title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: Inspiration came on a visit to the Isle of Man, which forms the Diocese of Sodor and Man in 1950. Awdry noted that while there was an Isle of Man, there was no similar island of Sodor (the name derives from Old Norse , "southern isles", a term that referred to the Hebrides and islands along the west coast of Scotland). A large island would meet the criteria he required, giving him the isolation from changes to the British railway system while giving him somewhere that people could easily imagine.


title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: Between them, Awdry and his younger brother George worked out Sodor's history, geography, industry and language ("Sudric"). Inspiration came from various sources. Dryaw was an anagram of Awdry. Elsbridge was named after Wilbert's parish of Elsworth in Cambridgeshire. Some place names were Sudric equivalents or near-equivalents of those in the real world (for instance, Skarloey was a rough Sudric equivalent of the Welsh Talyllyn: "logh" (Manx) = "llyn" (Welsh) = "lake"). By the time they had finished, they knew more about Sodor than would ever be used in "The Railway Series" stories.


title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: Their abridged notes were published in 1987 in a book titled: "" (Republished with some minor modifications by "Christopher Awdry" in 1992 under the title: "Sodor: Reading Between the lines")


title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: The bishop of the Isle of Man is known as Bishop of "Sodor and Man". This is because the Isle of Man was part of the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles, which included the Hebrides, known in Old Norse as the , (anglicised as "The Sudreys") i.e. "Southern Isles" compared to ("The Nordreys"), or the "Northern Isles", i.e. Orkney and Shetland (also known as Zetland). The Sudreys became "Sodor", which was fossilised in the name of the Diocese, long after it ceased to have any authority over the Scottish Islands.


title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: Awdry was intrigued to find that although the Bishop had the title "Sodor and Man", he had only Man for his diocese. "Everybody knew that there was an Isle of Man, but we decided to 'discover' "another" island – the Island of Sodor – and so give the poor deprived Bishop the other half of his diocese!" "(Rev. W. Awdry)" Hence Awdry sited Sodor in the Irish Sea, between the Isle of Man and Barrow-in-Furness in Lancashire (Barrow later became part of the new county of Cumbria during the 1974 re-organisation).


title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: A lot of the place names on Sodor are clearly based on Manx forms, but often the nouns are inverted to match English word order. Some of the locations have quasi-Manx names, e.g. Killdane, which comes from "Keeill-y-Deighan" (Church of the Devil), hills are called Knock and Cronk, while "Nagh Beurla", means "I speak no English", a distortion of the Manx. The names of some of the 'historical' characters – used in the background but not appearing in the stories – were taken from locations on the Isle of Man, such as Sir Crosby Marown (Crosby is a village in the parish of Marown) and Harold Regaby (Regaby is a tiny hamlet on the parish boundary between Andreas and Bride).


title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: Sodor is usually shown as much larger than the Isle of Man. The island is roughly diamond-shaped, wide east to west and long north to south. Its north-west coast is separated from the Isle of Man by a sea strait called the Sudrian Sea (Faarkey-y-Sudragh), four miles (6 km) wide. Its north-east edge overrides and replaces the real Walney Island.


title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: The place names on Sodor are mostly a mixture of Manx and Norse. Its highest mountain is Culdee Fell, which was modelled on Snowdon: the ridge of Devil's Back copies the Clogwyn ridge on Snowdon. The summit is reached by the Culdee Fell Railway, which is based on the Snowdon Mountain Railway in Wales.


title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: The capital and administrative centre of Sodor is the city of Suddery; however, Tidmouth has grown to be the largest town on the island. One of the more famous settlements on Sodor is Ffarquhar, the terminus of Thomas the Tank Engine's Branch Line.


title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: All of the other settlements on the island are described in Locations on the Island of Sodor, while the six railway lines from "The Railway Series" are described below.


title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: The railways of Sodor include standard and narrow gauge railways, a rack railway and a 15-inch gauge railway. The first few stories concerned standard-gauge engines (including Thomas the Tank Engine). Stories set around the narrow gauge railways soon followed.


title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: The standard-gauge railway system consists of a mainline and several branch lines. They are linked to and interoperable with each other and with the mainland system, so the standard-gauge engines can visit London (for example) under their own power. In the story "Gordon Goes Foreign" several of the engines recount their stories of working in London when they were younger, and later in the same story Gordon pulls a train of mainland rolling stock to London. In the story "The Fat Controller's Engines" several of the "famous engines" visit London, and run on the mainland permanent way to get there.


title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: There are two narrow-gauge railways and a 15-inch gauge railway: the Skarloey Railway, in addition to the rack-and-pinion Culdee Fell mountain railway, and the 15-inch-gauge Arlesdale Railway, each isolated from the other. Movements of rolling stock (particularly engines) to and from the narrow-gauge railways is achieved by transporting them on flatbeds on the standard-gauge system, for example, when Rheneas is sent away for repairs in a flashback in the story "Skarloey Remembers" and later returned in the story "Gallant Old Engine".


title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: Each of the narrow-gauge and 15-inch gauge railways links to the standard-gauge system at an interchange station:


title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: The Island of Sodor in the "Thomas & Friends" television series differs significantly from that in the books. Wilbert and Christopher Awdry's notes have been largely overlooked. The television version of Sodor appears quite larger and has more industry. The connection to the British mainland was not acknowledged until the 2013 feature-length film special "", which introduces "The Vicarstown Rolling Bridge", connecting Sodor to mainland Britain.


title: Sodor (fictional island)

text: In the 2000 film "Thomas and the Magic Railroad", the Island was portrayed vastly differently not only to the "Railway Series" but also to the television series. Sodor was a magical land that was supported by a magical railway line called "The Magic Railroad". Without the Magic Railroad, the island would vanish off the face of the Earth. In the film, one could only travel to Sodor via The Magic Railroad or gold dust. This means the only way Diesel 10 and Splodge (Splatter and Dodge) could have arrived on Sodor is via boat.


title: Telomerase

text: Telomerase, also called terminal transferase, is a ribonucleoprotein that adds a species-dependent telomere repeat sequence to the 3' end of telomeres. A telomere is a region of repetitive sequences at each end of the chromosomes of most eukaryotes. Telomeres protect the end of the chromosome from DNA damage or from fusion with neighbouring chromosomes. The fruit fly "Drosophila melanogaster" lacks telomerase, but instead uses retrotransposons to maintain telomeres.


title: Telomerase

text: Telomerase is a reverse transcriptase enzyme that carries its own RNA molecule (e.g., with the sequence 3′-CCCAAUCCC-5′ in "Trypanosoma brucei") which is used as a template when it elongates telomeres. Telomerase is active in gametes and most cancer cells, but is normally absent from, or at very low levels in, most somatic cells.


title: Telomerase

text: The existence of a compensatory mechanism for telomere shortening was first found by Soviet biologist Alexey Olovnikov in 1973, who also suggested the telomere hypothesis of aging and the telomere's connections to cancer.


title: Telomerase

text: Telomerase in the ciliate "Tetrahymena" was discovered by Carol W. Greider and Elizabeth Blackburn in 1984. Together with Jack W. Szostak, Greider and Blackburn were awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery.


title: Telomerase

text: The role of telomeres and telomerase in cell aging and cancer was established by scientists at biotechnology company Geron with the cloning of the RNA and catalytic components of human telomerase and the development of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based assay for telomerase activity called the TRAP assay, which surveys telomerase activity in multiple types of cancer.


title: Telomerase

text: The negative stain electron microscopy (EM) structures of human and "Tetrahymena" telomerases were characterized in 2013. Two years later, the first cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of telomerase holoenzyme ("Tetrahymena") was determined. In 2018, the structure of human telomerase was determined through cryo-EM by UC Berkeley scientists.


title: Telomerase

text: The molecular composition of the human telomerase complex was determined by Scott Cohen and his team at the Children's Medical Research Institute (Sydney Australia) and consists of two molecules each of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), telomerase RNA (TR or TERC), and dyskerin (DKC1). The genes of telomerase subunits, which include TERT, TERC, DKC1 and TEP1, are located on different chromosomes. The human TERT gene (hTERT) is translated into a protein of 1132 amino acids. TERT polypeptide folds with (and carries) TERC, a non-coding RNA (451 nucleotides long). TERT has a 'mitten' structure that allows it to wrap around the chromosome to add single-stranded telomere repeats.


title: Telomerase

text: TERT is a reverse transcriptase, which is a class of enzymes that creates single-stranded DNA using single-stranded RNA as a template.


title: Telomerase

text: The protein consists of four conserved domains (RNA-Binding Domain (TRBD), fingers, palm and thumb), organized into a "right hand" ring configuration that shares common features with retroviral reverse transcriptases, viral RNA replicases and bacteriophage B-family DNA polymerases.


title: Telomerase

text: By using TERC, TERT can add a six-nucleotide repeating sequence, 5'-TTAGGG (in vertebrates, the sequence differs in other organisms) to the 3' strand of chromosomes. These TTAGGG repeats (with their various protein binding partners) are called telomeres. The template region of TERC is 3'-CAAUCCCAAUC-5'.


title: Telomerase

text: Telomerase can bind the first few nucleotides of the template to the last telomere sequence on the chromosome, add a new telomere repeat (5'-GGTTAG-3') sequence, let go, realign the new 3'-end of telomere to the template, and repeat the process. Telomerase reverses telomere shortening.


title: Telomerase

text: Telomerase restores short bits of DNA known as telomeres, which are otherwise shortened after repeated division of a cell via mitosis.


title: Telomerase

text: In normal circumstances, where telomerase is absent, if a cell divides recursively, at some point the progeny reach their Hayflick limit, which is believed to be between 50 and 70 cell divisions. At the limit the cells become senescent and cell division stops. Telomerase allows each offspring to replace the lost bit of DNA, allowing the cell line to divide without ever reaching the limit. This same unbounded growth is a feature of cancerous growth.


