Propontis News Agency | News from the Empire

[Pelasgia]

The Propontis News Agency (Πρακτορεῖον Εἰδήσεων Προποντίδος) is the primary news agency of the Tiburan Empire (commonly known abroad as Pelasgia, Tiburia or the Propontine Empire). It supplies news to both state-owned and private media, most notably including:​

• O Propontios Logothetis (Ὁ Προπόντιος Λογοθέτης) - Pelasgia's newspaper of record, published in Propontis since 1925 following the merger of the newspapers "Propontion Vima" and "O Logothetis", and seen as an objective, centrist newspaper;​
• To Thermaïkon Vima (Τὸ Θερμαϊκὸν Βῆμα) - The traditional newspaper of record of Pelasgia's second largest city, Thermi, which tows a more conservative and populist-right line;​
• Isonomia (Ἰσονομία) - The semi-official mouthpiece of the Pelasgian left, published in the Propontine port of Pyrgos, though more rarely read outside of Pelasgia;​
• ART (ΑΡΤ) - Officially the Tiburian Broadcasting Authority (Ἀρχὴ Ραδιοτηλεοράσεως τῆς Τιβυρίας Ν.Π.Δ.Δ.), the public broadcaster of the Empire, established in 1938; and​
• The Propontis Times - The oldest foreign-language daily news source in Pelasgia, published by foreign expats living in Propontis since 1951 in Engellsh.​

All Pelasgian media are regulated by the Interior Department's censorship organs, most notably the State Council for Mass Communications and Information Technology Systems (Κρατικὸν Συμβούλιον Μαζικῶν Ἐπικοινωνιῶν καὶ Πληροφοριακῶν Συστημάτων), which regulates online and broadcasting media.​

 

[Pelasgia]

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[Pelasgia]

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Ἔτος ϞΗʹ ·Ἀρ. Φύλλου 32.770 ·Ἰδρυταί: Κ. Καντακουζηνός, Δ. Ἀνδρέου | ΠΡΟΠΟΝΤΙΣ, ΤΡΙΤΗ 7 ΝΟΕΜΒΡΙΟΥ 2023 |

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Regional, municipal elections inconclusive mere months after legislative landslide
Tuesday, 7.11.2023 | Anastasios Politis & Eleni Nikolaou

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The Gubernatorial Palace in Thermi, the Empire's second largest city and traditional "co-capital"

A mere five months after June's legislative election, which saw the governing National Progressive Centrist Union (EPEK) win an unprecedented landslide with 41% of the popular vote nationwide, last week's regional and municipal elections paint a picture of an electorate that is neither particularly enamoured with EPEK's third consecutive government, nor particularly impressed by with the disparate forces of the opposition. The vote displayed strong regional and class characteristics, with the traditional electoral blocs and constituencies that form the core base of each major political party sticking to their guns and choosing the devil they know. In Propontis, Krini and the other major cities of the Imperial Core, which roughly correspond to the territory in northern Himyar's Meridian Coast, all the way to Scutari and the Thracesian Peninsula, EPEK, the centre-liberal party of incumbent Grand Secretary Georgios Nomikos, scored major victories, managing to consolidate its holdings. One notable upset was the loss of the working-class Propontine harbour of Hagios Simeon, which Mr. Nomikos' predecessor had worked hard to win over, to left-wing Socialist Labour Party of Tiburia (SEKT). SEKT also made gains in the increasingly industrialised and traditionally neglected region of Eastern Pelasgia, on the Basilisk Sea coast, only narrowly losing the mayorship of Attaleia (the regional capital) to EPEK and taking nearly half the seats in the regional council.

