title: Shane Douglas

text: Martin was born in New Brighton, Pennsylvania, one of six children of a veteran of World War II, who died in 1991. He graduated "cum laude" from Bethany College in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in history and political science. He is an alumnus of the Psi chapter of Beta Theta Pi. After earning his degrees, he was offered to join the Saba University School of Medicine but declined in order to continue wrestling.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Martin was trained by Dominic DeNucci in the Pittsburgh suburb of Freedom, Pennsylvania, alongside Mick Foley in the mid-1980s. He had been wrestling professionally to earn money since 1982. When he started, he used the character of Troy Orndorff, the fictional nephew of Paul Orndorff. In 1986, he wrestled Randy Savage at a "WWF Superstars of Wrestling" taping using his real name. He also wrestled "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff in the debut episode of "WWF Wrestling Challenge", once again using his real name. Later that year, he began wrestling as a fan favorite for the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) using the name Shane Douglas, which was given to him by "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert and Missy Hyatt (the "Douglas" last name was inspired by "Black Rain" and "The Jewel of the Nile" film star Michael Douglas, who at the time had just appeared in the 1987 film "Wall Street"). Douglas defeated Gilbert for the UWF Television Championship on August 3, 1987, but did not rise above mid-card status. Douglas lost the title on September 2 to Terry Taylor.


title: Shane Douglas

text: In 1989, Douglas signed with the promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW), then a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). He retained his Shane Douglas ring name and was put into a tag team of skateboarders known as The Dynamic Dudes with Johnny Ace (John Laurinaitis, the younger brother of Road Warrior Animal).


title: Shane Douglas

text: Mick Foley has opined that since neither Ace nor Douglas knew how to skateboard, the fans saw through the character and refused to buy into it. Jim Cornette, who was managing The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) at the time, decided to manage the duo to help them get over.


title: Shane Douglas

text: When Eaton and Lane in storyline did not approve, they forced a match between the two teams with Cornette remaining neutral at ringside. He ended up turning on Douglas and Ace and the teams feuded for a couple of months. Cornette's turn was to have established The Dynamic Dudes as a top fan favorite tag team, but the turn backfired and made The Midnight Express more popular than they already were.


title: Shane Douglas

text: The Dynamic Dudes broke up in 1990 after Ace began competing progressively more for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), which was breaking its ties to the NWA. Jim Cornette also states that the end of the Dynamic Dudes came when Douglas went over his head to Jim Herd about having a finish changed to make him look stronger. Cornette, who was part of the booking committee, washed his hands of working with them afterwards. Shane argued that they had been repeatedly promised a big push and were instead being booked to lose all of their big matches, then getting criticized for not getting over as a top team. The Dudes would last wrestle together in March 1990, and Douglas soon left WCW after broken promises to give him a push, and wrestled on the American independent circuit.


title: Shane Douglas

text: In 1990, Douglas signed a deal with the World Wrestling Federation and made his debut on the June 18 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, defeating Bob Bradley, in a match taped in Toronto, Ontario on May 27. Douglas remained undefeated in his first month, defeating Bob Bradley, Paul Diamond, and Steve Lombardi in a series of matches. He then moved up to begin a house show series in late June against Haku and suffered his first loss on June 28 in Denver, Colorado. He remained without a win in subsequent rematches. He made his syndicated television debut on the August 26 episode of WWF Wrestling Challenge, teaming with jobber Mark Thomas in a loss to The Orient Express.


title: Shane Douglas

text: In August 1990, he received his first break when he was tapped as the temporary replacement to an injured Shawn Michaels in The Rockers tag-team. Douglas teamed with Jannetty six times in matches against The Orient Express. On August 27, he defeated Buddy Rose in a dark match at the SummerSlam '90 PPV. On the September 17 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, Douglas wrestled Haku to a draw, and he was largely undefeated against low level competition throughout the fall. At the Survivor Series '90 PPV Douglas defeated Buddy Rose in another dark match, and on January 3, 1991, at a house show in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he scored the biggest victory of his nascent WWF career when he upset Dino Bravo. Four days later on the January 7, 1991, episode of Prime Time Wrestling he would pin Haku, and was strongly positioned as a rising young star.


title: Shane Douglas

text: His most memorable WWF performance took place at the 1991 Royal Rumble, where he entered as the seventeenth entrant and lasted for 26 minutes and 23 seconds before being eliminated by Brian Knobbs. Shortly after, he left the company to take care of his ailing father.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Douglas would make intermittent appearances in 1991, subbing for various wrestlers on house shows. He returned on May 8 in Youngstown, Ohio, and lost to Ricky Steamboat. In June he returned for a pair of house shows and was defeated by Colonel Mustafa. He made his final televised appearance on the June 15th episode of Prime Time Wrestling, losing to Dino Bravo in a match taped at Madison Square Garden. Douglas closed out his first WWF run with two victories - a win on July 29 in a dark match at a WWF Superstars taping against Bob Bradley, and a victory over The Orient Express on August 2 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when he teamed with Marty Jannetty.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Douglas returned to WCW on the September 12, 1992 episode of "Saturday Night" as a fan favorite, where he defeated Super Invader in his return match by using Magnum T. A.'s finishing move, belly to belly suplex, which was noted by Magnum, the following week on "Saturday Night". On the October 17 episode of "Saturday Night", Douglas had a match with Brian Pillman, which began a rivalry between the duo. He made his pay-per-view return at Halloween Havoc, where he teamed with Tom Zenk and Johnny Gunn to compete against Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton and Michael Hayes in a winning effort.


title: Shane Douglas

text: While feuding with Pillman, Douglas formed a tag team with Ricky Steamboat to take on Pillman and Steve Austin in a tag team match on the October 24 episode of "Worldwide". The following month, Steamboat and Douglas were booked to win the NWA and WCW World Tag Team Championships from Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham on the November 18 "Clash of the Champions XXI". Steamboat and Douglas made a successful title defense against Windham and Pillman at Starrcade.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Steamboat and Douglas began a lengthy rivalry with Pillman and his new tag team partner Steve Austin. Steamboat and Douglas successfully defended the tag titles against Austin and Pillman on the January 13, 1993 "Clash of the Champions XXII", before dropping the titles to Austin and Pillman on the March 27, 1993 episode of "Worldwide". Soon after losing the tag titles, Douglas began a rivalry with the World Television Champion Paul Orndorff, where he came up short against Orndorff in two respective matches in the "Computer Contenders Challenge" on the May 1 episode of "Worldwide" and the May 8 episode of "Power Hour", before departing the company for Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW). Douglas had been scheduled to team with Steamboat in a steel cage match for a title shot at the NWA and WCW World Tag Team Championship at Slamboree, but was replaced by Tom Zenk in a mask.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Martin debuted in the upstart ECW during its formative years on the August 24, 1993 episode of "Eastern Championship Wrestling" and solidified his status as a villain by joining Hotstuff International. In his first match, Douglas defeated Don E. Allen and Herve Renesto in a handicap match. Douglas quickly rose to the top of the roster, winning the promotion's Heavyweight Championship on the September 14 episode of "Eastern Championship Wrestling", after champion Tito Santana forfeited the title. Douglas successfully defended the title against The Sandman at the UltraClash event. At NWA Bloodfest, Douglas retained the title against J.T. Smith before dropping the title to Sabu later that night.


