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Transition economy

A transition economy or transitional economy is an economy which is changing from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. Transition economies undergo a set of structural transformations intended to develop market-based institutions. These include economic liberalization, where prices are set by market forces rather than by a central planning organization. In addition to this trade barriers are removed, there is a push to privatize state-owned enterprises and resources, state and collectively run enterprises are restructured as businesses, and a financial sector is created to facilitate macroeconomic stabilization and the movement of private capital. The process has been applied in China, the former Soviet Union and Eastern bloc countries of Europe and some Third world countries, and detailed work has been undertaken on its economic and social effects.

The transition process is usually characterized by the changing and creating of institutions, particularly private enterprises; changes in the role of the state, thereby, the creation of fundamentally different governmental institutions and the promotion of private-owned enterprises, markets and independent financial institutions. In essence, one transition mode is the functional restructuring of state institutions from being a provider of growth to an enabler, with the private sector its engine. Another transition mode is change the way that economy grows and practice mode. The relationships between these two transition modes are micro and macro, partial and whole. The truly transition economics should include both the micro transition and macro transition. Due to the different initial conditions during the emerging process of the transition from planned economics to market economics, countries uses different transition model. Countries like the People's Republic of China and Vietnam adopted a gradual transition mode, however Russia and some other East-European countries, such as the former Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, used a more aggressive and quicker paced model of transition.

The term "transition period" is also used to describe the process of transition from capitalism to the first stage of socialism, preceding the establishment of fully developed socialism (aka communism).

Transition indicators
The existence of private property rights may be the most basic element of a market economy, and therefore implementation of these rights is the key indicator of the transition process.

The main ingredients of the transition process are:
 * Liberalization – the process of allowing most prices to be determined in free markets and lowering trade barriers that had shut off contact with the price structure of the world's market economies.
 * Macroeconomic stabilization – bringing inflation under control and lowering it over time, after the initial burst of high inflation that follows from liberalization and the release of pent-up demand. This process requires discipline over the government budget and the growth of money and credit (that is, discipline in fiscal and monetary policy) and progress toward sustainable balance of payments.
 * Restructuring and privatization – creating a viable financial sector and reforming the enterprises in these economies to render them capable of producing goods that could be sold in free markets and transferring their ownership into private hands.
 * Legal and institutional reforms – redefining the role of the state in these economies, establishing the rule of law, and introducing appropriate competition policies.

According to Oleh Havrylyshyn and Thomas Wolf of the International Monetary Fund, transition in a broad sense implies:
 * liberalizing economic activity, prices, and market operations, along with reallocating resources to their most efficient use;
 * developing indirect, market-oriented instruments for macroeconomic stabilization;
 * achieving effective enterprise management and economic efficiency, usually through privatization;
 * imposing hard budget constraints, which provide incentives to improve efficiency; and
 * establishing an institutional and legal framework to secure property rights, the rule of law, and transparent market-entry regulations.

Edgar Feige, cognizant of the trade-off between efficiency and equity, suggests that the social and political costs of transition adjustments can be reduced by adopting privatization methods that are egalitarian in nature, thereby providing a social safety net to cushion the disruptive effects of the transition process.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) developed a set of indicators to measure the progress in transition. The classification system was originally created in the EBRD's 1994 Transition Report, but has been refined and amended in subsequent Reports. The EBRD's overall transition indicators are:
 * Large-scale privatization
 * Small-scale privatization
 * Governance and enterprise restructuring
 * Price liberalization
 * Trade and foreign exchange system
 * Competition policy
 * Banking reform and interest rate liberalization
 * Securities markets and non-bank financial institutions
 * Infrastructure reform

Context
The economic malaise affecting the Comecon countries – low growth rates and diminishing returns on investment – led many domestic and Western economists to advocate market-based solutions and a sequenced programme of economic reform. It was recognized that micro-economic reform and macro-economic stabilization had to be combined carefully. Price liberalization without prior remedial measures to eliminate macro-economic imbalances, including an escalating fiscal deficit, a growing money supply due to a high level of borrowing by state-owned enterprises, and the accumulated savings of households ("monetary overhang") could result in macro-economic destabilization instead of micro-economic efficiency. Unless entrepreneurs enjoyed secure property rights and farmers owned their farms the process of Schumpeterian "creative destruction" would limit the reallocation of resources and prevent profitable enterprises from expanding to absorb the workers displaced from the liquidation of non-viable enterprises. A hardening of the budget constraints at state-owned enterprises would halt the drain on the state budget from subsidization but would require additional expenditure to counteract the resulting unemployment and drop in aggregate household spending. Monetary overhang meant that price liberalization might convert "repressed inflation" into open inflation, increase the price level still further and generate a price spiral. The transition to a market economy would require state intervention alongside market liberalization, privatization and deregulation. Rationing of essential consumer goods, trade quotas and tariffs and an active monetary policy to ensure that there was sufficient liquidity to maintain commerce might be needed. In addition to tariff protection, measures to control capital flight were also considered necessary in some instances.

Transition in practice
The most influential strategy for the transition to a market economy was that adopted by Poland launched in January 1990. The strategy was strongly influenced by IMF and World Bank analyses of successful and unsuccessful stabilization programmes which had been adopted in Latin America in the 1980s. The strategy incorporated a number of interdependent measures including macro-economic stabilization; the liberalization of wholesale and retail prices; the removal of constraints to the development of private enterprises and the privatization of state-owned enterprises; the elimination of subsidies and the imposition of hard budget constraints; and the creation of an export-oriented economy that was open to foreign trade and investment. The creation of a social safety net targeted at the individual to compensate for the removal of job security and the removal of price controls on staple goods was also part of the strategy.

The choice of the transition strategy was influenced by the critical state of most post-socialist countries. Policy-makers were persuaded that political credibility took precedence over a sequenced reform plan and to introduce macro-economic stabilization measures ahead of structural measures that would by their nature take longer to implement. The "credibility" of the transition process was enhanced by the adoption of the Washington Consensus favoured by the IMF and the World Bank. Stabilization was deemed a necessity in Hungary and Poland where state budget deficits had grown and foreign debts had become larger than the country's capacity to service. Western advisers and domestic experts working with the national governments and the IMF introduced stabilization programmes aiming to achieve external and internal balance, which became known as shock therapy. It was argued that "one cannot jump over a chasm in two leaps".

The many foreign advisers from, principally, the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden were often under contract to the international financial institutions and bilateral or multilateral technical assistance programmes. They favoured free trade and exchange rate convertibility rather than trade protection and capital controls, which might have checked capital flight. They tended to support privatization without prior industrial restructuring; an exception was to be found in Eastern Germany where the Treuhand (Trust Agency) prepared state-owned enterprises for the market at considerable cost to the government. Western technical assistance programmes were established by European Union – through the Phare and TACIS programmes – and other donors (including the US AID, the UK Know-how Fund and UNDP) and by the IMF, the World Bank, EBRD and KfW, which also advanced loans for stabilization, structural adjustment, industrial restructuring and social protection. Technical assistance was delivered through the exchange of civil servants and by management consultants, including Agriconsulting, Atos, COWI, Ernst & Young, GOPA, GTZ, Human Dynamics, Idom, IMC Consulting, Louis Berger, NIRAS, PA Consulting, PE International, Pohl Consulting, PwC, and SOFRECO.

It had been expected that the introduction of current account convertibility and foreign trade liberalization would force a currency devaluation that would support export-led growth. However, when prices were de-controlled enterprises and retailers raised their prices to match those prevailing in the black market or towards world price levels, earning them windfall profits initially. Consumers reacted by reducing their purchases and by substituting better quality imported goods in place of domestically produced goods. Falling sales led to the collapse of many domestic enterprises, with personnel lay-offs or reduced hours of work and pay. This further reduced effective demand. As imports grew and exporters failed to respond to opportunities in world markets due to the poor quality of their products and lack of resources for investment, the trade deficit expanded, putting downward pressure on the exchange rate. Many wholesalers and retailers marked prices according to their dollar values and the falling exchange rate fed inflation. The central banks in several countries raised interest rates and tightened credit conditions, depriving state agencies and enterprises of working capital. These in turn found it impossible to pay wages on time, dampening effective demand further.

The impacts of the conventional transition strategies proved to be de-stabilizing in the short-term and left the population impoverished in the long-term. Economic output declined much more than expected. The decline in output lasted until 1992-96 for all transition economies. By 1994, economic output had declined across all transition economies by 41 percent compared to its 1989 level. The Central and Eastern European economies began growing again around 1993, with Poland, which had begun its transition programme earliest emerging from recession in 1992. The Baltic States came out of recession in 1994 and the rest of the former Soviet Union around 1996. Inflation remained above 20 percent a year (except in the Czech Republic and Hungary) until the mid-1990s. Across all transition economies the peak annual inflation rate was 2632 percent (4645 percent in the CIS). Unemployment increased and wages fell in real terms, although in Russia and other CIS economies the rate of unemployment recorded at employment exchanges remained low. Labour force surveys undertaken by the International Labour Organization showed significantly higher rates of joblessness and there was considerable internal migration. High interest rates induced a "credit crunch" and fuelled inter-enterprise indebtedness and hampered the expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises, which often lacked the connections to obtain finance legitimately.

