title: Punjab

text: The Turkic Ghaznavids in the tenth century overthrew the Hindu Shahis and consequently ruled for 157 years, gradually declining as a power until the Ghurid conquest of Lahore by Muhammad of Ghor in 1186, deposing the last Ghaznavid ruler Khusrau Malik. Following the death of Muhammad of Ghor in 1206, the Ghurid state fragmented and was replaced in northern India by the Delhi Sultanate. The Delhi Sultanate ruled the Punjab for the next three hundred years, led by five unrelated dynasties, the Mamluks, Khalajis, Tughlaqs, Sayyids and Lodis. 15th century saw rise of many prominent Muslims from Punjab. Khizr Khan established the Sayyid dynasty, the fourth dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate after the fall of the Tughlaqs. A contemporary writer Yahya Sirhindi mentions in his "Takhrikh-i-Mubarak Shahi" that Khizr Khan was a descendant of prophet Muhammad. Members of the dynasty derived their title, Sayyid, or the descendants of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, based on the claim that they belonged to his lineage through his daughter Fatima. However, Yahya Sirhindi based his conclusions on unsubstantial evidence, the first being a casual recognition by the famous saint Sayyid Jalaluddin Bukhari of Uch Sharif of his Sayyid heritage, and secondly the noble character of the Sultan which distinguished him as a Prophet's descendant. According to Richard M. Eaton, Khizr Khan was son of a Punjabi chieftain. He was a Khokhar chieftain who travelled to Samarkand and profited from the contacts he made with the Timurid society Later on, Delhi Sultanate, weakened by invasion of Emir Timur, could not control all regions of the Empire and different local kingdoms appeared. In 1407, Sultan Muzaffar Shah I, a Tank Rajput or a Khatri Muslim from Punjab established the Gujarat Sultanate.


title: Punjab

text: In 1445, Sultan Qutbudin, chief of "Langah", a Jat Zamindar tribe established the Langah Sultanate in Multan. Another prominent name is that of Jasrath Khokhar who helped Sultan Zain Ul Abideen of Kashmir to gain his throne and ruled over vast tracts of Jammu and North Punjab. He also conquered Delhi for a brief period in 1431 but was driven out by Mubarak Shah.


title: Punjab

text: The Mughals came to power in the early sixteenth century and gradually expanded to control all of the Punjab from their capital at Lahore. During the Mughal era, Saadullah Khan, born into a family of Jat agriculturalists belonging to the Thaheem tribe from Chiniot remained Grand vizier (or Prime Minister) of the Mughal Empire in the period 1645–1656. Other prominent Muslims from Punjab who rose to nobility during the Mughal Era include Wazir Khan, Adina Beg Arain, and Shahbaz Khan Kamboh. The Mughal Empire ruled the region until it was severely weakened in the eighteenth century. As Mughal power weakened, Afghan rulers took control of the region. Contested by Marathas and Afghans, the region was the center of the growing influence of the Sikhs, who expanded and established the Sikh Empire as the Mughals and Afghans weakened, ultimately ruling the Punjab, eastern Afghanistan, and territories north into the Himalayas.


title: Punjab

text: The Sikh Empire ruled the Punjab until the British annexed it in 1849 following the First and Second Anglo-Sikh Wars. Most of the Punjabi homeland formed a province of British India, though a number of small princely states retained local rulers who recognized British authority. The Punjab with its rich farmlands became one of the most important colonial assets. Lahore was a noted center of learning and culture, and Rawalpindi became an important military installation. Most Punjabis supported the British during World War I, providing men and resources to the war effort even though the Punjab remained a source of anti colonial activities. Disturbances in the region increased as the war continued. At the end of the war, high casualty rates, heavy taxation, inflation, and a widespread influenza epidemic disrupted Punjabi society. In 1919 a British officer ordered his troops to fire on a crowd of demonstrators, mostly Sikhs in Amritsar. The Jallianwala massacre fueled the indian independence movement. Nationalists declared the independence of India from Lahore in 1930 but were quickly suppressed. When the Second World War broke out, nationalism in British India had already divided into religious movements. Many Sikhs and other minorities supported the Hindus, who promised a secular multicultural and multireligious society, and Muslim leaders in Lahore passed a resolution to work for a Muslim Pakistan, making the Punjab region a center of growing conflict between Indian and Pakistani nationalists. At the end of the war, the British granted separate independence to India and Pakistan, setting off massive communal violence as Muslims fled to Pakistan and Hindu and Sikh Punjabis fled east to India.


title: Punjab

text: The British Raj had major political, cultural, philosophical, and literary consequences in the Punjab, including the establishment of a new system of education. During the independence movement, many Punjabis played a significant role, including Madan Lal Dhingra, Sukhdev Thapar, Ajit Singh Sandhu, Bhagat Singh, Udham Singh, Kartar Singh Sarabha, Bhai Parmanand, Choudhry Rahmat Ali, and Lala Lajpat Rai. At the time of partition in 1947, the province was split into East and West Punjab. East Punjab (48%) became part of India, while West Punjab (52%) became part of Pakistan. The Punjab bore the brunt of the civil unrest following partition, with casualties estimated to be in the millions.


title: Punjab

text: Another major consequence of partition was the sudden shift towards religious homogeneity occurred in all districts across Punjab owing to the new international border that cut through the province. This rapid demographic shift was primarily due to wide scale migration but also caused by large-scale religious cleansing riots which were witnessed across the region at the time. According to historical demographer Tim Dyson, in the eastern regions of Punjab that ultimately became Indian Punjab following independence, districts that were 66% Hindu in 1941 became 80% Hindu in 1951; those that were 20% Sikh became 50% Sikh in 1951. Conversely, in the western regions of Punjab that ultimately became Pakistani Punjab, all districts became almost exclusively Muslim by 1951.


title: Punjab

text: The geographical definition of the term "Punjab" has changed over time. In the 16th century Mughal Empire it referred to a relatively smaller area between the Indus and the Sutlej rivers.


title: Punjab

text: In the 19th century, Maharaja Ranjit Singh established the Sikh Empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered in the Second Anglo-Sikh War. It was forged on the foundations of the Khalsa from a collection of autonomous Sikh "misls". At its peak in the 19th century, the Empire extended from the Khyber Pass in the west to western Tibet in the east, and from Mithankot in the south to Kashmir in the north. It was divided into four provinces: Lahore, in Punjab, which became the Sikh capital; Multan, also in Punjab; Peshawar; and Kashmir from 1799 to 1849. Religiously diverse, with an estimated population of 3.5 million in 1831 (making it the 19th most populous country at the time), it was the last major region of the Indian subcontinent to be annexed by the British Empire.


title: Punjab

text: The Punjab was a region straddling India and the Afghan Durrani Empire. The following modern-day political divisions made up the historical Punjab region during the Sikh Empire:


title: Punjab

text: After Ranjit Singh's death in 1839, the empire was severely weakened by internal divisions and political mismanagement. This opportunity was used by the East India Company to launch the First and Second Anglo-Sikh Wars. The country was finally annexed and dissolved at the end of the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849 into separate princely states and the province of Punjab. Eventually, a Lieutenant Governorship was formed in Lahore as a direct representative of the Crown.


title: Punjab

text: In British India, until the Partition of India in 1947, the Punjab Province was geographically a triangular tract of country of which the Indus River and its tributary the Sutlej formed the two sides up to their confluence, the base of the triangle in the north being the Lower Himalayan Range between those two rivers. Moreover, the province as constituted under British rule also included a large tract outside these boundaries. Along the northern border, Himalayan ranges divided it from Kashmir and Tibet. On the west it was separated from the North-West Frontier Province by the Indus, until it reached the border of Dera Ghazi Khan District, which was divided from Baluchistan by the Sulaiman Range. To the south lay Sindh and Rajputana, while on the east the rivers Jumna and Tons separated it from the United Provinces. In total Punjab had an area of approximately 357 000 km square about the same size as modern day Germany, being one of the largest provinces of the British Raj.


title: Punjab

text: It encompassed the present day Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and some parts of Himachal Pradeshwhich were merged with Punjab by the British for administrative purposes (but excluding the former princely states which were later combined into the Patiala and East Punjab States Union) and the Pakistani regions of the Punjab, Islamabad Capital Territory and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.


title: Punjab

text: In 1901 the frontier districts beyond the Indus were separated from Punjab and made into a new province: the North-West Frontier Province. Subsequently, Punjab was divided into four natural geographical divisions by colonial officials on the decadal census data:


title: Punjab

text: The struggle for Indian independence witnessed competing and conflicting interests in the Punjab. The landed elites of the Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities had loyally collaborated with the British since annexation, supported the Unionist Party and were hostile to the Congress party–led independence movement. Amongst the peasantry and urban middle classes, the Hindus were the most active National Congress supporters, the Sikhs flocked to the Akali movement whilst the Muslims eventually supported the Muslim League.


title: Punjab

text: Since the partition of the sub-continent had been decided, special meetings of the Western and Eastern Section of the Legislative Assembly were held on 23 June 1947 to decide whether or not the Province of the Punjab be partitioned. After voting on both sides, partition was decided and the existing Punjab Legislative Assembly was also divided into West Punjab Legislative Assembly and the East Punjab Legislative Assembly. This last Assembly before independence, held its last sitting on 4 July 1947.


title: Punjab

text: Historically, Lahore has been the capital of the Punjab region and continues to be the most populous city in the region, with a population of 11 million for the city proper. Faisalabad is the 2nd most populous city and largest industrial hub in this region. Other major cities are Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, and Chandigarh are the other cities in Punjab with a city-proper population of over a million.


title: Punjab

text: The climate has significant impact on the economy of Punjab, particularly for agriculture in the region. Climate is not uniform over the whole region, as the sections adjacent to the Himalayas generally receive heavier rainfall than those at a distance.


title: Punjab

text: There are three main seasons and two transitional periods. During the hot season from mid-April to the end of June, the temperature may reach . The monsoon season, from July to September, is a period of heavy rainfall, providing water for crops in addition to the supply from canals and irrigation systems. The transitional period after the monsoon is cool and mild, leading to the winter season, when the temperature in January falls to at night and by day. During the transitional period from winter to the hot season, sudden hailstorms and heavy showers may occur, causing damage to crops.


