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How The Global Business Community Is Responding To Tariffs & The Strait Of Hormuz Impasse: Expert
When the Supreme Court blocked a large swath of his tariffs, Trump said his administration had "very powerful alternatives." Now we know what those alternatives are.
Packers Training Camp Recap: Pass-catchers return to practice
WRs Matthew Golden and Jayden Reed returned to practice for the Green Bay Packers, as did TE Josh Whyle
Scientists say U.S. will suffer if White House bars science with China
A proposed Office of Management and Budget rule will ban all research funding for U.S. science collaboration with China, which has surpassed the U.S. as the world’s top investor and producer of science and engineering research and development.
University of Michigan Will Ease Up on Grades for Student Mental Health
The university will make first-semester grades pass or fail, to encourage students to explore different classes and lessen fears that “a low grade may have long-term consequences.”
Overwatch Battle Pass Revamp Is Helping With The FOMO
The game’s shift to a Battle Pass structure in 2022 has made it difficult to get cosmetics if you’re not playing consistently each season
Trump Administration Bypasses Science Again, Doubles Down on Restrictions to Childhood Vaccines
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Trump administration today issued a new executive order directing changes to the federal childhood vaccine schedule that, if fully implemented, would reduce access to life-saving vaccines for children, add new barriers to care, and further degrade the scientific process the federal government has relied on for decades to ensure vaccine access […]
How Serena Raj Found Her Calling at the Intersection of Medicine and Public Health
Miller School M.D./M.P.H. student Serena Raj combines a passion for pediatrics and patient advocacy as she strives to improve care outcomes.
U.S. small business sentiment surged to an 11-month high in July as hiring plans jumped
The optimism index climbed 2.4 points to 99.8, surpassing its 52-year average, while planned hiring jumped to its highest level since October 2022
New Pass-ta-key attack reveals all the things we didn't know about passkeys
Why passkey apps treat Windows differently than other operating systems.
'A Must-Have Day 1 Purchase': Remedy Bets Big on Control Resonant, as Alan Wake 2 Passes 3 Million Sold
Alan Wake and Control developer Remedy is betting big on Control Resonant, as Alan Wake 2 finally passes 3 million copies sold.
Former Donegal footballer McHugh passes away
Former Donegal All-Ireland winner James McHugh passes away following a car crash in County Cavan.
Ernst Names Small Business of the Week, Lone Arranger
Read the release on Sen. Ernst's website HERE. Throughout this Congress, Chair Ernst plans to recognize a small business in every one of Iowa’s 99 counties. RED OAK, Iowa – U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Chair of the Senate Small Business Committee, today announced her Small Business of the Week: Lone Arranger of Adams County. Throughout the 119th Congress, Chair Ernst plans to recognize a small business in each of Iowa's 99 counties. "Lone Arranger has been in full bloom in Adams County for more than 28 years,” said Chair Ernst. "One bouquet at a time, Jessica has created beautiful arrangements for countless occasions – from displays for Governors Chet Culver and Terry Branstad to serving as a longtime vendor at the Adams County Fair. Lone Arranger is beloved for its high-quality products and attentive customer service, all stemming from hard work that has not gone unnoticed." Lone Arranger got its start as the “Flower and Garden Center” founded by Dale and Caroline Jackson out of their home. Over the years, the business passed into the hands of Larry and Sherry Archer, followed by Ros and Darlene Peterson. In 1999, Jessica Wilson purchased the shop after completing two internships there and earning a degree in floriculture from Kirkwood Community College. Today, under Jessica’s leadership, Lone Arranger has continued to grow its presence both locally and beyond. The shop contributed to the award-winning Rain Bird float featured in the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade and has provided decorations for community organizations and events, including the Adams County Chamber of Commerce. The florist is cherished by Iowans for its versatility to cater to all events, including proms, weddings, and baby showers. Jessica’s “Operation Dream Closet” helps high schoolers in need access free prom attire through donations and has made an exceptional difference in the local community. Stay tuned as Chair Ernst continues to recognize outstanding Iowa small businesses with her Small Business of the Week award. ###
Deadline passes for Rep. Max Miller to be replaced on Ohio ballot as he faces domestic abuse claims
Embattled Republican Rep. Max Miller is staying in the race for his Ohio congressional district
$100 GTA VI Ultimate Edition Surpasses Standard Edition in Pre-Orders
Grand Theft Auto VI is leading the charge in the $80 AAA race, which has understandably upset many gamers, but the $100 Ultimate Edition has been another point of contention in online discussions. However, despite the online discussions potentially suggesting otherwise, Take-Two CEO, Strauss...
After GOP stalls confirmation, Gov. Stein moves NC public safety chief to new job
This comes after lawmakers passed a bill adding a way for the Senate to thwart a Cabinet appointee.
