Hulstria and Gao-Soto

[wimpwampwomp]

The Chairman of the National Worker's Front fo the Republic and Prime Minister of Hulstria and Gao-Soto, Vatervondrem Waryüd, has died at age 87. The Guide was the first newspaper on the scene when the Premier Residence announced Waryüd's death at approximately 4:00 AM today from a heart attack suffered in sleep. He was discovered at around 7:30 by a maid, and the entirety of the cabinet - excluding Education and Culture Minister Hatakisa Keiji, Internal Affairs Minister Aaron Outman, and Food and Agriculture Minister Franziska Hassell, who were all unable to come - was at the body's bedside by 8:00, at which point they proceeded to mourn. The body was lying in state in the National Diet building by 9:00, at which point President Cäsar Seelman spoke to the Diet in the ensuing emergency session. He expressed grief regarding Waryüd's passing and called for the Diet to elect a new Prime Minister as per its constitutional obligations.
Waryüd, born in the Hulstrian town of Fluss am Seeufer Meer on 5 March, 4902, was committed strongly to the National Bolschewiki cause from his youth. He was initially a supporter of the Kunihito-dan Kettō's regime, even though he became highly critical of it when it showed its true colors in 4933 with the foundation of the Kunihito nationalist and anti-worker Empire of Gao-Soto. With regret, he joined the Hulstrian People's Front in 4935 and partook valiantly in the struggle to topple the regime up until its fall at the end of the Great Dovanian War. He was particularly an admirer of the policies of Colonel Dremidydd Yarwood, President of the short-lived Autonomous State of Dankoku. Waryüd wisely chose to ignore the fact that it was a Gao-Sotoan creation, instead rightfully believing that it would have been due to free itself from the genocidal yoke at some point had the Empire won.
Waryüd then joined the rebranded Imperial Front as spearhead of the 'Passive Purge', in which the party that was the cause of so much death and suffering was remade through the proliferation of true believers in racial egalitarian National Bolschewikism throughout it. He shot through the ranks and became Prime Minister when the NDP chose not to contest the latest elections. It was Waryüd who decided to have the Empowerment Act move forward in order to clear the bureaucratic barriers between the government and the effective operation of this reluctant one-party state.
Waryüd's funeral will proceed in three days while the government invites foreign dignitaries from around the world.

[neoliberalbad]

THE TYRANT WARYUD DEAD! MILLIONS OF COMPATRIOTS REJOICE
11/9/89

It is with great joy that Liberty's Light; proudly legally condemned paper of the Teikō Widerstand; can confirm and announce the death of the tyrant Vatervondrem Waryüd. Waryüd was the monster behind the NAF’s seizure of power following the withdrawal of the NDP from liberal elections; effectively turning our Republic into a totalitarian one-party dictatorship. Waryüd then spearheaded moves and legislation that would “enable” the NAF to “protect” the dead Republic; annihilating the last vestiges of the constitution and dissolving the Diet. An authoritarian; Waryüd was both a nationalist and a socialist; the worst of both worlds. His quest to "revitalize" the national identity of our homeland was only to delude it with his naive and brutish fantasies; and his pursuing of a "people's economy" only saw massive decline in growth, investments, and innovation.

Of course; the NDP, torchbearer of revolution and reform in the early days of the republic; was not merely pushed aside and driven out from Hulstrian-Gao-Sotoan politics on it’s own volition. Despite NAF propaganda; it is blatantly evident and confirmed with multiple documents already published in Liberty’s Light that clearly show NAF coercion, scheming, and gunboat politics to ruthlessly and systematically crush political opposition and to end democracy in our once free homeland. Arrests, bribes, foul play, and a whole host of poisonous tactics were skillfully deployed by NAF agents to first weaken the NDP, then the NAF forced their party into a junior coalition. From there; the dominant NAF wasted no time in cutting it's rivals down to size through draconian appointment and election laws; which saw nearly 80% of government positions given to NAF members. This was the nail in the coffin; as the NAF soon arrested top NDP members on false charges of corruption; torturing them for information and then setting up pre-decided kangaroo courts with fabricated evidence. The NDP was forced to withdraw electorally and dissolve; whilst the NAF remade the government and issued the infamous empowering act.