On the opposite side of the Meridian, the Empire's territories in the Haemus Peninsula remained largely unchanged. Thracesia voted for EPEK by a wide margin, while Pierrheia (including the regional capital, Thermi) and Pelagonia were firmly in the hands of the right-wing National Rally (ES), which considers them to be its traditional electoral stronghold. Aspropol easily elected an ES mayor, while Thermi, the Empire's second largest city, which is often considered its traditional "co-capital," remained in ES hands, fighting back a combined EPEK-SEKT effort to unseat its longtime mayor, Tiverios Dimitroudis. Still, EPEK managed to make a few gains on the Pierrheian coastline, while SEKT consolidated its holdings in the industrial, working-class suburbs of Aspropol and Thermi, handily defeating an ES attempt to court its voters through populist right-wing rhetoric. The Archipelago was the apparent exception to all this regional consolidation, with individual islands either choosing ES (in the case of Kyparissos and Eleoussa) or SEKT (in the case of Ophioussa and Pityoussa). Chandax alone was an exception to this, choosing EPEK for the most part. The region as a whole did end up going narrowly to an EPEK governor, if only because the right and left-wing voters saw him as the least-bad option during the second round of voting.

In Propontis, the burning question has been how to interpret this result. While Mr. Nomikos' government has made good on some its promises already a few months into its term, skepticism remains following what many consider to be mismanagement of last summer's widespread wildfires, as well as some infighting between the centre-left and centre-right wings of EPEK. Despite being a seasoned politician, Mr. Nomikos is generally considered to be a pragmatic technocratic administrator, and not a person with the charisma or force of personality to easily breach such gaps, if they are allowed to persist. Conversely, infighting has plagued SEKT to a much more significant degree, as disagreement persists between its social democratic wing (which supports collaboration with EPEK) and its hardline socialist factions (who reject all compromise with establishment parties). ES, for its part, has been significantly weakened by a series of scandals involving mismanagement of funds by its former leader and the resignation of ten members of the Boule (who now sit as independents), over ideological disputes. For now, it appears that EPEK will continue to govern for lack of a better option.
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Government bans short-term rental platforms for tourists
Tuesday, 7.11.2023 | Stavros Makrinos

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The Imperial Government has formally published a law banning short-term rental platforms aimed at tourists visiting the country from abroad, following its approval by the Boule and the Senate, and its receipt of Imperial Assent. The law was first introduced in early September, in response to growing popular pressure regarding the effects of such platforms on the housing market. The Mayor of Propontis, Mr. Alexandros Merkouris, who was recently re-elected on a ticket backed by EPEK, had joined sixteen other mayors of major cities throughout the country in petitioning the Government to ban or restrict such rentals, complaining that "they have an outsized effect on rental prices in the country, raising them to an unaffordable level for most everyday and young Tiburians while also removing housing from the rental or resale markets that is used as travel lodgings without having the requisite certifications, licensing and business status." The matter even escalated into protests late in the spring, when residents of Krini, the Empire's third largest city, blocked a foreign-funded housing project in the working-class neighbourhood of Hagios Vukolos for several weeks until the local authorities finally took over the land using eminent domain and promised to repurpose it for affordable housing and a public park. The investment was instead redirected to the wealthier suburb of Prinovaris, which houses many foreign consulates and international schools. [...]

The law's enactment comes on top of the removal of a clause in the currently proposed golden visa programme that the Government aired in its previous term, which included investments in housing. The programme has now been repurposed to only cover investments in businesses involved in the production of goods and the sale of advanced services (not including any services related to housing or tourism), as well as investments in infrastructure and training of workers. [...]​

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Capital Markets Commission rules against Ploumides family heir
Tuesday, 7.11.2023 | Markos Mylonas

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The Capital Markets Commission of the Tiburan Empire (EKA) has ruled that their heir to the disgraced Ploumides clan of business and shipping magnates, Ioannes A. Ploumides, cannot have the "bad actor" characterisation removed from his record with the Commission and is therefore restricted in engaging in certain financial activities and business under applicable securities laws. [...] The decision came as a blow to Mr. Ploumides, who had gone to great lengths to reorient his family toward financial products and services, using their extensive business network, nearly five years after most of their landmark businesses were seized and their business conglomerate, the Pegasus Group, was broken up into smaller entities due to anti-trust and other serious legal violations. The old family patriarch, Mr. Ploumides' father, Anastasios Ploumides, is still in prison due to these violations, having had to pay a significant amount of his fortune to fines and penalties. [...] Mr. Ploumides, who was only twenty-two at the time, was on the board of directors of the Group's controlling entity, Pegasus Holdings, and was thus tainted as a bad actor under applicable securities laws. Despite a long legal battle to overturn this black mark that hangs over his name, it appears that Mr. Ploumides is not regarded as reliable by the Commission. [...] In light of this result, Mr. Ploumides has indicated that he is considering business ventures in imports and exports instead.​

