title: Mike Singletary

text: As his relationship with his father drifted, Mike's brother Grady stepped in. Grady filled the void, telling young Mike to stay away from vices such as drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. Mike's interest in playing football piqued each Sunday, as he would watch the Dallas Cowboys, and idolized players like Roger Staubach, Bob Lilly, and Lee Roy Jordan.


title: Mike Singletary

text: Tragedy would soon strike again. Grady, the man who Mike Singletary had looked up at as a father figure, was killed in a six-car accident caused by a drunk driver. The drunk driver survived the accident uninjured.


title: Mike Singletary

text: Singletary attended high school at Evan E. Worthing High School in Houston. In ninth grade, Mike was an all-state guard and linebacker. As Mike became a star for Worthing High School, an all-black high school, Mike's mother became a regular at the football games. Despite early concerns about poor grades affecting Mike's eligibility to play football, his grades improved. After a star career at Worthing, Mike found himself with a scholarship to Baylor University, and would meet the next mentor in his life, Baylor coach Grant Teaff.


title: Mike Singletary

text: Singletary attended college at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. As a linebacker at Baylor, Singletary earned All-America honors in both junior (1979) and senior (1980) years, where he averaged 15 tackles per game and established a team record with 232 tackles in 1978, including 35 in a game against the University of Houston. During Singletary's senior season of 1980, Baylor won 10 games, marking the first time in school history that had been accomplished.


title: Mike Singletary

text: Singletary is the only college junior to be selected to the All-Southwest Conference Team of the 1970s. Singletary is a two-time recipient of the Davey O'Brien Memorial Trophy, which at the time was awarded to the most outstanding player among those playing in the southwestern United States and had yet to become the quarterback-centric award it is today. Singletary lettered four years. He had 97 tackles as a freshman, 232 (a school record) as a sophomore, then 188 and 145. The total, 662, set a school record. In 1978, he had 35 tackles in a game against Arkansas, 31 against Ohio State. He was all- Southwest Conference three years and All-America two years. In 1979 and 1980, he won the Davey O'Brien Award, given to the outstanding player in the Southwest. (The award has since been changed to a national quarterback trophy.)


title: Mike Singletary

text: At , , Singletary became a starting linebacker in the Chicago Bears defense in the seventh game of his rookie season (1981). In a game against the Kansas City Chiefs, his third as a starter, Singletary gave a remarkable defensive performance, recording 10 tackles and forcing a fumble. He was a nearly unanimous all-rookie selection. Singletary started 172 games for the Bears during his 12-year career, the second-most in club history. An intense player, he finished as the Bears' first- or second-leading tackler each of his last 11 seasons. He amassed an impressive 1,488 career tackles, 885 of which were solo efforts. He missed playing just two games, both in 1986. He made 7 interceptions and 12 fumble recoveries.


title: Mike Singletary

text: In a game against the Denver Broncos in 1990 he had a personal-best performance when he recorded 10 solo tackles and 10 assists. Selected to play in a team record 10 Pro Bowls, Singletary was All-Pro eight times, and All-NFC every year from 1983 to 1991.


title: Mike Singletary

text: He led the Bears to a 15–1 season in 1985. The "46" defense invented by Buddy Ryan allowed Singletary to be unblocked on virtually every play. That season, he recorded 109 solo tackles (52 assists), 3 sacks, 1 interception, 3 fumble recoveries, 1 forced fumble, and 10 defended passes. He won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and led a defense that was ranked 1st overall (1st against the rush; 3rd against the pass).


title: Mike Singletary

text: Throughout the 1985 playoffs, Singletary provided stellar efforts in all 3 games. In the divisional game against the New York Giants at home, Singletary recovered a fumble early in the 1st quarter and a sack of quarterback Phil Simms on a 3rd down early in the 3rd quarter. The Bears went on to win 21–0. In the NFC Championship Game vs. the Los Angeles Rams, Singletary and the Bears dominated again. Coach Mike Ditka said that the day before the game, he was talking to the offense while Singletary was in the next room giving the defense a motivational speech. While it started out quiet, within minutes, Samurai Mike was screaming at the top of his lungs and the defensive players were throwing chairs and knocking over tables. The next day, he provided a memorable play where he stopped Eric Dickerson behind the line of scrimmage on third-and-short early in the 2nd quarter. The Bears would eventually go to win Super Bowl XX by beating the New England Patriots 46–10. In the game, Singletary broke up a pass that would have gone for a touchdown, delivered jarring hits to New England running back Craig James all game, and tied a Super Bowl record with 2 fumble recoveries.


title: Mike Singletary

text: Singletary was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press in 1985 and 1988. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995 and to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998. In 1999, he was ranked number 56 on "The Sporting News"' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.


title: Mike Singletary

text: In 2002, a group of alumni at Baylor University promoted Singletary for the school's open head coaching position, holding a conference call (which included Mike Ditka and Dave McGinnis) with the university administration. The position ultimately went to Guy Morriss. Singletary at the time had no head or assistant coaching experience and the university president later stated that they wanted to hire a coach with prior "head coaching experience."


title: Mike Singletary

text: Following the 2004 season, the San Francisco 49ers hired Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Nolan to be their head coach, and Singletary left the Ravens with Nolan to be San Francisco's assistant head coach and linebackers coach.


title: Mike Singletary

text: In 2007, Singletary interviewed for the head coaching job of the Dallas Cowboys and San Diego Chargers, but was ultimately passed over.


title: Mike Singletary

text: With Morriss leaving Baylor after the 2007 season, Singletary appeared to be the leading candidate for his replacement, and expressed interest in the job. On November 19, 2007, Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw flew to San Francisco to interview Singletary. However, Singletary decided against taking the position, which instead went to Art Briles. Singletary's son Matt was a freshman on the Baylor team in 2007.


title: Mike Singletary

text: Singletary became the interim head coach of the 49ers after Nolan was fired on October 20, 2008. Singletary instantly made a statement in San Francisco by sending tight end Vernon Davis to the locker room with more than 10 minutes remaining in his head coaching debut, a 34–13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on October 26, 2008. Davis was penalized 15 yards for slapping Seattle safety Brian Russell after a reception. In a post-game press conference, Singletary called Davis' actions "uncoachable" and said that he would rather play with a 10-man squad than have to deal with an apathetic 11-man squad. He boldly declared in that same speech, "I want winners!", which became a staple on billboards around the Bay Area during his coaching tenure. It was later reported that during halftime of their game against the Seahawks, Singletary intentionally dropped his pants while giving a speech to illustrate just how poorly the 49ers had played in the first half.


title: Mike Singletary

text: Taking over the 2–5 49ers team, Singletary was able to finish the season 5–4 under his leadership (for a final team record of 7–9). On December 28, 2008, after a 27–24 come-from-behind victory over the Washington Redskins, Singletary was offered the team's long-term head coaching position, and signed a four-year, $10 million contract as the 49ers' head coach.


title: Mike Singletary

text: After leading the 49ers to a positive finish in 2008, Singletary helped the team jump out to a 3–1 overall start in the 2009 season. Despite a last-second loss to the Brett Favre-led Minnesota Vikings in Week 3, the 49ers recorded wins against the reigning NFC champion Arizona Cardinals and NFC West divisional rival Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams.


title: Mike Singletary

text: While the 49ers were being blown out by the visiting Atlanta Falcons in Week 5, Singletary lost his temper over his team's poor play; afterward, he expressed remorse for his actions, saying how he wished he "had more coaching etiquette" while reiterating how he would "get better at those things as time goes on." In the weeks to come, Singletary and offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye would drastically alter the 49ers' game plan, opting to start quarterback Alex Smith in place of Shaun Hill while adopting more of a spread offense. The new game plan had mixed results, as the 49ers posted a 2–5 record from Week 7 to Week 13 and struggled to maintain their playoff hopes. In a Week 14 Monday Night Football matchup against the Arizona Cardinals, however, Singletary and his coaching staff were better able to integrate running back Frank Gore into the spread offense and pulled off an impressive 24–9 victory.


title: Mike Singletary

text: With this momentum and their slim playoff hopes still alive, the 49ers visited the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 15, and lost 27–13. After the game, a disappointed Singletary emphasized his team's continued need to improve, but still backed Smith as the team's starting quarterback. Singletary helped the 49ers end the season on a high note with victories against the Detroit Lions and St. Louis Rams to reach 8–8, the team's first non-losing season since 2002.


title: Mike Singletary

text: Five players on the 2009 team were named to play in the NFL Pro Bowl. Those players were Patrick Willis, Andy Lee, Vernon Davis, Frank Gore, and Justin Smith.


title: Mike Singletary

text: Also in 2009, Singletary joined other members of the 1985 Chicago Bears in resurrecting the Super Bowl Shuffle for a Boost Mobile commercial broadcast during Super Bowl XLIV.


title: Mike Singletary

text: The 49ers began the 2010 season with an 0–5 record, marking their worst start since 1979. The team's first win of the season came in Week 6 by defeating the Oakland Raiders. In Week 10, San Francisco narrowly defeated the St. Louis Rams, 23–20 in overtime. At home, the 49ers suffered their first home shut out since October 3, 1977, in a 21–0 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on November 21. A rematch occurred with the Rams on December 26, which the 49ers lost 25–17, eliminating them from playoff contention. After the game the 49ers fired Singletary. Defensive line coach Jim Tomsula took over for the final week of the season.


title: Mike Singletary

text: On January 18, 2011, Singletary confirmed that he had agreed to join the Minnesota Vikings coaching staff as the linebackers coach/assistant to the head coach.


title: Mike Singletary

text: After being out of the league since 2014, Singletary interviewed with the New York Giants for their vacant linebacking coach position. Giants head coach Ben McAdoo and Singletary both worked together with the 49ers in 2005. The Giants eventually hired former Philadelphia Eagles assistant Bill McGovern for the position.


title: Mike Singletary

text: On June 28, 2016, Singletary announced in an interview with a radio station that he would be returning to the coaching ranks as an advisor for the Los Angeles Rams defense. The move reunited Singletary with former Bears teammate and then-Rams head coach Jeff Fisher.


title: Mike Singletary

text: On May 10, 2018, Singletary was named head coach of the Memphis Express of the Alliance of American Football. The Express went 2–6 before the league cancelled the rest of the season. The league eventually ceased operations altogether.