In time domestic producers were able to upgrade their production capacity and foreign direct investment was attracted to the transition economies. Local-manufactured higher quality consumer goods became available and won market share back from imports. Stabilization of the exchange rate was made more difficult by large-scale capital flight, with domestic agents sending part of their earning abroad to destinations where they believed their capital was more secure. The promise of European Union membership and the adoption of the EU's legislation and regulations (the Community acquis or acquis communautaire) helped secure trust in property rights and economic and governmental institutions in much of Central and Eastern Europe.

Some economists have argued that the growth performance of the transition economies stemmed from the low level of development, decades of trade isolation and distortions in the socialist planned economies. They have emphasized that the transition strategies adopted reflected the need to resolve the economic crisis besetting the socialist planned economies and the overriding objective was the transformation to capitalist market economies rather than the fostering of economic growth and welfare.

But by 2000, the EBRD was reporting that the effects of the initial starting point in each transition economy on the reform process had faded. Although the foundations had been laid for a functioning market economy through sustained liberalization, comprehensive privatization, openness to international trade and investment, and the establishment of democratic political systems there remained institutional challenges. Liberalized markets were not necessarily competitive and political freedom had not prevented powerful private interests from exercising undue influence.

Ten years on, in the Transition Report for 2010, the EBRD was still finding that the quality of market-enabling institutions continued to fall short of what was necessary for well-functioning market economies. Growth in the transition economies had been driven by trade integration into the world economy with "impressive" export performance, and by "rapid capital inflows and a credit boom". But such growth had proved volatile and the EBRD considered that governments in the transition economies should foster the development of domestic capital markets and improve the business environment, including financial institutions, real estate markets and the energy, transport and communications infrastructure. The EBRD expressed concerns about regulatory independence and enforcement, price setting, and the market power of incumbent infrastructure operators.

Income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient rose significantly in the transition economies between 1987 and 1988 and the mid-1990s. Poverty re-emerged with between 20 and 50 percent of people living below the national poverty line in the transition economies. The UN Development Programme calculated that overall poverty in Eastern Europe and the CIS increased from 4 percent of the population in 1988 to 32 percent by 1994, or from 14 million people to 119 million. Unemployment and rates of economic inactivity were still high in the late 1990s according to survey data.

By 2007, the year before the global financial crisis hit, the index for GDP had reached 112 compared to 100 in 1989 for the transition economies. In other words, it took nearly 20 years to restore the level of output that had existed prior to the transition. The index of economic output (GDP) in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe was 151 in 2007; for the Balkans/ South-eastern Europe the index was 111, and for the Commonwealth of Independent States and Mongolia it was 102. Several CIS countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia as well as Moldova and Ukraine had economies that were substantially smaller than in 1989.

The global recession of 2008-09 and the Eurozone crisis of 2011-13 destabilized the transition economies, reduced growth rates and increased unemployment. The slowdown hit government revenues and widened fiscal deficits but almost all transition economies had experienced a partial recovery and had maintained low and stable inflation since 2012.

Process
Transition trajectories have varied considerably in practice. Some nations have been experimenting with market reform for several decades, while others are relatively recent adopters (e.g., North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro), and Albania. In some cases reforms have been accompanied with political upheaval, such as the overthrow of a dictator (Romania), the collapse of a government (the Soviet Union), a declaration of independence (Croatia), or integration with another country (East Germany). In other cases economic reforms have been adopted by incumbent governments with little interest in political change (China, Laos, Vietnam). Transition trajectories also differ in terms of the extent of central planning being relinquished (e.g., high centralized coordination among the CIS states) as well as the scope of liberalization efforts being undertaken (e.g., relatively limited in Romania). Some countries, such as Vietnam, have experienced macro-economic upheavals over different periods of transition, even transition turmoil.

According to the World Bank's 10 Years of Transition report "... the wide dispersion in the productivity of labour and capital across types of enterprises at the onset of transition and the erosion of those differences between old and new sectors during the reform provide a natural definition of the end of transition." Mr. Vito Tanzi, Director of the IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department, gave definition that the transformation to a market economy is not complete until functioning fiscal institutions and reasonable and affordable expenditure programs, including basic social safety nets for the unemployed, the sick, and the elderly, are in place. Mr Tanzi stated that these spending programs must be financed from public revenues generated—through taxation—without imposing excessive burdens on the private sector.

According to the EBRD a well-functioning market economy should enjoy a diverse range of economic activities, equality of opportunity and convergence of incomes. These outcomes had not yet been achieved by 2013 and progress in establishing well-functioning market economies had stalled since the 1990s. On the EBRD's measure of transition indicators the transition economies had become "stuck in transition". Price liberalization, small-scale privatization and the opening-up of trade and foreign exchange markets were mostly complete by the end of the 1990s. However economic reform had slowed in areas such governance, enterprise restructuring and competition policy, which remained substantially below the standard of other developed market economies.

According to Stuart Shields, liberalization of the ECE economies took place notably through various changes which were supported by the EBRD, for instance, set in different different steps. Firstly, measures of competition and financial discipline were put in place in the beginning. As part of the second wave of reforms, changes were focused on the opening of key parts of the economy to foreign competition in order to improve human capital and to foster entrepreneurship in those economies. Thus, they turned to labour market transformation by highlighting the need for a more flexible labour market. Furthermore, new institutional frameworks were needed, to help with transformations such as privatisation and the increasing flows of Foreign direct investment as part of what is described as “an institutional shock therapy”.

Inequality of opportunity was higher in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia than in some other developed economies in Western Europe (except France, where inequality of opportunity was relatively high). The highest inequality of opportunity was found in the Balkans and Central Asia. In terms of legal regulations and access to education and health services, inequality of opportunity related to gender was low in Europe and Central Asia but medium to high in respect of labour practices, employment and entrepreneurship and in access to finance. In Central Asia women also experienced significant lack of access to health services, as was the case in Arab countries. While many transition economies performed well with respect to primary and secondary education, and matched that available in many other developed economies, they were weaker when it came to training and tertiary education.

Over the decade 1994 to 2004, the transition economies had closed some of the gap in income per person with the average for the European Union in purchasing power parity terms. These gains had been driven by sustained growth in productivity as obsolete capital stock was scrapped and production shifted to take advantage of the opening-up of foreign trade, price liberalization and foreign direct investment. However the rapid growth rates of that period of catch-up had stalled since the late 2000s and the prospects for income convergence have receded according to the EBRD's prognosis, unless there are additional productivity-enhancing structural reforms.

The recent history of transition suggested that weak political institutions and entrenched interest groups had hindered economic reform. The EBRD's Transition Report 2013 looked at the relationship between transition and democratization. The report acknowledged that the academic literature was divided on whether economic development fostered democracy but argued that there was nonetheless strong empirical support for the hypothesis. It suggested that countries with high inequality were less inclined to support a limited and accountable state. In general, the proportion of the population with an income of between US$10–50 a day (the so-called "middle class") correlated with the level of democracy; however this correlation disappeared in transition countries with high income inequality. Those countries with large natural resource endowments, for example oil and gas producers like Russia and Kazakhstan, had less accountable governments and faced less electoral pressure to tackle powerful vested interests because the government could rely on resource rents and did not have to tax the population heavily. Countries with a strong institutional environment – that is, effective rule of law, secure property rights and uncorrupted public administration and corporate governance – were better placed to attract investment and undertake restructuring and regulatory change.

To spur further economic reform and break out of a vicious circle, the EBRD Transition Report 2013 proposed that the transition economies should:
 * Open up trade and finance, which made reform more resilient to popular pressure ("market aversion") and meant that countries could access the EU single market either as member states or through association agreements (such as those being negotiated with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia);
 * Encourage transparent and accountable government, with media and civil society scrutiny, and political competition at elections;
 * Invest in human capital, especially by improving the quality of tertiary education.

Countries in transition
Although the term "transition economies" usually covers the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, this term may have a wider context. Outside of Europe, there are countries emerging from a socialist-type command economy towards a market-based economy (e.g., China). Despite such movements, some countries have chosen to remain non-free states with regard to political freedoms and human rights.

In a wider sense, the definition of transition economy refers to all countries which attempt to change their basic constitutional elements towards market-style fundamentals. Their origin could be also in a post-colonial situation, in a heavily regulated Asian-style economy, in a Latin American post-dictatorship, or even in a somehow economically underdeveloped country in Africa.

In 2000, the IMF listed the following countries with transition economies:

1 — World Bank assessment

In addition, in 2002, the World Bank defined Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later Serbia and Montenegro) as transition economies. In 2009, the World Bank included Kosovo in the list of transition economies. Some World Bank studies also include Mongolia. According to the IMF, Iran is in transition to a market economy, demonstrating early stages of a transition economy.

