National Aldurian Broadcasting Corporation

[Alduria]

The National Aldurian Broadcasting Corporation

The National Aldurian Broadcasting Corporation (NABC) is an Aldurian public service broadcaster. Its headquarters are at the Punta Santiago Broadcasting Center in Calvert Street.

[Alduria]

ALDURIA PREPARES FOR FIRST GENERAL ELECTION
A new President and a new Parliament to be chosen by the people
Election Commission: "The long lines and ballot access troubles of the referendum will not occur"

PUNTA SANTIAGO, ALDURIA; NABC -- The Election Commission met today to begin preparations for the upcoming general elections in Alduria, to take place in the year 1672 AN.

The Election Commission is reviewing measures to keep voting places open for longer periods, preserve the integrity of the vote, and  expand the voter rolls by reaching out to new immigrants and citizens with voting registration forms.

The voting is expected to take place in one day, likely to be on a Sunday. Both presidential and parliamentary elections shall occur on the same day. For presidential elections, if no one wins a majority of the votes, officials will organize a second vote between the top two candidates. That run-off election would be held two weeks later.

Sources said the Commission is in the final stages of completing its logistical preparations and a detailed polling schedule could be announced as early this weekend or next week.

A senior Election Commission functionary said the Commission is now prepared to announce the dates “any day” and it could happen over the weekend.

The Commission has held several review meetings across the country in last few weeks to gear up its machinery. The required voting machines and paper trail machines are in place to be deployed.

Sources have confirmed that the Election Commission is trying to avoid actively some of the larger problems that marked the ratification referendum for the current Constitution in 1670. "The long lines and ballot access troubles of the referendum will not occur," confirmed a source speaking in anonymity. "There's measures in place to have more polling places, more voting machines, and more personnel in the ground. This election will be well-organized."

[Alduria]

GOVERNMENT MEMOS LEAKED: BASSARID PRIVATEERING COULD THREATEN ALDURIAN EXPORTS

Aldurian Government scrambling to enact defense measures

 

PUNTA SANTIAGO, ALDURIA, NABC News – The growing Bassarid privateering operation across many Micran seas could potentially target Aldurian commercial ships, including oil tankers, a leaked Department of Defense memo revealed today.

The internal memo mentions a “potential threat” that could “threaten the survival of the country”, noting the nation’s heavy dependency on the export of oil and of crucial imports of food, construction materials, and other goods.

Despite the growth of piracy in Micras’ high seas, the Department of Defense noted in the leaked memo that it is consulting with other government agencies, including the Department of State, on a response that is wholly defensive and stressed that Alduria “should not provoke or attract violence”.

This leak is the first of its magnitude in the nascent Aldurian government. It comes from a tranche of internal defense memos that were left in the back of a black cab in Punta Santiago.

The dossier was written by the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Manuel Arevalo-Ducruet. It recommended that the policy of the Republic of Alduria on the matter should include “investments in non-lethal defense upgrades on commercial and passenger ships and creating special licenses and contracts for private defense contractors and mercenaries to help escort and defend the merchant fleets.”

Hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil pass daily through the Aldurian territorial seas out for export to Krasnocoria, Natopia, Craitland, and other global markets. Vice Admiral Roberto Gomez, commander of the Home Fleet, confirmed to NABC News that its forces were on a heightened state of readiness, although it was not seeking or preparing for war with anyone. The Home Fleet's job is to protect commercial shipping in Aldurian territorial waters but often participates in freedom of navigation operations and in protective convoys beyond Aldurian territorial waters.

Aldurian treaty commitments to many of its largest trading partners include extending protection to the ships involved in trade between Alduria and them, increasing the strain on the nascent Aldurian Navy.

[Alduria]

 

PUNTA SANTIAGO, ALDURIA (NABC News) – Aldurian government officials are sounding the alarm: reservoirs of water around the country are seeing extremely low water levels in comparison to the previous two years.

The alarming proportions of water scarcity in Alduria are becoming clearer as a government survey found that storage levels at many water processing and storage facilities are, on average, down to 14.62%. There are some storage facilities and reservoirs that are completely empty.

The Central Water Commission of Alduria, which monitors over 91 reservoirs across the country, revealed that reservoirs across the country contain 4.10 BCM (billion cubic meters) of water when last measured.

Following these findings, the Centre has issued a "drought advisory" to all Alduria states except Valenciana and Valladares, asking them use water in their reservoirs judiciously.

[Alduria]

 

MILLIONS OF SUNFLOWERS SOAK UP ALDURIA’S RADIATION

 

Punta Santiago, Alduria (NABC News) – The Department of Interior has announced the completion of the first wave of Project Sun, a nationwide effort to clean up radioactive areas in Alduria.

 

Millions of sunflowers were planted in nearly all of the majorly radioactive areas identified by the Department of Interior for clean-up to soak up toxins from the ground.

 

The plants are known to soak up toxins from the soil, with patches of sunflowers now growing between buildings, in backyards, alongside roads and railways, and anywhere else they will possibly fit.