title: Telomerase

text: Embryonic stem cells express telomerase, which allows them to divide repeatedly and form the individual. In adults, telomerase is highly expressed only in cells that need to divide regularly, especially in male sperm cells, but also in epidermal cells, in activated T cell and B cell lymphocytes, as well as in certain adult stem cells, but in the great majority of cases somatic cells do not express telomerase.


title: Telomerase

text: A comparative biology study of mammalian telomeres indicated that telomere length of some mammalian species correlates inversely, rather than directly, with lifespan, and concluded that the contribution of telomere length to lifespan is unresolved. Telomere shortening does not occur with age in some postmitotic tissues, such as in the rat brain. In humans, skeletal muscle telomere lengths remain stable from ages 23 –74. In baboon skeletal muscle, which consists of fully differentiated postmitotic cells, less than 3% of myonuclei contain damaged telomeres and this percentage does not increase with age. Thus, telomere shortening does not appear to be a major factor in the aging of the differentiated cells of brain or skeletal muscle. In human liver, cholangiocytes and hepatocytes show no age-related telomere shortening. Another study found little evidence that, in humans, telomere length is a significant biomarker of normal aging with respect to important cognitive and physical abilities.


title: Telomerase

text: Some experiments have raised questions on whether telomerase can be used as an anti-aging therapy, namely, the fact that mice with elevated levels of telomerase have higher cancer incidence and hence do not live longer. On the other hand, one study showed that activating telomerase in cancer-resistant mice by overexpressing its catalytic subunit extended lifespan. A study found that long-lived subjects inherited a hyperactive version of telomerase.


title: Telomerase

text: Premature aging syndromes including Werner syndrome, Progeria, Ataxia telangiectasia, Ataxia-telangiectasia like disorder, Bloom syndrome, Fanconi anemia and Nijmegen breakage syndrome are associated with short telomeres. However, the genes that have mutated in these diseases all have roles in the repair of DNA damage and the increased DNA damage may, itself, be a factor in the premature aging (see DNA damage theory of aging). An additional role in maintaining telomere length is an active area of investigation.


title: Telomerase

text: "In vitro," when cells approach the Hayflick limit, the time to senescence can be extended by inactivating the tumor suppressor proteins - p53 and Retinoblastoma protein (pRb). Cells that have been so-altered eventually undergo an event termed a "crisis" when the majority of the cells in the culture die. Sometimes, a cell does not stop dividing once it reaches a crisis. In a typical situation, the telomeres are shortened and chromosomal integrity declines with every subsequent cell division. Exposed chromosome ends are interpreted as double-stranded breaks (DSB) in DNA; such damage is usually repaired by reattaching the broken ends together. When the cell does this due to telomere-shortening, the ends of different chromosomes can be attached to each other. This solves the problem of lacking telomeres, but during cell division anaphase, the fused chromosomes are randomly ripped apart, causing many mutations and chromosomal abnormalities. As this process continues, the cell's genome becomes unstable. Eventually, either fatal damage is done to the cell's chromosomes (killing it via apoptosis), or an additional mutation that activates telomerase occurs.


title: Telomerase

text: With telomerase activation some types of cells and their offspring become immortal (bypass the Hayflick limit), thus avoiding cell death as long as the conditions for their duplication are met. Many cancer cells are considered 'immortal' because telomerase activity allows them to live much longer than any other somatic cell, which, combined with uncontrollable cell proliferation is why they can form tumors. A good example of immortal cancer cells is HeLa cells, which have been used in laboratories as a model cell line since 1951.


title: Telomerase

text: While this method of modelling human cancer in cell culture is effective and has been used for many years by scientists, it is also very imprecise. The exact changes that allow for the formation of the tumorigenic clones in the above-described experiment are not clear. Scientists addressed this question by the serial introduction of multiple mutations present in a variety of human cancers. This has led to the identification of mutation combinations that form tumorigenic cells in a variety of cell types. While the combination varies by cell type, the following alterations are required in all cases: TERT activation, loss of p53 pathway function, loss of pRb pathway function, activation of the Ras or myc proto-oncogenes, and aberration of the PP2A protein phosphatase. That is to say, the cell has an activated telomerase, eliminating the process of death by chromosome instability or loss, absence of apoptosis-induction pathways, and continued mitosis activation.


title: Telomerase

text: This model of cancer in cell culture accurately describes the role of telomerase in actual human tumors. Telomerase activation has been observed in ~90% of all human tumors, suggesting that the immortality conferred by telomerase plays a key role in cancer development. Of the tumors without TERT activation, most employ a separate pathway to maintain telomere length termed Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT). The exact mechanism behind telomere maintenance in the ALT pathway is unclear, but likely involves multiple recombination events at the telomere.


title: Telomerase

text: Elizabeth Blackburn "et al.", identified the upregulation of 70 genes known or suspected in cancer growth and spread through the body, and the activation of glycolysis, which enables cancer cells to rapidly use sugar to facilitate their programmed growth rate (roughly the growth rate of a fetus).


title: Telomerase

text: Approaches to controlling telomerase and telomeres for cancer therapy include gene therapy, immunotherapy, small-molecule and signal pathway inhibitors.


title: Telomerase

text: The ability to maintain functional telomeres may be one mechanism that allows cancer cells to grow "in vitro" for decades. Telomerase activity is necessary to preserve many cancer types and is inactive in somatic cells, creating the possibility that telomerase inhibition could selectively repress cancer cell growth with minimal side effects. If a drug can inhibit telomerase in cancer cells, the telomeres of successive generations will progressively shorten, limiting tumor growth.


title: Telomerase

text: Telomerase is a good biomarker for cancer detection because most human cancers cells express high levels of it. Telomerase activity can be identified by its catalytic protein domain (hTERT). is the rate-limiting step in telomerase activity. It is associated with many cancer types. Various cancer cells and fibroblasts transformed with hTERT cDNA have high telomerase activity, while somatic cells do not. Cells testing positive for hTERT have positive nuclear signals. Epithelial stem cell tissue and its early daughter cells are the only noncancerous cells in which hTERT can be detected. Since hTERT expression is dependent only on the number of tumor cells within a sample, the amount of hTERT indicates the severity of cancer.


title: Telomerase

text: The expression of hTERT can also be used to distinguish benign tumors from malignant tumors. Malignant tumors have higher hTERT expression than benign tumors. Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) quantifying hTERT expression in various tumor samples verified this varying expression.


title: Telomerase

text: The lack of telomerase does not affect cell growth until the telomeres are short enough to cause cells to “die or undergo growth arrest”. However, inhibiting telomerase alone is not enough to destroy large tumors. It must be combined with surgery, radiation, chemotherapy or immunotherapy.


title: Telomerase

text: Cells may reduce their telomere length by only 50-252 base pairs per cell division, which can lead to a long lag phase.


title: Telomerase

text: A telomerase activator TA-65 is commercially available and is claimed to delay aging and to provide relief from certain disease conditions. This formulation contains a molecule called cycloastragenol derived from a legume Astragalus membranaceus, which has been used in Chinese traditional medicine for extending healthy life.


title: Telomerase

text: Immunotherapy successfully treats some kinds of cancer, such as melanoma. This treatment involves manipulating a human's immune system to destroy cancerous cells. Humans have two major antigen identifying lymphocytes: CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) and CD4+ helper T-lymphocytes that can destroy cells. Antigen receptors on CTL can bind to a 9-10 amino acid chain that is presented by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) as in Figure 4. HTERT is a potential target antigen. Immunotargeting should result in relatively few side effects since hTERT expression is associated only with telomerase and is not essential in almost all somatic cells. GV1001 uses this pathway. Experimental drug and vaccine therapies targeting active telomerase have been tested in mouse models, and clinical trials have begun. One drug, imetelstat, is being clinically researched as a means of interfering with telomerase in cancer cells. Most of the harmful cancer-related effects of telomerase are dependent on an intact RNA template. Cancer stem cells that use an alternative method of telomere maintenance are still killed when telomerase's RNA template is blocked or damaged.


title: Telomerase

text: Two telomerase vaccines have been developed: GRNVAC1 and GV1001. GRNVAC1 isolates dendritic cells and the RNA that codes for the telomerase protein and puts them back into the patient to make cytotoxic T cells that kill the telomerase-active cells. GV1001 is a peptide from the active site of hTERT and is recognized by the immune system that reacts by killing the telomerase-active cells.


title: Telomerase

text: Another independent approach is to use oligoadenylated anti-telomerase antisense oligonucleotides and ribozymes to target telomerase RNA, reducing dissociation and apoptosis (Figure 5). The fast induction of apoptosis through antisense binding may be a good alternative to the slower telomere shortening.


title: Telomerase

text: siRNAs are small RNA molecules that induce the sequence-specific degradation of other RNAs. siRNA treatment can function similar to traditional gene therapy by destroying the mRNA products of particular genes, and therefore preventing the expression of those genes. A 2012 study found that targeting TERC with an siRNA reduced telomerase activity by more than 50% and resulted in decreased viability of immortal cancer cells. Treatment with both the siRNA and radiation caused a greater reduction in tumor size in mice than treatment with radiation alone, suggesting that targeting telomerase could be a way to increase the efficacy of radiation in treating radiation-resistant tumors.


title: Telomerase

text: Blackburn also discovered that mothers caring for very sick children have shorter telomeres when they report that their emotional stress is at a maximum and that telomerase was active at the site of blockages in coronary artery tissue, possibly accelerating heart attacks.


title: Telomerase

text: In 2009, it was shown that the amount of telomerase activity significantly increased following psychological stress. Across the sample of patients telomerase activity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells increased by 18% one hour after the end of the stress.


title: Telomerase

text: A study in 2010 found that there was "significantly greater" telomerase activity in participants than controls after a three-month meditation retreat.


title: Telomerase

text: Telomerase deficiency has been linked to diabetes mellitus and impaired insulin secretion in mice, due to loss of pancreatic insulin-producing cells.


title: Telomerase

text: Mutations in TERT have been implicated in predisposing patients to aplastic anemia, a disorder in which the bone marrow fails to produce blood cells, in 2005.


title: Telomerase

text: Cri du chat syndrome (CdCS) is a complex disorder involving the loss of the distal portion of the short arm of chromosome 5. TERT is located in the deleted region, and loss of one copy of TERT has been suggested as a cause or contributing factor of this disease.


title: Telomerase

text: Dyskeratosis congenita (DC) is a disease of the bone marrow that can be caused by some mutations in the telomerase subunits. In the DC cases, about 35% cases are X-linked-recessive on the DKC1 locus and 5% cases are autosomal dominant on the TERT and TERC loci.


title: Telomerase

text: Patients with DC have severe bone marrow failure manifesting as abnormal skin pigmentation, leucoplakia (a white thickening of the oral mucosa) and nail dystrophy, as well as a variety of other symptoms. Individuals with either TERC or DKC1 mutations have shorter telomeres and defective telomerase activity "in vitro" versus other individuals of the same age.


title: Telomerase

text: In one family autosomal dominant DC was linked to a heterozygous TERT mutation. These patients also exhibited an increased rate of telomere-shortening, and genetic anticipation (i.e., the DC phenotype worsened with each generation).


