Thailand launches airstrikes inside Cambodia after accusing it of violating ceasefire
At least six people have been killed and dozens of others injured in fresh clashes between the two South-East Asian neighbors, despite a ceasefire agreement signed in October under US mediation.
Introducing: Devstral 2 and Mistral Vibe CLI. | Mistral AI
Introducing: Devstral 2 and Mistral Vibe CLI.
State-of-the-art, open-source agentic coding models and CLI agent.Mistral AI (mistral.ai)
Firewood Banks Aren’t Inspiring. They’re a Sign of Collapse.
A wood bank is exactly what it sounds like. People in rural and Indigenous areas still heavily rely on wood heat as the primary fuel source for their homes. Volunteers cut and split firewood, stack it somewhere public, and give it away for free to those who can’t afford it. No paperwork. No means tests. No government forms. Just a pile of hardwood that shows up because someone else’s house would be cold without it.Most articles about wood banks wrap them in the same tired language. Community spirit. Rural generosity. Neighbors helping neighbors. It’s the kind of coverage you get when journalists focus on the people stacking the wood instead of the conditions that made it necessary. They never mention the underlying reality. Wood banks exist because without them, people would freeze. It’s the same everywhere: Local news crews film volunteers splitting logs while pretending it’s heartwarming, reporting on senior citizens splitting 150 cords a year for neighbors in need as if the story is about kindness instead of the failure that created the need in the first place.
...The volunteers running wood banks aren’t performing resilience. They’re plugging holes in a sinking ship and doing the work the state stopped doing. They are the thin line between a cold snap and another obituary...
Firewood Banks Aren’t Inspiring. They’re a Sign of Collapse.
Rural communities are banding together to chop firewood so that people in need can heat their homes. This shouldn’t be necessary.The New Republic
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An-22 Military Transport Plane Crashes in Russia After Repairs
A Russian Ministry of Defense An-22 military transport aircraft has crashed in Russia’s Ivanovo region.
Archived version: archive.is/newest/militarnyi.c…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
French far right wants to reopen brothels and put sex workers in charge
National Rally (RN) lawmaker Jean-Philippe Tanguy said his proposed bill would allow sex workers in France to be "empresses in their kingdom."
Archived version: archive.is/newest/euronews.com…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
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Report Exposes Instacart's Hidden AI Price Experiments That Could Cost Families $1,200 Per Year
cross-posted from: news.abolish.capital/post/1253…
Consumer advocates on Tuesday called on the Federal Trade Commission and state officials to investigate artificial intelligence-enabled pricing experiments used by Instacart, the grocery shopping app millions of Americans rely on, that charge up to 23% more for some shoppers than others when they buy the same item at the same store.
Consumer Reports joined the advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative and the labor-focused media organization More Perfect Union to uncover Instacart's pricing experiments enabled by Eversight, an AI pricing software that Instacart acquired in 2022. The company's CEO said last year that the experiments have helped the company “to really figure out which categories of products our customers [are] more price sensitive on"—in other words, to tailor prices based on a customer's shopping habits, whether they're near a competing store, and other factors.
The groups' study, Same Cart, Different Price, describes how researchers ran five tests with 437 participants, studying the prices of a basket of items bought at two Target stores and three Safeway stores using Instacart.
In one test at a Safeway in Washington, DC, shoppers logged on to the app to buy a carton of eggs from the same brand at the same time and found that the price they were given varied widely. Some shoppers were charged just $3.99 for the eggs, while others saw a price as high as $4.79—20% higher.
Shoppers at a Safeway in Seattle saw a 23% difference in prices for Skippy peanut butter, Oscar Mayer turkey, and Wheat Thins crackers. At two different Safeways in Washington, DC, Instacart quoted shoppers at one store a price that was 23% higher than at another for Signature Select Corn Flakes.
"It’s time for Instacart to close the lab. Americans shopping for groceries aren’t guinea pigs and shouldn't have to pay an Instacart tax.”
For the same basket of groceries, shoppers at the Seattle store were asked to pay as much as $123.93, while others were charged just $114.34.
"The average price variations observed in the study could cost a household of four about $1,200 per year," said Groundwork.
Justin Brookman, director of tech policy at Consumer Reports, said Instacart's tactics "hurt families who are simply trying to purchase essential groceries."
"At a time when everyday Americans are struggling with high prices, it is particularly egregious to see corporations secretly conducting individual experiments to see how much a person is willing to pay," said Brookman. "Companies must be transparent and upfront with people about pricing, so that they can make informed choices and keep more of their hard-earned money. We encourage the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to investigate Instacart’s pricing tactics."
