CRT News - Hampden and Kosmopol

[-Hampden-]

Confederale Radio en Televisie - "Opening Eyes"

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Founded in 1922 as Confederale Radio Omroep (CRO) after approval by the States-General of Hampden, it was the first public broadcasting institution at a national level after the merger of the different regional stations, CRO first broadcast was on 21 December 1922 with a message from the Confederation's Executive Authority members celebrating the winter solstice. CRO would soon also broadcast, particularly in neighbouring Garimidia and Zypra, where the broadcasting would serve to incite better understanding of multicultural Hampden.

It was not until 1961 that CRO would broadcast on the small screen on a non-experimental basis, it would continue forward. In 1962, CRO received its current name Confederale Radio en Televisie (CRT) and became Hampden's sole television broadcaster for almost forty years. As Hampden's sole television channel for over three decades, CRT has entertained and informed generations of Hampdenians and allowed them to see the world across our frontiers.

Nowadays, and despite the breaking of CRT's monopoly on broadcasting, CRT continues to thrive, deploying 6 television channels, 5 of them national; 4 radio stations and a world-covering news agency that is still the most trustworthy in Hampden, according to recent polls. It is no surprise then, than despite the appearance of private channels, CRT remains the most viewed and popular television broadcaster in de Statenbond.

Opened in 1929, CRT World Service first reported national and international events across the waves in Kosmopol through the radio, nowadays, thanks to technological progress and expertise, CRT Werld is able to provide those same services abroad on Internet or the television, not only in Dutch but also in another 11 different languages.

Therefore, choose to watch CRT and we will ensure the highest quality information and programming, both Hampdenian and foreign.

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Sophie Kamp
Minister for Education and Culture

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Confederal Radio en Televisie is a proud member of the Universal Broadcast Union

[-Hampden-]

VAN ENGELSHOVEN RE-ELECTED SDP LEADER
Bitter Party Convention Results In Status Quo With SDP Left's Defeat


Eerste Oppositieleider Roger van Engelshoven leaving Raadhof this past February after defeating government's bill on privatisation of MSPP

5 May 2013

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DELFT — At about 18:40 , the 33th Sociaaldemocratische Partij conference ended in the seventh ballot after over a week of voting. The result was the re-election of Roger van Engelshoven as the party's leader in the Burgerraad, Hampden's lower chamber of Parliament, in which the SDP is the largest party of the opposition.

Van Engelshoven, who was elected as parliamentary leader in 2005 and who has a long political experience, having been governor of Artesië for eight years faced his biggest challenge during the last week from the SDP's left, supported by several of the main trade unions affiliated with the SDP, including the VAA. The party left's main candidate, ex-trade unionist and political activist Johannes "Jan" Bakker conceded defeat soon after the last ballot was counted and Van Engelshoven's narrow victory was recorded by the party's leader, Ingrid Terlouw.

Bakker assured journalists in an ad hoc meeting with journalists when leaving Rijksbank's facilities that "Even though I was not elected by the party, I hope that our re-elected leader can tackle the crippling social issues of our country" and wished him "good luck in the elections". He, however, made no comments on the possibility of presenting himself in the party's next conference in 2015.

In a meeting surrounded by supporters and most members of the parliamentary party, Engelshoven promised that if elected, he would make sure that "economic dynamism and efficiency go hand in hand with social justice and harmony". Engelshoven, who belong to the SDP's right-wing became famous during his time as governor of Artesië for his"Talk Left, Act Centre" politics and attitude. This term was coined by political analysts of Het Nieuws back in 2002.

The bitter battle within the party was fuelled by Engelshoven's past failures to form in 2009 and 2005 as well as the growing importance of radical left members. These new party members are usually linked to e-democracy movements or the trade unions and make up most of the party's membership, although they are barely represented in parliament, causing great concern among the party's more moderate leaders about the party's future direction. The struggle between the leadership and the party's centre and right and the grass-roots, trade unionist left resulted in the narrowest victory ever in a party convention, by merely 21 votes, or 0.7% of the votes.


The SDP has already launched a new electoral campaign, markedly more left-wing than that of 2009, as they want to attract malcontent Green and Radical voters with a program of increased banking regulation and state investment in industrial areas and raising environmental taxes. Equally, the party wants to mobilize the latent, usually apathetic working class voters, who despite belonging to SDP-linked trade unions, usually don't vote.

As problems continue to rock the government coalition formed by the Liberals, Radicals, HHb and Greens, the SDP has increased in polls and seems possible that it will become the largest party in the lower chamber in the elections of September. This, however, does not signify that the party will govern, as no party has governed without a coalition in Hampden since the 19th century.

