JEDI HoloNet

When you arrange to meet your friends for an early morning caf, you’ll fire messages back and forth, “I’m free on 399.22, 399.30 and 400.03”. The three letters that come after these dates are often forgotten or left out, but we all know that they are ABY – After the Battle of Yavin.

Was there a time before the battle of Yavin? Of course there was, infact the galaxy spans millenia before the Battle of Yavin, so what was the event that was large enough to hit the reset button on the galactic calendar?

Well, you can find out more, by watching the critically acclaimed 10 part docu-drama series coming to Holoflix called ‘BY’.

The galaxy itself seems to be marking the occasion with a natural phenomenon scientists have dubbed ‘The Concentric Suns’. A large portion of the suns, in the known galaxy, will be in perfect symmetry and harmony, the process known as solar dynamo causing them to correlate to one another for a brief temporal window; one lasting merely couple of days. This is expected to lead to what is being described as a once in a lifetime, for most species, spectacular astral event.

What will it look like? No one is quite sure, it’s never happened before, although scientists and astrologers around the galaxy are at fever pitch with excitement.

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen of the Republic,

Today the senate has been greeted by a new poll requested by Wayland’s Senator Alorin Treychar, suggesting to cut off funds for unemployed and people in need of care.

“We face an immediate threat of a financial crisis, and the current unrest among the Republican territories have reached a whole new level since the days of the Civil War on Vohai. In order to put an abrupt stop to this disastrous state of affairs, it is in our best interest to focus our financial resources to the law enforcement and military department, enabling us to use force when need be, and we now live in times where this need has become top priority. I, Alorin Treychar, would hereby wish to put up a new poll on decreasing funding to several social facilities. This poll is not to terminate, but to preserve life among those that suffer under the unrelenting force of the brutal extremists that protest against our tenets of freedom and peace.”

A widespread disappointment has reflected from the senate building, with many shouts coming from the liberal and left-wing politicians. Senators of Ryloth, Fondor and Rodia were among those to protest the suggestion of Wayland’s conservative senator, who has surprisingly gained a good portion of the Republican Senate’s vote.

Latest surveys among the population have shown a very drastic and obvious disagreement with the arguments of Senator Treychar.

How will the liberal voice of the people answer for this situation?

This is Ghara Vicano from the Senate Building.

Back to you, Lynda.

Today, our top story, former runner for chief of state and senator Laa’ken Ruun is officially to be tried for war crimes and bribery during the Vohai Civil War. Evidence has recently come to light and been brought to leader of the Inquiry, Senator Manning.

“Hopefully with the light of this new evidence, I can finally set the record straight on the involvement of senator Ruun. It is imperative to understand that this trial would not be conducted without the full co-operation of our judicial system, nor without sufficient evidence to support this trial. While a popular figure, no man is above the law.”

What possibly is this new evidence? And how has it taken this long to be appropriated? Hard to say at the moment, but we’ll come back to you later with more news.

And for our second story of the day, rumours circulating around some of the Republic’s top prison’s have come to light as now confirmed as an inside source reports on the poor attempts at rehabilitation of offenders in Republic Space as a huge disparity is between the inner and outer sections of the Republic’s core following with reports of increased drug smuggling occurring within the prisons own walls and increase in violent behaviour. This source also reports multiple prisoners that have been released are being re-arrested for repeated attempts at past crimes they have committed.

Lastly, Chief of State Lammee Ranack faces a humiliating senate walkout after her landslide stock market taxation bill reaches the chamber floor. An organised opposition by the senate’s most ardent free market supporters saw the Chief of State usurped during her allocated speech time by a mass walkout of the senate’s majority. The bill was intended to increase the stock market tax from an effective rate of 0.025% to 0.25%. The Chief of State department has not replied to our requests for a response.

Ex-governor-general and senator Laa’ken Ruun is to be investigated for prospective charges of war crimes, bribery and treason, the Senate Investigation Unit decided today. An official inquiry has finally been called after years of lobbying by prominent senators into the conduct of Laa’ken Ruun during his tenure as Governor-General of Vohai.

Though a divisive figure, many in the Republic see Laa’ken Ruun as a proud patriot and military leader that helped steer the Republic away from dangerous terrorists and corruption on the Outer Rim. The call for an inquiry has been met with conspiracy theories and responses of the “establishment” getting their own back.

However, Ruun’s rule of the planet was seen by many as an anti-democratic power grab. As governor-general he was given the authority by the Chief of State to effectively oversee military, judicial and economic practices on the planet while only being answerable to the Chief of State directly. The crisis around this resulted in the last Chief of State resigning, and Laa’ken Ruun’s hopeful attempt at becoming Chief of State in his stead.

Senator Manning, leader of the inquiry, had this to say:

“Despite the opposition’s claims of bias, this investigation would categorically not have been launched without significant evidence already existing that leads us to believe that it is worth officially prying open. The Vohai Civil War was one of the most destructive and violent conflicts since the Imperium Wars, and it wasn’t even outside of the territory of the Republic. An investigation into the conduct of Laa’ken Ruun is long overdue.”

Only five years ago a Holonews report concluded that the levels of homelessness on Coruscant were reaching levels never before recorded in Republic census data. That number has now been surpassed.

Outside of the Republic’s core, an average of 3.8% of the Republic’s population now declare themselves in extreme poverty across planets. The worst case, the industrial planet of Contruum, hosts a homeless population of 8.5%. In other words, almost 1/10 people on Contruum have no active living address and, without that, lack the basic necessities of living.

Homeless citizen Lana Me’n of Contruum told Holonews that:

“Not only do I feel abandoned, I feel completely lost. Me and me kids are just lost down ‘ere. Most nights we shack up with the other squatters – and sure, we all have jobs, but that don’t mean we have somewhere to live. What we earn we need for livin’, we’ve got no way of puttin’ down ’nuffin on a rent, or a house even. Worst parts is, I grew up with a house. It wasn’t much but compared to now it was like we were billionaires. Where ‘ave all the houses gone?”

Holonews spoke with economic analyst Bannun Krimgar at the Institute of Social Sciences, who had this to say:

“What is crucial to understand here is that the patterns of homelessness are not something exogenous to the economy, they are a direct consequence of economic action. What creates homelessness? Wages haven’t been depreciating – sure, some of the fatcats talk about hard work and how the poor ‘deserve’ it since they can’t manage their money, but it doesn’t change the fact that things have just been getting more expensive. What we call real wages, the actual spending power of the worker, has been crippled by a constant increase in the price of living and goods. Not inflation per se, no, but little expenses.

The real danger of homelessness is that it isn’t magic, it can happen to literally anyone just from a string of terrible events. Let’s say your last living relative dies that you were close with, like a brother or a mother. So you haven’t got a support network – which is a surprising amount of people anyway. Then, maybe your rent goes up a little bit. All of a sudden you break your hand. Can’t afford a doctor? Well then you’re working with a bit of a handicap. So you start slowing down in work. Sure, they can’t fire you for your injury, but they can make your life harder – and believe me, they’ll be breathing down your neck just looking for the opportunity to get rid of you. Then your airspeeder breaks down and you can’t get to work anymore, it’s not like you have the money for it. Then you’re late on your rent. And before you know it, you’re out on the streets.

This is happening to families everywhere on an unprecedented scale. What’s causing it, you might be asking? The economy, plain and simple. Those in control of the economy, business and political leaders, are making it harder and harder to live in this Republic as things are becoming more and more expensive with less and less support.”