Saber's newest game trailer takes a shot at Gearbox's CEO, if you look closely
The first hint that something might be up with the recent debut trailer for Saber Interactive’s Rideshare Stimulator is an unusual choice of words—aside from that second one in the game’s title. “Don’t take your passengers too seriously,” the trailer’s narrator says, as he describes this upcoming game. It a car game about the gig work of driving eccentric people to their destinations, a riff on Crazy Taxi. And then, he says: “When I think I’ve met the randiest of passengers, someone even stranger gets in.” “Randiest”? That suggests “randy,” which usually means having strong sexual desire. Yet none of the oddball backseat occupants featured in the trailer seem particularly lustful. One is an old man who considers his grandson a failure, another shares the theory that birds might control traffic lights, another says he’s banned from an aquarium. A little later, there’s a license plate, shown 63 seconds into the trailer, on the front of an SUV: USB DRV It’s a Texas plate. The symbol between those letters is a cog wheel. If you know, you know. That’s a reference to Texas-based Borderlands game development studio Gearbox Software (their logo features a cog wheel). More specifically, it’s a reference to Gearbox’s CEO Randy Pitchford, who in 2018 found himself explaining the nature of video he’d saved on a USB drive that was found at a Medieval Times restaurant before being returned to the studio: “It was ‘barely legal’ porn. This girl’s handle was ‘Only 18.’” The “girl” in the video had committed a solo sex act that Pitchford, an avid practitioner of magic, found remarkable. “I realized, this is not a sex worker…This is a fucking magician.” Back then, the USB drive was central to competing lawsuits against Gearbox by the studio’s former lawyer and by Gearbox against him. A settlement in late 2019 “exonerated” Pitchford, per the Hollywood Reporter. The USB story has resurfaced at times, now in a trailer from a company that not long ago was corporate brethren with Gearbox. Saber vs. Gearbox The head of Saber told Game File that the reference is payback. “The dig is because Randy took shots at Embracer in Borderlands 4,” Saber CEO Matt Karch told me when I asked him about the license plate. “Without Embracer, Randy is performing magic tricks at birthday parties for a living.” Having interviewed Karch during a cross-country flight in late 2024, I can confirm that Karch was unimpressed with Pitchford during their time both working in the Embracer group. I’d approached him not out of surprise that there was animosity but that it was manifesting publicly now. Gearbox was founded in 1999, worked on a port of Halo early on, and developed hit series such as the loot-based sci-fi shooter Borderlands before it was purchased by The Embracer Group in early 2021 for $363 million (with a possible earn-out of over $1 billion, if certain targets were hit by 2027). Saber was founded in 2001, worked on a remaster of Halo early on, had a big hit with zombie shooter World War Z and was purchased by Embracer in early 2020 for $150 million, with a potential earn-out of up to $375 million. For a few years, the Embracer group was a voracious acquirer of game studios. Then, as investment dried up, it choked. In March 2024, Embracer sold Saber to an investment company controlled by Saber CEO Matt Karch, and it sold Gearbox in an all-stock deal to long-time Borderlands publisher Take Two Interactive. Other studios were shut down. Hundreds of developers were laid off. Gearbox didn’t say much about their Embracer experience, nothing too direct, at least. In the summer 2024, Pitchford told reporter and occasional Game File contributor Nicole Carpenter that Borderlands 4’s story was in some way thematically connected to Gearbox’s experience at Embracer: “There’s this cultural and emotional shift in me, personally, and at the studio. What does it mean to trade some autonomy for organization?” When Borderlands 4 came out, there was something stranger: the matter of “Embracer’s Bluff,” a location in the game featuring an AI-powered toilet and a large trash dump, according to a detailed Kotaku account of the place. Gearbox never commented on it; Take Two never got back to me about it when I asked them last year. By contrast, since Saber exited Embracer, Karch has been one of Embracer’s biggest defenders, casting their management as well-meaning and supportive despite the layoffs and studio closures that resulted from their excessive expansion. Like others, Saber’s Karch saw Embracer’s as a shot. With Rideshare Stimulator’s trailer, he’s returned fire. “It’s amazing to me how fast people forget those who went above and beyond for them,” Karch told Game File. A rep for Gearbox did not comment by press time. Game File is a reader-supported publication. Your backing makes my reporting—including any coverage of trailer-based beefs—possible. Good news! I’m currently running Game File’s first big sale of 2026. You can get a one-year subscription for 23% off. Click here to take advantage of the limited-time offer. And thank you for your support! Item 2: In brief… 🚫 Wal-Mart has laid off the staff of Restart, a games media outlet launched in 2024, Aftermath reports. 🟥 A GTA VI preview is on the way, at last, via an “extended look” that will premiere, unusually, on Netflix at 3pm ET on August 27, then officially go live elsewhere six hours later. Last week, Game File noted that Take Two label Rockstar Games is overdue for showing off GTA VI, based on the timing of the initial hands-off previews of GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2. During a call with investors, Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said pre-orders for GTA VI were “unprecedented and astonishing,” but added the company can’t predict how many of those pre-orders represent bonus sales vs. sales that otherwise would have been made at launch. During the same call, Zelnick was noticeably bullish on the future of playing games over streaming cloud connections (predicting wider adoption in three or so years). He sounded unbothered by Sony’s plans to stop making discs for new games (he said the business is 90% digital already and predicted that there could still be limited edition physical editions of games “in the same way there’s still vinyl in the recorded music business.”) 👀 Take Two wrote off $43 million in their spring quarter after deciding “not to proceed with further development of an unannounced title in its pipeline from a third-party developer.” 🤔 Some rare age-demographics from a big publisher: Capcom recently told investors that “users in their 20s account for approximately half of the users of both Pragamata and Resident Evil Requiem.” Item 3: The week ahead Tuesday, August 11 Game releases: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (Switch 2; already out for PC, PS5, Xbox) continues the Bethesda strategy of putting Elder Scrolls games on everything; Royalty Free-For-All is a Smash Bros.-style fighting game featuring public domain characters such as Mother Goose brawling with Oliver Twist in a stage based on the original Little Shop of Horrors movie. Wednesday, August 12 Game release: Pro Jank Footy (PC, console) is an arcade-style Australian Rules Football game with increasingly ridiculous rules, the more you play (I enjoyed the Steam demo) Thursday, August 13 Game release: Super Mario Sunshine (Switch 2, originally released in 2002 on the GameCube) is released for Switch 2’s Nintendo Switch Online service. This game is the black sheep of 3D Mario games. It’s the successor to the breakthrough Super Mario 64 and the rare Mario game built around a single (vacation resort) theme. Mario’s got a water-spraying backpack, a Yoshi pal and a lot of blue coins to collect.
iOS 27 Beta 5 Brings New Icons for Siri, Safari, Settings and More
In the fifth beta of iOS 27, Apple is continuing to make design tweaks. There are updated Liquid Glass icons for Safari, the Siri app, Settings, Remote, App Store, and Preview. The Safari icon is a brighter blue with more detailed compass lines and arrows, while the Siri icon looks more like the actual Siri bubble that's displayed when Siri is activated.
Scientists Think One of Earth’s Simplest Organisms May Work like a Giant Brain
One of Earth’s oldest plants appears to pass electrical messages through its dense green mats.
2026 NFL Odds: Every QB's Over/Under Passing Yards Total
Following a 2025 MVP campaign, Matthew Stafford enters 2026 with an over/under pass yards total of 3,949.5. See the other top NFL QB betting lines.
Xbox PC and Game Pass games are being worked on for Linux
PC Game Pass still does not work locally on Linux, but Xodus has completed several parts of the download and licensing process and is now tackling Xbox game services.
What the Senate did and didn’t get done in the final hours before recess
Before leaving Saturday, lawmakers confirmed President Trump’s attorney general pick and passed a spending bill.