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[-Hampden-]

MECHELEN TO ENTER WORLD CUP
Confederal Team To Enter Renowned Football Competition For the First Time


Mechelen's national football team coach, Marc Gautier, during his period as VV Noordsdam coach

8 May 2013

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DELFT — As the current season of the Eerste Divisie comes close to the end with the almost assured victory of VV Noordsdam, so does the history of Hampden in international football begin. For the first time on its history, the MVB, Mechelaarse Voetbalbond the organization in charge of running the Hampdenian league system - the Eerste Divisie and the Tweede Divisie - announced yesterday that the preparatives for the creation of a national football team were over, as the entire team has already been selected, with the permission of the different teams to which they belong as well as a coach, Marc Gautier. Gautier was the coach of VV Noordsdam from seasons 2004-2005 until 2011-2012, and turned Noordsdam from an average team into one of the best teams in the Eerste Divisie.

During an interview yesterday alongside MVB President, Jan van Rijk, Gautier assured that he has "high hopes regarding the Baptism of Fire, I really do believe that we can leave our print in the BoF, however I don't think it can be said the same about the World Cup, we are simply too new to be even among the Top 20, we should aim high, but also be realistic". Gautier equally said that in the drafting of the team, he tried to recruit from the most teams possible (7/17) while trying not to take the valuable players from small teams.

The captain of the MNVT or the national football team will be Ad van de Laar, famous goalkeeper from FC Doornik, considered the finest goalkeeper from Hampden who was drafted after the player himself expressed his interest in joining the MNVT. Among other prominent football players drafted for the match are Mark van Dijk (MF), Sjaak de Vries (DF) and Benjamin de Jong (FW).

MNVT will start training for the World Cup for the next few weeks until the current season is over and then they will continue training in Mechelen until a host for the World Cup is appointed, at which point, they will move to the host country in order to get accustomed to the foreign fields.

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[-Hampden-]

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It is the pleasure of the Hampdenian Government and Confederale Radio en Televisie to announce that CRT has been accepted as a member of the Universal Broadcasting Union, the leading transnational organization of broadcasting corporations and associations, both private and public.

The decision was taken after deliberations and assurances that the editorial independence and autonomy of CRT would be assured as well as its current functioning method, in fact, we realized that our aims in regards to international broadcasting matched those of UBU. Equally, the entry into UBU will allow CRT to easily cooperate with other foreign broadcasting agencies, allowing us easier coverage of foreign events as well as important international events, including intraregional conflicts and the great sportive events, the World Cup and the Olympics, Summer and Winter alike.

We hope that the increase in the flow of non-national information can be appreciated by all our readers and watchers, as we only aim to increase the quality of the provided service.

Sophie Kamp
Minister for Education and Culture

[-Hampden-]

{OOC: SO busy with exams the past months, now I will have more time for more political stuff}

MECHELEN TIES IN FIRST MATCH
Confederal Team ties 3-3 with Free Republics have strenuous match

6 June 2013

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Tirinthea, Kinitaria - Yesterday afternoon, after a strenuous, match characterized by the brilliant if slightly tiring tactics of the Confederals. Our national team played a mixed game, starting strong, but slowly losing stamina and vigour, particularly during the second half of the match, when our team became complacent and was unable to stop the Free Republics' attacks, bypassing our defences and scoring despite van de Laar's magnificent act in the match. Our team scored three times, on minutes 5 and 9 and then, in the second half, right after the beginning of the second half of the match, but was unable to stop the adversaries from scoring too. Some fans and commentators blame Gautier for not letting Bakker (08) to supplant van de Laar after the second Free Republics goal, when it was quite clear that he was if not exhausted, at least tired.

The match's began as expected from two relatively inexperienced teams: not particularly bright but not dull either. The Confederals act in the first half was uneven and prone to a 'boom-and-bust' of some sort. After the grave mistake of the Free Republics' goalkeeper that resulted in a self-goal, the hopes of the Confederals went up, and they were able to quickly expand their advantage thanks to van de Broek's goal on the 13th minute. However, the team's game after that became defensive and rather boring. Initiative and field dominance was in the hand of the Free Republics' team, which nevertheless failed to score several times, only passing van de Laar's guard once on minute 44 after a corner shot.

Probably because of their dullness during the late first half and the Gautier's aggressive coaching during the break, the Confederals returned strong to the field for the second half, after all, they were still winning 2-1. And then the 3-1 came, thanks to Bradwijk's penalty, after being knocked over by Kieran Hancock. People across Mechelen emerged from their houses and bars and started to celebrate the upcoming victory, beer and other liquors running free in the street as fans went crazy happy.

However, the happiness was not to last. The Confederals grew comfortable and the relaxation was easily used by the FRR's team to score not one but two goals that evened the result and for many, ruined what was going to be a great night.

For some reason, there was a great deal of enthusiasm and support for Mechelen in Kiritaria, as the number of Hampenians present was low, although expected to rise, particularly if we pass to the next rounds of the Baptism of Fire.

Today , Mechelen faces Kikwipeyi in what will be an interesting match. The Confederals, however need to win to pass onto the next round, as currently we are on position 23, a far cry from the first positions and hence our classification is not nearly close to be assured.

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