[Galactic News Network]

Leaked war scenarios derail turian/salarian trade talks
March 18th, 2011

Discussions over trade agreements between turian and salarian colony worlds have been disrupted by the revelation of turian military documents that detail hypothetical invasion strategies of salarian space. It appears that a bureaucratic snafu caused the classified documents to be released along with non-classified data during the recent training exercises conducted with the Alliance on Kruljaven. Reactions have been heated.

“These war scenarios are a non-issue,” said trade representative Sorrus Calaren. “It is an open secret that the Hierarchy maintains up to date military strategies for all foreseeable conflicts. We expect no less from our allies. My salarian counterparts are merely trying to obfuscate matters.” In response, a salarian trade rep stated, “The existence of plans detailing the bombardment of Mannovai quickly becomes the real issue. Plans with that level of operational detail should not exist unless the perceived likelihood of conflict is significant.”

Tags: Kruljaven, Mannovai, salarian, Sorrus Calaren, turian

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[Galactic News Network]

Shanxi stock market shut down pending investigations
March 17th, 2011

The Securities Oversight Directorate of the human colony Shanxi announced it will be temporarily suspending all trading activity on the Shanxi Planetary Stock Exchange, pending an investigation into recent computer failures. Coinciding with Shanxi’s Liberation Day long weekend, the colony’s global stock exchange will remain closed for the next five local days. The announcement comes in the wake of last week’s “quantum meltdown,” a three hour period of crippling service disruptions on the SPSE quantum computer network that led to widespread investor panic. Despite official assurances from Directorate-General Walter Alvarez that the incident will be investigated with the utmost diligence, the announcement has only further undermined investor confidence throughout markets in neighboring system. The Huaxing Commercial Index closed today down 692.16 points, to a three year low of 5366.40.

Tags: Shanxi, Walter Alvarez
Posted in Unofficial News | 28 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

Tayseri Ward’s Spectre speaks
March 16th, 2011

FCC News correspondent Niklaus Westergaard held an impromptu interview with the Spectre now identified as Mira D’Rana late last night. The Spectre was eating dinner alone at an outdoor bistro on the Tayseri Ward when she was approached by the news crew. D’Rana dodged most of Westergaard’s attempts to learn more of her involvement in C-Sec’s ongoing attempts to curb crime on the Ward, but she eventually offered a statement: “C-Sec was handed a terrible situation. Maybe you forgot, but this Ward was nearly destroyed. Anywhere else in the galaxy after an attack the size of what the geth brought down on our heads, including all of our home worlds, the area would be under martial law for years. Maybe even decades. That didn’t happen here and you have C-Sec’s efforts to thank for that. They took a military-sized problem and have handled it admirably. The Ward has seen an immense reduction in crime since just last year. All I’ve done is ensure C-Sec can continue to fight the good fight without losing good men and women unnecessarily.”

D’Rana would not comment on whether or not her work on the Tayseri Ward has reached its conclusion.

Tags: FCC News, Mira D'Rana, Niklaus Westergaard, spectre, Tayseri Ward

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[Galactic News Network]

Human clawball team joins turian league
March 15th, 2011

Clawball, a typically turian homogenous sport, has turned into a source of controversy when the Elysium Warhounds, a human team, announced that they would be participating alongside turian teams in the next galactic tournament. “Clawball has been played for hundreds of years, and it has been built to turian physical requirements, turian physiology and turian mindsets,” declared Aelus Seriae, manager of the Circia Annihilators. “They cannot play the game with our rules and our pace, and the only other alternative is that we water the game down to accommodate them. Neither option seems acceptable to me.” When asked what the team felt about the backlash, Warhound captain Michael Đurić had this to say: “We know that we might be at a disadvantage, but for us, playing in the tourney isn’t about whether or not we win or lose, it’s just because we love this game. We don’t want anyone to change the rules for us. We just want to play with those who play it best.”

