APwire ~ Affiliated Press News Agency

[Rheinbund]

Aussenministerium
Trier, Eiffelland

When Mr. Schwarzmann was indeed trying to steal the Arc of the Convenant, we have quite a situation at hand. In that case, we fully understand why the Kashtanese government arrested him. We still feel ourselves obliged to offer Mr. Schwarzmann consular support, however.

Dr. Blumer and the Universität der Stadt Trier would like to cooperate with the Confereration of Beira about continuing the archaeological research concerning the Arc of the Convenant.

Rudolph Kögler, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Vice-Chancellor

 

[Touzen]

Drugs from Kashtan continue to flood onto the Gallo-Germanian markets
AP Kretyn

According to data gathered from several NGOs and official authorities in various Gallo-Germanian countries, the rise of drug imports originating from the Frontier Lands was unabated in 2017, with some regions experiencing an increase of up to 11% in the number of illegal drugs reaching them over what has been dubbed the "New Diamond Road", in reference to the ancient trading lane between the Far East and the western edges of Gallo-Germania.

According to the data, the highest rise in traffic has been recorded for opiates and chemical designer drugs, as the handling of marihuana continues to become more and more permissive across Europe and profit margins for the criminal networks involved in the trade render the crop increasingly unprofitable. There are various avenues for the contraband to reach its destinations, but most of the drugs seem to originate in Kashtan and are funneled by criminal networks from Trivodnia into the richer markets of Western Gallia, where the drug trade is suspected to generate billions in Euromark every year, while causing tremendous costs for the healthcare systems of the affected countries.

The Kashtanese government for its part denies any part in the drug trade and has in the past vowed again and again to crack down on smuggling networks operating within its borders. Despite these promises, it is generally agreed upon that the Independent Democratic Republic is directly operating huge poppy farms as well as a network of laboratories for synthesizing chemical drugs popular in night clubs from Trier to Chagny, the most infamous of these establishments having been labeled "Bureau 45C" in reference to the room in an office tower in downtown Shigö where the operation is suspected to be based.

With Kashtan continuing to deny involvement in the trade, demand at an all-time high and the criminal networks facilitating the trade healthy and expanding, it seems likely that 2018 will see yet another sad record height in the number of drug abusers in Gallo-Germania.

 

[Polesia]

Joint statement
Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of the Interior
​

The Free State of Trivodnia is committed to eradicating the scourge of illegal drugs, which have destroyed countless lives and fund all manner of other evils. Our law enforcement agencies will continue to co-operate with international partners across the globe, and we remain convinced this is a war that can be won.

 

[Rheinbund]

Aussenministerium
Trier, Eiffelland

Also Eiffelland is fully committed to the fight against illegal drugs. We are not talking about harmless substances here, but about substances which cannot be used in a responsible way. These substances killed millions of people worldwide. We will continue our policy to punish drug dealers harshly. From our point of view, everything is on the table in the fight against illegal drugs.

Rudolph Kögler, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Vice-Chancellor

 

[Rheinbund]

Pope Pius XII of Tiburan Catholic Church deceased
AP Trier

The Tiburan Catholic Church announced today in a press release that Pope Pius XII of the Tiburan Catholic Church passed away in his residence in the early morning of Monday 30 October 2017. Pius XII was known as a very conservative and very authoritarian Pope, who sticked to the letter of the Bible and the Church laws and interpreted them in the strictest way possible. This often led to conflicts with liberal Bishops. Twenty-one years ago, when he acceded to the Papal Throne, Pope Pius XII chose Herzogenrode, a large abbey near the Eiffellandian city Warnemünde, as his residence. He reigned the Tiburan Catholic Church from there, initially with very much energy, but that changed during time. At a certain moment, the Papal Residence became silent. There was no ruling from Herzogenrode any more, leading to the situation that the Bishops started to lead their dioceses according to their own views. The two Eiffellandian Archbishops Strelecki and Von Aschenbach, who became Archbishops and Cardinals under Pius XII's predecessor, took the opportunity to sail a less stringent course, much to the despair of the far more conservative Bishop Meyer, who had been created Cardinal by Pius XII and was rumoured to be the intended successor of Cardinal Strelecki as Archbishop of Weissenfels and Metropolitan of Eiffelland.
The fact that the Bishops are currently used to taking decisions on their own, without consulting the Pope, may have consequences to the Tiburan Catholic Church. The new Pope may have more problems to obtain his authority than his predecessors. This added with the current wave of antipapism in countries like Kashtan and Engellex might make the task of the new Pope a difficult one.