The eight first-wave accession countries, which joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia) and the two second-wave accession countries that joined on 1 January 2007 (Romania and Bulgaria), have completed the transition process. According to the World Bank, "the transition is over" for the 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. It can be also understood as all countries of the Eastern Bloc.

According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs' World Economic Situation and Prospects report, the following 17 countries are classified as "economies in transition" as of January 2024:

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• 🇧🇦 bosnia and herzegovina

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• 🇰🇿 kazakhstan

• 🇰🇬 kyrgyzstan

• 🇲🇩 moldova

• 🇲🇪 montenegro

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• 🇷🇸 serbia

• 🇹🇯 tajikistan

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Branch of economics
Transition economics is a special branch of economics dealing with the transformation of a planned economy to a market economy. It has become especially important after the collapse of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe. Transition economics investigates how an economy should reform itself to endorse capitalism and democracy. There are usually two sides: one which argues for a rapid transformation and one which argues for a gradual approach. Gérard Roland's book ''Transition and Economics. Politics, Markets and Firms'' (MIT Press 2000) gives a good overview of the field. A more recent overview is provided in Transition Economies: Political Economy in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia by Martin Myant and Jan Drahokoupil.

Two extremes: Romania and Kyrgyzstan
At the beginning of the 1990s, Communist leaders remained in power in Romania and - with the exception of Kyrgyzstan - in Central Asia. These two countries were both exceptions within their respective regions: Romania was the only one of the 6 former non-Soviet Warsaw Pact countries to opt for gradual instead of radical reform, while Kyrgyzstan was the only Central Asian country and the only one in the CIS other than Russia to implement radical reform. According to the EBRD's Structural Reform Index, a country can be defined as a "full-fledged market economy" once it crosses the threshold of 0.70, which Kyrgyzstan accomplished in 1994 (the first CIS country to do so) and Romania in 1998 (and Russia, for reference, in 1996).

1990s lowest GDP
During the 1990s, the GDP of the transition economies declined sharply relative to its 1989 level. However, this decline varied considerably from country to country: for some, GDP bottomed out at or over 75% of its 1989 level, while for others, it plummeted to below a third. The worst among the 15 post-Soviet countries was represented by Georgia in the year 1994, with 25.4% of its 1989 GDP. The lowest decline was represented by the Czech Republic, with 84.6% of its 1989 GDP in the year 1992. Uzbekistan had the highest GDP bottom among the post-Soviet countries, with 83.4% of its 1989 level in the year 1995. Albania experienced the worst decline among the non-Soviet countries of the defunct Warsaw Pact, its GDP amounting to only 60.4% of its 1989 level in 1992. The absolute worst was to be found in the former Yugoslavia - war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina's GDP declined to only 12% of its 1989 level. All the transition countries for which such data is available are listed below (countries in bold bottomed out at a higher level than the U.S. during the Great Depression, when 1933 American GDP was 73.4% of its 1929 level):

===Debt defaults ===

The EU candidate countries plus Russia (1998)
Between 16 December 1991 and 10 June 1996, a total of 10 transition countries signed Europe Association Agreements (EAs), these agreements acknowledging their ultimate objective of joining the EU. The ten countries were subsequently divided. The five states deemed to have made the most progress (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Estonia) - constituting the Luxembourg Group - were invited in July 1997 to begin accession negotiations (these began in March 1998). The remaining five countries (Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Latvia and Lithuania) - constituting the Helsinki Group - joined the Luxembourg Group in December 1999.

Industrial indicators
Deindustrialization Following the collapse of Communism, the transition economies underwent various degrees of deindustrialization. Deindustrialization varied widely across the region, both in terms of when the fall in output bottomed out and how steep the decline in output was. The extremes were represented by Uzbekistan, where industrial output bottomed out in 1992 at 96.4% of its 1989 level, and Bosnia, where industrial output fell to 1.7% of its 1989 level in 1994. Such data is available for 27 countries, plus the territory of the former German Democratic Republic:

Trade openness and competitive industrial performance (CIP) in 1998

title: Transition economy


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Joseph I of Bulgaria

Exarch Joseph I (also known as Iosif I, secular name Lazar Yovchev, Лазар Йовчев; May 5, 1840, Kalofer, Ottoman Empire – June 20, 1915, Sofia, Bulgaria) was a Bulgarian Exarch from 1877 to 1915. He has great merits for preserving the unity of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and for the Bulgarian educational and ecclesiastical work in Macedonia and Thrace, which remained in the Ottoman Empire after 1878.

His grave is marked with a white cross and a bed with flowers, it is located on the south side of the church "St. Nedelya" in Sofia, near the side altar door.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Joseph I of Bulgaria


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Shiona Baird

Shiona Baird (born 14 September 1946) is a Scottish Green politician who was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the North East Scotland region from 2003 to 2007, and co-convener of the Scottish Greens from 2004 to 2007.

She is currently the chairperson of Auchterhouse Community Council.

Early life
Baird was born on 14 September 1946, in Hereford, England. She is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. She worked on her family farm near Dundee before standing for election.

Scottish Parliament
In 2003 she was elected as an MSP for the North East Scotland region. She was a member of the Scottish Parliament Enterprise Committee and the Scottish Greens' Spokeswoman on enterprise, waste and energy issues. In November 2005 she criticised Scottish Labour and Scottish Liberal Democrats for "not taking seriously the crucial issues of energy and climate change."

Baird stood again in the 2007 election but was not elected. Alison Johnstone later took over as co-convener.

In the 2010 UK general election, Baird stood for Dundee East but was unsuccessful.

title: Shiona Baird


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Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela

Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela C.A. is a state-owned airline of Venezuela based in Torre Polar Oeste in Caracas, Venezuela. It operates domestic services and international services in the Caribbean. Its main base is Simón Bolívar International Airport. The airline ceased operations on September 24, 2017, after 88 years of service due to its financial position. On August 8, 2018, the company announced that it would begin scheduled service again, first to Havana, Cuba with three weekly flights.

Early history
Venezuela was one of the first South American nations to resort to commercial aviation as an effective means of transportation. In 1929, the French company Aéropostale (known as Lignes Aériennes Latécoère until 1927), then under the leadership of its owner Marcel Bouilloux-Lafont, arrived in Venezuela. Aéropostale viewed Venezuela as the ideal bridge to link South America with the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. This idea materialized on July 3, 1929. Three Latécoère 28's carried out the first flights of the new airline, although some Latécoère 26s were also used in those earlier routes. On December 31, 1933, the Venezuelan government purchased the airline after the French government inexplicably decided to stop subsidizing it.

Life as a government-owned company
Despite its new Venezuelan ownership, the airline continued to be run by French personnel under the direction of Robert Guérin until January 1, 1935, when its name was changed to LAV - Línea Aeropostal Venezolana and operations shifted to Venezuelan hands under the management of commander Francisco Leonardi. At the start, the company was capitalized at 1,600,000 bolívares, but it wasn't until May 21, 1937, that the government of Venezuela secured full ownership of the airline. It did so through an injection of capital and by replacing the Latécoère 28's with several Fairchild 71's. The expansion program was further reinforced with the purchase of six Lockheed Model 10 Electras. In 1939, LAV's headquarters were moved from Maracay to Maiquetía because of its proximity to Caracas. That same year, Douglas DC-3s were introduced in order to transport larger cargo loads and passengers. By 1942 the fleet had grown considerably. LAV's first international flights began in July 1945, serving the city of Boa Vista in northern Brazil. It wasn't considered an international destination as it was close to Venezuela's border. LAV's second international route was to Aruba in January 1946. This was connected to KLM's international route structure.

After the war ended, LAV was re-equipped with newer aircraft, replacing its Electra and Lockheed Lodestar fleet which was decimated by many accidents over the previous five years. Douglas DC-3s and Douglas DC-4s were introduced along with Martin 2-0-2 aircraft. In 1947, the airline introduced Lockheed Constellations to fly a new direct international route from Caracas to New York's Idlewild Airport. This new service started on March 21, 1947.

In 1951, LAV began service to Lima, Peru and Bogotá, Colombia. LAV acquired the Bogotá route after they purchased 88% of TACA de Venezuela. Previously, TACA de Venezuela had a joint route agreement with the Colombian airline, LANSA. Until TACA de Venezuela was completely absorbed by LAV in 1958, the route to Bogotá was flown using TACA aircraft in TACA livery. In 1953, LAV opened a transatlantic service and began flying to Panama. The Constellation fleet was upgraded to L-1049G Super Constellations. An order for the first jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1, was placed, but with the Comet crashes of the 1950s, the airline never got their Comet jets. On March 24, 1956, LAV introduced its first turboprop, a Vickers Viscount 701 which was to replace the older piston engined Douglas and Martin aircraft.

In the early 1960s, the Venezuelan government wanted to separate LAV's international and domestic routes, thus creating a new airline, Viasa, for international flights. A new livery was introduced for the new decade. The full airline title that had appeared on the Constellation fleet was simplified to a simple and bold AEROPOSTAL. The Constellations flew with a flying globe logo on the nose, which was also simplified, now appearing on the fin as a flying bird logo, a logo that would remain with the airline. Also in the early 1960s, the 'jet-prop' Avro 748 was introduced to replace the smaller piston twins that had made up LAV's fleet since 1938. Douglas DC-8 jets were introduced in 1961 to replace the Super Constellations.