title: Mike Singletary

text: On March 29, 2018, Singletary accepted a job at Trinity Christian Academy in Addison, Texas. He left the school in December 2019 after going 1–21 in two seasons.


title: Mike Singletary

text: Singletary was a contestant on the first season of the CBS reality series "Beyond the Edge", which premiered in March 2022.


title: Mike Singletary

text: Singletary, an ordained minister, is a devout evangelical Christian. Singletary said in an interview with the 700 Club, "To me, Christ means everything. I know that He's got my back no matter what I do. So that gives me all the freedom in the world to be the man that He's called me to be."


title: Mike Singletary

text: Singletary and his wife, Kim, have seven children. His son Matt joined Baylor University's roster in 2007 as a freshman defensive end. However, Matt transferred to California Polytechnic State University where he was a junior defensive end. Singletary's nephew, Vantz, is a linebackers coach at Liberty University and previously coached under Mike when he coached with the 49ers.


title: Mike Singletary

text: Devin Singletary, who is a running back for the Buffalo Bills, is not related to Mike and Kim Singletary.


title: NSO Group

text: NSO Group Technologies (NSO standing for Niv, Shalev and Omri, the names of the company's founders) is an Israeli cyber-intelligence firm primarily known for its proprietary spyware Pegasus, which is capable of remote zero-click surveillance of smartphones. It employed almost 500 people as of 2017.


title: NSO Group

text: NSO claims that it provides authorized governments with technology that helps them combat terror and crime. The company says that it deals with government clients only. "Pegasus" spyware is classified as a weapon by Israel and any export of the technology must be approved by the government.


title: NSO Group

text: According to several reports, NSO Group spyware has been used to target human rights activists and journalists in various countries, was used for state espionage against Pakistan, for warrantless domestic surveillance of Israeli citizens by Israeli police, and played a role in the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi by agents of the Saudi government.


title: NSO Group

text: In 2019, instant messaging company WhatsApp and its parent company Meta Platforms (then known as Facebook) sued NSO under the United States Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. In 2021, Apple filed a lawsuit against NSO in the U.S., and the US included NSO Group in its Entity List for acting against U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, effectively banning U.S. companies from supplying NSO.


title: NSO Group

text: NSO Group is a subsidiary of the Q Cyber Technologies group of companies. Q Cyber Technologies is the name the NSO Group uses in Israel, but the company goes by OSY Technologies in Luxembourg, and in North America, a subsidiary formerly known as Westbridge. It has operated through various other companies around the world.


title: NSO Group

text: NSO Group was founded in 2010 by Niv Karmi, Omri Lavie, and Shalev Hulio. Hulio and Lavie were school friends who went into the technology start-up sector during the mid-2000s. The pair founded a company - CommuniTake - which offered a tool that let cellphone tech support workers access the customers' devices (but necessitating that the customer grant permission to enable access). After a European intelligence agency expressed interest in the product, the pair realised they could instead develop a tool that could gain access to phones without user authorisation, and market it to security and intelligence agencies. Karmi, who served in military intelligence and the Mossad, was brought on board to help market the tool with the help of his contacts. The first iteration of NSO's Pegasus spyware was finalised in 2011.


title: NSO Group

text: NSO Group has come to employ over 700 personnel globally. Almost all of NSO's research team is made up of former Israeli military intelligence personnel, most of them having served in Israel's Military Intelligence Directorate, and many of these in its Unit 8200. The company's most valuable staff are graduates of the military intelligence's highly selective advanced cyberweapons training programs. NSO seeks to uncover a surfeit of zero-day exploits in target devices to ensure smooth continuous access even as some of the security vulnerabilities exploited by NSO are inevitably discovered and patched, with labs in the company's Herzliya headquarters featuring racks stacked with phones being tested against new exploits.


title: NSO Group

text: "Pegasus" spyware is classified as a military export by Israel and its sale is controlled by the government. According to "The New York Times", "Israel’s government has long seen Pegasus as a critical tool for its foreign policy." and that it "[...] has treated NSO as a "de facto" arm of the state, granting licenses for Pegasus to numerous countries [...] with which the Israeli government hoped to nurture stronger security and diplomatic ties." Israel has used the sale of NSO products as a diplomatic bargaining chip to advance its foreign policy interests as well as limiting its sale to or its use against certain states to maintain good relations with certain states. Israel has faced criticism for approving the sale of NSO technologies to countries with poor human rights records. U.S. intelligence officials have also said the Israeli state presumably has backdoor access to data obtained by Pegasus. NSO denies being "a tool of Israeli diplomacy", and denies the presence of a backdoor in its spyware tools.


title: NSO Group

text: Israel, wary of angering the U.S. in the wake of the Snowden revelations, required NSO to prevent Pegasus from targeting American phone numbers. Israel has used Pegasus to advance its interests in the region, with Pegasus playing a role in negotiating the Abraham Accords. A "New York Times" investigation highlighted several instances in which the sale of Pegasus to a particular government coincided with that government's increased support of Israel. The Israeli government also blocked the sale of Pegasus to Estonia and Ukraine for fear that Israel's relations with Russia would be damaged if the spyware was used against Russia. After a senior Russian official approached the Israeli security agencies and informed them that Russia had learned of Estonia's attempts to obtain Pegasus, the Israeli Ministry of Defense decided to disallow Estonia from using Pegasus against any Russian phone numbers following a heated debate on the issue among Israeli officials.


title: NSO Group

text: The company's start-up funding came from a group of investors headed by Eddy Shalev, a partner in venture capital fund Genesis Partners which invested a total of $1.8 million for a 30% stake.


title: NSO Group

text: In 2014, the surveillance firm Circles (which produces is a phone geolocation tool) was acquired by Francisco Parterns for $130 million, and thus became a corporate affiliate of NSO's.


title: NSO Group

text: In June 2017, the company was put up for sale for more than $1 billion by Francisco Partners (roughly ten times what Francisco originally paid to acquire it in 2014). At the time it was put up for sale, NSO had almost 500 employees (up from around 50 in 2014).


title: NSO Group

text: On February 14, 2019, Francisco Partners sold a majority (60%) stake of NSO back to co-founders Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie, who were supported in the purchase by European private equity fund Novalpina Capital. Hulio and Lavie invested $100 million, with Novalpina acquiring the remaining portion of the majority stake, thus valuing the company at approximately $1 billion. The day after the acquisition, Novalpina attempted to address the concerns raised by Citizen Lab with a letter, stating their belief that NSO operates with sufficient integrity and caution.


title: NSO Group

text: In July 2021, investors in Novalpina Capital stripped Novalpina Capital of control over its assets (including NSO) after an unresolved personal dispute amongst the co-founders of Novalpina Capital. Berkeley Research Group (BRG), a California-based consultancy firm, was subsequently handed control over the assets (including NSO).


title: NSO Group

text: By the time of BRG's takeover, NSO Group was in perilous financial straits, having gone months without a new sale and in risk of missing its debt payments and its November 2021 payroll payments. NSO CEO Shalev Hulio suggested to BRG that the company should improve its financial standing by starting to sell its products to high-risk customers previously deemed unacceptable, responding to objections by joking that missing debt payments was risky too. BRG was categorically opposed to the suggestion despite acknowledging that selling to high-risk customers was the only realistic way of maintaining NSO's business operations. Hulio proposed increasing sales to Israel's western allies (including U.S. law enforcement, the most lucrative prospective market), but the November 2021 U.S. blacklisting of NSO subsequently ended the company's prospects of breaking into the U.S. market (Hulio then devised a plan to split up the company in order to circumvent the U.S. sanctions). According to the "Financial Times", NSO also seemed to have been abandoned by the previously doting Israeli government due to a proliferation of Israeli companies offering comparable technologies (including some established by former NSO employees). In a court filing, BRG described NSO as "valueless" to its private equity backers; in December 2021, a group of NSO creditors described NSO as insolvent in a letter to NSO's majority shareholders.


title: NSO Group

text: Two of the ousted co-founders attempted to reclaim control over Novalpina Capital's assets by filing a lawsuit in Luxemburg, with a U.K. court allowing the case to proceed to trial in April 2022. In an April 2022 letter, BRG told an EU committee investigating abuse of NSO's products that NSO's management has not been forthcoming in providing information about its business operations, including on the issue of the company's blacklisting in the U.S.


title: NSO Group

text: In the months after the November 2021 blacklisting of NSO by the U.S. Department of Commerce that resulted in an U.S. export ban for the company, and amid a campaign by the Israeli government to find a way to prevent the floundering NSO from going under, the U.S. Commerce Department sent a list of questions to NSO about how its spyware products operate. In 2022, L3Harris Technologies, a U.S. military contractor with experience in the spyware technology sector, was conducting talks on the possibility of acquiring NSO. L3Harris sought to acquire NSO's technology and code with the acquisition of the company's employees discussed as well. L3Harris executives travelled to Israel to conduct the talks which were not disclosed to the public. L3Harris reportedly told their NSO counterparts that they had the blessing and backing of the U.S. government and U.S. intelligence in pursuing the acquisition as long as the Pegasus source code and the cache of zero-day vulnerabilities uncovered by NSO could be passed on to the other intelligence agencies of the Five Eyes. The Israeli authorities were reportedly willing to fulfill the latter and reluctant to comply with the former, and also insisted that Israel ultimately retain control over issuing export licences for NSO's products. The Israeli authorities were also opposed to allowing L3Harris' employees from joining NSO's development team in NSO's Israeli headquarters. The talks were revealed to the public by the press in June 2022, resulting in a scramble by the parties involved, with White House officials publicly condemning the negotiation in harsh terms, and L3Harris (which is heavily reliant on government contracts) reportedly notifying the U.S. government that they had abandoned the acquisition attempt. There were reportedly attempts to revive the negotiations in the weeks after the preceding negotiations were revealed by the press. An acquisition by a U.S.-based corporation could have lifted the blacklisting of NSO by the U.S. which had barred NSO from receiving exports from U.S. companies, hindering NSO's operations. Experts consulted by "The Guardian" said that due to the blacklisting of NSO Group, a new corporate entity would likely have had to be created before the U.S. government would allow the acquisition. A senior White House official commented anonymously for the article that made the secret acquisition negotiations public, stating that the White House had not been in any way involved in the deal, further stating that the U.S. government "opposes efforts by foreign companies to circumvent US export control measures or sanctions [...]".


