IONews - The Official News Account of Ionia

[Ionia]

Welcome to IONews; Ionia's official government approved and largest news outlet, ran by representatives and members of the Ionian Cultural Organization, and contributed to by each citizen! Follow for the most detailed news in all of Ionia, approved, of course!

[Ionia]

IONews 

Ionia's official news account

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January 12, 1423

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Ionia officially changes its flag

On the 12th of January 1423, the Grand Republic of Ionia has officially changed its flag based on a voting event. On the 6th of January, a both online and in-person event took place across Ionia on a debate whether the national flag should be changed. The votes were won by the pro-change majority, which presented a debate for the previous flag (accounting for this change) of Ionia to be extremely bright and not good to look at. The overall balance between the voters was 79% pro-change and the remaining 21% against change. 

After the change decision, the Ionian Voting Department and the Ionian Cultural Organization both approved of the request, and after 2 days, 20 new flag options including state-issued ones were put up for votes. On the 10th of January the voting session ended, and a new flag was chosen. The Grand Republic of Ionia will now officially be represented by the following flag:

 

                                                                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New design

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

Old design

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                                             I Grand Republikken ed Jonia

                                                         

[Ionia]

Economic growth peaks again, analytic data shows substantial

financial and even improvement of life quality nationwide

 

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   For the second time in 1423, Ionian export and manufacturing profits have peaked, marking the

   quickest economic growth in the nation's history since many decades. Expert economic analyst

 Klauss Tølvet recently published 1423's detailed analysis, giving important information on data.       

The annual GDP growth rate has been pinpointed at a stable 9.4%, giving way to some 

notable changes; at this rate, by mid or late-1424 the GDP (PPP) of Ionia will have ad-

vanced to $238.7 billion (597.7 billion Ɱ), the GDP (PPP) per capita will rise to $29,505 

(73,763 Ɱ), a $2,493 increase. The Gross National Income per capita will be almost as high

as today's GDP per capita at $26,558 (66,395 Ɱ), a $2,556 increase from today's $24,002.

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A surprising population increase of 0.14%, boosting the number to 8,089,047 has also 

unexpectedly raised several other factors such as the Mean and Expected Education index,

and favorable and improving life conditions have also possibly set the life expectancy to 

82.6 years in the near future. All of these factors have also consequently possibly increased

HDI to 82.6 years, making another drastic change due to unexpected growth and increases.

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As for the different manufacturing sectors, electronics and vehicles roughly dominate by 

around 60-80%, in correspondence with the larger companies' budget increase. Especially

prominent in these sectors have been Jon, Waypoint, PBW, MKV and Fayrer. Vehicle output

has increased nearly double, along with electronics. Raw materials such as petroleum, Rare-

Earth metals and ores have decreased substantially while previously unusual exports such 

as electricity, silverware and overall plastics equipment have increased. Although a slight

decline is in sight due to unfavorable weather conditions, these rates are not expected to 

change substantially at least until the end of the year. 

Uploaded by Sel, 11/09/1423

[Ionia]

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Another violent clash from political unrest

This morning at a local bar on the outskirts of Astenburg, a brawl took place that left 1 dead and 10 injured. The culprit, a 28-year old male whose identity was left anonymous, attempted fleeing in his 1422 PBW K-Coupe, but was chased down by a witness and later the police. Witnesses said the man attacked them after things got heated about a political debate. He managed to severely injure 1 person who later died from his injuries and even hurt other people with his vehicle. Before fleeing, the other injured people managed to damage his vehicle, rendering him unable to outrun the police, which tased him immediately and placed him behind bars. This is not the first time this type of conflict has happened, although until now there had been no casualties. Ionia has recently been experiencing mass unrest by extremist groups and parties that oppose  the direction in which the nation is heading.

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Two nuclear power plants to be built by 1427, most oil and coal plants to be fully dismantled by late 1424. 

Alongside the currently operational Tila nuclear plant, Doenston has stated his intent to have 2 more nuclear plants built by late 1427, using more efficient thorium ore and reusable nuclear waste reactors. This is in line with Ionia's goal of running on 100% renewable and nuclear energy and becoming fully self-sufficient in all sectors. The construction is expected to start in December, with one fully working plant by 1425. Current operational oil and coal plants, whether for pure extraction or usage in energy grids may be shut down partially or completely, depending on various factors that are yet to be determined. Mass scale renewable energy is also a goal, with many more wind turbines and PV panel grids to be built, although the date isn't set yet. This huge cost of clean energy will surely strain the national budget and economy for a while, although with the current boom in GDP growth experts say we might have little to no issues. Still, these claims remain purely speculative as we can't surely know what'll happen next.

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Alphabet revision; will ø become useless?

The Ionian language is continuously under revision and correction; recent changes suggest ø might be removed from the alphabet completely. In the past few years. ø has been less and less used in words, sentences and phrases. An introduced letter from the Kalmash colonial period, ø was originally not a part of the Ionian alphabet. Since its introduction it has been used for a sound very similar to u, already indiscernible from the uu extension. But as the Ionian language has matured, the vowels have expanded in uses and evolved, seemingly eliminating the need for an ø sound. Both the existing letter ë and u should be able to take the place of ø, or a new umlaut ö might be added, assuming that ø will not be removed completely. It remains to be seen whether this change will actually take place, as it has to go through many phases and procedures before fully making its way to the Ionian language.

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