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) is the founding and sole ruling party of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The party's monopoly on state power is guaranteed by Article 3 of the Constitution of Laos, and it maintains a unitary state with centralised control over the economy and military.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The LPRP was established on 22 March 1955 by former members of the Indochinese Communist Party. It led the insurgency against the Royal Lao Government and supported North Vietnamese forces in their war against the United States. The insurgency culminated with the LPRP seizing power in Laos in 1975. During its first years in power, the party strengthened party-state control over society and tried to establish a planned economy based on the Soviet model. In the 1980s, influenced by market reforms in China and Vietnam, the LPRP initiated economic reforms that privatised state companies and legalised private property.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: Democratic centralism, a concept conceived by Russian Marxist Vladimir Lenin, is the organisational form of the LPRP. The highest institution of the party is the National Congress, which elects the Central Committee. In between party congresses, the Central Committee is the highest decision-making organ regarding party affairs. After a party congress, the Central Committee elects the Politburo and Secretariat, as well as the General Secretary, the highest party officer. In between sessions of the Central Committee, the Politburo is the highest decision-making body. , the 11th Politburo comprises 13 members. The current party leader is Thongloun Sisoulith, who holds the titles of General Secretary of the Central Committee, Chairman of the Defence and Public Security Commission, and Prime Minister of Laos, who is the head of government.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The LPRP is committed to communism and participates in the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties, an annual international forum of communist parties. According to the party statute, the party adheres to Marxism–Leninism and Kaysone Phomvihane Thought. Upon taking power in 1975, the party sought to immediately abolish the capitalist mode of production and establish a socialist society. By the 1990s, the direction of the party had changed, and the party leadership believed that Laos was too underdeveloped to build socialism. The party thus adopted state capitalism as a tool for working towards a socialist society.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The forerunner of the LPRP was the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP), which was established by the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh in February 1930 on orders from the Communist International (Comintern). The ICP was tasked "to wipe out feudal remnants, to distribute land to the tillers, to overthrow imperialism and to make Indochina completely independent." Dominated by the Vietnamese, the ICP was originally named the "Vietnamese Communist Party", which was changed due to the Comintern's displeasure with the organisation's tone of Vietnamese nationalism and the Comintern's belief that the workers of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos had more in common than had differences. Despite its claims to be an Indochinese party, the ICP remained a completely Vietnamese-dominated one until after its formal dissolution on 11 November 1945, on which date the Indochinese National Democratic Revolution was proclaimed. Throughout its previous existence, the ICP had had no Cambodian or Laotian members. In 1946, a concerted drive was begun by the underground ICP to recruit Laotian communist cadres. Half-Vietnamese Kaysone Phomvihan, the LPRP General Secretary from 1955 until he died in 1992, was recruited sometime in 1946–47 while a student at the University of Hanoi. However, the lack of Lao representation among the underground ICP would remain a problem; and by February 1951 only 81 of the 2,091 members were Lao.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: In February 1951, the underground ICP convened its 2nd National Congress and changed its name to the Workers' Party of Vietnam (WPV). According to political scientist Joseph J. Zasloff, "Eliminating the 'Indochinese' label of the Communist party seemed designed to appeal to nationalist sentiments in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. To demonstrate close links among the three peoples, the Vietnamese organisers of this congress invited several Cambodian and Lao leaders to attend." In the immediate aftermath of the 2nd National Congress, a Viet-Lao-Khmer alliance was announced which declared a shared commitment to fighting against French colonialism and American imperialism in the region. By 1952, the WPV established the Committee for the Organization of the Party, which was composed of five members: Kaysone Phomvihan (as Secretary), Nouhak Phoumsavan, Sisavath Keobounphan, Boun Phommahaxai, and Khamsen. In 1953, The WPV initiated a purification of the Lao membership that expelled all but seventeen full members and an unknown number of candidate members. In the following two years, several communist cells were established throughout Laos; and on 22 March 1955, the founding congress met and established the Lao People's Party (LPP). However, not everything went according to plan, and the LPP was nearly annihilated by 1959, by severe government repression. The North Vietnamese reacted by increasing their support to the LPP and its military, the Pathet Lao; and by the early 1960s the party controlled nearly half the country. Despite being the leading force behind the insurgency from 1955 to 1975, the party kept its existence secret, preferring to direct their activities through fronts. Few Laotians knew about the party's existence or the name of its leaders during this period. This did not preclude organisational activities. In February 1972, the 2nd National Congress was convened and changed the party's name to the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP).


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: On 21 February 1973, after years of warfare, a peace agreement was brokered with the Royal Lao Government. A Provisional Government of National Unity (PGNU) was established; it was composed of communist sympathisers and led by royalist Souvanna Phouma. Similar to the unravelling of South Vietnam from 1974 to 1975, the Royal Lao Government faced several rebellions. From December 1974 to January 1975 royal troops in the Houei Sai district of Houa Khong Province, and in Khammouane Province, began an uprising against the government. Reacting to unfolding events, the party, through the Pathet Lao, seized control of the roads leading to Vientiane, effectively cutting off supplies to the capital. During April and May, a city-wide anti-government protest took place in Vientiane, which led to the resignation of five cabinet members. In a last-ditch attempt to save the monarchy, the government announced new elections for 1976. On 26 November, LPRP representatives managed to get the monarchy officially to "voluntarily" renunciate its royal wealth and abdicate. The party thus convened a National Congress of People's Representatives for 1–2 December 1975. The congress dissolved the Kingdom of Laos, established the Lao People's Democratic Republic, and announced the end of the 30-year-old National Democratic Revolution.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The collapse of the royal government and the ensuing communist takeover produced an exodus, and by 1980 ten percent of the population had left the country. In its first years of power, the party retained its secretive ways. For instance, Kaysone Phomvihan, the LPRP General Secretary, was unknown to most people at the time. The leading public voices of the communist movement before 1975, such as Lao Patriotic Front chairman Souphanouvong, were swept aside after the communist seizure of power. The new government swiftly closed down independent news organisations. Such organisations that were not dissolved were forced to seek membership in the Lao Front for National Construction (LFNC), a mass organisation controlled by the LPRP. To spread the new government's word, the LPRP and the LFNC organised meetings around the country to educate the people about the party line and spread Marxist–Leninist doctrine. The end goal of this process was the creation of the new socialist man.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: In 1978, the LPRP continued its socialist transformation by collectivising agriculture. According to journalist and historian Martin Stuart-Fox, the LPRP believed that "productivity of agriculture could only be raised through economies of scale (by analogy with an industrial model), and this could only be achieved by collective ownership of the means of production. Cooperatives, they argued, could maximise the use of modern inputs into agriculture." The twin-goal of the collectivisation process was (1) abolishing private ownership in the countryside and (2) strengthening political control in areas formerly controlled by the Royal Lao Government. Collectivisation proved hard to implement, and several areas actively resisted the policy. Consequently, the LPRP Central Committee gave up on collectivisation in 1981. It argued that "Efforts to mobilise farmers to join agricultural cooperatives or set up new ones during the current production season should be immediately and strictly suspended while the people are engaging in production in order rapidly and effectively to increase production." Instead of emphasising collectivisation, the LPRP began focusing on employing modern agricultural equipment to improve economic efficiency. By 1988, Kaysone Phomvihan conceded that collectivisation had been a failure: "Our previous cooperative policy was in the old style practised by other socialist countries. After some investigations into the actual situation in Laos, we decided to change direction and start from the family." Two years later, in 1990, virtually all agricultural cooperatives had ceased to exist.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: In 1986, at the 8th National Congress, the LPRP began dismantling its system of economic planning, which was inspired by the Soviet model. Kaysone Phomvihan, in his Political Report of the 3rd Central Committee, noted that "Our main shortcomings lie in subjectivism and haste, in our inclination to abolish the non-socialist economic sectors promptly... We are bent on egalitarianism. Consequently, we did not encourage good workers with high labour productivity. There was no relationship between responsibility, rights, obligations, and interests." Under the banner term socialist economic accounting the LPRP began severing state enterprises from the state budget, forcing them to survive in the free market. In 1988, in light of the crisis taking place in the Eastern Bloc and the Soviet Union, further reforms were introduced. A code of laws friendly to foreign investment was adopted, and joint ventures were encouraged. The most important, unspoken reason for these changes was a drastic decline in foreign assistance on which Laos totally depended, of which 70 per cent originated from the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. In 1988, total foreign aid from the Eastern Bloc stood at US$52 million; by 1989 it was US$1 million, and none was received in 1990.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The collapse of communism in Europe greatly impacted Laos. Some students began criticising the LPRP's monopoly on state power and began calling for a multi-party system. They were supported by the Social Democrat Club, a group of forty Lao intellectuals. Inspired by events, LPRP official Thongsouk Saisangkhi, the Vice-Minister for Science and Technology, submitted an open resignation letter and accused the LPRP of establishing a "communist monarchy" and a "dynasty of the Politburo", a reference to the growing influence of the children of the leaders. The LPRP did not budge, and Thongsouk Saisangkhi together with Vice-Minister of Economics and Planning Latsami Khamphoui and Ministry of Justice official Pheng Sakchittaphong were imprisoned in October 1990, and sentenced to fourteen years in prison in November 1992. Later that same year a new constitution was adopted, which stated that Laos was a people's democratic dictatorship under the leadership of the LPRP. Instead of appeasing the critics, Khamtai Siphandon, a Politburo member at the time, stated unequivocally that "The Party is also the sole Party whom the people trust. All slanders and attempts designed to undermine the leadership role of the Party are regarded as contradictory to historical reality and the national interest."