title: NSO Group

text: In August 2022, Hulio stepped down from his post as CEO, with the company's COO Yaron Shohat temporarily assuming the role until a full-time replacement was to be named. Hulio's resignation from his post as CEO came amid a restructuring of the company as it attempted to focus on pursuing clients among NATO member countries. The reorganisation also entailed a downsizing NSO's workforce, with 100 employees (out of a total of 750 employees) being let go.


title: NSO Group

text: In late 2020, Vice Media published an article in which it reported that NSO Group had closed the Cyprus-based offices of Circles, the company it had acquired in 2014. The article, based on interviews with two former employees, described the integration between the two companies as "awful" and stated that NSO would rely on Circles' Bulgarian office instead. According to Vice, this came just over a year after an activist group known as Access Now wrote to authorities in both Cyprus and Bulgaria, asking them to further scrutinise NSO exports. Access now had stated that they had received denials from both the Bulgarian and Cypriot authorities, with both countries stating that they had not provided export licenses to the NSO group. Despite this, an article written by "The Guardian" during the 2021 Pegasus scandal quoted NSO Group as saying that it had been "regulated by the export control regimes of Israel, Cyprus and Bulgaria". NSO's own "Transparency and Responsibility Report 2021", published about a month before the scandal, makes the same statement, adding that those were the three countries through which NSO exported its products. Circles' Bulgarian office, in particular, was stated to have been founded as a "bogus phone company" in 2015 by Citizen Lab citing "IntelligenceOnline", a part of Indigo Publications. This report was reprinted by the Bulgarian investigation publication Bivol in December 2020, which appended it with public registry documents which indicated that the company's Bulgarian office had grown to employ up to 150 people and had received two loans worth about 275 million American dollars in 2017 from two offshore companies and a Swiss bank registered in the Cayman Islands.


title: NSO Group

text: NSO was founded in 2010 by Niv Karmi, Omri Lavie, and Shalev Hulio. In 2012, the Federal government of Mexico announced the signing of a $20 million contract with NSO. It was later revealed by a "New York Times" investigation that NSO's product was used to target journalists and human rights activists in the country.


title: NSO Group

text: NSO pitched its spyware to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which declined to purchase it due to its high cost.


title: NSO Group

text: In 2015, the company sold surveillance technology to the government of Panama. The contract later became the subject of a Panamanian anti-corruption investigation following its disclosure in a leak of confidential information from Italian firm Hacking Team.


title: NSO Group

text: In August 2016, NSO (through its U.S. subsidiary Westbridge) pitched its U.S. version of Pegasus to the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) In the marketing material, Westbridge emphasized that the company is U.S. based and majority owned by a U.S. parent company. A SDPD Sergeant responded to the sales pitch with "sounds awesome". The SDPD declined to purchase the spyware as it was too expensive.


title: NSO Group

text: In June 2018, an Israeli court indicted a former employee of NSO for allegedly stealing a copy of Pegasus and attempting to sell it online for $50 million worth of cryptocurrency.


title: NSO Group

text: In August 2018, the human rights group Amnesty International accused NSO of helping Saudi Arabia spy on a member of the organization's staff.


title: NSO Group

text: In April 2019, NSO froze its deals with Saudi Arabia over a scandal alleging NSO software's role in tracking murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the months before his death.


title: NSO Group

text: In May 2019, messaging service WhatsApp alleged that a spyware injection exploit targeting its calling feature was developed by NSO. WhatsApp stated that the exploit targeted 1,400 users in 20 countries, including "at least 100 human-rights defenders, journalists and other members of civil society". NSO denied involvement in selecting or targeting victims, but did not explicitly deny creating the exploit. In response to the alleged cyberattack, WhatsApp sued NSO.


title: NSO Group

text: In June 2019, NSO began setting up a test facility in New Jersey for the FBI which had procured NSO's services, and began testing a version of Pegasus developed for U.S. government agencies to be used on U.S. phones. After two years of deliberations in the FBI and Department of Justice, the FBI decided not to deploy the tools for domestic use in the summer of 2021, with the New Jersey facility laying dormant as of early 2022. The DEA, Secret Service, and United States Africa Command had also held discussions with NSO which however did not proceed beyond that stage.


title: NSO Group

text: In April 2020, Motherboard reported about an incident that occurred several years prior in which an NSO employee used a client's Pegasus tool to spy on a love interest (a female personal acquaintance) during a work trip to the UAE. The employee broke into the client's office outside of office hours to use the tool, prompted an alert and an investigation by the client. The employee was detained by authorities, and fired by NSO, Motherboard's sources said. Sources also told Motherboard that NSO leadership held a meeting to prevent similar incidents in the future, and subsequently adopted more rigorous screening of employees that interact with clients.


title: NSO Group

text: In July 2020, Motherboard reported that the US branch of NSO was pitching its brand of Pegasus to the US Secret Service during 2018.


title: NSO Group

text: In November 2021, the United States added the NSO Group to its Entity List, for acting "contrary to the foreign policy and national security interests of the US" and it effectively bans the sale of hardware and software to the company. The listing deprived NSO of U.S. technology on which NSO relies, crippling its operations. Israeli officials subsequently unsuccessfully attempted to get the blacklisting overturned, and NSO reportedly tried and failed multiple times to meet with the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security to attempt to obtain export waivers.


title: NSO Group

text: In December 2021, 86 human rights organisations sent a joint letter calling on the EU to impose global sanctions against NSO Group and seek to "prohibit the sale, transfer, export and import of the Israeli company’s surveillance technology" due to the risks NSO's technology poses for human rights globally.


title: NSO Group

text: In January 2022, "Calcalist" published an investigatory piece detailing the widespread unlawful use of Pegasus by the Israeli Police. Although the Israeli Police formally denied this, some senior police officials have hinted that the claims were true. On February 1, the police admitted that there was, in fact, misuse of the software. On February 7, a second "Calcalist" report revealed that the warrantless surveillance was very widespread, including that of politicians and government officials, heads of corporations, journalists, activists, and even , the son of then-Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. After outcry and calls for a state commission of inquiry, including from the current police commissioner himself, the Minister of Public Security (the minister responsible for the police), Omer Bar-Lev, announced that he will be forming a commission of inquiry, to be chaired by a retired judge, and whose powers will basically be indistinguishable from a state commission.


title: NSO Group

text: A 507-page document prepared by Apple showed that the cybersecurity startsup Corellium offered or sold its tools to spyware and hacking-tool makers, including NSO Group in Israel and DarkMatter in the United Arab Emirates. NSO Group has been one of the Corellium’s controversial clients that sells its tools to repressive nations with poor human rights records, including the UAE. Corellium said both NSO and DarkMatter had access to a trial version of their software for a limited time with limited functionality. However, documents revealed that Corellium worked with several companies to use software bugs and exploits to hack into Android and iOS mobile phones.


title: NSO Group

text: NSO Groups offers the smartphone spyware tool Pegasus to government clients for the exclusive intended purpose of combating crime and terrorism. The first version of Pegasus was finalised in 2011. Pegasus spyware is classified as a weapon by Israel and any export of the technology must be approved by the government. The Israeli Ministry of Defense licenses the export of Pegasus to foreign governments, but not to private entities.


title: NSO Group

text: Pegasus is compatible with iPhone and Android devices. It can be deployed remotely. Once deployed, it allows the client to access the target phone's data and sensors, including: location data, texts, emails, social media messages, files, camera, and microphone. The client-facing side of the tool is user friendly, and all that may be required (depending upon the case) of the client to begin deployment of Pegasus is to enter the target's phone number into the tool.


title: NSO Group

text: Phantom is a phone hacking product marketed by Westbridge, the United States branch of NSO Group. According to a former NSO employee, "Phantom" is the brand name for the Pegasus in the U.S., but the two tools are otherwise identical. Israel required NSO Group to program Pegasus so as not to be able to target US phone numbers. NSO then launched Phantom for the U.S. market for use on U.S. targets, receiving permission from Israel to develop it as a specialty tool for exclusive use by U.S. governmental agencies.


title: NSO Group

text: In 2014, the surveillance firm Circles was acquired by Francisco Partners, becoming a corporate affiliate of NSO Group. Circles' product is a phone geolocation tool. The firm has two systems. One operates by connecting to the purchasing country's local telecommunications companies’ infrastructure. The other separate system, known as the “Circles Cloud”, is capable of interconnecting with telecommunications companies across the globe.


title: NSO Group

text: In December 2020, the "Citizen Lab" reported that Supreme Council on National Security (SCNS) of the United Arab Emirates was set to receive both these systems. In a lawsuit filed against the NSO group in Israel, emails revealed links between Circles and several customers in the United Arab Emirates. Documents also revealed that Circles sent targets’ locations and phone records to the UAE SCNS. Aside from Israel and the UAE, the report named the governments of Australia, Belgium, Botswana, Chile, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Serbia, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe as likely customers of Circles surveillance technology.


title: NSO Group

text: In September 2021, "Forensic News" published shipping records showing that in 2020 Circles supplied equipment to Uzbekistan's State Security Service (SGB).


title: NSO Group

text: In October 2018, Associated Press reported that two Citizen Lab researchers were being pursued by undercover operatives with false identities. The undercover agents had been inquiring about their work involving NSO Group, and also appeared to be trying to goad the researchers into making anti-Semitic or otherwise damaging remarks. After growing suspicious, one researcher contacted AP reporters. Together, they managed to arrange a sting during a meeting with a suspected undercover operative at a hotel luncheon with AP journalists secretly awaiting nearby; after the journalists approached the operative to question him, the operative fled, bumping into chairs and circling the room as he tried to get away. There also appeared to be two additional undercover operatives in the room. The operative that met the researcher appeared to be filming the researcher with a hidden camera during the meeting, and one of the operatives standing nearby appeared to be recording the meeting as well. The operative was later identified as a former Israeli security official. Responding to the AP report, NSO denied any involvement. It was later also uncovered that the identified undercover agent had previously worked on a case linked to the Israeli private intelligence agency Black Cube; NSO Group subsequently denied contracting Black Cube, and Black Cube denied involvement as well.