In addition; these crimes against a free society have led the NAF’s mismanagement to unintentionally spur on rabid criminal activity. Outside of the guarded squares of Kien; in the slums and backalleys of Hulstrian and Gao-Sotoan settlements; noxious and illegal groups have only grown stronger. The Hulstrian mob and Kunihito yakuza have organized themselves along with the innocent unrightfully wronged by the new, totalitarian system. Men left without any means to be free and to enjoy the pleasures of life turn en masse to lives of crime; and with this new power the ranks, poison, and muscle of the criminals who suck the blood out of good society has increased tenfold. The black market is de facto the only market; and without regulation all sorts of awful happenings have been impressed upon the people by the criminals, gangs, and their lackeys. Child labor, mass shootings, and the forced production of a host of despicable substances such as methamphetamine, cocaine, and LSD; which are then released onto the street for profit. Because of the regime; we are now faced with the only other option of kowtowing to vice, greed, and crime itself!

Luckily; Waryüd’s tyrannical reign has finally come to a close with his just death. All 100 Million Hulstro-Gao Sotoans rejoice in their hearts; the return of democracy is a step closer to being realized through the action of the people. The Teikō Widerstand understand their needs. As the old head of the decrepit government kicks the bucket; his regime shall fall with him. We say no to corruption! No to one party rule! No to black markets and crime! Instead; let us fight for a restoration of democracy and a return to a free Hulstria and Gao-Soto!

[wimpwampwomp]

In a display of respect and honor as well as Hulstrian and Gao-Sotoan precision and discipline, Front Chairman and Prime Minister Vatervondrem Waryüd's funeral ceremony was conducted in Kien today. A line of more than 200,000 audience members, including Kim Dong-Hwi, head of the noble Dranian UPP-CPRU and Alorian External Affairs Minister Karl Adams-Allegri, stretched from the starting point near the National Diet building to the Hero's Cemetery of the Republic more than two hours away by foot. Despite the arduously impressive length of the route, our great armed forces persevered to honor our great leader. Flanked and followed by the Army, Navy, Air Force, and National Police honor guard units, the Republican Worker-Peasant Vanguard's 1st Infantry Brigade 'Vatervondrem Waryüd' marched through the high street, solemnly and regally carrying the crimson-red casket of its namesake the whole way. As the procession marched past a newly erected statue of Waryüd in the Premier Garden, it turned to it and saluted while continuing on its way.
Upon the procession's arrival at the Cemetery, as the 6th Premier Squadron of the Air Force soared overhead trailing in smoke the colors of the national flag, an earsplitting 87-gun salute was fired off, made up of three salvos conducted by 29 guns apiece. The casket was carefully inserted into the first compartment of the newly constructed Worker's Hall, a grand mausoleum in which all Chairmen of the NAFR will be buried from now on, receiving the eternal rest they deserve.
The procession was made up of the following units, in this order from front to rear:

1. The RWPV's 1st Infantry Brigade 'Vatervondrem Waryüd', flanked by, from left to right:
   
   1. The Army's 30th Honor Guard Regiment
   2. The Navy's 42nd Honor Guard Regiment
   3. The Air Force's 31st Honor Guard Regiment
2. The RWPV's 2nd Infantry Brigade 'Raubtier'
3. The RWPV's 3rd Infantry Brigade 'Ryōshi'
4. The Army's 7th Airborne Brigade
5. The Army's 11th Infantry Brigade
6. The crew of the RHS Kyōwakoku, a guided missile destroyer and the lead ship of her class
7. The Sealanding Corps' 3rd Combined Brigade
8. The Air Force's 12th Ground Support Brigade
9. The Air Force's 4th Ground Support Brigade
10. The officers of the Kien Police Republic District
11. The officers of the Kien Police Altkaiserlich District
12. The RWPV's 6th Cavalry Brigade (in Bergziege IFVs instead of the customary horses)
13. The Army's 1st Armored Brigade
14. The Army's 43rd Strategic Guard Offensive Brigade
15. The Sealanding Corps' 2nd Armored Brigade
16. The Sealanding Corps' 5th Amphibious Brigade
17. The Air Force's 83rd Joint Theater Defense Brigade

