(OOC: Two things: Yes, I know this is actually yesterday's edition, and don't get mad if you aren't on the list of invitees )

Top Stories

ERHDC Upgrade Set To Open Monday

GRYAZOVETS - The Uralican Emergency Relief and Human Development Corps is set to divide itself into five large agencies, with four of these already set to run. There is the crack Earthquake Relief and Preparedness Division, who were trained in what was once British Columbia in Old Canada. There is the Human Development Division, which focusses on long-term projects such as well-digging, agricultural development, establishment of schools, vaccination schemes, and other such things in lesser-developed nations. There is the Flood Relief and Preparedness Division, which, due to the number of rivers in Uralica, has had ample time and opportunity to hone their craft. And there is the Wartime Relief Division, which is probably the part of the ERHDC that is best known, since it has participated in every war Uralica has been in as well as several that they have not been in.

The fifth, however, has taken some work to get running. Called the Uralican Disaster Relief Agency, it is a secure and efficient way to get money from Uralican taxpayers and givers directly to where it is needed, as well as much-needed supplies. Several outlets are already complete, including a specially-devoted section of Kaido Ojatsu International Airport in the northern districts of Syktyvkar, and the location I write this report from, the Emergency Relief Megagarage in Gryazovets, a large town about half an hour's drive south of Vologda. Others still have to be completed - the ones taking the most time are mainly in the north of the nation, where the frozen ground and sea have made finishing up a real chore. But with that area in the process of melting, the process has sped up over the last two or three weeks.

Uralican News

Comprehensive List Of Invitees To Uralikan Yliopisto Leadership Discourse

SYKTYVKAR - Dr. Ovdey Shlomov, President of Uralikan Yliopisto, released the list of rulers that he and Yevgeny Kolpakov sent invites to (to which he referred to on the 14 February edition), concerning the holding of a discourse on leadership that intends to involve as many different angles as possible. No more than three leaders per alliance were invited, from alliances not on the open invitation list.

There are several alliances that have been given open invitations. These are basically alliance that either are currently in an alliance allied to TOOL, or allied to CCC at the time Uralica's constitution was suspended.

Alliances Given Open Invitations

*IRON

*TPF

*FEAR

*Argent

*NpO

*GR

*Dunder Mifflin

Leaders Invited

MHA: Jerdge, Shamshir

Sparta: Tulak Hord, BrianBlessedIsGod, King Aristodemus

GPA: Don Chele

NPO: Dilber, Mary The Fantabulous, VektorZero

FARK: fireguy15207

ODN: Commisar Sendoa of Cataduanes, Wacky Karma

TOP: Crymson, Liquid Mercury

VE: Bob Janova, sethb

FOK: Tromp, zimmerwald1915

GATO: Laserwolf, magicninja

Ragnarok: Van Hoo III, Alfred von Tirpitz

MK: Archon, Drai, Penlugue Solaris (aka Bob)