Encompass Health announces launch of private offering of 5.875% senior notes due 2034
/PRNewswire/ -- Encompass Health Corp. (NYSE: EHC) today announced it has commenced a private offering of an additional $100 million in aggregate principal...
Peptides talk is everywhere: But what does the science say?
Stanford Health Care delivers the highest levels of care and compassion. SHC treats cancer, heart disease, brain disorders, primary care issues, and many more.
High Volume Robotic-Assisted Bronchoscopies Offer Patients Exceptional Expertise
Pennsylvania pulmonology team surpasses 1,300 procedures
Couple turns passion for helicopters into a national business that’s anchored in Detroit
Cassandra and Sergio Troiani turned a hobby flying helicopters into a national aviation experience company — and they just anchored it in Detroit.
Weir Science: A Fare-Thee-Well to Bob Weir
Photo by Chloe Weir Photography The Grateful Dead ushered in an era of open-minded experimentation and endless touring that paused occasionally but never really expired until its participants did. It follows that saying goodbye to cofounding Grateful Dead guitarist/vocalist Bob Weir, who passed away at age 78 on January 10, 2026, truly signifies the end of an era.
Don Nelson was reason Steph Curry ended up on Warriors
Stephen Curry, if you remember, was no sure thing. Six teams passed on him in the draft. There were questions about his size. About his playmaking ability. About his ankles....
Seminoles Legend Remembered on Anniversary of His Passing
Honoring the legendary Florida State icon whose faith and discipline forged a Tallahassee dynasty, producing two national championships, two Heisman winners, and a prolific college coaching tree.
Passing the torch: Cleveland’s next generation of small-business owners may already be here
Cleveland’s population has fallen 60% in the past 75 years. As currents business owners approach retirement, Richard T. Herman presents a succession strategy involving the next generation.
PHOTOS: Metro Health offers back-to-school vaccines for Immunization Awareness Month
WOAI NBC News Channel 4 San Antonio provides local news, weather forecasts, traffic updates, investigations, and items of interest in the community, sports and entertainment programming for San Antonio and nearby towns and communities in South Central Texas, including Windcrest, Uvalde, Universal City, Somerset, Seguin, Schertz, San Marcos, Sabinal, Poth, Poteet, Pleasanton, Pearsall, New Braunfels, Live Oak, Kerrville, Hondo, Helotes, Goliad, Fredericksburg, Floresville, Eagle Pass, Devine, Del Rio, Cuero, Crystal City, Converse, Cibolo, Castroville, Carrizo Springs, Boerne, Bandera.
College football analyst names most hated fan base in 2026
A new 2026 ranking names Tennessee Volunteers fans college football's most hated, citing their confidence, passion and SEC swagger as key factors.
Max Miller locked in as Republican nominee after Ohio ballot deadline passes without withdrawal
Ohio Republicans now have no path to replace Max Miller after the ballot deadline passed despite domestic abuse allegations from his ex-wife.
Man, 41, Inherits $2 Million From Parents — His Wife Wants To Put Half Into Her Sister's Struggling Business
A 41-year-old man in Georgia inherited $2 million after both of his parents passed away within a year of each other. The inheritance came from a combination of investment accounts, life insurance proceeds and the sale of the family home....
Is the Protect College Sports Act Dead?
The Senate heads on recess without passing college sports’ supposed lifeline.
Who passed health checks in Wichita KS? Pizza, ice cream, fine dining & more
See Wichita-area restaurants, stores & hotels that passed health inspections. Sixty-two locations made the latest list.
No Ebola cases found on quarantined river boat, Congo authorities say
All passengers on a quarantined river boat near Kinshasa have tested negative for Ebola, authorities say.
No Ebola cases found on quarantined river boat, Congo authorities say
All passengers on a quarantined river boat near Kinshasa have tested negative for Ebola, authorities say.
No Ebola cases found on quarantined river boat, Congo authorities say
All passengers on a quarantined river boat near Kinshasa have tested negative for Ebola, authorities say.
K-12 youths use art to teach public transit passengers about climate science
LOWELL — Artwork created by a first grader in Andover is helping to teach the public about climate science.
Asking Eric: Mother says ‘no politics’ but keeps talking politics
Dear Eric: I’m a 58-year-old daughter to a 94-year-old father and an 83-year-old mother. I love my parents dearly, but we have had no contact for nearly a year. I know that at any time my father and/or mother could pass. This is the one s…
Asking Eric: Mother says ‘no politics’ but keeps talking politics
Dear Eric: I’m a 58-year-old daughter to a 94-year-old father and an 83-year-old mother. I love my parents dearly, but we have had no contact for nearly a year. I know that at any time my father and/or mother could pass. This is the one stressor in my life – that I will lose one or both of my parents when we are at odds.
💔 Tributes, a minute's silence, messages...all backing Messi
Following the confirmation of the tragic news of the passing of Jorge Messi, father of the Argentine star, pitches, stadiums, and platforms around the world have rallied in support of the Argentina na...
Senate Bows to Reality, Leaving Trump’s Voting Bill Undone
The summer exit confirmed what had been apparent for weeks: that Republicans lacked the votes to pass the voting restrictions the president has made a top priority.
University of Michigan plans to shield 2027 freshman letter grades from transcripts in new mental health plan
The University of Michigan's new pass-fail grading policy for 2027 freshmen aims to curb the mental health crisis, but a psychotherapist warns it may backfire.
Protect College Sports Act fails to pass Senate before recess
The Protect College Sports Act has lost the latest game of beat the clock.
The Senate eked out a summer break. But bigger fights are coming
The Senate went out with a bang, ‒ passing a government funding bill, confirming Todd Blanche and bucking a voter ID measure.
Perez Hilton's mental health crisis tests the limits of empathy
Following Perez Hilton's shocking livestream, the internet is grappling with how to find compassion for a man who once was so cruel.
Is Encompass Health (EHC) Cheap After Its Earnings Beat And Higher 2026 Guidance?
Encompass Health (EHC) shares are in focus after the company reported second quarter revenue of about US$1.6b and earnings per share of US$1.55, both above analyst expectations, alongside higher full year 2026 revenue guidance. See our latest analysis for Encompass Health. At a share price of US$125.23, Encompass Health has a 7 day share price return of 12.75% and a 90 day share price return of 18.03%. Its 3 year total shareholder return of 80.09% points to momentum that has been building...