title: Punjab

text: The major language is Punjabi, which is written in India with the Gurmukhi script, and in Pakistan using the Shahmukhi script. The Punjabi language has official status and is widely used in education and administration in Indian Punjab, whereas in Pakistani Punjab these roles are instead fulfilled by the Urdu language.


title: Punjab

text: Several languages closely related to Punjabi are spoken in the periphery of the region. Dogri, Kangri, and other western Pahari dialects are spoken in the north-central and northeastern peripheries of the region, while Bagri is spoken in south-central and southeastern sections. Meanwhile, Saraiki is generally spoken across a wide belt covering the southwest, while in the northwest there are large pockets containing speakers of Hindko and Pothwari.


title: Punjab

text: The Punjabi people first practiced Hinduism, the oldest recorded religion in the Punjab region. The historical Vedic religion constituted the religious ideas and practices in the Punjab during the Vedic period (1500–500 BCE), centered primarily in the worship of Indra. The bulk of the Rigveda was composed in the Punjab region between circa 1500 and 1200 BC, while later Vedic scriptures were composed more eastwards, between the Yamuna and Ganges rivers. An ancient Indian law book called the Manusmriti, developed by Brahmin Hindu priests, shaped Punjabi religious life from 200 BC onward.


title: Punjab

text: Later, the spread of Buddhisim and Jainism in the Indian subcontinent saw the growth of Buddhism and Jainism in the Punjab. Islam was introduced via southern Punjab in the 8th century, becoming the majority by the 16th century, via local conversion. There was a small Jain community left in Punjab by the 16th century, while the Buddhist community had largely disappeared by the turn of the 10th century. The region became predominantly Muslim due to missionary Sufi saints whose dargahs dot the landscape of the Punjab region.


title: Punjab

text: The rise of Sikhism in the 1700s saw some Punjabis, both Hindu and Muslim, accepting the new Sikh faith. A number of Punjabis during the colonial period of India became Christians, with all of these religions characterizing the religious diversity now found in the Punjab region.


title: Punjab

text: A number of Punjabis during the colonial period of India became Christians, with all of these religions characterizing the religious diversity now found in the Punjab region. Additionally during the colonial era, the practice of religious syncretism among Punjabi Muslims and Punjabi Hindus was noted and documented by officials in census reports:


title: Punjab

text: Territory comprises the contemporary subdivisions of Punjab, Pakistan and Islamabad Capital Territory.


title: Punjab

text: Territory comprises the contemporary subdivisions of Punjab, India, Chandigarh, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh.


title: Punjab

text: The "Indo−Gangetic Plain West geographical division" included Hisar district, Loharu State, Rohtak district, Dujana State, Gurgaon district, Pataudi State, Delhi, Karnal district, Jalandhar district, Kapurthala State, Ludhiana district, Malerkotla State, Firozpur district, Faridkot State, Patiala State, Jind State, Nabha State, Lahore District, Amritsar district, and Gujranwala District.


title: Punjab

text: The "Himalayan geographical division" included Nahan State, Simla District, Simla Hill States, Kangra district, Mandi State, Suket State, and Chamba State.


title: Punjab

text: The "Sub−Himalayan geographical division" included Ambala district, Kalsia State, Hoshiarpur district, Gurdaspur district, Sialkot District, Gujrat District, Jhelum District, Rawalpindi District, and Attock District.


title: Punjab

text: The "North−West Dry Area geographical division" included Montgomery District, Shahpur District, Mianwali District, Lyallpur District, Jhang District, Multan District, Bahawalpur State, Muzaffargarh District, and Dera Ghazi Khan District.


title: Punjab

text: In the present-day, the vast majority of Pakistani Punjabis are Sunni Muslim by faith, but also include significant minority faiths, such as Shia Muslims, Ahmadi Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians.


title: Punjab

text: Sikhism, founded by Guru Nanak is the main religion practised in the post-1966 Indian Punjab state. About 57.7% of the population of Punjab state is Sikh, 38.5% is Hindu, with the remaining population including Muslims, Christians, and Jains. Punjab state contains the holy Sikh cities of Amritsar, Anandpur Sahib, Tarn Taran Sahib, Fatehgarh Sahib and Chamkaur Sahib.


title: Punjab

text: The Punjab was home to several Sufi saints, and Sufism is well established in the region. Also, Kirpal Singh revered the Sikh Gurus as saints.


title: Punjab

text: The Punjab region is diverse. As seen in historic census data taken in the colonial era, many castes, subcastes & tribes all formed parts of the various ethnic groups in Punjab Province, contemporarily known as Punjabis, Saraikis, Haryanvis, Hindkowans, Dogras, Paharis, and more.


title: Punjab

text: The historical region of Punjab produce a relatively high proportion of India and Pakistan's food output respectively. The region has been used for extensive wheat farming. In addition, rice, cotton, sugarcane, fruit, and vegetables are also grown.


title: Punjab

text: The agricultural output of the Punjab region in Pakistan contributes significantly to Pakistan's GDP. Both Indian and Pakistani Punjab is considered to have the best infrastructure of their respective countries. The Indian state of Punjab is currently the 16th richest state or the eighth richest large state of India. Pakistani Punjab produces 68% of Pakistan's foodgrain production. Its share of Pakistan's GDP has historically ranged from 51.8% to 54.7%.


title: Punjab

text: Called "The Granary of India" or "The Bread Basket of India," Indian Punjab produces 1% of the world's rice, 2% of its wheat, and 2% of its cotton. In 2001, it was recorded that farmers made up 39% of Indian Punjab's workforce. In the Punjab region of Pakistan, 42.3% of the labour force is engaged in the agriculture sector.


title: Punjab

text: Alternatively, Punjab is also adding to the economy with the increase in employment of Punjab youth in the private sector. Government schemes such as 'Ghar Ghar Rozgar and Karobar Mission' have brought enhanced employability in the private sector. So far, 32,420 youths have been placed in different jobs and 12,114 have been skill-trained.


title: Punjab

text: Three Punjab cities; Bathinda, Patiala and Ferozepur, were featured in a list of the top 100 cleanest cities of India from a Swachh Survekshan report released in August 2020.


title: Bianca Belair

text: Bianca Blair Crawford (born Bianca Nicole Blair; April 9, 1989) is an American professional wrestler and a fitness and figure competitor. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Bianca Belair, and is the current Raw Women's Champion in her first reign.


title: Bianca Belair

text: A former track and field athlete, Belair made her professional wrestling debut in 2016 for WWE's developmental territory NXT, competing for the NXT Women's Championship on multiple occasions. After being drafted to SmackDown, she won the 2021 Women's Royal Rumble match, becoming the second African-American superstar after The Rock to win a Royal Rumble match. She successfully challenged for the SmackDown Women's Championship against Sasha Banks at WrestleMania 37, during a match which marked the second time women main-evented WrestleMania. In 2021, she was ranked No. 1 of the top 150 female wrestlers by "Pro Wrestling Illustrated" ("PWI").


title: Bianca Belair

text: Blair attended Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she succeeded in many sports such as track. She was a track and field athlete who competed in the hurdles and had what ESPN writer Sean Hurd called "a volatile six-year track career" that saw her attend three universities. She first attended the University of South Carolina and then Texas A&M University, and later did not compete for a year, before completing her college career at the University of Tennessee, where she became All-SEC and All-American as well as being named to the SEC's academic honor roll in 2011 and 2012. Blair was also a CrossFit competitor and powerlifter, having appeared in "RX" magazine, "Femme Rouge" magazine, and CrossFit.com. Blair was forced to abandon her CrossFit career due to intercostal chondritis, also known as shifting rib syndrome.


title: Bianca Belair

text: Blair entered her information into the WWE prospects database shortly after the premature end of her CrossFit career "more on a whim than with an actual plan", according to Hurd. Less than two weeks later, while working phone sales at a flavoring company in Atlanta, she received a social media message from 20-year WWE veteran Mark Henry, who had come across Blair's profile on the CrossFit circuit, saying he could get her a tryout, but emphasized she had to do the work.


title: Bianca Belair

text: After two official tryouts, Blair signed a contract with WWE on April 12, 2016, and was assigned to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Blair made her first appearance during an in–ring segment at an NXT live event on June 25 as "Binky Blair", where she proclaimed to be the "EST of NXT... prettiest, baddest, strongest." She made her in–ring debut on September 29, losing to Aliyah. On the May 3, 2017 episode of "NXT", Blair made her television debut under the ring name Bianca Belair, taking part in a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship, but was eliminated by Billie Kay and Peyton Royce. Belair participated in the Mae Young Classic, defeating Sage Beckett in the first round, but was eliminated in the second round by the eventual tournament winner Kairi Sane, which was critically acclaimed.


title: Bianca Belair

text: Starting on the January 24, 2018, episode of "NXT", Belair began an undefeated streak by defeating various competitors including Lacey Evans, Candice LeRae, Aliyah, Dakota Kai and Deonna Purrazzo. On April 8, Belair made her WrestleMania debut by participating in the WrestleMania Women's Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34 alongside other women from the NXT roster, but was eliminated by Becky Lynch. On the January 9, 2019 episode of "NXT", Belair defeated Nikki Cross in what was Cross' final match as part of the brand before moving to the main roster. On January 26 at , Belair challenged Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women's Championship, but lost after multiple interferences by Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, ending her undefeated streak at 367 days. At on April 5, Belair failed to win the title as she was submitted by Baszler in a fatal four-way match also involving Kairi Sane and Io Shirai. On the May 29 episode of "NXT", Belair suffered her first pinfall loss in NXT to Mia Yim. A triple threat match between Belair, Yim, and Io Shirai to determine the #1 contender for the NXT Women's Championship was announced on the September 4 episode of "NXT". A week later, Candice LeRae would be added to make it a fatal 4-way match. The match would be the first match on the debut episode of "NXT" on the USA Network, which LeRae won.


