus, if he does go to belarus eventually. we've seen pictures of satellite images apparently showing bases being built in belarus, not too far from the border with ukraine, bases which might be used by wagner fighters. and that has led to concerns that wagner might attack from the north. ukrainian officials are playing them
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down, but at the end of the day, all they have is a lot of uncertainty surrounding both prigozhin's whereabouts and his intentions. the last we heard from him was last saturday and he spoke about a car rally that was held in siberia, and he thanked people for their support. but he said absolutely nothing about where he was what he was planning to do. ~ ., , ., , ., do. more questions, more speculation. _ do. more questions, more speculation. thank - do. more questions, more speculation. thank you - do. more questions, more. speculation. thank you very do. more questions, more - speculation. thank you very for that. meanwhile, in ukraine, five people have died after a russian rocket hit an apartment building in the western city of lviv. the city's mayor says the attack has left dozens of people injured. more than 50 flats were damaged. these aerial pictures give you some idea of the scale of that attack. you will see the top floors of that apartment building devastated by the force of the blast. you will be aware lviv is far to the west, hundreds of kilometres from the front lines. and this is described as the largest attack on lviv�*s civilian infrastructure since the start of the full—scale invasion. let's hearfrom some residents.
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translation: we were at home. at night, i woke up from the first explosion, but we didn't have time to leave the apartment. there was a second explosion. the ceiling started to fall. my mother was immediately hit. i jumped out. i was covered in rubble only about knee—deep. i tried to reach my mother, but i couldn't. i found out that my mother had died, my neighbours had died. at this point, it seems that i was the only one who survived from the fourth floor. it's a miracle. translation: if it wasn't i for the rescuers, we wouldn't have left the apartment. the rescuers broke down the door and led us out. i am left without an apartment, without anything. i heard screams from the neighbours. i think they were being pulled out of the rubble. opposite me, there were terrifying screams. they must've been pulling people out of the rubble. now i don't see my neighbours
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on the street anymore. let's talk to elisabeth braw, a senior fellow at the american enterprise institute, a us—based think tank. elizabeth, thank you for being with us. the russian said today that they were striking depots in the west that were storing foreign—made armoured vehicles. quite clearly from the pictures we have just seen, that wasn't the target that was hit. do you think in any way this is going to make the allies think again about how they move things across the border?— the border? well, i think it is remarkable — the border? well, i think it is remarkable that _ the border? well, i think it is remarkable that for - the border? well, i think it is remarkable that for over - the border? well, i think it is remarkable that for over a i the border? well, i think it is i remarkable that for over a year the border? well, i think it is - remarkable that for over a year now western allies have been able to help ukraine get equipment and it is no mystery how this equipment gets to ukraine. there are not many ways in which it can get into ukraine and even so it arrived successfully. so that said, there was always of the
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realisation of the recognition that there would be some equipment or some deliveries that would be hit, and if that happens and when that happens, that is something that the western allies have to take into account or accept that in addition to accepting that some of the equipment would be destroyed as part of the fighting, i think if anything, it is increasing the impetus amongst them to keep up the deliveries and to accelerator deliveries. because the more equipment gets lost, the more ukrainian needs, in order to win this war, and there is a realisation that if this war is to be prevented from going on forever then ukraine will need more equipment. just before we _ will need more equipment. just before we turn _ will need more equipment. just before we turn to belarus, if the intended target was depots and the fact that they are missing or hitting apartment blocks does again point to the sort of precision guided munitions which they don't have? ' .
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have? the difficult thing with the russians is _ have? the difficult thing with the russians is whether _ have? the difficult thing with the russians is whether to _ have? the difficult thing with the russians is whether to suspect . have? the difficult thing with the i russians is whether to suspect that they are incompetent or whether to suspect that they are deliberately targeting civilian buildings. it can't be both at the same time, or rather it is either incompetence or deliberate malice. but it is now a regular pattern that civilian buildings, whether it be apartment buildings, whether it be apartment buildings or cafe is, get hit. you would think that the fighting force thatis would think that the fighting force that is supposed to be the second best in the world would be able to send its missiles in the direction of the intended target, or otherwise it really is the case that they did intend to kill civilians.— intend to kill civilians. we've talked about _ intend to kill civilians. we've talked about prigozhin, - intend to kill civilians. we've talked about prigozhin, but i intend to kill civilians. we've - talked about prigozhin, but there was more important detail in this press conference in minsk today. notably about the nukes, this first batch of tactical nuclear weapons that richey supposedly moving to belarus. have a listen to how steve rosenberg perceived what the leader said about that.