During the 1960s and 1990s LAV continued to introduce new fleet types like first the Caravelle and then McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and the MD-80

During the late 1980s, Aeropostal substituted Viasa with a run from Caracas to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the airline also sponsored WAPA-TV's weekly, youth-oriented Control Remoto television show.

Recent history
In August 1994, commercial operations ceased, as part of a government effort to trim expenses. In 1996, Corporacion Alas de Venezuela (CAV), a private company owned by Nelson Ramiz, a Cuban-born US citizen, and his Venezuelan wife, Haydhelm Emilia Valesquez Morales, bought the assets from the liquidator, at an auction in Caracas on September 27, 1997, in a transaction that led to litigation in New York and Caracas. The purchase was funded by an investment company Alas International Limited ("Alas"). Instead of delivering the purchased assets to Alas, as required by the funding agreement, CAV restarted airline operations on January 7, 1998, using the purchased assets without permission from Alas. Alas launched a series of lawsuits against Ramiz, Valesquez, CAV, and Aeropostal and on November 2, 1998, the US Supreme Court of New York found in favor of Alas, a judgment later confirmed on appeal. The essence of the judgment was that neither Ramiz, Morales, CAV nor the airline had any economic or legal interest in the various assets purchased in 1997, including the aircraft and the trade name "Aeropostal". As a result, CAV, the airline, and Ramiz entered into a settlement agreement on February 29, 2000, filed and entered at the New York Supreme Court with Index No. 601817/97 under which title of the aircraft transferred to the Alas owners but Alas allowed the airline to continue flying the aircraft in return for various payments. CAV and Aeropostal subsequently defaulted on the settlement and further litigation followed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York under case reference 652688/2012, as a result of which, CAV and Aeropostal owe the successors to Alas very significant damages.

in March 2007 Aeropostal had 2,319 employees.

Flights to the United States began in July 1998 and to Madrid in November 2001, although the latter have since ceased. In the late 1990s, Aeropostal introduced two leased Irish-registered Airbus A320-200s to fly alongside the fleet of DC-9, McDonnell Douglas MD-83 and Boeing 727-200 jets. At the end of 2007, Nelson Ramiz (then CEO) reduced the fleet of 22 to only 3 claiming that the currency controls imposed by the Venezuelan government prevented him from maintaining the fleet and that fare controls kept Aeropostal from making a profit. During that period, the Venezuelan Government planned to shut down the airline if major changes were not planned.

The National Institute of Civil Aviation temporarily grounded Aeropostal operations, leaving thousands of passengers stranded in the high-travel holiday season.

As of 2008, it was reported that the airline was sold to a group led by the Mahkled family from the state of Carabobo, Venezuela. The Venezuelan government later arrested the Makled family on money laundering and drug running charges, but this transaction has been challenged as ineffective as neither Ramiz nor his wife had the power to transfer the shares as these were pledged to Alas under the settlement agreement referred to above. In 2009, the Venezuelan government announced its intention to nationalise Aeropostal.

On February 25, 2011, Aeropostal's Special Managing Board officially announced the retirement of YV141T, the last DC-9-30 in its fleet. The final commercial flight was done on March 10, 2011. Although the -30s Series has been retired, the DC-9-50s would continue flying for Aeropostal, and according to LAV, there were no plans for their retirement in the next 3 years.

On September 24, 2017, Aerospostal ceased operations. The Board of Directors announced the retirement of operations of the airline, due to financial and economic problems. On August 8, 2018, the company informed to continue flights again, along with the opening of a route to Havana from Caracas with three weekly frequencies.

Destinations
As of October 2023, Aeropostal operated to be the following destinations:

Current
, the Aeropostal fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

Retired
Aeropostal had in the past operated the following aircraft:

Accidents and incidents
Aeropostal has had a total of 24 accidents and incidents since April 23, 1937 with a total of 319 fatalities. The worst accident for Aeropostal (and the worst scheduled-airline accident in history until then) was on June 20, 1956, when 74 people were killed when a Lockheed Constellation, registration YV-C-AMS, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New York.

 * On November 27, 1956, Linea Aeropostal Venezolana Flight 253, crashed while on approach to Caracas International Airport. All 25 passengers and crew on board were killed.
 * On January 25, 1971, Vickers Viscount (registered YV-C-AMV) crashed into a mountain near Mérida. Thirteen of the 47 people on board were killed.
 * On November 1, 1971, Vickers Viscount (registered YV-C-AMZ) crashed shortly after take-off from La Chinita International Airport, Maracaibo. All four people on board were killed.
 * On August 27, 1972, Douglas C-47 (registered YV-C-AKE) suffered a failure of the port engine shortly after take-off from Canaima Airport on a domestic scheduled passenger flight to Tomás de Heres Airport, Ciudad Bolivar. The aircraft crashed whilst attempting to return to Canaima, killing all 34 people on board.
 * On August 14, 1974, Vickers Viscount (registered YV-C-AMX) flew into La Gloria, Isla Margarita due to rains caused by Tropical Storm Alma killing all 49 people on board.
 * On March 3, 1978, a Hawker Siddeley HS 748 (registered YV-45C) crashed into the sea close to Punta Mulatos after an instrument problem. All 47 on boards were killed.
 * On July 29, 1984, Aeropostal Flight 252 from Caracas to Curaçao, two gunmen, one Haitian and one of Dominican nationality, hijacked the plane with 79 people on board. The hijackers demanded money, weapons, and a helicopter to remove five children from the aircraft, and also threatened to blow up the plane if stormed. The plane was stormed by Venezuelan commandos of the DISIP, both hijackers were killed, and all hostages were released, ending the 36-hour-long crisis.
 * On March 5, 1991, Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 108 from Maracaibo to Santa Bárbara del Zulia crashed into a hillside after takeoff. All 45 on board were killed.
 * On March 6, 2008, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 (registered N905TA), which was carrying out flight VH501 from Miami to Caracas, was forced to land at the Arturo Michelena International Airport in Valencia due to the suspicion of a hydraulic leak on the right side of the aircraft.
 * On September 26, 2011, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 (registered YV136T) made a hard touch down at Puerto Ordaz causing both engines' (JT8D) pylons and support structures at the airframe to crack and distort nearly separating the engines from the airframe. The airplane slowed safely, stopped on the runway and was shut down. No injuries occurred, the aircraft received substantial damage. The passengers disembarked onto the runway.

Inflight magazine
Pasajero ("Passenger") is Aeropostal's in-flight magazine published by Playalens, Inc., a Hispanic-owned Miami-based publishing company. It is publishing six times a year with a circulation of 20,000 copies distributed in all domestic and international Aeropostal flights.

title: Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Most-edited talk pages

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was keep. -- AllyUnion (talk) 09:10, 21 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Most-edited_talk_pages
This page hasn't been updated through the whole of 2004. If no-one's using it, why do we need it? -- PaulHammond 13:50, Feb 10, 2005 (UTC)

 * I'd like to see an up to date version of it. --Joy [shallot]   18:11, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Ditto, keep -- Francs2000 | Talk 19:25, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Agree with User:Joy. Keep and update. Mgm|(talk) 19:27, Feb 10, 2005 (UTC)
 * I've asked for an update two or three times, but either I wasn't asking in the right place or no one saw it or something. Keep and update. Tuf-Kat 23:03, Feb 10, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep and update though I don't really see much use for it, I suppose it's handy from a statistical point of view. 23skidoo 23:43, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep and update, because it's certainly got me curious. --Calton 07:24, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Even if its not being used for a period of time that's no reason to delete it.  Not at all.  —RaD Man (talk) 09:08, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Update periodically to maintain interest. Last request for update was 1 Sep '04 by Tuf-Kat on this Scripting request page.  hydnjo talk 18:59, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. Not very useful if it's rarely updated though. Carrp | Talk 04:21, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. How was it created in the first place? Maintaining updates would be easier if more people knew how it was done. Wagiles 22:22, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep and update if there is a simple automated way of updating it at least monthly. Otherwise delete. -- SGBailey 23:13, 2005 Feb 16 (UTC)

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.


text:
Lawford

Lawford is a large village and civil parish in the Tendring district of northeast Essex, England. It is approximately 6 mi northeast from the centre of Colchester and west of, and contiguous with, Manningtree. Mistley merges with the east side of Manningtree. Lawford has two junior schools, Lawford Church of England Primary School and Highfields Primary School, situated near Manningtree High School.

The 14th-century parish Church of St Mary is a Grade I listed building.

Ogilvie Hall is the name of the village hall on Wignall Street, and there is a more modern facility called The Venture Centre off Bromley Road.

The Leftley Housing estate, situated towards the east of the village, is a typical 1960s development of mainly semi-detached houses and bungalows.

More recent housing developments include the Summers park and Lawford Dale housing estates constructed by Rose builders, and Manningtree Park, which as of 2023 is currently under construction.

The area includes a number of smallholdings originally built by the Land Settlement Association.

title: Lawford


text:
Mark Ballard

Mark Ballard (born 27 June 1971) is a former Scottish Green Party politician. He was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothians region from 2003 to 2007, and co-convener of the Edinburgh Green Party from 2007 to 2010. He was Lord Rector of the University of Edinburgh from 2006 to 2009, and now works for the National Deaf Children's Society

Early life
Ballard was born in Leeds, England on 27 June 1971. During his childhood he lived in Punjab, India (1973–1975) and Islamabad, Pakistan (1984–1985).

Education and early career
He attended Lawnswood School in Leeds before going on to the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated with an MA (Hons) in Economic and Social History. He is a life member of the Edinburgh University Union, part of the Edinburgh University Students Association (EUSA).

Between 1994 and 1998 he worked for European Youth Forest Action (now European Youth For Action) in Edinburgh and Amsterdam. From 1999 until 2001 he worked as editor of the journal Reforesting Scotland before setting up an environmental communications consultancy company that ran until 2003.

Political career
He joined the youth wing of the Labour Party when he was 15 and remained a member until 1991. At this point he became involved in the Scottish Green Party's student movement. He ran as a candidate for this party in the 1995 council elections, the 1999 Scottish Parliamentary election and a 2001 council by-election. He was first elected in the 2003 Holyrood election, as the second Green MSP in the Lothians.

He was a member of the Scottish Parliament Finance Committee and was also substitute member of the Enterprise and Culture Committee. He committed substantial time to promoting social enterprises and co-operatives, as a Green alternative to the current system. He also used the position to call for sustainable procurement guidelines, support ethical investment campaigns, and make the case for Scottish utilities being in public ownership.

As the Green speaker on Transport, Ballard supported campaigns against the Dalkeith by-pass and the M74, for the trams in Edinburgh and for a better and cheaper public transport system. As a Lothians MSP he helped raise awareness of community initiatives such as the campaign to resist a huge superstore development in Portobello, supporting the calls for congestion charging in Edinburgh, assisting universities wanting to make the switch to Fairtrade and opposing tuition fees for students. The latter in particular helped him win support amongst Edinburgh's student community.

Campaigning work
Ballard has also been involved in direct action campaigning, most notably against British nuclear weapons on the River Clyde at Faslane. He was arrested at Faslane several times, as part of the CND 'Big Blockade', and in August 2004 he and three other MSPs were among dozens of protesters arrested. He was involved in a long-running court case over the destruction of a field of rapeseed at the Roslin Institute near Dalkeith in 1999. Although initially found guilty of "wilfully and recklessly" destroying plants belonging to Monsanto Company, all charges were quashed due to a delay in the hearing of the appeal, which Mr Ballard claimed was because the Crown was unable to provide relevant evidence.

Ballard's Parliamentary Register of Interests indicated that he held membership of several organisations, including: Friends of the Earth, Sustrans, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Democratic Left Scotland, Reforesting Scotland, Water of Leith Conservation Trust, Friends of Inverleith Park, SSPCA, Advocates for Animals and Scottish Education and Action for Development. Until 2005 he was also an unpaid director of UK charity Seeds for Change, treasurer of the Scottish Environmental Festivals association and is on the editorial board of the Scottish Left Review, a bi-monthly cross-party journal of the Scottish left.

Rector of the University of Edinburgh
In February 2006 he stood for election as Rector the University of Edinburgh standing against MP for Henley Boris Johnson, pro-Palestine journalist John Pilger and former Scotsman editor Magnus Linklater. The profile of the Rectorial election had been raised by Johnson's candidature.

The election took place on 15 and 16 February 2006, with a record turn out of almost 8000. A system of Single Transferable Vote was used. In the final round Mark Ballard received 3,597 votes against Magnus Linklater's 3,052 and was elected.

He was formally installed on 9 June 2006 in a ceremony in the university's Old College. Present at this ceremony were the Chancellor of the university, HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the University Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Timothy O'Shea, and Mark Ballard's predecessor as Rector, Labour MP Tam Dalyell. In this capacity he worked on issues of concern to students and university staff, including playing a prominent role in the movement which led to the complete abolishing of student tuition fees in Scotland in 2008.

He was succeeded as Rector in 2009 by journalist Iain Macwhirter, whose campaign drew on many of Ballard's supporters.

Career after Parliament
After the 2007 election, Ballard became head of communications at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, then was assistant director of Barnardo's in Scotland for eight years, before becoming Director of Strategy at Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland. In November 2017, he became Head of Save the Children in Scotland. He currently works for the National Deaf Children's Society.

Personal life
Ballard has two children.

Selected articles by Mark Ballard

 * Last Word: New Challenges for the Greens in Holyrood, in Meikle, Mandy (ed.), Reforesting Scotland Issue 30, Autumn 2003, p. 54.
 * Charities face tough times while businesses get aid The Herald, 24 July 2009
 * Can Local tax Ever be Fair? Scottish Left Review
 * Vote for us! "Scottish Left Review"

Books

 * Robert McGeachy and Mark Ballard, The Public Affairs Guide to Scotland: Influencing Policy and Legislation, Welsh Academic Press, 2017 ISBN 9781860571268

title: Mark Ballard


text:
Monumenta Nipponica

Monumenta Nipponica is a semi-annual academic journal of Japanese studies. Published by Sophia University (Tokyo), it is one of the oldest English-language academic journals in the field of Asian studies, being founded in 1938. Although the journal originally published articles in several languages, such as French, German, Spanish, and Italian, the journal has been published solely in English since early 1963. A series of 75 monographs were also published until 1986 under the Monumenta Nipponica name.

A symposium was held at Sophia University on October 6, 2018, to commemorate the 80-year anniversary of Monumenta Nipponica's founding. Videos of the symposium are available on YouTube. In 2020, Sophia University published a special issue commemorating Monumenta Nipponica's 80-year founding, showcasing the people who made the journal happen and noteworthy historical events.

Contents
Each issue contains two to three main research articles, and around twenty reviews of recent books in Japanese studies, dealing with Japanese society, culture, history, religion, literature, art, anthropology, and related topics in Japanese and Asian studies. The journal occasionally publishes translations of Japanese-language works and English-language reviews of noteworthy books on Japanese studies that were published in other European languages, particularly German and French.

In addition to the printed journal, Monumenta Nipponica's content can be accessed via 3 websites.

 * The list of all the issues and the titles of the articles and other content can be found at its Sophia University home page.  Each item has a link for easy access at the appropriate hosting site.
 * The most recent issue is available through Project MUSE.  They also host back issues starting with volume 60, which was published in 2005.
 * The majority of Monumenta Nipponica's back issues, from 1938 up to 5 years before the most recent issue, are accessible through JSTOR.

Editors-in Chief
The following persons have been editors-in-chief of Monumenta Nipponica:
 * Vols. 1–6 (1938–1943)—Johannes B. Kraus (founder)
 * Vols. 7–16 (1951–1961)—Wilhelm Schiffer
 * Vols. 17–18 (1962–1963)—Wilhelm Schiffer, Francis Mathy
 * Vols. 19–23 (1964–1968)—Joseph Pittau
 * Vols. 24–25 (1969–1970)—Edmund R. Skrzypczak
 * Vols. 26–52:1 (1971–1997)—Michael Cooper
 * Vols. 52:2–65:1 (1997–2010)—Kate Wildman Nakai
 * Vols. 65:2–67:2 (2010–2012)—Mark R. Mullins
 * Vols. 68:1–69:2 (2013–2014)—Richard A. Gardner, Caroline Hirasawa
 * Vols. 70:1–70:2 (2015)—Richard A. Gardner, Bettina Gramlich-Oka
 * Vols. 71:1–72:2 (2016–2017)—Bettina Gramlich-Oka, Sven Saaler
 * Vols. 73:1–77:2 (2018–2023)—Bettina Gramlich-Oka
 * Vols. 78:1–78:2 (2023)—Angela Yiu
 * Vols. 79:1– (2024–present)—Edward R. Drott

title: Monumenta Nipponica


text: Category:Bulgarian Orthodox Church

title: Category:Bulgarian Orthodox Church


text:
Francesco Coco

Francesco Coco (born 8 January 1977) is an Italian retired footballer who played as a defender. Although naturally right-footed, he played as a left wing-back (his favourite position) or, more commonly, as a left-back. He had spells with both AC Milan and Inter Milan, also spending a season at Barcelona. In his early career, Coco showed much promise and was regarded as a possible successor to Paolo Maldini; however, he failed to live up to expectations.

Coco won two Serie A league titles and represented Italy at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Club career
Born in Paternò, Coco spent the majority of his club career with the Milan clubs; first with A.C. Milan between 1993 and 2002 and later with Inter between 2002 and 2007; he spent the 2001–02 season on loan at FC Barcelona, with generally solid performances (he also had loan spells with Vicenza Calcio and Torino F.C.). He was part of the Milan teams that won the Serie A in 1995–96 and 1998–99.