title: Bianca Belair

text: On the October 23 episode of "NXT", Belair lost to championship contender Rhea Ripley despite outside interference from Shirai and LeRae. At on November 23, Belair and Team Baszler (NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler, Io Shirai, and NXT UK Women's Champion Kay Lee Ray) lost to Team Ripley (Rhea Ripley, Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, and Tegan Nox) in the first ever women's WarGames match. The following night, she participated at Survivor Series, where the three brands (Raw, SmackDown and NXT) faced each other in several matches; she was part of Team NXT, who defeated Team Raw and Team SmackDown in a 5-on-5-on-5 women's elimination match. Belair also took part in the 2020 Royal Rumble on January 26, entering her first Women's Royal Rumble match at #2, eliminating a record 8 other superstars (tied with Baszler), before she was eliminated by eventual winner Charlotte Flair after lasting 33 minutes and 20 seconds. At on February 16, Belair faced Ripley for the NXT Women's Championship in a losing effort. On the February 19 episode of "NXT", she competed in her final match in NXT, losing to Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair.


title: Bianca Belair

text: On the "Raw" following WrestleMania 36, Belair made her main roster debut by saving The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and her husband Montez Ford) from Zelina Vega, Angel Garza, and Austin Theory, establishing herself as a member of the Raw roster, and was paired with The Street Profits, turning face in the process. However, the alliance was dropped soon after. As part of the 2020 Draft in October, Belair was drafted to the SmackDown brand. On the October 30 episode of "SmackDown," she defeated Billie Kay and Natalya in a triple threat match to qualify for Team SmackDown at Survivor Series. At the event on November 22, Belair was eliminated by countout, and Team SmackDown lost to Team Raw.


title: Bianca Belair

text: On January 31, 2021, at Royal Rumble, Belair won the Royal Rumble match by last eliminating Rhea Ripley, becoming the second-ever Black superstar to achieve this feat in WWE history after The Rock. She was in the match for over 56 minutes, a record for a participant in the Women's Royal Rumble match, having entered at #3. At Elimination Chamber on February 21, she and SmackDown Women's Champion Sasha Banks failed to win the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship from Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax. On the following episode of "SmackDown", Belair officially challenged Banks to a title match at WrestleMania 37. They also failed to win the tag team titles at Fastlane on March 21. On the first night of WrestleMania on April 10, Belair defeated Banks in the main event to win the SmackDown Women's Championship, marking her first title in her career. She then retained the title against Bayley at WrestleMania Backlash on May 16, and at Hell in a Cell on June 20, inside the namesake structure. Belair was scheduled to defend the title against Bayley in an "I Quit" match at Money in the Bank on July 18, but the match was cancelled due to Bayley suffering a torn ACL while training at the WWE Performance Center.


title: Bianca Belair

text: At SummerSlam on August 21, Belair was scheduled to defend her title against Sasha Banks, but during the event, it was announced that Banks could not compete. She was seemingly replaced by Carmella, who was then attacked by a returning Becky Lynch, who challenged Belair for the title. Belair accepted and lost the title in 26 seconds after two moves by Lynch, ending her reign at 133 days. She described the loss as one of the lowest points of her career, "losing the title [in] 26 seconds in front of all of your fans." At Extreme Rules on September 26, Belair defeated Lynch by disqualification due to interference by a returning Sasha Banks, thus not earning the title. As part of the 2021 Draft, Belair was drafted to the Raw brand. At Crown Jewel on October 21, Belair failed to regain the title in a triple threat match against champion Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks. On the November 1 episode of "Raw", she was unable to capture the Raw Women's Championship from Lynch. At Survivor Series on November 21, Belair made history by becoming the first person to overcome a four-on-one handicap to win the event's traditional five-on-five elimination match.


title: Bianca Belair

text: At Royal Rumble on January 29, 2022, Belair entered at #8, lasting 47 minutes before she was eliminated by Charlotte Flair. At Elimination Chamber on February 19, Belair won the Elimination Chamber match to become the #1 contender for the Raw Women's Championship at WrestleMania 38, thus reigniting her feud with Lynch. The rivalry between the two heightened and on the March 28 episode of "Raw", Lynch appeared and attempted to cut Belair's hair with a pair of scissors in revenge for being scarred from a ponytail whip from Belair, however, she attacked Lynch with a KOD and chopped off her hair instead. On the first night of WrestleMania 38 on April 2, Belair defeated Lynch to win the Raw Women's Championship.


title: Bianca Belair

text: Belair retained her title against WWE official Sonya Deville on the April 25 episode of "Raw", despite interference from Carmella and Queen Zelina. Belair then retained the title against Asuka and Lynch in a triple threat match at Hell in a Cell on June 5, and against Carmella on July 2 at Money in the Bank. On the July 11 episode of "Raw", Belair lost a rematch by countout due to interference from Lynch but retained the title, until defeating Carmella in another rematch the following week. At SummerSlam on July 30, Belair retained the title against Lynch, and after the match, they would embrace each other, ending their feud. However, they were confronted by the returning Bayley and her new allies Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky, reigniting their feud. On the August 8 episode of "Raw", they challenged Belair, Alexa Bliss, and Asuka to a six-woman tag team match at Clash at the Castle, which they accepted. At the event on September 3, they lost to Damage Control when Bayley pinned her. At Extreme Rules on October 8, Belair retained the Raw Women's Championship against Bayley in a ladder match. On October 19, Belair reached 200 days as champion, making her the longest African-American world champion in WWE history, male or female. At Crown Jewel on November 5, Belair retained the title against Bayley in a Last Woman Standing match. Three weeks later at Survivor Series WarGames on November 26, Belair, Asuka, Bliss, Lynch, and Mia Yim defeated Damage CTRL (Bayley, Kai, Sky), Nikki Cross and Rhea Ripley in a WarGames match after Lynch pinned Kai.


title: Bianca Belair

text: Belair wrestles in a powerhouse style and is noted for her strength. She uses the nickname "The EST of WWE" (or NXT during her time there), which she describes as being "the fastest, the strongest, the quickest, the roughest and the toughest – emphasis on the "est". She uses a torture rack into an argentine facebuster as her finisher, which she calls the "K.O.D (Kiss Of Death)". Belair is known for her signature ponytail, which she often uses against her opponents as a weapon. She got the idea to use it during a drive home with her husband, who told her “You should start wearing your braid, and you can actually use that thang.” She has also been known for making her own ring gear, sometimes on the road.


title: Bianca Belair

text: Blair made her video game debut as a playable character in "WWE 2K19". She is also featured in "WWE 2K20" and "WWE 2K22". In late January 2020, WWE.com revealed Blair's first action figure debuting in Mattel's Basic Series 107.


title: Bianca Belair

text: On August 25, 2022, Blair signed with Hollywood agency WME. On December 4, Belair revealed that she will make her fitness and figure competition debut for World Beauty Fitness & Fashion (WBFF) at the Atlantic City ProAm. Two days later, Belair confirmed that she won the first place at Wellness, second place at Fitness, while also receiving a WBFF pro card.


title: Bianca Belair

text: Blair's father was in a band called the Blair Brothers, and her brother played football. Her grandfather Edward G. High was a professor and chairman of biochemistry at Meharry Medical College, her great-grandfather Edward N. Toole was the first licensed African American electrician in Durham, North Carolina, and her aunt Miranda Hunt was one of the first black people to integrate St. Cecilia High School in Nashville, Tennessee.


title: Bianca Belair

text: On June 9, 2017, Blair announced that she was engaged to fellow professional wrestler Kenneth Crawford, better known as Montez Ford. The couple married on June 23, 2018. Blair is the stepmother to Crawford's two children from a previous relationship. Blair has been open about her struggles with disordered eating, crediting a past track coach at Texas A&M University with helping her to prioritize her mental health and move onto recovery from the disorder.


title: Bananarama

text: Bananarama are an English pop duo from London, formed as a trio in 1980 by friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when the trio became a duo. Their success on both pop and dance charts saw them listed in the "Guinness World Records" for achieving the world's highest number of chart entries by an all-female group. Between 1982 and 2009, they had 30 singles reach the Top 50 of the UK Singles Chart.


title: Bananarama

text: The group's UK top-10 hits include "It Ain't What You Do..." (1982), "Really Saying Something" (1982), "Shy Boy" (1982), "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" (1983), "Cruel Summer" (1983), "Robert De Niro's Waiting..." (1984), "Love in the First Degree" (1987), "I Want You Back" in 1988 and charity track "Help!" in 1989. In 1986, they had a U.S. number one with another of their UK top-10 hits, a cover of "Venus". In total, they had 11 singles reach the US "Billboard" Hot 100 (1983–1988), including the top-10 hits "Cruel Summer" (1984) and "I Heard a Rumour" (1987). They are associated with the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US. The trio performed on "Do They Know It's Christmas?", a UK chart-topping collaborative charity single released in 1984. They topped the Australian ARIA albums chart in June 1988 with "Wow!" (1987), and earned Brit Award nominations for Best British Single for "Love in the First Degree", and Best Music Video for their 1988 hit cover of the Supremes single "Nathan Jones".


title: Bananarama

text: Fahey left the group in 1988 and formed Shakespears Sister, best known for the UK number one "Stay" (1992). She was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan. This line-up had UK top-five hits with "I Want You Back", (1988) and a cover of The Beatles' "Help!" (1989) recorded with comedy duo French and Saunders and comedian Kathy Burke for the charity Comic Relief. They also charted with "Love, Truth and Honesty" and "Nathan Jones".


title: Bananarama

text: In 1989, they embarked on their first world tour and had another hit with a new remixed version of "Cruel Summer".


title: Bananarama

text: In 1990 and 1991, they had top-30 hits with "Only Your Love", "Preacher Man" and "Long Train Running" and new studio album "Pop Life", which featured these singles and a fourth, "Tripping on Your Love", which was released soon after the album.


title: Bananarama

text: After O'Sullivan's late-1991 departure, Dallin and Woodward continued Bananarama as a duo, with further top-30 hits including "Movin' On" (1992), "More, More, More" (1993), "Move in My Direction" (2005) and "Look on the Floor (Hypnotic Tango) (2005)".


title: Bananarama

text: Fahey rejoined Bananarama in 2017 and they toured the UK and North America between November that year and August 2018.


title: Bananarama

text: Bananarama formed in September 1980 when teenagers and childhood friends Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward moved from Bristol to London and met Siobhan Fahey. Dallin and Fahey were studying journalism at the London College of Fashion (University of Arts) and Woodward was working at the BBC in Portland Place. Dallin and Woodward were living at the YWCA and were about to be made homeless until Paul Cook, with whom they had become friends after meeting at a club, offered them a place to live above the former Sex Pistols rehearsal room in Denmark Street, Charing Cross. They took their name, in part, from the Roxy Music song "Pyjamarama".