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The governance of the party and state has stabilised since the 1980s. Management consultant Clay Wescott notes that the party "has shown itself to be remarkably resilient. Transitions of power have tended to be smooth, the new generation of leaders has proven more open to reform, and the Politburo now has some ethnic diversity." After serving fourteen years as LPRP General Secretary, Khamtai Siphandon left office in 2006, and was succeeded by Choummaly Sayasone who served ten years in office. In 2016, Sayasone was succeeded by Bounnhang Vorachith, who served until 2021 and was succeeded by the current LPRP General Secretary, Thongloun Sisoulith.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The party's centralised and hierarchical organisational structure is based on democratic centralism, which was conceived by Vladimir Lenin. This structure entails that lower party organs obey the decisions of the higher ones, such as the LPRP Central Committee. It also entails a ban on internal party factions. In the end, every decision-making organ has to be guided by the principle of collective leadership, a process that emphasises collegial decision-making, in contrast to one-person dominance. LPRP General Secretary Kaysone Phomvihane, in a speech to the 5th National Congress in 1991, stated "that our Party's democracy is a centralised one. Therefore, we must strictly implement the principle according to which the minority must yield to the majority; the lower leading organisation execute the upper leading organisation's orders. The whole Party follows the Central Committee."


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: Nepotism, meaning favouritism that is granted to relatives, and patronage, the support a powerful individual bestows on another, is a mainstay of LPRP politics. It's estimated that 25 per cent of the 10th Central Committee members are connected through birth or marriage to one of the founding revolutionary families. The most prominent example is Xaysomphone Phomvihane, the eldest son of Kaysone Phomvihane, who was elected to the 10th and 11th politburos. Kaysone Phomvihane's wife, Thongvin Phomvihane, served as General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Youth Union from 1988 to 1993. Khampheng Saysompheng, the son-in-law of former LPRP General Secretary Khamtai Siphandon, was elected to the 9th Central Committee, was appointed Minister of Labour and Social Welfare in 2015, and was elected to the 10th Central Committee in 2016. In 2015, Viengthong Siphandone, the wife of Khampheng Saysompheng and daughter of Khamtai Siphandon, was appointed chairwoman of the State Audit Organisation, and in 2016 was elected to the 10th Central Committee. Viengthong Siphandone's brother Sonexay Siphandone was transferred from his governorship of Champasak Province and appointed Minister of the Office of Government in 2015, elected to the 10th Politburo in 2016, and reelected to the 11th in 2021.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: This tendency continued under the stewardship of LPRP General Secretary Choummaly Sayasone, whose brother-in-law Khammeung Phongthady was elected to the 9th Central Committee and was reassigned from his governorship of Vientiane province to be cabinet chief of the Office of the Presidency. Khammeung's reassignment opened the door for Choummaly Sayasone to appoint his eldest son, Vidong Sayasone, to become Secretary of the Vientiane LPRP Provincial Committee. In addition to his secretaryship, Vidong Sayasone was later elected to the 9th Central Committee. Choummaly Sayasone's two other sons, Phoxay Sayasone and Phokham Sayasone, were also appointed to leading party offices, with Phoxay Sayasone elected as a substitute member of the 10th Central Committee. The current LPRP General Secretary Thongloun Sisoulith married the adopted daughter of former acting president Phoumi Vongvichit.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: Writing in "Politics and Reform in Laos", Stuart-Fox remarks that "senior Party members [after the revolution] soon began to dispense patronage in the traditional Lao way, rewarding extended family members and loyal retainers with favours and jobs, for which they were often poorly qualified, to build a political support base... Ironically, this process of political-economic elite formation was powerfully assisted by the introduction of the economic reforms of the 1980s". In this sense, Lao political culture has changed little with the communist seizure of power. This inherent tendency in the LPRP could explain the rent-seeking behaviour of some of its members and its limited organisational capacity. The LPRP differs in this way from its counterparts in China and Vietnam. Stuart-Fox contends that Laos's lack of a state bureaucratic tradition throughout its history has forced Laotians to rely on their extended families and friends. Lao specialists Keith Barney and Simon Creak disagree with Stuart-Fox's assertion and argue "[that] the relatively institutionalised character of Lao authoritarianism, which has placed the top leadership positions less as powers in themselves, and more under the broad discipline of the LPRP. To express this another way, the LPRP provides a disciplining mechanism for the patron-client relations that continue to function throughout society, which in turn depends on party connections."


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The LPRP has a legal monopoly on state power. In turn the state maintains a centralised and unitary form of state power based on democratic centralism. Having the status as "the most ethnically diverse" country of Southeast Asia, the Laotian unitary state system is legitimised by socialist integrationism. This school of thought "[regards] social classes as the key component of social thought and practice, and [regards] the promotion of distributive justice as the appropriate public priority." In other words, differences in class, income, and status are more important than ethnic differences. In the words of Stuart-Fox, the party controls this unitary state through "the government, the bureaucracy, mass organisations and the military. In all four it is virtually "de rigueur" for leading figures to be Party members. In fact, they would not be in those positions unless they were members of the Party. Party cells operate in all institutions, and there is active recruitment of promising younger personnel into the Party, membership of which is by invitation only." Economist Bounlonh J.Soukamneuth concurs with Stuart-Fox's assessment and writes that the "Party monopolises political ambition and regulates public life. Party operatives penetrate all institutions of government and many areas of society. All organisations of the party-state (from the government bureaucracy, the mass organisation, to the military) implement party directives and administer its monopoly on power."


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The party has established cells in every state institution. The intention is to ensure "the party's all-around absolute and direct leadership over all links, from the mapping out of lines and policies, to the organisation of execution and control." The fruit of this labour is, according to former LPRP General Secretary Khamtai Siphandon, that "the party leadership commands historical events." This means that state institutions, such as the Lao Government, implements party directives. Each government ministry appoints a vice minister responsible for implementing party directives.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The preamble of the Lao constitution states that "the correct leadership of the former Indochinese Communist Party and the present Lao People's Revolutionary Party" explains the party's role in society. Still, unlike the statutory roles of the Chinese Communist Party and the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Laotian constitution does not firmly establish the LPRP's leadership over state and society. Rather, Article 3 of the constitution states that "The rights of the multi-ethnic people to be masters of the country are exercised and ensured through the functioning of the political system with the Lao People's Revolutionary Party as its leading nucleus." According to legal scholar Bui Ngoc Son, Article 3 "is not merely expressive of the Marxist orthodoxy of party vanguard but also responsive to the local concern of integration of ethnic diversity. This is an ambiguous constitutional commitment as a response to ethnic plurality." Further the constitution states in Article 10 that the party is subject to the law: "[the Party] must function within the bounds of the Constitution and the laws."


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The Lao People's Armed Forces (LPAF), the military, is tasked by the constitution to defend the gains of the revolution and the achievements of LPRP rule. The constitution says little about civil-military relations and political control over it. The LPRP's own statute clearly states that its political leadership over the military (and other security forces) emanates from the LPRP Central Committee's Defence and Public Security Commission (DPSC) and that the DPSC maintains direct, united, and full control of the LPAF.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: Elections to the unicameral National Assembly are held every five years. The assembly is defined by the constitution as "the representative of the rights, powers and interests of the multi-ethnic people." The body is elected by universal suffrage and secret ballot. The election laws state that to stand for election a candidate must be approved by the Lao Front for National Construction, which decides if the candidate passes criteria outlined in the law. Some of the criteria are quite general, such as a candidate having to "be patriotic, be devoted to the people's democracy, be loyal to the New Economic Mechanism of the Party, be true to the nation, always serve the interests of the people, and have a strong, clear and absolute attitude towards friends and enemies". Other criteria such as a candidate's having to "have a sufficient level of knowledge of the Party's policies and strategic programs, and of State laws and regulations, and have the capacity to undertake propaganda and motivate people to be aware of and to participate in the implementation of Party policies and State laws" makes it easier for LPRP members to be approved as candidates.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: Most candidates, therefore, end up being members of the LPRP. There are usually more candidates than seats; at the 2016 election, 210 candidates were competing for the 149 seats in the 7th National Assembly. While elected representatives have used the National Assembly to question the government on a wide range of policies, such as corruption, the assembly has never punished the government in any sense. Stuart-Fox opines that it is unlikely that [LPRP members] will jeopardise their chances for promotion within the party by questioning their own leaders too closely." Anthropologist Holly High disagrees, and notes that "While in the past the role of the NA [National Assembly] was often dismissed as a mere symbolic nod towards representational politics and a rubber stamp for party directives, perceptions have changed in recent years with the NA now thought of as a key avenue for popular recourse." She notes that National Assembly chairwoman Pany Yathotou has sought to simplify the process whereby constituents can contact and inform their elected representatives. In the same spirit the National Assembly has established a hotline by which any Lao citizen can contact their representative via free-call, letter, or e-mail. At the mid-year plenary session of the National Assembly in 2012, representatives received 280 calls over 17 days. The majority of complaints were about the handling of land issues and compensation.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The LPRP is a Marxist–Leninist party deeply influenced by the Vietnamese and Soviet communists' examples. The party sees itself as "the sole faithful representative of the interests of the working classes, the working people of all Lao nationalities and the entire Lao people." Like the Communist Party of Vietnam, the LPRP nurtures the idea that socialism can only succeed if a disciplined and genuinely revolutionary party is in place. Thus, the party considers itself the directing force of the socialist revolution and socialist construction, and sees as its responsibility to propagate Marxist values. That is, it considers itself to be a vanguard party. Thus, the LPRP contends that there is no reason, ideologically, for other parties to exist. In light of this, Kayasone Phomvihane once told "The New York Times" that "The Laotian people have faith in and agree with the People's Revolutionary Party's leadership since the party belongs to the people, originates from the people and serves the people. Our Laotian party does not yet see any need for establishing other political parties."