Tags: Circia Annihilators, clawball, Elysium Warhounds

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[Galactic News Network]

Research team to investigate anomalous gravity well
March 14th, 2011

A joint research group is leaving the Citadel today, bound for the Relic system. The privately funded team of salarians, humans and asari are conducting an extended research project centered around the infamous gas giant known as Preying Mouth. Feared for its immense gravity well, Preying Mouth has been called a “modern day Bermuda Triangle” by humanity for the scores of vessels that have been absorbed by the planet. “We know large planets tend to have equally large gravity wells,” says researcher Professor Jonah Foxx, “but why Preying Mouth has one that borders on black hole status is an honest mystery. Whether natural or artificial, we intend to find out.” The project will last at least three months, at which point the decision for an extension will be made based upon the team’s discoveries.

Tags: Bermuda Triangle, Jonah Foxx, Preying Mouth, Relic System

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[Galactic News Network]

Eden Prime video game bashed by critics
March 13th, 2011

The Truth of Eden Prime, the latest video game by the independent studio Ochkov Entertainment, has received lukewarm critical reception. Previously, producer Denis Ochkov mentioned that the idea to create a reconstruction of the geth raid on Eden Prime came to him after seeing what he described as “slanderous” news reports and documentaries. In The Truth, the player controls the soldiers of the 2nd Frontier Division of Eden Prime, defending the colony against geth invaders. While supposedly based on surviving security footage and witness reports, critics have noted that the game fails to accomplish the objectives set for it. With a subpar and unrealistic physics engine, highly biased in-game encyclopedia, rapid health regeneration, and poor enemy behavior scripts (the geth are often seen running in predictable straight lines from preset points, with no regard for cover or tactics), the game has been said to ironically undermine the very strive for historical accuracy that led to its creation in the first place.

Tags: Eden Prime

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[Galactic News Network]

Volus chairman suffers fatal heart attack
March 12th, 2011

Volus diplomat Bor Ivius was found dead in his apartment this morning. Ivious was a respected career diplomat who had been serving as chairman for a trade summit between the Vol Protectorate and the Salarian Union was discovered unconcious by his wife. Though medics were quick to arrive on the scene, they were unable to resuscitate him. Despite initial fears that a suit rupture may have lead to asphyxiation, later analysis confirmed Ivius had suffered a fatal heart attack.

The impact the chairman’s death will have on negotiations with the Salarian Union is yet to be seen, but salarian representative Fileran Liodet made a statement claiming Ivius’s tireless work had “laid a solid foundation on which a mutually profitable agreement could be built.”

Tags: Salarian Union, salarians, vol protectorate, volus

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[Galactic News Network]

Raloi outcry interrupts opening night of Swan Lake
March 11th, 2011

Francis Kitt’s Swan Lake was the inspiration for a minor riot at the Citadel’s Reyanommond Auditorium last night. Due to the unfamiliar musical style, erotic choreography, and sparseness of the performers’ costumes, the visiting raloi diplomatic delegation believed that their people were being exploited at best, and mocked at worst. Quick action by C-Sec contained the disturbance but several patrons suffered minor injuries.

Regarding the show itself, critic Nur Olan said, “Francis Kitt has produced a masterpiece. Using birds to play birds allowed him to design the choreography around the raloi’s unique physiology. It is a shame the performance will likely be remembered for the pandemonium it endured rather than the landmark it set in the art of performance.”

Tags: c-sec, Francis Kitt, raloi, Swan Lake

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[Galactic News Network]

Terra Firma protests Pallone-T’Dami wedding
March 10th, 2011

Alliance MP Jeffords Pallone married Glada T’Dami today on Elysium, at a ceremony that reportedly mixed human and Asari customs. Terra Firma protesters demonstrated outside the ceremony, and repeated their demand that Pallone step down from his position on the Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Matthew Auberger, a Terra Firma MP who represents Bekenstein, helped to organize the protests. In a speech to protestors, Auberger called for them to continue their fight, and reiterated his concern that Pallone “has divided loyalties” and “cannot be trusted to make decisions in the best interests of humanity.” Police had to separate Terra Firma protestors from counter protestors, who came out to demonstrate their support for Pallone. Said Derek Allen, organizer of the counter protests: “Matthew Auberger needs to go back to Bekenstein. The citizens of Elysium support Jeffords Pallone, and feel that he – and every other sentient being – has a right to live his personal life as he sees fit.”

