[Galactic News Network]

03/22/2185
March 22nd, 2010

It has been one Belanese month [six Earth weeks], since the comet Kingu caused devastating tides that killed over a million Belanese. Now, with the water drained wherever it can be drained, the rebuilding starts. This planet has never seen so many humans, salarians, and vorcha. Migrant workers are a common sight; so are the charity volunteers and religious groups. The turian government and its scientists are daily targets of hatred and blame for not doing more to stop Kingu. Citadel Emergency Services estimates the refugee count is over four million displaced, either moving inland or to flotation cities and other planets, or waiting in temporary housing for new habitats to be built. Normalcy may eventually come, but it still feels distant.

(Full event history: Belan’s comet disaster)

Tags: belan, Citadel Emergency Services, cr1331, hanar, humans, kingu, salarians, turians, vorcha
Posted in Official News | 7 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/21/2185
March 20th, 2010

New footage tonight from Tuchanka shows that the prison where GBC News correspondent Robin Lasky is being held is ill-suited for human inmates. The temperature stays at 37 Celsius during the day, parasites breed in the cells, and the food is usually live. Originally detained without charge, Lasky is now accused of spying. She is reportedly bunking with two krogan females, one who brutally stabbed her mate to death and another convicted of murder and grand larceny. GBC News has requested Lasky’s immediate release, but officials say she will be part of a mass hearing in a few days.

Tags: GBC News, human, krogan, Robin Lasky, tuchanka
Posted in Official News | 12 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/20/2185
March 20th, 2010

A new religion is gaining ground on Earth, Palaven and Mannovai. The Church of the Divine Plan, also known as the Dalemitrians, believe that the Citadel was constructed by the Protheans as a space ark, used to preserve life when gamma ray bursts and other lethal space weather sweeps through the galaxy exterminating all but the faithful. According to adherents, this disaster will strike “near the end of the century” and the Citadel Council is criminally liable for refusing to import species’ DNA to the space station. C-SEC classifies the religion as an apocalyptic cult, and cites their numerous weapons violations as a “troubling sign”. The church’s annual income is estimated at nearly 900 million credits.

Tags: c-sec, Church of the Divine Plan, citadel, council, Dalemitrians, Mannovai, Palaven, Protheans
Posted in Official News | 34 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/19/2185
March 19th, 2010

GBC News correspondent Robin Lasky has been arrested as part of a mass sweep by authorities in the Republic of Ghurst on the planet Tuchanka. Lasky, who was covering the rebellion within the krogan state, is being held without charge at the notorious Urlukah Federal Prison, where she may be imprisoned for life or face the death penalty. Already, an extranet petition begging for her release has gathered over 50,000 identi-tags, but experts remain skeptical. “Tuchanka prisons don’t respond well to human rights campaigns,” says Neil Ulster of Universal Reporters. “They respond to ransoms.”

Tags: GBC News, krogan, Neil Ulster, Republic of Ghurst, Robin Lasky, tuchanka, Universal Reporters, Urlukah Federal Prison
Posted in Official News | 26 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/18/2185
March 17th, 2010

Astronomers are excited tonight as the probe TR-15 Letus comes the closest any probe has ever come to a neutron star. The star in question is in a globular cluster approximately 18,000 light-years from Earth. Though it contains slightly more than two times the mass of Earth’s sun, its radius is a tiny 15.8 kilometers, spinning at approximately 24% of the speed of light. The probe was sent to the star via the Kappa Iota Relay, a charted but rarely-used relay predating the Rachni War. The relay was abandoned due to the highly lethal radiation found on the other side, but the small doses that pass through the relay are manageable for a shielded probe. Control of the radiation emission and reception of Letus’s signal is made possible by the infamous Dark Switches, a set of previously unknown control functions the Protheans installed on mass effect relays.

Tags: Dark Switch, Kappa Iota Relay, Letus, Protheans, TR-15, TR-15 Letus
Posted in Official News | 17 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/17/2185
March 17th, 2010

Species throughout Council space are celebrating the asari holiday of Janiris today, a springtime fertility ritual marking the new year. Janiris is celebrated with the making and wearing of flower wreaths, exchanged among friends and lovers. This year, Janiris falls upon the same day as the Earth holiday of St. Patricks’ Day, a once-religious holiday now widely celebrated in secular fashion with parades and the consumption of green fermented drinks. To mark the dual holiday, humans are making wreaths containing shamrocks, the festival’s traditional plant. Earth’s Chicago River, usually dyed green for the day, will be dyed blue as a nod to Janiris.

Tags: asari, Chicago River, Council space, earth, human, Janiris, St. Patrick's Day
Posted in Official News | 26 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/16/2185
March 16th, 2010

The galactic box office this weekend was dominated by “Husks 2: Awl Justice”. The adaptation of the teen-survival/horror/legal-thriller raked in an impressive 2.1 billion credits, followed closely by the guess-what’s-coming-to-dinner asari romantic comedy “She’s a Keeper”, which earned 1.8 billion. The week’s most dismal showing is from the much-hyped disaster/action flick/coming-of-age story “Taze Patterson: Part 1: The Beginning”, which earned just 433 million. Sharpstickintheeye.com calls it “a cheese grater for the senses. It’s the simulstim equivalent of pity sex… somehow, even the action scenes seem bottom-end and stilted, as if created by homeless people finding scraps from better vids in the studio garbage bins”.