Six Flags Entertainment Q2 Earnings Call Highlights
Six Flags Entertainment (NYSE:FUN) reported higher same-park attendance, revenue and adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter of 2026, as the amusement park operator cited growth in season-pass visitation, improved operating discipline and progress at previously underperforming parks. On a same-park b
New CSS Attacks Can Break Webmail Defenses to Steal Passwords and Tokens
Outlook CSS techniques can spoof Microsoft sign-in and capture passwords, while Gmail image-set() can trigger external requests from malicious email c
President Trump pumps up the 'Protect College Sports Act' as the Senate works to pass it
Trump urged Congress on Truth Social to pass the "Protect College Sports Act," warning that women's and Olympic sports will disappear without it.
Trump urges GOP to keep Senate in session until college sports bill passes
President Trump on Friday ramped up the pressure on Senate Republicans to cancel part of their August recess, urging embattled GOP senators to stay in Washington until they pass a bill to reform ru…
Senate passes sweeping Russia sanctions bill negotiated by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham
The bipartisan legislation, which passed the Senate 86-11, would penalize countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas and other exports seeking to deprive Putin of revenues fueling the war.
Senate passes sweeping Russia sanctions bill negotiated by late Sen. Graham
It's the result of a four-year-long campaign to reinforce support for Ukraine
Senate passes sweeping Russia sanctions bill negotiated by late Sen. Graham
It's the result of a four-year-long campaign to reinforce support for Ukraine
Senate passes sanctions bill on Russia and Iran named for late Sen. Lindsey Graham
The legislation is part of a deal reached by senators aimed at helping Ukraine by cutting off funds for “Putin’s war machine.”
Senate passes Russia sanctions bill named in honor of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham
The Senate on Friday passed a major Russia sanctions bill, named for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, who played a key role in the painstaking negotiations over the legislation that lasted over a year.
Brandon Beane Addresses Potential Von Miller Return to Bills
Brandon Beane addressed speculation about a potential reunion with Von Miller after the former Bills pass rusher fueled discussion on social media.
GLVC Sports Network Announces 2026-27 Subscription Pricing, New Viewing Options
This academic year, GLVCSN will feature the introduction of a new sport-specific pass, discounted subscription opportunities, and continued all-access streaming packages.
Madden NFL 27 trial now available on Xbox Game Pass
Along with recently revealing its Xbox achievements, a 10-hour EA Sports Madden NFL 27 trial is available to Game Pass players via EA Play.
Rockstar Owner Take-Two Confirms GTA 6 Release Date Still on Track, Says 'GTA 6: An Extended Look' Will Help Grow 'Consumers' Passion and Anticipation'
Rockstar owner Take-Two has confirmed the current November 19 GTA 6 release date is still on track, and insisted the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look will help grow “consumers’ passion and anticipation" for the game.
Health officials report record-breaking 50 heat-related deaths this summer
The 2026 heat season is now the deadliest in known history, as new data from the Maryland Department of Health reports a total of 50 heat-related fatalities since May, surpassing the previous record set of 46 in 2012.
Colorado’s new limits on sports betting deposits — and credit card ban
The new rules are part of the bipartisan Senate Bill 26-131 passed in May by the Colorado General Assembly amid growing concerns over rising addiction.
Why the Protect College Sports Act deserves to pass, flaws and all
Fan fatigue makes strongest case for the Senate bill, which standardizes what has been improvised and relitigated for five exhausting years.
Researchers Examined 500 Self-Help Techniques. Only These 20 Passed the Science Test
Skip the trendy advice and unproven social media hacks—here are the few science-backed strategies that consistently deliver real results.
Rail passengers facing more disruption after power outage; UK house prices stagnate
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
Jacobs Wellington Foundation And Cox Science Center Celebrate STEM Partnership - Town-Crier Newspaper
The Jacobs Wellington Foundation and the Cox Science Center & Aquarium are celebrating six years of partnership dedicated to expanding STEM education opportunities for Wellington students. Through the foundation’s continued support of the Cox Science Center’s STEM Passport program, approximately 500 Wellington-area elementary and middle school students will participate in hands-on science, technology, engineering and […]
Scientists Are Starting To Understand The 'Largest Biomechanical Event on Earth': Whales Hunting For Food on a Single Breath
If your heart slowed that much, you'd probably pass out.
EXCLUSIVE: Oversight Project sues to block Maryland Democrats’ redistricting measure backed by Gov Moore
A redistricting lawsuit alleges Maryland officials missed mandatory deadlines for HB 2100 and used a last-minute clause to bypass certification rules.
KCMO City Council passes ordinance assisting Midtown Costco in business center conversion
The Kansas City, Missouri, City Council passed legislation Thursday that will assist Costco with its plans to convert the Midtown store into a business center.
Hemp bill and others left up in the air as N.C. lawmakers go on break
NC state lawmakers go on 3 month break, leaving some legislation not passed and Governor Josh Stein's vetoes are left alone, for now.
Curiosity keeps Lowry engaged in business, nonprofits, law
As a teenager, Meredith Lowry developed a passion for caring and helping others by working at her father’s Fayetteville animal hospital. She was on the front line with clients as...
MN wildfires: Businesses push Walz, lawmakers for recovery package
Northeastern Minnesota businesses struggling amid the wildfires burning the Boundary Waters are pushing Governor Walz and state lawmakers to move forward with a special session to pass an economic recovery package.
Review: Pokémon Pokopia Expansion Pass - Part 1: Bubbly Basin (Switch 2) - A Great First Dive From The DLC
Lovely jubbly Bubbly
Ball x Pit's final free Xbox update adds new balls, characters, and abilities
Developer Kenny Sun has rolled out the final free update for Ball x Pit, which Xbox Game Pass subscribers can check out now.
Free Play Days – NBA 2K26, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Wax Heads, and More
Game Pass members can hop into Sports Renovations this weekend, while all XBOX players can enjoy Ghost Recon Wildlands, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, NBA 2K26, and a free trial for Wax Heads.
Ebola in DR Congo: River boat under quarantine after five deaths
The health minister says all the passengers are being screened as a precautionary measure.