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now we also talked about nuclear- weapons because the kremlin has said that it is moving tactical nuclearl weapons from russia to belarus. alexander lukashenko said that some had arrived and that more _ would arrive by the end of the year. now, a short while ago, he said that, god - forbid, he should actually have l to take the decision to use those weapons. well, i said to him, "these - are not your weapons to take the decision to use. they are russian weapons." well, he said, "well, _ if ukraine could fight with other people's weapons, meaning sort - of nato weapons, then why can't i?" how concerned how concerned were how concerned were washington and nato be with the response like that from lukashenko?— from lukashenko? lukashenko is clearl a from lukashenko? lukashenko is clearly a leader _ from lukashenko? lukashenko is clearly a leader who _ from lukashenko? lukashenko is clearly a leader who is _ from lukashenko? lukashenko is clearly a leader who is keen - from lukashenko? lukashenko is clearly a leader who is keen to i clearly a leader who is keen to prove his worth or his value, so if zelensky can use other countries weapons, i am just as good as zelensky. but there is a really dangerous part in this that is if
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lukashenko claims that he has some sort of right to take decisions over end of�*s nuclear weapons, should we expect a sort of meltdown of the relations between russia and belarus over nuclear weapons when they are already on belarusian soil? or should we expect some sort ofjoint action between the two free claims he is in charge but in fact he is acting on behalf of russia? the viewers will know that it is no joking matter, it is different if you sent tanks are even fighterjets to another country, that is very different from letting another country host your nuclear weapons when it is not clear who decides about the use of those nuclear weapons. and lukashenko is an erratic man, he is also a man who
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has a grasp on power that remains incomplete at best.— has a grasp on power that remains incomplete at best. thank you very much forjoining — incomplete at best. thank you very much forjoining us. _ rishi sunak�*s conservative party are languishing in the polls and would prefer to avoid elections at all costs, and yet this summer, they could be defending five seats across the country. this morning, the parliamentary standards committee issued an eight—week suspension to the conservative mp and former government whip chris pincher over allegations he had groped two men at a london bar last year. the committee said the behaviour had been "completely inappropriate, an abuse of power". if an mp is suspended for longer than ten days, constituents can vote to remove their elected representative by signing a petition, triggering a by—election. there is some speculation pincher may stand down anyway. our political correspondent damian grammaticas is with us. let mejust turn let me just turn to what the committee said today. he had responsibility for enforcing party
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discipline and upholding standards and that is why in their view this was more damaging to public perception than some of the other cases we have discussed in the past. yes, exactly right. chris pincher was a conservative mp and at the time, he was a deputy chief whip. in the british system, what that means is that he was in the number two in terms of, in the department that would enforce discipline within a party's group of mps. the deputy chief whip, that means getting people into line to vote the right way in crucial votes in the house of commons. dealing with internal matters of discipline. and therefore, he was in a position of power and authority and the committee found that that was a serious factor in this. and there rear part was quite stark and shocking, i have to say, in a
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members club not too far from here a year or so ago there were a couple of occasions when other men in there, he groped them, he groped them on the bottom and there is men found themselves being touched while they were there in a social event with other people around and said they found it extremely unnerving and they found themselves in a difficult position because of mr pincher�*s role. that was the reason this committee said his actions were unacceptable and had brought parliament into disrepute. they said the actions of a senior mp like that caused everyone in parliament to be tarnished. just caused everyone in parliament to be tarnished. , , . , caused everyone in parliament to be tarnished. , ., , ., caused everyone in parliament to be tarnished. , ., ., tarnished. just a bit of background, the reason this _ tarnished. just a bit of background, the reason this meant _ tarnished. just a bit of background, the reason this meant sticking - the reason this meant sticking peoples minds is because towards the end of borisjohnson's rain in number ten, end of borisjohnson's rain in numberten, he end of borisjohnson's rain in number ten, he was asked specifically about chris pincher and what he knew about his behaviour. so what he knew about his behaviour. so what does this judgment today say about what boris johnson new and
