If you wish to be considered for IDU Speaker in this upcoming election, state your intention in this thread.
The opportunity to self-nominate will be open to all IDUSA members from July 28th, 2021 at 12:00 PM Brasilia Standard Time to August 5th, 2021 at 23:59 AM Brasilia Standard Time.

Mallacland City had been rebuilding for the various conflicts over the past few months. Many restaurants and spaces reopened. The Ministry of Internal Affairs began clean up efforts. Though in practice these were pure photo ops for the new government. The cafes were once again filled with thinkers and writers writing about the future of the nation. The feeling was that of an uneasy freedom. Women walked around with head coverings, people talked whatever was on their mind. Although there had been a call to keep consertive social policy, authorities in the city simply ignored it and ended local restrictions.


In an office above the street in the Port District, the Green Nation Party leaders gathered together. There topic to truly decide who there was as a party, that had been given generous payment and it was public that they were being paid off. They knew they should only pull out if an event showed how truly consertive the governing coalition really was. There had been talk about Ibrahim Kamza being party leader. He was seen as a centrist who had national appeal, and it can be a good excuse to join his coalition in favor of “change”. The only issue was that some within the party said he was too much of a populist. However some said he could be easily guided by those within the coalition.


At the Airport, the Baseball Team stepped off the plane. The terminal was filled with people waving flags and banners that said “Welcome Home”. Banners held back 100s of people as the team walked onto a makeshift stage in the central atrium of the Terminal. Below the stage people looked up from baggage claim. The whole crowd cheered as a microphone was given to Ibrahim Kamza. He stood tall and began to speak to the crowd.
“Thank you, everyone, you are the ones who kept moving us forward. You were the ones who helped us over Xiomera, you were always behind our team, and I thank you for that! However, looking forward I want to give back to Mallacaland. You were behind us and I will get behind you, it's time for us to rebuild and for Mallacaland to return to the world stage. I urge everyone to help your community, your friends and the nation”

The IDU Cheese Festival is BACK! 

This year's festival will be held in Seahaven, Butterfly Island, Lauchenoiria. 

The cheese festival will include three categories, Best IDU Cheese, Best Imported Cheese to the IDU, and Best Cheese Related Product.

Festival Rules

1. Nations may submit as many cheeses and cheese related products as they like.

2. Only cheeses that are produced in nations that are members of the IDU may submit entries into the Best IDU Cheese category.

3. Cheese from nations that are not officially members of the IDU, but whom import cheese to any IDU member, must be submitted to the Best Imported Cheese to the IDU category.

4. Any product (dish or otherwise) from any nation may be submitted in the Best Cheese Related Product categories, though it is recommended that entries into the Best IDU Cheese and Best Imported Cheese categories list some of the popular food dishes that the cheeses are frequently made into. Cheese related products need not be edible, but can include tools used to prepare or cook cheese or even drinks that go well with certain cheeses.

5. No product may be submitted into more than one category; however, a specific cheese related product may be entered even if the cheese used to make it has been submitted under either of the Best Cheese categories.

6. Entries should describe the cheese, so that judges may come back to review what the tested.

7. Up to one judge will be appointed from each nation that submits any entries, and then the judges can vote for one Best IDU Cheese, Best Import Cheese to the IDU, and Best Cheese Related Product.

8. Winning cheeses and cheese related products may use the International Democratic Union Cheese Festival logo, called the Cheese Ribbon, on their products for as long as they like, but should display the years that their cheese won on the logo.


*

The festival will open for submissions on Monday 12th July 2021 and will close on Tuesday 31st August 2021. Voting will be open throughout September 2021.

*

Details of the previous festival in 2017 can be found here:
https://idugov.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1726
and
https://idugov.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1728

I'd like to thank everyone who reached out for me looking to join the cabinet. This term, I'll be using the term council (as in delegate's council) to refer to the cabinet, as I think that despite our official "jobs" we should work collaboratively across different ministries/areas to ensure tasks get done.

Vice Delegate
Laeral

Councillor for Internal Affairs
Xiomera

Internal Affairs is new, but basically it's a department responsible for integration, immigration, getting people involved with our site infrastructure/communications (forum/wiki/media center/RMB), as well as drafting our newsletter we will be sending to other regions.

Councillor for Sport
LOM

This ministry will focus on having big sporting events like a football/soccer tourney, a winter Olympics perhaps, a baseball league etc etc. Also I'd like for this ministry to think about involving other regions.

Councillor for Culture
Lauchenoiria

This ministry will focus on festivals - cheese, film, anything else (maybe a song contest?), as well as coming up with more ideas for regional RP, and helping newbies get used to the RP ropes.


Regional Ecologist and Cartographer are their own thing and I think should be independent of government, so as far as I know, the incumbents will be continuing in their positions.

The position of Councillor for External Affairs will remain vacant for now, and those of us on the council will fill in where necessary. If someone is interested in the position, I'd be happy to hear from them. I'll keep WA Affairs for myself too.

I look forward to working with this team for the next 6 months!

Hello!

Firstly, thank you for electing me your new Delegate. I'm looking forward to working for the IDU for the next 6 months.

Secondly, thank you to everyone who served in Xiomera's two cabinets. Thank you for your service.

I'm opening up applications to join my cabinet. Please either TG me on NationStates or PM me on Discord and we can have a conversation. In my cabinet this year, there will be the standard Foreign Minister, Immigration Minister etc, but we may create new cabinet-level positions that haven't been done before, if they suit the person's skillsets better. So if you're interested, approach me about what you might like to do, and what you're good at, and we'll have a conversations.

I look forward to hearing from people! I'd like to get my cabinet announced pretty soon, so y'all don't have long!