Tags: asari, Husks 2: Awl Justice, Sharpstickintheeye.com, She's a keeper, Taze Patterson: Part 1: The Beginning
Posted in Official News | 17 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/15/2185
March 15th, 2010

The United Congress of Industrial Miners marched in protest today outside the Citadel building in New Arara on the planet of Thessia. An estimated 1.5 million union workers and advocates came out to voice their opposition to the Council’s plan to lay off more than 90,000 eezo miners, shippers, and refiners. Ostensibly designed to trim the budget deficit in a year of financial turmoil, the plan is seen as a pretext for union-busting by the UCIM. “We know this galaxy runs on eezo, and in a year of recession and slow growth, now is not the time to commit financial suicide”, stated UCIM spokesperson Nareesha Rajput. Council press secretary Vaninth T’Joan responded with a prepared statement: “It is our job to remain fiscally responsible to our member planets, and in tough times like these, we are forced to make unpopular decisions”. Asked if robots could do the jobs the Council has cut, T’Joan said, “That is my understanding, yes.”

Tags: Citadel Council, council, eezo, element zero, Nareesha Rajput, New Arara, recession, Thessia, UCIM, United Congress of Industrial Miners, Vaninth T'Joan
Posted in Official News | 10 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/14/2185
March 13th, 2010

A team of Earth scientists in Australia have won the Hitara Prize for Biology for their work on Prothean comm towers. Their research found that the towers produced small but significant amounts of ionizing radiation, enough to damage the DNA of Earth creatures such as fruit flies and bees. It is now believed the Protheans were resistant to low amounts of radiation and avoided deploying comm towers on planets where they would have an ecological impact. This research marks the first Hitara Prize for humans in a scientific field, where they are often at a disadvantage compared to species that have longer held advanced technology.

Tags: Australia, Biology, earth, Hitara Prize, Protheans
Posted in Official News | 6 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/13/2185
March 12th, 2010

The Galactic Combat Sports League was forced to alter its title card last night after heavyweight contender Bant Cruor came down with simian bacterial fever. “Bant says he wants to fight, but he’s never been this sick in his life”, says corner man Leif Karlsson. “He’s puking out of both stomachs. If he got into the cage now, the only thing he could do is hope the smell keeps Ghuli away”. Rox Ghuli, for his part, understands. “I don’t want to defend my title against someone who’s not at their best. The fans want a fight, not a slaughter”. However, a slaughter is what they got when Randy “Giant Killer” Dozois substituted for Cruor that evening. The human didn’t stand a chance against Ghuli, getting knocked out by the 150-kilo krogan after just 41 seconds.

Tags: Bant Cruor, Galactic Combat Sports League, krogan, Leif Karlsson, monkey fever, Randy "Giant Killer" Dozois, Randy Dozois, Rox Ghuli, simian bacterial fever, simian fever
Posted in Official News | 18 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/12/2185
March 12th, 2010

Expert witness Dr. Lin Shiyin testified in the Systems Alliance trial of Ford v. Huerta today. He claimed that the former president made a full recovery from a temporarily brain-dead state. Stumbling a little when grilled on Huerta’s timeline of cognition, Lin nevertheless made the case for Huerta being in full control once his motor functions and memory were assigned synthetic analogues. “To believe that he is now a different person, a synthetic, is to draw a line where no line is needed,” he argued. “A new man did not appear on the table when the first open-heart surgery was performed. His life was merely extended beyond what was thought possible at the time.”

Tags: Dr. Lin Shiyin, Ford, Ford v. Huerta, Huerta, President Huerta, Systems Alliance
Posted in Official News | 20 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/11/2185
March 11th, 2010

Expert witnesses were introduced today in the Systems Alliance trial of Ford v. Huerta, starting with the petitioner’s side. Dr. Samuel Wachhaus testified today that President Huerta was brain-dead for too long to make a full recovery. Questioned on Huerta’s apparent cognitive health afterward, Wachhaus testified that the VI ran Huerta’s artificial memory so successfully that it took over his brain functions so that “there was no Huerta anymore. This is not a person with a VI memory, it’s a VI with a partially-organic operating system”. The respondent’s experts will begin testimony tomorrow.

Tags: Dr Samuel Wachhaus, Earth Systems Alliance, Ford, Ford v. Huerta, Huerta, President Huerta, Samuel Wachhaus, Systems Alliance
Posted in Official News | 16 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/10/2185
March 9th, 2010

Analysis of the flight path and transmissions of the MSV Sevrum, the commercial cruiser that crashed on Taetrus last month, reveals chilling details of the hijacked flight. As the flight attendants were taken hostage, the pilots turned the ship at the terrorists’ request, but not in the desired direction. When the terrorists stormed the cockpit and overpowered the pilots, the flight became erratic as they sought to gain altitude and regain their bearings. Finally, as the crew fought back, the ship rolled and yawed before crashing to the ground and disintegrating. Fortunately, the pilots had disabled the ship’s FTL drive, which could have caused a megaton-scale impact.