 

[Gunnland]

First 8 Cardinals Arrive for Papal Conclave
AP Trier

HERZOGENRODE. Eight cardinals arrived for the papal conclave at the Abbey of Herzogenrode, which will soon elect the next pope. It is public information that three more cardinals have yet to arrive, two from Bourgogne and one from Andaluz. The next pope will face many challenges, including high-profile accusations linking the Tiburan Church to religious violence and the independence gained by cardinals and national bishops' conferences since Pius XII became increasingly ill in the mid-2000s.

Conclaves are not known for their transparency, and the last decade of the Pius XII papacy was not known for promoting collegiality among the College of Cardinals. As a result, little is known about these men. In the past, cardinals who rose through the ranks by faithfully serving one pope have reinvented themselves in conclaves. And nobody even knows for certain how many cardinals there are, since some cardinals from anti-Catholic countries are known to be secret cardinals or cardinals in pectore.

Even so, six of the cardinals that have arrived were staunch supporters of Pius XII, and are widely expected to be hard-line conservatives: Cardinals Ipato (Vinedia), Lishke (Brakw), Meyer (Weimar), Passos (Villa Flor), Stewart (Windhaven), and Taft (Westport). This will make things difficult for the two more moderate Eiffellandian cardinals, Strelecki (Weissenfels) and Von Aschenback (Köln), who have spoken about moving the Church away from the authoritarian and reactionary perceptions that characterized the early years of Pius XII's papacy.

 

[Natal]

Labour Party rally disturbed
AP Vila Flor

A fight broke off today at a rally organized by the labour party, Partido Trabalhista at the Brigadier da Costa Square in Vila Flor. The rally was organized by the General Secretary of the Party, Carlos Ribeiro in support of the party's platform of ending the separate development politics of the Confederation of Beira and it's end of corporatist politics. During the speeches held by Ribeiro, fighting broke in the crown. The rally was interrupted as the people dispersed, but the fight continued for around half an hour before those involved dispersed too.

Carlos Ribeiro condemned the event stating that his party is a pacifist one that doesn't condone any sort of violence, let alone political violence. He condemned the National Republican Guard for not intervening in the conflict and for not defending the participants at the rally. He also stated that the rally was completely lawful and that it was the duty of the Guard to keep any sort of instigators away.

"It is too bad that the ways of the dictatorship didn't die when the Social Republic was dissolved. Mentalities are very difficult to change and one cannot simply change in a congress what was inoculated in the minds of the people in a 90 years long dictatorship. What is problematic, is that the politicians still leading the country show no will to change and to reform. They do not want to evolve. They just wanted to change the surface of the regime, to calm the people sick of the Civic Process, but it seems clear that we still live in a dictatorship. The Blue Party is using everything it has it's hands on and abuses the state's institutions to threaten and intimidate the other political factions. First, they disband the team of prosecutors investigating the crimes of the dictatorship, they are now putting pressure on the Ribamar Tribunal to revoke their decision to freeze the assets of the United People's Party, their fascist offshoot and now they are instigating to violence trying to present our party as thugs. We will not stand by it! The days of the Blue Party are over! I will personally sue the National Republican Guard at the Ribamar Tribunal because they didn't do their job in defending the participants at the rally," stated Carlos Ribeiro, the General Secretary of Partido Trabalhista.

The National Republican Guard issued no statement, while Danilo Pinto, the head of the Blue Party limited to simply stating that "they are socialist thugs. It isn't a surprise that they can't hold something as complex as a rally without showing their savageness."

