Merge branch 'fix/bug-21072'

diff --cc etc/NEWS
index b7dbb146302295f0811bbe954aad7cd58d362e9d,8e628aad20d0f99ffc51c77c9d23684e0e222c3d..6667a44c2910fdcb9f60a3fc85de959d152022c5
--- 1/etc/NEWS
--- 2/etc/NEWS
+++ b/etc/NEWS
@@@ -397,12 -383,15 +397,21 @@@ Strings such as ΌΣΟΣ are now correc
  capitalized instead of incorrect Όσοσ (compare lowercase sigma at the
  end of the word).
  
 +** Emacs can now auto-save buffers to visited files in a more robust
 +manner via the new mode 'auto-save-visited-mode'.  Unlike
 +'auto-save-visited-file-name', this mode uses the normal saving
 +procedure and therefore obeys saving hooks.
 +'auto-save-visited-file-name' is now obsolete.
 +
+ +++
+ ** New behavior of 'mark-defun' implemented
+ Prefix argument selects that many (or that many more) defuns.
+ Negative prefix arg flips the direction of selection.  Also,
+ 'mark-defun' between defuns correctly selects N following defuns (or
+ -N previous for negative arguments).  Finally, comments preceding the
+ defun are selected unless they are separated from the defun by a blank
+ line.
+ 
  \f
  * Changes in Specialized Modes and Packages in Emacs 26.1