title: Shane Douglas

text: On the December 14 episode of "NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling", Douglas substituted for an injured Johnny Gunn to defend the Tag Team Championship alongside Gunn's partner Tommy Dreamer against Kevin Sullivan and The Tazmaniac, during which Douglas turned on Dreamer by attacking him with a steel chain. The following week, Douglas defeated Dreamer via disqualification by hitting Dreamer with a steel chain and handing over the chain to Dreamer, which fooled the referee to believe that Dreamer had hit him with the chain. This strategy would be adopted by Eddie Guerrero a decade later. Douglas defeated Dreamer at Holiday Hell to end the feud.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Douglas developed a gimmick of a foul-mouthed, incredibly arrogant villain (an attitude that would define him permanently and give him success), and gave himself the nickname "The Franchise". His best friend Sherri Martel became his valet. Douglas gained notoriety when he wrestled Terry Funk and Sabu to a one-hour draw in the company's first-ever three-way dance for the ECW Heavyweight Championship at The Night the Line Was Crossed. Douglas dethroned Funk in an Ultimate Jeopardy steel cage match to win his second Heavyweight Championship at Ultimate Jeopardy.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Since its founding, ECW had been a member of the NWA. Douglas was instrumental in the development of "extreme wrestling" when he defeated The Tazmaniac, Dean Malenko and 2 Cold Scorpio to win a tournament to become the NWA World Heavyweight Champion on August 27. In an angle which only he, Tod Gordon, and Paul Heyman knew about, Douglas threw down the NWA title belt and stated that he did not want to be champion of a "dead promotion". Douglas raised the ECW Heavyweight Championship belt and declared it to be a world championship belt, renaming it the ECW World Heavyweight Championship. WWE recognizes this moment as the beginning of ECW Championship and Douglas as the first ECW Champion. According to the "Forever Hardcore" DVD, Douglas only decided to throw down the NWA belt after NWA president Dennis Coralluzzo buried Douglas on Mike Tenay's radio show. On the August 30 edition of "NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling", Gordon announced he was folding Eastern Championship Wrestling, and in its place forming Extreme Championship Wrestling, a new promotion independent of the NWA. Capitalizing on the controversy that surrounded his literally "throwing down" the NWA belt and the promo following it, Douglas was encouraged to express his true feelings in interviews by the ECW bookers. This helped raise ECW's prominence in the eyes of wrestling fans and journalists and allowed it to become an alternative to WCW and the WWF and Douglas cemented a legacy in the history of ECW. Douglas closed 1994 with successful title defenses of the ECW World Heavyweight Championship against Ron Simmons.


title: Shane Douglas

text: In early 1995, Douglas formed the Triple Threat faction, aligning himself with Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko. He started the year with successful title defenses of the World Heavyweight Championship against Tully Blanchard and Marty Jannetty. He then entered a feud with The Sandman during a match at Three Way Dance, where Sandman's valet, Woman, seemed to have aligned herself with Douglas by helping him in retaining the title against Sandman by handing him Sandman's Singapore cane to attack him and get the win. However, it turned out to be a ruse when she aided Sandman in defeating Douglas for the title at Hostile City Showdown. Douglas' lengthy reign ended at 385 days, which is the second longest reign in the title history.


title: Shane Douglas

text: After failing to regain the title, Douglas began a rivalry with Cactus Jack, as each man wanted to capture the title from Sandman and saw the other as competition. During this time, Douglas went on a tirade about the lawlessness of ECW and brought in Bill Alfonso as a troubleshooting referee to restore order. After teasing a departure for the WWF, Douglas finally left ECW for the WWF in July 1995, making his last appearance during a world title match between Sandman and Cactus Jack at Heat Wave, during which he attacked both men and left.


title: Shane Douglas

text: In 1995, Douglas returned to the WWF with a college dean character under the ring name Dean Douglas, making his first appearance on the July 29 episode of "Superstars". To establish himself, he filmed several vignettes with a chalkboard, lecturing wrestlers and fans. He would also be shown taking notes of his opponents at ringside during some matches, and frequently carried a paddle (dubbed the "Board of Education") with him to the ring. He would usually present a "Report Card" in which he would degrade the performances of heroic wrestlers after their matches.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Douglas began a rivalry with Razor Ramon after grading him "MF" for miserable failure after Razor's loss to Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam. Douglas made his in-ring return to WWF on the September 9 episode of "Superstars", where he defeated 1-2-3 Kid by disqualification after Razor attacked Douglas. This resulted in a match between Douglas and Razor at In Your House 3, which Douglas won after interference by the Kid.


title: Shane Douglas

text: He was set to wrestle Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Championship at In Your House 4, but Michaels forfeited the title due to injuries incurred after being attacked and beaten by a Marine in Syracuse, New York. Douglas, however, immediately had to defend the title against rival Razor Ramon. Ramon would go on to defeat Douglas, ending his reign at only twenty minutes. Douglas was randomly paired with Razor, Owen Hart and Yokozuna against Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, British Bulldog and Sycho Sid in a Wildcard Survivor Series match at Survivor Series. Douglas was eliminated by Michaels after Razor attacked him. His team went on to lose the match.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Douglas failed to recapture the Intercontinental Championship from Razor Ramon on the December 4 episode of "Monday Night Raw". His last televised match was on the December 9 episode of "Superstars", where he defeated enhancement talent Tony Williams. His last appearance on WWF television was at In Your House 5, when he was booked to wrestle Ahmed Johnson. According to the storyline, his back was not in wrestling condition, so he introduced Buddy Landel as his substitute, who was subsequently defeated by Johnson in just forty-two seconds. His very last day working in WWF was at Madison Square Garden where he was diagnosed with a severe muscle spasm in his back that if agitated could have paralyzed him. Despite doctors telling Vince McMahon it was a legitimate injury, Vince became angry at the news and tried to intimidate Shane into denying it, and was explicitly told by Vince McMahon to leave the company on January 1, 1996. However, Vince made him go out that evening and deliver a promo, in which he announced his injury. Troy has been very outspoken about how Vince paid him much less than what was agreed upon, and because of his treatment before he refuses to ever work for Vince again.


title: Shane Douglas

text: After leaving the WWF, Douglas made his surprise return to ECW at the House Party event on January 5, 1996, where he briefly reprised his Dean Douglas character, correcting Buh Buh Ray Dudley's grammar after a match, thus becoming a fan favorite. His televised return aired on the January 9 episode of "Hardcore TV", where he confronted Stevie Richards and Blue Meanie, denounced his Dean gimmick and declared "the Franchise is back!". During this time, he had a memorable feud with Cactus Jack as Cactus was getting ready to leave for WWF and cutting promos encouraging Tommy Dreamer to side with him, deriding ECW's hardcore style and promoting clean wrestling. Douglas eventually pinned Jack in a match at CyberSlam after performing a drop toe-hold onto an opened steel chair after Jack's partner Mikey Whipwreck betrayed Jack. Upon his return, Douglas also targeted the World Heavyweight Champion Raven and received several title shots but came up short due to heavy interference by members of Raven's Flock.


title: Shane Douglas

text: After failing in his attempts to regain the World Heavyweight Championship, Douglas won the World Television Championship from 2 Cold Scorpio at A Matter of Respect and eventually turned into a villain by showing disrespect to the title. After the match, 2 Cold Scorpio attacked him. A month later, Douglas was scheduled to defend the title against Scorpio at Fight The Power, but Scorpio was injured, which resulted in Douglas retaining the title against El Puerto Ricano, Don E. Allen, Devon Storm and Mikey Whipwreck in quick succession before losing it to Pitbull #2 after Douglas insulted The Pitbulls' manager, Francine and gave her a belly to belly suplex. At Heat Wave, Douglas won his second World Television Championship by defeating champion Chris Jericho, 2 Cold Scorpio and Pitbull #2 in a four corners match, after Francine turned on them and aided Douglas in winning the match. With Francine by his side, Douglas continued to feud with Pitbull #2 and retained his title against the latter in subsequent rematches for the remainder of the year.


