Georgia

Judge orders paper ballot contingency plan for Georgia

ATLANTA (AP) — If Georgia election officials fail to meet the tight timeline they’ve set to implement an entirely new voting system, they’ll have to quickly pivot to hand-marked paper ballots for the March presidential primaries.

That’s according to a Thursday ruling by U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg.

Dreadful heat, humidity invade South as misery continues

ATLANTA (AP) — Stifling heat smothered states from Texas to South Carolina on Tuesday with temperatures that felt like 120 degrees (49 Celsius), making it difficult to be outside for long, much less work or play.

As the entire Southeast baked amid heat warnings and advisories that reached from central Texas to coastal Georgia, construction workers toiled under a blazing sun in Louisiana. Alabama’s largest city opened its auditorium as a refuge for anyone needing to cool down.

2020 debates: Biden-Harris rematch and progressive faceoff

ATLANTA (AP) — The second set of summer Democratic presidential debates will feature a rematch with a twist, plus the first showdown of leading progressives as the party wrestles with its philosophical identity and looks ahead to a 2020 fight against President Donald Trump.

Former Vice President Joe Biden and California Sen. Kamala Harris will take center stage in Detroit on July 31, barely a month after Harris used the first debates to propel herself into the top tier with an aggressive takedown of the 76-year-old Biden’s long record on race.

Kremlin ban halts direct flights between Russia and Georgia

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — A Kremlin ban on direct flights between Russia and Georgia took effect Monday, affecting thousands of travelers and dealing a serious blow to Georgia’s tourism industry.

The flight ban impacted dozens of flights operated by six Russian airlines and one Georgian airline. President Vladimir Putin introduced it following a wave of anti-Russian protests in the Georgian capital sparked by a Russian lawmaker’s appearance at the Georgian parliament.

Georgian Foreign Ministry decries TV host’s anti-Russian profane remarks

TBILISI, July 8. /TASS/: By using foul language in his outburst against the Russian leadership, the host of Georgia’s Rustavi 2 opposition TV channel Giogri Gabunia sought to exacerbate Georgian-Russian relations and make them even more tense, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

"We strongly condemn Rustavi 2 television’s statements, which have nothing to do with freedom of speech and which are a sheer provocation aimed at making Georgian-Russian relations, complex as they are, even more tense," the statement reads.

Georgia has no plans to give up trade with Russia — minister

TBILISI, July 7. /TASS/: Georgia has no plans to give up its trade with Russia, which accounts for 13% of the country’s exports, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Natia Turnava said at a meeting with farmers, winemakers and tourism industry businessmen in the eastern Georgian region of Kakheti.

Georgian protesters again march to ruling party leader’s house

TBILISI, July 7. /TASS/: Several hundred of protesters in Tbilisi have again marched on Saturday evening from the country’s parliament to the home of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder and chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party, demanding to sack the country’s foreign minister Giorgi Gakharia.

The rally was broadcast live by the Rustavi-2 TV channel.

Georgians keep protesting despite speaker’s resignation

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — The speaker of Georgia’s parliament stepped down Friday in the wake of violent clashes that left at least 240 people injured, but the move failed to assuage protesters, who returned to the streets demanding that the interior minister also step down over a brutal police response.

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