title: Bananarama

text: The trio were ardent followers of the punk rock and post-punk music scenes during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They often performed impromptu sets or backing vocals at gigs for such bands as The Monochrome Set, The Professionals, Subway Sect, Iggy Pop, Department S, The Nipple Erectors and The Jam. In 1981, Bananarama recorded their first demo, "Aie a Mwana", a cover of a song by Black Blood, sung in Swahili. The demo was heard at Demon Records, who consequently offered Bananarama their first deal. The song was an underground hit (UK #92) and Bananarama were signed by Decca (later London Records) and remained on the label until 1993. UK music magazine "The Face" featured an article on Bananarama after the release of their first single. This caught the attention of ex-Specials member Terry Hall, who invited them to collaborate with his new vocal group Fun Boy Three on their album and the single "It Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It)". In 1982, the song hit the Top 5 in the UK and gave Bananarama their first significant mainstream success. Fun Boy Three then guested on Bananarama's single, "Really Saying Something", later that year.


title: Bananarama

text: Bananarama experienced their greatest success during the period 1982 to 1989, with their first three albums primarily produced and co-written with Jolley & Swain. Their debut album, "Deep Sea Skiving" (UK #7, US #63) (1983) contained several hit singles – "Really Saying Something" (UK #5) and "Shy Boy" (UK #4) – and included a cover version of "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" (UK #5). "Cheers Then" (#45) was released as the third single, with little chart success, but very positive reviews from critics. The band recorded a version of the Sex Pistols' song "No Feelings" in late 1982 for the soundtrack of the British teen-comedy film, "Party Party".


title: Bananarama

text: During 1982 and 1983, Bananarama did several promotional US press tours and TV appearances on "American Bandstand" and "Solid Gold". Success in the United States came in 1984 with a Top Ten hit "Cruel Summer".


title: Bananarama

text: Their second album, "Bananarama" (UK #16, US #30) (1984) was a more socially conscious effort. The group wanted to be taken more seriously, so they wrote songs that focused on heavier topics. "Hot Line To Heaven" (UK #58) is a stand against the drugs-are-cool culture. Meanwhile, "Rough Justice" (UK #23) was written about Thomas "Kidso" Reilly, the band's road manager and brother of Fahey's boyfriend Jim Reilly (drummer of the Northern Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers), who was shot and killed by a British soldier in Belfast in August 1983. The album also contained the hit singles, "Robert De Niro's Waiting...," (UK #3) and their first US Top 10 hit, "Cruel Summer" (UK #8, US #9) (1983), which was included in the film "The Karate Kid." The trio also recorded the single, "The Wild Life" (US #70) for a 1984 American film of the same name.


title: Bananarama

text: In 1984, Bananarama featured on the Band Aid single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?," and were the only artists to appear on both the original 1984 Band Aid and the 1989 Band Aid II versions (Fahey appeared on the 1984 version while O'Sullivan appeared on the 1989 version).


title: Bananarama

text: 1985 was a quiet transitional year for Bananarama. The single "Do Not Disturb" (UK #31), which would appear on their next album, maintained their public profile.


title: Bananarama

text: 1986 saw the release of their third Jolley/Swain album, "True Confessions". Later editions contained other tracks and extra production duties by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman known as Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW). The move resulted in the international number one hit, "Venus", (a remake of Shocking Blue's song from 1969, which had been a number 1 hit in 1970). The dance-oriented production typified the SAW approach to pop music. Bananarama had tracked the producers down after hearing "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" by Dead or Alive. The song won a Juno Award in Canada for International Single of The Year. Also in 1986, Dallin and Woodward were featured as backing vocalists on two songs on "Family Album," produced by John Lydon.


title: Bananarama

text: The music video for "Venus" received heavy airplay on MTV in the United States. It featured the group in various costumes including a devil, a French temptress, a vampire, and Greek goddesses. The video marked a pivotal shift towards a more glamorous and sexy image, which contrasted with their tomboyish appearances in their earlier work.


title: Bananarama

text: Follow-up singles "More Than Physical" (UK #41) and "A Trick of the Night" (UK #32) were less successful, which unfortunately had less promotion. Woodward was pregnant with her son Thomas at the time and was unable to tour or physically promote the album or its subsequent singles.


title: Bananarama

text: "More Than Physical" marked the beginning of Bananarama's songwriting relationship with Stock Aitken Waterman. It was a collaborative process that Stock has described as troubled, despite producing a string of hits.


title: Bananarama

text: “It’s very difficult to be creative if someone’s just going to mock you, or laugh at you,” he said. “With Bananarama it was just awkward, all the time very awkward, and I didn’t feel comfortable writing with them.”


title: Bananarama

text: During a press tour in New York City, the group also recorded a song "Riskin' a Romance" featured in the film "The Secret of My Success" (1987). The track was notable because it featured Fahey taking lead vocals, and Daryl Hall was the producer. During this trip, the group also re-recorded the vocals for their next UK release "More Than Physical" and "A Trick of the Night" with Mike Stock in Miami.


title: Bananarama

text: In March 1987, Bananarama participated in the recording of the single "Let It Be" (UK #1) as members of the charity supergroup Ferry Aid. All sales from the single were donated to charity in response to the capsizing of the ferry MS "Herald of Free Enterprise", which killed 193 people. Among the featured singers was Woodward, who sang with Nick Kamen.


title: Bananarama

text: In the wake of the success of "Venus," Bananarama began work on the album "Wow!" The group's sound successfully shifted towards dance-oriented Europop under the direction of Pete Waterman, but the creative process on the project was often fraught, with Matt Aitken describing the band's contribution to song writing as minimal.


title: Bananarama

text: "Wow!" was released on 4 September 1987 by London Records. It topped the Australian ARIA album charts for one week in June 1988.


title: Bananarama

text: "I Heard a Rumour" (UK #14, US #4) was their strongest performing international hit from this album. The track bears notable similarities in part to Michael Fortunati's "Give Me Up", which was released in early 1986. However, producer Mike Stock denied the track was based excessively on that record, insisting "I Heard A Rumor" was simply broadly inspired by Europop trends at the time. "We didn't do sampling... There's no similarity in the lyric, there's no actual similarity in terms of note-for-noteness in the tune," he said. "We were doing Europop."


title: Bananarama

text: "Love in the First Degree" (UK #3), one of their biggest UK hits, was nominated at the 1988 Brit Awards for best single. Producer Pete Waterman claimed he had to threaten to pull SAW off the "Wow!" project in order to force the release of the track as a single, after it was dismissed by the band and label as too commercial.


title: Bananarama

text: A further single, "I Can't Help It" (which boasted a semi-controversial video featuring the group in a milk bath filled with fruit and half-naked men), was also a hit (UK #20).


title: Bananarama

text: After the third single from "Wow!" was released in early 1988, Fahey – who had married Eurythmics' Dave Stewart – left the group. Her last performance as a member of the group was "Love in the First Degree" at the Brit Awards in February 1988. She would later resurface in the BRIT Award–winning pop duo Shakespears Sister with Marcella Detroit.


title: Bananarama

text: After Fahey's exit, Jacquie O'Sullivan (formerly of the Shillelagh Sisters) joined the group in March 1988. The single "I Want You Back" (UK #5) was re-recorded with O'Sullivan, as was The Supremes cover "Nathan Jones" (UK #15) which was nominated for best video at the 1989 Brit Awards. "Love, Truth and Honesty" (UK #23) was released as a single from their 1988 retrospective compilation, "Greatest Hits Collection" (UK #3). At the same time, Bananarama entered the "Guinness Book of World Records" as the all-female group who have the most UK chart entries in history, a record they still hold.


title: Bananarama

text: Initial tensions began to appear within the new lineup around this time, with O'Sullivan complaining that there were no photographs of her displayed at the Soho launch of "Greatest Hits Collection", and tour preparation marked by her bandmates' discomfort with her partying lifestyle.


title: Bananarama

text: As a fundraising charity single for Comic Relief in 1989, Bananarama recorded a cover of The Beatles' song "Help!" with Lananeeneenoonoo (UK #3), a mock girl-group created by British female comedy duo French and Saunders, with fellow comedian Kathy Burke. Also in 1989, the band embarked upon their first world tour, which included shows in North America, East Asia, and the UK.


title: Bananarama

text: Bananarama's 1991 album, "Pop Life", saw Dallin and Woodward's songwriting collaboration with their friend Youth. They worked with a variety of producers including Youth, Shep Pettibone, and Steve Jolley of Jolley & Swain. They also incorporated a wider range of musical genres including reggae, flamenco guitar, and acid house. Singles "Only Your Love" (UK #27), "Preacher Man" (UK #20), a cover of the Doobie Brothers' "Long Train Running" (UK #30), and "Tripping on Your Love" (UK #76) were the group's final releases with O'Sullivan. This album received some of the strongest and most positive reviews of their career.


title: Bananarama

text: In 1992, Dallin and Woodward returned as a duo and had a UK top 30 hit with "Movin' On" (UK #24), which was the first single from the 1993 album "Please Yourself". Other singles from the album were "Last Thing on My Mind" (UK #71) and a cover of the 1976 Andrea True Connection song "More, More, More" (UK #24). This album was Bananarama's last one on London Records.


title: Bananarama

text: Their next offering was 1995's "Ultra Violet" (entitled "I Found Love" in Japan) on a new label. The album and its three singles — "I Found Love", "Every Shade of Blue", and "Take Me to Your Heart" — were only released in some European countries, North America, Japan, and Australia, but not in Britain.


title: Bananarama

text: In 1998, Dallin and Woodward asked Fahey to join them to record the track "Waterloo" (a cover of the classic ABBA song) for the Eurovision celebration "A Song for Eurotrash" on Channel 4. However, Fahey made it clear that this was a one-off and that she was not formally rejoining the group. In 1999, Dallin, Woodward, and Fahey were interviewed together for an episode of the BBC music documentary series "Young Guns Go For It" dedicated to the group. Jacquie O'Sullivan also took part in the programme.