 

[Polesia]

Multiple drugs raids across Trivodnia
AP Amstov

Over 80 people have been detained after a series of early dawn raids on suspected drugs factories and distribution centres, according to Trivodnia's Interior Ministry.

Morning news bulletins were filled with images of balaclava-clad men carrying hooded suspects away, as the Trivodnian government vowed to take a zero tolerance approach to drug manufacturing and trafficking.

The global drug trade has been at the centre of international attention recently after several reports accused the Kadikistani and Kashtanese states of active involvement in the illicit industry. For a few days last week, the hashtag #WarOnDrugs also trended on social media platform Twatter.

Trivodnia has been named multiple times as the main route in which illegal substances pass into Gallo-Germania. However law enforcement agencies in Trivodnia are growing increasingly concerned Trivodnia is emerging as a manufacturing hub itself, as demand for synthetic party drugs elsewhere rises.

"We believe criminals are moving into production and not just distribution, using chemicals that are widely available and often have legitimate uses, to create new 'highs' for clubbers in wealthier countries," a spokesman for the National Watch, Trivodnia's gendarmerie, told Affiliated Press.

The so-called 'Yiddish mafia' is believed to be at the heart of the drugs trade in Trivodnia, with its presence extending across the Three Seas region into Burgundy, Eiffelland, Kadikistan and Ruthenia-Galicia.

 

[Touzen]

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Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Friendship​

As Western demand for recreational drugs continues to rise, it are societies in the eastern parts of the world that have to bear the brunt of the abuse that the production and distribution of these toxic substances comes with. It is our sincere hope that in conjunction with our regional partners, the peoples of the East will be able to throw off the yoke of the destructive drug trade and effect concrete measures to keep our societies secure and prosperous.

 

[Natal]

Terrorist attack in Vila Flor
AP Vila Flor

A bomb attack took place this morning in Vila Flor at the Areias do Seixo Hotel in Vila Flor. The bomb was placed in a car with Eiffellander plates in front of the hotel. It was triggered when another car carrying Elpidio Fonseca and Vanessa Vidal, two MPs of the Labour Party has parked in front of the hotel, as the two members of the assembly were to hold a conference regarding the political and social future of Beira.

The blast shattered the window glasses of the first three floors of the hotel and killed ten people on the spot, one of them being Elipidio Fonseca. Vanessa Vidal has been severely wounded and has been transported to the Santa Maria Emergency Hospital in Vila Flor, though the doctors say that she has low chances of survival. Thirty eight people have been wounded by the explosion.

The police together with the National Republican Guard have started and investigation and have as of yet declared that the two members of the assembly were the targets of the attack. Elipidio Fonseca and Vanessa Vidal are seen as radical members of the Labour Party, revolutionary socialists which have called for the creation of a left-wing Beiran state since the early 2000s, when both of them were arrested and accused of "Marxism-fueled anti-social behavior" and spent 5 years in prison. After the congress which ended the Social Republic and the Civic Regime, the two were seen as heroes of social change as they have been part of the commission of persecutors which were investigating the crimes of the dictatorship.

The police have declared that as of yet they suspect that this has not been the work of a lone wolf but most likely of a new terrorist group which, considering their targets, has extreme right-wing affinities.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

SWR police incriminates cousin of Trivodnian chancellor in drug trade
AP Deliverance

Federal Police of the Socialist World Republic have announced that they disclosed a dossier to their Trivodnian colleagues, incriminating a relative of the Trivodnian chancellor in the international drug trade. According to the Implarian authorities, the dossier included evidence gathered over the course of the last two years and concerned a cousin of the Trivodnian chancellor Kahnemann. The relative of Kahnemann, who was not named in the press statement, reportedly took active part in the transit of drugs through Trivodnia and via the Long Sea route towards the Implarian, which is how he ran afoul with SWR law enforcement.