In 2002, Milan traded Coco to Inter in a part exchange deal for Clarence Seedorf, worth €28 million. Despite reaching the 2002–03 Champions League semi-finals and winning the 2004–05 Coppa Italia, Coco's spell at Inter was blighted by injuries. Coco has since given interviews stating Inter made a mistake by letting him undergo back surgery in November 2003, telling him he would be out for no more than a month. In the end, he had to recover for two years. In 2005–06, he was loaned to Livorno, after rejecting a move to Newcastle United despite playing a friendly against Yeading F.C. where he impressed in a 5–0 home victory. He played one season at Livorno, and after his loan deal, he returned to Inter. During the summer of 2006, he tried to find a new club, but in the end, all negotiations failed and Coco remained at Inter.

In January 2007, he joined English club Manchester City on a trial but after three days the club told him he was not in their plans. Later the English newspapers alleged that Manchester City was no longer interested in him because he had turned up for training smoking a cigarette. After a loan to Torino for the 2006–07 season, he went back to Inter for the first part of the summer but mutually rescinded his contract with the Milan-based club on 7 September 2007. Later Coco declared his intention to quit football in order to pursue an acting career despite the rumoured interest of MLS sides New England Revolution and New York Red Bulls.

International career
Coco played for the Italy U18 team in the intermediary round of the 1995 European Under-18 Football Championship and for the Italy U21 team at the 1996 and 1998 UEFA U-21 Championship qualifying phases, playing also in the final round in the successful 2000 campaign under manager Marco Tardelli. Also, Coco played for the victorious Italy U23 team at the 1997 Mediterranean Games.

Coco's full debut for the Italy national football team came in a 3–0 win against Romania, on 7 October 2000, in a 2002 World Cup qualifying match under Giovanni Trapattoni. He also played for Italy in 2002 FIFA World Cup, and was last called up to the national side in September 2002. He achieved a total of 17 caps with the azzurri.

Style of play
Coco was a quick, physical, and tactically versatile player, who was primarily deployed as an offensive-minded fullback or as a wingback, due to his tenacity, and work-rate, as well as his defensive and offensive attributes. Although he was naturally right footed, he was also capable of playing both on the right and the left flank, and was known for his strong tackling, physicality, determination, and crossing ability with both feet. Due to his pace, stamina, skill, and technique, he was also occasionally utilised as a wide midfielder in a 3–5–2 or 3–4–3 formation. Despite his talent, he was often injury-prone and inconsistent, while he had a difficult character and lacked discipline off the pitch; his chances were often limited both at club and international level, due to the presence of Paolo Maldini in his position, whom Coco had initially been tipped to replace as Milan and Italy's starting left-back.

Off the field
Coco was not only a football player but also a businessman. Together with his father Antonio, they own shops and he has his own clothing label called "Urban 77". Coco is a celebrity in Italy and is well known in the party and society scene in Italy. He also wrote the foreword for the recently published book Mio marito è un calciatore (My husband is a footballer). Coco also famously had a long relationship with the Italian actress, showgirl, and model Manuela Arcuri.

Following his retirement from professional football, Coco stated that he was interested in pursuing an acting career, and accepted to appear in L'Isola dei Famosi, the Italian celebrity adaptation of the TV format Survivor, which he abandoned voluntarily days after the beginning of the show.

Club

 * Milan
 * Serie A: 1995–96, 1998–99

 * Inter
 * Coppa Italia: 2004–05

International

 * Italy
 * UEFA Under-21 European Championship: 2000
 * Mediterranean Games: 1997

title: Francesco Coco


text:
Barwon Highway

The Barwon Highway is one of the shorter state highways of Queensland, Australia. It starts at the Carnarvon Highway in Nindigully, 44 kilometres south of St George, and travels east for about 155 kilometres until it reaches Goondiwindi, where it terminates at the Leichhardt Highway.

The highway travels north of and roughly parallel to the Barwon River, after which it is named. The river forms part of the border between Queensland and New South Wales.

State route 85
This highway is part of State Route 85, which extends for over 570 km from Bribie Island to Nindigully, duplexing with the Brisbane Valley Highway (National Route 17) from the D'Aguilar Highway to Esk, the New England Highway (State Route A3) from Hampton to Toowoomba, the Gore Highway (National Route A39 - formerly 85) from Toowoomba to the Leichhardt Highway, and the southern 19 km section of the Leichhardt Highway (also National Route A39) to Goondiwindi.

Stock route
Like many Australian roads, the Barwon Highway follows a declared stock route. The road reserve for most stock routes is wider than for other roads (up to 1600 metres). When seen from the air (or in the Satellite view of Google maps) the substantial width of the western end (from Nindigully to Talwood) can be clearly seen due to the difference in colour between roadside brigalow scrub and adjacent cropland.

Pavement widening
A project to widen sections of pavement on the highway, at a cost of $6.75 million, was expected to complete in June 2022.

title: Barwon Highway


text:
Samajik Ekta Party

Samajik Ekta Party (Social United Party), a political party in Haryana, India. The party's president is Nafe Singh Dahiya. Ahead of the 1999 state assembly elections, SEP had joined the Haryana Sarvjatiya Morcha (Haryana All Caste Front). It is a state level party and fight elections within Haryana state.

title: Samajik Ekta Party


text:
Solnhofen

Solnhofen is a municipality in the district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen in the region of Middle Franconia in the Land of Bavaria in Germany. It is in the Altmühl valley.

The local area is famous in geology and palaeontology for Solnhofen limestone. This is a very fine-grained limestone from the Jurassic period Lagerstätte that preserves detailed fossil specimens. Alois Senefelder used specially prepared blocks of the fine Solnhofen limestone for the process of lithography which he invented in 1798. The quarrying of this lithographic limestone subsequently yielded spectacular finds, including Archaeopteryx, commemorated in the bird's full name Archaeopteryx lithographica. All 13 known specimens have come from the Solnhofen area.

Geography
Solnhofen is located on the Altmühl in Bavaria. It contains two districts: Hochholz and Eßlingen. It is adjacent to the municipalities Pappenheim, Langenaltheim, and Mörnsheim.

History
Solnhofen was known as "Husen" in the eighth century. In 750/51 Saint Solus created a church there. His grave church (Sola-Basilika) was later built on the site. In honor of him Husen was renamed "Solnhofen". In 1420 Solnhofen was burnt down during the Bavarian War. It also suffered through the Thirty Years' War. From 1649 to the 18th century there was a glass industry in Solnhofen. In 1785 the St Veit church was erected partly on the ruins of the old grave church. In 1870 the train station was opened. From 1903 to 1905 the Catholic St Sola church was built. In 1970 the Bürgermeister-Müller-Museum was opened.

Sights
The Sola Basilica dating from the Carolingian period is one of the finest architectural monuments in Germany. It is the grave church of Saint Solus. Close to it is the St Veit church that was built in 1785.

As well as celebrating its role as the "hometown" of Archaeopteryx, Solnhofen also commemorates the work of Alois Senefelder with a statue of the inventor by Hippolyte Maindron

The Bürgermeister Müller Museum in Solnhofen displays the history of lithography, the story of the limestone quarries, and the spectacular fossil finds from the area, including the most recently discovered Archaeopteryx specimen.

The Catholic St Sola church, built in early Gothic style of Jurassic limestones, was opened in 1905.

Notable people

 * Richard Arauner (1902-1936), Oberführer in the Waffen-SS
 * Hermann von Meyer (1801-1869)

title: Solnhofen


text:
Albert Toll

Albert Frederick Toll (1865–1960) was the founder of Australia and New Zealand's largest transport company, Toll Group and Toll NZ and a former mayor of Wickham, New South Wales.

He founded Toll in 1888, when he hauled coal with a horse and a cart.

He was the father of Australian novelist Dora Birtles and founding president of Lake Macquarie Yacht Club, Victor Toll. A street in the Lake Macquarie suburb Valentine, Albert Street, was named after him.

title: Albert Toll


text:
Mainas missions

The Mainas (or Maynas) missions refers to a large number of small missions the Jesuits established in the western Amazon region of South America from 1638 until 1767, when the Jesuits were expelled from Latin America. Following the Jesuit expulsion, mission activity continued under Franciscan auspices.

Roughly 60 missions were founded in total. Scholar Anne Christine Taylor notes that, '[o]f all the western Amazonian mission establishments, that of the Jesuits of Mainas was by far the most important'. She estimates that, prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the many ethnic groups (called Indians or Indios) in the mission field had a population of approximately 200,000. The population declined rapidly and many of the indigenous people resisted Christianity or had little contact with the Christian missionaries. Throughout their existence, the Jesuit mission settlements, known as reductions, were marked by epidemic disease (often smallpox) that exacted a tremendous death toll on the indigenous people resident in them. Slave raids also took a toll on the population and many of the indigenous people avoided or escaped missions.

