Blind Tigers Advance to Semis

Malabra continues its success by defeating Anastasiania.

SUD, ARRIDIA--Malabra's Blind National Team, the Blind Tigers, has just advanced to the semifinals in the Blind World Cup after its hard-fought 3-2 win over Anastasiania. They will now play against Ropa-Topia at Darras Olympic Stadium.

The Ropa-Topians defeated Dumania with an identical score and has been one of the top teams in the tournament. The next match shall be a tough test.

Two of Malabra's goals came within the first half, with the last coming just late in the second half with only a few minutes remaining. All of Anastasiania's goals were in the first half.

IDUnews

FAD Makes Major Change

Amid fall elections, Malabra resigns as an IDU member.

MISHBA DISTRICT--At first it appeared as if Malabra's Foreign Affairs Department just decided not to run for office in the 2006 IDU Fall General Elections. But then it appeared that it was a lot more than that.

Malabrian Foreign Affairs Department officials announced today that they had resigned from the IDU last Friday after the election results were announced. It is believed that they had spoken about the country's intentions long before the announced resignation. The country's ambassador to the IDU was waiting until he completed his term as IDU UN Delegate before the country resigned. The FAD did not want the IDU to be in chaos without a leader.

This was kept under wraps until a press release today by the Foreign Ministry. Reasons for the resignation were unclear, but it has been reported that Malabra left the IDU with good relations and no grudge or quarrel had provoked the unexpected move.

The majority of Malabrians find this move distasteful. Small, peaceful protests broke out today in Mishba District. No arrests were made and no injuries were reported, but law enforcers had to keep a close eye on the protesters as they got near a governmental building.

"This is an unfortunate move," Kinawi Ikaq stated, "that won't benefit us at all. They were our friends and closest allies. Why make such a stupid mistake?"

There are, however, a small group of Malabrians that have hailed this move. The Malabrian National Anti-Organizations group (MNA) stated that it was in Malabra's best interest to remain independent of any organization. This group has caused several headaches for Malabrian governmental officials, including a violent protest last May over the continued membership of Malabra to the UN. Several people were arrested in that incident.

They'll still have to get through to Malabra's UN department, however, and there's always the alliance that Malabra has joined, RSN. We will have a report about RSN in our next issue.

IDUnews

Rhinos Vault into Second Round

Malabra's national team advances in 2006 IDU Football Tournament.

MIERVATIA CITY, MIKITIVITY--After wins over almost all of their oponents, with the lonely exception of a tie with host nation Mikitivity, the Rhinos have made history. Malabra's Mens' National Soccer Team will now head to the second round, something that they failed to do in the inaugural tournament just about a year ago.

That tournament proved to be a disaster for the young Malabrians, as a group of college students struggled against the more professional teams. The Malabrian Soccer Association was established that year, but could not provide players for the national team because of short notice, being that it was during their own season. Most of the best Malabrians were off playing in other national and regional leagues, but they returned the next season after Malabra established a league of its own. Many more Malabrians are expected to return home as their contracts expire or negotiate a buyout, something that the league is willing to do. The MSA has also provided Malabrian soccer officials the chance to find even more talent, something that the previous team was pretty much unable to do. The MSA is currently in a break due to the tournament and will resume a day after the championship finale.

The Malabrians will now play either Baranxtu or South Antrium, depending upon the outcome of final group play. Malabra won Division 2, while Saidercray won Division 1, placing the Storks against Mikitivity.

IDUnews

Rhinos to Play in 2006 IDU Championship

Rhinos to play in five Division 2 games in persuit of Cup.

MIERVATIA CITY, MIKITIVY-- It has been announced and confirmed today by Malabrian soccer officials that Malabra's Mens' National Soccer team, the Rhinos, will play in Division 2 in the 2006 IDU Championship hosted in Mikitivity.

The Rhinos are seeded second in their group, with Gnjes seeded first. Other teams include groups from Marvelot, Cikoutimi, Ceorana, and host nation Mikitivity.

The first game is scheduled for October 10th with group play lasting until October 14th. The championship game will be played on October 17th and October 20th.

Each team will play anywhere from five to seven games, with the top two teams in each division to move on to the knock-out rounds.

Malabra's schedule is listed below:

Game #1
Gnejs vs. Malabra

Game #2
Malabra vs. Mikitvity

Game #3
Malabra vs. Ceorana

Game #4
Malabra vs. Cikoutimi

Game #5
Malabra vs. Marvelot

The hightlight match of Malabra's entry to this tournament appears to be the match versues Gnjes. The Gnjesians are known to be dissapointed in their government for failing in their attempt to gain the IDU UN Delegate position. The country recently lost last August by a close vote of 5-3 to Malabra, which sent a fervor of criticism aimed at their own national government. This match, which involves the IDU UN Delegate versues the IDU Vice Delegate, is sure to bring in high passion and grudges amongst the spectators, but luckily not as much as the highly anticipated South Antrium vs. Baranxtu game is supposed to bring.

IDUnews

Tragedy in Ceorana

Bizarre accident leads to the country 'migrating'.

STORMDALE, NOVA CEORANA--Two days ago, a tragic, albeit bizzare, accident occured in Ceorana, causing IDU and international countries a like to lose contact with the nation.