"We trust our Trivodnian counterparts, who hold the seperation of powers in such high regard, to bring the culprit to justice and play their part in curtailing the flow of drugs towards Himyar and the Implarian," President Winters commented. "We are confident that chancellor Kahnemann will not interfere with the prosecution out of nepotism, nor try to sweep the allegations under the rug merely because they happen to arrive at an unfavourable moment, with his election campaign in full swing."

 

[Polesia]

Ministry of External Affairs

We take these allegations very seriously and the relevant law enforcement agencies will investigate to the fullest extent. Trivodnia is on the frontline in the War on Drugs and will not tolerate any internal attempts to undermine our fight against this terrible scourge.

 

[Rheinbund]

Aussenministerium
Trier, Eiffelland

We offer our condolences to family and friends of Elpidio Fonseca and Vanessa Vidal, as well as to the Nation of Beira as a whole. We also offer complete cooperation with the Beiran authorities to solve the terrorist attack in Villa Flor. In order to help us with the investigations on our side, we would like to have the numbers of the licence plates on the car used for the bomb attack, as well as brand, type and chassis number of the car, if retrievable.

Rudolph Kögler, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Vice-Chancellor

 

[Natal]

Government confirms existence of stay behind units
AP Vila Flor

The Ministry of Defense has published today a series of documents from the archives of Partido Trabalhista showing the existence of a plan to use violent means to put pressure of the Civic Regime to stand down. The documents show that the Academic Crisis which shook the Social Republic in 1991 when Chancellor Afonso Matos dismissed a series of deans and rectors from Beiran Universities calling them dissidents, made the Labor Party understand that only an armed revolution will topple the government. After the dismissal, the students responded with protests which were violently suppressed by the National Republican Guard.

In response to the regime's violence, the Labor Party has started organizing it's own cadres to prepare for a revolution. Even if legally the party was a junior member of the Civic Front, behind the scenes the most trustworthy members of the party were being armed and trained for a potential guerrilla bush war. The armed wing of the party, called The Beiran People's Liberation Army (Exército de Libertação do Povo de Beira), the first units started training in the bush in the Lunda Autonomous Region and by 1999, the documents show the existence of fifty weapon stashes in the bush and of the existence of nearly 4,000 Beirans which were living double lives in the society as members of the Civic Front but also waiting for the signal to start the uprising.

The published documents show that the said signal would have been given if they Blue Party wouldn't have accepted to come to the table of negotiations at the congress during the miners' strike and would have used violence to suppress the strikers.

The publication of the documents also comes with the declaration that the People's Liberation Army will not be disbanded, but integrated in the Beiran Defense Forces as the 4th service and will be a stand behind army in the case of foreign invasions, should the regular army be overwhelmed in a conventional war. The People's Liberation Army is fully composed of volunteers which have finished their compulsory military stage in the Beiran National Army.

 

[Beautancus]

Krutop Places South, Southeast Armed Forces Command Districts at Highest Alert/Readiness Status
AP Radagora

Regent Radomer Krutop, Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Sovereignty of Chernovy, placed a large portion of his nation's not insignificant military might on the highest non-combat or full mobilization footing possible earlier today, with 'Immediate Action Brigades' from the Joint Strike Command's Airborne Infantry and the Naval Infantry Service reportedly being fully mobilized for deployment. The South and Southeast Armed Forces Command Districts encompass a large portion of the Sovereignty's key Naval bases and Naval Infantry Service facilities and several of its largest Joint Strike Command airfields and various-purposed facilities, and it is with these service branches that the brunt of this Alert/Readiness Status elevation is felt due to the Constitutionally Expeditionary nature of their service. The Regent assured Chernovy, and his "neighbors and partners throughout the region" that this move was in direct response to the ongoing Ostrovak Crisis across the Eastern Gulf and to it alone, in a nation described in the Constitution of modern Chernovy as a "sibling nation;" or "as one people, between two nations," and to which it is bound to respond with all haste and possible force if necessary in a time of true need.