'Maynas' or 'Mainas' refers to the Maina people, indigenous to the area around the Marañón River. The area in which the missions were established includes the 21st century area of Maynas Province, Peru, and adjacent areas of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil. The Jivaro, Kokama, Cambeba, Secoya, and Yame were among the other indigenous peoples the missionaries sought to convert.

Overview
Christian missions by the Jesuits were one element of the broader Spanish colonial project in the Americas. Historian Ann Taylor characterizes the objective of the missions as "pav[ing] the way for the spread of colonial institutions through cultural means" by using religious and other ideological tools to induce indigenous people to conform to colonial priorities. The Jesuit missions competed with the secular colonists and government for control of the indigenous population which declined rapidly during the mission period due to the introduction of European diseases, overwork and exploitation on Spanish farms, and the ravages of the Bandeirantes, slavers from Portuguese Brazil. The result of the stress on native societies was a reduction in the indigenous population of the Mainas mission area from an estimated 200,000 in 1550 to 30,000 in 1730.

The Jesuits sought to congregate semi-nomadic indigenous people into Spanish-style settlements called reductions, thereby facilitating their Christianization. The colonial governors sought in addition to subject the indigenous to the encomienda or repartimiento systems of labour extraction, forcing the Indians in the reductions to labor on Spanish farms. At times, conflict broke out between the religious orders and the state with regard to control over the indigenous population. Thus, the two organizations were allied in complex ways in the western Amazon from the 17th to 19th centuries.

The Jesuit missions offered the indigenous people Christianity, iron tools, and a small degree of protection from the slavers and the colonists. In exchange, the indigenous had to submit to Jesuit discipline and adopt, at least superficially, a life style foreign to their experience. The population of the missions was only sustained by frequent expeditions into the jungle by Jesuits, soldiers, and Christian Indians to capture indigenous people and force them to return or to settle in the missions.

Knowledge of the Mainas missions derives largely from missionary accounts of their activities. Thus, as Newson notes, a complete account is "difficult to establish in detail".

Rebellion
The immediate impetus for missionary work in the region was a 1635 (or 1637, or 1640 ) rebellion by the Maina people against Spanish colonialists. The Maina rebelled against the encomienda system, a system analogous to slavery which 'gave individual Spaniards the right to demand labor and tribute from the Indians assigned to them … and also turned them into de facto administrators, responsible for the control and the welfare of these Indians'.

Reeve describes the system, as practised in the early 17th century in Mainas, as 'exceedingly harsh': the vast majority of indigenous peoples co-opted into Mainas encomiendas died, and the colonial government used military force to put down those who had not been brought into the system.

The colonial strategy changed around 1636–38, however. According to Clements Markham, Pedro Vaca de Vega (known as Don Pedro Vaca and styled Governador de los Maynas ), the colonial governor of Mainas province, had 'despaired of subjugating the Indians by force' and hoped that the Jesuits 'might succeed in tranquillizing them by persuasion'. Accordingly, he hoped to bring Jesuit missionaries to the area. Reeve concurs, suggesting that the governor's change of heart was due to the recent history of violence in the area.

17th century
Two missionaries, then at Quito, initially responded to Vaca's request for mission-founders: Father Lucas de la Cueva (known as Father Cueva) and Father Cujia. Fathers Cueva and Cujia arrived at Borja on 6 February 1638, not long after the city was founded in 1619.

Mission activity began in the area around Borja, Peru on the Marañon River and in the valley of the Huallaga River (a tributary of the Marañón). The Jesuits sought to 'induc[e]' indigenous peoples to settle in reductions, as opposed to their traditional modes of habitation and forms of government. This would have been a difficult assignment in the best of circumstances, coming as it did shortly after a violent rebellion. More so, because although the Jesuits would ultimately found 'dozens' of missions in the region, there were not many missionaries to go around. Nonetheless, by 1660, the Jesuits had 'catechized' around 10,000 people. Newson estimates that this was about 10–15 percent of the indigenous population in the region at the time.

The missions were backed by colonial forces. The Jesuits travelled with soldiers, and the colonial governor would periodically send his forces on entradas—a missionary's initial attempt to establish contact with those he sought to convert, using 'food and gifts' as inducement.

In 1689, Fritz began his descent down the Amazon River, entering by the area occupied by the Portuguese along the Solimões River, in the current state of Amazonas in Brazil. He founded the missions of Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe (current city of Fonte Boa, AM), São Paulo dos Cambebas (São Paulo de Olivença, AM), Castro de Avelães (Amaturá, AM), Santa Teresa do Tape (Tefé, AM) and Santana de Coari (Coari, AM), all on already identified Portuguese routes since 1660 (LOREIRO, 1978 apud REZENDE, 2006, p. 135).

Reeve notes that the missionaries were largely dependent on 'indigenous guides and interpreters' in seeking out new fields for expansion: guides would bring the Jesuits to territories their people knew well, or with which their people were allied. She observes, then, that '[t]o a remarkable degree, the process of proselytization and mission formation followed indigenous alliance networks across the region'.

18th century
Samuel Fritz served as superior of the Mainas missions from 1704–12. Fritz sought to expand the missions further outwards, which provoked trouble with Portuguese slave traders.

After the Jesuits were expelled in 1767, Mainas came under the control of Franciscans. At the time of the expulsion the Jesuits had between 25 and 37 Mainas missions with about 14,000 Indians in residence.

19th century
There was evidently a mission infrastructure in Mainas as late as the 1850s. William Lewis Herndon, exploring the Amazon for the United States Navy, described missions in the Mainas region that traded various goods with Brazil. He further noted:"I know of no legal establishment in the Missions—the law proceeding out of the mouths of the governors. Indians are punished by flogging or confinement in the stocks; whites are sometimes imprisoned; but if their offence is of a grave nature, they are sent to be tried and judged by the courts of the capital."Herndon also observed that the indigenous inhabitants of the Mainas missions, unique among the 'Indians of Peru', had been exempted from the payment of a head tax, because 'these people had the forest to subdue, and were only able to wring a hard-earned support from the cultivation of the land'. He remarked that white settlers objected to this, and thought that 'some law compelling them to work' would be preferable.

Effects
Disease and slavery were common in the Mainas missions.

Over the 129 years of Jesuit missionary activity in the Mainas region, numerous epidemics of smallpox and other diseases exacted a severe toll on indigenous peoples.

Slave raids, whereby Portuguese colonialists, known as bandeirantes, would capture and enslave indigenous people, were frequent throughout the period. Fritz's tenure in the Mainas missions, in particular, was marked by a number of Portuguese slave raids.

title: Mainas missions


text:
Scullers Head of the River Race

The Scullers Head of the River Race is a rowing race held annually on the River Thames Championship Course from Mortlake to Putney, open to single scullers only. The race is held in November or early December each year on a week usually to suit the mid-morning or mid-afternoon timing of the ebb tide.

History
The Scullers Head was first raced in 1954 when it was won by John Marsden. It now admits entries of over 500 scullers and is the largest sculling race in the UK for a single class of racing shell. The race gains enough entries to organise the greatest number of marshalls for any singles event on the Thames and it draws considerably more overseas single scullers than the same race held in reverse usually three to four weeks before, the Wingfield Sculls, which dates to the middle of the 19th century.

In 2014 were the first admissions of categories for adaptive rowing for athletes with disabilities, in TA and LTA adaptive rowing classifications.

Annual organisation
The race is organised by Vesta Rowing Club, Putney, London.

title: Scullers Head of the River Race


text:
Manav Samaj Seva Party

Manav Samaj Seva Party (Human Society Service Party), is a political party in Haryana, India. MSSP was formed by the ex-president of the Bahujan Samaj Party Haryana state committee and MP, Aman Kumar Nagra, on 12 May 2002.

title: Manav Samaj Seva Party


text:
A Quiet Place (opera)

A Quiet Place is a 1983 American opera with music by Leonard Bernstein and a libretto by Stephen Wadsworth. It is a sequel to Bernstein's 1951 opera Trouble in Tahiti.

In its original form, A Quiet Place was in one act. Bernstein spoke of it as having a Mahlerian four-section structure. The premiere, conducted in Houston by John DeMain on June 17, 1983, was a double bill: Trouble in Tahiti, intermission, A Quiet Place.

In its three-act form, act 2 largely consisted of Trouble in Tahiti in flashback. This form appeared in 1984, with John Mauceri conducting in Milan and Washington. It was refined in 1986 for Vienna, where a recording was made and the composer himself conducted.

Performance history
The first performance, attended by Bernstein, was on 17 June 1983 at Houston Grand Opera. From The Washington Post, before the premiere: Underlying it all is an orchestral fabric in a wide variety of styles that is of truly symphonic density – the opposite of Trouble in Tahiti. Bernstein compared the four-part shape of the opera to a Mahler symphony in an interview with a Houston critic last week. "The opening scene is huge and explosive. The second is elegaic. The third is a playful scherzo", he said. And the last scene is "one of those adagios", referring to the grave and noble slow movements that conclude works like the Mahler Third and Ninth symphonies. "If the opera is saying anything", he said, "it is saying that anything in life is hard to achieve." Then he added, "including this opera".