title: Shane Douglas

text: In the fall of 1996, Douglas reformed the Triple Threat with new members Chris Candido and Brian Lee. Douglas and Francine entered a feud with Tommy Dreamer and Beulah McGillicutty, which culminated in a series of matches between the two pairs throughout late 1996 and early 1997.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Triple Threat feuded with Douglas' enemies Tommy Dreamer and The Pitbulls throughout the first half of 1997, while Douglas continued his successful title defenses of the World Television Championship against Pitbull #2. Douglas retained his title against Pitbull #1, as well, in an "I Quit" match at Hostile City Showdown. During this time, a mysterious man began stalking Francine and displayed mannerisms of Rick Rude. After Douglas retained his title against Pitbull #2 at ECW's first pay-per-view Barely Legal, Brian Lee revealed himself to be the mysterious stalker and delivered a Chokeslam to Douglas. As a result, Lee was removed from Triple Threat due to his betrayal and left ECW. Triple Threat gained Bam Bam Bigelow in Lee's place, who joined the group as Douglas' partner in a tag team match against The Pitbulls at Chapter 2.


title: Shane Douglas

text: At Wrestlepalooza, Douglas retained his title against Chris Chetti. Later that night, Douglas interrupted Taz's promo after a match between Taz and Sabu. Douglas defended his title against Taz, with the stipulation that Taz would not be able to compete in ECW for sixty days. Douglas lost the title in under three minutes after Taz made him submit to the "Tazmission". Douglas' reign ended at 329 days. He then turned his attention on capturing the World Heavyweight Championship from Terry Funk and challenged him for the title at Heat Wave but lost by disqualification. Douglas received another shot on the August 14 episode of "Hardcore TV", but lost. Shortly after, Sabu won the title but Douglas remained in the title picture. At Hardcore Heaven, Douglas defeated Sabu and Funk in a three-way dance to win the title for the third time. In September 1997, Douglas retained the title against Tommy Dreamer at Terry Funk's WrestleFest and against Phil Lafon in a no disqualification match at As Good as It Gets.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Douglas lost his title to Bam Bam Bigelow on the October 24 episode of "Hardcore TV" after Rick Rude chose Bigelow as Douglas' challenger. As a result, Bigelow was kicked out of Triple Threat and replaced by Lance Storm. After failing in a rematch at Ultimate Jeopardy, Douglas regained the title by defeating Bigelow at the November to Remember pay-per-view, beginning his fourth reign as champion. Douglas was injured in the match and was sidelined for nearly two months, making his return to action on January 30, 1998. At Hostile City Showdown, Bigelow rejoined Triple Threat by turning on his partner Taz during a match against Triple Threat. Bigelow's return lead to Lance Storm being kicked out of the group, which began a feud between Storm and the Triple Threat. At Living Dangerously, Douglas and Chris Candido faced Storm and his mystery partner, who was revealed to be Al Snow. Snow pinned Douglas following a "Snow Plow". This earned Snow, a title shot against Douglas for the world title at Wrestlepalooza, where Douglas retained the title.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Douglas suffered an injury which prevented him from competing for a couple of months but he continued to appear on television, during which Triple Threat began feuding with Taz, Rob Van Dam and Sabu. The two teams squared off in a match at November to Remember, where Triple Threat lost. After the match, Bigelow left ECW and Chris Candido abandoned Douglas, resulting in Triple Threat being disbanded.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Douglas continued his feud with Taz, which culminated in a match between the two at Guilty as Charged in 1999, where Douglas lost the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to Taz after Douglas was attacked by former teammate Chris Candido, allowing Taz to win with a "Tazmission". Douglas' fourth ECW World Heavyweight Championship reign was the longest reign in the title's history, lasting 406 days.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Douglas faced Taz in a rematch for the World Heavyweight Championship at House Party, where he lost. On February 12 at Crossing the Line '99, Douglas allied with his long-time nemesis Tommy Dreamer to feud with Impact Players after both men claimed to be the "New Franchise" but Douglas elected Dreamer as his successor, turning Douglas face for the first time since he disrespect to ECW fans in nearly 3 years. At Living Dangerously, Dreamer and Douglas defeated Impact Players. Douglas continued to feud with the Impact Players until he left the company due to a disagreement with Paul Heyman. Douglas wrestled his last match in ECW on April 15, where he defeated Justin Credible after a "Pittsburgh Plunge".


title: Shane Douglas

text: After quitting ECW, Douglas made a surprise return to WCW on the July 19, 1999, episode of "Nitro", where he joined with former Triple Threat members Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko and fellow ECW alumnus Perry Saturn to form The Revolution and pledged to cut the "cancer" out of WCW. This was a reference to Ric Flair, with whom Douglas had an off-screen grudge. Asya was later added to the group in place of Benoit, who left the team. The group wrestled other groups including West Texas Rednecks, First Family, Filthy Animals, and Varsity Club during its run. The group was rarely featured prominently and never really challenged the dominant wrestlers of WCW. This led to them never really getting popular as an idea, though both Benoit and Malenko were successful individually. The lack of success would eventually lead to the demise of the group after Malenko and Saturn left WCW. Following the disbanding of the Revolution, Douglas managed The Wall at the Souled Out pay-per-view in 2000, before taking a hiatus from television as the company did not have any plans for him at the time.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Douglas returned to WCW television on the April 10 episode of "Nitro", where he aligned himself with Vince Russo and joined The New Blood group run by Russo and Eric Bischoff, which feuded with the older established The Millionaire's Club, which included his on-screen and real life off-camera nemesis Ric Flair. Douglas faced Flair for the first time on that same night in a match, which Douglas lost by disqualification. At Spring Stampede, Douglas was paired with Buff Bagwell in a four-team tournament for the vacated World Tag Team Championship, where they defeated Harlem Heat 2000 in the semi-finals and the makeshift team of Ric Flair and Lex Luger in the finals, after Brian Adams and Bryan Clark delivered a "High Times". Douglas resumed his feud with Flair, which culminated in a match between the two at Slamboree, which Douglas won, with the help of Flair's son David Flair in disguise of a masked man. On the May 15 episode of "Nitro", Douglas defended the tag title alongside The Wall, who substituted for Buff Bagwell in a match against KroniK, which KroniK won.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Douglas received an opportunity for the World Heavyweight Championship against Jeff Jarrett on the May 31 episode of "Thunder", where he failed to win the title after the WCW Commissioner Ernest Miller delivered a "Feliner" to Douglas. Douglas competed against The Wall in a Best of Five Tables match at The Great American Bash, which Douglas won by driving Wall through three tables.


title: Shane Douglas

text: At Bash at the Beach, Douglas defeated his former tag team partner Buff Bagwell, by debuting his new finishing move called "Franchiser" and with assistance by Torrie Wilson, who turned on Bagwell. With Wilson as his manager, Douglas began using his ECW nickname "The Franchise" and began using "Cut the damn music!" catchphrase during his entrance to the ring and then delivered a promo on the microphone. Douglas participated in a tournament for the vacated United States Heavyweight Championship on the July 18 episode of "Monday Nitro", where he defeated Billy Kidman in the quarter-finals but lost to eventual winner Lance Storm in the semi-finals. Douglas would begin a rivalry with Kidman, which resulted in a loss for Douglas in a Strap match at the New Blood Rising pay-per-view. However, Douglas and Torrie Wilson defeated Kidman and Madusa in a scaffold match at Fall Brawl.