title: Bananarama

text: In 2001, Dallin and Woodward, who had been frequently working in France, had recorded the album "Exotica" with the French label M6. The album also included a cover of George Michael's "Careless Whisper", Latin- and R&B-influenced dance songs, and reinterpreted versions of their earlier hits.


title: Bananarama

text: By 2002, Bananarama had sold 40 million records worldwide. That year, they released another greatest hits album, "The Very Best of Bananarama", in the UK. They also recorded the song "Love Him, Leave Him, Forget Him" for Sky TV's show "Is Harry on the Boat?" as well as the song "U R My Baby" for a German disco project. With Siobhan Fahey returning as a special guest for a performance of "Venus", the group celebrated the 20th anniversary of their first hit with a gig at G-A-Y at the London Astoria, in front of an audience of 3,000 people.


title: Bananarama

text: With 1980s retro in vogue, Bananarama made a comeback in the British dance charts in 2005. Solasso remixed their early hit "Really Saying Something." A video was filmed with models from "Britain's Next Top Model" TV show.


title: Bananarama

text: In 2005, Dallin and Woodward collaborated with Swedish hit makers Murlyn, writing and recording in Sweden for 6 months to produce the album 'Drama'. The first single "Move in My Direction" reached #14. The second single "Look on the Floor (Hypnotic Tango)" entered and peaked at #26 on the UK charts. In the US on the Billboard Dance Chart, "Look on the Floor" peaked at #2 and "Move in My Direction" reached #14 in July 2006.


title: Bananarama

text: Summer 2006 saw the Warner Bros. Records release of "The Twelve Inches of Bananarama", a compilation of twelve remixes on CD for the first time. The collection includes the rare George Michael remix of "Tripping on Your Love", among others.


title: Bananarama

text: On 19 March 2007, Bananarama's first six studio albums were reissued by Rhino Records on CD with bonus material, including alternative versions, remixes, and B-sides. On 7 May 2007, another best-of collection titled "Greatest Hits and More More More" was released by Warner Bros. Records.


title: Bananarama

text: Dallin and Woodward performed a set along with other 1980s acts at "Retro Fest" on 1 September 2007 at Culzean Castle in Ayrshire, Scotland.


title: Bananarama

text: By February 2007, Bananarama were back in the studio recording new material. A cover version of "Voyage Voyage" was performed at a concert in France. Bananarama also confirmed they were contributing vocals as guest artists on the song "Ultra Violet" (not to be confused with Bananarama's seventh album "Ultra Violet") by new dance act Block Rocker, a teaming up of producers/remixers Digital Dog and Ashiva. However, the song never surfaced.


title: Bananarama

text: In 2008, Bananarama appeared on the "Here and Now Tour" with other 1980s artists such as Belinda Carlisle, Paul Young, ABC, and Rick Astley. They also planned to record a new album of disco cover versions and new songs.


title: Bananarama

text: In August 2008, Bananarama were back in the studio recording a track with Rev Run from Run-D.M.C. who had a new album in the pipeline. He wanted to sample "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" for his track but then decided to ask Dallin and Woodward to sing it instead. The title of the track was not confirmed but was to be credited as be "Run-D.M.C. featuring Bananarama". The song, 'Invincible', credited as Rev Run featuring Bananarama, did not surface until late 2014 on Rev Run's solo album "Red Rhythm Rewind".


title: Bananarama

text: In June 2009, Bananarama performed at the Isle of Wight Festival. In August 2009, they performed at the 80s Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames alongside other '80s acts which included Rick Astley, Belinda Carlisle, and Kim Wilde. The duo also performed at The Manchester Gay Pride Festival over the August Bank Holiday weekend.


title: Bananarama

text: Bananarama released a new single entitled "Love Comes" (UK #44) and a new album "Viva" (UK #87) in September 2009. The album was produced by Ian Masterson and released through Fascination Records. A second single was released from the album in April 2010, a new remix of the song "Love Don't Live Here" (UK #114) backed by Ian Masterson's 2010 reworking of the 1995 single "Every Shade of Blue" and "The Runner" (originally recorded by The Three Degrees), remixed by Buzz Junkies. Other covers recorded during this period included Bryan Adams' "Run To You", Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence", and Bryan Ferry's "Tokyo Joe". These were included as B-sides to the released singles and as bonus digital tracks to the parent album.


title: Bananarama

text: In September 2010, Bananarama were back in the studio with producer Ian Masterson, and recorded a Christmas song titled "Baby It's Christmas" (UK #199). The track was written by Dallin and Masterson and was released on 13 December in the UK and Europe as a digital EP. The track was also included on a US digital Christmas compilation entitled "Super Dance Christmas Party, Volume 3". "Baby It's Christmas" reached #19 on the UK Indie Singles chart and #199 on the main UK Singles Chart.


title: Bananarama

text: In April 2011, Bananarama appeared on ITV's hit comedy "Benidorm" and performed "Love in the First Degree", "Robert De Niro's Waiting...", and "Movin' On".


title: Bananarama

text: In October 2011, Bananarama performed at "Retrolicious 2011" in Singapore, together with The Human League and Belinda Carlisle.


title: Bananarama

text: Dallin and Woodward continued to perform live since 2002, with highlights including headlining the festival of the Handover of Hong Kong, The Isle of Wight Festival, and the Singapore Grand Prix. In 2012, they embarked upon a 10-date USA tour for the Pinktober Hard Rock charity and released and EP 'Now or Never'.


title: Bananarama

text: On 9 July 2012, Warner Music imprint Rhino Records released a greatest hits CD and DVD Collection "30 Years of Bananarama" to celebrate the band's 30th anniversary. The album charted at #62 on the UK Albums Chart. On 9 August 2012, the band performed at the men's final of the beach volleyball at the London Olympics. They performed a medley of "Cruel Summer", "Love in the First Degree" and "Venus".


title: Bananarama

text: On 28 October 2013, Bananarama's first six albums "Deep Sea Skiving", "Bananarama", "True Confessions", "Wow!", "Pop Life" and "Please Yourself" were reissued by Edsel Records, each of them consisting of Deluxe 2CDs plus DVD. Bananarama are also confirmed to perform in 2014 at Let's Rock Bristol! (7 June), Let's Rock Leeds! (21 June) and Let's Rock Southampton! (12 July). On 9 November 2013, Bananarama revealed on the BBC show "Pointless Celebrities" that they were recording a new album in Nashville and that it would be influenced by country and pop.


title: Bananarama

text: In March 2015, Edsel Records released "Megarama", a 3 CD collection of remixes that was followed in August with a 33 CD singles collection box set entitled "In A Bunch", which contains all single releases from "Aie a Mwana" right through to "More, More, More". In 2016, Bananarama toured Australia in February and showcased their new song "Got to Get Away". On 9 March 2016, Sara confirmed on her Twitter page that Bananarama had signed a new deal with BMG. In November 2016, an excerpt of a song with the working title "Looking For Someone" was posted on the official Twitter page of the band.


title: Bananarama

text: In December 2016, "Billboard" magazine ranked them the 94th most successful dance artist of all time.


title: Bananarama

text: On 23 April 2017 Fahey rejoined Bananarama. The Original Line-up Tour saw them perform 23 sell-out dates across the UK in November and December 2017. They performed many of their hits such as "Nathan Jones", "Robert De Niro's Waiting...", "Cruel Summer", "Really Saying Something", "I Heard A Rumour", "I Can't Help It", "Venus", and "Love in the First Degree" as well as the Shakespears Sister hit "Stay". In February 2018, they played four dates in North America: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York in the United States; and Toronto in Canada. Their performances at London's Eventim Apollo Hammersmith Theatre and Newcastle City Hall were released on CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray through PledgeMusic in July 2018. Their final dates as a trio were in August 2018. In November 2018, Bananarama's first six London albums, "Deep Sea Skiving", "Bananarama", "True Confessions", "Wow!", "Pop Life", and "Please Yourself" were released as coloured vinyl and limited-edition cassettes.


title: Bananarama

text: On 22 December 2018, Dallin and Woodward again appeared as contestants on the Christmas Special of the game show "Pointless Celebrities", which featured musical acts with Christmas number one hits. Dallin and Woodward (who had Christmas number ones with the original Band Aid and Band Aid II) won the episode, winning the £2,500 jackpot for their charities of choice.


title: Bananarama

text: On 19 April 2019, Dallin and Woodward released their new album "In Stereo" (UK #29). The first track from the album that served as a taster was "Dance Music", followed by the first official single "Stuff Like That", which was released on 7 March. An accompanying video to the single was directed by Andy Morahan, who had also directed the videos for many former singles from "I Heard a Rumour" to "Preacher Man". On 30 March the album track "Looking for Someone" premiered on "The Graham Norton Show" on BBC Radio 2 and was released as the second single from "In Stereo". The album was supported by a five-date promo tour in the UK, which later that year was released as a live album entitled "Live in Stereo".


title: Bananarama

text: On 29 October 2020, Dallin and Woodward released their autobiography, entitled "Really Saying Something".