Revisions
After being panned by critics – "to call the result a pretentious failure is putting it kindly" – Bernstein and Wadsworth withdrew the opera and revised it. Some scenes were cut, and Trouble in Tahiti was incorporated as two flashbacks, becoming (most of) act 2 of a new three-act structure. This version was given in 1984 at La Scala in Milan and at Washington Opera. The work was revised again and subsequently performed at the Vienna State Opera, but with a broadcast orchestra, under the composer's baton in April 1986. Wendy White sang Dinah. These performances were recorded by Deutsche Grammophon for commercial release.

Later performances
The UK premiere was in December 1988 at the Corn Exchange Theatre, Cambridge, with the composer in attendance. In October 2010 New York City Opera presented the New York premiere of the opera (in any version) in a production by Christopher Alden. In contrast to earlier responses, which had been lukewarm, Alden's production drew high praise from both critics and audiences.

Roles
Nota bene: the Opera America source here is misleading. At the premiere, on June 17, 1983, A Quiet Place did not incorporate Trouble in Tahiti but was performed after it, i.e. as a standalone work. Accordingly, the characters Dinah and Young Sam were not part of it. The next year (1984), when the earlier work was interpolated in the later opera in flashbacks, and in 1986 when a Vienna performance was recorded with the composer conducting, these roles could be said to be included, although cast lists still separated them from the four principal roles in A Quiet Place itself: Dede, François, Junior, and (Old) Sam.

Synopsis
(In the three-act form)

Prologue
A chorus sings scattered musical phrases such as "My Heart Shall Be Thy Garden", "Cakes and Friends We Choose With Care", and "Lost Time is Never Found". Some of these themes are repeated throughout the opera. Meanwhile, voices are heard in reaction to a car accident. The victim is Dinah, a wife and mother of two.

Act 1
Friends and family gather at Dinah's funeral. Among the guests are Dinah's brother (Bill), her best friend (Susie), her psychoanalyst, her family doctor and his wife (Doc and Mrs. Doc), and eventually her children (Dede and Junior). Sam, Dinah's widowed husband, stands immobile and isolated in a corner. People are absorbed in their own thoughts and aren't communicating well. In a series of fragmented conversations, they discuss the circumstances of Dinah's death (the car accident from the prologue), mourn her loss and reveal some of what has happened to her family over the years. Dede and Junior live in Quebec with a French Canadian, François, who had been romantically involved with Junior, and is now married to Dede. Junior, who has a history of mental illness, has not seen his father in nearly 20 years, and Sam has never met his son-in-law.

When everyone except Junior has arrived, the funeral director announces a ceremony of readings and reminiscences. Doc reads from Proverbs, Mrs. Doc from Elizabeth Barrett Browning (lines chosen by Sam); Bill and Susie offer spirited reminiscences of Dinah; Dede reads from Kahlil Gibran – until she breaks down in tears and François must read for her. Junior's unruly entrance interrupts the ceremony, and no one greets him. At the conclusion of the readings the guests file past Dinah's coffin and depart, leaving Sam, Junior, Dede, and François facing one another for the first time.

Sam's first words are to Junior, but give way to an explosion of 30 years' anger, reprisal, and confused grief directed at all three young people. Sam breaks down crying, but no one goes to him. In a trio of reminiscence, Junior, Dede, and François recall – via half-remembered letters home – a long-ago time when they were close with their fathers. Junior breaks the spell of remembering with a snap and accosts his father violently. He starts to rhyme – a symptom of his psychosis – and goads Sam with an improvised strip blues. They come to blows, and the coffin lid is knocked shut with a crash. Sam exits furiously, then Dede and François. Junior, alone, becomes aware of his disarray and tenderly runs his hand across his mother's coffin.

Act 2
(Incorporating Trouble in Tahiti)

Scene 1
At home later that evening, Sam is alone in the master bedroom. Reading Dinah's old diaries makes him angry, but he also feels love for Dinah and realizes that he misses her. The diary evokes a memory of 30 years ago...

Scene 2
The scene opens with a scat singing jazz trio which advertises the charms of ideal family life in "Suburbia, U.S.A." of the 1950s. Various prosperous American suburbs are mentioned by name, including Wellesley Hills, Shaker Heights, Highland Park, and Beverly Hills.

In their "little white house", Young Sam and Dinah quarrel at breakfast. Among other issues, she accuses him of having an affair with his secretary at work. After ten years of marriage, every day is the same. They wish they could be kind to each other, but there is no real communication between them.

In his office Young Sam clinches a deal, making a business loan with his customary élan. The jazz trio extols his business acumen and big heart. On her psychiatrist's couch Dinah relates a dream; as she struggled to find her way out of a dying garden, a voice beckoned to her, promising that love would lead her to "a quiet place". Young Sam summons his (unseen) secretary to his office, pointedly asks if he has ever made any passes at her, and takes her quiet demurrals as acquiescence to his version of what happened.

At lunchtime, Young Sam and Dinah have a chance meeting on the street, in the rain. They both pretend to have lunch dates elsewhere, then wonder to themselves why they lied. What has happened, they ask themselves, to dull their love? Can't they find their way back to the garden where they began?

Scene 3
Old Sam's reverie is interrupted when Dede comes shyly to visit him. As they go through cartons and clothes in Dinah's closet, they start to reach out to each other. Next door in Junior's room, François confronts Junior with his behavior at the funeral parlor. François' anger provokes a psychotic phase that takes Junior through some painful associations to an important revelation – that he loves and needs his father. Meanwhile, Dede has tried on a dress which vividly recalls to Sam the young Dinah. Father and daughter embrace, Junior collapses in François' arms.

Dede and François meet in the hallway – she is elated, he is exhausted. François breaks down in her arms, overcome by the strain of the day, and Dede comforts him. He is moved by her strength and embraces her passionately. When they leave, Sam goes into Junior's room. He tries to kiss his sleeping son but can't yet: he's still too conflicted. He finds a sports trophy on a shelf, which reawakens his memory...

Scene 4
The scene opens as the jazz trio reprises its paean to the American suburban dream.

In that distantly remembered afternoon, rather than going to Junior's school play, Young Sam has competed for a handball trophy and won. As he showers, he proclaims that there are some men, like himself, who are just born winners and some men "who will never, ever win".

Also avoiding Junior's play, Dinah goes to a movie – a trite Technicolor musical called Trouble in Tahiti. She finds it awful and describes it scene by scene, but is increasingly caught up in replaying the cornball plot, especially the big escapist musical number "Island Magic". Suddenly she returns to reality and rushes home to make dinner. Young Sam approaches his front door that night with his trophy, but with dread – even winners "must pay through the nose".

As the jazz trio sings of evening shadows and loved ones together, Young Sam and Dinah try to have a talk after dinner, but they cannot make any headway. Young Sam wearily suggests going to the movies – some new musical about Tahiti. Dinah ruefully agrees. Mourning the lost magic between them, they seek out the "bought-and-paid-for" magic of the silver screen.

Old Sam remembers...

Act 3
Dede is up early the next morning, weeding in her mother's once-splendid, now overgrown garden. She senses Dinah's unseen presence and speaks to her, remembering when they were close. Junior, in high spirits, appears with breakfast. Brother and sister play games remembered from childhood and reenact their parents' quarrelsome breakfasts. François joins them in the midst of a tag game, and in another trio of remembrance – for which time stands still – they relive the first meeting of Dede and François some 10 years before.

Now Old Sam appears in the garden and the game of tag resumes. It ends when Sam decides that rather than be tagged by François, he will open his arms to him and welcome him to the family. Sam reads aloud from Dinah's diary. The last entry he reads starts everyone giggling, and they release some of their sadness in shared laughter. The kids tell Sam they are thinking of staying on a few days, and all four euphorically imagine the joys of being together – until a little disagreement becomes a vicious argument. At its climax Junior hurls Dinah's diary into the air, and everything they have achieved since the debacle at the funeral parlor falls down around them. They stop, their anger spent, and look at the pages of the diary scattered on the ground. Thinking of Dinah and of her words, they recognize, one by one, that they can learn to communicate – indeed, that they must – as difficult as it will be for them. They reach out once again to one another.

Recordings

 * Deutsche Grammophon 419 761-2: Beverly Morgan, Wendy White, Peter Kazaras, Chester Ludgin, John Brandsetter, Edward Crafts; Jean Kraft, Louise Edeiken, Kurt Ollmann, Mark Thompsen; Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra; Leonard Bernstein, conductor
 * Decca John Tessier (tenor), Maija Skille (mezzo-soprano), Claudia Boyle (soprano), Steven Humes (bass), Gordon Bintner (baritone), Annie Rosen (mezzo-soprano), Lucas Meachem (baritone), Joseph Kaiser (tenor), Daniel Belcher (baritone), Rupert Charlesworth (tenor) Choeur de l'Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Montreal Symphony Orchestra Kent Nagano Recorded: 2017-05-17

title: A Quiet Place (opera)