title: NSO Group

text: In February 2019, Associated Press reported that at least four more individuals - three lawyers involved in lawsuits against NSO Group for alleged sales of NSO spyware to governments with poor human rights records, and one journalist who had been covering said litigation - were being pursued by undercover operatives for their work on NSO. Undercover agents again tried to goad the individuals into making racist or anti-Israel remarks. Two of the individuals were surreptitiously recorded by the undercover operatives. Channel 12, an Israeli television channel, obtained and aired the secret recordings made by the undercover operatives shortly before the AP published the revelations. Channel 12 claimed the two individuals were attempting to smear NSO Group on behalf of Qatar. Channel 12 also confirmed that Black Cube undercover investigators were involved.


title: NSO Group

text: In May 2019, messaging service WhatsApp alleged that a spyware injection exploit targeting its calling feature was developed by NSO. Victims were exposed to the spyware payload even if they did not answer the call. WhatsApp told the "Financial Times" that "the attack has all the hallmarks of a private company known to work with governments to deliver spyware that reportedly takes over the functions of mobile phone operating systems." NSO denied involvement in selecting or targeting victims, but did not explicitly deny creating the exploit. In response to the alleged cyberattack, WhatsApp sued NSO under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and other US laws in a San Francisco court on October 29. WhatsApp stated that the exploit targeted 1,400 users in 20 countries, including "at least 100 human-rights defenders, journalists and other members of civil society". WhatsApp alerted the 1,400 targeted users. In at least one case, the surveillance was authorized by a judge.


title: NSO Group

text: NSO employees had complained to WhatsApp about improved security, according to the court filings by WhatsApp and its parent company Facebook:


title: NSO Group

text: In April 2020, NSO group blamed its government clients for the hacking of 1,400 WhatsApp users, including journalists and human rights activists. However, the firm did not disclose the names of the clients which, as Citizen Lab stated, include authorities in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Morocco, and Mexico. In court filings WhatsApp alleged that its investigation showed that the hacks originated from NSO Group servers rather than its clients'. WhatsApp said "NSO used a network of computers to monitor and update Pegasus after it was implanted on users' devices. These NSO-controlled computers served as the nerve centre through which NSO controlled its customers' operation and use of Pegasus." WhatsApp said that NSO gained "unauthorised access" to WhatsApp servers by reverse-engineering the WhatsApp app to be able to evade security features. NSO responded "NSO Group does not operate the Pegasus software for its clients".


title: NSO Group

text: In November 2021, Apple Inc. filed a complaint against NSO Group and its parent company Q Cyber Technologies in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California about the FORCEDENTRY exploit used to deploy the Pegasus spyware package, requesting injunctive relief, compensatory damages, punitive damages, and disgorgement of profits. The "zero-click" exploit was discovered by the Canadian Citizen Lab after Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul's iPhone was hacked. Technical information uncovered by Bill Marczak's team at the lab allowed Apple to warn thousands of its users, including U.S. State Department employees in Uganda. Researchers also discovered that spyware from QuaDream, another Israeli vendor, took advantage of the same vulnerability in iPhones.


title: Kane Williamson

text: Kane Stuart Williamson (born 8 August 1990) is a New Zealand cricketer who is currently the captain of the New Zealand national team in white ball cricket. He is considered one of New Zealand's greatest batsmen ever. He is a right-handed batsman and an occasional off spin bowler.


title: Kane Williamson

text: Williamson made his first-class cricket debut in December 2007. He made his U-19 debut against the touring Indian U-19 team the same year and was named captain of the New Zealand U-19 team for the 2008 U-19 Cricket World Cup. He made his international debut in 2010. Williamson has represented New Zealand at the 2011, 2015 and 2019 editions of the Cricket World Cup and 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2021 editions of the ICC World Twenty20. He made his full-time captaincy debut for New Zealand in the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 in India. He captained New Zealand at the 2019 Cricket World Cup, leading the team to the final and winning the Player of the Tournament award in the process. On 31 December 2020, he reached a Test batting rating of 890, surpassing Steve Smith and Virat Kohli as the number one ranked Test batsmen in the world. He was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for Test cricketer of the decade. Ian Chappell and Martin Crowe have ranked Williamson among the top four or five Test cricket batsmen, along with Joe Root, Steve Smith, and Virat Kohli of the current era.


title: Kane Williamson

text: Williamson was the only New Zealander to be named in the ICC Test Team of the Decade (2011–2020). The late former New Zealand cricketer, Martin Crowe, noted that, "we're seeing the dawn of probably our greatest ever batsman" in Williamson.


title: Kane Williamson

text: In June 2021, he captained New Zealand to the inaugural ICC World Test Championship. In November 2021, he led New Zealand to the final of the ICC T20 World Cup.


title: Kane Williamson

text: Kane Williamson was born on 8 August 1990 in Tauranga, New Zealand. His father Brett was a sales representative who had played under-17 and club cricket in New Zealand and his mother Sandra had been a representative basketball player. He has a twin brother Logan, who is one minute younger than him. The brothers have three older sisters, Anna, Kylie and Sophie. All three were accomplished volleyball players, and Anna and Sophie were in New Zealand age group teams.


title: Kane Williamson

text: Williamson played senior representative cricket at the age of 14 and first-class cricket at 16. He attended Tauranga Boys' College from 2004–2008, where he was head boy in his final year. He was coached by Pacey Depina who described Williamson as having "a thirst to be phenomenal – but not at anyone else's expense." He reportedly scored 40 centuries before he left school.


title: Kane Williamson

text: Williamson made his debut for Northern Districts in 2007 at the age of 17, who he has remained with for the duration of his New Zealand domestic career.


title: Kane Williamson

text: He scored his first T20 hundred, on 19 September 2014, making 101* in 49 balls to guide Northern Districts to a comfortable win against Cape Cobras in Champions League Twenty20 2014.


title: Kane Williamson

text: Williamson signed for Gloucestershire to play in the 2011 English county season. On 14 August 2013, he signed for Yorkshire for the rest of the season and subsequently signed to return for the 2014 season, when his side won the County Championship. He signed to return the latter part of the 2015 season, but when incumbent overseas player Aaron Finch was not selected for the Australia ODI squad, Yorkshire ultimately chose to extend Finch's deal in place of Williamson. He subsequently signed a deal for part of the 2016 season, and also returned for a part of the 2018 season .


title: Kane Williamson

text: In February 2015 Williamson signed for Indian Premier League side Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). He played for the side in the 2016 season, winning the title, and was retained for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. He captained the side in 2018, replacing David Warner. Under Williamson's captaincy, Sunrisers Hyderabad finished runners-up and he was the season's leading scorer, with 735 runs. In IPL 2021, Kane took over the captaincy from David Warner in the middle of the season. However, SRH finished last in the tournament, winning only 3 matches. He was retained by the franchise for the 2022 edition as the captain, but failed to perform, averaging 19.64, with a strike rate of 93.51 and scoring one half-century.


title: Kane Williamson

text: Williamson was 17, when he led the New Zealand Under-19 side in the World Cup in Malaysia in 2008. New Zealand reached the semi-final, where they lost to the eventual champions India. On 24 March 2010, Williamson was named in the New Zealand Test squad for the second Test against Australia, but ultimately he did not play in the match.


title: Kane Williamson

text: Williamson made his One-Day International debut against India on 10 August 2010. He was dismissed for a 9th ball duck. In his second match, he was bowled by Angelo Mathews for a second ball duck. He scored his maiden ODI century against Bangladesh on 14 October 2010 in Dhaka and hence became the youngest centurion in New Zealand's cricket history. Due to his performance on the Bangladesh tour where New Zealand suffered a 4–0 whitewash, Williamson was selected in the New Zealand Test squad for the tour of India that followed.


title: Kane Williamson

text: Williamson made his Test cricket debut against India at Ahmedabad on 4 November 2010. In his first innings he scored 131 runs off 299 balls and became the eighth New Zealand player to score a century on Test debut.


title: Kane Williamson

text: Williamson scored 161 not out against West Indies in June 2014, his second century of the series and helped secure a rare away Test series victory for his side. He finished as the leading overall run scorer in the series with 413 runs, and was denied a double century only by rain, which encouraged skipper Brendon McCullum to declare in the interest of obtaining a result in the match. He was also reported for a suspect bowling action in April 2014, but was cleared in December 2014. His illegal bowling action started after he left high school in order to get a faster release and turn on the ball. His new action essentially reverts him to his action in high school, with a more side-on approach and less wrist and elbow deviation. He was also named as captain ahead of the ODI and Twenty20 series against Pakistan as Brendon McCullum was rested.


title: Kane Williamson

text: Williamson scored 100* off 69 balls against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo, which at the time was the second fastest century by a New Zealander in a One-Day International. He also established one of the most potent top-order partnership with Ross Taylor, with Williamson himself being the most prolific number-three batsman for the national side since former captain Stephen Fleming. As a fielder, his position is predominantly at gully.


title: Kane Williamson

text: In 2015, he started with 69 and 242* against Sri Lanka, with two catches in the field in a man-of-the-match performance. On 3 February 2015, he scored the 99th ODI century in the New Zealand's history, against Pakistan; Ross Taylor scored the 100th in the same match. He also scored over 700 runs before the 2015 Cricket World Cup in the first two months of the calendar year. On 17 June 2015 he became the fifth-fastest batsmen and fastest New Zealander to score 3,000 runs, getting them in just 78 innings. On 15 November 2015 Williamson and Taylor became the first pair of away batsmen to each score 2nd innings centuries at WACA Ground in Perth.


title: Kane Williamson

text: In December 2015, during the second Test against Sri Lanka, Williamson broke the record for the most Test runs scored in a calendar year by a New Zealander, with 1172 runs. He also ended 2015 with 2692 runs, the highest total across all forms of international cricket for the year, and third highest total in a single year.


title: Kane Williamson

text: In March 2016, Williamson assumed the position of captain of New Zealand across all forms of cricket after the retirement of Brendon McCullum, beginning with the World T20I cup in India. He was named as captain of the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo and Cricbuzz. He also picked up NZ player of the year, Test player of the year and the Redpath Cup for top batsman in first class cricket for the second year in a row.


title: Kane Williamson

text: In August 2016, during the Test series against Zimbabwe, Williamson became the thirteenth batsman to score a century against all the other Test playing nations. He completed this in the fewest innings, the quickest time from his Test debut and became the youngest player to achieve this feat.