Ranking the 10 best secondaries in college football for 2026: Lots of good options, but Notre Dame is No. 1
Notre Dame, Miami and Oregon headline the defensive backfields best equipped to shut down opposing passing attacks
Chiefs RB Emari Demercado discusses his strength in pass protection
During his press conference, Kansas City Chiefs running back Emari Demercado discussed his strength in pass protection | @EdEastonJr
Family says Perez Hilton can communicate, they have ‘hope' after mental health crisis
On his website, a new statement attributed to Perez Hilton’s family thanks people for their compassion, but says their situation has been “made even harder because very little information has been made available to our family.”
The Bulwark Built a Profitable $20 Million Business by Breaking the Old Media Rules
What began as a Never Trump passion project has become a fast-growing media company with more than 140,000 paid subscribers.
Detroit Lions TE Tyler Conklin passes physical, nears return
Detroit Lions tight end Tyler Conklin passed his Wednesday physical, indicating that a return is near.
Medicaid Work Rule Leaves Homeless People in the Cold
Conservatives who have long pushed for Medicaid work requirements often said vulnerable people would get a pass. But the federal government’s list of exemptions left off homeless people.
Science|Business summer reads of 2026
As most people in the European research and innovation policy bubble are going on a well-deserved summer break, we have come up with a list of our favourite books, podcasts and essays from the past year that ask deeper questions about science, technology and politics.BooksPasteur’s Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation, by Donald StokesIf you haven’t read Pasteur’s Quadrant yet, now is the time. In the EU and elsewhere, we’re living through a period of dwindling faith that curiosity-driven research automatically leads to economic growth and technological progress. Pasteur’s Quadrant, published in 1997 by the Princeton academic Donald Stokes, is the most influential critique of the standard “linear model” of R&D: the idea that new discoveries made in ivory-tower labs get neatly passed on for commercialisation by start-ups. In reality, Stokes argues, practical applications often inspire more theorical lines of inquiry. Of course, we have long known that things are more complex than the linear model, but even today, it’s still often assumed in Brussels discourse. The book is a useful corrective, and is being used now to argue for new types of scientific institutions. David MatthewsThe Weaponization of Expertise: How Elites Fuel Populism, by Jacob Hale Russel and Dennis PattersonAre society’s problems solvable by technical expertise alone? “If only the benighted would listen,” say Jacob Hale Russel and Dennis Patterson, two professors at Rutgers Law School who got frustrated with how scientists and politicians handled public health communication during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the book, they argue that clichéd mantras about scientific evidence and expertise perpetrated by academics, journalists and politicians have harmed public trust in the very institutions they were trying to defend. Paradoxically, slogans such as “we believe in science,” “follow the science” and “defer to the experts” can fuel mistrust in science, experts and democratic institutions. The authors criticise “condescension” and “technocratic paternalism” in the public discourse and make the case for a more nuanced approach to scientific and expert policy advice that rests on humility, doubt, scepticism and open dialogue. “Most complex social questions in fact revolve around values, not the recitation of unambiguous facts,” they say. Florin ZubascuBreakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future, by Dan WangIn this book, Dan Wang compares the structural differences between the US and Chinese industrial policies, but raises a very timely question for innovation policy wonks: how can advanced manufacturing know-how contribute to technology-intensive economic growth? Wang says technology has three components: the tools, the blueprints and patents, and the process knowledge. The third component represents the “proficiency gained from practical experience, which isn’t easily communicated and requires years of implementation.” According to Wang, rather than seeing tools and blueprints as the ultimate ends of technological progress, policymakers should see them as milestones in the training of better scientists and manufacturers. Over the past decades, China has amassed “process knowledge” because capital flowed to complex fabrication facilities, while investors in the West have parked their money in capital-light businesses such as digital platforms or chip companies that focus on design. As it turns out, thanks to its oversized focus on manufacturing, China has gained remarkable advantages in the global technology race. Florin ZubascuBaltic: The Future of Europe, by Oliver MoodyWhat can Europe learn from the nine countries surrounding the Baltic Sea? Alongside the familiar stories about Estonia's digital transformation, the book examines how the region has used technology, resilience, education, governance and long-term thinking to respond to geopolitical, economic and security challenges. Innovation policy wonks might find fresh perspectives on how innovation can strengthen defence, societal resilience and Europe's capacity to adapt in an uncertain world. Whether or not you agree with all of Oliver Moody's conclusions, the book is a useful guide to a region that is increasingly shaping European debates on security, competitiveness and technology. Goda NaujokaityteThe Invention of Nature, by Andrea Wulf This book chronicles the wild and adventurous life of natural science pioneer Alexander von Humboldt who at some point in the 19th century seems to have been just about the most famous person in the world. Through scientific expeditions to the Andes Mountains and to the depths of Siberia, von Humboldt contributed a host of discoveries and concepts. During his life he met and formed relationships with historical figures as different as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Simon Bolivar, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte and Charles Darwin. He is also claimed to be the person in the world with most things named after him, a list that includes an ocean current, a penguin and a region of the Moon. Still venerated in Germany, with numerous scientific institutions named after him, von Humboldt has slipped out of public consciousness in most of the rest of the world. For anyone not familiar with him, this book does a good job of describing his fascinating life. Ole EllekrogCareless People, by Sarah Wynn-WilliamsYou may have heard this referred to as the book Meta doesn’t want you to read. The 2025 memoir from Sarah Wynn-Williams, former director of global public policy at Meta, then just called Facebook, includes explosive claims about everything from a toxic workplace culture to how the company worked with advertisers to target vulnerable teens, and the lengths it was prepared to go to in order to break into China. It’s a fascinating insight into how and why the tech company gradually shifted its approach to policy, whether in the US, Europe or Asia. Meta has denied the allegations in the book, and last year won an emergency ruling to prevent Wynn-Williams from promoting it. In response, the author is now suing her former employer. If that doesn’t make you want to read it. Martin GreenacrePodcastsThe Europeans: Europe’s anti-ElonThis podcast is a great choice for a light-hearted dose of European policy and culture news. Most of it has little to do with research, innovation and technology, but this particular podcast features an interview with Mastadon’s founder Eugen Rochko. He talks about his experience running an open-source, federated, European-made social media platform, and leaving it all behind. The conversation, which starts 14 minutes in, gently encourages us to reflect on what kind of technology we, as Europeans, want