title: Bananarama

text: On 29 April 2022, Dallin and Woodward released the taster track "Favourite" from their twelfth album "Masquerade", which was released on 22 July 2022. On 15 June 2022, the album title track "Masquerade" was released as the first official single, and its music video followed two days later. A second taster track entitled "Velvet Lies" followed on 18 July 2022. On 12 August 2022, "Forever Young" was released as the official second single. On 14 October 2022, "Running With The Night" was released as the official third single.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Peter Allen Greenbaum (29 October 194625 July 2020), known professionally as Peter Green, was an English blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. As the founder of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Green founded Fleetwood Mac in 1967 after a stint in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and quickly established the new band as a popular live act in addition to a successful recording act, before departing in 1970. Green's songs, such as "Albatross", "Black Magic Woman", "Oh Well", "The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)" and "Man of the World", appeared on singles charts, and several have been adapted by a variety of musicians.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Green was a major figure in the "second great epoch" of the British blues movement. Eric Clapton praised his guitar playing, and B.B. King commented, "He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats." His trademark sound included string bending, vibrato, and economy of style.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: In June 1996, Green was voted the third-best guitarist of all time in "Mojo" magazine. In 2015, "Rolling Stone" ranked him at number 58 in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Green's tone on the instrumental "The Super-Natural" was rated as one of the 50 greatest of all time by "Guitar Player" in 2004.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Peter Allen Greenbaum was born in Bethnal Green, London, on 29 October 1946, into a Jewish family, the youngest of Joe and Ann Greenbaum's four children. His brother, Michael, taught him his first guitar chords and by the age of 11 Green was teaching himself. He began playing professionally by the age of 15, while working for a number of east London shipping companies. He first played bass guitar in a band called Bobby Dennis and the Dominoes, which performed pop chart covers and rock 'n' roll standards, including Shadows covers. He later stated that Hank Marvin was his guitar hero and he played the Shadows' song "Midnight" on the 1996 tribute album "Twang". He went on to join a rhythm and blues outfit, the Muskrats, then a band called the Tridents in which he played bass. By Christmas 1965 Green was playing lead guitar in Peter Bardens' band "Peter B's Looners", where he met drummer Mick Fleetwood. It was with Peter B's Looners that he made his recording début with the single "If You Wanna Be Happy" with "Jodrell Blues" as a B-side. His recording of "If You Wanna Be Happy" was an instrumental cover of a song by Jimmy Soul. In 1966, Green and some other members of Peter B's Looners formed another act, Shotgun Express, a Motown-style soul band which also included Rod Stewart, but Green left the group after a few months.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: In October 1965, before joining Bardens' group, Green had the opportunity to fill in for Eric Clapton in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers for four gigs. Soon afterwards, when Clapton left the Bluesbreakers, Green became a full-time member of Mayall's band from July 1966.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Green made his recording debut with the Bluesbreakers in 1966 on the album "A Hard Road" (1967), which featured two of his own compositions, "The Same Way" and "The Supernatural". The latter was one of Green's first instrumentals, which would soon become a trademark. So proficient was he that his musician friends bestowed upon him the nickname "The Green God". In 1967, Green decided to form his own blues band and left the Bluesbreakers.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Green's new band, with former Bluesbreaker Mick Fleetwood on drums and Jeremy Spencer on guitar, was initially called "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac featuring Jeremy Spencer". Bob Brunning was temporarily employed on bass guitar (Green's first choice, Bluesbreakers' bassist John McVie, was not yet ready to join the band). Within a month they played at the Windsor National Jazz and Blues Festival in August 1967, and were quickly signed to Mike Vernon's Blue Horizon label. Their repertoire consisted mainly of blues covers and originals, mostly written by Green, but some were written by slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer. The band's first single, Spencer's "I Believe My Time Ain't Long" with Green's "Rambling Pony" as a B-side, did not chart but their eponymous debut album made a significant impression, remaining in the British charts for 37 weeks. By September 1967, John McVie had replaced Brunning.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Although classic blues covers and blues-styled originals remained prominent in the band's repertoire through this period, Green rapidly blossomed as a songwriter and contributed many successful original compositions from 1968 onwards. The songs chosen for single release showed Green's style gradually moving away from the group's blues roots into new musical territory. Their second studio album "Mr. Wonderful" was released in 1968 and continued the formula of the first album. In the same year they scored a hit with Green's "Black Magic Woman" (later covered by Santana), followed by the guitar instrumental "Albatross" (1969), which reached number one in the British singles charts. More hits written by Green followed, including "Oh Well", "Man of the World" (both 1969) and the ominous "The Green Manalishi" (1970). The double album "Blues Jam in Chicago" (1969) was recorded at the Chess Records Ter-Mar Studio in Chicago. There, under the joint supervision of Vernon and Marshall Chess, they recorded with some of their American blues heroes including Otis Spann, Big Walter Horton, Willie Dixon, J. T. Brown and Buddy Guy.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: In 1969, after signing to Immediate Records for one single ("Man of the World", prior to that label's collapse) the group signed with Warner Bros. Records' Reprise Records label and recorded their third studio album "Then Play On", prominently featuring the group's new third guitarist, 18-year-old Danny Kirwan. Green had first seen Kirwan in 1967 playing with his blues trio Boilerhouse, with Trevor Stevens on bass and Dave Terrey on drums. Green was impressed with Kirwan's playing and used the band as a support act for Fleetwood Mac before recruiting Kirwan to his own band in 1968 at the suggestion of Mick Fleetwood.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Beginning with the melancholy lyric of "Man of the World", Green's bandmates began to notice changes in his state of mind. He was taking large doses of LSD, grew a beard and began to wear robes and a crucifix. Mick Fleetwood recalls Green becoming concerned about accumulating wealth: "I had conversations with Peter Green around that time and he was obsessive about us not making money, wanting us to give it all away. And I'd say, 'Well you can do it, I don't wanna do that, and that doesn't make me a bad person.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: While touring Europe in late March 1970, Green took LSD at a party at a commune in Munich, an incident cited by Fleetwood Mac manager Clifford Davis as the crucial point in his mental decline. Communard Rainer Langhans mentions in his autobiography that he and Uschi Obermaier met Green in Munich, where they invited him to their "Highfisch-Kommune". Fleetwood Mac roadie Dinky Dawson remembers that Green went to the party with another roadie, Dennis Keane, and that when Keane returned to the band's hotel to explain that Green would not leave the commune, Keane, Dawson and Mick Fleetwood travelled there to fetch him. By contrast, Green stated that he had fond memories of jamming at the commune when speaking in 2009: "I had a good play there, it was great, someone recorded it, they gave me a tape. There were people playing along, a few of us just fooling around and it was... yeah it was great." He told Jeremy Spencer at the time "That's the most spiritual music I've ever recorded in my life." After a final performance on 20 May 1970, Green left Fleetwood Mac.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: On 27 June 1970 Green appeared at the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music with John Mayall, Rod Mayall (organ), Ric Grech (bass) and Aynsley Dunbar (drums). In that same year he recorded a jam session with drummer Godfrey Maclean, keyboardists Zoot Money and Nick Buck, and bassist Alex Dmochowski of The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation; Reprise Records released the session as "The End of the Game", Green's first post-Fleetwood Mac solo album. Also soon after leaving Fleetwood Mac, Green accompanied former bandmate keyboardist Peter Bardens (of Peter B's Looners) on Bardens' solo LP "The Answer", playing lead guitar on several tracks. In 1971, he had a brief reunion with Fleetwood Mac, helping them to complete a U.S. tour after guitarist Jeremy Spencer had left the group, performing under the pseudonym Peter Blue. He recorded two tracks for the album "Juju" with Bobby Tench's band Gass, followed by a solo single, one with Nigel Watson, sessions with "B.B. King in London" in 1971 and an uncredited appearance on Fleetwood Mac's "Penguin" LP in 1973, on the song "Night Watch". At this time, Green's mental illness and drug use had become entrenched and he faded into professional obscurity.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Green was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent time in psychiatric hospitals undergoing electroconvulsive therapy during the mid-1970s. Many sources attest to his lethargic, trancelike state during this period. In 1977, Green was arrested for threatening his accountant David Simmons with a shotgun. The exact circumstances are the subject of much speculation, the most famous being that Green wanted Simmons to stop sending money to him. In the 2011 BBC documentary "Peter Green: Man of the World", Green stated that at the time he had just returned from Canada needing money and that, during a telephone conversation with his accounts manager, he alluded to the fact that he had brought back a gun from his travels. His accounts manager promptly called the police, who surrounded Green's house.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: In 1979, Green began to re-emerge professionally. With the help of his brother Michael, he was signed to Peter Vernon-Kell's PVK label, and produced a string of solo albums starting with 1979's "In the Skies". He also made an uncredited appearance on Fleetwood Mac's double album "Tusk", on the song "Brown Eyes", released the same year.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: In 1981, Green contributed to "Rattlesnake Shake" and "Super Brains" on Mick Fleetwood's solo album "The Visitor". He recorded various sessions with a number of other musicians notably the Katmandu album "A Case for the Blues" with Ray Dorset of Mungo Jerry, Vincent Crane from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Len Surtees of The Nashville Teens. Despite attempts by Gibson Guitar Corporation to start talks about producing a "Peter Green signature Les Paul" guitar, Green's instrument of choice at this time was a Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion guitar. In 1986, Peter and his brother Micky contributed to the album "A Touch of Sunburn" by Lawrie 'The Raven' Gaines (under the group name 'The Enemy Within'). This album has been reissued many times under such titles as "Post Modern Blues" and "Peter Green and Mick Green – Two Greens Make a Blues", often crediting Pirates guitarist Mick Green.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: In 1988 Green was quoted as saying: "I'm at present recuperating from treatment for taking drugs. It was drugs that influenced me a lot. I took more than I intended to. I took LSD eight or nine times. The effect of that stuff lasts so long ... I wanted to give away all my money ... I went kind of holy – no, not holy, religious. I thought I could do it, I thought I was all right on drugs. My failing!"