title: Shane Douglas

text: In the fall of 2000, Douglas became allied with the Natural Born Thrillers, during which he helped their leader Mike Sanders win a kickboxing match against Ernest Miller at Halloween Havoc, which lead to Douglas facing Miller in a match at Mayhem, which Miller won. Douglas would then enter a rivalry with Misfits in Action leader General Rection over Rection's United States Heavyweight Championship. He faced Rection for the title at Starrcade, but lost by disqualification after Chavo Guerrero Jr. informed the referee that Douglas was trying to use a chain to hit Rection. In 2001, Douglas defeated Rection in a first blood chain match to capture the title at the Sin pay-per-view. Douglas dropped the belt to Rick Steiner on the February 5 episode of "Nitro". This was Douglas' last WCW match in the company and he sat out the rest of his WCW contract until it was purchased by the WWF on March 23, 2001. After WCW closed down, Douglas refused to return to the WWF because of paternity leave due to his wife's pregnancy.


title: Shane Douglas

text: After the WWF purchased both WCW and ECW in 2001, Douglas Went to Xtreme Pro Wrestling in July 2002, where he won its World Heavyweight Championship after defeating Johnny Webb at the Night of Champions event. Douglas later helped expand the promotion from its base in Los Angeles to Philadelphia, and XPW held its first show in Philadelphia on August 31. Douglas would later become the final World Heavyweight Champion in XPW history, as the promotion held its final event on March 8, 2003, in his hometown of Pittsburgh.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Following the closures of both XPW and WWA, Martin signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in June 2003. Under his Shane Douglas ring name, he debuted in TNA on the company's weekly pay-per-view on June 11, where he immediately reignited his feud with Raven by costing him an opportunity for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The two ended up joining separate factions as Douglas became a member of The New Church and Raven formed The Gathering. Douglas made his TNA in-ring debut on July 2, where he defeated CM Punk in a Clockwork Orange House of Fun match. Douglas and Raven clashed throughout the summer of 2003, with both men trading wins in a couple of matches.


title: Shane Douglas

text: When this feud ran down, Douglas broke away from The New Church on October 1 and began a quest to find "The New Franchise". He was joined by Tracy as his new valet after his match against Sandman on November 5 and Michael Shane was introduced as Douglas' protege and the trio formed their new group called "The New Franchise" on November 26. Douglas took him under his wing throughout the end of 2003 and beginning of 2004, as the two joined the company's tag team division. The duo were entered into a tournament for the vacated NWA World Tag Team Championship, where they lost to Christopher Daniels and Low Ki on March 24. The following week, Douglas and Shane participated in a four-way tag team match to receive a shot at the tag team titles, but came up short. On May 5, Shane turned on Douglas and the two squared off in a match, which Douglas won. After the match, Traci joined Shane to abandon Douglas. When the grouping of Shane and Douglas broke up, Douglas went into a semi-in-ring retirement. He became an onscreen commentator and interviewer for TNA's new weekly television show, "Impact!", and their monthly pay-per-views. In addition to this on-screen role, he worked backstage as a road agent and took a few independent bookings.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Douglas returned to television on the May 18, 2006 episode of "Impact!", appearing on the entrance ramp as Andy Douglas (no relation) made the save for his tag team partner Chase Stevens after a brutal squash match against Samoa Joe. He would scout The Naturals again on the May 25 episode of "Impact!", when Andy Douglas lost his match. A few weeks later, on June 15, Shane confronted them on their recent losing streak and their squandered talent, referring to their former manager and Douglas's ex-Triple Threat teammate Chris Candido in the process. He offered to become their manager, which they accepted. During the promo when he offered his services, he spoke his true feelings on World Wrestling Entertainment's revival of Extreme Championship Wrestling, admonishing Vince McMahon for "exploiting the memory" of the company he helped build nearly 15 years earlier. After becoming their mentor, pre-recorded videos showed Douglas training The Naturals have been shown on TNA programming, though he doesn't stand at ringside during their matches like most other managers. Once they were deemed ready for competition, Douglas billed them as "The Newly Franchised Naturals".


title: Shane Douglas

text: On the December 21 episode of "Impact!" after The Naturals lost to Team 3D in a tables match, a fed up Douglas turned his back on them, claiming that his experiment was over. Despite the failed "experiment", prior to the departure of The Naturals from TNA, Chase Stevens was featured in a match on the pre-show of the Final Resolution pay-per-view in 2007. During the match, Stevens wore the gold-and-black "Franchised" Naturals attire. Douglas came out after his match to heatedly confront Stevens about wearing his colors, leading to an in-ring confrontation between the two. After the angle was dropped, Douglas remained completely unseen on TNA programming. On October 10, 2007, TNA announced that Douglas was released from his TNA contract.


title: Shane Douglas

text: On the May 28, 2009 episode of "Impact!", Douglas returned to TNA and attacked Christopher Daniels after his match with A.J. Styles. The following week on "Impact!", Douglas again attacked Daniels during his match before subsequently stating that he wanted a second chance in TNA like Daniels received, after the latter was, in storyline, fired from TNA. He was granted a second chance on the June 11 episode of "Impact!", where he was given a match with A.J. Styles which he lost, only to attack Styles after the match. Daniels would come out to help Styles, only to have Douglas hit him with a towel containing a pair of handcuffs. At the Slammiversary pay-per-view, Douglas lost to Daniels in a second chance match, resulting in Daniels retaining his spot on the TNA roster. Following the match, Douglas left TNA once again, although asked by TNA to participate in their ECW reunion show "Hardcore Justice", he refused the invitation.


title: Shane Douglas

text: On March 13, 2009, Douglas returned to the National Wrestling Alliance for the first time since he dropped the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in 15 years, wrestling for the On Fire territory in a singles match, and defeating ECW alumnus Little Guido.


title: Shane Douglas

text: In 2012, Douglas announced that he would take part in Extreme Reunion, an event consisting of former ECW Originals. It was the first in a series of three events. The event was held on April 28 in the National Guard Armory of Philadelphia. The second event, Extreme Rising, was held on June 29 in New York and on June 30 in Philadelphia. There was a third show promoted by the same group, held on November 17 in Pittsburgh called "Extreme Rising Remember November". In the main event Douglas wrestled Matt Hardy to a no-contest.


title: Shane Douglas

text: On March 24, 2017, at a Pro Wrestling All-Stars of Detroit event, Douglas defeated The Great Akuma in Melvindale, Michigan, to become the Pro Wrestling All-Stars Heavyweight Champion. On April 21, Douglas defeated Paul Bowser by countout in an "Extreme Rules" match to successfully defend the title. He lost the title on May 12, 2017, when Breyer Wellington beat Douglas, Paul Bowser, and Atlas Hytower in a Fatal Four-Way match.


title: Shane Douglas

text: On May 13, 2017, at XICW "Best In Detroit 20" in Clinton Township, Michigan, Douglas beat Joe Coleman to become the XICW Xtreme Intense Champion.


title: Shane Douglas

text: On March 3, 2018, at World BigTime Wrestlings' "Extreme Warfare" in Lucas County, Ohio, Douglas defeated Shawn Blaze for the WBW Heavyweight Championship. He lost the belt back to Blaze on May 5, 2018, after the WBW commissioner interfered with the match. Douglas also feuded with Bobby Fulton, squaring off against the former Fantastic in a series of hardcore matches.


title: Shane Douglas

text: On March 11, 2018, at XICW "March Madness & Mayhem" in Fraser, Michigan, Shane Douglas lost the XICW Xtreme Intense Title to Kongo Kong.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Douglas was a promoter for the Xtreme Pro Wrestling promotion. Under his promotion, XPW moved from California to Philadelphia and featured many former ECW stars.