[wimpwampwomp]

In the months after Chairman Waryüd's death, the nation's grief and sorrow has been exacerbated by the outbreak of some of the worst violence Hulstria and Gao-Soto has seen since the Great Dovanian War and the riots of the interregime years. The military, police, and RWPV would deal with this, but this is that - brother has turned on brother, comrade on comrade, spurred on by warlord traitors of the Worker's Front and the Resistance.
But today, if only for today, good news. The Revolutionary Documentation Authority of the NAFR had up until today been maintaining the late Waryüd's personal effects as they were in the Prime Ministerial Residence, but decided to start moving them to a secure location until the crisis is resolved. One of these things was Waryüd's treasured personal journal, which RDA Special Officer Paul Meyr discovered on the former's bedside table. A quick, sterile flip-through and Meyr discovered that as confided by Waryüd, Waryüd was actually Dremidydd Yarwood, a former colonel in the Dranian Red Army who defected to Coalition forces during the War and founded the Autonomous State of Dankoku, which lasted only a year before Dranian forces overran it. Despite his collaborating with the morally offensive and genocidal Imperial regime, he was the leading National Bolschewiki of our time, and the whole time had been planning to revolt and establish a truly free Metzist-Leonidist-Yarwoodist Dankoku if Gao-Soto won the war.
But as he never had a chance to do this, Yarwood was at major risk of capture by misguided Red soldiers and thus decided to escape to Hulstria and Gao-Soto upon Dankoku's fall under a false identity, shaving his signature mustache. He then started to slowly rebuild his old, great legacy by founding the Worker's Front of the Republic, and steered the proletariat through the shaky years of the Empress Mizuki Society's reign as well as uniting it through the recent electoral crisis.
Meyr proceeded to run through the halls of the Residence in joy and called the Guide, whose reporters are updating its central office on this scoop of national importance as you read this. Senior officials, including Education Minister and Front Vice Chairman Hatakisa Keiji, expressed continued sorrow at the loss of such a great socialist mind, but also thankfulness for the many years of great leadership and for Chairman Yarwood's wisdom in protecting the proletariat from the foreigner, the racist, and the capitalist.
There have been rumors that Hatakisa Keiji too is a leading fugitive from Dankuk - namely the deceased Emperor Mugendjikara. These reports are erroneous, and NAFR leadership as well as Keiji himself deny this and will continue to deny this.

[wimpwampwomp]

Our party has been led astray by authoritarians and imperialists this whole time who have sought to use the NDP's failure to contest elections as an excuse to establish a tyrannical dictatorship, all in the name of resolving the 'democratic emergency'. All this time, we have been perpetuating that emergency; all this time, we have been driving the Republic into the ground with the warlordism and infighting that has erupted in the wake of the death of Great Chairman Yarwood.
The Front recognizes this and as such has decided to rectify this great hypocrisy by repealing the Empowerment Act that has guaranteed it full government presidence. Among the effects of this repealing is the reabolishment of party paramilitaries, including the Worker-Peasant Vanguard. Members can read about their options, including the receiving of veterans' aid and integration into the Armed Forces Proper, here. The Front has also decided to henceforth adopt democratic socialist policy as a more realistic and moralistic way to achieve the National Bolschewiki path.
Much of the old party leadership has been replaced with loyalists to these reforms, most notably Chairman Sakai Eizo, who has been succeeded by democratic socialist Ishida Tsuneharu. The party itself is due for a rebranding as befits these reforms.

[neoliberalbad]

Völker, Hört Die Signale!
6/11/91

Klaus Schumacher; one of the few NAFR officials who stood with the people and fought against Empowerment Act; was imprisoned for life just yesterday following a faulty kangaroo court that lasted approximately 20 minutes under Court Marshal rather than civilian law; after which the verdict declared the defendant guilty of treason due to planted evidence of Widerstand contact. Dae Teiko Widerstand claims no formal affiliation with nor communication with Schumacher; and recognizes that none of it's members or affiliates ever contacted the Labor Minister. All of the evidence shown at yesterday's trial was faulty and riddled to the core with fake evidence and a complete lack of witnesses or due process.

It appears instead to be the first of a series of political purges headed by the newly - and narrowly - confirmed Sakai cabinet; full of hardliners; to consolidate their power and finally destroy the last vestiges of what little political security and freedom was left over from the Waryud days. Nonetheless; the blatant totalitarianism of the new government is not going unnoticed; and more and more in administration are beginning to speak out against such acts. Rep. Ishida Tsuneharu gave a speech in favor of Schumacher's acquittal in the National Diet approximately 1 hour before the trial; before being escorted out of the chamber by security after approximately 2 minutes into his unfinished address. The NAFR; now headless thanks to the death of the tyrant Waryud; stands at a chaotic impasse. It fights among itself as the hardline government and the reformist rank-and-file clash.

We; the democrats, the protestors, the freedom fighters, must use this to our advantage and bring the victory over tyranny Amidst Us! We must march through the streets at this most opportune time to lay down the policy and program of the people and of democracy. If we should strike; we shall bring the situation to a halt and force the government's hand. The time is now!

IN OTHER NEWS
9 Dead in Latest Gang Shooting as Akairoji Implode

In the latest case of urban violence between various gangs; it appears that the Akechi Family has moved to take dominant control of the Akairoji Syndicate with the massacre of what have been confirmed to be 9 members of the Kagawa Family; including 4 top lieutenants. The Syndicate is believed by authorities and insiders to be around one year old; being created as a makeshift alliance of the Akechi, Imada, and Kagawa criminal families to fight against the Miyako-based Komunosu Confederacy. However; as the Idowa Syndicate has gained significant ground in the Gao-Sotoan underworld - if not the Hulstrian one - divisions appear to be growing . The Komunosu have been effectively muscled out of the now-turbulent capital; but only time will tell whetehr the Akechi or Kagawa families will come out on top. As of the present it appears to look more favorable for the former; which has the jump on the latter. Nonetheless; given the significant estimated advantages in capital, connections, and manpower of the Kagawa, the fight is still undecided. The Imada have not appeared to have reacted yet.

The government has traditionally been known to put more police and law enforcement emphasis on majority-Hulstrian populated areas of the nation. As such; we have seen less amounts of unrest and criminal activity in those regions. However; social unrest could potentially lead to a precious opening for Hulstrian organizations such as the Five Families of Kien. As law enforcement collapses under the heat of the revolution; Dae Teiko Widerstand must move quickly to capture political power and finally drive out the criminal menace that so poisonously corrupts our land.

[neoliberalbad]

Sakai's One-Man Rule Ends as Collective Leadership Take Over, Hardliner Cabinet Resign
7/21/91

Sakai Eizo; infamous totalitarian leader of the NAFR government; has officially announced his resignation in response to the protests and strikes that have rocked the nation this past month. Following the imprisonment of Klaus Schumacher and the censuring of Ishida Tsuneharu; the people finally rose up in defiance to the authoritarian regime. Sakai initially called in the military and the Vanguard; only to find them completely unwilling to fire upon the civilian protestors. Law enforcement, after several days of inaction and inspirited defenses of key locations, finally turned on the Chairman this Friday; as the military cut off all communications with the Presidential Palace and instead pledging loyalty to Sugimoto Goro; who was earlier declared acting Chairman by an emergency Congress of the NAFR held exclusively by reformist elements.

Eizo resigned from all posts this morning and has applied for asylum alongside Aaron Outman in Yingdala; whether his outrageous request will be granted remains unknown. His cabinet have all either fled the nation or resigned from their posts. Meanwhile; Sugimoto Goro will become President and assume executive powers under the Empowerment Act, and Ishida Tsuneharu the new Chairman of the NAFR. Sugimoto pledged to restore democracy at his quick and unceremonious inauguration; seen afterwards meeting with several protest and Widerstand leaders. Klaus Schumacher was also freed and fully rehabilitated; being greeted by massive crowds.

