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Wait, what?

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The Philippine Empire

Long Version of Events
As I came back from being away from the computer for a while, I turned my monitor back on only to see the President of Malaysia, Vikta, pinging me repeatedly on IRC, yelling 'WE REALLY NEED YOU'. He brought me into the war room, where he and his advisers (all very stressed out by this point) briefly debated about times, and set about the plan.

Philippines was to attack Sabah, Malaysia, at the first available opportunity. I flung open a new tab, scrolled to the last battle we had with Malaysia in the events module as Vikta donated the necessary 70 gold to our treasury. I clicked the 'attack' button, only to be met with the headless chicken. I cursed aloud, mashed the back button, only to see the battle already started. I breathed a sigh of relief.

All around me, over the next 30 minutes or so, I was pinged in various country's chats and heard a lot of the following being yelle😛 "Why are the Philippines conducting a TRAINING WAR AT A TIME LIKE THIS!?" It would be amusing if it wasn't sad that people believed I would do that 🙁 Then Malaysia retreated the battle, handing Sabah to us. Minutes later, the battle at Peninsular Malaysia ended, leaving no regions for Indonesia to attack to retain initiative, and with the win, initiative returned to Malaysia. We will retain Sabah temporarily.

Short Version
We attacked Sabah to eliminate a territory for Indonesia to use to keep initiative. By taking Sabah, we have stopped the cycle of blocking and allow Malaysia to now counterattack--something they had little hope for before this.

What This Means For Us
It means we stand by our allies. Malaysia has been our closest friend, and while we have options open to the both of us, we will not let each other fall. Viva Malaysia! Viva Philippines!

The Malaysian President's version is available here.

(Other) International News
Keegan returns to let us know what's going on in the world 🙂

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The War On HelloKitty!
The US's war on Imperialism in Asia has come to a climax, in what will hopefully be a much more hard-fought battle than the anticlimactic Karnataka. The final “Pillar” of the Phoenix stronghold, Hellokitty, less well-known, but more accurately known, as Heilongjiang. A victory for the US in this region would serve as a staggering blow to Phoenix countries, and could possibly even win EDEN the war.

France In Another Crisis.
In what is another in a long line of problems for France of late, the French President, Luke Magitem, has been permanently banned, making it impossible for France to launch a counter-offensive, on the possibility that they were to gain initiative in the war. Current Orders in France are to evacuate to Italy, Russia, or Ukraine.

South African Regions Returned
After the highly controversial chain of events that led to Australia's brief occupation by Brazil, the South African regions that made this necessary are being returned. Brazil will also be paying for the cost of the battles, and providing a Q5 Hospital and Defense System, as per contractual obligations. More detailed information can be found here.

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Sol News
Due to the Pakistani land bridge's purpose finally being realized (To allow Serbia into Asia), Sol has acted to rid Pakistan of its membership slate. To quote Resolution M0019: Expulsion of Pakistan, &quot😉ue to Pakistan's current land-bridge set-up to let Serbia reach India, Pakistan stands ready to unleash the biggest destabilizing force imaginable at the moment upon Asia. The addition of European countries to recolonize the area as they have in the past is the worst thing that can happen, especially just after other countries were giving this area a sense of self-purpose."

Voting is slated to begin tomorrow at 13:30.

Congressional News
Congressman and former president Ariel David Buena has proposed a very large law codifying our immigration policy, and is currently being debated in the congressional chambers, along with the standard voting on citizenship applications.

Domestic News
Just wanted to congratulate rieko kimura on winning her first Battle Hero in the Sabah landswap earlier today. Most of our Training Wars with Malaysia involve a random foreigner picking up battle hero, so it was great to see one of our own citizens nab it this time!

Additionally, the welcoming message posted today is finally correct and glitch-free! 😃

Stapler
The Stapler was smiling upon Malaysia today, granting them the strength to resist Indonesia.

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Stapler loves you. And Malaysia.

President Hekter