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: LPRP study material states that earlier revolutionary heroes against French oppression—such as Ong Keo, Kommadam, Chao-Fa Patchai, and Pho Kadout—"were defeated because there was no Party to lead the struggle." Party cadres are therefore told that they are the "vanguard of the revolution" since they've acquired knowledge of the contradictions in Lao society and, during the Laotian Civil War, understood that the only way to establish a free Laos was through armed struggle. A good cadre is therefore defined by the LPRP as someone "who is loyal to the nation and willing to serve the people, obeys his leaders without question, keeps good discipline, respects the system, improves himself through study... [and] be resolute, brave, and undiscouraged in the face of difficulties."


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The National Congress is the party's highest body, and convenes every five years. According to the party statute, the Central Committee convenes the national congress. The party statute gives the Congress the following responsibilities:


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: In between LPRP convocations of the National Congress, the Central Committee is the highest decision-making institution. The Central Committee elects the membership of several bodies to carry out its work. The 1st Plenary Session of a newly elected Central Committee elects the party's General Secretary, Defence and Public Security Commission (DPSC), the Secretariat, the Politburo, and the Inspection Commission. The Politburo exercises the functions and powers of the Central Committee when the latter is not in session. The DPSC is the highest decision-making institution regarding military and security affairs within the party, and controls the operations of the Lao People's Armed Forces. The LPRP General Secretary is by right of office the DPSC chairman. Meanwhile, the Secretariat is the top implementation body and is headed by the LPRP General Secretary as the 1st-ranking member and the Inspection Commission chairman as the 2nd-ranking member, with the 3rd-ranking member serving as the Standing Member. LPRP secretaries normally head or work in Central Committee commissions, the "Pasaxon" and "Alun Mai" publications, and so on. The Inspection Commission resolves disciplinary issues involving party members. Subjects for investigation range from graft to anti-party and counter-revolutionary activities, and generally encompass all party rules violations.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The Lao People's Revolutionary Youth Union (LPRYU) is the LPRP's youth league. It was established in 1983, and is modelled organisationally on the LPRP; it has its own General Secretary, Politburo, Secretariat, and Central Committee. It convenes a national congress, its highest decision-making body, every five years; and it publishes its own newspaper, the "Num Lao".


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The party is guided by Marxism–Leninism, a synthesis of the ideas of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, and Kaysone Phomvihane Thought, which builds upon Marxism–Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thought. Kaysone Phomvihane said as much in 1970: "The resounding victories of the Indochinese peoples in the past quarter-century cannot be separated from the introduction of Marxism–Leninism into Indochina [and that it] provides guidance for its action


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: and points out practical ways to advance the revolution in Laos." Party pamphlets further note that it was Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that discovered the universal principles of communism.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: In December 1975, at the 3rd Plenary Session of the 2nd Central Committee, the party made clear its intention to skip the capitalist phase in its advance towards socialism. However, the same plenary session considered the socialist transformation of agriculture (collectivisation) as unlikely considering the country's level of development. It went on to say that the LPRP had no intention of abolishing capitalist property relations. The reigning belief was that the country's low level of political and cultural maturity, the LPRP's weak organisational capacity, and the state sector's immaturity made it impossible to skip capitalism and immediately initiate socialist construction. The party thus decided on a long-term strategy of transitioning towards socialism: (1) it sought to eliminate traces of both imperialism, colonialism, and feudalism, while building a people's democratic regime by extending administrative power from the centre to the grassroots; and (2) normalising people's lives by reestablishing capitalist relations alongside establishing new socialist relations of production.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: In October 1975, the 3rd Plenary Session of the 2nd Central Committee further clarified party ideology. Kaysone Phomvihane believed that Laos was facing a dialetical struggle against American imperialism and its local puppets. This he identified as part of a "two-line struggle" between socialism and capitalism. At the 5th Plenary Session of the 2nd Central Committee, Kaysone Phomvihane stated that "the struggle against imperialism, struggle between them and us, class struggle, and struggle to build a new regime were related to 'who is winning over whom' between socialism and capitalism". This ideological change to the "two-line struggle" needed to be followed by speeding up socialist construction. In February 1977, the 4th Plenary Session of the 2nd Central Committee decided that nationalisation and collectivisation were the means to accomplish this. Kaysone Phomvihane quipped "that abolishing feudalistic ownership and exploitation, confiscating the assets of a reactionary feudalist and comprador capitalists... [and] constructing socialist relations of production in the state economy based on two forms of primary ownership: ownership by all the people and collective ownership."


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: In 1979, at the 7th Plenary Session of the 2nd Central Committee, the party line changed yet again, and now emphasised introducing market relations into the economy. The decision was grounded in the idea that the transition to socialism was a long historical process, and that Laos was still in the early stages of socialism. The party confirmed that the state and collective enterprises would play a major role in the economy, but that state capitalism, private ownership, and individual economic activity would continue and be utilised by the state for socialist construction. According to economist Norihiko Yamada:


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: ...socialism lost its substantial meaning and was no longer considered a realistic national goal. While socialism remained the LPRP's eventual goal, as it does today, the party acknowledged that the transition period would be longer than expected. Even though the party did not abandon socialism, it was unsure how long the transition would be and when socialist construction would be complete. In other words, socialism became ideal. In its place, post-war reconstruction and establishing the necessary foundations for state-building became the realistic goal of the state.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The implications of the 1979 changes did not dawn on the party leadership before the mid-1980s. In the beginning, the market reforms were promoted under the umbrella of the Socialist Economic Management Mechanism, and by 1984 the New Economic Management Mechanism. Both these terms stressed the importance of state management of the economy. The LPRP still deemed "that the state economy, collective economy and state capitalism were based on the principle of a planned economy, whereas the private and individual sectors were based on the principle of commodity-money relations." At the 8th Plenary Session of the 2nd Central Committee, Kaysone Phomvihane told the plenum that the two-line struggle between socialism and capitalism had entered a new and complex stage. At the 3rd National Congress Kaysone Phomvihane further clarified his statement, claiming that the two-line struggle was between those who supported and those who opposed economic reforms. In reaction to opposition from party officials, especially those centred around Nouhak Phoumsavanh, Kaysone Phomvihane introduced the term New Thinking into ideological discourse at the 4th National Congress. The term was defined in opposition to what Kayasone Phomvihane termed "old thinking":


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: "Sometimes in the past, they [leaders] did not have the courage to speak frankly about the facts, difficulties and shortcomings of their work with the people, but they were trying to speak about only achievements and victories. That is not a scientific way of thinking, and it is wrong... Speaking in accordance with facts is new thinking... Trusting the people, speaking frankly, and talking with people according to facts is the new way of thinking and the new work style. The other way around, not trusting the people, distorting the facts, not revealing the difficulties and shortcomings, are the outdated way of thinking and the old way. Old thinking is subjective and impatient... One example of old thinking is to see only negative aspects of a non-socialist economic sector but not to see any of its advantages in economic development and the improvement of people's lives. Therefore, we think that changing the ownership of the means of production is the key to developing a production force, which will automatically lead to the improvement of people's lives."


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: While economic reforms increased economic growth and raised the standard of living, the reforms also produced what the LPRP termed "negative phenomena" such as corruption, fraud, economic disparity, and income inequality. LPRP Chairman Khamtai Siphandon therefore initiated a campaign to strengthen socialist values, and told a party gathering that "to control the grassroots and people is a serious struggle of 'who will win over whom?' between our enemies and us." Shortly afterwards, Secretariat member Chueang Sombounkhan published in "Alun Mai" an article that clarified the party's position on socialism: "to prepare for the transition phase it is necessary to reserve a certain period of time, which means 'transition for transition' or 'indirect transition', for reaching socialism. Generally, such a transition path is the longest, a complex and difficult route." In the words of Yamada:


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: "[the LPRP] claimed that Laos was in transition for transition, or in an ultra-long transition and that the negative aspects of economic growth were caused by this process. The party used this argument to legitimate their line as well as to trivialise the problems. However, even if such a theory could legitimate the long transition to socialism and its concomitant problems, it did not necessarily resolve the gap between socialism and the market economy. In other words, the party did not have a theoretical measure to deal with the problems, except for socialism. Therefore, the party trivialised problems arising from economic development as an ideological struggle."