It is unclear if any of the acting leadership within recently beleaguered Ostrovakia activated the requisite Constitutional Protocols, though it would almost certainly had to have been, and as certainly issued as an order from Lord Admiral Pyotor Orlov - as it is in his person that the Sovereignty of Chernovy has clearly placed its faith, and behind whom it is throwing its military support should it prove to be necessary in order to preserve the 'special association' enjoyed between these two ancient siblings.

 

[Polesia]

Suspected drug trafficker flees to Kadikistan
AP Kretyn

A Trivodnian politician with alleged ties to the illegal drugs trade has sought asylum in Kadikistan, claiming the accusations made against him were "politically motivated".

Natan Kahnemann, a relative of the Trivodnian Chancellor Alexander Kahnemann, has denied any involvement in drug trafficking. A local councillor in Kretyn, Trivodnia's second largest city, Kahnemann was named in an intelligence dossier shared by the federal police of the Socialist World Republic, which stated he protected suspected smugglers in return for cash and favours.

Kahnemann is believed to have arrived in Kadikistan in the early hours of the morning, where denounced the "social imperialist" SWR in a statement to local press. He also attacked his cousin Alexander Kahnemann, Trivodnia's Chancellor, for "hostility" towards Kadikistan and supporting the SWR's "witch hunt" against him.

The two cousins were previously close, with Alexander having helped Natan get a seat on Kretyn city council. After an initial period of silence when the allegations first appeared against his family member, the Trivodnian Chancellor has since spoken out, accusing his brother of "treason", a crime that carries the death penalty.

Privately, the Chancellor is believed to be worried how the scandal might affect his party's election chances, with the Social Democratic Alliance slipping in the polls. So far the Social Democrats have defended him, and said the clear condemnation of his brother would send a strong signal to voters.

Opposition parties, which have been critical of the Chancellor's previously doveish stance on Kadikistan, suggested there were wider family links with Ivar and organised crime. "There needs to be a full investigation," insisted Jewish People's Party leader Yitzhak Epstein.

Criminal links between politicians is hardly new in Trivodnia, and the country regularly ranks as one of the world's most corrupt.

The Trivodnian government recently demanded money from more developed nations to help fund its drug fighting missions.

 

[Bergenheim]

Youngest Diplomat Twatter Controversy in Bergenheim
AP Midweis

Controversy has been sparked online in Bergenheim as leaked pictures purporting to show the country's newest First Hand of the Keys in her underwear has rapidly begun to circulate. At only thirty-five years old, the decision to appoint Miss Angela Zweigler, an unmarried former physician from the Midgard Canton, as the chief representative of the republic in foreign affairs was already controversial.

However, this latest viral incident has seen fresh questions being asked about the suitability of her appointment, and a growing backlash against percieved misogyny.

Detractors have accused the government of trivalising so important a diplomatic position by appointing a woman like Angela Zweigler, who has become notorious as much for her good looks as for any personal qualifications for the post she now holds. The existence of underwear modelling pictures of the First Hand in her younger days has confirmed for many the view that she exists to be eye-candy for the international stage, and little else.

Defenders were quick to retort that Miss Zweigler has only freshly assumed the post, and that the provenance of these pictures has yet to be proven. In addition, the misogyny and sexism of assumptions about her ability, based purely on her looks, have been strongly attacked in both public and media circles.

The Circle of the Keys has yet to comment on these developments, and is unlikely to do so, given its long standing policy of ignoring social media developments.

 

[Warre]

Firesea Union creates new Draft System
AP CarrickAodh

After being called for a special joint session of the Presidium and the National Conclave, the legislature of the Firesea Union has officially signed into law a series of new systems which would expand the 'citizenship scheme' system to provide for the operation of many more important fields within the country, and far more controversially, require a new draft system where all young men and young women of the nation between the ages of 18 and 30 would be required to sign up for a selective service system which will periodically draft them for a mandatory service period of 2 years in one of the branches of the military or the infrastructure & emergency corps.

