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Ambassador Major General (Ret.) George Aggrey Owinow, the Interim Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring The post RJMEC: AU efforts renew hope for South Sudan peace process appeared first on Radio Tamazuj.

Մինչ Եվրոպական հանձնաժողովի նախագահ Ուրսուլա ֆոն դեր Լայենը և վարչապետ Նիկոլ Փաշինյանը կառավարությունում իրենց բանակցություններն էին ամփոփում, ընդդիմադիր մի շարք ուժեր իրենց բողոքի ձայնը փորձում էին հասցնել շենքի ներսում գտնվողներին։ Նրանց, սակայն, կառավարության շենքին մոտենալ չթույլատրեցին, ոստիկանական պատը փակել էր ճանապարհը՝ հարակից փողոցի լուսացույցի մոտից։ «Համենայնդեպս, մենք ավելի բարձր այստեղից կխոսենք, որպեսզի այն շենքում նստած մարդիկ, որոնք արարողակարգային ձեռքսեղմումների ու...

Schimbul de acuzații dintre PNL, Consiliul Superior al Magistraturii și conducerile instanțelor, după suspendarea în instanță a hotărârii privind Congresul liberalilor, ridică întrebări despre limitele controlului judiciar asupra vieții interne a partidelor. Jurnalistul Liviu Avram susține că în această dispută există elemente care merită analizate atent și spune că efectul cel mai grav ar putea fi erodarea încrederii publice în justiție.

Who is still willing to put their money where their mouth is and bet on us? The post After Heinen’s, who will still bet on downtown Cleveland?: Opinion appeared first on The Land.

Not everything in the newly-released report of the Governor’s Prosperity Council is uncontroversial, or should be, or points specifically to major systemic problems that limit Oregon’s economic growth. But some do. Two general proposals especially, which may at first sound almost like anodyne boilerplate, seem on reflection like matters of real significance and specific relevance […]

South Carolina’s new license plate is slowly but surely making its way onto cars across the state. You’ve seen it by now. It bears a sweeping claim: “Where the Revolutionary War Was Won.” Allow me to propose a modest amendment. The plate should really read: “Upstate South Carolina: Where the Revolutionary War Was Won.” Before […]

Kansans share horror stories about child-welfare system with legislators after committee's rare closed-door meeting with state agency, contractors.