title: Shane Douglas

text: In mid-2005, Douglas conceived and, alongside Jeremy Borash, promoted and booked "Hardcore Homecoming", a series of Extreme Championship Wrestling reunion events. The first event occurred on June 10, two days before World Wrestling Entertainment's own ECW reunion show, "ECW One Night Stand". The final show occurred on November 5. On April 9, 2009, it was announced that Martin and Nite Owl Production were to promote a follow up to "Hardcore Homecoming" called "November to Remember: The Final Chair Shot". Originally, the event was to occur in 2008 on the anniversary of the original Hardcore Homecoming event, but the date was rescheduled to coincide with an American Cancer Society charity event hosted by Douglas' former valet Francine.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Douglas was scheduled to headline the Extreme Reunion event scheduled for April 28, 2012. Unbeknownst to WWE, Douglas appeared in the audience on the March 19, 2012 episode of "Raw" to promote the event, but was escorted out of the arena by security after causing a disturbance.


title: Shane Douglas

text: In 1993 during his first stint with World Championship Wrestling, he began teaching emotional support classes, economics, and the history of the United States at Beaver Area High School. While not wrestling, Martin works as a motivational speaker.


title: Shane Douglas

text: Martin married Michelle Burke on August 17, 1987. They divorced on November 24, 1994. Five years later, Martin married Carla Marie Reeves on August 13, 1999. Their first son, Connor, was born in April 2001, and their second son, Caden Andrew, was born on December 6, 2005. Soon after his second son was born, Martin checked himself into a drug rehabilitation program due to a painkiller addiction. Since 2006, Martin has remained drug-free. He discussed this on Steve Austin's podcast during a two-part episode in April 2015. Martin and his wife divorced in 2017.


title: Shane Douglas

text: In July 2016, Martin was named part of a class action lawsuit filed against WWE which alleged that wrestlers incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and that the company concealed the risks of injury. The suit was litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE. The lawsuit was dismissed by US District Judge Vanessa Lynne Bryant in September 2018.


title: The Nun 2

text: The Nun 2 is an upcoming 2023 American gothic supernatural horror film directed by Michael Chaves written by Akela Cooper, Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing, from a story by Cooper and James Wan. It serves as the sequel to "The Nun" (2018) and the ninth installment in The Conjuring Universe franchise. The film stars Storm Reid, Taissa Farmiga, and Anna Popplewell. Wan and Peter Safran return as co-producers, with Judson Scott also serving as a producer.


title: The Nun 2

text: France, 1956. A priest is murdered. An evil is spreading. The sequel to "The Nun" (2018) follows Sister Irene as she once again comes face to face with the demonic force Valak, the Nun.


title: The Nun 2

text: In August 2017, Wan discussed the possibility of a "Nun" sequel and what its story may be: "I do know where potentially, if "The Nun" works out, where "The Nun 2" could lead to and how that ties back to Lorraine's story that we've set up with the first two "Conjuring"s and make it all come full circle."


title: The Nun 2

text: In April 2019, it was announced by Peter Safran that a sequel was in development. Safran stated that there was a "really fun" storyline planned for the film and commented that there was an "inevitability to another "The Nun" movie". Later that month, Akela Cooper signed onto the project as screenwriter, while Safran and James Wan will serve as producers.


title: The Nun 2

text: In February 2022, Taissa Farmiga stated that she has had discussions with Warner Bros. Pictures to reprise her role from the first film while stating that the restrictions on the film industry as a result of the coronavirus pandemic had delayed the project. In April 2022, Warner Bros. Pictures officially announced the movie as a part of its upcoming slate at the 2022 CinemaCon. The following day, it was announced that Michael Chaves will direct the film.


title: The Nun 2

text: In September 2022, it was revealed that Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing had contributed as screenwriting co-authors of the most recent draft of the script.


title: The Nun 2

text: In April 2022, James Wan confirmed that Bonnie Aarons would be reprising her role as Valak. In September 2022, Storm Reid was cast as the new lead. In October 2022, Taissa Farmiga and Jonas Bloquet were confirmed to be reprising their roles from the first film, with Anna Popplewell and Katelyn Rose Downey added to the cast later that month.


title: The Nun 2

text: Preliminary production photography began on April 29, 2022. Filming was originally scheduled to start on September 5, 2022. Principal photography began in France on October 6, 2022.


title: The Nun 2

text: "The Nun 2" is scheduled to be released by Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema in the United States on September 8, 2023.


title: Emily Head

text: Emily Head (born 15 December 1988) is an English actress. Her breakout role was as Carli D'Amato in E4's sitcom "The Inbetweeners" and she later played Rebecca White in the ITV soap opera "Emmerdale" and Colette Andrews in BBC drama, "The Syndicate".


title: Emily Head

text: Head is the elder daughter of actor Anthony Head. She attended the BRIT School in Croydon, where she completed a BTEC course in acting and was a schoolmate of singers Katy B and Adele.


title: Emily Head

text: Head played a supporting role as Carli D'Amato in E4's sitcom, "The Inbetweeners" from 2008 until 2010 as well as appearing in its 2011 film "The Inbetweeners Movie". She also appeared in an episode of "M.I. High", in which she played an evil mastermind involved in a bank scam.


title: Emily Head

text: In 2011, she appeared alongside "Coronation Street" star Craig Gazey in Jason Hall's play "Third Floor". In December 2011, she played Melissa Milcote in the Bristol Old Vic production of Helen Edmundson's "Coram Boy" at the Colston Hall in Bristol.


title: Emily Head

text: In 2013, it was announced she would be appearing in the Bravo drama "Rita", playing the title character's daughter. In 2014, she played Angela "Ange" in an in-the-round production of "Abigail's Party" at Leicester's Curve.


title: Emily Head

text: In September 2016, it was announced that Head would be joining the cast of the ITV soap opera "Emmerdale", playing the role of Rebecca White. Rebecca is the daughter of Lawrence White (John Bowe), half-sister of Chrissie White (Louise Marwood) and aunt of Lachlan White (Thomas Atkinson). Head made her first appearance as Rebecca on 11 October 2016. Head's character left Emmerdale in an episode airing 2 November 2018.


title: Queen Silvia of Sweden

text: Silvia (born Silvia Renate Sommerlath; 23 December 1943) is Queen of Sweden as the wife of King Carl XVI Gustaf. She has held this title since her marriage to Carl Gustaf in 1976. The king and queen have three children: Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Carl Philip, and Princess Madeleine.


title: Queen Silvia of Sweden

text: Silvia Renate Sommerlath was born in Heidelberg, Germany, on 23 December 1943, the only daughter of Alice (née Soares de Toledo) and Walther Sommerlath. Her father was German and her mother was Brazilian.


title: Queen Silvia of Sweden

text: She has one older brother: Ralf Sommerlath (born 1929). Her other brothers were Walther Sommerlath, who died in 2020, and Jörg Sommerlath, who died in 2006. The Mother-Child House Jörg Sommerlath in Berlin, operated by Queen Silvia's World Childhood Foundation, is named after her brother.


title: Queen Silvia of Sweden

text: She attended high school in Düsseldorf, graduating in 1963; and attended the Munich School of Interpreting from 1965 to 1969, majoring in Spanish.


title: Queen Silvia of Sweden

text: She has some fluency in Swedish Sign Language, a national sign language used by the deaf community in Sweden. She is a trained interpreter and Swedish is her sixth language. She speaks her native German, her mother's language of Portuguese, as well as French, Spanish, and English.


title: Queen Silvia of Sweden

text: During the 1972 Summer Olympics, Silvia Sommerlath met Crown Prince Carl Gustaf. At the time, she was leading a marketing campaign for the city of Munich. Sommerlath and the other Olympic hostesses wore sky-blue dirndls to promote Bavarian cultural identity. After the death of King Gustaf VI Adolf on 15 September 1973, Carl XVI Gustaf succeeded to the throne.