Groundwork noted that Instcart's website acknowledges that it runs price tests, but states that "shoppers are not aware that they’re in an experiment" and are having their grocery prices selected for them via algorithm.
While Instacart has claimed its price experiments are "negligible," the groups emphasized that they're being used "against the backdrop of the fastest increase in food prices since the late 1970s."
After previous reporting on companies' use of "shrinkflation," "dynamic pricing," and other practices that keep prices high even as pandemic-era labor and supply chain issues have subsided, "today’s report shows Instacart’s experiments are yet another way corporate pricing tactics are squeezing American families," said Groundwork.
The study did not find evidence that Instacart is giving shoppers different prices based on their ZIP code or income, as companies like Amazon, Delta Air Lines, and Home Deport have been accused of doing.
But the groups said Eversight gives the company the capability to use that data to make pricing decisions tailored to particular shoppers.
“Instacart is quietly running pricing experiments on millions of shoppers during the worst grocery affordability crisis in a generation, and it’s costing households as much as $1,200 a year,” said Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens. “They have turned the simple act of buying groceries into a high-tech game of pricing roulette. When the same box of Wheat Thins can jump 23% in price because of an algorithm, that’s not innovation or convenience, it’s unfair. It’s time for Instacart to close the lab. Americans shopping for groceries aren’t guinea pigs and shouldn't have to pay an Instacart tax.”
The groups credited some state and federal lawmakers who have begun to take notice of pricing practices like Instacart's; US Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) introduced the Stop AI Price Gouging and Wage Fixing Act in July with the aim of prohibiting the use of automated systems to set prices. New York has enacted the first-of-its-kind Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act, which requires companies to prominently disclose to customers, "This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data" when they use methods like Instacart's. Other state legislation has been introduced in Colorado, California, and Pennsylvania to ban the use of surveillance to set prices.
The groups called on the FTC to take action under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which bans "unfair methods of competition." Those could include “'price discrimination not justified by differences in cost or distribution,' which appears to match Instacart’s pricing experiments and fluctuations," the report reads.
The FTC could also bring enforcement cases or initiate rulemaking to officially label AI-enabled pricing strategies as an "unfair or deceptive practice," affirming that companies who use them are breaking a consumer protection standard.
"Fair and honest markets are the bedrock of a healthy economy," reads Tuesday's report. "Companies like Instacart offer great convenience, but they are increasingly pursuing corporate pricing practices that unfairly decouple the price of a product from its true cost. As more consumers learn about, and decry, these practices, perhaps companies will change course. But if they do not, policymakers should intervene and require them to change their practices."
From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.
Casar-Tlaib Bill Would Ban Corporations From Using AI to Set Prices, Wages
"The idea that employers would leverage surveillance data to exploit a worker in a desperate position and offer them a lower wage is appalling," said Rep. Rashida Tlaib.stephen-prager (Common Dreams)
US | New York archdiocese seeks $300m to settle claims by clergy abuse survivors
Largest US Catholic archdiocese is raising funds, selling assets and cutting costs to compensate about 1,300 victims
Semiconductor industry enters unprecedented ‘giga cycle’, says report — scale of artificial intelligence is rewriting compute, memory, networking, and storage economics all at once
New industry analysis argues the AI era is reshaping every part of the chip market at once.
Facebook redesign focuses on friends, photos, Marketplace and more
Meta's Facebook redesign elevates Marketplace, refreshes profiles, and aims to win back Gen Z users.
Activist groups urge Congress to pause US datacenter buildouts
Bad for consumers, bad for the environment, 230+ groups say
Archived version: archive.is/newest/theregister.…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
Activist groups urge Congress to pause US datacenter buildouts
: Bad for consumers, bad for the environment, 230+ groups sayDan Robinson (The Register)
Mandate that data centers self-power via renewable energy already! It's such a simple fucking solution that solves basically all the problems of data centers.
Relevant note: The research that came out a while back saying that a long conversation with an AI chatbot could use up to half a liter of water included the water used to cool the power plant that's powering the data center. The same paper spelled out that the actual water use of the data center itself is only 12% of that. So if we force data centers to be powered via renewable energy a long conversation with a chatbot would only use 0.06 liters of water which is basically negligible. Especially when you consider that the 0.5L was a worst-case scenario (older data centers letting all the water evaporate).