The Blanco del Sur Bridge was a modern bridge over the San Fernando River, it was also when travellers from the East first saw the New Liverpool skyline. On one side of the river was a visitor center and a little park. Today however a very different event was going on. MP Vincente Lam was here to give a speech and open the extension of the Riverside Tram. The route started on the other side of the bridge and went over the bridge and into the suburbs. In the distance, New Liverpool City Airport sat with planes taking many destinations. 
“Today, we are here to celebrate the opening of RiverTram, a development that will connect local communities, via this beautiful bridge along the river. The city keeps developing, yet we must remember to serve the people already living there” he said


Along the bridge, Two Ren men walked out of their car, they spoke some quick Mandarin to each other and got some things from their trunk. However these things were guns, hunting rifles with scopes, bought illegally of course as both men had their licenses revoked. They were both part of the Ren Liberation Army or RLA. They believed in the creation of a Ren ethnic state as well as a return to consertive values and decreased taxes, they often wared with other groups, and had been active since the 90s, there leader was Alexander Liu a talk show host, who often supported conspiracies about what he called a “worrying socialist state”. 


Today they would attempt to eliminate Vincente Lam, a Socialist Party supporter and a person that Alexander Liu called a “contributor to the Deep State”. As they drew their guns, they heard a police siren pull up behind them on the side of the bridge. An officer stepped out of his car and then walked over
“Drop the guns” he said as he reached for his taser just in case
The two men turned around, however when the one on the left did his gun was in his hand. He fired a shot, however he missed the officer and the bullet clanged against the side barrier.
The officer dove for cover, he knew they had hunting rifles with the one round model, meaning they would have to get inside the car to reload. The other man fired his weapon, putting a bullet through the window of the squad car. At that moment another officer pulled up behind him, together the two of the men approached the armed men, their tasers drawn. The two men tried to resist the arrest by refusing to get in the car, however soon they were in the backseat of a squad car. Other police arrived quickly, forcing the MP to end his speech early for fears of another attempted attack. The two men were quickly put in jails at a precinct, there charges where, improper use of a firearm, illegal use of a firearm, and attempted murder. Their bond was set, and the 2 of them were escorted out by a lawyer. 

A sport that is local to only Slokais is Drywall Ball, invented in the 70s at a middle school gym the game has grown a lot and there is now a pro league, the Grand Drywall Ball League or GDBL. The game is played between two large walls each about 20-30 feet high. There are two teams of about 15 players in 3 lines, Attacking Line, Grand Line, Final Line. The goal is to get the ball to touch the other wall. However, you can not cross into the opposing side and you must serve it like in volleyball. You can pick it up from the ground by throwing it up from below. You can save the ball from touching the wall, with your hands. There are 4 quarters each lasting 10 Minutes, there are breaks at the end of each quarter. If the game is tied after all 4 quarters then it goes into sudden death for 1 quarter, then if it is still tied, the game goes into penalties with one player and one final linesman that last until someone scores. There are 22 teams and the bottom 2 teams are eliminated. The top 8 are seeded and go into playoff series that are best of 7. The last team remaining wins the Grand Throphy.
 

Quote:Notable speakers and their topics will include:
NES who will cover the role of the Independent sphere among the new sinkers in a historical piece,
Malashaan with utilizing law as a tool of foreign policy in various NationStates organizations,
Dilber and the evolution of regional security over time,
Zukchiva about the flexibility and limitations of being unaligned in NationStates gameplay,
Xoriet on the role of the antifascist movement in interregional politics,
St. George highlighting the future of Independent leadership with specific reflection on faction switching,
HEM recounting the early days of Europeian foreign policy and the struggle to break from various influences,
Sopo concerning the increased role of social factors in NationStates politics and how Independence can adapt,
and Kazaman comparing in-character and out-of-character actions in gameplay politics.

Seeing as approximately six months have elapsed since Xiomera was elected World Assembly Delegate of the International Democratic Union, in accordance with Section I of the Delegacy Election Act, Trive, Speaker of this International Democratic Union States Assembly, do alert this assembly of my intentions to open nominations for Delegate to the World Assembly (Schedule II for 2021) at 12:00 PM (GMT -3) on Monday, June 21st, 2020. The opportunity for nominations shall remain available until Tuesday, June 29th, 2020 at 11:59 PM (GMT -3). All nominations made before or after the aforementioned time slot will be discarded.

To announce your intent to run (i.e. to self nominate) for World Assembly Delegate for the Schedule II 2021 election cycle, please post the following response in this thread:

I, [your primary nation name], do announce my intent to run for IDU World Assembly Delegate in the Schedule II World Assembly Delegate election cycle.

Bears Armed( → Tearvan)
14 hours ago

"Hrarroom!" ("Greetings!")

As you're active, and have taken a place on the map, would you be interested in developing your nation's ecosystems... whatever development has left of them?
Given the location, size, and city-state theme, I'd envisage a general pattern similar to that of Hong Kong or Singapore, although with a very high proportion of native species filling the niches that are occupied by similar -- & possibly quite closely related -- ones in RL. Lots of waterfowl & waders/shorebirds, some brightly-coloured land-birds, otter, civets, large & 'ornate' squirrels, small-to-medium wild Cat species, lots of snakes (probably including both cobras & sea-snakes), gecko lizards & maybe also monitor lizards, turtles, possibly a 'saltwater' crocodile, lots of colourful fish, sharks, large prawns, jellyfish... Mangrove swamps... etc...

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Tearvan (replies)
10 hours ago

Greeting!

That sounds cool, I do imagine this city-state to be like Singapore in a way. I do want the ecosystem of mine to at least match the area around me cause that would make sense. Other than that, I'm down to develop my nation's ecosystems.