The time is 7:00PM. Good evening, I'm Mikhail Ferris, and this is the National Nightly News, the daily breakdown of news from New Derusmia to the world. Tonight's top stories:
- Quintelia completes multiple CubeSat Near Earth Asteroid Scout spacecraft prototypes for the Unity Project.
- New Derusmian Tunnel Boring operations for the Southern Line reach the southern border.
- Bakunawa Multi-Role Fighter prototypes take flight for the first time in the SICR.
- The New Derusmian government approves the sale of 10 Lynx 2ST Main Battle Tanks to China.
- Ebston Feish, incumbent President and leader of the Democratic Socialist Party has fallen to 3rd place in the popularity polls.The Quintelian Ministry of Science and Technology has announced that they have completed multiple working CubeSat prototypes that are scheduled to be launched later this year. Dubbed the Unity Project, the process of designing, launching, and managing the mission will bring together all the South Ardian New Electorate member nations, and was first proposed late last year. According to Quintelian Minister of Science and Technology in his Press Conference, "the new space mission will consist of a group of thirteen low-cost Cubesats that will examine asteroids and meteors that are within the orbit of Mundus and Luna. Each satellite ... would be equipped with cameras and sensors to analyze surface composition of bodies within the Mundus’ orbit."
Meanwhile in New Derusmia, we've been given word by the director of the New Derusmian Space Agency, Braith Lengman, that our own designs for CubeSat satellites are now nearing the prototype phase, and that all is going well.
Today, colossal tunnel boring machines reached the end of the Southern Line route that passes through New Derusmia, marking the end of the first phase of construction for the Southern Line. The process took an entire year, due to the mountainous terrain of the Southern Territories.
The next phase will begin this coming week, and will involve track laying and the fitting of lights inside the said tunnels. Meanwhile, at Metria Central Station, the specialized platforms to be used for Southern Line services have also been completed. The entire route will travel throughout all of South Ardia, with terminals in New Derusmia, the SICR, Quintelia, and Ui Cenneslaig, with plans to expand to the Allied States and Kodumaa. The line will feature both freight and high speed passenger services, and is planned to open late this year.
Also today, Aerospace Commandant Iyan Gerhart announced to New Derusmia via press conference that a Bakunawa Multirole Fighter prototype has completed its first test flight at an undisclosed airbase in the SICR. According to Gerhart, the flight was "all well, and the test was successful". He has also stated that more test flights will be following within the next few days. Development of the aircraft began in February of this year, and is currently being worked on by the member nations of SANE, namely New Derusmia, Quintelia, and the SICR. "The future of Multirole Aircraft is coming faster than you think. This is the first step to ensuring aerospace defense across South Ardia." He stated finally.
Speaking of the SICR, the New Derusmian government, has approved the sale of 10 Lynx 2 Main Battle Tanks of the ST variant to the Second Imperial Chinese Republic's army, the INA, for testing purposes. The Lynx 2ST MBT is a variation of the original Lynx 2 in use, but is engineered for colder climates, dense forestry, and steep terrain. This tank is currently in use in the Suden Territories. The SICR has purchased these tanks in order to modernize their tank fleet.
Ground Commandant Lukas Mauss told DWBS that "after a testing period, the Imperial Nationalist Army will decide whether to purchase more, or even gain the rights to manufacture new Lynx 2ST's in the SICR. We'll just have to wait and see."
And finally, in political news, the first national popularity poll of the 2020 Presidential campaign finished last night, and the results are surprising. Former favorite Ebston Feish has lost his rank of first place, compared to the last campaign polls 5 years ago, when the Democratic Socialists Party won by a landslide. According to the results from
www.presidentialcampaignhub.gov.nd, Feish has landed in 3rd place in public approval rating, behind Sayid Famahad of the Liberal party, with only 32% of around 40 million who participated in the polls approve of Feish as the next New Derusmian President. According to popular opinion on the internet, this is because of the President's handling of the Clypseri Civil War, which ended with the withdrawal of 10 New Derusmian strategists from Clypseris, and left New Derusmia as an embarrassment on the world stage.
Expressing their anger with the incumbent President, Reddit user u/KarenDestroyer6900 posted the following on the r/ndpolitics Subreddit:
Our President is an absolute f*cking c*ckhead, and I'll give you the reasons why. His pathetic ass thought it would be a splendid idea to get itself right in the middle of a civil war, in a country we've almost never interacted with before, in a continent that we've never been to. Hasn't New Derusmia had enough f*cking civil wars? What makes it worse, is that Royal Clypseris, the people we were bloody fighting against, were supporters of our cause all this time? How could our 'President' not have known this? He's a dumbass, that's why. We need him out of office as soon as possible, before he leaves the nation in an absolute clusterf*ck.
Whether Ebston will regain the nation's trust by the national elections, taking place in December, remains a mystery.
That's it for tonight, this is DWBS National Nightly News, I'm Mikhail Ferris, and thanks for watching.