title: Queen Silvia of Sweden

text: He and Silvia announced their engagement on 12 March 1976 and were married three months later, on 19 June 1976 in Stockholm Cathedral ("Storkyrkan Cathedral") in Stockholm. It was the first marriage of a reigning Swedish monarch since 1797. The wedding was preceded, the evening before, by a Royal Variety Performance, where the Swedish musical group ABBA performed "Dancing Queen" for the very first time, as a tribute to Sweden's future queen.


title: Queen Silvia of Sweden

text: In July 2002, the Queen became the subject of international curiosity when an article published in the syndicalist newspaper "Arbetaren" reported that German state archives record that the Queen's father, Walther Sommerlath, joined the Nazi party's foreign wing, the NSDAP/AO, in 1934, when he was living in Brazil and working for a German steel company. In December 2010, Queen Silvia wrote a letter of complaint to Jan Scherman, the CEO of TV4, the network that had aired a documentary about her father's alleged Nazi past.


title: Queen Silvia of Sweden

text: Queen Silvia commissioned a report from World War II expert Erik Norberg, a choice that was criticized due to Norberg having ties to the royal family. In his report, Norberg argued that the Queen's father had in fact helped the owner of the steel-fabrication plant, a Jewish businessperson, escape from Germany by taking over the factory. In a December 2011 interview for Channel 1 with Sweden's public service broadcaster Sveriges Television, Silvia called media's handling of the information about her father "character assassination".


title: Queen Silvia of Sweden

text: Queen Silvia established Mentor International in 1994 in collaboration with the World Health Organization. Her vision was to offer mentoring as inspiration, empowerment, and motivation for young people to make healthy life choices and view their futures more positively. Mentor's work has been recognized by the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime, the Organization of American States, and the Council of Europe. She is now an honorary board member of Mentor Foundation.


title: Queen Silvia of Sweden

text: She was also a co-founder of the World Childhood Foundation in 1999, having been inspired by her work as Patron of the first World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children held in Stockholm. She has also been involved in the Global Child Forum, which she helped initiate, as a keynote speaker in several forums.


title: Queen Silvia of Sweden

text: Her commitment to the work with dementia and the care of the elderly at the end of life is also well known and respected. On her initiative, Silviahemmet was established in Stockholm. It works to educate hospital personnel in how to work with people suffering from dementia, and also initiates research in the area.


title: Queen Silvia of Sweden

text: She chairs the Royal Wedding Fund, which supports research in sports and athletics for disabled young people and the Queen Silvia Jubilee Fund for research on children and disability.


title: Queen Silvia of Sweden

text: Queen Silvia holds honorary positions in the Swedish Amateur Athletic Association, the Children's Cancer Foundation of Sweden and Save the Children Sweden.


title: Michael James Shaw

text: Michael James Shaw (born September 16, 1986) is an American actor and writer from New York City. He is best known for his recurring role as FBI Agent Daryl/"Mike" in the TV series "Limitless". Shaw has also had a recurring role in "Constantine" as Papa Midnite and had a role in several shorts like "Don-o-mit"e and "Today _ _ cks". He also had a small role in "Roots" as Marcellus. Shaw portrayed Corvus Glaive in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films "" and "".


title: Michael James Shaw

text: Shaw's very first starring role was as the Big Bad Wolf in his Kindergarten production of The Three Piggy Opera at Madison Street School of Basics Plus in Ocala, Florida. Shaw graduated from Vanguard High School in 2005. Upon graduating from High School, Shaw spent his undergraduate years at Howard University. He then took a masters program at Juilliard School.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company in 1845 and 1846 in and around the Ferozepur district of Punjab. It resulted in defeat and partial subjugation of the Sikh empire and cession of Jammu and Kashmir as a separate princely state under British suzerainty.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: The Sikh kingdom of Punjab was expanded and consolidated by Maharajah Ranjit Singh during the early years of the nineteenth century, about the same time as the British-controlled territories were advanced by conquest or annexation to the borders of the Punjab. Ranjit Singh maintained a policy of wary friendship with the British, ceding some territory south of the Sutlej River, while at the same time building up his military forces both to deter aggression by the British and to wage war against the Afghans. He hired American and European mercenary soldiers to train his army, and also incorporated contingents of Hindus and Muslims into his army.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: Maharaja Ranjit Singh died in 1839. After his death, his kingdom began to fall into disorder. Ranjit's unpopular legitimate son, Kharak Singh, was removed from power within a few months, and later died in prison under mysterious circumstances. It was widely believed that he was poisoned. He was replaced by his able but estranged son Kanwar Nau Nihal Singh, who also died within a few months in suspicious circumstances, after being injured by a falling archway at the Lahore Fort while returning from his father's cremation. At the time, two major factions within the Punjab were contending for power and influence; the Sikh Sindhanwalias and the Hindu Dogras. Sher Singh was crowned Maharaja of the Sikh Empire in January 1841, with Dhian Singh Dogra as his prime minister.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: The army expanded rapidly in the aftermath of Ranjit Singh's death, from 29,000 (with 192 guns) in 1839 to over 80,000 in 1845 as landlords and their retainers took up arms. It proclaimed itself to be the embodiment of the Sikh nation. Its regimental panchayats (committees) formed an alternative power source within the kingdom, declaring that Guru Gobind Singh's ideal of the Sikh commonwealth had been revived, with the Sikhs as a whole assuming all executive, military and civil authority in the state, which British observers decried as a "dangerous military democracy". British representatives and visitors in the Punjab described the regiments as preserving "puritanical" order internally, but also as being in a perpetual state of mutiny or rebellion against the central Durbar (court).


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: Maharajah Sher Singh was unable to meet the pay demands of the army, although he reportedly lavished funds on a degenerate court. In September 1843 he was murdered by his cousin, an officer of the army, Ajit Singh Sindhanwalia. The Dogras took their revenge on those responsible, and Jind Kaur, Ranjit Singh's youngest widow, became regent for her infant son Duleep Singh. After the vizier Hira Singh was killed, while attempting to flee the capital with loot from the royal treasury (toshkana), by troops under Sham Singh Attariwala, Jind Kaur's brother Jawahar Singh became vizier in December 1844. In 1845 he arranged the assassination of Peshaura Singh, who presented a threat to Duleep Singh. For this, he was called to account by the army. Despite attempts to bribe the army he was butchered in September 1845 in the presence of Jind Kaur and Duleep Singh.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: Jind Kaur publicly vowed revenge against her brother's murderers. She remained regent. Lal Singh became vizier, and Tej Singh became commander of the army. Sikh historians have stressed that both these men were prominent in the Dogra faction. Originally Hindus from outside of Punjab, both had converted to Sikhism in 1818.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: Immediately after the death of Ranjit Singh, the British East India Company had begun increasing its military strength, particularly in the regions adjacent to the Punjab, establishing a military cantonment at Ferozepur, only a few miles from the Sutlej River which marked the frontier between British-ruled India and the Punjab. In 1843, they conquered and annexed Sindh, to the south of the Punjab, in a move which many British people regarded as cynical and ignoble. This did not gain the British any respect in the Punjab and increased suspicions of British motives.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: The actions and attitudes of the British, under Governor General Lord Ellenborough and his successor, Sir Henry Hardinge, are disputed. By most British accounts, their main concern was that the Sikh army, without strong leadership to restrain them, was a serious threat to British territories along the border. Sikh and Indian historians have countered that the military preparations made by these Governor-Generals were offensive in nature; for example, they prepared bridging trains (prefabricated bridges) and siege gun batteries, which would be unlikely to be required in a purely defensive operation.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: The British attitudes were affected by reports from their new political agent in the frontier districts, Major George Broadfoot, who stressed the disorder in the Punjab and recounted every tale of corrupt behaviour at the court. For some British officials, there was a strong desire to expand British influence and control into the Punjab, as it was the only remaining formidable force that could threaten the British hold in India and the last remaining independent kingdom not under British influence. The kingdom was also renowned for being the wealthiest, the Koh-i-Noor being but one of its many treasures. Despite this, it is unlikely that the British East India Company would have deliberately attempted to annex the Punjab had the war not occurred, as they simply did not have the manpower or resources to retain the territories (as proven by the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Sikh War).