It runs into the fundamental problem with renewable energy at the moment. It lacks energy storage capabilities to run 24/7 and you can't have power interuptions in a data center. But even if that wasn't the problem, you are asking President who's whole election motto was "Drill, baby, drill" and who cancelled all green tech investment from previous administration to consider a mandate on renewable energy? Good luck.
And many of these companies are inversting in green energy in a form of nuclear power while being subsidized by taxpayers in individual states because who doesn't love socialism for the rich.
Trekking nella Riserva di Monte Catillo - "Orizzonti Tiburtini"
ESCURSIONE GRATUITA DI NATALE 🎁 🎄 + Cena di Gruppo - SABATO 20 DICEMBRE 2025
Una bellissima giornata nella Riserva Naturale di Monte Catillo, subito fuori il centro storico di Tivoli, a pochi passi da Roma.
Un variegato percorso naturalistico ci condurrà attraverso la macchia mediterranea e i boschi di sughera e cerro.
Lungo il sentiero potrai godere dei caratteristici affacci panoramici dell'area tiburtina: la splendida acropoli di Tivoli, la vasta campagna romana, i Monti Prenestini e Cornicolani (anche il mare se saremo fortunati).
> Ti racconteremo la storia, i miti e le leggende di questo luogo antico ed affascinante, forgiato dal fiume Aniene.
E' una facile escursione, a meno di un'ora dalla capitale, cui seguirà una cena di gruppo per festeggiare insieme la fine della stagione escursionistica!
Prenotazione (obbligatoria) aperta fino a Venerdì 19 Dicembre 2025 ore 15:00
Per informazioni contattate @greentrek@mastodon.uno
greentrek.it/escursioni/escurs…
Escursione nella Riserva di Monte Catillo - GreenTrek.it
Un trekking per ammirare i panorami della Riserva di Monte Catillo. A pochi metri da Tivoli un piccolo scrigno di biodiversità e bellezza.GreenTrek.it
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Reeves claims 'I am a Zionist' while receiving over £200k from Israel lobby
Rachel Reeves has received over £200k from the Zionist lobby over the years - how the fuck is this a functioning democracy?
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Palestine | Hamas proposes long-term ceasefire if Israel fully withdraws from Gaza
Palestinian movement says ceasefire would hold for 10 years and its military wing would bury its weapons if Israel pulls its troops out and mediators guarantee compliance
Archived version: archive.is/newest/middleeastey…
Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.
Hamas proposes long-term ceasefire if Israel fully withdraws from Gaza
Hamas has told mediators that it is prepared to freeze all offensive operations against Israel from Gaza for up to a decade, and it is prepared to bury its weapons, if Israeli forces fully withdraw from the enclave, a senior Palestinian official fami…David Hearst (Middle East Eye)
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Green targets not 'demolished' insist MEPs after deal slashing reporting rules
EU lawmakers have insisted that the bloc‘s green targets are not being “demolished” — after agreeing a that deal dramatically strips down the reporting requirements for two of the EU’s flagship sustainable business laws.
Archived version: archive.is/newest/euobserver.c…
Green targets not 'demolished' insist MEPs after deal slashing reporting rules
EU lawmakers have insisted that the bloc‘s green targets are not being “demolished” — after agreeing a that deal dramatically strips down the reporting requirements for two of the EU’s flagship sustainable business laws.Benjamin Fox (EUobserver)
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Arduino Uno Q Review: The board with two brains
Two heads are better than one?
https://www.tomshardware.com/raspberry-pi/arduino-uno-q-review
Keep calm despite Trump 'provocation', Kallas tells EU
Europe's top diplomat ducked a "word-fight" with the US, but president Donald Trump issued more anti-EU slurs on Tuesday.
Archived version: archive.is/20251209174040/euob…
US | Tufts student can resume research after Trump officials revoked her visa, judge rules
Rümeysa Öztürk was arrested in March amid White House’s crackdown on foreign students’ pro-Palestinian advocacy
Mom of Karoline Leavitt’s nephew promises to respond to each text and call offering support following ICE arrest
Bruna Ferreira released from ICE custody as she continues to fight against her removal from the country
Citizenship Ceremonies Are Being Disrupted By Trump’s Latest Wave Of Bigoted Cruelty
The president, who drapes himself in the flag so inappropriately you’d think it would be filing HR complaints on a daily basis, is now preventing some the best potential US citizens from becoming US citizens.