to make. Goda NaujokaityteSolarpunk and how we escape dystopiaNew technologies are very often taken from science fiction. Alberto Santos-Dumont, inventor the airship, was inspired as a child by the adventure stories of Jules Verne. OpenAI’s attempt to build a personal assistant with the voice of Scarlett Johansson was lifted from the 2013 film Her, completely ignoring the movie’s cautionary message. So if we want better tech, we need to imagine it first. Unfortunately, the state of current sci-fi is relentlessly dystopian, giving inventors precious few ideas or hope. However, a new genre, Solarpunk, which envisages a technologically advanced but ecologically harmonious future, is now taking off. The actual tech the genre imagines, such as permaculture, renewable energy or community repair workshops, while nice, isn’t all that inspiring or ambitious. But it’s a first step towards rescuing sci-fi from its pessimistic Blade Runner rut. David MatthewsEveryday AbundanceLaunched in June, Everyday Abundance is a podcast that tells the stories of the inventions we now take so for granted that we barely given them a second thought. For example, the washing machine, which liberated women from a lifetime “bent over washtubs and washboards.” Or modern dentistry, which ended the reality that “tooth pain was simply part of human life.” Historians of technology, Virginia Postrel and Charles C Mann are very much on the optimistic end of the spectrum when it comes to the capacity of invention to improve human life. Here, they set out their case: if it wasn’t for progress, you might be hunched over a washtub with toothache rather than reading these words. David Matthews‘We will not know what we lost’: Conservation fallout a year after USAID shutdownSince his return to the White House, Donald Trump has been on a mission to undermine science. He slashed jobs at federal agencies, terminated grants in some research areas, took unprecedented control over university affairs and, within hours of his inauguration, suspended the US Agency for International Development. While its initial focus was to administer health and food aid around the world, it had since expanded to conservation projects. The result? Some of these projects were stopped abruptly. In this Mongabay podcast, environmental reporter Michelle Nijhuis tells the story of the EcoGuard conservation programme in Liberia, whose local patrols had helped protect rainforests, monitor endangered wildlife and track illegal threats. From one day to the next, these were left without salaries. Luckily, she notes, the initiative was able to get emergency funding from international NGOs, but its future remains “incredibly uncertain.” Juliette PortalaEssaysThe Mars Delusion, by Henry WismayerWhy is humankind so fixated on establishing a colony on Mars? asks London-based writer Henry Wismayer. From space evangelists promoting Martian settlement as an insurance policy, to billionaire Jeff Bezos, who said humans should settle on Mars “because it’s cool,” the mission is not running short of advocates. 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Chartbook 464 The"China squeeze" - the politics of development counterfactuals.
There are three types of China shock discourse. Each has a distinct temporal register. China shock 1.0 was a phrase coined by US academics in the 2010s to retrospectively summarize the impact on particular US labour markets, which they identified through painstaking empirical investigation. China shock 2.0 on everyone’s lips in Europe in the mid 2020s is an alarm raised by trans-Atlantic policy thinkers warning of a coming disaster which they project onto Europe’s ailing car industry. The third type of China shock discourse - commonly known as the “China squeeze” launched most recently by Indian economists Shoumitro Chatterjee and Arvind Subramanian in the pages of Foreign Affairs - mobilizes a different, more speculative temporal register: the counterfactual realm of alternate history. The China squeeze argument asks not what has happened, or what is going to happen, but what might have been. Specifically, what options for economic development might have been open to Global South economies like India or the economies of sub-Saharan Africa, had it not been for China’s spectacular industrialization since the late 1990s and the persistent competitiveness of China’s manufacture in low-skilled segments. Chatterjee and Subramanian’s argument is that whilst China has built a powerful position in electrical machinery and other high-skill manufacturing, which is now delivering China Shock 2.0, it also continues to run a trade surplus in low-skill, labour-intensive manufacturing. This surplus is large and has remained largely unchanged in fifteen years. Indeed, in the 2010s, in trade with low-income countries, China’s surplus rapidly increased. On their reading, this squeezes low-income producers in low-skill sectors in which they “should” be able to compete. Source: “China’s Mercantilist Squeeze on Developing Countries” Shoumitro Chatterjee and Arvind Subramanian. Peterson Institute for International Economics 26-7 May 2026 Chatterjee and Subramanian’s wording is telling: (emphasis mine) The canonical trajectory of economic development in the post-World War II period is for countries to transition from agriculture to manufacturing, first in low-skilled manufacturing and then later on to high-skill manufacturing (Herrendorf, Rogerson, and Valentinyi 2013). At the global level, this implies that high-income countries (HICs) that once specialized in low-skilled activities cede manufacturing export space to poorer countries that come along to occupy that space. In 1965, advanced economies accounted for about 60 percent of global value-added exports in four key low-skilled manufacturing sectors, i.e., apparel, leather, textiles, and footwear. Over time this share declined and began to be occupied first by the East Asian tigers and, beginning in the late 1990s, by China. Today China accounts for about 50 percent of the global market. The question is whether China, with its rising prosperity, is continuing to behave like its richer counterparts and ceding export space to poorer followers or to behave unlike them and continuing to occupy space. In terms of the conceptual maneuvers it performs, of the three China shock discourses, the “China squeeze” argument is by far the most ambitious. After all, it bases its critique of China on a counterfactual imagining of the world. Like any counterfactual argument, to construct this alternative reality it must rely on a heuristic model. To make their argument Chatterjee and Subramanian mobilize two key claims. The first reference point is the actual history of rich-country industrialization, what they refer to as the “canonical path”. The idea is that countries transition from agriculture to light industry and low-skilled manufacturing and from there up the value chain. To make this useful as a standard of comparison and a means to construct a normative standard, they adjust sectoral export shares for two factors: 1. the underlying level of economic development of the exporting country, as measured by national income and 2. the degree to which the sector in question is internationalized. The idea being that for a high income country to have a high export share in low-skill sectors is anomalous and even more so if that particular product is highly internationalized and thus suitable for being “conceded” to lower-income competitors. Where should this process end? Here Chatterjee and Subramanian introduce their second benchmark. Their normative idea of a global development path is one in which, in due course, low-skill manufacturing exports are distributed in proportion to a country’s share in the global labour force. They imagine, in other words, a world of proportional, polycentric global development without much national specialization in low-skill manufacturing. A useful benchmark is that, in labor-intensive manufacturing sectors, a country’s share of world exports should be broadly commensurate with its share of the world’s low-skilled labor endowment. … In