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: Nevertheless, the unconcealed and seemingly aggressive British military build-up at the borders had the effect of increasing tension within the Punjab and the Sikh Army.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: After mutual demands and accusations between the Sikh Durbar and the East India Company, diplomatic relations were broken. An East India Company army began marching towards Ferozepur, where a division was already stationed. This army was commanded by Sir Hugh Gough, the Commander in Chief of the Bengal Army, and was accompanied by Sir Henry Hardinge, the British Governor General of Bengal, who placed himself beneath Gough in the military chain of command. The British East India Company forces consisted of formations of the Bengal Army, with usually one British unit to every three or four Bengal infantry or cavalry units. Most of the artillery on the British side consisted of light guns from the elite Bengal Horse Artillery.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: The Sikh Army at that time was led by General Raja Lal Singh who, with Tej Singh, betrayed the Sikhs during the course of the war. The two generals were regularly supplying information and even receiving instructions from British officers.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: In response to the British move, the Sikh army began crossing the Sutlej on 11 December 1845. Although the leaders and principal units of the army were Sikhs, there were also Punjabi, Pakhtun and Kashmiri infantry units. The artillery consisted mainly of units of heavy guns, which had been organised and trained by European mercenaries.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: The Sikhs claimed they were only moving into Sikh possessions (specifically the village of Moran, whose ownership was disputed) on the east side of the river, but the move was regarded by the British as clearly hostile and they declared war.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: After Raja Gurdit Singh's death, his son Ajit Singh succeeded him. Ajit Singh upgraded his fort at Ladwa to face the danger of the British. During the First Sikh war in 1845, he fought on the side of the Sikh army against the British. He was defeated. The Sikh defenders of Wudnee surrendered on 30 December after the Sikh defeat at Ferozeshah prevented the Sikh army reinforcing them.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: This battle was the last fought by the Raja of Ladva, Ajit Singh. The fort was designed by Dewan Mohkam Chand, with the assistance of Ranjit Singh's French and Italian generals. It was constructed as a response to the British, who built Lodhi fort in nearby Ludhiana. The fort's architecture has a distinct European character, with channels dug out along the boundary of the fort, watchtowers on the two gateways, four bastions on four nooks and high walls around the fort. Ajit Singh Of Ladva won this battle due to this fort. He surrendered after seeing that he was no match for the British.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: An army under Tej Singh crossed the Sutlej and advanced against the British outpost at Ferozepur, although they did not attempt to attack or surround it. Another force under Lal Singh clashed with Gough's and Hardinge's advancing army at the Battle of Mudki late on 18 December. The British won an untidy encounter battle, suffering heavy casualties.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: On the next day, Gough's army came in sight of the large Sikh entrenchment at Ferozeshah. Gough wished to attack at once, but Hardinge used his position as Governor General to overrule him and order him to wait for the division from Ferozepur to arrive. When they appeared late on 21 December, Gough attacked in the few hours of daylight left. The well-served Sikh artillery caused heavy casualties among the British, and their infantry fought desperately. On the other hand, the elite of the Sikh army, the irregular cavalry or ghodachadas (alt. gorracharra, horse-mounted), were comparatively ineffective against Gough's infantry and cavalry as they had been kept from the battlefield by Lal Singh.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: By nightfall, some of Gough's army had fought their way into the Sikh positions, but other units had been driven back in disorder. Hardinge expected a defeat on the following day and ordered the state papers at Mudki to be burned in this event. However, on the following morning, the British and Bengal Army units rallied and drove the Sikhs from the rest of their fortifications. Lal Singh had made no effort to rally or reorganise his army.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: At this point, Tej Singh's army appeared. Once again, Gough's exhausted army faced defeat and disaster, but Tej Singh inexplicably withdrew, claiming that British cavalry and artillery which were withdrawing to replenish ammunition were actually making an outflanking move.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: Operations temporarily halted, mainly because Gough's army was exhausted and required rest and reinforcements.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: Ranjur Singh Majithia was the son of Desa Singh Majithia, one of the most able ministers under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He commanded a large army, (10,000 infantry and some regular cavalry with sixty guns) and crossed the Sutlej in force and was joined by Ajit Singh of Ladva. They marched towards Ludhiana and burned a portion of the British cantonment. Sir Harry Smith (afterwards Governor of Cape Colony), who was sent to relieve Ludhiana, marched eastwards from Ferozepur, keeping a few miles away from the Sutlej.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: On learning of the Sikh strength, and receiving further orders from Gough, Smith instead force-marched his troops via Jagraon, collecting a British regiment there, to reach Ludhiana ahead of the Sikh main body. On 21 January, as he left Baddowal, the Sikh irregular cavalry (the "Gorchurras") continually attacked his rearguards. They captured most of Smith's baggage animals (mules, bullocks and elephants), and cut down any straggling troops. Nevertheless, Smith succeeded in reaching Ludhiana, with his troops exhausted. A brigade of troops from Delhi, including two Gurkha battalions, reinforced him.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: After resting his troops, Smith once again advanced to Baddowal. The Sikhs had withdrawn to Aliwal on the Sutlej, awaiting reinforcements. On 28 January, Smith advanced against them, cautiously at first. Finding a weak point in the Sikh position, he won a model victory which eliminated the Sikh bridgehead and captured almost all Ranjur Singh's artillery and his army's baggage and equipment.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: The Sikhs had been temporarily dismayed by their defeats and by their commanders' inaction, but rallied when fresh units and leaders, including Sham Singh Attariwala, joined them, and Maharani Jind Kaur exhorted 500 selected officers to make renewed efforts.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: Gough had intended to attack the Sikh army in its entrenchments at Sobraon as soon as Smith's division rejoined from Ludhiana, but Hardinge forced him to wait until a heavy artillery train had arrived. At last, he moved forward early on 10 February. The start of the battle was delayed by heavy fog, but as it lifted, 35 British heavy guns and howitzers opened fire. The Sikh cannon replied. The bombardment went on for two hours without much effect on the Sikh defences. Gough was told that his heavy guns were running short of ammunition and is alleged to have replied, "Thank God! Then I'll be at them with the bayonet."