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: In 2006, at the 8th National Congress the LPRP sought yet again to clarify its Marxist–Leninist position. It decided that as long as the party's policies were "(i) developing economic power; (ii) strengthening the state and ensuring political stability; and (iii) improving living standards and creating benefits for the people" it was socialist. The Political Report of the 7th Central Committee to the 8th National Congress further stated that "to achieve the long-term goal defined by the party, we must consider industrialisation and modernisation as the priority in development because the socialist transformation has the same target and goal as industrialisation and modernisation." Thus, the party tried to clarify why it was both logical and legitimate to use markets to construct socialism. It claimed that successful nation-state building was a prerequisite for creating socialist conditions. However, by the 9th National Congress, LPRP General Secretary Choummaly Sayasone stressed the importance of strengthening ideological work and understanding:


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: "[We must] continue to adhere firmly to Marxism–Leninism and socialist ideals, pay attention to research and grasp some [of the] basic principles of Marxism–Leninism, then apply them creatively and appropriately to the real situation of our state by adjusting the [party] line to the requirement of national development. In order to provide direction for the party's actual leadership and to solve problems appropriately, we always learn lessons from practice and stick to the renovation line by opposing dogmatism, primordialism, subjectivism, radicalism and thought not grasping the real situation and principle of renovation."


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: By 2016, the party had modernised its ideological framework. The 10th National Congress amended the party statute, and Kaysone Phomvihane Thought was added. By adopting Kaysone Phomvihane Thought, the party sought to legitimise party rule and its economic policies further. Its adoption was a breach of party tradition, for the LPRP had never named a theory after an individual before; unlike the Chinese Communist Party, which has adopted Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese characteristics for a New Era; the Communist Party of Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh Thought; the Workers' Party of Korea's Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism; and Fidelism in Cuba. While the party failed to expound on the term's meaning at the 10th National Congress, the term itself had been used occasionally earlier. To celebrate Kaysone Phomvihane's 85th anniversary in 2006, the LPRP organised the seminar "Kaysone Phomvihane Thought in the Construction and Development of the People's Democratic Regime along the Road of Socialism". The seminar extolled him "as the key thinker and theorist of the party, the initiator of the 1979 reforms, and as an heir to Marx and Vladimir Lenin who creatively applied Marxism-Leninism to Laos." Kaysone Phomvihane Thought was in turn defined as a fundamental theory for the renovation of the party and as a guide for the party and the country.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The LPRP maintains party-to-party relations with communist and non-communist parties, alike. It is a regular attendee of the International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties, an international forum of communist parties. It also maintains close party-to-party relations with the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Communist Party of Cuba, the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), the Workers' Party of Korea, and the Cambodian People's Party.


title: Lao People's Revolutionary Party

text: The CPV and the CPC usually compete for influence in Laos, but the LPRP remains closest to the CPV. While the CPC often gives aid to Laos and the LPRP, the relationship lacks the rituals that characterise the LPRP–CPV relationship. To exemplify, during a routine visit to Laos in December 2015, the Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Phạm Bình Minh awarded the Order of Independence (Class 2 and 3), Order of Labour (Class 3), and Order of Friendship to his Laotian counterparts for their "outstanding performance" in enhancing ties between Laos and Vietnam. The priority given to ties with the CPV is seen in other areas as well. For instance, upon his election as LPRP General Secretary, Bounnhang Vorachith reached out to his Vietnamese counterpart first and to the CPC at a later date.


title: Special Marriage Act, 1954

text: The Special Marriage Act, 1954 is an Act of the Parliament of India with provision for civil marriage (or "registered marriage") for people of India and all Indian nationals in foreign countries, irrelevant of the religion or faith followed by either party. The Act originated from a piece of legislation proposed during the late 19th century. Marriages solemnized under Special Marriage Act are not governed by personal laws.


title: Special Marriage Act, 1954

text: Henry Sumner Maine first introduced Act III of 1872, which would permit any dissenters to marry whomever they chose under a new civil marriage law. In the final wording, the law sought to legitimize marriages for those willing to renounce their profession of faith altogether ("I do not profess the Hindu, Christian, Jewish, etc. religion"). It can apply in inter-caste and inter-religion marriages. The Bill faced opposition from local governments and administrators, who believed that it would encourage marriages based on lust, which would inevitably lead to immorality.


title: Special Marriage Act, 1954

text: The Special Marriage Act, 1954 replaced the old Act III, 1872. The new enactment had three major objectives:


title: Special Marriage Act, 1954

text: Court Marriage is a union of two soul where oath ceremony is performed according to Special Marriage Act-1954 before the Registrar of Marriage in the presence of three witnesses thereafter a court marriage certificate is issued directly by the Registrar of Marriage appointed by the Govt. of India.


title: Special Marriage Act, 1954

text: Succession to the property of person married under this Act or customary marriage registered under this Act and that of their children, are governed by Indian Succession Act. However, if the parties to the marriage are Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or Jain religion, the succession to their property will be governed by Hindu succession Act.


title: Special Marriage Act, 1954

text: The Supreme Court of India, in 2006, made it required to enroll all relational unions. In India, a marriage can either be enlisted under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 or under the Special Marriage Act, 1954. The Hindu Marriage Act is pertinent to Hindus, though the Special Marriage Act is appropriate to all residents of India regardless of their religion applicable at Court marriage.


title: Buckhead

text: Buckhead is the uptown commercial and residential district of the city of Atlanta, Georgia, comprising approximately the northernmost fifth of the city. Buckhead is the third largest business district within the Atlanta city limits, behind Downtown and Midtown, a major commercial and financial center of the Southeast.


title: Buckhead

text: Buckhead is anchored by a core of high-rise office buildings, hotels, shopping centers, restaurants and condominiums centered around the intersection of Peachtree Road and Piedmont Road near Georgia State Route 400, the Buckhead MARTA station, and Lenox Square.


title: Buckhead

text: In 1838, Henry Irby purchased 202 1/2 acres surrounding the present intersection of Peachtree, Roswell, and West Paces Ferry roads from Daniel Johnson for $650. Irby subsequently established a general store and tavern at the northwest corner of the intersection. The name "Buckhead" comes from a story that Irby killed a large buck deer and placed the head in a prominent location. Prior to this, the settlement was called Irbyville. By the late 1800s, Buckhead had become a rural vacation spot for wealthy Atlantans. In the 1890s, Buckhead was rechristened Atlanta Heights but by the 1920s it was again "Buckhead".


title: Buckhead

text: Buckhead remained dominated by country estates until after World War I, when many of Atlanta's wealthy began building mansions among the area's rolling hills. Simultaneously, a number of Black enclaves began popping up in Buckhead, following events like the 1906 Atlanta race riot and the Great Atlanta fire of 1917, which drove black residents from the city center. Predominantly black neighborhoods within Buckhead included Johnsontown, Piney Grove, Savagetown, and Macedonia Park.


title: Buckhead

text: Despite the stock market crash of 1929, lavish mansions were still constructed in Buckhead throughout the Great Depression. In 1930, Henry Aaron Alexander built one of the largest homes on Peachtree Road, a house with 33 rooms and 13 bathrooms. During the mid-1940s, Fulton County decided to acquire the land comprising Macedonia Park to build what is now Frankie Allen Park. This process, which entailed both eminent domain and "outright coercion" displaced over 400 families.


title: Buckhead

text: During the mid 1940s, Atlanta Mayor William B. Hartsfield sought to annex Buckhead, and a number of other predominantly White suburbs of Atlanta. Fearing that the city's "Negro population is growing by leaps and bounds", and was "taking more white territory inside Atlanta", Hartsfield sought to annex these communities to counteract the threat of increasing political power for the city's Black residents. The annexation of Buckhead was put to a vote in 1947, but it was rejected by Buckhead voters. Atlanta annexed Buckhead and a number of other nearby communities in 1952, following legislature which expanded Atlanta's city boundaries.


title: Buckhead

text: In 1956, an estate known as Joyeuse was chosen as the site for a major shopping center to be known as Lenox Square. The mall was designed by Joe Amisano, an architect who designed many of Atlanta's modernist buildings. When Lenox Square opened in 1959, it was one of the first malls in the country, and the largest shopping center in the Southeastern U.S. Office development soon followed with the construction of Tower Place in 1974.


title: Buckhead

text: To reverse a downturn in Buckhead Village during the 1980s, minimum parking spot requirements for bars were lifted, which quickly led to it becoming the most dense concentration of bars and clubs in the Atlanta area. Many bars and clubs catered mostly to the black community in the Atlanta area, including Otto's, Cobalt, 112, BAR, World Bar, Lulu's Bait Shack, Mako's, Tongue & Groove, Chaos, John Harvard's Brew House, Paradox, Frequency & Havana Club. The area became renowned as a party spot for Atlanta area rappers and singers, including Outkast, Jazze Pha, Jagged Edge, Usher and Jermaine Dupri, who mentioned the neighborhood's clubs on his song "Welcome to Atlanta."


title: Buckhead

text: Following the events of the Ray Lewis murder case in Buckhead on the night of the 2000 Super Bowl (held in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome), as well as a series of murders involving the Black Mafia Family, residents sought to ameliorate crime by taking measures to reduce the community's nightlife and re-establish a more residential character. The Buckhead Coalition's president and former Atlanta Mayor Sam Massell, along with councilwoman Mary Norwood were instrumental in persuading the Atlanta City Council to pass a local ordinance to close bars at 2:30 AM rather than 4 AM, and liquor licenses were made more difficult to obtain. Eventually, most of the Buckhead Village nightlife district was acquired for the "Buckhead Atlanta" multi-use project, and many of the former bars and clubs were razed in 2007.


title: Buckhead

text: In 2008, a newsletter by the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation began circulating that proposed the secession of Buckhead into its own city after more than 50 years as part of Atlanta. This came on the heels of neighboring Sandy Springs, which finally became a city in late 2005 after a 30-year struggle to incorporate, and which triggered other such incorporations in metro Atlanta's northern suburbs. Like those cities, the argument to create a city of Buckhead is based on the desire for more local control and lower taxes.


