International Democratic Union

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https://idugov.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=2357&pid=22688#pid22688

News From Around The IDU - 1 August 2022
Brought to you by the Democratic Times News Service

Budget Allocation Bill in North Kaijan leads to Protests

In North Kaijan, a coalition government of the New Conservatives, Conservatives, National Alliance and Centrists attempted to pass a budget that included continued funding on the security presence in the province lead to 52 opposition MPs refusing to let the bill come to vote, by denying a 50%+5 required for a bill to be voted on. In response, MPs threw objects in attempt to clear the floor. This led to a brawl and security was forced to clear the buliding, in response Govennor Ahmad bin Ibrahim threatened to shut down the government if the bill was not voted upon. Because of this the Kaijanese Peoples Party attempted to pass a bill in the Slokasian Legislature to remove Ahmad bin Ibrahim from office, this bill was rejected 407-201 with 34 absent/abstentions. This led to mass protests calling for the Governor to resign after the government had to be shutdown on July 23, the end of the fiscal year. As of today, the government of North Kaijan has closed down all offices, parks and local operated rail service. In response the Socialist-Labor Party has called for a strike in North Kaijan until a new budget is passed.

Source: Slokasian news reports

Acadian Economy Minister Linked to Embezzlement Scheme

At 11:45am on July 24th, 2022, documents were leaked to the press by an anonymous source alleging that Alan Walteren, acting First Minister of the Acadian Federal Department of the Economy (FDE), was currently engaged in embezzling public funds. The 128-page set of documents, the validity of which have yet to be determined, show that Mr. Walteren had been among a small cadre of top officials within the FDE involved in siphoning off funds from the Small Businesses and Coops Economic Fund for their own personal gain. These documents purport that these officials had siphoned off approximately 27 million dollars from the 128 million-strong fund through shell companies, which would then return the funds to the officials through campaign donations. The Acadian Federal Police Financial Crimes and Misdemeanors Unit is currently investigating. Acadian National News reached out to Mr.Walteren for comment, receiving this statement from the Minister:

“The claims over my apparent collaboration or collusion with elements of this embezzlement scheme are wholly fabricated, and should be treated as such. I regret that I was not privy to the crimes occurring within my Department. Rest assured that I will cooperate with the Federal Police to uncover the full extent of this scheme, clear my name, and bring the perpetrators to justice. Such behavior of an Acadian official is wholly unacceptable and the public demands better.” Prime Minister Timothy Gargant, a fellow member of the New Democrats party, also released a statement regarding this development: “These claims are thoroughly disturbing. To think that members of our government would stoop so low as to steal from the people of Greater Acadia is abhorrent in the highest degree. I fully support the efforts of the Federal Police in their investigations. I have placed Mr. Walteren under temporary suspension from his duties as Economy Minister until such time as this issue is resolved.” We will continue to bring you information on this situation as it develops.

Source: Acadian National News

Xiomera annexes Catexco Island, sends troops to Western Xiomera

The Xiomeran government today formally annexed Catexco Island, one of the Netlcoatl Islands, and has begun constructing military and government facilities there. The move came after Xiomeran separatists in the Netlcoatl Islands fled to Catexco Island following the collapse of the government there and its former territory coming under the control of neighboring Huenya. The Huenyan government, which claims sovereignty over all of the Netlcoatl Islands due to the provisional government there requesting Huenyan annexation, denounced the Xiomeran move and called it “illegitimate land theft”.

Unmoved by Huenyan complaints, Xiomera’s government has also reportedly deployed an additional 5000 troops to the separatist state of Western Xiomera. This brings the total number of Xiomeran soldiers in the separatist state to 5500. The Xiomeran government refused comment to DTNS about this deployment, other than to issue a brief statement: “The Imperial forces in Western Xiomera are there to protect the lives and property of ethnic Xiomerans from the violent Huenyan regime, which started this conflict in the first place by launching a military campaign against the people of Western Xiomera. Our forces are advising the local government and providing basic police functions and not engaging in frontline operations. We will not attack any Huenyan forces, but we will respond decisively to any aggression launched against our forces.”

Huenya’s government has responded by calling up military reserves for a potential new campaign against the separatist state.

Sources: Huenyan National News, Xiomeran Imperial News

DTNS - Transparency, Accuracy and Accountability for All!

It is currently 7-0, of WA member nations in this region voting, FOR the current Security Council resolution at vote, so I'm casting my vote in favour.

And so the [RL] world finally says "goodbye" to the Chinese Paddlefish, Psephrus gladius. :( This extremely unusual species of fish was still described as existing when I began working on ideas for our regional ecosystems, but apparently the last definite sighting was in 2003... Chinese researchers decided in 2019 that it was extinct by the time of their study in that year, with its last member probably having died at some point 2005-2010 and the species as a whole having been "functionally extinct" (i.e. irrevocably doomed to near-term extinction) as far back as 1993. The relevant IUCN committee agreed with them shortly afterwards, and the 'red book' was updated in the July just passed to say so... :(
This leaves only one species of Paddlefish alive, namely the American Paddlefish (Polydon spathula), which was already unique for another, different, reason anyway: Unlike its Chinese counterpart, which fed on smaller fish and crustaceans, it is -- extremely unusually for freshwater fish -- a planktivorous filter-feeder! Its closest surviving relatives now are the various species of Sturgeon & Sterlet.
Species of Paddlefish resembling both of those RL ones are still available for the ecosystems of IDU nations, though: They need large rivers (c.f. Yangtze, Yellow River, Mississippi, lower Missouri) in the sub-tropical or temperate zones, with reasonably warm water for at least part of the year (although they can go dormant to overwinter on riverbeds if it gets too cold -- or short on food -- for them to remain active), freedom to move considerable distances upstream & downstream, and [preferably] murky water where both the electrical sensors in their 'paddles' and their ability to take in air at the surface will give them an edge over the more "advanced" fish from other orders.

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Bears Armed has signed up to enter its team into the next NS [Association Football] World Cup's qualifying stage, and I have quite detailed ideas for a number of potential Issues (with three more added to the list just today!) whose first drafts I need to type up, so I might be rather busy outside this region for the next while...

It is currently 7-3, of WA member nations in this region voting, FOR the current General Assembly resolution at vote, so I'm casting my vote in favour.