IN: Xi Jinping (; Chinese: Xi Jin Ping ; pinyin: Xi Jinping; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician currently serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People's Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission. As Xi holds the top offices of the party, the state, and the military, he is sometimes referred to as China's "paramount leader"; in 2016, the party officially gave him the title of "core" leader.

Xi Jinping was born in Beijing on 15 June 1953. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 by Mao Zedong, Xi's father held a series of posts, including propaganda chief, vice-premier, and vice-chairman of the National People's Congress. Xi's father is from Fuping County, Shaanxi, and Xi could further trace his patrilineal descent from Xiying in Dengzhou, Henan. He is the second son of Xi Zhongxun and his wife Qi Xin.  In 1963, when Xi was age 10, his father was purged from the Party and sent to work in a factory in Luoyang, Henan. In May 1966, Xi's secondary education was cut short by the Cultural Revolution, when all secondary classes were halted for students to criticise and fight their teachers. The Xi family home was ransacked by student militants and one of Xi's sisters, Xi Heping, was killed. Later, his own mother was forced to publicly denounce him as Xi was paraded before a crowd as an enemy of the revolution. Xi was aged 15 when his father was imprisoned in 1968 during the Cultural Revolution; Xi would not see his father again until 1972. Without the protection of his father, Xi was sent to work in Liangjiahe Village, Wen'anyi Town, Yanchuan County, Yan'an, Shaanxi, in 1969 in Mao Zedong's Down to the Countryside Movement. After a few months, unable to stand rural life, he ran away to Beijing. He was arrested during a crackdown on deserters from the countryside and sent to a work camp to dig ditches. He later became the Party branch secretary of the production team, leaving that post in 1975. When asked about this experience later by Chinese state television, Xi recalled, "It was emotional. It was a mood. And when the ideals of the Cultural Revolution could not be realised, it proved an illusion."  From 1975 to 1979, Xi studied chemical engineering at Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University as a "Worker-Peasant-Soldier student", where engineering majors spent about one-fifth of their time studying Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong thought, doing farm work and "learning from the People's Liberation Army".  From 1979 to 1982, Xi served as secretary for his father's former subordinate Geng Biao, the then vice premier and secretary-general of the Central Military Commission. This gained Xi some military background. In 1985, as part of a Chinese delegation to study U.S. agriculture, he stayed in the home of an American family in the town of Muscatine, Iowa. This trip, and his two-week stay with a U.S. family, is said to have had a lasting impression upon him and his views on the United States.  From 1998 to 2002, he studied Marxist philosophy and ideological education in an "on-the-job" postgraduate programme at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, again at Tsinghua University, and obtained a Doctor of Law (LLD) degree, which was a degree covering fields of law, politics, management, and revolutionary history, though commentators have questioned this qualification.

What did this lead to

OUT: Later, his own mother was forced to publicly denounce him as Xi was paraded before a crowd as an enemy of the revolution.


IN: Kasabian ( k@-SAY-bee-@n) are an English rock band formed in Leicester in 1997. The band's original members consisted of vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Chris Karloff, and bassist Chris Edwards. The band's line-up was completed by drummer Ian Matthews in 2004 after a string of session drummers. Karloff left the band in 2006 and founded a new band called Black Onassis.

In 2016, the band played a short tour in May, culminating in two concerts at Leicester City Football Club's ground, the King Power Stadium, to celebrate them winning the Premier League. At the first of these two concerts, Kasabian debuted a new song, "Put Your Life On It", dedicated to the city and those who are no longer with us to see the cities recent sporting achievements, accompanied by a gospel choir from De Montfort University. They also performed a short set in Leicester's Victoria Park, as part of the LCFC victory parade on 16 May. Numerous inspirations for the sixth album also have been listed, including Nirvana, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie and Claudio Ranieri. On 8 September, it was confirmed that "Comeback Kid" will be featured on the soundtrack of EA Sports game FIFA 17. In December 2016 the group were rumoured to play Reading & Leeds Festival the following year, but insisted that, "The band are currently finishing their new album". The band have been announced for several festivals in summer 2017, including a slot at Reading & Leeds Festival in August.  In January 2017, in an interview to NME Pizzorno revealed that the upcoming album would contain a track called "Bless This Acid House", which, in the musician's opinion, is one of the best songs he has written.  In March 2017, it was confirmed that the band's sixth album would be titled For Crying Out Loud, and released in of that year. The album cover features a photograph of the band's guitar technician Rick Graham. The band embarked on a world tour in support, that included performances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals and headling TRNSMT in Glasgow.

Where did the band tour?

OUT:
In 2016, the band played a short tour in May, culminating in two concerts at Leicester City Football Club's ground, the King Power Stadium,