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what he perhaps didn't? weill. about what boris johnson new and what he perhaps didn't? well, you absolutely right. _ what he perhaps didn't? well, you absolutely right. this _ what he perhaps didn't? well, you absolutely right. this particular i absolutely right. this particular incident was actually the final triggerfor the incident was actually the final trigger for the downfall of boris johnson because when he was questioned about it, he had said that he been warned that mr pincher had behaved like they saw that there were questions and concerns about mr pincher�*s behaviour. when actually, it turned out that he had or should have been aware of this. so that triggered resignations from his cabinet and ultimately led to his downfall. on top of all of the other issues and scandals there had been. this report doesn't really go into that but i tell you what i think is interesting is not so much the question for borisjohnson, it is a question for borisjohnson, it is a question for borisjohnson, it is a question for his successor, rishi sunak, because now that this report has happened, the whole of the house of commons, all mps must vote to decide whether they approve this report and approve the sanction that could lead to a new by—election. and
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rishi sunak is under pressure now to declare, does he approve of this, the findings of this report? because the findings of this report? because the last couple of times, including boris johnson's the last couple of times, including borisjohnson's behaviour and the report into him, mr sunak dodged the issue and he never said whether he accepted the report. in issue and he never said whether he accepted the report.— accepted the report. in the high court today. _ accepted the report. in the high court today, the _ accepted the report. in the high court today, the government. accepted the report. in the high | court today, the government last this legal challenge which they brought to try to prevent the covert inquiry. they were unredacted messages, why were they so keen to avoid those being handed to the inquiry and what did the justice system say today? its inquiry and what did the 'ustice system say today?h inquiry and what did the 'ustice system say today?* system say today? its a good question- _ system say today? its a good question. the _ system say today? its a good question. the official- system say today? its a good question. the official reason| system say today? its a good - question. the official reason given was that the government didn't want to hand over material that they thought would be irrelevant to the work of the inquiry. the problem was that the legal setup which the government itself put in place was that the inquiry chooses what it wants to see and decide what is relevant or not, not the government. so their case was thrown out by the
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judges today and they will have to hand over everything, the whatsapp messages, the diaries of boris johnson, communications between senior ministers and all of that, by monday. and that means that the inquiry will have everything it wants to look at and will proceed with a very broader remit. mont wants to look at and will proceed with a very broader remit. want to follow. thank _ with a very broader remit. want to follow. thank you _ with a very broader remit. want to follow. thank you very _ with a very broader remit. want to follow. thank you very much. - with a very broader remit. want to i follow. thank you very much. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some of the other stories making headlines today. an eight—year—old girl has been killed and 15 people injured when a land rover crashed into a primary school in wimbledon in south—west london. it's a girls' school for children aged between 4—11. ten people were taken to hospital. a woman in her 40s has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
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a man has been found guilty of murdering ellie edwards. the beautician was enjoying a night out with friends. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, has set out plans to reform the education system, promising to smash what he called the "class ceiling". his speech in kent was briefly interrupted by environmental protesters. sir keir said primary schools would be funded to improve pupils' communication skills, and he promised to tackle the "snobbery" surrounding vocational training. you with bbc news. two rockets were fired today from southern lebanon which prompted a cross—border strike by the israeli military. 15 shells landed in the outskirts of two villages close to the border. it all comes, of course, in the wake of huge military operation that israel have been carrying out this week in the palestinian refugee camp. hundreds of troops went in there on
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monday morning and israeli drones targeted cyber camps. the operation is now over, but there are thousands of palestinian residents who live in jenin whose anger will be further stoked by the damage and destruction that there are returning to. israeli foreign minister again insisted that the operation injenin was aimed at rooting out terrorism. we don't have any fights with the palestinians, we actually have fights with terror organisations which are fully financed by iran which is mainly in the islamicjihad. i am proud to say that we targeted ii terrorists and there is no one civilian that was killed in our activity. and we put a lot of effort into this and also into intelligence and military capability as well.