Citizenship Ceremonies Are Being Disrupted By Trump’s Latest Wave Of Bigoted Cruelty
The president, who drapes himself in the flag so inappropriately you’d think it would be filing HR complaints on a daily basis, is now preventing some the best potential US citizens from beco…Techdirt
OpenAI, Anthropic and Block join new Linux Foundation effort to standardize the AI agent era
Anthropic, Block, and OpenAI are backing the Linux Foundation’s new Agentic AI Foundation, donating MCP, Goose, and AGENTS.md to standardize AI agents, boost interoperability, and curb proprietary fragmentation.
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Translate the web your way, plus choose the Firefox icon that suits your vibe | The Mozilla Blog
Whenever you open Firefox, we want it to feel like it speaks your language and matches your style. This month, our mobile team is rolling out features inspired by community ideas, user requests and the small everyday moments that make browsing more delightful.
Translate the web your way, plus choose the Firefox icon that suits your vibe
Inspired by community feedback, user requests, and the small everyday moments that make browsing more delightful, we’re bringing those ideas to life with on-device translations for iOS, customizable icons for Android, and a new search option powered …Jenifer Boscacci (The Mozilla Blog)
Privacy‑centric doom scrolling apps for iOS and android
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Spain arrests teen who stole 64 million personal data records
The National Police in Spain have arrested a suspected 19-year-old hacker in Barcelona, for allegedly stealing and attempting to sell 64 million records obtained from breaches at nine companies.
Introducing: Devstral 2 and Mistral Vibe CLI. | Mistral AI
Introducing: Devstral 2 and Mistral Vibe CLI.
State-of-the-art, open-source agentic coding models and CLI agent.Mistral AI (mistral.ai)
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We evaluated Devstral 2 against DeepSeek V3.2 and Claude Sonnet 4.5 using human evaluations conducted by an independent annotation provider, with tasks scaffolded through Cline. Devstral 2 shows a clear advantage over DeepSeek V3.2, with a 42.8% win rate versus 28.6% loss rate. However, Claude Sonnet 4.5 remains significantly preferred, indicating a gap with closed-source models persists.
Thank you for being honest about performance
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Australia’s world-first social media ban begins as millions of children and teens lose access to accounts
Millions of children and teens lose access to accounts as Australia’s world-first social media ban begins
Accounts held by users under 16 must be removed on apps that include TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Kick, Twitch and Threads under banJosh Taylor (The Guardian)
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Australia’s world-first social media ban begins as millions of children and teens lose access to accounts
Millions of children and teens lose access to accounts as Australia’s world-first social media ban begins
Accounts held by users under 16 must be removed on apps that include TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Kick, Twitch and Threads under banJosh Taylor (The Guardian)
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Brewed up some tree beer
On Friday I brewed up some tree beer using Leyland Cypress boughs in the strike and sparge water as well as in the mash vessel. OG was ~1.050 and I split the boil to brew up a saison and a pale ale with galaxy and sultana (denali) hops. The saison is fermenting with a wild yeast culture I captured from my neighbor's raw honey and the pale ale has Framgarden kveik. They're both fermenting at 87°F/30.5°C
The Leyland Cypress gives the beer a pleasant evergreen/christmas tree flavor that's a bit citrusy and not too overwhelming. I've brewed with this tree a number of times and thoroughly researched it so I'm fully confident that it is not toxic. I don't measure the amount of tree I put in the beer, basically just put branches into the kettle until it's annoying to try to add another one.
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. These plants are similar looking, but different species completely.
Pine & Needles 75cl
We seek the edges of hop madness. Christmas trees, trucks of fruit and hops we throw into our brews. And it tastes great.Uiltje Brewing Company
We Had 400 People Shop For Groceries. What We Found Will Shock You.
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
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We Had 400 People Shop For Groceries. What We Found Will Shock You.
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
Create and upload your own with maximum privacy?
I cannot find information anywhere. Sorry, English is my second language.
I possess a DVD and want to upload this as a torrent so others can download it.
I burn the media to my Linux PC using a media ripper. I use Handbrake to convert the media and small the file size.
I can create a torrent. But how do I insure none of my computer's personal information and identifiers are saved on that file? I dont want me to be found out if someone opens the file and somehow can see I'm the one who created it.
In other hand, how do the pirates create and upload media into torrents while protecting themself from being found out?
Edit: Corrected to Linux PC
I think you worried about metadata mostly. Can maybe infer gpu/os/software from encode pattern, but probably not problem for you.
For image metadata usually called exif data, exiftool on linux work well for me. For video, ffmpeg has ffprobe tool to extract metadata using some option. Ffmpeg also have some option to clear metadata (but not all), complicated a bit to set up right.
If not available for windows, search for alternative. Or graphical wrapper if not like commandline.
First verify you have good method to see metadata, then try what method remove what.
If really paranoid, dump windows (has lot of spyware), use tool like gnu strings to see printable string in binary file might be metadata.
For torrent:
1. See if already exist by someone (public index search, dht search engine)
- Throw out handbrake, always upload original quality. Reencode fine if from raw source material, but no dvd/bluray has raw quality. Or if really want to offer small file, upload both.
- Create torrent with dht/pex enable to allow dht search engine and other peer to find.
- Use no-log vpn or i2p to seed.
More info probably in megathread or wiki.
Edit: 5. over vpn or i2p make account on public index and upload torrent as new post. Or share torrent with friend. Or on other forum.
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RRF Caserta. TV. Monster . Ed Gein l'origine e lo sfruttamento dell orrore
Family Demands Return of Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh’s Body
Gaza Herald – A growing campaign is pressing for the return of the body of Dr. Adnan Al-Bursh, the renowned Gaza orthopedic surgeon who died under Israeli occupation custody after months of enforced disappearance. His family says the occupation has withheld his body since April 2024, mirroring a broader pattern of thousands of Palestinians who vanished during the ongoing genocide, many remaining outside any official record.
Al-Bursh, head of orthopedics at Al-Shifa and one of Gaza’s most prominent surgeons, was arrested from Al-Awda Hospital and held incommunicado until former detainees revealed he suffered brutal conditions before his death. His family is pushing a public campaign, moving from digital outreach to on-the-ground actions, urging rights groups to pressure the occupation to release his body for a dignified burial.
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I love Wikipedia
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Joint Force will be available on Steam starting January 1st.
Joint Force is free software, as it is released under the GNU Affero General Public License.
Download the source code at codeberg.org/tslocum/jointforc…
Israel named 'worst enemy of journalists' by Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has described the Israeli army as “the worst enemy of journalists” in its annual report published on Thursday, with nearly half of all reporter killings worldwide recorded in Gaza.
The French-based organisation said that of the 67 media professionals killed over the past year, 43 percent were killed by Israel, making the Palestinian territories the most dangerous place in the world for journalists.
According to RSF, the Israeli army is the primary perpetrator of journalist deaths, ahead of cartels and organised crime groups (24 percent) and the Russian army (four percent).
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Pebble maker announces Index 01, a smart-ish ring for under $100
Pebble maker announces Index 01, a smart-ish ring for under $100
The Pebble Index 01 isn’t quite a smart ring, but it can do some smart things.Ryan Whitwam (Ars Technica)
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TL;DR:
Price:
"Under $100":
After [the preorder], it will go up to $99.
Battery is not rechargeable:
And what happens when the battery runs out? You just send the ring back to be recycled.
Runtime:
The integrated battery will power the device for 12–14 total hours of recording. The designers estimate that to be roughly two years of usage if you record 10 to 20 short voice notes per day.
- "Roughly two years" = lets say that's 20 months
- 12 hours = 43.200 seconds = 72 seconds/day
- "10-20 short voice notes" = 3.6-7.2 seconds per note
Features:
- Records only while pressing the button
- > The recording is converted to text and fed into a large language model (LLM) that runs locally on your device to take actions. The speech-to-text process and LLM operate in the open source Pebble app, and no data from your notes is sent to the Internet. However, there is an optional online backup service for your recordings.
- > A model small enough to run on your phone has to focus on specific functionality rather than doing everything like a big cloud-based AI
- > * Create or add to notes
> * Set reminder
> * Create alarm
> * Create timer
> * Play/pause/skip music track (via button press) - > also designed to be hacking-friendly. The audio and transcribed text is yours [...] You can route it to a different app via a webhook, and the LLM supports model context protocol (MCP), so you can add new functionality that also runs locally. The AI model will also be released as an open source project.
-
-
- > text
- > text
- > text
Trying to figure out what is up with that formatting.
I got nothin'.
Do you mean that you're trying to reproduce it? 🤔 If so:
- hello
- > * one
> * two
> * three - > world
is
* hello
* > * one
> * two
> * three
* > world(Btw also, you can check if your client has the option to show the source of a comment 😉)
🍉 Albert 🍉
in reply to King • • •eldavi
in reply to 🍉 Albert 🍉 • • •🍉 Albert 🍉
in reply to eldavi • • •EmpathicVagrant
in reply to 🍉 Albert 🍉 • • •Falafelicious
in reply to 🍉 Albert 🍉 • • •