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Arizona’s free newsletter here.Officials in Mohave County, Arizona, walked into a public meeting last year with bad news for their bosses.The rural, bright-red county wanted to adopt a type of ballot paper with watermarks, embedded fibers, microprinting, and other security features for future elections. Its elected supervisors had previously voted to approve a new contract for such paper with Runbeck Election Services, a voting materials company in Phoenix, because they firmly believed the change would improve voter confidence.But election officials had recently tested the paper, called Ballot Guard, with the county’s vote-tabulating machines and found that it wasn’t performing as hoped.A team of staffers took the podium to lay out the situation. The paper, they said, caused the tabulators to pull multiple pages at once, leading to paper jams and other errors that required rerunning ballots. ES&S, the company that manufactured the county’s tabulators, had done its own tests and seen similar results.Elections Director Allen Tempert warned that using the paper in a live election could significantly slow results and increase the possibility of inaccurate tallies. He urged the county’s all-Republican board of supervisors to consider another type of paper that included watermarks and had already worked successfully elsewhere.The board appeared open to considering the alternative. But months later, another round of testing returned improved results. In January, with election officials’ blessing, supervisors voted unanimously to use Ballot Guard in upcoming elections.“It works well,” Tempert told Votebeat, adding that he was “comfortable” with county supervisors’ decision.Now, the stage is set for a make-or-break moment in the state’s northwest corner — starting with the state primary, scheduled for July 21. A successful debut could inspire other counties to pick up the paper. But if the paper causes problems, it could lead to an election night mess — and deal a major blow to Republicans’ longstanding efforts to encourage such security features on ballots across the state.From bamboo to Ballot Guard: How election security concerns inspired new ballot paperIn Arizona, the push to put security marks on ballots began with a widespread conspiracy.After the 2020 presidential election, false claims began circulating that someone had flown fake ballots from Asia to Maricopa County to rig the race for President Joe Biden. That prompted auditors assisting with a GOP-led review of the county’s election results to shine blacklights on ballots in search of bamboo fibers or watermarks.No bamboo ballots were ever found. Arizona has a plethora of checks to ensure only ballots cast by registered voters are counted. There’s no evidence that counterfeit ballots have ever found their way into the state’s elections.But since that episode, some GOP state lawmakers — including then-state Sen. Sonny Borrelli, who now serves on the Mohave County Board of Supervisors — have repeatedly tried, and failed, to pass legislation requiring security features on ballots. Nationally, California has long used ballot paper with watermarks. In recent years, the push for such paper has also caught on some swing states. Georgia now requires watermarks on its ballots. In Michigan, some counties have chosen to do the same.But Mohave County would be the first in the country to use Ballot Guard specifically. In recent elections, leaders there have also considered hand-counting ballots and voting against certifying vote tallies.Board Chair Travis Lingenfelter, a Republican, told Votebeat that his constituents were deeply concerned about election integrity and hesitant to trust election results. He believes the new paper can help assuage those fears — particularly if other jurisdictions are inspired to pick it up, too.Mohave County Supervisor Travis Lingenfelter, pictured at a Nov. 20, 2023 meeting, told Votebeat that his constituents were hesitant to trust election results. He and other county leaders believe using a new type of ballot paper with anti-counterfeiting measures will improve voter confidence.Lingenfelter said the county’s contract with Runbeck was purposefully structured as a cooperative one. A number of counties — including Maricopa, the state’s most populous county and a key swing region — use it to procure their own voting materials, and any of them could opt to use Ballot Guard in the future.A spokesperson for the Maricopa County Elections Department said it currently had no plans to use the paper. Still, Lingenfelter said he hoped other counties might follow Mohave’s lead if it proves the paper can be used successfully.“I feel like Mohave County is contributing positively to this big overarching issue of voter confidence and election integrity,” he said, adding that his county was “proud” to serve as a trailblazer.Ballot Guard won’t cost Mohave County any money — for nowWhile legislation to require security features on Arizona ballots never passed, the state did greenlight a $1 million grant program in 2022 that offered counties a chance to test out ballot paper with specialized security features.Former Cochise County Recorder David Stevens signed up for that program, but he didn’t anticipate how long it would take to get up and running. He missed the grant’s deadline, and county officials decided to scrap the project.But Stevens had already used grant funding to pay Runbeck to order 10 tons of ballot paper and commission a giant watermarking machine. The county’s decision left that paper sitting unused on the floor of the company’s warehouse in Phoenix.Since then, the county had been grappling with what to do with it. Cochise County Recorder Billy Cloud urged local leaders to give it away, noting that the paper wasn’t of use to the county anymore. So in May, Cochise chose to transfer its paper to Mohave County, free of charge. Mohave will now use that same exact paper to print its ballots for upcoming elections. Tempert and Interim Elections Director Karina Sumner — who is set to replace Tempert when he retires on July 4 — said the paper should get the county through the state primary and general election.“For 2026, it’s a wash,” Tempert said. “We ain’t paying no more money in 2026.”But the county could see increased election costs in 2028. Tempert said Ballot Guard costs up to 15 cents more per ballot than the county’s usual paper. There are approximately 150,000 registered voters in the county, so that could add up to an extra $22,500 per general election.That represents a tiny fraction of Mohave County’s $600 million budget. Still, the county has long faced revenue challenges. In recent years, it has at times needed to institute temporary hiring and employee travel freezes to stave off budget deficits.Nonetheless, officials appeared undeterred. Lingenfelter said that because his county had coordinated a cooperative contract with Runbeck, it gets a small revenue kickback if other counties sign on. He said that should help the county offset its costs.Officials say paper is working well, despite mixed test resultsIn initial tests, the difference between Mohave County’s typical ballot paper and Ballot Guard was stark.Officials found that the new paper was prone to so-called “multi-feed” and “pick” errors, both of which occur when a tabulator accidentally grabs more than one ballot at a time. On average, 3.6% of ballots printed on the new paper saw multi-feed errors and about 0.8% saw pick errors — far higher error rates than that of the county’s usual ballot paper.In 2024, about 111,000 voters cast ballots in the county. Officials estimated it would have taken up to six hours longer to count those ballots if they were printed on the new paper, a notable timesuck for a department with just a handful of full-time employees.“In conclusion, though the Ballot Guard paper properly tabulates every time, we would not recommend its use,” officials wrote in a testing report that they presented on Sept. 15. “The process is significantly slowed by multifeeds and pick errors, which would not happen on original Runbeck paper stock. The security added by the paper is irrelevant when counterfeit votes would never make it to the ballot tabulators in the first place.”Later, Sumner said Runbeck hypothesized that the errors may have been the result of static electricity in the stacks of testing paper. Static causes ballots to stick together, but the issue could be solved by letting the paper sit out for a day or two.In December, the company sent the county more paper — this time, letting it rest before shipping it out. When election officials tested ballots with that batch of paper, Sumner said, they saw dramatically improved results. On average, just 0.7% of the ballots were met with multi-feed errors, and another 0.7% with pick error messages.That’s still more than the 0.3% and 0.0% error rates that the county’s regular paper encountered in initial testing, on average. But Sumner noted that multi-feed and pick errors happen in live elections no matter what type of paper is being used. The error rates seen with the new paper, she said, shouldn’t slow officials down too much in the counting process.As a result, election officials say they are now on board with Ballot Guard. “The limited multi-feed and pick error rates are deemed acceptable for ballot feed errors with ballot tabulation,” a January test report read.Katina Granger, a spokesperson for ES&S, said the company still doesn’t recommend the paper for use with its tabulators. Ballot Guard does not meet the same specifications as its recommended paper stock, she said.“We’ve identified several differences in physical characteristics, like surface texture, thickness, stiffness, coating, and fiber composition, which can impact how ballots move through the equipment and are scanned,” Granger said, adding that ES&S had communicated “potential performance risks” to Mohave County. “We recommend jurisdictions use paper with specifications within the recommended parameters to guarantee performance.”But Sumner said the paper has also been tested during pre-election audits and ran smoothly. She said she was confident that the paper will work well in upcoming elections.“It’s not going to affect the tabulation or the results at all,” she said. “It’s all going to be fine.”Sasha Hupka is a reporter for Votebeat based in Arizona. Contact Sasha at shupka@votebeat.org.