Legion: Lord Fingolfin, HockeyD13

CSN: Goose, WickedJ, Lord Brendan

RIA: King DrunkWino, SWAT128

Nueva Vida: zzzptm, Nelchael

STA: Crown Prince Mishka of Tygaland, Uhtred, bzelger

Athens: Rush Sykes, Jgoods45, Londo Mollari

Grämlins: Ramirus Maximus

R&R: theArrowheadian, jjallen, DemonSpawn

Umbrella: Roquentin, Xavii

FAN: mpol777

GLOF: Genghis

TTK: wiccan high priest

MASH: ivorybabe

INT: Comrade Craig

Nordreich: Nemhauser, Ashoka The Great, Captain Flinders

NADC: Kochers

MCXA: Gopherbashi, Emperor Tiberius

LoSS: Drugsup, Phoebus

The Resistance: mattski133, Silent Fury

IAA: Chimaera, Dochartaigh, Voodoo Nova

GO: Gurustan

NATO: Anu Drake, gstills22

Silence: Shakyr

PC: Banslam

Genesis: Templar

TFD: GearHead

NEW: cyrus0321, Marginali

GOD: Xiphosis, Aurion, Mixoux

WAPA: Hassman, Prince Buster

MA: CptGodzilla

GDA: sippyjuice, JazAce

Invicta: Haflinger, Jorost

NSO: Ivan Moldavi, Methrage

CD: Selindryl, Pyroman

Vanguard: Rafael Nadal, QuiteTheUserName, Thaliak

Dark Templar: Myworld

FCO: Iosif Moldov

iFOK: MikeTheFirst, kriekfreak

UCN: DarkFox

TUF: Prather6

\m/: starfox101

GOONS: Lamuella

GOP: Rekh127

The Brigade: Adrian LaCroix, Seraphim Julius, Quadrophenia

Wolfpack: Queen Aurore

OBR: Hime Themis, King Winslow

Asgaard: Lonewolfe2015

1TF: Mayzie

VA: JWConner, rabonnobar

Other: Shurukian (TSI), Kharn (TSI), Randalla (AzN), Kryievla (Valhalla), Mak Stormwielder (TCB), Sharduke (TCI), AirMe (Ronin), Starcraftmazter (Dark Fist), queenhailee (Olympus), John Warbuck (ADI), Yuurei (ADI), Erwin Schrodinger (SLCB), Keve69 (UINE), Karl von Hardenberg (TGE), memoryproblems (Echelon), Choader (FoB), Sun WuKong (Bushido), KillJoy (OMFG), Bodebiek (OMFG), Locke (SOS), Michael von Prussia (SOS), Joey67500 (Menotah), Duncan King (Zenith), Kevin McDonald (Corp), Valdemar (RoA), nosoup4you (aka Elfriede Riotte), Guffey (Avalon), Toraoji (Quantum), USMC123 (Tetris), King Crowe (DAAN), AsianLeader (DAAN), IronMan17 (SLAP), astronaut jones (Supreme Clientele), Opethian (Prism Protection Front).

Sports

Zavod Ural To Withdraw From Siberian Trophy

SOLIKAMSK - After this season, there shall be no Uralican representation in the Siberian Trophy football competition. It was announced by Zavod Ural Solikamsk owner/president Mikhail Safronov that he was withdrawing the team from the competition after this season was over to focus on domestic football, mirroring a move by SiPS with regards to Liga Mundo.

Unlike SiPS, however, ZavU will not necessarily have a replacement.

"The Siberian Trophy is a far more exclusive competition than Liga Mundo," says Safronov. "That said, there are rumours floating around that the STA has asked for TvinkiZavod Chaykovsky to join the league if ZavU doesn't reconsider."

Liga Mundo Spot Now In Question - Farkas

SOSNOGORSK - with several teams having turned down SiPS' Liga Mundo spot in favour of domestic football, Uralica may find itself without representation in the premier international football competition in the Robertian Era.

"Our Liga Mundo spot is now in question," said UJPL president Attila Farkas in a press conference in Sosnogorsk. "Transit Sosnogorsk is but the latest team to turn down Liga Mundo for this season. In fact, every Bolakliiga team has been asked, even FK Inta. If we do send a new team into Liga Mundo for next season, it will be from the Ykkönen at the very highest.

In the meantime, the UJPL Preliminary Power Rankings were released today (the final rankings come out after the tournament concludes), and clubs will be contacted in the order that the 20 teams were ranked. These rankings were based on performance in the Kanslerinkilpi's first three rounds.

(-) denotes relegated team from B-Liiga

1. Mordovia Saransk

2. Ural Yekaterinburg

3. Mashinostroitel Aleksandrovsk

4. Isoustiukin Pallokerho

5. Khimik Koryazhma

6. Pechorski SK

7. Bumazhnik Solikamsk

8. FK Ukhta (-)

9. Turan Ukhta

10. Fortuna Nizhny Tagil

11. Öskölömen Palloklubi

12. FK Kudymkar

13. FK Berezniki

14. CSKA Syktyvkar

15. Spartak Kirov

16. Krylja Uralikov

17. Usovuoren JK

18. Lokomotiv Kotlas (-)

19. Olimpia Kirovo-Chepetsk

20. Spartak Yoshkar-Ola (-)

Upsets The Name Of The Game On Wednesday

NOVY URENGOY - Although 25 of the 32 seeded teams still remain in the Kanslerinkilpi, the third round saw four seeds drop out as well as several other teams that were expected to win.

According to most people, though, there wasn't an upset that shocked more people than Khalmer-Yu Town's 3-2 extra-time win over Transit Sosnogorsk. The other seeds ousted were injury-riddled eleventh seed Metafraks Gubakha (who lost to Nelonen upstarts Rapid Konosha), bumbling seventheenth seed FK Inta (losing to Gazovik Urengoy in the day's last match), and underachieving thirtieth seed Usovuoren JK (who lost a heartbreaker to North College Segezha).