title: Kane Williamson

text: Williamson set a new record for scoring the most centuries by a New Zealand batsman in Tests, with his 18th, in March 2018 when he score 102 against England at Auckland. Later that year, he scored his 10,000th run in first-class cricket, batting for the English side Yorkshire in the 2018 County Championship. On 8 December 2018, he scored his 19th Test century in the deciding 3rd game in the Pakistan away series. On 7 December 2018, Williamson became the first player from New Zealand to cross 900 rating points in the ICC Test batting rankings. During the 2019 Test series against Bangladesh, Williamson scored 200 not out as New Zealand posted a team total of 715, their highest ever in a Test innings. He also became the fastest New Zealand player to score 6,000 runs in Test cricket.


title: Kane Williamson

text: In April 2019, he was named the captain of New Zealand's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. During the tournament, he scored an unbeaten 106 to guide New Zealand to victory over South Africa, scoring his 3,000th run as captain of New Zealand in ODIs in the process. On 22 June, Williamson scored 148 runs off 154 balls in a 5-run victory over West Indies, his career best score in ODI cricket. One week later, in the match against Australia, Williamson became the third-fastest batsman, in terms of innings, to score 6,000 runs in ODIs, doing so in his 139th innings. At the end of the World Cup, he was awarded the Player of the Tournament award after becoming the highest scoring captain in a single World Cup, making 578 runs in 10 matches. He was named as captain of the 'Team of the Tournament' by the ICC and ESPNCricinfo.


title: Kane Williamson

text: In November 2020, Williamson was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for Test cricketer of the decade. On 4 December, Williamson scored 251 runs, his highest test score, in the first innings of the first Test against West Indies and helped New Zealand win the match by an innings and 134 runs.


title: Kane Williamson

text: In June 2021, he led New Zealand to victory in the inaugural ICC World Test Championship, beating India in the final by eight wickets. In August 2021, Williamson was named as the captain of New Zealand's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. Under his captaincy, New Zealand reached their third consecutive ICC event final across all formats after beating England in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup. In the final, Williamson scored a brilliant knock of 85 off 48 balls but ended up on the losing side after facing defeat to Australia by 8 wickets. He was New Zealand's top scorer in the tournament with 216 runs at an average of 43.20.


title: Kane Williamson

text: , Williamson has scored 24 Test and 13 ODI centuries. His highest score in Test is 251 and 148 in ODIs. He is yet to score a century in T20Is.


title: Kane Williamson

text: In the annual ICC Awards in January 2022, Williamson was included in ICC Men's Test Team of the Year for the year 2021.


title: Kane Williamson

text: He bowls and bats right handed but writes left handed. Williamson has two children, a daughter and son with wife Sarah Raheem whom he met in 2015. During the New Zealand vs Pakistan 2014 ODI series, Williamson donated his entire match fee for all five ODIs to the victims of the 2014 Peshawar school massacre.


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: Lisa Kennedy Montgomery (born September 8, 1972), referred to mononymously as Kennedy, is an American libertarian political commentator, radio personality, author, and former MTV VJ. She was the host of MTV's now-defunct daily late-night alternative-rock program "Alternative Nation" throughout much of the 1990s.


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: , she is the host of "Kennedy" on the Fox Business Network. Kennedy occasionally hosts "Outnumbered" on Fox News, and is a frequent panelist on that network's show "The Five".


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: Lisa Kennedy Montgomery was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and raised in Lake Oswego, Oregon, a suburb of Portland. Kennedy and her two brothers were raised by her mother. She is of Romanian and Scottish descent. She attended Lakeridge High School. She has a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: Kennedy interned as a DJ at KROQ radio in Los Angeles as a teenager. She was known on KROQ as "the Virgin Kennedy".


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: In 1999, Kennedy published her book "Hey Ladies! Tales and Tips for Curious Girls", in which she incorporated a multitude of personal experiences. That same year, she moved to Seattle to host "The Buzz" on KQBZ radio; the show was a mix of news, local issues, and comedy. Montgomery left Seattle in 2001 to cohost a morning radio show with Ahmet Zappa on the Comedy World Radio Network, "The Future with Ahmet & Kennedy", a similar mix of current events and comedy. She later co-hosted a morning show with Malibu Dan, "The Big House".


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: Beginning June 3, 2002, Kennedy hosted Game Show Network's "Friend or Foe?", which ran for two seasons. On April 1, 2003, she guest-hosted the GSN show "WinTuition" as part of GSN's April Fools prank where hosts swap places, while the original hosts usually appear as cameos, and play as contestants in "Lingo" for charity. She also hosted GSN's "Who Wants to Be Governor of California?", a televised debate among fringe candidates in the 2003 California gubernatorial recall election, such as actors Gary Coleman and Mary Carey.


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: Beginning September 23, 2005, Kennedy appeared as an occasional panelist on VH1's "Best Week Ever" and MSNBC's "Scarborough Country". In October 2005, she became host of Fox Reality's "Reality Remix" until that series ended in June 2008.


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: In December 2007, she guest-hosted the evening show several times on Los Angeles talk-radio station KFI, before being hired by the station for a regular Sunday-afternoon show. In April 2008, she joined Bryan Suits as cohost of the "Kennedy & Suits Show" at that station through September 30, 2009. She hosted "Music in the Mornings" on KYSR in Los Angeles from 2009 until March 2014.


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: On January 18, 2011, she began appearing as Anthony Sullivan's assistant on "PitchMen", looking for new inventions to promote in infomercials.


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: Kennedy joined Fox Business Network as a contributor in 2012. She co-hosted "The Independents", a current-events and political discussion show, from its debut on December 9, 2013. The show was cancelled in January 2015, but she continued as host of her own program, "Kennedy". "Kennedy" was put on hiatus March 13, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On October 19, 2020, the program ended its seven-month hiatus.


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: She is also a contributor to Reason.com and Reason.tv, and occasionally serves as guest host for Bill Carroll, John and Ken, and Tim Conway Jr. on KFI. She was a correspondent on the Fox Business talk show "Stossel", and made occasional appearances as a panelist and guest host on Fox News' "Red Eye". She has also made appearances on other Fox talk shows, such as "Outnumbered" and "The Five".


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: She is a supporter of same-sex marriage, and officiated at the wedding of fellow Fox contributor Guy Benson to husband Adam Wise. She also supports privatization of Social Security. She opposes the "war on drugs" and bureaucratic regulation. She is critical of neoconservatism.


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: At MTV's 1993 Rock 'n' Roll Inaugural Ball for Bill Clinton, she chanted, "Nixon now! Nixon now!" whenever the Clintons went on stage. Along with being a fan of Richard Nixon, she supported Dan Quayle and Bob Dole. She was a speaker at the 1996 Republican National Convention.


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: She later abandoned social conservatism, saying, "Social conservatism was really bringing me down, and I realized, as time went on, that I wasn't a Bush conservative. I was really a libertarian." She was first introduced to libertarianism when Kurt Loder suggested she read Ayn Rand's "Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology". She actively supported Gary Johnson in both the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections.


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: In March 2012, "Reason" published an article by Kennedy saying atheism is a religion on par with theistic religions.


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: Kennedy dated frontman and guitarist John Rzeznik from the band Goo Goo Dolls. The song "Name" was written about her.


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: She has the Romanian flag tattooed on her left ankle, and a pink Republican elephant tattooed on her upper left thigh.


title: Kennedy (commentator)

text: In September 2012, during an appearance on "Red Eye", Kennedy said she had been diagnosed with celiac disease, leading her to change to a more meat-based diet.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: Giuliana Rancic (; ; born August 17, 1974) is an Italian-American entertainment reporter and television personality. She is a co-anchor of "E! News" and resides in Chicago and Los Angeles.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: Rancic was born in Naples, Italy and immigrated to the United States with her family at age seven. Her father was a tailor who owned a store in White Flint Mall, and they lived nearby in Bethesda, Maryland; Rancic went to Walt Whitman High School, where she was a cheerleader.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: She had surgery to correct her scoliosis when she was 21. She received a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a master's degree in journalism from American University. During this time, she worked for a Capitol Hill news bureau covering stories related to the U.S. government. Rancic also graduated from Barbizon Modeling and Acting School.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: Rancic joined E! network's "E! News" as a reporter in 2002 and became an anchor in 2005. Over the years, she has shared co-hosting responsibilities with Ryan Seacrest, Terrence J, and Jason Kennedy.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: Additionally, she co-hosts E!'s "Fashion Police" and often co-hosts red carpet events for award shows, such as the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards. She is the creator and executive producer of MTV's "Celebrity Rap Superstar", which premiered in 2007. She and her husband, Bill Rancic, star in the reality-television show "Giuliana and Bill" which aired on E!. She appeared in the movie "" in a brief scene. Rancic also has hosted the Miss USA and Miss Universe beauty pageants on NBC.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: In February 2015, Rancic faced backlash over her controversial comments about synthetic dreadlocks worn by Zendaya at the Oscars, remarking that the hair looked like it smelled of "patchouli and weed".


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: On July 10, 2015, Rancic announced that after nearly a decade, she would be leaving her position as co-anchor on "E! News", yet would continue to be the host of "Fashion Police". On September 4, 2018, the personality returned to the role of anchor.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: In May 2021, Rancic announced that after 20 years, she would be leaving her position as co-host of "Live from the Red Carpet". In the same month, E! announced that Laverne Cox would take over for Rancic as host of "Live from the Red Carpet".