title: Buckhead

text: Discussions revolving around potential secession from Atlanta were revived in late 2021, with proponents of secession arguing that splitting from Atlanta would enable Buckhead to better tackle crime in the area. In Atlanta's Police Zone 2, which includes Buckhead, Lenox Park, Piedmont Heights, and West Midtown, murder was up 63% in 2021 compared to the previous year, going from 8 cases to 13. However, in the same period crime overall was down by 6%, and according to police chief Rodney Bryant, Zone 2 had only a fraction of the violent crimes seen in other neighborhoods of Atlanta.


title: Buckhead

text: Buckhead, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Atlanta, would deprive the city of 38% of its tax revenue if it seceded. Political scientists and journalists have also highlighted that Buckhead is significantly more conservative and white than the rest of Atlanta. Commentators have also noted that this secession attempt is "more serious" than earlier efforts, due to polling data showing 54% to 70% of Buckhead's residents favor the move, and due to pro-secession organizations raising nearly $1,000,000 to promote the split. A referendum is unlikely to take place in 2022 or early 2023, as the Georgia General Assembly tabled the bills that would have provided for this referendum during the 2022 legislative session.


title: Buckhead

text: Buckhead was originally the central area now called "Buckhead Village". The current usage of the term Buckhead roughly covers the interior of the "V" formed by Interstate 85 on the east and Interstate 75 on the west. Buckhead is bordered by Cumberland and Vinings in Cobb County to the northwest, the city of Sandy Springs to the north, Brookhaven and North Druid Hills in DeKalb County to the east, Midtown Atlanta to the south, and West Midtown to the west.


title: Buckhead

text: The southernmost area around the Brookwood and Ardmore neighborhoods is sometimes regarded as a separate neighborhood of "South Buckhead".


title: Buckhead

text: Since at least the 1950s, Buckhead has been known as a district of extreme wealth, with the western and northern neighborhoods being virtually unrivaled in the Southeast. In 2011, The Gadberry Group compiled the list of the 50 wealthiest zip codes in the United States, ranking Buckhead's western zip code (30327) as the second wealthiest zip code in the South (behind Palm Beach's 33480) and the second wealthiest zip code east of California and south of Virginia.


title: Buckhead

text: The same group reported the average household income at $280,631, with an average household net worth of $1,353,189. These 2011 figures are up from a similar 2005 study that pegged Buckhead as the wealthiest community in the South and the only settlement south of the Washington D.C. suburb of Great Falls, and east of the Phoenix suburb of Paradise Valley to be among the 50 wealthiest communities in the country. However, according to "Forbes" magazine, (30327) is the ninth-wealthiest zip code in the nation, with a household income in excess of $341,000.


title: Buckhead

text: The "Robb Report" magazine has consistently ranked Buckhead one of the nation's "10 Top Affluent Communities" due to "the most beautiful mansions, best shopping, and finest restaurants in the Southeastern United States". Due to its wealth, Buckhead is sometimes promoted as the "Beverly Hills of the East" or "Beverly Hills of the South" in reference to Beverly Hills, California, an area to which it is often compared.


title: Buckhead

text: At the heart of Buckhead around the intersections of Lenox, Peachtree and Piedmont Roads, is a shopping district with more than 1,500 retail units where shoppers spend more than $3 billion a year. In addition, Buckhead contains the highest concentration of upscale boutiques in the United States. The majority are located at Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza, sister regional malls located diagonally across from each other at the intersection of Peachtree and Lenox Roads. The malls are home to designer boutiques, mainstream national retailers, as well as six major department stores. This commercial core also has a concentration of "big-box" retailers. The "Buckhead Atlanta" mixed-use development brought even more exclusive boutiques, restaurants, hotels, condos and office space to the heart of Buckhead in 2014. The name of the project was rebranded as 'Buckhead Atlanta'.


title: Buckhead

text: Buckhead is also a center for healthcare, and is home both to Piedmont Hospital and the private, catastrophic care hospital Shepherd Center which specializes in spinal cord injury and acquired brain injury. The two hospitals are located adjacent to one another along Peachtree Road. (This location is known as "Cardiac Hill" by runners of the annual Peachtree Road Race.)


title: Buckhead

text: Buckhead is also the location of a large share of Atlanta's diplomatic missions. Consulates in Buckhead include the Consulate-General of Australia and the Australian Trade Commission, the Consulate-General of France and the French Trade Commission, the Consulate-General of Brazil, the Consulate-General of Japan, and the Consulate of Greece.


title: Buckhead

text: In 1982 the Buckhead Business Association created an official boundary map for Buckhead. The Georgia House of Representatives adopted that boundary, as did the Atlanta Regional Commission.


title: Buckhead

text: While much of west and north Buckhead is preserved as single-family homes in forested settings, the Peachtree Road corridor has become a major focus of high-rise construction. The first 400-foot (121 m) office tower, Tower Place, opened in 1974. Park Place, built in 1986, was the first 400+ foot (121+ m) condominium building. 1986 also saw the completion of the 425-foot (129 m), 34-story Atlanta Plaza, then Buckhead's tallest and largest building. In 2000, Park Avenue Condominiums pushed the record to 486 feet (148 m).


title: Buckhead

text: Since that time, a wave of development has followed. The 660-foot (201 m) Sovereign and 580-foot (177 m) Mandarin Oriental, now renamed the Waldorf-Astoria, were completed in 2008. Many luxury high-rise apartment buildings have been built recently, including the 26-story Post Alexander High Rise in 2014 and the 26-story SkyHouse Buckhead in 2014. Today, Buckhead has over 50 high-rise buildings, almost one-third of the city's total.


title: Buckhead

text: By 2012, due to overall population increases in Buckhead, many schools became increasingly crowded. Brandon Elementary was at 97% capacity, Garden Hills was at 102% capacity, E. Rivers was at 121% capacity, and Sutton was at 150% capacity. In the round of school zone change proposals in 2012, Ernie Suggs of "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" said that the zones of Buckhead "remained pretty much intact."


title: Buckhead

text: Local private schools include the Atlanta International School, the Atlanta Speech School, Christ the King School, the Atlanta Girls School, The Galloway School, Holy Spirit Preparatory School, Trinity School, The Lovett School, Pace Academy, and The Westminster Schools.


title: Buckhead

text: Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business' Buckhead Center is located in the heart of Buckhead. This facility houses Georgia State's Executive MBA program. Its "Leadership Speaker Series", which showcases an agenda of executive officers from prestigious, well-known companies is also hosted at their Buckhead Center.


title: Buckhead

text: The University of Georgia's Terry College of Business Executive Education Center is located in Buckhead. This facility houses the University's executive MBA program and Terry Third Thursday, a lecture series featuring business leaders.


title: Buckhead

text: There are two branches of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System in Buckhead: Northside Branch and Buckhead Branch.


title: Buckhead

text: The main north-south street of Buckhead is Peachtree Road, which extends south into the heart of the city as Peachtree Street, Atlanta's main street. This name change is significant in that it defines a border between Buckhead and Midtown. The main east-west street is Paces Ferry Road, named for a former ferry that used to cross the Chattahoochee River. Hardy Pace, one of Atlanta's founders, operated the ferry and owned much of what is now Buckhead. In addition to Peachtree and West Paces Ferry Roads, other arterial roads include Piedmont Road (Georgia 237), Roswell Road (Georgia State Route 9), and Northside Parkway.


title: Buckhead

text: In the early 1990s, after a bitter fight against GDOT by residents, Buckhead was split in two by Georgia 400, a tolled extension of a freeway connecting I-285 to I-85. However, MARTA's Red Line extension was put in the highway's median, providing additional mass transit to Buckhead and Sandy Springs.


title: Buckhead

text: MARTA operates three stations in Buckhead, the southernmost being Lindbergh Center. Just north of there, the Red and Gold lines split, with the Gold Line's Lenox station at the southwest corner of the Lenox Square parking lot, and the Red Line's Buckhead station on the west side of the malls where Peachtree crosses 400. A free circulator bus called "the buc" (Buckhead Uptown Connection) stops at all three stations. The proposed extension of the Atlanta Streetcar to Buckhead (nicknamed the "Peachtree Streetcar" because it would run along Peachtree Street in Downtown Atlanta and Peachtree Road in Buckhead) would provide street-level service with frequent stops all the way to downtown Atlanta, complementing the existing subway-type MARTA train service for the area.


title: Buckhead

text: In 2017, the Relay Bike Share program expanded into Buckhead. Three new stations were installed with plans to add more in the future.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: Suning Holdings Group Co., Ltd. () is a Chinese privately held company. The company shared the same founder Zhang Jindong with the listed company Suning.com, but Suning Holdings was the unlisted portion of Zhang's unincorporated Suning Group. According to All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, Suning Holdings Group was ranked as the second largest civilian-run enterprise in the Mainland China in 2018.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: Suning Holdings, as of 2016, owned an equity stake of 3.33% in Suning.com, formerly known as Suning Commerce Group () and Suning Appliance ().