[via Alliance Beacon]

Tags: Derek Allen, Glada T'Dami, Jeffords Pallone, Matthew Auberger, Terra Firma

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[Galactic News Network]

Salarian hostages safe on Sur’Kesh, details of release unclear
March 9th, 2011

The story of eight missing salarians taken hostage in the Afghan DMZ came to an abrupt and unexpected end today on the salarian homeworld Sur’Kesh. At a press conference held this morning at the headquarters of the salarian extranet channel Great Frontier, the missing salarians, taken hostage two weeks ago while filming a documentary on the troubled Earth region, announced that they were home, safe and unharmed. The leader of the crew, producer Ganto Thunba, read a statement saying “we thank the management here at Great Frontier, our viewers, and well-wishers around the galaxy for their support during this ordeal. And we especially thank the members of the United Nations Peace Enforcement Mission in the Afghan DMZ for their tireless efforts to find us and bring us home to our world and our families.” Neither Thunba nor the other members of the film crew took questions, and Great Frontier’s spokesman refused to comment when asked for details of how the crew managed to escape from their captors. The salarians had been held hostage by the Afghan extremist group Grand Emirate of Afghanistan, but were apparently freed in an attack on a GEA base by unknown forces, resulting in the deaths of over 200 GEA insurgents and their leader, Abdul Abu Rahman. UN Peace Enforcement Mission spokesman Col. Jan de Groot refused to comment on details of any rescue operation.

[via BBC Galactic Service]

Tags: Afghan DMZ, Afghanistan, earth

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[Galactic News Network]

Human sues Salarian Union
March 7th, 2011

Mitchell Vigoda, a 53 year old sanitation worker from the Earth city of Philadelphia, has filed a lawsuit against the Salarian Union today. In the lawsuit, Vigoda alleges that salarian researchers visited Earth in the centuries prior to humanity’s discovery of the Charon relay, and that they abducted and conducted experiments on humans, including several of his ancestors.

The lawsuit alleges that Vigoda’s family members were targeted by salarians in abductions stretching back to the mid 1950s. In a statement today, the Salarian ambassador to the Systems Alliance said, “This lawsuit is preposterous. We didn’t know humans existed, and we didn’t know there was a mass relay in Sol. How could we have gotten to Earth?” Vigoda, meanwhile, swears that his claims are the truth: “Look at the Salarians. Look at their eyes. Their body shape. They’re an exact match to the description my family gave for the aliens that abducted them!”

[via Alliance Beacon]

Tags: earth, Mitchell Vigoda, Philadelphia, salarians

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[Galactic News Network]

Turian crimelord assassinated on the Citadel
March 6th, 2011

Turian crimelord Jomm Harik, a gang leader that sat near the top of C-Sec’s Most Wanted list for the last two years, was found dead today on the Citadel’s Tayseri Ward. His death has been all but confirmed an assassination. “Our investigation is still ongoing, but early reports from our forensics team suggests that Harik was gunned down with a military-grade sniping rifle,” a C-Sec representative explained. “There is an entry wound on each side of Harik’s skull. This suggests two gunmen, or at least two guns. It is a possibility that one was an automated strike drone, if not both of them. One round traveled straight through Harik’s head, creating a large exit wound on the way out. One round did not make it out the other side of the man’s skull. Most likely that round hit first, losing a majority of its velocity on impact with Harik’s kinetic barrier, rendering it unable to pierce the turian’s carapace. The round that left an exit wound hit immediately after the first from an opposing angle, unimpeded by a kinetic barrier and ending Harik’s life.”

Tags: c-sec, citadel, Jomm Harik, Tayseri Ward

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[Galactic News Network]

Francis Kitt to produce raloi Swan Lake
March 5th, 2011

Francis Kitt of elcor Hamlet fame is again breaking new ground in theater. In his latest production of Swan Lake, set to open next weekend, the lead roles of Odette and Odile, the white and black swans, are to be played by raloi. There have been concerns over the actors’ physical and mental health given the rigors of ballet and that the raloi imunobooster is still in trial phases. The production also faces criticism as racist and “clucksploitation” given the spectacle of using avians to play the role of actual birds. Kitt’s response: “They are completely missing the point.”