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: In August 2011, Rancic and her husband announced plans to open a restaurant in partnership with Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises. The restaurant was named "RPM Italian", with a menu including dishes inspired by Rancic's mother, "Mama DePandi", and it opened in the River North district of Chicago in February 2012. The partnership opened several more restaurants, including "RPM Steak" in Chicago, another "RPM Italian" in Washington, D.C., and a planned "RPM On the Water" opening in 2019 in Chicago. The restaurants have been popular with celebrities, including President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: In 2013, Giuliana launched her clothing line, G by Giuliana, on HSN. She also launched a wine line, Xo, G.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: In 2013, Rancic, who has a history of breast cancer, founded Fab-U-Wish, a charity that grants wishes to women undergoing breast cancer treatment.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: On December 15, 2006, Giuliana and Bill Rancic announced their engagement. They were married on September 1, 2007, in a ceremony on Capri at Sancta Sophia Church in Anacapri.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: The two have publicly discussed their fertility issues on television talk shows, having tried to conceive since approximately the beginning of 2009. The couple began in vitro fertilization (IVF) in March 2010, and Rancic got pregnant in the spring of 2010, but she miscarried at nine weeks. She had an IVF transfer for a second time in November 2010; however, the procedure did not result in a pregnancy. When the couple decided to try for a third round of IVF, her doctor recommended a mammogram, which is how she found out she had breast cancer. Despite her condition, the couple were still motivated to have a baby, so they continued with the egg retrieval and found a surrogate.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: On October 17, 2011, during an interview on "Today", Rancic announced she had been diagnosed with early stage breast cancer, for which she would be treated with a double lumpectomy, followed by radiation treatment. She underwent surgery in mid-October 2011 and returned to work at E! News about a week later. On December 5, 2011, Rancic disclosed she had decided to undergo a bilateral mastectomy.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: On April 23, 2012, Giuliana and Bill announced on "The Today Show" that they were expecting their first child via a gestational surrogate. Their son was born in late August 2012.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: The Rancic family owns homes in Chicago, Illinois, and Brentwood, California, and a vacation home on Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: In September 2020, she had to pull out of co-hosting E!'s "Live From the Red Carpet" virtual pre-show for the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, having tested positive for COVID-19.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: Rancic was ranked #93 on the "Maxim" Hot 100 Women of 2004. She was also featured in "People" magazine's 100 Most Beautiful of 2006 issue. Giuliana was nominated Favorite TV Celebreality Star for the 2012 People's Choice Awards.


title: Giuliana Rancic

text: In June 2014, Rancic was named "Fan Favorite" during the Daytime Emmy Awards. She dedicated the award to her six million followers on social media.


title: Get Hard

text: Get Hard is a 2015 American comedy film directed by Etan Cohen (in his directorial debut) and written by Cohen, Jay Martel and Ian Roberts. The film stars Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart with Tip 'T.I.' Harris, Alison Brie and Craig T. Nelson in supporting roles. James King, a wealthy investment bank manager (Ferrell) is framed for a crime he didn't commit, and asks the man who washes his car, Darnell Lewis (Hart) to help him prepare for prison.


title: Get Hard

text: The film was released March 27, 2015 to generally unfavourable reviews. The film was a box office success, grossing a worldwide total of $111.7 million on a $40–44 million budget.


title: Get Hard

text: James King is an extremely wealthy hedge fund manager at Barrow Funds, engaged to Alissa, the daughter of his boss Martin Barrow. During an engagement party for James and Alissa, the FBI arrive and arrest James for fraud and embezzlement. James' lawyer, Peter Penny urges him to plead guilty for a likely shorter sentence, but James refuses under the belief that he will be exonerated. James is found guilty and subsequently sentenced to ten years in San Quentin State Prison, with the judge allowing him 30 days to get his affairs in order. On top of this, Alissa leaves James after he suggests the two flee the country together.


title: Get Hard

text: Over time, James has come to know Darnell Lewis, who operates a small car wash business in the parking lot used by James. Shortly after his arrest, James encounters Darnell and, assuming he has been incarcerated before because he is black, begs him for help, requesting to be "toughened up". Darnell, who in actuality has never been to prison and has little experience in fighting, agrees, on the condition James pays him $30,000; Darnell sees it as an opportunity for him and his wife Rita to finally put their daughter Makayla in a better school, away from the bad neighborhood they live in.


title: Get Hard

text: Darnell's training, which includes pepper-spraying James, re-modelling his house to resemble a maximum security prison and creating multiple scenarios in which he must defend himself, all fail miserably. During the training, James gets in touch with Martin to tell him about his search for help. Martin, the actual crook, believes James is onto him and orders a hitman named Gayle to monitor him.


title: Get Hard

text: With James' training seemingly going nowhere, Darnell suggests that James should prepare in other ways for prison, and takes him to a gay hookup spot to teach James how to perform oral sex in prison. James can't go through with it and instead tells Darnell that he will keep going and do whatever it takes in order to "get hard". James soon after begins to work out harder and faster, makes shivs, learns "keistering" (smuggling contraband in the anus), and seems to be making progress. Darnell simulates a prison raid with help from James' domestic staff. In the chaos, James gets a shiv stuck in his head, after which, Darnell brings James to his home for Rita to treat it. James has dinner with Darnell's family and listens to the tale of how he ended up in prison, which is actually just a retelling of the movie "Boyz n the Hood".


title: Get Hard

text: James and Darnell resolve for James to join a local gang called the Crenshaw Kings to gain protection in prison. However, Darnell's cousin and gang leader Russell rebuffs James and redirects him to the Alliance of Whites gang. James is unable to portray a convincing racist, leading the gang to think he is a cop; they threaten to attack James, but Darnell rescues him by bursting in with a flamethrower.


title: Get Hard

text: Eventually, Darnell and James finally deduce that Martin is the crook, and the reason James is going to prison. They sneak into his office and find the embezzlement records on Martin's computer. Before they can expose him, Gayle finds them and takes back the computer, informing James that Darnell is not who he thinks is and has never been in prison. Dejected and upset that Darnell lied to him, James returns to the Crenshaw Kings on his own, asking to join. They accept him as one of their own and order him to kill someone as his initiation. Before he can do so, Darnell arrives in time to convince James to expose Martin.


title: Get Hard

text: The two sneak onto Martin's yacht to retrieve the computer, only to come across Gayle and his men. James unleashes a series of capoeira moves on them before Martin and Alissa arrive, both confessing to the fraud and embezzlement, a scheme that also included Peter. They try to convince James to run away with them, but he turns them down and heads to a life raft with Darnell. When Gayle shoots the life raft, James pulls out a gun he had "keistered" and aims it at Gayle. U.S. Marshals suddenly appear, summoned by the ankle monitor that James triggered, having trespassed the county line.


title: Get Hard

text: Barrow's computer provides the evidence needed to clear James. Martin, Gayle, Alissa, and the henchmen are all arrested and James is exonerated. However, he still ends up getting six months for holding an unlicensed gun, but thanks to Darnell's training, James is fully prepared for his stint in prison. Martin is not, as he is quickly attacked by inmates when his San Quentin sentence with Peter begins. James spends his sentence helping the FBI retrieve all the assets that Martin stole, while guiding Darnell's investments so that he and Rita are able to open their own carwash. As Darnell drives James home after his release, James announces his intent to celebrate his freedom with a "Wall Street Journal" and a forty, which he now considers a perfect Sunday.


title: Get Hard

text: On December 7, 2012, it was announced that Warner Bros. was in talks to acquire the film written by Ian Roberts and Jay Martel, while Adam McKay and Will Ferrell's Gary Sanchez Productions would produce. On September 17, 2013 Etan Cohen was set to direct. On February 24, 2014, Warner Bros. set the film for a March 27, 2015 release.


title: Get Hard

text: On December 7, 2012, Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart were attached to starring roles. On February 26, 2014, it was announced Craig T. Nelson had joined the cast to play Martin Barrow, the founder of Barrow Funds (Ferrell's character's boss) and also the father of Ferrell's character's fiancée. On March 17, 2014 Alison Brie signed on to star, playing the fiancée of Ferrell's character. On March 21, 2014, Edwina Findley joined the cast to play Rita Hudson, wife to Hart's character. On March 24, 2014 Dan Bakkedahl joined the cast to play Rick, Ferrell's hated enemy at their office. On March 25, 2014, T.I. joined the cast, playing a character named Russell, Hart's character's streetwise cousin.


title: Get Hard

text: Principal photography began on March 17, 2014 in New Orleans, and ended on May 14, 2014. The film was somewhat controversial with some perceiving that it was playing into race-related stereotypes. During some scenes Cohen asked Hart's opinion on how some jokes would be perceived by African American audiences and made some changes accordingly. Warner Bros. and Cohen also performed extensive testing to make sure the humor came across well.


title: Get Hard

text: "Get Hard" grossed $90.4 million in the U.S. and Canada, and $21.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $111.7 million against a budget of $40 million. (Other reports put the budget at $44 million. The film also received $12.3 million in tax incentives for filming in Louisiana.)


title: Get Hard

text: In its opening weekend, the film grossed $33.8 million, coming in second place at the box office behind "Home" ($52.1 million). It was Ferrell's third-highest opening for a live-action film, behind "" ($47 million) and "The Other Guys" ($35.5 million), and was passed the following December by "Daddy's Home" ($38.7 million).


title: Get Hard

text: "Get Hard" has received generally negative reviews, with many critics citing the film's overuse of racial jokes. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 28% based on 186 reviews, with an average rating of 4.40/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "A waste of two fine funnymen, "Get Hard" settles for tired and offensive gags instead of tapping into its premise's boundary-pushing potential." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 34 out of 100, based on reviews from 43 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend recorded that audiences gave "Get Hard" an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Get Hard

text: Richard Corliss of "Time magazine" wrote: "Laughter trumps political fairness, and "Get Hard" made me laugh at, and with, situations I hadn’t thought could tickle me. The movie has a warm heart beating under its seemingly scabrous shell."


title: Kaby Lake

text: Kaby Lake is Intel's codename for its seventh generation Core microprocessor family announced on August 30, 2016. Like the preceding Skylake, Kaby Lake is produced using a 14 nanometer manufacturing process technology. Breaking with Intel's previous "tick–tock" manufacturing and design model, Kaby Lake represents the optimized step of the newer process–architecture–optimization model. Kaby Lake began shipping to manufacturers and OEMs in the second quarter of 2016, and mobile chips have started shipping while Kaby Lake (desktop) chips were officially launched in January 2017.


title: Kaby Lake

text: In August 2017, Intel announced Kaby Lake Refresh (Kaby Lake R) marketed as the 8th generation mobile CPUs, breaking the long cycle where architectures matched the corresponding generations of CPUs. Skylake was anticipated to be succeeded by the 10 nanometer Cannon Lake, but it was announced in July 2015 that Cannon Lake had been delayed until the second half of 2017. In the meantime, Intel released a fourth 14 nm generation on October 5, 2017, named Coffee Lake.