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chris doyle is a middle east expert and the director of the council for arab—british understanding. good to see you. i see that the group in lebanon had expressed support for the palestinian cause in jenin. do you think these attacks that we have seen today willing to? it is quite probable that they were linked. it is not yet clear who actually fired these rockets across the border. it could well have been any number of groups. in recent times, hezbollah has been very careful not to do this and it is very wary of giving israel a reason to go after it. indeed, would there be a congregation between israel and hezbollah, it would have major repercussions and israel claims that hezbollah has 120 to 130,000 rockets. this would be a conflict of a completely different order to what we have seen in recent years. it
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speaks to the tension within israeli society because the israeli government which is of course more hardline than it has been have been pressing for the army to sweep through the west bank to deal with the terrorist element, but it seems the terrorist element, but it seems the army is more cautious and it is worried about an escalation which can come in any direction. you can't control a population _ can come in any direction. you can't control a population under- control a population under occupation that reminds you that palestinians, millions of palestinians, millions of palestinians in the west bank are under military occupation. that means that their bodies controlled and their water. i do the same time, israel is building settlements, over 700,000 colonies on that land. you can't do that and not expect there to be a reaction. the idea, as the israeli foreign minister said, that they don't have a fight with their palestinians is absurd. this isjust one element of that struggle, that
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form of oppression. of course, it is not a conflict in the northern sense of the word, israel is one of the most... has one of the most powerful armies in the world. it is well trained, there is no equivalent on the palestinian side. and although they were very careful in their own words in terms of what they did in jenin, which i think refugees at that camp would certainly dispute, you look at the levels of destruction, your own journalists have shown that as well, the reality is that across the west bank, we are seeing record levels of settler violence. we saw what many israeli human rights groups described as programmes taking place in weeks, ten days before the operation in jenin. we have seen the record year this century for the number of settlement units that have been advanced within the west bank, all illegal under international law. record numbers of home demolitions. when i was last in the west bank at
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the end of may i visited a school it was demolished, a palestinian school. what does that school have to do with fighting terrorism? if you want to create the perfect conditions that people are going to try to use whatever means at their disposal to try to fight an occupation, you are doing it right now. there is no hope on the horizon, there is no political talks, israel refuses to allow palestinian state to come into being, it blocks and tries to block with its allies all legal avenues to challenge what goes on. and in any contest force, israel has the upper hand. so what did they expect to happen? hand. so what did they expect to ha en? , .,, hand. so what did they expect to hauen? , .,, hand. so what did they expect to ha--en? .. , . , i. , happen? sorry to squeeze you this evenina. happen? sorry to squeeze you this evening- we _ happen? sorry to squeeze you this evening. we are _ happen? sorry to squeeze you this evening. we are tight _ happen? sorry to squeeze you this evening. we are tight for - happen? sorry to squeeze you this evening. we are tight for time - happen? sorry to squeeze you this evening. we are tight for time but | evening. we are tight for time but thank you very much for that. it is a subject we will come back to in the weeks ahead. do stay with us, we will talk about artificial intelligence. a big thing or a bad thing? we will discuss more.
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hello there. temperatures have been a little bit below average for the first week ofjuly. however, things are set to get a lot hotter as we look at the forecast for tomorrow — more on that in a second. today, many of us have had drier weather with some spells of sunshine and some showers, though, for scotland and some heavy rain in northern ireland, all tied in with this thick cloud you can see on the satellite picture, and weather fronts that have been bringing some heavy rain to the northwest, well, that's being caused by this area of low pressure. it's on friday, as that low swings back out into the north atlantic, that we start to get these southerly winds moving in, so, a big jump in heat tomorrow with highs getting up to 29 degrees celsius in the hottest parts of the country. now, before we see that heat arrive, overnight tonight, we've got some rain, the rain turning heavy for a time as it pushes northwards across scotland. then the rain probably becomes a little bit lighter and patchy, at least for a time, for scotland and for northern ireland. a little bit of rain for a time across northwest england. otherwise, england and wales looking largely dry with some clear spells. it will be a warmer night than we've seen over recent nights. for friday, then, we've got
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the remnants of that weather system bringing some rain to northern ireland and scotland to start the day. that will clear away and the weather will turn brighter as we head into the afternoon. it's across england and wales that we'll have sunshine really from dawn till dusk, and it's across england, wales, that we'll see the highest temperatures, widely around 26 for east wales, the midlands, northern england, but as high as 29 degrees celsius around london and the southeast of england. and it does mean we could see the highest temperature of the whole of the wimbledon championship, potentially, during friday, with temperatures certainly getting into the high 20s here. on into the weekend's forecast — we'll keep the warm weather going, but there's a risk of some thundery showers initially working into the west, and then as a plume of moisture gets pulled in from europe, we might well see storms breaking out ahead across parts of eastern england, eastern scotland. one or two of the showers could be torrential, but at the same time, there will be some areas that dodge the downpours altogether and stay dry. temperatures still on the warm side for eastern england — could see temperatures into the mid—20s for northern scotland. for sunday, again, it's a day of sunshine and showers,
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but there could be some more organised clumps of rain moving up from the continent. a bit of uncertainty about where that might be, but it could be that we see some torrential rain across eastern areas of england. if that happens, we could see, well, about half a month's worth of rainfall in just a few hours. so there's a risk of seeing some localised flooding, but a bit of uncertaintyjust yet.
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