Scheduling note: WhatMatters is celebrating the Fourth of July and will return to your inboxes Monday. A year and a half after deadly wildfires ripped through Southern California, state lawmakers are asking what kind of regulations they should impose to support people who want to rebuild. One method is meant to empower regulators to block […]

Índice de Democracia Ambiental (IDA) 2026 aponta que proteção de defensores ambientais e de direitos humanos é a dimensão mais crítica nos nove Estados da Amazônia Legal; apenas três Estados contam com programas específicos. O post Proteção de defensores é vista como ‘péssima’ na Amazônia apareceu primeiro em Amazônia Real.

Black people and their allies must not only continue the long fight to inject justice into the system but also step up. Commentary: The 21st-century meaning of July Fourth to a Black American is a story from Stocktonia News, a rigorous and factual newsroom covering Greater Stockton, California. Please consider making a charitable contribution to support our journalism.

In the near future, the Chicago-area electricity grid will meet demand during a heatwave by remotely turning up thermostats by a degree or two in households that choose to participate. This adjustment—barely noticeable at the household level—would reduce the region’s electricity demand by the equivalent of several power plants, giving the grid the help it […]

A rundown of recent actions, pending proposals, and actions at the Supreme Judicial Court influencing housing policy more aggressively than any single piece of legislation.

Inglaterra remontó ante República Democrática del Congo gracias a un doblete de Harry Kane y se medirá en octavos a México en el Azteca. También clasificó con una remontada que parecía imposible Bélgica, que se medirá a Estados Unidos, quien si se está mostrando más solvente. Este jueves vuelve al césped la campeona de Europa, España. Además, les contaremos la iniciativa de unos aficionados franceses para pedir perdón a Kylian Mbappé tras una temporada de críticas.

د ناټو مشران به د روانې (جولای په اوومه) نېټه د ترکیې په پلازمېنه انقره کې د دې ایتلاف د کلنۍ غونډې لپاره په داسې حال کې سره راټولیږي چې واشنګټن خبرداری ورکړی ځینو اروپايي هېوادونو لا هم په خپلو ژمنو پوره عمل نه دی کړی.

Talde zuri-gorriak getxoztarraren aldeko apustua egin du. 2022an hartu zuen gidaritza.

Російські військові регулярно з різних видів озброєння – ударними БпЛА, ракетами, КАБами, РСЗВ – атакують українські міста і цивільну інфраструктуру в усіх регіонах України

El Tribunal de Apelación de París ha emitido un dictamen absolutorio de pertenencia a organización terroristaAitor Esteban dice que Otegi tira de figuras históricas del PNV porque su legado son “Argala, Gadafi y Txapote” El Tribunal de Apelación de París ha absuelto este jueves al exjefe de ETA José Antonio Urrutikoetxea, más conocido como Josu 'Ternera', en el último proceso que tenía pendiente en Francia, lo que abre la perspectiva para su entrega a España. La presidenta del tribunal se ha limitado a dar el dictamen absolutorio a Josu 'Ternera', que había acudido a la audiencia con sus abogados, después de recordar que la acusación que pesaba sobre él era pertenencia a una organización terrorista por el periodo que iba desde el 20 de diciembre de 2002 hasta mayo de 2005, según recoge Efe. En este proceso, que se había celebrado en abril, se le ha juzgado por formar parte de ETA desde que huyó de España, cuando era miembro del Parlamento Vasco para escapar de las investigaciones que se estaban llevando a cabo en 2002 para aclarar si había estado implicado en el atentado contra la casa cuartel de la Guardia Civil de Zaragoza de 1987 (fueron asesinadas 11 personas, seis de ellas menores de edad, y hubo 88 heridos). Los principales elementos de prueba en su contra eran las trazas de ADN y las huellas que dejó de su paso por dos pisos francos de ETA en Lourdes y en Villeneuve sur Lot. Allí vivieron el que era entonces jefe militar, Peio Eskisabel, y su lugarteniente, José Manuel Ugartemendía, que fueron capturados a finales de abril de 2005. Antes de que se resolviese esta causa, la Justicia francesa ya había dado luz verde a la entrega de 'Ternera' a España. Antes, en abril, la fiscal del Tribunal de Apelación de París, Naïma Rudloff, había defendido que no hay que ver a Urrutikoetxea como “un negociador de paz”, que es como ha querido presentarse durante este juicio de dos días, sino como alguien que, si bien “participó en negociaciones”, estaba “implicado en una organización con la que estaba en total adhesión con su modo de acción”, es decir, “con los atentados”, según recogió entonces Efe.

Vicente Abreu, Carlos Saenz de Tejada eta Juan de la Cierva kaleen izenak aldatuko ditu udalak. Hala ere, frankismoarekin lotura duten beste hainbat kaleren izenak bere horretan utziko dituzte.