 

At least 12 million sunflowers and 1 million other plants were distributed by the Department of Interior, in coordination with the Aldurian Civil Defense Corps and local non-profit organizations.

 

“We have planted sunflowers, field mustard, amaranthus, cannabis, and cockscomb, which are all believed to absorb radiation,” Francis Gertrude, Interior Department spokesperson says.

 

“[Sunflowers] are able to take heavy metals from contaminated soil in a way that’s completely natural and un-harmful to the soil and its surrounding ecosystems,” Gertrude said. “They’re called ‘phytoremediators.’”

 

Other plants can be phytoremediators as well, but sunflowers are particularly effective because they are so large, he said.

 

Over the course of the next year, another 12 million sunflowers will be planted across the country, testing between 250 and 280 genotypes. That will map out 85 to 90 percent of the genome, an important step in finding the best sunflower breed to use in environmental cleanup.

 

In particular, the Department of Interior is testing sunflower absorption of zinc and eventually copper, common elements found in fertilizers, pollution and runoff that are easy to measure over a large data set.

 

“Sunflowers have the added benefit that they are also used very heavily in agribusiness for things like sunflower oil, sunflower seeds and skin care products,” Gertrude said. “So we want to know which type easily absorbs the toxins, but we’re also looking for a genotype that’s going to be able to resist the heavy metals in the soil and is going to be able to survive in an environment with possible heavy salt deposits. That’s going to be a lot healthier of a plant to sell.”

 

The planting effort is accompanied by the development of new technologies, including chemical and biological processes, to separate out the radioactive material and reduce the amounts that needed special disposal. While many of these techniques work well, many Aldurians remain uncomfortable with the idea of living or working near decontaminated fill.

[Alduria]

PUNTA SANTIAGO, ACD (NABC News) — Looming questions remain after Amy Malliste, Senior Counselor to the President and architect of last year's re-election victory, resigned from her leadership position after an independent government agency recommended her removal for using her office for profit and personal financial gain.

Reporting by Newsflash initially indicated that President Campos would stand by Ms. Malliste. During a meeting of the senior presidential staff, Malliste was asked to resign by Campos' Chief of Staff after considerable pressure from the Prime Minister and the Speaker came to bear on the President. The President was not present, as he is on his way back from a trip to the Micras Treaty Organization to speak about the Aldurian water crisis.

Today the Prime Minister went to Tweeter to speak about the resignation:

TWEETER
@AlfonzoVelezMP Malliste's resignation is an important first step in cleaning house, but the President's Office must fully cooperate in any criminal investigation into her alleged wrongdoings 

@AlfonzoVelezMP Anyone who would abuse their position of public trust to serve their own personal financial interests must be held to account for their actions.

It's unclear what the next step will be - but the Prime Minister's mention of a criminal investigation has certainly raised questions of greater wrongdoing in the Executive Mansion and whether a criminal investigation is underway.

Since the Newflash story, Malliste had been dogged by calls to resign since the Office of the Governmental Legal Counsel sent a report to President Campos stating that numerous internal codes of conduct were breached by Malliste by using her knowledge and position to gain an advantage in personal business and investments.

Natalia Cotilla, former Prime Minister and MP for Asuara, was one of the first members of Parliament to praise the resignation. "If Malliste used her position to gain an advantage in her business dealings, then we have to address that and this is a good first step. The people of Alduria deserve a good and clean government, and I know the President is committed to that," said Ms. Cotilla. "As a caucus, we need to take whatever additional steps are necessary to root out this type of behavior and to make sure there is zero tolerance for this behavior.”

Other members of Parliament had their own reactions. The Communist Party caucus spokesperson, Eva Lambros, expressed that she felt "dismay and disillusionment that so quickly our Republic is descending into another Euran kleptocracy at the expense of the working class," before highlighting that "Velez and the New Center would do the same."

This is the first major scandal for the Campos administration and it threatens to derail the presidency, already working without a legislative majority and a seemingly hostile co-habitation with a Prime Minister and Cabinet of opposing parties. The Press Office of the President reacted to the resignation with a release that made no mention of the report or any disciplinary action.

"The rosy departure press release from the Press Office is only making people ask more questions," said Professor Lawrence Wylie of the University of Punta Santiago Law School. "The Prime Minister's comments seem to hint a criminal investigation, which itself is a dangerous move and could compromise an investigation if it is underway."

[Alduria]

CORRADA DEL RIO, MONDEGO (NABC News) — For the Carrasquillo family, as for many others in Junot, a small Aldurian town just outside of Corrada del Rio, the children’s bedrooms double as bomb shelters. That’s where Aldina Carrasquillo, her husband, and their five children all slept over the weekend.

Throughout that weekend, danger horns and alerts pierced the air, as West Baatharzi terrorist guerillas fired over 600 rockets into the Aldurian-held shores of the Nouradin river - including Corrada del Rio - in a span of three days.