Dae Teiko Widerstand; the mass front and leading organization of the protests; had soon formed a People's Council in Kien and declared the constitution restored. In select parts of the nation similar People's Councils have popped up; but they appear ready to negotiate with the NAFR. As one-party rule finally collapses in the Republic; a new sun of democracy is just dawning on the horizon. We must guide it further; until it shines brightly above on our nation.

[neoliberalbad]

Gambling has never been a very condoned industry in Hulstria and Gao-Soto. Even before the interregime years starting in 4913, large-scale gambling had been banned in the nation, and this repression mounted under both the Imperial and NAFR regimes. However; this repression eventually led to the realization of a massive underground gambling empire; with the streets and basements of the nation becoming rampant with criminals, junkies, and gamblers running all sorts of illegal operations and profiting off of people's misery with impunity. By the 4990s, it had gotten to the point that it was estimated that one in three houses in the Syakusen-Graaffsberg area regularly played host to some sort of illegal activity, and gambling was no exception. A recent surge of economic deregulations aimed to combat crime and provide legal alternatives in order for the nation to build up regulated, safe activities has re-legalized Hulstro-Gao-Sotoan gambling for the first time in nearly a century, helping suppress the black laissez-faire economy that has plagued the nation for decades. The reforms began to be laid down in 4992; at which point construction and paperwork of and for the Auspicious Dragon began.

Now complete after an arduous, half-decade long process, the Casino opened its doors Friday night to massive success. Celebrities and regular people alike flocked to the game floors in a demonstration of class equality, while Ohrualan Big Bands blasted swing music and exotic Sekowan dancers displayed choreographed acts. Dovani's top entertainers have been scheduled to preform at the Casino, and Health Minister Hojo Takauji himself, a chief investor, gave a speech at the opening ceremony. The Auspicious Dragon is expected to turn over millions within half a year, with much of the profits going into government coffers. It seems that Hulstro-Gao-Sotoan gambling may finally be on the cusp of being reigned in and re-harnessed for the good of the public.

Nonetheless, the Casino still has its critics. Many of those involved with its operation and construction are suspected to have connections to the Akaioji syndicate, which has only grown stronger in the years following the return of Hulstro-Gao-Sotoan civil liberties and economic deregulation intended to appease the PSR. Numerous local PSR officials have additionally been accused of having Akairoji ties, which has caused significant upset and political controversy in Syakusen as well as the greater nation. It is entirely possible - though currently unproven - that the legalization of gambling was made as a deal between the PSR and organized crime and that the Casinos now serve as legal fronts for criminal groups to make money off of. Even as this article is being written, it is being reported by inside sources that elite investigators have been sent to investigate the sources and collectors of the establishment's revenue. If something major linking the Casino to organized crime is found, it'll be lights out not only for the Auspicious Dragon, but very likely for the whole of the Republic's gambling industry. For how long the Auspicious Dragon's doors remain open is up in the air, but it has been recommended to enjoy it while it lasts.

[wimpwampwomp]

Ringing in the New Year with a major casino raid
Matsui Sanjiro
12:25 AM (HGS) 1 January 5000
A mere three years after its opening, the Auspicious Dragon casino in Syakusen, Mitrania was raided by police just before midnight and thus the beginning of the new millennium, succeeding in capturing and arresting the targets - at least 16 high-profile members of the Akaioji Syndicate - but deciding to permanently close down the casino. The mobsters, foremost among which was notorious Akaioji deputy Akai Akechi (who skipped bail two years ago on murder and extortion charges), were gathering at the casino to celebrate the new millennium. While everyone present likely knew the mobsters' status in the underworld, an upstanding citizen who asked not to be named called the cops in on the yakuza from the bathroom upon witnessing one snort a line of cocaine. The tactical team arrived soon after.
The Dragon was a vital front for Akaioji criminal activities, used to generate legitimate revenue that could therfore be used to cover up revenue from illegal activities in a massive money laundering operation. Over time, it became the de facto headquarters for the Syndicate and simultaneously evolved into a criminal operation in its own right, with the Syndicate rigging the machines and games far beyond the degree to which most casinos do and dealers blatantly lying about pots.
Deputy Chief Lukas Huber of the National Police convened the first police press conference of the millennium at 12:19 AM and announced that while Akaioji operations had been crippled by the raid, the entrenched criminal nature of the casino meant that it had to be shut down permanently. He also announced that considering that Mitranian governor Hatano Koretada, Syakusen-Graaffsberg mayor Samuel Geiger, and Republic Financial Activities Commission chairman Cathrin Harrer (who holds ultimate authority over the issuing of gambling permits) are all members of the Party of Social Reformists and all hold shares in the Dragon's owning company, Brightstar Entertainment Holdings Group Co. Ltd. Inc., K.G., investigators had begun looking into whether or not the PSR might hold any ties to organized crime. Considering that the PSR is politically in control of Mitrania (the government of which also holds a share in Brightstar) on the verge of holding a majority in the Diet, proceeding with an investigation may prove risky. More information will be available as this story develops.
The Auspicious Dragon was opened in late June 4997 after five years of construction and paperwork. The Dragon promised 'luxurois [sic] nights of great fun at the world pinnavcle [sic] of gameing [sic]'. Expectations ran high on its success as was the biggest casino yet since the relegalization of gambling in Hulstria and Gao-Soto, with even the democratic socialist Free Social Union's newspaper 'The Daily Guide' praising it as entertainment for the commonfolk and deeming it representative of the image of all gambling in the country.