the Heckscher-Ohlin model, this would be true if value added per worker and export propensities, i.e., fraction of output that is exported, are the same across countries. It is this pleasant liberal vista of orderly global development, progressing towards a general distribution of low-skilled manufacturing against which they judge reality and conclude that the low-income countries are suffering a “China squeeze”. China is not exiting low-skill sectors fast enough Allowing for its gdp level and the degree of globalization, China’s share of low-skill manufacturing exports is far higher than it “should” be. Relative to population, its low-skill share of exports is far too high. That in turn yields the conclusion that huge numbers of jobs - the authors suggest tens of millions - are being hoarded by China. For the four sectors captured in figure 4, this excess in value-added exports is $110 billion in 2022. For all low-skilled sectors overall captured in appendix figure D.1, excess value-added exports amount to $365 billion. The crowding out of LMIC exports by China is therefore substantial. Both these claims have in common that they are strong structuralisms. The first is that development paths ought to resemble each other. The second is that broadly speaking as far as low-skilled manufacturing is concerned, all countries are alike. If the world currently diverges from the distribution of trade implied by these assumptions, if China is not following the advanced economy path and has huge exports, this must be the result of “policy”, which the authors then put in question as illegitimate or unfair. Thus the naturalistic construction of a canonical path leading to a “level” distribution of low-skilled manufacturing reveals itself to be a polemical tool. From the point of view of China shock polemics, this discourse is no doubt welcome. But as an account of economic history, it must surely be regarded as nothing short of bamboozling. Development paths do not follow a regular, natural sequence. As David Fishman put it aptly, “development is not a queue”. They are always and everywhere, through and through political. Development is not so much a process, as a project. Each such project is more or less well adjusted to its context. As Gerschenkron taught uneven and combined development implies differentiation rather than simple imitation on a single parth. It may be true that Europe and the US exited relatively early from low-skill work. But clearly technology has changed. As C&S themselves point out, China no longer enjoys a low wage environment. Do they really believe that such huge differences can be accounted for either by industrial policy, which as they admit does not operate powerfully in low-skill sectors, or by exchange rate manipulation? What is overwhelmingly dominant in explaining the persistence of “low-skill” manufacturing in China are surely the network effects of complex supply chains. Indeed the label of “low-skill” may miss the point. The degree of globalization which Chatterjee and Subramanian decide to conjure away in their model of the development path - to allow for the fact that Europe and American textiles exporters did not enjoy just-in-time logistics in the 1950s - obscures the point that the networks through which Chinese factories supply the world are themselves key parts of the low-skill industrialization project. China isn’t knocking out 1970s style “cheap”. It has redefined the entire product cycle. C&S’s casual reference to “T-shirts” is telling. In today’s “fast fashion”, there is weight on both terms. Fashion and fast. China’s success in delivering on both at unprecedentedly high speed and at unprecedentedly low cost, isn’t a low-skill operation at all. If we see development trajectories not as the serial repetition of the same, but as distinctive, crafted projects that cumulate in complex agglomerations of skill, technology and labor, then this explains why the assumption that low-skilled manufacturing should follow the distribution of population flies in the face of all experience. As countless cases attest, low-wage, low-income developed economies are not by themselves the makings of a competitive production base. As Leon Liao puts it quite fairly: “International trade has never been allocated according to population. A country’s population gives it no natural claim to an equivalent share of global exports." And the remarkable fact is that Subramanian alone and with co-authors has long been making this point, not to pillory China, as is the case of the tendentious _Foreign Affair_s and Peterson pieces, but to highlight the great counterpart to China’s industrial success, namely India’s relative failure. The much-quoted Foreign Affairs piece showed low-skill export shares only for China, not for India. If you put both countries in the picture as Chaterjee and Subramanian have done on other occasions, the picture looks like this. China is far above the line, but India, almost as large in terms of population, is no less anomalous, just in the opposite direction. As far as global populations are concerned, and the imagining of tens of millions of “squeezed” jobs, it is this Sino-Indian pair that account for a huge share of the action. What this graph reveals is not China’s cheating, but India’s “greatest development failure”, at least this is the argument made Arvind Subramanian, this time in co-authorship with Devesh Kapur, in their major book, A Sixth of Humanity. Independent India’s Development Odyssey which appeared with Oxford University Press earlier this year. In this highly critical work on India’s development, China is repeatedly evoked, not to criticize but as a benchmark against which to illuminate what India’s political economy has not delivered i.e. large-scale formal employment for hundreds of millions of citizens. Kapur and Subramanian leave no doubt, if you want to understand why China, not India was the main driver of manufacturing globalization from the 1980s, don’t look to slots opening up in the division of labour thanks to the liberal mindedness of advanced economies, look to the contrasting political economy of the Maoist PRC and India’s post-independence political economy. As Kapur and Subramian note: The great divergence between China and India did not begin in 1978 with the Deng reforms—it was well underway by then. In one of the great ironies of modern history, the conditions created by Maoism turned out to be a great launching pad for industrial globalization. As the comparison of India and China in 1980 makes clear, to imagine manufacturing would be equally distributed when populations are so differently endowed in terms of educational and nutritional is fanciful. Here is the data from Kapur and Subramanian, data which I explored back at the very beginning of Chartbook. As Kapur and Subramanian insist, the striking fact is that even as India’s growth accelerated from the 1980s, structural change has not. Formal employment in India lags woefully behind. Why? As Kapur and Subramanian note, the path-dependent impact of India’s poor early start was devastating. The list of factors they mention is long and weighty: We argue for a new five-fold explanation applicable at different stages of Indian history: in the initial stages, the legacy of two key pre-1980s policies, the neglect of agriculture and the strangling of the domestic private sector, were critical. The failure of broad-based agricultural growth militated against rural industrialization, which would have been devoted to satisfying local needs that would have necessarily been labour intensive. Then, when the boom came after 1980, the thicket of regulation and broader labour protections that were legislated prematurely in a nascent democracy, underpinned by a deep ideological aversion to private capital in general and big capital specifically, became a barrier to attaining the size that would be necessary to compete globally. Similarly, the reforms after 1991, while wide-ranging, did not quite encompass non-tradeable inputs critical to manufacturing, namely, land, logistics infrastructure and power. A combination of low