Tags: MSV Sevrum, Taetrus
Posted in Official News | 11 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/09/2185
March 8th, 2010

The manal, a biotically active bipedal animal commonly known as the “asari chimpanzee”, has been taken off the critically endangered list after two decades of conservation efforts. “This has been an enormous task, calling together the very best of geneticists, ethologists, zoos, conservation groups, and grassroots support”, said Interplanetary Wildlife Fund president Diaza T’Rome. The primary cause of the manal’s reduced numbers had been habitat loss due to encroaching cities.”

Tags: asari, Diaza T'Rome, Interplanetary Wildlife Fund, IPWF, IWF, manal
Posted in Official News | 23 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/08/2185
March 7th, 2010

The controversial tell-all e-book “Criminal Negligence: The Citadel Council and the True Story of the Geth Threat” went on sale at midnight last night and was lapped up by lovers of conspiracy theories and politics everywhere. Written by a C-SEC officer personally responsible for asari Councilor Tevos’ safety, “Negligence” alleges that the Citadel Council knew the geth were traveling outside the Perseus Veil long before their attack on Eden Prime. Other revelations, such as the geth spreading to not one but five planets before their attack on the Citadel, are now being revealed to crank up the hype on the author’s tour of the Council’s homeworlds.

Tags: c-sec, citadel, council, Councilor Teyos, Eden Prime, geth
Posted in Official News | 42 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/07/2185
March 6th, 2010

Supplies of the vaccine for simian bacterial fever have run out in many planets across the galaxy. The Citadel Committee on Disease Prevention announced this week that production of the vaccine is going slower than expected. Out of an estimated 95 billion doses scheduled to be produced by the previous month, only 70 billion were made due to manufacturing and logistical difficulties. Public health departments galaxy-wide have been flooded with calls by people asking where they can get the vaccine. The CCDP is warning citizens against going to the black market for the vaccine: most such operations are frauds.

Tags: CCDP, Citadel Committee on Disease Prevention, monkey fever, simian bacterial fever, simian fever
Posted in Official News | 10 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/06/2185
March 5th, 2010

Socialite Aish Ashland is under fire tonight for her comments about the death of Leila Montrose, better known as Lady Sweat. “This just goes to show that you can’t do drugs and fly a spaceship at the same time,” she quipped. “You’ve got to be responsible about it. I know I always snort up somewhere safe, like a police station or courthouse”. Her probation officer was unavailable for comment.

Tags: aish ashland, Lady Sweat, Leila Montrose

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[Galactic News Network]

03/05/2185
March 5th, 2010

R&B singer Lady Sweat has died at age 24 in a medical facility on Charon. The self-titled “hardest-working girl in show business” and “musical ambassador of Earth” was returning from Mannovai in a commercial cruiser when solar activity touched off a proton storm. Protons passed through the ship’s hull, incapacitating the crew with radiation poisoning by the time the cruiser reached the Charon relay. Authorities suspect that traces of alcohol, cocaine and maxx found in all of the passengers during postmortem analysis may have been a contributing factor in the passengers’ failure to seek shelter in the cruiser’s shielded compartment.

Tags: Charon, earth, Lady Sweat, Mannovai, maxx
Posted in Official News | 24 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/04/2185
March 4th, 2010

The nations of Earth are in suspense tonight as the Systems Alliance hears Ford v. Huerta, the first case of a human leader using reconstructive data storage to prolong his brain functions and stay physically capable to perform his duties. Speaker of the House Lisa Ford has led the charge against Huerta, saying that the last year of his term was illegitimate. A stroke left the President legally dead and in cryocool for an hour and a half before his brain functions were fully transferred to a computer. The amount of memory degradation was never fully revealed. According to the United North American States’ line of succession, if Huerta was considered dead, then power would transfer to the Vice President and Speaker Ford would have held the position of Vice President for the last year.

Tags: earth, Ford, Huerta, Lisa Ford, Systems Alliance, United North American States
Posted in Official News | 19 Comments »

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[Galactic News Network]

03/03/2185
March 3rd, 2010

The manhunt to find Skye Turnick came to a fiery and tragic conclusion today. Acting on an anonymous tip, GMJ enforcers surrounded a compound on the island of Ness. Cerberus operatives inside attempted to first fight and then flee using the gunships they had used in the Turnick jailbreak. Armor-piercing missiles brought one gunship down over the compound. The other, fleeing the scene, was shot down and plummeted into a halfway house for runaway youths. Firefighters are working to contain that blaze now. Two GMJ agents have been killed, six wounded, and an estimated eleven people from the halfway house have been hospitalized. No word yet on their condition. The GMJ will not give details about the Cerberus connection, but it did confirm that the pilots of both gunships died in the crashes.

Tags: cerberus, GMJ, Ness, Skye Turnick, trident, Trident Global Maritime Justice