title: Kaby Lake

text: Kaby Lake is the first Intel platform to lack official driver support for versions of Windows older than Windows 10. Furthermore, Windows Update is disabled under Windows 8.1 and earlier, although an enthusiast-created modification was released that disabled the check and allowed it to continue to work on the platform. Due to "security concerns", Windows 11 is not officially supported on any of the 7th generation Kaby Lake processors (except Core i7-7820HQ and X series), although Microsoft has stated that it will test those processors for compatibility. However, it is still possible to install it on systems using the 7th generation processors, with users accepting that they are not entitled to receive any updates and any damages caused by using the operating system on an unsupported configuration are not covered by the manufacturer's warranty. This puts 7th generation Kaby Lake processors (except Core i7-7820HQ and X series) in an odd position where only one Windows version is officially supported, Windows 10, in contrast to older and newer generations which have official support for multiple versions of Windows.


title: Kaby Lake

text: As with previous Intel processors (such as the 8088, Banias, Dothan, Conroe, Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, and Skylake), Kaby Lake's development was led by Intel's Israeli team, based in Haifa. Intel Israel Development Centers manager Ran Senderovitz said: "When we started out on the project, we were only thinking about basic improvements from the previous generation. But we began looking at things differently with a lot of innovation and determination and we achieved major improvements." He added that the performance of the seventh generation chips was improved by 12% for applications and 19% for Internet use compared with the sixth generation chips. Third-party benchmarks do not confirm these percentages as far as gaming is concerned.


title: Kaby Lake

text: Built on an improved 14 nm process (14FF+), Kaby Lake features faster CPU clock speeds, clock speed changes, and higher Turbo frequencies. Beyond these process and clock speed changes, little of the CPU architecture has changed from Skylake, resulting in identical IPC (Instructions Per Clock).


title: Kaby Lake

text: Kaby Lake features a new graphics architecture to improve performance in 3D graphics and 4K video playback. It adds native HDCP 2.2 support, along with fixed function decode of H.264 (AVC), HEVC Main and Main10/10-bit, and VP9 10-bit and 8-bit video. Hardware encode is supported for H.264 (AVC), HEVC Main10/10-bit, and VP9 8-bit video. VP9 10-bit encode is not supported in hardware. Both OpenGL 4.6 and OpenCL 3.0 are now supported.


title: Kaby Lake

text: Kaby Lake is the first Core architecture to support hyper-threading for the Pentium-branded desktop CPU SKU. Kaby Lake also features the first overclocking-enabled i3-branded CPU.


title: Kaby Lake

text: Kaby Lake features the same CPU core and performance per MHz as Skylake. Features specific to Kaby Lake include:


title: Kaby Lake

text: Starting from this generation, the built-in GPus core supports HAGS in the Windows 10 version of 2004 or newer, but currently support is only provided with insider drivers.


title: Kaby Lake

text: Microsoft only officially supports Kaby Lake on computers running Windows 10 per support policies, and Windows Update blocks updates from being installed on Kaby Lake systems running versions older than Windows 10. In support of this position, Intel only provides chipset drivers for Windows 10. An enthusiast-created modification was released that disabled the Windows Update check and allowed Windows 8.1 and earlier to continue to be updated on the platform.


title: Kaby Lake

text: Kaby Lake has a critical flaw where some short loops may cause unpredictable system behavior. The issue can be fixed if the motherboard manufacturer releases a BIOS update with the fix.


title: Kaby Lake

text: Thermal design power (TDP) is the designed maximum heat generated by the chip running a specific workload at base clock. On a single microarchitecture, as the heat produced increases with voltage and frequency, this thermal design limit can also limit the maximum frequency of the processor. However, CPU testing and binning allows for products with lower voltage/power at a particular frequency, or higher frequency within the same power limit.


title: Kaby Lake

text: In late 2016, it was reported that Intel had been working on a processor family codenamed “Kaby Lake R” ("R" for "Refresh"). On August 21, 2017, the eighth generation mobile CPUs were announced. The first products released were four "Kaby Lake R" processors with a 15W TDP. This marketing is distinct from previous generational changes of the Core product line, where a new generation coincided with a new microarchitecture. Intel has stated that the 8th generation would be based on multiple microarchitectures, including Kaby Lake R, Coffee Lake, and Cannon Lake.


title: Kaby Lake

text: Maximum number of PCIe lanes: 8. One-package processors with discrete graphics chip - it is connected with main CPU core using a PCI Express link through an embedded multi-die interconnect bridge (EMIB). Release date: Q1 2018.


title: Kaby Lake

text: On August 28, 2018, Intel announced a refreshed lineup of ultra low power mobile Kaby Lake CPUs under the moniker Amber Lake.


title: Sooraj Pancholi

text: Sooraj Pancholi (born 9 November 1990) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi-language films. The son of actors Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, he debuted with the romantic action film "Hero" (2015) for which he won a Filmfare award for "Best Newcomer". He next played a soldier in "Satellite Shankar" (2019).


title: Sooraj Pancholi

text: Pancholi was born on 9 November 1990 to Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab in Mumbai. His parents are also Bollywood actors He has a sister Sana Pancholi, and his grandfather Rajan Pancholi was a filmmaker.


title: Sooraj Pancholi

text: Sooraj was an assistant director on films such as "Guzaarish" and "Ek Tha Tiger". In 2015, he made his acting debut in the romantic action film "Hero", which earned him a Filmfare Award for Best Newcomer in 2016. He then acted in "Satellite Shankar" which released on 8 November 2019. He has also been cast in the upcoming Indian dance film Time to Dance. He has also appeared in the music videos "GF BF" (2016) and "Dim Dim Lights" (2019).


title: Sooraj Pancholi

text: In 2013, Pancholi dated actress Jiah Khan, who died of suicide in June of that year. Based on Khan's suicide note, which blamed the couple's strained relationship as a reason for her death, Pancholi was arrested and interviewed under suspicion he aided Khan's suicide. In 2018 Pancholi was formally charged with abetting Khan's suicide.


title: Sooraj Pancholi

text: The criminal case was expected to begin in March 2018, but , it had not begun yet, which Pancholi attributed to Khan's mother's refusal to proceed. Pancholi has denied involvement in Khan's death, describing himself as a scapegoat for her decision to end her life.


title: Les Dennis

text: Leslie Dennis Heseltine (born 12 October 1953) is an English television presenter, actor, and comedian. He presented "Family Fortunes" from 1987 until 2002.


title: Les Dennis

text: Dennis was born Leslie Dennis Heseltine on 12 October 1953 in the Liverpool suburb of Garston. His mother worked in a factory while his father, who worked in a betting shop after serving in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, was listed as a football player on the books of Liverpool FC but did not play for the first team. He lived in the suburb of Speke for a while and attended the Stockton Wood and Joseph Williams primary schools, before going to Morrison Rose Lane Secondary Modern school in Allerton. From 1967 he went to Quarry Bank Comprehensive. Dennis left there in June 1972 with an A-level in Art and failed History and English Literature. He had a weekend job in the men's clothing store Burton whilst still at school, and started as a stand-up comedian in working men's clubs.


title: Les Dennis

text: As a comedian, Dennis performed in social clubs all around the northwest of England. He was given his earliest opportunities in his home city of Liverpool, later crediting husband-and-wife theatrical agents Stuart and Dorene Gillespie (who had themselves been a successful variety act) with discovering him in his autobiography. His debut radio broadcast was in 1971 on Stuart's BBC Radio Merseyside series "Variety Time" (the programmes were taped in front of a live audience in Merseyside clubs). In 1974, he won the ITV talent show "New Faces" and appeared on numerous light entertainment shows. It's a common myth that he almost became the first contestant ever to score the maximum 120 points on "New Faces", but had to settle for 119 when Tony Hatch gave him 9 out of 10 in his final mark, drawing derision from the rest of a judges panel that included fellow Liverpool comedian Arthur Askey. He actually scored 39 for Presentation, 36 for Content and 36 for Star Quality, meaning he only scored 111 with the score of 9 out of 10 score leaving him one mark short of a maximum in just the Presentation category.


title: Les Dennis

text: In 1982, Dennis joined as one of the teams on "Russ Abbot's Madhouse" and "The Russ Abbot Show" before forming a comedy partnership with fellow impressionist Dustin Gee, which in turn led to a series of their own, "The Laughter Show". Following Gee's sudden and unexpected death in January 1986, Dennis carried on "The Laughter Show" as a solo performer and became the third host of "Family Fortunes" for a 15-year run between 1987 and 2002. It was at a recording of an episode of "Family Fortunes" in 1997 that Dennis was surprised by "the BBC programme 'This Is Your Life'".


title: Les Dennis

text: When a contestant on "Family Fortunes" gave a particularly silly answer to a survey question, Dennis would sometimes say, "If it's [the answer] up there, I'll give you the money myself!" His Liverpudlian accent famously led him to pronounce "myself" as "meself", which soon made the sentence his catchphrase. This backfired on an episode where a contestant was asked to "name a way of toasting someone" and the contestant answered "over fire", which matched with "grill" for £12; according to an anonymous source, Dennis made good on his promise and provided the prize money himself."


title: Les Dennis

text: Dennis' stage work includes Amos Hart in "Chicago" and Bill Snibson in "Me and My Girl" in the West End. He has starred in "Skylight" at the Water Mill Theatre in Newbury, "Mr Wonderful" at the Gateway Theatre in Chester, and "Misery" at the Coliseum Theatre in Oldham. He also appeared in "Just Between Ourselves" and co-starred alongside Janet Suzman in "Cherished Disappointments in Love" at London's Soho Theatre. He co-starred with Christopher Cazenove and John Duttine in a national tour of "'Art'" and as Norman Bartholomew in Anthony Shaffer's dark comedy "Murderer" at London's Menier Chocolate Factory. He later starred in a hit season of "Neville's Island" at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.


title: Les Dennis

text: Dennis appeared as Mr. Fulton in "High School Musical 2" on a UK tour from August 2009 to February 2010. He toured in "Hairspray" as Wilbur Turnblad alongside Michael Ball, Brian Conley and Michael Starke – who alternated the role of Edna Turnblad. He starred in the touring production of "Legally Blonde The Musical" in 2012, playing the role of Professor Callahan.


title: Les Dennis

text: In 2017, Dennis played the role of Uncle Fester on the UK tour of the musical production of "The Addams Family". The production starred Samantha Womack and Carrie Hope Fletcher.


title: Les Dennis

text: In 2019, Dennis performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Restoration plays "The Provoked Wife" and "Venice Preserved".


title: Les Dennis

text: In 2021, Dennis made a return to theatre when he played the role of Wilbur Turnblad in the 2021 revival of "Hairspray" at the London Coliseum.