© 2023 Ἐφημερίς «Ὁ Προπόντιος Λογοθέτης» Α.Ε.​

 

[Pelasgia]

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Ἔτος ϞΗʹ ·Ἀρ. Φύλλου 32.793 ·Ἰδρυταί: Κ. Καντακουζηνός, Δ. Ἀνδρέου | ΠΡΟΠΟΝΤΙΣ, ΠΕΜΠΤΗ 29 ΝΟΕΜΒΡΙΟΥ 2023 |

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Amid global uncertainty, investments in Himyar pick up
Thursday, 30.11.2023 | Antonios Sgouros

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A worker at a newly built silk and fabric production plant in the Metaxadon Theme

After years of protracted warfare, civil instability and shifting boundaries and alliances in Gallo-Germania, many investors from more peaceful regions of the world have turned their sights away from Europe's traditional industrial heartland and toward greener pastures elsewhere. Apart from Toyou and Occidentia, which have always been easy targets for foreign investment, Himyar has also risen to prominence as an advantageous alternative in recent years. A combination of welcoming tax policies and labour laws, combined with a large and young population base and relatively navigable bureaucracy have drawn funds that would have otherwise been targeted at more traditional markets. Moreover, the increasingly independent Himyari states have demonstrated their ability to competently conduct their affairs and to guarantee basic rule of law, property rights and speedy resolution of judicial disputes, earning the trust of investors who would have been previously turned away from Himyar due to the risks of losing their investments in bureaucratic red tape or corruption, or getting stuck in long legal disputes.

At the forefront of this economic dynamism is Tiburia, Himyar's traditional economic powerhouse and its longest-standing sovereign state. Tiburia's relatively advanced economy and state apparatus have made it the easiest conduit for foreign funds to flow into Himyar. The Tiburian banking sector, which is renowned for its secrecy laws and its political neutrality have encouraged investors from increasingly polarised factions of international affairs that their investments can be safely kept or channeled through Tiburia, without fear of their funds or assets being frozen or seized. The Empire's own long-standing policy of neutrality, combined with its strong legal tradition offer further assurances to this effect, as do efforts by Imperial authorities to break up trusts within the country, opening the field to foreign investors to compete more fairly. Indeed, Tiburia's own position as the dominant shipping power in Europe and the large trade, merchant, productive banking and legal networks that connect it to the rest of Europe due to its merchant navy have accustomed both the public and private sectors in the Empire to working with foreign partners in multiple jurisdictions, facilitating the flow of foreign funds in and out of the country. Institutions such as the Propontis Far Southern Company (PSFC), the Imperial Himyari Bank of Commerce and the major business conglomerates of Tiburia have subsidiaries throughout Himyar and in many Meridian and other foreign jurisdictions, something which minimizes the duplication needed for an investor to diversify their portfolio and funnel funds from across the globe.

Some have voiced concerns that Tiburian banks could essentially be used as a conduit for sanctions evasion and high-level money laundering, or even that it is facilitating foreign exploitation of Himyari natural resources and labour. For their part, Tiburian business leaders and public officials insist that their due diligence procedures are no less stringent than those of other major international markets, and that they reinvest most funds in Himyar and other markets. One official in the Department of Justice pointed us to the high-profile rejection of funds from Gutarike ( @Jydsken-Østveg ), which were suspected of being linked to piratic activities. Another contact in the Imperial Himyari Bank of Commerce brought up the example of the large-scale investment in port infrastructure in @Ostmark , which was completed earlier this month, and the recent opening of a Pegasus plant for certain electric vehicle parts in the Central Himyar Republic. Whatever the case may be, the professionals of Galatopyrgos, Propontis' main business district, are to set continue working around the clock for the foreseeable future.
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Grand Secretary invites Arcadian counterpart to Propontis for talks
Thursday, 30.11.2023 | Demetrios Xanthopoulos