The first salvo of the attack started with a rocket attack on a military parade in Corrada del Rio. The attack was carried out on Military Camp Taji in western Corrada del Rio, killing at least 11 officers and 12 servicemen, according to reports from the Department of Defense. A transmission from the People's Front of Baatharzabad's internet page claimed that the attack was carried out with a drone and a ballistic missile. Department of Defense sources say that it was only a ballistic missile used in the attack.

Twenty Aldurian civilians were killed and hundreds wounded by the end of the barrage, including one man who left his bomb shelter for a cigarette break just as a rocket landed in his yard. Another was driving on the highway when his car was hit by an anti-tank missile fired by the People's Front.

Most of the rockets were fired at the city of Corrada del Rio, from the opposing side of the Nouradin river that is in the Euran Green. Rockets were fired also at other smaller settlements along the Aldurian bank of the Nouradin river.

Brigadier General Auguste Béliveau was among those killed in the attacks. He was as a prominent Aldurian military commander in the region, having previously led part of the Aldurian settlement efforts in the area.   

 

PUNTA SANTIAGO, CAPITAL DISTRICT (NABC News) — President Campos' ex-chief of staff, Amy Malliste, and five other people were arrested today on charges of steering government contracts to unqualified, politically connected contractors, according to the Special Counsel's Office.

Department of Justice officials said that Malliste; former Government Procurement Agency head Ángela Meyer; businessmen Arshad al-Murad and Fernando Lopez-Montigny, and construction contractors Frederic LeBlanc and Rasheeda el-Ishak were arrested by the Department of Justice on 32 counts of fraud and related charges.

The alleged fraud involves €15.5 million in regional construction funding between 1670 and 1672, with $13 million spent by the Government on construction prgrams during Malliste's time as chief of staff and $2.5 million by the Government Procurement Agency when Meyer was the director. Officials said there was no evidence that Malliste or Meyer had personally benefited from the scheme.

Special Counsel for Corruption Fatima Nieves said that Malliste had improperly taken advantage of contacts in the government procurement agencies, in particular the Household of the President's Mansion, to win national contracts and illegally used government money to pay for lobbying.

Arshad al-Murad had briefly worked as a Campos campaign pollster through Malliste in the early days of the President's re-election campaign. al-Murad also owns a real estate development and construction business. The campaign ended the contract early in the campaign, opting to employ other pollings firms. 

al-Murad, Lopez-Montigny, LeBlanc and el-Ishak were friends of the ex-presidential chief of staff. Officials said Malliste bypassed regular bidding procedures to steer contracts toward her friends with the consent and help of Meyer.

"It was alleged that the defendants engaged in a public corruption campaign and profited at the expense of the Aldurian taxpayer. This type of corruption is particularly egregious because it not only victimizes tax payers, it victimizes those citizens that are in need of essential public services," said Nieves.

Nieves also said President Alejandro Campos and the rest of the Executive Mansion staff and advisers are not involved or implicated in the investigation.

President Campos was on vacation abroad in the Port of San Francisco in the Wechua Nation. The Executive Mansion has confirmed he is returning early from vacation in to meet with the Cabinet and other staff members about the investigation.

 

AMAPOLA, VALORIA (NABC News) — Regional and local labor unions from all over Alduria gathered to officially form the National Labor Union today at the first National Labor Congress in Amapola.

By a unanimous vote of all labor unions and groups in attendance, a National Labor Charter was ratified to create the nation's first national labor federation after days of deliberations and negotiations between the multitudes of labor groups and unions. Among the groups were the prominent Aldurian Oil Workers Union, the National Guild of Construction Workers, and the National Guilds of Arts and Literature.

The creation of the nation's first labor federation reflects the growing power of the Aldurian labor movement. The new federation counts with a starting membership base of almost 1 million members.

The National Labor Union will be led by President Rafeeq el-Arif, elected by the Congress with 80% of the vote.

The candidate that came in second place with 8% of the vote, Guillaume Darche, was selected by el-Arif to serve as Vice President in a move that was seen as an effort to present a united front.

Representatives from the National Congress for Social Democracy were present, helping the National Labor Congress organize itself. Following the ratification of the Charter and the installation of the Federation's leadership, the Congress voted overwhelmingly to endorse the National Congress for Social Democracy in the next general election.

 

PUNTA SANTIAGO, CAPITAL DISTRICT (NABC News) — Thanks to the international response to the water crisis, Alduria has enough water to see the country through the next five years but the sustainability of water resources may be compromised by future anticipated rainfall, consumers negligence, and low water infrastructure project investment.

“It is almost certain that Alduria will not run out of water at any point in the next five years, with statistics showing that there is sufficient water in reservoirs for use even if consumption increases by less than 10% over the next five years,” the Central Water Commission of Alduria said.

According to the report delivered by the CWC to the President and Prime Minister, the coordinated international relief in Alduria has boosted the national water capacity to high levels, coupled with the provincial dam and reservoir levels reaching the 65% mark after a series of unusual torrential rains fell throughout the country over the last two months.

The rains have raised hopes of a bumper season among farmers in the more rural areas of the country.

The CWC appeals to consumers to continue with their water-saving habits that have contributed immensely to bulk storage throughout the country.    

[Alduria]

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