The First Warning

A sixteen-term, four-groups-of-four word puzzle centered on advertising budgeting has been shared online, built around the idea that most of a pay-per-click budget is decided before any money is spent. The Saturday grid leans on the commercial and legal sides of the paid-search job, and its maker warns that one group is trickier than it first looks.

South Sudan is scheduled to hold its first-ever national election, but the path to the vote remains uncertain. Questions persist over whether the government will implement key prerequisites, including a census, voter registration and the unification of rival forces under the 2018 peace agreement. Observers warn that continued delays, political tensions between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, and funding shortfalls could push the vote back again, leaving the country's democratic transition in doubt.