A mahout watches the Thai animation movie Kan Kluay with his elephant in Ayuthaya province, about 80km (49 miles) north of Bangkok June 5, 2006. The movie tells the story of a young Thai wild elephant who, while looking for his father, becomes the war elephant of the Thai King fighting against Burma and restored Thailand's ancient Ayuthaya empire that existed about 400 years ago. (Photo by Sukree Sukplang/Reuters)

Burmese children attend classes at a government run school December 14, 2011 in Waw township, Myanmar. The education system is based on the United Kingdom's system, after nearly a century of British and Christian presences in Burma. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west. Its population was estimated to be around 6.5 million in 2012. A third (33%) of the country's population lives below the international poverty line which means living on less than U.S. $1.25 per day.

Youths play a traditional pillow fight game on a bamboo pole during festivities marking the 69th anniversary of Myanmar Independence Day on the outskirts of Yangon on January 4, 2017. Various traditional and local events were held on the holiday which marks the 69th anniversary of the country known before as Burma when British colonial rule ended on January 4, 1948. (Photo by Ye Aung Thu/AFP Photo)

RAF Tornados fly above the Lossiemouth air base on March 18, 2011 in Lossiemouth, Scotland. UK defence forces will help to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya after the UN voted in favour of a resolution that backed 'all necessary measures', except a foreign occupation force, to protect Libyan civilians.

“The Greek Civil War was fought from 1945 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece (ΔΣΕ) (Greek initials DSE), the military branch of the Greek Communist Party (KKE), backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania. It was the result of a highly polarized struggle between leftists and rightists which started in 1943 and targeted the power vacuum that the German-Italian occupation during World War II had created. One of the first conflicts of the Cold War, according to some analysts it represents the first example of a postwar Western interference in the internal politics of a foreign country, and for others, marked the first serious test of the theory of the so-called Churchill-Stalin percentages agreement. The first signs of the civil war occurred in 1942–1944, during the Occupation”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A Greek commando soldier, wearing a fur-collared jacket supplied by the Americans, waits for a guerrilla target to emerge during the Greek Civil War. (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Getty Images). 22nd May 1948

Yak near Yamdrok lake, Tibet. It is a long-haired bovinae found throughout the Himalayan region of south Central Asia, the Tibetan Plateau and as far north as Mongolia and Russia. The Tibetan economy is dominated by subsistence agriculture. Due to limited arable land, the primary occupation of the Tibetan Plateau is raising livestock, such as sheep, cattle, goats, camels, yaks, dzo, and horses. The Tibetan yak is an integral part of Tibetan life. (Photo by Dennis Jarvis)

Japanese dancers perform the Awa-odori in the pitlane during the driver parade before the 2025 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit, in Suzuka, Japan, 06 April 2025. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA)