Could not initialize the package information

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Binary package hint: update-manager

I reported this in another bug report, but it was closed so I chose to report this again to ensure it was received. Thanks.

'An unresolvable problem occurred while initializing the package information.

Please report this bug against the 'update-manager' package and include the following error message:

'E:Encountered a section with no Package: header, E:Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_jaunty_universe_binary-i386_Packages, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'

[candtalan (aeclist)]

I am helping a friend with her laptop (remotely) and she has this problem too'

the error prevents update manager working
  message is

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Could not initialise the package information

An unresolvable problem occurred while initialising the package information.

Please report this bug for the 'update-manager' package and try to include the following error message:

'E:Encountered a section with no Package: header, E:Problem with MergeList /var/lib/apt/lists/gb.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_jaunty-updates_restricted_binary-amd64_Packages, E:The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.'

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[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

Thanks for your report.

This is due to a corrupted package list. Remove the file /var/lib/apt/lists/us.archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_jaunty_universe_binary-i386_Packages (or the one mentioned by the error message) and run:
$ sudo apt-get clean
$ sudo apt-get update

and perform the upgrade again. This will likely fix your issue. If so, set the status of this report to invalid. Thanks in advance!

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

 We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!