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Along with the other members of Fleetwood Mac, Green was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. In the early 2000s there were rumours of a reunion of the early line-up of Fleetwood Mac, involving Green and Jeremy Spencer. The two guitarists and vocalists were apparently unconvinced of the merits of such a project, but in April 2006, during a question-and-answer session on the "Penguin" Fleetwood Mac fan website, bassist John McVie said of the reunion idea:


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: In May 2009, Green was the subject of the BBC Four documentary "Peter Green: Man of the World" produced by Henry Hadaway. On 25 February 2020 an all-star tribute concert was performed at the London Palladium, billed as "Mick Fleetwood and Friends Tribute to Peter Green". The "Guitar World" review said that Green was not in attendance and possibly unaware of the event.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Green formed the Peter Green Splinter Group in the late 1990s, with the assistance of Nigel Watson and Cozy Powell. The group released nine blues albums, mostly written by Watson, between 1997 and 2004. Early in 2004, a tour was cancelled and the recording of a new studio album stopped when Green left the band and moved to Sweden. Shortly thereafter he signed on to a tour with the British Blues All Stars scheduled for the following year. In February 2009, Green began playing and touring again, this time as Peter Green and Friends.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Robin Denselow in "The Guardian" described Green as being "interested in expressing emotion in his songs, rather than showing off how fast he could play". He has been praised for his swinging shuffle grooves and soulful phrases and favoured the minor mode and its darker blues implications. His distinct tone can be heard on "The Supernatural", an instrumental written by Green for John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers' 1967 album "A Hard Road". This song demonstrates Green's control of harmonic feedback. The sound is characterised by a shivering vibrato, clean cutting tones and a series of ten-second sustained notes. These tones were achieved by Green controlling feedback on a Les Paul guitar.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Early in his career, Green played a Harmony Meteor, an inexpensive hollow-body guitar. He began playing a Gibson Les Paul with the Peter B's, a guitar which was often referred to as his "magic guitar". Though he played other guitars, he is best known for deriving a unique tone from his 1959 Les Paul. Green later sold it to Northern Irish guitarist Gary Moore for all the money Moore could get by selling his Gibson SG guitar. Green had bought the guitar after his first spell with Mayall but before joining the Peter B's, for £114 from Selmers in Charing Cross Road. In 2016, Kirk Hammett of Metallica bought the guitar. Hammett has stated that he paid quite a bit less than $1m for it, being in the right place when the guy who was selling it needed some cash.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: In the 1990s, Green played a 1960s Fender Stratocaster and a Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion model, using Fender Blues DeVille and Vox AC30 amplifiers. Towards the very end of his playing days, the Gibson ES-165 saw more use.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Many rock guitarists have cited Green as an influence, including Gary Moore, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash, and more recently, Mark Knopfler, Noel Gallagher, and Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Green was The Black Crowes' Rich Robinson's pick in "Guitar World"'s "30 on 30: The Greatest Guitarists Picked by the Greatest Guitarists" (2010). In the same article Robinson cites Jimmy Page, with whom the Crowes toured: "he told us so many Peter Green stories. It was clear that Jimmy loves the man's talent".


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Green's songs have been recorded by artists such as Santana, Aerosmith, Status Quo, Black Crowes, Midge Ure, Tom Petty, Judas Priest and Gary Moore, who recorded "Blues for Greeny", an album of Green compositions.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Enduring periods of mental illness and destitution throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Green moved in with his older brother Len and Len's wife Gloria, and his mother in their house in Gorleston near Great Yarmouth, where a process of recovery began. He lived for a period on Canvey Island, Essex.


title: Peter Green (musician)

text: Green married Jane Samuels in January 1978; the couple divorced in 1979. They had a daughter, Rosebud (born 1978).


title: Espionage

text: Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangible benefit. A person who commits espionage is called an "espionage agent" or "spy". Any individual or spy ring (a cooperating group of spies), in the service of a government, company, criminal organization, or independent operation, can commit espionage. The practice is clandestine, as it is by definition unwelcome. In some circumstances, it may be a legal tool of law enforcement and in others, it may be illegal and punishable by law.


title: Espionage

text: Espionage is often part of an institutional effort by a government or commercial concern. However, the term tends to be associated with state spying on potential or actual enemies for military purposes. Spying involving corporations is known as industrial espionage.


title: Espionage

text: One of the most effective ways to gather data and information about a targeted organization is by infiltrating its ranks. This is the job of the spy (espionage agent). Spies can then return information such as the size and strength of enemy forces. They can also find dissidents within the organization and influence them to provide further information or to defect. In times of crisis, spies steal technology and sabotage the enemy in various ways. Counterintelligence is the practice of thwarting enemy espionage and intelligence-gathering. Almost all nations have strict laws concerning espionage and the penalty for being caught is often severe. However, the benefits gained through espionage are often so great that most governments and many large corporations make use of it.


title: Espionage

text: The oldest known classified document was a report made by a spy disguised as a diplomatic envoy in the court of King Hammurabi, who died in around 1750 BC. The ancient Egyptians had a developed secret service, and espionage is mentioned in the "Iliad", the Bible, and the Amarna letters as well as its recordings in the story of the Old Testament, "The Twelve Spies". Espionage was also prevalent in the Greco-Roman world, when spies employed illiterate subjects in civil services.


title: Espionage

text: The thesis that espionage and intelligence has a central role in war as well as peace was first advanced in "The Art of War" and in the "Arthashastra". In the Middle Ages European states excelled at what has later been termed counter-subversion when Catholic inquisitions were staged to annihilate heresy. Inquisitions were marked by centrally organised mass interrogations and detailed record keeping. During the Renaissance European states funded codebreakers to obtain intelligence through frequency analysis. Western espionage changed fundamentally during the Renaissance when Italian city-states installed resident ambassadors in capital cities to collect intelligence. Renaissance Venice became so obsessed with espionage that the Council of Ten, which was nominally responsible for security, did not even allow the doge to consult government archives freely. In 1481 the Council of Ten barred all Venetian government officials from making contact with ambassadors or foreigners. Those revealing official secrets could face the death penalty. Venice became obsessed with espionage because successful international trade demanded that the city-state could protect its trade secrets. Under Elizabeth I, Francis Walsingham was appointed foreign secretary and intelligence chief.


title: Espionage

text: During the American Revolution, Nathan Hale and Benedict Arnold achieved their fame as spies, and there was considerable use of spies on both sides during the American Civil War. Though not a spy himself, George Washington was America's first spymaster, utilizing espionage tactics against the British.


title: Espionage

text: In the 20th century, at the height of World War I, all great powers except the United States had elaborate civilian espionage systems and all national military establishments had intelligence units. In order to protect the country against foreign agents, the U.S. Congress passed the Espionage Act of 1917. Mata Hari, who obtained information for Germany by seducing French officials, was the most noted espionage agent of World War I. Prior to World War II, Germany and Imperial Japan established elaborate espionage nets. In 1942 the Office of Strategic Services was founded by Gen. William J. Donovan. However, the British system was the keystone of Allied intelligence. Numerous resistance groups such as the Austrian Maier-Messner Group, the French Resistance, the Witte Brigade, Milorg and the Polish Home Army worked against Nazi Germany and provided the Allied secret services with information that was very important for the war effort.


title: Espionage

text: Since the end of World War II, the activity of espionage has enlarged, much of it growing out of the Cold War between the United States and the former USSR. The Russian Empire and its successor, the Soviet Union have had a long tradition of espionage ranging from the Okhrana to the KGB (Committee for State Security), which also acted as a secret police force. In the United States, the 1947 National Security Act created the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to coordinate intelligence and the National Security Agency for research into codes and electronic communication. In addition to these, the United States has 13 other intelligence gathering agencies; most of the U.S. expenditures for intelligence gathering are budgeted to various Defense Dept. agencies and their programs. Under the intelligence reorganization of 2004, the director of national intelligence is responsible for overseeing and coordinating the activities and budgets of the U.S. intelligence agencies.


title: Espionage

text: In the Cold War, espionage cases included Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers and the Rosenberg Case. In 1952 the Communist Chinese captured two CIA agents, and in 1960 Francis Gary Powers, flying a U-2 reconnaissance mission over the Soviet Union for the CIA, was shot down and captured. During the Cold War, many Soviet intelligence officials defected to the West, including Gen. Walter Krivitsky, Victor Kravchenko, Vladimir Petrov, Peter Deriabin Pawel Monat, and Oleg Penkovsky, of the GRU (Soviet military intelligence). Among Western officials who defected to the Soviet Union are Guy Burgess and Donald D. Maclean of Great Britain in 1951, Otto John of West Germany in 1954, William H. Martin and Bernon F. Mitchell, U.S. cryptographers, in 1960, and Harold (Kim) Philby of Great Britain in 1962. U.S. acknowledgment of its U-2 flights and the exchange of Francis Gary Powers for Rudolf Abel in 1962 implied the legitimacy of some espionage as an arm of foreign policy.


title: Espionage

text: China has a very cost-effective intelligence program that is especially effective in monitoring neighboring countries such as Mongolia, Russia, and India. Smaller countries can also mount effective and focused espionage efforts. For instance, the Vietnamese communists had consistently superior intelligence during the Vietnam War. Some Islamic countries, including Libya, Iran, and Syria, have highly developed operations as well. SAVAK, the secret police of the Pahlavi dynasty, was particularly feared by Iranian dissidents before the 1979 Iranian Revolution.


title: Espionage

text: Today, spy agencies target the illegal drug trade and terrorists as well as state actors. Between 2008 and 2011, the United States charged at least 57 defendants for attempting to spy for China.


title: Espionage

text: Intelligence services value certain intelligence collection techniques over others. The former Soviet Union, for example, preferred human sources over research in open sources, while the United States has tended to emphasize technological methods such as SIGINT and IMINT. In the Soviet Union, both political (KGB) and military intelligence (GRU) officers were judged by the number of agents they recruited.


title: Espionage

text: The espionage efforts and knowledge of a nation are often used by other countries by hiring their intelligence employees. The United Arab Emirates is one of the major countries relying on the technique, where they have hired the former employees of the US National Security Agency and White House veterans. Some of the agents were hired to hack the Emirates' former rival nation Qatar, its royals, and even FIFA officials. Others were asked to conduct surveillance on other governments, human rights activists, social media critics, and even militants. However, the spying efforts of the UAE by using the Americans were also used to target the US itself, including former first lady Michelle Obama.


title: Espionage

text: In September 2021, three former intelligence officials from America admitted to working for the United Arab Emirates' DarkMatter for hacking computers, servers, and electronic devices, including the computers and servers in the United States. According to court documents, the three operatives—Daniel Gericke, Ryan Adams, and Marc Baier—helped Emirati intelligence operatives with advanced cyber technology to assist them in breaches directed at potential enemies or political rivals. The DarkMatter also hired several other former NSA and CIA officers at salaries worth hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.


title: Espionage

text: In August 2022, a 44-year-old former Twitter employee, Ahmad Abouammo was found guilty of spying for the government of Saudi Arabia. Prosecutors said he had been accessing the email accounts and phone numbers of all the accounts that were writing negatively about the Saudi regime. For the time he worked for the firm, from 2013 to 2015, Abouammo had been passing private user information to a Saudi official associated with the government. In exchange, he received a luxury watch and hundreds of thousands of dollars. For almost a year, Abouammo took bribes that were around three times his annual salary, citing which a prosecutor said, "That kind of money is not for nothing." Other charges against him included money laundering, falsification of records and a count of wire fraud.


title: Espionage

text: Espionage agents are usually trained experts in a targeted field so they can differentiate mundane information from targets of value to their own organizational development. Correct identification of the target at its execution is the sole purpose of the espionage operation.


