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1. Nigel Wright ruins Duffy drama on Day One

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After months of fevered build-up, Nigel Wright pricked the balloon on Day One of his appearance at the Duffy trial. Turns out he didn’t tell Harper about the cheque. He paid off Duffy all on his own. The Prime Minister had no idea, just like he claimed. He’s been telling the truth all along. Pundits wail: “What am I gonna do for the rest of the summer?” Headline writers have to find something else to headline. No one leads the paper with “Harper Vindicated!” The only reason anyone still cared about the Duffy scandal is gone.

Oh well. There’s always Donald Trump.

2. Assange outwaits statute on sex charge

By hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy for three years, Julian Assange has managed to outwait the statute of limitations on one sexual assault charge, and will pass another on Aug. 18. He’s also outwaited a charge on unlawful coercion. Sweden has dropped the first charge and will presumably drop the others when the best-by date passes. Assange still has a rape charge to worry about, which won’t expire until 2020. He has agreed to be questioned on the rape charge if it happens inside the embassy; prosecutors agreed to that recently, but for some reason the Ecuadorians refuse to go along.