title: Les Dennis

text: In November and December 2021, Dennis performed as Sir Joseph in the English National Opera Performance of HMS Pinafore at the London Coliseum.


title: Les Dennis

text: Dennis' film debut was in the 1996 film "Intimate Relations". He also appeared in the comedy film "Large" and "Wildlife", a short film directed by Nick Allsop. He had previously made appearances on two episodes of "Bang Bang, It's Reeves and Mortimer" in The "Club" sketch, where he played himself. When he took part in a video-only special of "Shooting Stars" in 1993, Vic Reeves when introducing him pronounced his name as though it were French, saying "Les Dennis, the French fire engine".


title: Les Dennis

text: Dennis has appeared in an episode of "The Bill" in 2006 as Mr Tom Walker, "Brookside" (as Jeff Evans; 2001) and episodes of "Merseybeat", "Family Affairs", "Casualty", the short-lived revival of "Crossroads", and "Hotel Babylon".


title: Les Dennis

text: Dennis appeared in the second series of the UK "Celebrity Big Brother" during the period when his marriage to Amanda Holden was breaking down again – he described his time in the BB House as "not one of his wisest moves", although he went on to finish as runner-up to Mark Owen.


title: Les Dennis

text: On 11 August 2005 Dennis appeared as a guest star in an episode of the first series of BBC sitcom "Extras", written by and starring Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. In this appearance, Dennis portrayed a fictional version of himself, alongside Gerard Kelly, who played a camp theatre director, the recurring character Bunny. Dennis would go on to say that "you could say "Extras" changed my life."


title: Les Dennis

text: In early 2006, Dennis presented and performed in BBC One's "The Sound of Musicals" and guested in "New Street Law" on BBC One.


title: Les Dennis

text: In summer 2006, he played scriptwriter Nick Chase in a new comedy play called "Marlon Brando's Corset", which toured the UK from July 2006, including a month-long run at the Edinburgh Fringe.


title: Les Dennis

text: He appeared as a guest in August 2006 on the ITV drama series, "The Bill" starring as a man suspected of murdering his father. Dennis appeared alongside fellow former "Russ Abbot" performer Lisa Maxwell, who played D.I. Samantha Nixon in the series.


title: Les Dennis

text: At the 2006 Edinburgh International Television Festival, it was announced Dennis would make a return to the gameshow genre, presenting a new big-money quiz show titled "In the Grid" for Channel 5. The show debuted on 30 October 2006 and aired for one series. From April 2007, he also hosted UKTV Gold's "TV Now and Then" quiz show. The same month he guest-starred on BBC One's "Holby City".


title: Les Dennis

text: He appeared on "The Friday Night Project" as a panellist on "Who knows the most about the guest host?" when Rupert Everett guest hosted. In theatre Dennis guest-starred as narrator in "Side by Side by Sondheim" at the Venue, London.


title: Les Dennis

text: As one of the team, he completed running the Safaricom Marathon in Lewa to raise funds for the BBC Wildlife Fund, screened on BBC One's "Saving Planet Earth" in July 2007.


title: Les Dennis

text: In August 2007, he starred in the hit play "Certified Male"—about the highs and lows of modern manhood—at the Edinburgh Festival. He then toured in "The Servant of Two Masters", directed by Michael Bogdanov and at Christmas he returned to pantomime after a ten-year break, co-starring in "Cinderella" with Hollywood veteran Mickey Rooney at the Empire Theatre, Sunderland, produced by First Family Entertainment.


title: Les Dennis

text: In April 2008, Dennis toured in Eurobeat Almost Eurovision prior to a West End season in the show. Also in 2008, he narrated the home video clip show on Challenge, "Les Dennis's Home Video Heroes", and appeared in the ITV documentary "Les Dennis' Liverpool", which was, coincidentally, broadcast a week after BBC Two ran "Alexei Sayle's Liverpool", a three-part documentary on the city.


title: Les Dennis

text: During Christmas 2008 panto season, Dennis appeared as Buttons in "Cinderella" at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool. The pantomime also featured Jennifer Ellison as Cinderella, and Cilla Black as the Fairy Godmother. At Christmas 2008, Dennis was featured on the Wombats' Christmas single and video "Is This Christmas?" in aid of MENCAP.


title: Les Dennis

text: In 2009, Dennis played Herbert Soppitt in J. B. Priestley's "When We Are Married" at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds and the Playhouse, Liverpool. At Christmas 2009, he returned to the Liverpool Empire to appear in "Peter Pan" with Fonz actor Henry Winkler and again in 2010 to play the role of Aladdin's brother, Wishee Washee in Aladdin.


title: Les Dennis

text: From 17 October 2011, Dennis started a week-long stint in "Countdown"s Dictionary Corner, ending on 21 October.


title: Les Dennis

text: In 2011 he again worked with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, with recurring appearances as a fictionalised version of himself in the Warwick Davis comedy series, "Life's Too Short". From August 2012, he performed in the play "Jigsy" at the Assembly Rooms (Edinburgh) as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.


title: Les Dennis

text: In 2013 Dennis was reunited with Warwick Davis when the pair joined the cast of the West End production of Monty Python's "Spamalot" at London's Playhouse Theatre. His next theatrical appearance came in an adaptation of Peter James' novella "The Perfect Murder".


title: Les Dennis

text: In 2013, Dennis was a contestant in "Celebrity MasterChef". He finished as runner-up to Ade Edmondson. He has since returned to the show as a guest judge.


title: Les Dennis

text: In December of that year Dennis appeared in an episode of "Midsomer Murders" titled "The Christmas Haunting".


title: Les Dennis

text: On 23 January 2014, it was announced that Dennis would join the long-running ITV soap opera "Coronation Street", playing the part of Michael Rogers (later changed to Michael Rodwell after press release), a petty burglar. He began filming on 27 January 2014, and made his first appearance on TV on 24 March 2014. The show's producer Stuart Blackburn said: "Les is a fantastic performer and a real coup for Corrie. I can't wait for him to join the team".


title: Les Dennis

text: On 18 November 2016, Dennis's character Michael Rodwell was killed off from "Coronation Street", after suffering a heart attack and being left for dead by the show's villain, Michael's love rival Pat Phelan.


title: Les Dennis

text: In 2022, Dennis played a mind-reader in a film called "Sideshow", a black comedy in the style of "Stanley a Man of Variety" or Peter Chelsom's "Funny Bones". The film, also starring Anthony Head, April Pearson and Nathan Clarke, received a one star review from Peter Bradshaw in "The Guardian".


title: Les Dennis

text: From 4 to 15 August, Dennis was the guest host on "Countdown" due to Colin Murray testing positive for COVID-19.


title: Les Dennis

text: From Monday 3 October Dennis is starring as 'Grandad' in the Only Fools and Horses Musical at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London, UK.


title: Les Dennis

text: Dennis has a son named Philip from his first marriage to Lynne Webster, which lasted from 1974 to 1990. He also had an affair with actress Sophie Aldred, which he documented in his autobiography. He married actress Amanda Holden on 4 June 1995. They had a temporary split in 2000 when Holden's affair with actor Neil Morrissey was exposed in the press, before eventually separating in December 2002 and divorcing in 2003.


title: Les Dennis

text: Dennis met Claire Nicholson in 2005. They were married on 23 November 2009 in Highgate. The couple have two children: a daughter, Eleanor Grace, who was born on 24 April 2008, and a son, Thomas Christopher, who was born on 14 April 2011.


title: National Bolshevik Party

text: The National Bolshevik Party (NBP; ), also known as the Nazbols (), operated from 1993 to 2007 as a Russian political party with a political program of National Bolshevism. The NBP became a prominent member of The Other Russia coalition of opposition parties. Russian courts banned the organization and it never officially registered as a political party. In 2010, its leader Eduard Limonov founded a new political party, called The Other Russia. There have been smaller NBP groups in other countries.


title: National Bolshevik Party

text: Its official publication, the newspaper "Limonka", derived its name from the party leader's surname and from the idiomatic Russian word for a grenade. The main editor of "Limonka" was for many years, Aleksey Volynets.


title: National Bolshevik Party

text: The NBP believes in the National Bolshevik ideas that arose during the Russian Civil War, such as those from Professor Nikolai Ustryalov, who came to believe that Bolshevism could be modified to serve nationalistic purposes. His followers, the Smenovekhovtsy, who then came to regard themselves as National Bolsheviks, borrowed the term from Ernst Niekisch, who was a German politician initially associated with left-wing politics and later, the National Bolshevik ideology.


title: National Bolshevik Party

text: Limonov and Dugin sought to unite far-left and far-right radicals on the same platform, with Dugin viewing national Bolsheviks as a point between Communist ideas and Fascists. Dugin was forced to act in the peripheries of each group. In 1998, Dugin left the NBP and this led to the party moving further left in Russia's political spectrum.


title: National Bolshevik Party

text: The NBP has denied any links to fascism, stating that all forms of antisemitism, xenophobia and racism were against the party's principles.


title: National Bolshevik Party

text: The NBP has historically defended Stalinism, although later on the party said it did not wish to re-create that system.


title: National Bolshevik Party

text: The party is described as a mixture of far-left and far-right ideology, including among its members Sovietism' nostalgics as well as skinheads, with the hammer and sickle (which replace the swastika) in a white circle on a red background as party's flag.


title: National Bolshevik Party

text: On 29 November 2004, participants of the general congress of the NBP adopted a new party program. According to the program, "the main goal of the National Bolshevik Party is to change Russia into a modern, powerful state, respected by other countries and peoples and beloved by its own citizens" by ensuring the free development of civil society, the independence of the media and social justice.


title: National Bolshevik Party

text: The NBP was highly critical of President Vladimir Putin's government and argued that state institutions such as the bureaucracy, the police and the courts were corrupt and authoritarian.


title: National Bolshevik Party

text: National Bolsheviks often used punk-stylized shock aesthetics in their propaganda. NBP attracted a significant number of artists, punk musicians and rock bands.


title: National Bolshevik Party

text: Some western critics commented on its heavy use of totalitarian and fascist symbols and its "national-patriotic demagoguery," and academics have described the group as neo-fascist.


title: National Bolshevik Party

text: In the Russian media, the National Bolshevik Party was usually referred to as a far-left youth movement; however, some critics (including ex-members) allege that the NBP is an organisation dedicated to carry out a colour revolution in Russia.