investment (logistics infrastructure), regulation (land) and the continued monopoly supply by state governments (power), combined with residual socialism, kept costs at 75–100 per cent above efficient supply. These factors were compounded on the supply side by the government, which dominated the formal labour market and established exorbitantly high wages at the lower end of the skill spectrum. This made their employment in the labour-intensive sector by the private sector less attractive. Finally, when the services sector and its exports boomed, wages soared even further via a Dutch Disease effect: one successful tradeable sector killed and cannibalized another less-skilled tradable sector, namely, manufacturing. Thus, scarcity-inducing policies of the planning era, precocious democracy and a Gandhian aversion to size; inefficient, monopolistic supply of critical non-tradable inputs; the behemoth of government; and super-successful skill-intensive services successively undermined India’s unskilled labour employment opportunities. The employment failure seems to have been over-determined. … Less quantifiable but no less important are some of the sociological factors that have undermined manufacturing and factory jobs. Take the impact of the success of the IT sector—located in urban areas with better working conditions, such as air-conditioned offices, good schools for children and attractive entertainment options. It became a more attractive place for engineering and management graduates to flock to. … Consider manufacturing and female employment. Indian society makes it difficult for women to work, reflected in India’s unusually low female labour force participation (elaborated in Chapter XIII). Indian society, in particular the routine harassment of women in public spaces, makes it even more difficult for them to travel long distances to take up work.37 Combined with onerous regulations on creating hostels and dormitories for women—which, in turn, prevents multiple shifts of operation—factories need to be located in areas with a large female labour pool. While firms can take apparel plants to female labour or bring them to the plants by building large-scale dormitories, this raises costs. If there was a case for subsidies to encourage labour-intensive manufacturing, housing subsidies to build dormitories for women workers would be a good place to start. All of this meant, that when opportunities did open up, in part thanks to adjustments in China, India was in no position to take advantage. Here is the account of the 2020s from Kapur and Subramanian. It stands in dizzying contrast to the one-sided, “China squeeze” argument delivered in the Peterson and Foreign Affairs pieces: In 2022, for example, India’s share of global exports in clothing (the canonical labour-intensive sector) was 3.1 per cent compared to 32 per cent for China. This is extremely disappointing because China started vacating export space in this sector after the Global Financial Crisis as its wages started rising; it then vacated further space in the aftermath of geopolitical developments that led investors to seek alternative investment locations. Between its peak and today, China lost about 7.5 percentage points of global export share (worth about $43 billion in 2022); over this period, India’s export share remained stagnant at 3 per cent, while that of Vietnam and Bangladesh rose by 3.5 to 4 percentage points. China’s loss did not translate into any gain for India in terms of low-skill exports and employment. Put differently, when the conditions for dynamism and prosperity were established after 1991, and even more tantalizingly when the global export opportunities opened up, it was as if India was a high-wage economy and only skilled labour could benefit from the dynamism. It had converted its physically abundant unskilled workforce into an economically expensive resource, penalizing its use. It is not my mission here to argue for or against Kapur and Subramanian’s interpretation of India’s development trajectory. The point in this context is simply that the “China squeeze” such as it is can only be understood, in relation to the heavy burden of domestic constraints that Kapur and Subramanian so unsparingly enumerate. I am concentrating here on India because it is the great counterpart to China and the unspoken reference point of the “China squeeze” discourse. But the point is more general. Can anyone with a straight face suggest that the main problems afflicting the development of South Africa or Nigeria, the great centers of mass underemployment in sub-saharan Africa, are cheap competition from China driven by Beijing’s industrial policy and an undervalued RMB? Likewise, is the main problem of the American working-class the threat of Chinese competition or the manifest crisis of social reproduction in the United States itself? The point here, as in the discourse around China shock 2.0 in Europe, is to insist that we should not normalize the world and pathologize China, without actually investigating what is going on in America’s industrial wastelands, the German car industry, or India’s lopsided labour market. One-sided pathologization should be understood for what it is, a polemical gesture. Concepts like China shock and China squeeze are, what Reinhart Koselleck, following Carl Schmitt, would have described as “asymmetrische Kampfbegriffe”, or “asymmetrical counter-concepts” or “asymmetrical combat concepts”. If the function of arguments like the “China squeeze” is to alert elites in the rest of the world of the need to rejuvenate and energize their development projects, so be it. But let us see the resulting discourses as the mobilizing interventions that they are. Interestingly, a significant slice of China’s public sphere - the so-called industrial party - have been obsessed for the last twenty years with precisely these questions of counterfactual economic history. Since the mid 2000s, a massive online discourse developed around an alternative history in which Chinese techno-patriots were asked to imagine how they would proceed if they had the possibility of traveling back in time to transport modern technology into the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) thus averting the “great divergence” of the 18th and 19th centuries. It is a fantasy of course, but also a goad. The point was not directed at Westerners. The alternate history is dramatically nationalist, but few n the West had even heard of it until recently. The adherents of the industrial party are not liberal moralists. They don’t project natural ladders of international development and ask why others don’t cede space. They take the Realpolitik of global economic development for granted. Their pointe was directed against fellow Chinese. The rallying cry of the alternative narrative was this: Now that we are beginning to gain steam and push forward on our national development path, now that we are breaking out of the inferior position assigned to us even in the early years following WTO accession, do not lose yourself in humanistic imaginings about better futures. In the spirit of Deng, they called on China to embrace the hard truth of development. Perhaps one might of the Industrial Party as a cultural trend born out of desire for symbolic revenge against those who had inflicted the century of humiliation. In terms of the various temporalities of the “China shock” - retrospective, prospective and counterfactual - one might think of the Industrial Policy discourse as truly speculative, conjuring up the China shock that never was. Or perhaps one might better think of it as imagining a world in which a powerful China was no shock at all, but simply a defining fact of modern history. I love putting out Chartbook. I am particularly pleased that it goes out for free to thousands of subscribers around the world. But, writing this newsletter takes a lot of work. If you are enjoying it and would like to support the project, sign up for one of the subscription options here. It is the equivalent of a fancy cup of coffee per month! Subscribe
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