On the other hand, it seems the highest seeds can't be stopped. Top-seeded SiPS ran riot against Dinamo Osa, playing quite possibly the best football any team has played so far this season in a 12-0 butchering, while Udmurtiya Izhevsk, Dinamo Kirov, and Dinamo Arkhangel'sk all won by half a dozen or more.

Fourth Round Matchup Previews

SYKTYVKAR - Saturday seems to have a lot of potentially epic matches in store for us in the fourth round of the Kanslerinkilpi. So here's a blow-by-blow description of each match.

(1) SiPS vs. CSKVC Syktyvkar - SiPS is gonna win. There's no way CSKVC stands a chance with the domestic hot streak the Siniteräs is on.

FK Kudymkar vs. (32) IPK - These two finished side-by-side in the Ykkönen last season, so going by that one would say this will be incredibly close. However, FK Kudymkar has had a harder draw, which could either be to their benefit or their detriment.

Gazovik Urengoy vs. Severstal Cherepovets - this one has "classic" written all over it. Gazovik beat 17th seed FK Inta, which, while FK Inta isn't exactly B-liiga calibre and are expected to finish dead-last this season, is still a major achievement considering Gazovik is in the Nelonen. Severstal, on the other hand, has had fairly easy matches thus far, and have been waiting for a real challenge. Is Gazovik it?

Mennonites FC vs. PSV - an all-Mennonite battle here, and we are going to see some classic football, with both teams having performed very well in the first three rounds. Keep in mind that PSV upset FK Syktyvkar, which until yesterday was the biggest upset on the books.

(9) Dinamo Vologda vs. Rapid Kuálõk - Dinamo are doing their darnedest not to be cocky going into this one, since Rapid has proven to be a real danger. Could prove to be the first major test for Old Blue, who has gone through the three rounds largely unopposed.

Luch Murmansk vs. (24) Öskölömen Palloklubi - Hard to say how this one will turn out. Luch did manage a minor upset by beating freshly-relegated Rossia Krasnokamsk, however Öskölömen Palloklubi finished third in the regular season of that same Ykkönen and lost a heartbreaker to CSKVC Kirov. They are favoured to be promoted into the B-Liiga for 2011. I'm going to favour the away side here.

(25) Bumazhnik Solikamsk vs. Patschker SpVgg - Both teams have had a hard go of it, but in the case of Bumazhnik it is largely in part due to a slight struggle on their part, while Patschker SpVgg has beaten teams favoured to beat them twice - unseeded Ykkönen club Spartak Kirov in the third round, and Mari Klub Tsykmä in the first. So really, it could go either way.

Obyugra FK vs. (8) Spartak Ukhta - I'm thinking Spartak's going to win this one. They've played brilliant football thus far.

(5) Mashinostroitel Kirov vs. FK Tsiglomen' - as much as I respect Tsiglomen's run, it's the end of the line for them here.

Fortuna Nizhny Tagil vs. (28) CSKA Syktyvkar - wouldn't be surprised if Fortuna won this. CSKA struggled last season and have been epic underachievers this season.

(21) FK Ukhta vs. Sever Murmansk - this will be an epic battle between two very well-matched sides. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Sever won. Either way, it's gonna be great for the fans!

Dinamo Kharovsk vs. (12) ZavU - Kharovsk may have gutted out some good matches, but they haven't faced a team as good as Zavod Ural. I expect a massacre.

(13) FK Vorkuta vs. YugraMash Kogalym - you don't have any idea how close it came to being a rule-mandated walkover for the "Arctic Foxes" unless you were there. It's probably a good thing in the long run that YugraMash beat their reserve team, but I don't think they'll have the same luck against the main team. Vorkuta's defence is too good.

MFK Viche Alan vs. (20) CSKVC Kirov - The first real test of CSKVC's defence. MFK (which translated means "Youth football club") has a certain panache when it comes to scoring. But I'm favouring CSKVC simply because Viche Alan's defence has some holes in it.

(29) Mashinostroitel Aleksandrovsk vs. Ural Yekaterinburg - Ural Yekaterinburg is expected to win the Ykkönen this year, and since Mashinostroitel didn't even make the playoffs last season as Aleks, I honestly can't see them winning. If they did, it'd be one of those odd upsets where the seeded team was actually the underdog.

Sysola Syktyvkar vs. (4) Dinamo Arkhangel'sk - The dreaded "Dinamo-Stomp" coined by Dragonknight1000's Dragon Brigade Zero is coming to the nation's capital! I can't see the "Sinichorniye" losing.