SoSV mod hailed as 'greatest of our time'
Stephanie Steinberger
12:14 AM (HGS) 1 January 5000
'A New Era: Final Days of Dovani', a mod for the massively popular Kazulian grand strategy game Souls of Steel V, was fully released at midnight to celebrate the New Year. A total conversion add-on for the game, the mod - 'ANE' for short - depicts an alternate history in which Gao-Soto won the Great Dovanian War, running rampant across West Dovani and becoming a premier world superpower. But it has been winning critical acclaim not primarily for its style, but for its exploration of an already standard-fare premise without unconscious optimism about life under a fascist regime à la The Man in the Great Tower.
Opening in 4975, the mod depicts a world in which fascist Solentia joined the Coalition of Nations, threatening Deltaria, which had decided to move up the international pecking order as a deterrent against Coalition aggression. In the portrayed universe, Rowiet anti-reformist statesman Kang Jae-Geun did not die at the beginning of the war, instead reassuming a more prominent role in Dranian politics and driving the country into poverty while slowly slipping into dementia.
After winning the war, with the future of Yarwood's Autonomous State of Dankoku secured, the north of the old Rowiet Union shattered into a Mpakoalanesque tapestry of warlord states, Gao-Soto invaded New Verham and Bianjie in 4962 and annexed Midway in 4963 in an attempt to dam the Midway Canal, drying the Sea of Carina and creating a whole new expanse of land to expand into. This misguided move ruined the world economy, alienating Solentia from Gao-Soto, and prompting Coo. Min. for Will Tanigawa Kazuki into leading a group of extremist members of the Imperial Front (even by Front standards) in a coup against the government. An aging Emperor Mugendjikara, who had been amassing more power over the years, foolishly decided to de-annex Sekoku and send Tanigawa there to preside as its Grand Counselor to keep him away from Idōwa. In this position, Tanigawa could engage in a grand plot to destabilize the world and bring about thermonuclear war in order to cleanse all non-Kunihito, and engaged in brutal repression of his subjects to achieve this goal to a degree that made Gao-Soto proper seem equivalent to Rutania in freedom.
As a Sekowan assassin attempts to kill the childless Emperor at the start of the mod's plot, he sees fit to finally convene an Imperial Regency Council as stipulated by the Constitution, made up of reactionary Prime Minister Imperial Grand Marshal Kidehi Chojo, reformist Coo. Min. for Functioning Ina Tomotada, militarist Field Marshal Sano Katsukiyo, and the 'Sekokist' Acting Coo. Min. for Will, the DSJC/UPF's leader, Tanaka Hikomichi. When Mugendjikara dies, the four will inevitably fight a bloody civil war against each other in a bid to win over the Imperial Diet and amend the Constitution to allow themselves to be the sole regent and thus inheritor of Mugendjikara's powers.
From the alpha testing days, the mod built significant rapport among the gaming community, which has been flooded with memes about 'based gamer Tanigawa' and 'funi stick man' (in reference to former Rowiet aide Ryon Hyun-Shik, who in the world of ANE becomes the most brutal of the most brutal of warlords in a deluded and dementia-driven effort to revive the Kyo Empire by resurrecting Choesun IV). Even the developers have admitted that the explosive growth of the fandom has proven problematic, but ultimately it looks like ANE will be an integral part of the SoSV community for a long time to come.