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Grand Secretary Georgios Nomikos has formally invited Archon Crysanthos Fotios Samaras of the Arcadian League ( @Natal ) to Propontis for large-scale talks regarding the formalisation of improved relations between the two parties. Sharing common language, religion and ancestry in their respective majority populations, the two countries have long been seen as brotherly nations, in spite of, at times, strained relations. Arcadia is the land from where Pelasgians first migrated to and settled in Himyar, and it is still considered the cradle of all Arcado-Pelasgian-speaking peoples, even if Pelasgia is where the largest concentration of such speakers exists today. In spite of centuries of divergence in political cultural and even in dialect between the two nations, as well as wars that led to the loss of most of the Empire's Arcadian holdings in the 19th and 20th centuries, modern Pelasgo-Arcadian relations can be generally characterised as peaceful, even if occasionally cold. Trade and tourism at the now-stabilised borders that have stood for around a century have made co-existence not just a reality but simply the only acceptable reality for many people in both countries, while aid given by one party to the other during the regular wildfires and earthquakes that plague the Eastern Meridian and the Haemus Peninsula have created a sort of necessary cooperation between the Tiburian and Arcadian militaries, which typically contain the most hard-line anti-reconciliation elements of both governments. While the sort of unification envisaged by Communists and other Pan-Pelasgianists on both sides seems like a distant dream, a war between Megalopolis and Propontis would be equally unthinkable in the modern day. [...]

Reportedly, the talks are to take place at the Megaron Logotheton, the palatial building near the Imperial Gardens in the government quarter that serves as the seat of the Grand Secretary and the rest of the Cabinet Council. Apart from the Grand Secretary, several other important ministers and officials, such as Mr. Theophrastos Phokas, the Secretary of the Exterior, and Gen. Gregorios Phassianos, the Commander of the Krypteia, are also reportedly set to attend. [...] Based on the communications publicised so far and on sources in both capitals, it appears that Mr. Nomikos intends for the talks to be much more than merely symbolic, and to lead to a series of long-standing pacts and partnerships, and perhaps even an alliance between the two countries. Such a partnership would be strictly defensive and cooperative in nature, allowing the two nations that control Europe's most important seaway to safeguard themselves from external aggression. At the same time, increasingly liberalised trade and open borders would allow Arcadia and Pelasgia to further integrate their economies and societies, solidifying bonds between the two nations permanently. [...] Other sticking points, such as policing cooperation, recognition of legal decisions and documents, extradition and resolving any minor disputes about maritime borders could also be brought up at the talks. [...]​

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Despot Alexios to become monastic in Euxenia amid succession rumours
Thursday, 30.11.2023 | Marina Papanikolaou

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The Imperial Chancellery, the private treasury and secretariat of the Emperor and (by extent) the Imperial Household, has released a short statement according to which Despot Alexios Komnenopoulos, the eldest son of reigning Emperor Theodore IV Komnenopoulos, has decided to renounce his worldly possessions and titles in order to join a monastic community in Euxenia. Given imperial tradition, the most likely candidate for which monastery the Despot wishes to join is likely the Monastery of Our Lady the Kastaniotissa, in the mountainous slopes of Euxenia. The site has a long history of imperial patronage, particularly by the current Imperial Dynasty, which at least partially draws its descent from the Grand Komnenos line, a cadet branch of the Komnenian Dynasty that ruled Euxenia as a semi-autonomous Despotate for several centuries.

Following the announcement of Despot Alexios' retirement from public life, there is discussion over whether Despotess Anastasia Komnenopoulaina, the Emperor's second eldest child, or her brother, Despot Ioannes (or John) Komnenopoulos, will be named Grand Despot/Despotess and thus presumptive heir to the Sublime Throne. The youngest child of the Imperial Household, Despotess Eudoxia Komnenopoulaina, is not in contention for the Throne, having left for @Radilo following her marriage with a nobleman there, and having generally shied away from publicity since the passing of her mother, late Empress Helen Asenina (from the House of Asen of Thrakia) by cancer several years prior. Emperor Theodore's brother, Sebastokrator Nikolaos Komnenopoulos, is also seen as a contender due to his strong political connections, in spite of his relative unpopularity in the deeper Himyari parts of the Empire due to his avowed focus on Tibuaria's Meridian-adjacent regions.​

© 2023 Ἐφημερίς «Ὁ Προπόντιος Λογοθέτης» Α.Ε.​