(3) Dinamo Kirov vs. Progress Inta - I don't think there's any question as to who will win this one. Dinamo Kirov is in a whole different plane of footballing existence from Progress Inta.

Sokol Sernur vs. North College Segezha - One would think that North College would have the upper hand, having beaten a seed and all, but Sokol Sernur is one of those annoying teams that can beat teams that are supposed to beat them with some aplomb. I'm checking this one out live.

Khalmer-Yu Town vs. Sheksna Cherepovets - if I were Sheksna, I'd be worried. Khalmer-Yu Town has a fire unheard of outside of the top-ranked teams in the B-liiga, and when Oleg Simutenkov scored the goal that cut down Transit Sosnogorsk, the reaction of the fans in the stadium was enough to inspire fear in the opposition. That said, the "Scarlet Nomads" aren't counting their chickens before they've hatched, either. This match could easily be a classic.

Kedr Novouralsk vs. (14) FK Kotlas - FK Kotlas finally got their acts together against Chŏvash Ulatŏr in the third round, but they should still be concerned about Kedr Novouralsk's physical game and unbelievable stamina. Most teams would have four or five injuries with what Kedr's been through, yet they've come out with not a single one that could impair them.

Rapid Konosha vs. Octane Perm' - they did beat an understaffed Metafraks Gubakha, but Rapid Konosha now faces a fully-staffed Octane Perm'. It's hard to say how this one will turn out.

Spartak Nyagan vs. TvinkiZavod Chaykovsky - It's Spartak Nyagan's stamina and resiliency against TvinkiZavod's beautiful attacking football and rowdy fans. The only real test the latter has had, though, is Peltinischer FC - they made Spartak Yoshkar-Ola look like fools while not even playing their A-game. I'd have to side with TZC here.

(27) Turan Ukhta vs. FK Berezniki - this one's a preview of what one should expect in the Ykkönen mid-table this season. Will be a classic for sure.

Stolitsa Yoshkar-Ola vs. (6) Amkar Perm' - As odd as this sounds, Stolitsa may actually give Amkar a bit of trouble, although I don't expect them to win. It should be a lower-scoring affair for the B-Liiga team though, because of Stolitsa's talented goalkeeper.

(7) Kirovin JK vs. FK Naryan-Mar - The "Ptarmigans" are in over their heads here. Kirovin JK is just too good.

Metallurg Omutninsk vs. (26) Pechorski SK - Pechorski SK did make it to the Ykkönen playoffs before crashing out in humiliating fashion, but I honestly think Metallurg has a shot here if they play smart football.

Avtodor Yekaterinburg vs. SpVgg Ubb - This game should have a lot of highlights, in a battle of two great young sides.

Liv JK Käkisalmi vs. (10) Telekom Pazhga - The 'Kom has been playing some superb football lately. I can't see how Liv JK has a chance here.

(15) FK Kirov vs. Neftekhimik Onega - some much-improved form from FK Kirov has seen any chance of Neftekhimik actually winning go down the drain.

FK Vytegra vs. (18) Trátyi TK - as good as Vytegra has been, I'm not sure they'll be able to beat a team that still has yet to lose in Uralican league competition and is on a nineteen-game win streak. This should be interesting. What it won't be is a massacre.

(31) Khimik Koryazhma vs. Mordovia Saransk - hate to say it, Khimik, but your number's up. Khimik barely got by SiPS' reserve team, so I can't see them beating Mordovia.

Energiya Chaykovsky vs. (2) Udmurtiya Izhevsk - If nothing else, this will be the first match Udmurtiya doesn't score at least six

Nation's Leader Claims Biathlon Gold

CHAYKOVSKY - On Monday, Chief Jarkko Salomäki shocked a few people by winning the gold in the men's 12.5km Biathlon pursuit in the latest round of the Uralic Nordic Skiing Championships. It was a record-best result for the Canadian-born Finn, although it was still three seconds shy of the national record, held by Dmitry Malakhov, who is leading the overall championship standings by a considerable margin, having claimed 42 gold, 7 silver, and 2 bronze thus far. Malakhov set the record in his first win of the 12.5k pursuit at Veliski two weeks earlier.

For Salomäki, whose previous best race (at Cherepovets) put him fourth in the individual sprint, this race is beyond even his expectations.

"I wasn't exactly coming in expecting to win, especially not since I had to turn around and play a football match on Wednesday," he said in an interview today before press time. "When the results were made official, I was like 'holy crap! I won!' I just went out there trying to beat my best time. Well it seems like I did!"

Salomäki intends to sit out the next three racing sessions to focus on football.