An Ceoranian official reported that the incident occured due to poor screening and poor enforcement of size rules. Amazingly, a hippo was some how allowed onboard. Snakes were also on the airplane. Initial reports suggest that these snakes apparently broke free and started to provoke the hippo. The hippo was soon rampaging about in the cargo hold. This caused a hole in a fuselage pipe. At this point the crew became alarmed and prepared for an emergency landing at Agriqo Regional Airport (AGQ).

Luggage started to pour out through even bigger holes that the hippo made. When the animal noticed the damage it had done, it freaked out even more and hit the fuel tank. Fuel drastically flowed out of the airplane. The hippo then landed, but did not fall through the hole it made from its landing. The pilot tried to contain the leakage, but to no prevail. Instead, it continued emptying at an even more alarming rate.

Eventually the plane crashed in the Konvensjon Mountains, an area famous for dangerous testing. This plane hit a radiological weapon facility, causing it to explode. The insuring danger led the people to flee south to the ruins of Yuunli. Everyone and everything onboard perished.

"It was a very terrible streak of bad luck," the Ceoranan official stated in a press conference.

The new country is now named Nova Ceorana. Their Capitol is Stormdale. Stormdale gets its name from the storm that they found when they first scouted the area. We are now partnering with their newspaper, the Stormdale Intellegencer. Wasport, Edgeria, and Squamouth are also new cities.

Malabrian delegates are expected to rebuild an embassy in the new Capitol. Unfortunately, the Malabrian ambassador, his staff, and support staff all were exposed to biological radiation. They later would escape with the other Ceoranan officials to an undisclosed location. For their safety, the location was not announced. They are expected to fly back home to their famlies. Malabrian flags, including all other flags, are now at half-staff all over the Constitutional Monarchy for the victims of the explosion and plane crash.

The King, only hearing about it this morning, is expected to make a speech tonight to all Malabrians. The general public did not hear about it until about four this afternoon to avoid panic, although leaks were occuring almost everywhere.

"I have relatives over there, so this is very scary. My son was studying at one of the Ceoranan universities," a frightened mother trembled.

Malabrian Red Cross, Antrium Red Cross, and a Mikitivian aid staff is headed to Ceorana. The King is looking in to ways to provide financing to Nova Ceorana. Large private banking corporation Miaskawanca National is looking into giving a large sum of money for a private donation.

IDUnews

Volleyball Team Unsucessful Against Starblaydia

Womens' Team will play Antrium for bronze.

ASHFORD, CASARI--Unfortunately for Malabrian volleyballers, they'll have to wait for gold until the next Summer Games. Fortunately for the Womens' National Team, though, they can hope to win a bronze.

Malabra lost to Starblaydia in the semifinals and, as a result, will play fellow regionmate Antrium in the bronze medal match.

IDUnews

Malabrians Win in Semifinals Duel

Tigers advance after beating Chicanda.

ASHFORD, CASARI--As the final seconds ticked off the clock of Malabra's 87-66 routing of Chicanda, Malabrian players were excstatic. With this win, they will go on to play in the gold medal match against Hendrick4824. Malabra is now guarenteed another medal.

The game was no where near a close one, with the Tigers going on a 10-0 run to start the first quarter. The closest the Chicanda delegation ever got was within eight points. Malabra continued its dominance through out the first half while increasing their lead. The second half wasn't much different than the first, with the Malabrian men holding on to their large lead.

The Malabrian Womens' National Basketball Team, the Lady Tigers, are currently also in the semifinals and will play the Hendrickian women after their three point thirller over Quakmybush.

IDUnews

Malabrian Volleyball in the Quarterfinals?

Malabrians shocked that team qualifies.

ASHFORD, CASARI--In one of the shockers of the Olympics for Malabra, the Malabrian Womens' National Volleyball Team has advanced to the quarterfinals. Sure, volleyball is a common sport among our citizens. Malabra's world class beaches are filled with players, both men and women, through out summer. But it remains the least popular sport among the populace.

Soccer is popular amongst seventy-eight percent of the nation and basketball sixty-six percent. Comparing that to professional volleyball, at twenty-eight percent of the nation, it seems like a dismal amount. However, it is worthy to point out that participation in the sport is stronger than popularity of the professional leagues.

Viewership for the quarterfinals is expected to increase ten-fold. Not suprisingly, men are expected to be the event's biggest viewership.

Malabra will play Starblaydia, while regionmate Antrium will play Carvalo. The Malabrian men failed to qualify because of a poor performance in group play.

IDUnews

Athletics Success

Malabrian places well in two athletic events.

ASHFORD, CASARI--Malabrian Xanga Ngaoq was dissapointed in his results for his first event, the Mens' 20k Walk. He placed fifth, just two spots away from the medals. Although he placed well above the last place finisher, a distant fourty-third, he felt as if his performance was less than satisfactory.

"Getting so close to a medal is what does it to you," he said.

Xanga Ngaoq also had another event that day, the Mens' 50k walk, a longer event. He said he kept his performance from earlier in the day in mind as he walked to the starting line. This impassioned him to do even better than before, placing second with a time of 3:36:41.34 for silver. He was ahead of André Lelent from New Montreal States by over fifteen seconds. Rob Schoel of Andossa Se Mitrin Vega placed first in the competition by over three seconds.

IDUnews