Critics of the bills have called them 'irrational responsiveness to the Engellexic boogeyman' by those who view the likelihood of a southern himyari war to be low, or called out the requirement of both men and women to serve in national service for a required period as 'disruptive to life' and 'against religious freedom' by some outspoken traditionalist tiburan catholic and other religious groups.

Set to begin shortly before the end of the year, this system brings into question exactly what the attitudes of the F.U.'s government are in truth and also call into question its dedication to international diplomatic inititives such as the ongoing I.O.F.

 

[Polesia]

Krasnislavian Patriotic Army threatens return to violence
AP Kretyn

The Krasnislavian Patriotic Army, a paramilitary group fighting for an independent united Krasnislavia, has threatened to end its self-imposed ceasefire and restart its armed campaign in a new video.

The organisation, which renounced violence in 2001, claimed the creation of a Krasnislavian "puppet state" in Kadikistan, together with the refusal of Trivodnia to consider some form of Krasnislavian self-rule, was a "huge betrayal" that required a "devastating response".

"The oppressors will pay in blood," warned a masked man wielding an automatic rifle, "no one is safe."

The Krasnislavian Patriotic Union, the political wing of the KPA, declared independence must be achieved "by any means necessary" in a separate film. The party is banned in both Trivodnia and Kadikistan, as well as many other countries.

The Krasnislavian National party, which calls for the peaceful restoration of Krasnislavian independence, condemned the videos. "Killing is never the answer," said KNP leader Uladzimir Sannikov. The party is widely predicted to come second in Trivodnia's elections, after the ruling Social Democratic Alliance, which strongly opposes the break-up of Trivodnia and any form of devolution.

The KPA waged a decades-long cross-border campaign of terror in both Kadikistan and Krasnislavia, targeting both military personnel and civilians in a series of bombings and shootings throughout the Seventies and Eighties.

Coordinated assaults by the Kadikistani and Trivodnian authorities in the Nineties, in which both countries were accused of human rights abuses, saw the KPA largely defeated. It later declared an end to its armed struggle in 2001.

Local security experts doubt the ability of the KPA to restart a sustained campaign, estimating its members to number only in the low hundreds. But many warn it will still be capable of improvised attacks. "Expect low level incidents," says one analyst.

 

[Serenierre]

Tensions simmering between Villesen & Altburg over Retalian Sea
AP Villesen

Analysts well-versed with the complicated business of Gallian diplomacy have begun to note that tensions between the People's Republic and the Grand Duchy seem to be emerging over the question of territorial waters in the Retalian Sea. It is well-documented that the Nichsteiner Government considers large tracts of the strategic sea to be within its territorial waters - a claim which has long been controversial among the fisherman communities in eastern Serenierre, who attest that their livelihoods are negatively affected by such claims. Additionally, many such claims by the Altburg Government have historically been denied by the Serenien Government, which considers several tracts of the waters to be international waters.

The Government in Villesen has initiated a gag order on the local press from covering a peaceful protest which took place in Ardeche earlier in the week by the Serenien Fishermen's Union (SFU) which has become the leading voice for the rights of Serenien fisher communities affected by the situation. The SFU has stated that the Nichsteiner coast guard has had a history of detaining Serenien fishing vessels, while allowing greater leeway to their own vessels. Noting the anti-Nichsteiner sentiment among the communities of the eastern provinces, the Government has intensified security around the perimeter of the diplomatic consuls of the Grand Duchy in Serenierre.

However, it is worth noting that the issue was broached in the Commissariat of People's Deputies - the Serenien legislature - by opposition bloc commissars who stated that Government inaction on the matter was against the spirit of the revolution and that Nichsteiner attempts to attack and capsize Serenien fishing vessels was tantamount to a declaration of a trade war.

The Commissar for Mercantile Affairs stated that the opposition misunderstands the situation and was appealing to pure emotion. He denied that there was a trade war ongoing in the Retalian and called for opposition commissars to cease from inflaming the situation. However, the Commissar for Mercantile Affairs stated that he would be sending a demarche to the Nichsteiner counterpart on the issue.