title: Espionage

text: Although the news media may speak of "spy satellites" and the like, espionage is not a synonym for all intelligence-gathering disciplines. It is a specific form of human source intelligence (HUMINT). Codebreaking (cryptanalysis or COMINT), aircraft or satellite photography (IMINT), and analysis of publicly available data sources (OSINT) are all intelligence gathering disciplines, but none of them is considered espionage. Many HUMINT activities, such as prisoner interrogation, reports from military reconnaissance patrols and from diplomats, etc., are not considered espionage. Espionage is the disclosure of sensitive information (classified) to people who are not cleared for that information or access to that sensitive information.


title: Espionage

text: Unlike other forms of intelligence collection disciplines, espionage usually involves accessing the place where the desired information is stored or accessing the people who know the information and will divulge it through some kind of subterfuge. There are exceptions to physical meetings, such as the Oslo Report, or the insistence of Robert Hanssen in never meeting the people who bought his information.


title: Espionage

text: The US defines espionage towards itself as "the act of obtaining, delivering, transmitting, communicating, or receiving information about the national defence with an intent, or reason to believe, that the information may be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation". "Black's Law Dictionary" (1990) defines espionage as: "... gathering, transmitting, or losing ... information related to the national defense". Espionage is a violation of United States law, and Article 106a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The United States, like most nations, conducts espionage against other nations, under the control of the National Clandestine Service. Britain's espionage activities are controlled by the Secret Intelligence Service.


title: Espionage

text: A spy is a person employed to seek out top secret information from a source. Within the United States Intelligence Community, "asset" is more common usage. A case officer or Special Agent, who may have diplomatic status (i.e., official cover or non-official cover), supports and directs the human collector. Cut-outs are couriers who do not know the agent or case officer but transfer messages. A safe house is a refuge for spies. Spies often seek to obtain secret information from another source.


title: Espionage

text: In larger networks, the organization can be complex with many methods to avoid detection, including clandestine cell systems. Often the players have never met. Case officers are stationed in foreign countries to recruit and supervise intelligence agents, who in turn spy on targets in the countries where they are assigned. A spy need not be a citizen of the target country and hence does not automatically commit treason when operating within it. While the more common practice is to recruit a person already trusted with access to sensitive information, sometimes a person with a well-prepared synthetic identity (cover background), called a "legend" in tradecraft, may attempt to infiltrate a target organization.


title: Espionage

text: These agents can be moles (who are recruited before they get access to secrets), defectors (who are recruited after they get access to secrets and leave their country) or defectors in place (who get access but do not leave).


title: Espionage

text: A "legend" is also employed for an individual who "is not" an illegal agent, but is an ordinary citizen who is "relocated", for example, a "protected witness". Nevertheless, such a non-agent very likely will also have a case officer who will act as a controller. As in most, if not all synthetic identity schemes, for whatever purpose (illegal or legal), the assistance of a controller is required.


title: Espionage

text: Spies may also be used to spread disinformation in the organization in which they are planted, such as giving false reports about their country's military movements, or about a competing company's ability to bring a product to market. Spies may be given other roles that also require infiltration, such as sabotage.


title: Espionage

text: Many governments spy on their allies as well as their enemies, although they typically maintain a policy of not commenting on this. Governments also employ private companies to collect information on their behalf such as SCG International Risk, International Intelligence Limited and others.


title: Espionage

text: Many organizations, both national and non-national, conduct espionage operations. It should not be assumed that espionage is always directed at the most secret operations of a target country. National and terrorist organizations and other groups are also targeted. This is because governments want to retrieve information that they can use to be proactive in protecting their nation from potential terrorist attacks.


title: Espionage

text: Communications both are necessary to espionage and clandestine operations, and also a great vulnerability when the adversary has sophisticated SIGINT detection and interception capability. Spies rely on COVCOM or covert communication through technically advanced spy devices. Agents must also transfer money securely.


title: Espionage

text: Reportedly Canada is losing $12 billion and German companies are estimated to be losing about €50 billion ($87 billion) and 30,000 jobs to industrial espionage every year.


title: Espionage

text: In espionage jargon, an "agent" is the person who does the spying. They may be a citizen of a country recruited by that country to spy on another; a citizen of a country recruited by that country to carry out false flag assignments disrupting his own country; a citizen of one country who is recruited by a second country to spy on or work against his own country or a third country, and more.


title: Espionage

text: In popular usage, this term is sometimes confused with an "intelligence officer", "intelligence operative", or "case officer" who recruits and handles agents.


title: Espionage

text: Espionage against a nation is a crime under the legal code of many nations. In the United States, it is covered by the Espionage Act of 1917. The risks of espionage vary. A spy violating the host country's laws may be deported, imprisoned, or even executed. A spy violating its own country's laws can be imprisoned for espionage or/and treason (which in the United States and some other jurisdictions can only occur if they take up arms or aids the enemy against their own country during wartime), or even executed, as the Rosenbergs were. For example, when Aldrich Ames handed a stack of dossiers of U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents in the Eastern Bloc to his KGB-officer "handler", the KGB "rolled up" several networks, and at least ten people were secretly shot. When Ames was arrested by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), he faced life in prison; his contact, who had diplomatic immunity, was declared "persona non grata" and taken to the airport. Ames' wife was threatened with life imprisonment if her husband did not cooperate; he did, and she was given a five-year sentence. Hugh Francis Redmond, a CIA officer in China, spent nineteen years in a Chinese prison for espionage—and died there—as he was operating without diplomatic cover and immunity.


title: Espionage

text: In United States law, treason, espionage, and spying are separate crimes. Treason and espionage have graduated punishment levels.


title: Espionage

text: The United States in World War I passed the Espionage Act of 1917. Over the years, many spies, such as the Soble spy ring, Robert Lee Johnson, the Rosenberg ring, Aldrich Hazen Ames, Robert Philip Hanssen, Jonathan Pollard, John Anthony Walker, James Hall III, and others have been prosecuted under this law.


title: Espionage

text: From ancient times, the penalty for espionage in many countries was execution. This was true right up until the era of World War II; for example, Josef Jakobs was a Nazi spy who parachuted into Great Britain in 1941 and was executed for espionage.


title: Espionage

text: In modern times, many people convicted of espionage have been given penal sentences rather than execution. For example, Aldrich Hazen Ames is an American CIA analyst, turned KGB mole, who was convicted of espionage in 1994; he is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in the high-security Allenwood U.S. Penitentiary. Ames was formerly a 31-year CIA counterintelligence officer and analyst who committed espionage against his country by spying for the Soviet Union and Russia. So far as it is known, Ames compromised the second-largest number of CIA agents, second only to Robert Hanssen, who is also serving a prison sentence.


title: Espionage

text: Espionage laws are also used to prosecute non-spies. In the United States, the Espionage Act of 1917 was used against socialist politician Eugene V. Debs (at that time the Act had much stricter guidelines and amongst other things banned speech against military recruiting). The law was later used to suppress publication of periodicals, for example of Father Coughlin in World War II. In the early 21st century, the act was used to prosecute whistleblowers such as Thomas Andrews Drake, John Kiriakou, and Edward Snowden, as well as officials who communicated with journalists for innocuous reasons, such as Stephen Jin-Woo Kim.


title: Espionage

text: , India and Pakistan were holding several hundred prisoners of each other's country for minor violations like trespass or visa overstay, often with accusations of espionage attached. Some of these include cases where Pakistan and India both deny citizenship to these people, leaving them stateless. The BBC reported in 2012 on one such case, that of Mohammed Idrees, who was held under Indian police control for approximately 13 years for overstaying his 15-day visa by 2–3 days after seeing his ill parents in 1999. Much of the 13 years were spent in prison waiting for a hearing, and more time was spent homeless or living with generous families. The Indian People's Union for Civil Liberties and Human Rights Law Network both decried his treatment. The BBC attributed some of the problems to tensions caused by the Kashmir conflict.


title: Espionage

text: Espionage is illegal in the UK under the Official Secrets Acts of 1911 and 1920. The UK law under this legislation considers espionage as "concerning those who intend to help an enemy and deliberately harm the security of the nation". According to MI5, a person commits the offence of 'spying' if they, "for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State": approaches, enters or inspects a prohibited area; makes documents such as plans that are intended, calculated, or could directly or indirectly be of use to an enemy; or "obtains, collects, records, or publishes, or communicates to any other person any secret official code word, or password, or any sketch, plan, model, article, or note, or other document which is calculated to be or might be or is intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy". The illegality of espionage also includes any action which may be considered 'preparatory to' spying, or encouraging or aiding another to spy.


title: Espionage

text: Under the penal codes of the UK, those found guilty of espionage are liable to imprisonment for a term of up to 14 years, although multiple sentences can be issued.


title: Espionage

text: Government intelligence is very much distinct from espionage, and is not illegal in the UK, providing that the organisations of individuals are registered, often with the ICO, and are acting within the restrictions of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). 'Intelligence' is considered legally as "information of all sorts gathered by a government or organisation to guide its decisions. It includes information that may be both public and private, obtained from much different public or secret sources. It could consist entirely of information from either publicly available or secret sources, or be a combination of the two."


title: Espionage

text: However, espionage and intelligence can be linked. According to the MI5 website, "foreign intelligence officers acting in the UK under diplomatic cover may enjoy immunity from prosecution. Such persons can only be tried for spying (or, indeed, any criminal offence) if diplomatic immunity is waived beforehand. Those officers operating without diplomatic cover have no such immunity from prosecution".


title: Espionage

text: There are also laws surrounding government and organisational intelligence and surveillance. Generally, the body involved should be issued with some form of warrant or permission from the government and should be enacting their procedures in the interest of protecting national security or the safety of public citizens. Those carrying out intelligence missions should act within not only RIPA but also the Data Protection Act and Human Rights Act. However, there are spy equipment laws and legal requirements around intelligence methods that vary for each form of intelligence enacted.


title: Espionage

text: In war, espionage is considered permissible as many nations recognize the inevitability of opposing sides seeking intelligence each about the dispositions of the other. To make the mission easier and successful, combatants wear disguises to conceal their true identity from the enemy while penetrating enemy lines for intelligence gathering. However, if they are caught behind enemy lines in disguises, they are not entitled to prisoner-of-war status and subject to prosecution and punishment—including execution.