Cult claims Terra is game played by gods
Christopher Wandesleben
7:45 PM (HGS) 31 December 5000
Yagi Tanaka, the leader of a Luthorische Bai-based cult known as the Society of the Great Revelation, has declared the world to be a game played by gods made manifest in political parties. According to Yagi, these gods play with reality, altering the political future to be good or bad solely for the...

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[wimpwampwomp]

Diet bans large-scale gambing in effort to quash mob
Frida Junkermann
4:05 PM (HGS) 12 December 5005
The National Diet voted in favor of the Act to Cripple Organized Crime, which aims to do exactly that by empowering the police and banning large-scale gambling in the wake of the 'Millennium Raid' almost six years ago. The deciding vote was cast by Luthorische Bai's Kondo Toju (FSU) at 3:45 PM and the successful Act was forwarded to President Fahr, who signed it into law at precisely 4:00. Prime Minister Ishida lauded the Act as an important step towards decimating the operations of the gambling-reliant Akaioji Syndicate as well as various other criminal organizations.
The Act has faced its fair share of criticism since its introduction in April, but during the final pre-vote debate, it was met with furious resistance from multiple leading USSR and USSR-PAC members, including the member from Syakusen-Graaffsberg, Benno Böhm, widely considered to be the USSR-PAC's resident pro-gambling spokesman. Böhm denounced the FSU as hypocritical, pointing out that before the Millennium Raid, the FSU offered relatively resounding support for gambling - specifically the Auspicious Dragon, a highly profitable casino built in Böhm's constituency that also served as a base of operations for the Akaioji Syndicate and helped fund bribes of USSR-PAC officials until it was the target of the Millennium Raid on New Year's Day, 5000. Ishida retorted by saying that if the FSU had known of the Dragon's illicit nature, he "...knew that Böhm would instead be denouncing the FSU for not acting on the situation". He claimed that Böhm, one of many USSR-PAC members in various positions of power in Hilgar and Syakusen-Graaffsberg while the Dragon was in operation, was in fact complicit in Syndicate operations, but was interrupted by resounding cheers from FSU members as well as boos from the USSR.
Political commentators are describing the messy debate over the continued existence of gambling in Hulstria and Gao-Soto as a sure sign of increased political polarization. The Chinmok Institute, a Dranian think tank, released a report stating that 'it was the exaggeration of anti-Kunihito prejudice and seemingly minuscule things that led to...the creation of the Empire of Gao-Soto...the ACOC's passing may prove to be in turn the catalyst for a new movement in the USSR-PAC that pushes it too to the extremities of political thought.'

Ishida to join Fahr on way out
Matsui Sanjiro
3:11 PM (HGS) 11 December 5005
President Fahr made a statement at 3:00 today saying that Prime Minister Ishida had told him that just as Fahr is constitutionally obligated to, Ishida will not seek another term during the October 5007 elections. Ishida had departed Kien to enter into negotiations over the Act to Cripple Organized Crime, which will be voted on tomorrow, and had asked Fahr to convey his decision to the people.
The statement was televised live to the nation on The Republican News Network, Asahi Broadcasting, and Wurtz News, and FSU officials expressed thanks towards Fahr for giving them such a degree of advance notice. Internal Affairs Minister Yoshida announced that negotiations within the party were underway to find a suitable successor for Ishida as well as Fahr.

Beloved toy recalled over deaths of seven
Aaron Gramlich
5:02 PM (HGS) 12 December 5005
Doctor Who Teamup Star Trek Attack Team, a toyset that has become a beloved staple of every lower-middle-class household in Hulstria and Gao-Soto and has no relation whatsoever to the unrelated media franchises Professor What and Stellaris, was recalled by its manufacturer, Gold Star Fun Play Inc., ...

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