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: Those companies also shared almost the same name with sister company Suning Appliance Group (), which Zhang owned 48.10% stake as the second largest shareholder. As at 31 December 2016 Suning Appliance Group was the second largest shareholder of Suning.com, after Zhang. Suning Appliance Group was owned by ex-senior staff of Suning.com (including Zhang himself) as at 2002. Since circa 2015 to 10 April 2017, it was owned by Bu Yang (49.1%), Zhang (48.1%) and Sun Weimin (2.8%), the three senior official of Suning.com.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: In 2020 ranked second in the top 500 non-state owned enterprises in China with annual revenues of RMB 665.259 billion and continued to top the list of Internet retailing category.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: On February 28, 2021, according to the Reuters Suning.com sold 23% stake to state-owned investors to improve equity structure, long-term strategy due to financial woes.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: Suning Holdings, via a subsidiary, Suning Rundong (), subscribed the capital increase of Nubia Technology, a subsidiary of Chinese tech company ZTE for in December 2015. After the deal Suning Rundong owned 33.33% stake in Nubia. Nubia Technology sold mobile phone branded "Nubia". In 2016 Nubia became a sponsor of Jiangsu Suning F.C., a sister company of Suning Rundong for a reported . In April 2016 Suning Rundong sold 4.90% stake in Nubia to Suning Commerce Group (Suning.com) for , proportional to the original subscribe price.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: As of 2015, Suning Holdings owned 70% stake in Suning Rundong, Suning.com owned 10% and Chen Yan () owned 20% stake. The stake that held by Suning Holdings, was increased to 80% in 2016, acquiring an additional 10% from Suning.com.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: Suning Culture Investment Management Co., Ltd. () was another investment vehicle of the group. As of 2015, it was 90% owned by Suning Holdings Group and 10% owned by Chen Yan.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: Suning Culture Investment Management invested for 10% stake in China International Broadcasting Network (CIBN; incorporated as ), an internet television channel.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: On 31 October 2015 Suning Culture Investment acquired 68.08% stake in a video hosting and streaming website: PPTV (the parent company was incorporated as PPLive Corporation, the local unit was incorporated as Shanghai SynaCast Media Tech) from Caymans-incorporated Great Universe Limited, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of sister company Suning.com for . PPTV secured the exclusive China TV rights of La Liga for 5 seasons in mid-2015.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: As of 31 December 2016, it was 80% owned by Suning Holdings and 20% owned by Chen Yan. Moreover, all the paid-in share capital was contributed by Suning Holdings.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: Suning Jinkong purchased 35% stake of Suning Jinfu (), for in April 2016. That company was a subsidiary of Suning.com. The 35% stake was later transferred to a private equity fund Nanjing Runyu (), which Suning.com claimed that, the fund was still controlled by Suning Holdings. According to National Credit Information Publicity System, however, CITIC Trust was a unit holder of the private equity fund; Suning Rundong was the general partner of the fund, which the fund incorporated as a limited partnership.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: Jiangsu Suning Sports (), is a joint venture of Suning Holdings and Suning Appliance Group. Suning Sports had a share capital of . As of 31 December 2016, Suning Holdings owned 90% stake.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: Suning Sports became an angel investor of Champdas (incorporated as ), a company specialize in sports statistics in 2016. Suning Sports also appointed football coach and former player Gong Lei as their sports director.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: Jiangsu Suning Sports had a sister company Suning Sports International Limited, a company incorporated in Hong Kong, which was the subsidiary of Suning Culture Investment Management instead, at the date of incorporation on 26 May 2016. However, it was known that Jiangsu Suning Sports had acquired Suning Sports International on 30 May 2016.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: On February 28, 2021, Suning Group immediately halt operations at their Chinese football clubs - including champions Jiangsu FC - due to financial woes.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: On 6 June 2016 Suning Holdings, via Great Horizon S.à r.l., signed a contract to acquire a majority stake (about 70% shares) in Inter Milan by the subscription of a capital increase and from the consortium of Erick Thohir (International Sports Capital) and the consortium of Massimo Moratti (Internazionale Holding). The deal was approved by the extraordinary general meeting on 28 June, which after the deal, Suning Holdings owned 68.55% shares.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: According to website "Calcio e Finanza" (which purchased filings in Hong Kong Companies Registry and Luxembourg Business Registers) and "Il Sole 24 Ore" columnist Carlo Festa, Great Horizon direct parent company was Suning Sports International Limited, in turn a subsidiary of Suning Culture International Limited (as of the date of incorporation of Suning Sports International on 26 May 2016), in turn a subsidiary of Suning Culture Investment Management.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: According Suning Sports International's 2017 "Annual Return" submission to the Hong Kong Companies Registry, Jiangsu Suning Sports had acquired the entire share capital of Suning Sports International from sister company Suning Culture International on 30 May 2016, few weeks before the takeover of Inter Milan. However, Chen Yan remained as the sole director of Suning Sports International.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: In February 2021, according to the Financial Times Inter Milan is working with Goldman Sachs and rushing to raise at least $200m in emergency cash or sale the club, after the Italian football club's finances deteriorated due to the pandemic and heavy spending on top players.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: On May 2, 2021, four days before the end of the Serie A championship, he won the nineteenth championship in the history of the club, 11 years after the triumph of the season 009-2010. The Suning group, in the fifth year of management of the company, after the second place in domestic league of the season 2019-2020 and the defeat in the final of UEFA Europa League, is the first foreign property to win the Scudetto in Italy and the first Chinese to win in Europe. In mid-May 2021, Inter signed a 275 million euro ($336 million) deal with US based Oaktree Capital Management in the hope the deal will help the team's troubled finances that were damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund granted the loan to Great Horizon Sarl – the Luxembourg-based holdings company via which Suning controls Inter.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: In the first five years of Suning management, the company value touches + 120% (second best performance in Europe), more than 500 million euros are spent on the market, 500 million fans are reached in worldwide and the highest growth in all of Europe of followers on social media (+ 232%) and new infrastructures are also created such as the club house in the sports center, the Inter media house, the center for the youth sector and the new headquarters in Viale della Liberazione, Milan.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: Suning's public welfare philosophy is "Rooting Society and Growing Business". The Suning Social Worker Voluntary Action "1 + 1 Sunshine Walk" invites Suning employees to take voluntary social responsibility. At least one day per year is used for social volunteer work and at least one salary day is donated each year for public assistance donations. In addition to donating to charity, Suning also initiated the "Suning Nesting Action" to build school buildings in poor areas; the "Suning Xiqiao Project" to help repair repairs in remote areas to solve travel difficulties and finance the "Suning Sunny Dream" rural education. Additionally, Suning Appliance annually sponsors tree planting activities in various regions of China.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: On December 26, 2013, following the tradition of celebrating public welfare, Suning made charitable donations, including the donation of 36,95 millions yuan. In August 2016, Suning, which recently became the majority shareholder of Inter, donated € 200,000 to help the people affected by the earthquake in Central Italy.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: In January 2020, with the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, Suning Holdings Group mobilized through the divisions of "Suning International" and "Suning Logistics", supported relief efforts from the start of the emergency, with free shipping services and product donations imported from abroad to local hospitals and institutions. President Zhang Kangyang, the Inter club and Suning have donated 300,000 Personal protective equipment and Surgical mask to Wuhan and to the Hubei hospital, to support the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Suning Holdings Group

text: On February 25, 2021, Suning Group received the "China Charity Awards" for the sixth time, the highest recognition in this field, for continuing its efforts in the fight against poverty. Suning has donated more than RMB 2,3 billions for targeted poverty reduction and rural revitalization, with RMB 850 millions earmarked for special initiatives. Suning has donated funds and equipment to 388 impoverished counties in over 20 provinces, including Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Xinjiang and Shaanxi. The company has built 170 Suning bridges, 160 Suning Dream Center, 74 Suning school buildings, helping to solve the issues of basic education and housing for more than 100,000 school-age children in the country's rural areas, 20 roads and countless other public interest projects. In addition, its football charity program covers over 300 schools, while the Dream Caravan-Suning project to bring education to students across the country has already reached 60 schools, starting dozens of educational courses. It has opened over 7,000 E-commerce stores and created channels to help farmers sell their products on digital pavilions. Total sales exceeded RMB 14 billions, destined for over 10,000 poverty-stricken villages and helping over 500,000 families. The company also launched 116 poverty reduction training centers in 111 hard-hit counties, employing more than 6,000 people.


title: Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer

text: The Filmfare Best Male Playback Singer Award is given by Indian film magazine "Filmfare" as a part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a male playback singer who has delivered an outstanding performance in a film song.


text: Although the Filmfare Awards started in 1954, awards for the best playback singer category started in 1959. From inception of the category through 1967, both the female and male singers used to compete for a single award, after which separate categories were created for female and male singers respectively.


title: Sonic Lost World

text: "Lost World" focuses on the efforts of Sonic the Hedgehog to stop the Deadly Six, an alien tribe that serves as the game's main antagonists, as they seek to siphon the world's energy from the Lost Hex, the game's setting. Sonic and his long-time sidekick Tails must team up with Doctor Eggman, normally their enemy, to stop the Deadly Six, leading to conflicts among the three parties. While the gameplay is typical of the "Sonic" series in some ways, it adds parkour mechanics and features largely cylindrical level design with an emphasis on alternate pathways. The game also features the Wisp creatures from "Sonic Colors" as power-ups.


title: Sonic Lost World

text: The game began development shortly after the 2010 release of "Sonic Colors". It was designed to be streamlined and fluid in movement and design, using tube-like level design and a simple, bright color scheme. The game received mixed reviews upon release; its controls and the Deadly Six were frequently criticized, but its visuals and audio were seen positively. Downloadable content was released both alongside and after the game's release, adding features such as additional levels and a new type of Wisp power.


title: Sonic Lost World

text: "Sonic Lost World" is a platform game with action-adventure elements, in which the player controls Sonic the Hedgehog as he travels across the Lost Hex in order to rescue captured animals and stop the Deadly Six. Levels range from side-scrolling 2D levels to fast-moving 3D linear levels to levels taking place on spherical worlds similar to the canceled "Sonic X-treme" and the "Super Mario Galaxy" series. This also translates to the 3DS version, as it was the first handheld game in the series presented entirely in 3D.


title: Sonic Lost World

text: The game uses a new control system which allows players to control Sonic's speed. Simply moving the directional controls will move Sonic at a moderate pace, allowing for more precision. Holding down a trigger button will cause Sonic to sprint, allowing him to move faster and perform new parkour moves, such as running up and along walls and hopping over small ledges. In the air, Sonic can perform a double jump, which returns from "Sonic Colors", a homing attack, which can now target multiple enemies in quick succession, and a new kick attack, which can be used to defeat stronger enemies, or knock them into others.