Tags: clucksploitation, Francis Kitt, raloi, Swan Lake

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[Galactic News Network]

Alliance MP to wed asari
March 4th, 2011

Jeffords Pallone, a member of the Systems Alliance Parliament, announced today that he will be marrying Glada T’Dami at a ceremony on Elysium. Pallone, a senior member of the Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, has represented Elysium for the past 15 years. He confirmed that he and T’Dami, a professor of comparative politics at Arcturus College, have been seeing each other for the past five years.

Reaction in Parliament has been mixed. MP Leslie Wu, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, expressed her well wishes for the couple, stating that “everyone has to find love where they can.” However, Matthew Auberger, a Terra Firma MP who also serves with Pallone on the Foreign Affairs Committee, issued a blistering statement in which he called for Pallone to give up his committee assignment: “Jeffords Pallone has demonstrated today that he has divided loyalties. He cannot be trusted to make decisions that are in the best interests of the Alliance, so he should not be in a position to oversee Alliance foreign policy.”

[via Alliance Beacon]

Tags: Arcturus Station, Jeffords Pallone, Systems Alliance

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[Galactic News Network]

Extremist base destroyed in Afghan DMZ; salarian hostages missing
March 3rd, 2011

A extremist base in the Afghan DMZ belonging to the Grand Emirate of Afghanistan, a local terrorist group, has been attacked and destroyed by unknown forces. According to an anonymous source with the United Nations Peace Enforcement Mission (UNPEM), the once-secret base was built inside of a mountain, located 200 kilometers northeast of the city of Kandahar, and is believed to be where the GEA were holding an eight-member salarian film crew hostage. The source stated that signal drones intercepted calls for reinforcement on known GEA radio frequencies last night at [1700 GMT], but by the time UNPEM forces arrived at the base, it had been overrun and destroyed, and there was no sign of the eight salarian hostages. All but one of the tunnels leading into the mountain base were collapsed with high explosives, several stockpiles of arms and ammunition inside were destroyed with heated plasma, and over 200 charred bodies were found in and around the base. According to a classified report obtained by the BBC, DNA records confirm the bodies were those of known GEA members, including that of the GEA’s leader, Abdul Abu Rahman. The report further stated that the extremists had been killed by anti-personnel “shredder” and incendiary rounds, which are illegal within the Afghan DMZ. UNPEM spokesman Col. Jan de Groot refused to comment, stating that the search for the salarian hostages is ongoing. The UNPEM is currently offering a C1 million reward for any information leading to the release of the hostages.

[via BBC Galactic Service]

Tags: Afghan DMZ, Afghanistan, earth

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[Galactic News Network]

Spectre intervenes in C-Sec sting
March 2nd, 2011

Citadel Security’s Special Response division orchestrated its second major sting operation in an ongoing campaign to prevent organized crime from maintaining its foothold in the recovering Tayseri Ward today — at least, that was the plan. The sting took an unexpected turn when C-Sec was called off mid-operation by an unknown Spectre operative. In an interview with FCC News correspondent Niklaus Westergaard, an eyewitness who wished to remain anonymous described the situation: “There were two of them. An asari and a turian, both armed like they were going off to war. Rifles, grenade launchers. Scared the hell out of me. I don’t know which one of them was the Spectre. Maybe both of them, I don’t know. Never seen them before in my life. Never seen a Spectre, for that matter. First C-Sec surrounded the warehouse and stormed in. About ten minutes later, the two commandos showed up and rushed in. C-Sec ran out and evacuated the entire block. I thought the building was coming down, but no. It’s still there. Looks as good as new, which is great since we just built it last year. I have no idea what happened after the evac.”

Tags: c-sec, citadel, FCC News, spectre, Tayseri Ward

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[Galactic News Network]

Krogan stops transport hijacking
March 1st, 2011

A representative of the krogan Urdnot clan is being called a hero today, after he stopped the hijacking of a commercial transport that was carrying 132 people. The transport was traveling between Illium and the Citadel when two passengers, a salarian and a turian, drew weapons and demanded the cooperation of passengers and the transport crew. It was at this point that Urdnot Krovis interceded by charging at the hijackers. Despite being shot numerous times, Krovis managed to disarm and disable both individuals.

When interviewed by reporters today, Urdnot Krovis, who was traveling back to Tuchanka after conducting clan business, said simply that “They were going to make me late. I hate being late.” Neither hijacker has been identified, but Citadel Authorities report that the salarian was knocked out after being thrown against the transport wall, and is currently in custody and receiving medical treatment. The turian was beaten to death with his own weapon while attempting to fight with Krovis.

[via Alliance Beacon]

Tags: krogan, tuchanka, Urdnot, Urdnot Krovis

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[Galactic News Network]

Relationships with asari may provide health benefits, study says
February 28th, 2011

A study by Dr. Nada DeSouza, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center, claims that human/asari relationships might carry health benefits for the humans involved. The study, conducted on a group of asari/human couples over the past 15 years, indicates that the humans in such relationships seem to exhibit better physical and mental health than humans in same-species relationships. Human partners in asari relationships seemed to suffer from notably fewer cases of depression, and seemed to exhibit marginally higher resistance to minor illnesses, such as colds or the flu.

Dr. DeSouza warned that “the results are still preliminary, and are not yet fully explained.” She stated that “a more comprehensive study must be conducted over the next few decades. However, it would seem that relationships with asari may, somehow, convey health benefits. One possibility we are exploring is that the mental connection established during acts of physical intimacy may help to significantly reduce stress and keep humans emotionally and mentally centered. This would likely ward off mental illness, while also possibly creating a slight boost to physical health.”

[via Alliance Beacon]

Tags: asari, human, John Hopkins Medical Center, Nada DeSouza

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[Galactic News Network]

Afghan extremist group holding salarians hostage
February 27th, 2011

In a recently uploaded extranet video, the Grand Emirate of Afghanistan, an extremist group active in the Afghan DMZ, claimed to be holding eight missing salarians as hostages. Both the United Nations Peace Enforcement Mission (UNPEM) and outside experts believe the video to be genuine. The salarians, members of a film crew, were abducted while filming a documentary. The video begins with graphic footage of an attack on the crew’s convoy, including the decapitation of three local security guards protecting the convoy. The leader of the GEA, Abdul Abu Rahman, is later seen on the video standing behind eight blindfolded and gagged salarians sitting on the ground. In a rambling statement, Abu Rahman claims that the salarian hostages are “abominations,” genetic human clones sent by the United Nations as shock troops to commit “the genocide of the Afghan people and the extermination of their faith.” Abu Rahman further claims that humanity has not traveled off of Earth or established off-world colonies, and that all evidence of extraterrestrial life is propaganda. The video segment concludes with demands for the immediate withdrawal of all United Nations Peace Enforcement soldiers from the Afghan DMZ, or failing that, their conversion to the human religion of Islam, as well as the recognition of the GEA as the government of Afghanistan and the imposition of religious law over the whole DMZ. UNPEM spokesmen refused to comment on the substance of the video, but noted that every available UNPEM resource has been called in to locate the salarian hostages.

[Via BBC Galactic Service]

Tags: Afghan DMZ, Afghanistan, earth, salarians, United Nations, UNPEM

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[Galactic News Network]

Palaven celebrates Unification Day
February 25th, 2011

The skies over Palaven and turian colonies throughout the galaxy are alight with celebratory fireworks as the Hierarchy commemorates Unification Day, a holiday remembering the conclusion of the Unification War. Though each colony has its own customs and celebrations for the holiday, it is always heralded by festivals, extravagent parties, battle reenactments and public, community performances of the Hierarchy anthem. Official celebrations conclude with a public statement from each region’s primarch.

Tags: Turian Hierarchy, Unification Day, Unification War
Posted in Unofficial News | 45 Comments »