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: Two British divisions under Harry Smith and Major General Sir Walter Gilbert made feint attacks on the Sikh left, while another division under Major General Robert Henry Dick made the main attack on the Sikh right, where the defences were of soft sand and were lower and weaker than the rest of the line. (It is believed that Lal Singh had supplied this information to Major Henry Lawrence, the Political Agent at Gough's headquarters.) Nevertheless, Dick's division was driven back by Sikh counter-attacks after initially gaining footholds within the Sikh lines. Dick himself was killed. As the British fell back, some frenzied Sikh soldiers attacked British wounded left in the ditch in front of the entrenchments, enraging the British soldiers.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: The British, Gurkhas and Bengal regiments renewed their attacks along the entire front of the entrenchment, and broke through at several points. On the vulnerable Sikh right, engineers blew a breach in the fortifications and British cavalry and horse artillery pushed through it to engage the Sikhs in the centre of their position. Tej Singh had left the battlefield early. It is alleged in many Sikh accounts that he deliberately weakened the pontoon bridge, casting loose the boat at its centre, or that he ordered his own artillery on the west bank to fire on the bridge on the pretext of preventing British pursuit. British accounts claim that the bridge simply broke under the weight of the numbers of soldiers trying to retreat across it, having been weakened by the swollen river. Whichever account is correct, the bridge broke, trapping nearly 20,000 of the Sikh Khalsa Army on the east bank.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: None of the trapped Sikh soldiers attempted to surrender. Many detachments, including one led by Sham Singh Attariwala, fought to the death. Some Sikhs rushed forward to attack the British regiments sword in hand; others tried to ford or swim the river. British horse artillery lined the bank of the river and continued to fire into the crowds in the water. By the time the firing ceased, the Sikhs had lost between 8,000 and 10,000 men. The British had also captured 67 guns.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: This was the only battle fought between the Sikh forces of Kangra and the British. The British controlled the valley after defeating them and the fort.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: In the Treaty of Lahore on 9 March 1846, the Sikhs were made to surrender the valuable region (the Jullundur Doab) between the Beas River and Sutlej River. The Lahore Durbar was also required to pay an indemnity of 15 million rupees. Because it could not readily raise this sum, it ceded Kashmir, Hazarah and all the forts, territories, rights and interests in the hill countries situated between the Rivers Beas and Indus to the East India Company, as equivalent to ten million of rupees. In a later separate arrangement (the Treaty of Amritsar), the Raja of Jammu, Gulab Singh, purchased Kashmir from the East India Company for a payment of 7.5 million rupees and was granted the title Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: The estate of Ladwa, belonging to Ajit Singh who had fought against the British at Buddowal and Aliwal, was confiscated in 1846. "The Raja of Ladwa, with an estate of 10,000 pounds a year, almost openly avowed his treason, and, after a time, went over to the enemy (the British Raj) with all his troops and artillery", reads the Dispatch of the Governor General, sent to London on November 17, 1846. On September 22, 1847, through a ‘sanad’, the British awarded his house at Haridwar to the Raja of Patiala. Ajit Singh was taken into custody and sent as a prisoner to the Allahabad fort. He contrived to escape, after killing his keeper, and after long wanderings in hills, is supposed to have died in Kashmir. His children, who held in joint tenure eight villages along with Bhadour sardars, were dispatched by the British to these villages. Thus, the brave sons of Ladwa lost in obscurity have little trace except their fort and so their reminiscences.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: Maharaja Duleep Singh remained ruler of the Punjab and at first his mother, Maharani Jindan Kaur, remained as Regent. However, the Durbar later requested that the British presence remain until the Maharaja attained the age of 16. The British consented to this and on 16 December 1846, the Treaty of Bhyroval provided for the Maharani to be awarded a pension of 150,000 rupees and be replaced by a British resident in Lahore supported by a Council of Regency, with agents in other cities and regions. This effectively gave the East India Company control of the government.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: Sikh historians have always maintained that, in order to retain their hold on power and maintain the figurehead rule of Duleep Singh, Lal Singh and Tej Singh embarked on the war with the deliberate intent of breaking their own army. In particular, Lal Singh was corresponding with a British political officer and betraying state and military secrets throughout the war. Lal Singh's and Tej Singh's desertion of their armies and refusal to attack when opportunity offered seem inexplicable otherwise.


title: First Anglo-Sikh War

text: The Sikh empire was until then one of the few remaining kingdoms in India after the rise of the company and the fall of the Mughal empire. Although the Sikh Army was weakened by the war, resentment at British interference in the government led to the Second Anglo-Sikh War within three years.


title: Pampas

text: The Pampas (from the , meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazil's southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul. The vast plains are a natural region, interrupted only by the low Ventana and Tandil hills, near Bahía Blanca and Tandil (Argentina), with a height of and , respectively.


title: Pampas

text: The climate is temperate, with precipitation of that is more or less evenly distributed throughout the year, making the soils appropriate for agriculture. The area is also one of the distinct physiography provinces of the larger Paraná–Paraguay plain division.


title: Pampas

text: This region has generally low elevations, whose highest levels do not exceed 600 metres (1,970 feet) in altitude. The coastal areas and most of the Buenos Aires Province are predominantly plain (with some wetlands) and the interior areas (mainly in the southern part of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul and Uruguay) have low ranges of hills (like Serras de Sudeste in Brazil and Cuchilla Grande in Uruguay). Low hills covered by grasslands are called "coxilhas" () in Portuguese and "cuchillas" () in Spanish, and it is the most typical landscape of the countryside areas in the northern parts of the Pampas. The highest elevations of the Pampas region are found in the Sierra de la Ventana mountains, in the southern part of Buenos Aires Province, with 1,239 m (4,065 ft) at the summit of Cerro Tres Picos.


title: Pampas

text: The climate of the Pampas is generally temperate, gradually giving way to a more humid subtropical climate in the north ("Cfa", according to the Köppen climate classification); a cold semi-arid climate ("BSk") on the southern and western fringes (like San Luis Province, western La Pampa Province and southern Buenos Aires Province); and an oceanic climate ("Cfb") in the southeastern part (in the regions of Mar del Plata, Tandil and the Sierra de la Ventana mountains, Argentina). Summer temperatures are more uniform than winter temperatures, generally ranging from during the day. However, most cities in the Pampas occasionally have high temperatures that push , as occurs when warm, dry, northerly winds blow from southern Brazil, northern Argentina or Paraguay. Autumn arrives gradually in March and peaks in April and May. In April, highs range from and lows from . The first frosts arrive in mid-April in the south and late May or early June in the north.


title: Pampas

text: Winters are generally mild, but cold waves often occur. Typical temperatures range from during the day, and from at night. With strong northerly winds, days of over can be recorded almost everywhere, and during cold waves, high temperatures can be only . Frost occurs everywhere in the Pampas, but it is much more frequent in the southwest than around the Parana and Uruguay Rivers. Temperatures under can occur everywhere, but values of or lower are confined to the south and west. Snow almost never falls in the northernmost third and is rare and light elsewhere, except for exceptional events in which depths have reached . Springs are very variable; it is warmer than fall in most areas (especially in the west) but significantly colder along the Atlantic. Violent storms are more common as well as wide temperature variations: days of can give way to nights of under or even frost, all within only a few days.


title: Pampas

text: Precipitation ranges from in the northeast to about or less in the southern and western edges. It is highly seasonal in the West, with some places recording averages of 120 mm (4.7 in) monthly in the summer, and only 20 millimeters (0.8 in) monthly in the winter. The eastern areas have small peaks in the fall and the spring, with relatively rainy summers and winters that are only slightly drier. However, where summer rain falls as short, heavy storms, winter rain falls mostly as cold drizzle, and so the amount of rainy days is fairly constant. Very intense thunderstorms are common in the spring and summer, and it has among the most frequent lightning and highest convective cloud tops in the world. The severe thunderstorms produce intense hailstorms, both floods and flash floods, and the most consistently active tornado region outside the central and southeastern US.


title: Pampas

text: Most big or medium sized species such as the puma, rhea, Capybara, plains viscacha, maned wolf, marsh deer and Pampas deer have lost their habitats especially due to the spread of agriculture and ranching, and are only present in very few relicts of the pampas. Other species, such as the Jaguar and the Guanaco have been extirpated completely from this habitat.


title: Pampas

text: Mammals that are still fairly present include Brazilian guinea pig, southern mountain cavy, coypu, Pampas fox, Geoffroy's cat, lesser grison, white-eared opossum, Molina's hog-nosed skunk, big lutrine opossum, big hairy armadillo and southern long-nosed armadillo.


title: Pampas

text: Bird species of the pampas are ruddy-headed goose, pampas meadowlark, hudsonian godwit, maguari stork, white-faced ibis, white-winged coot, southern screamer, dot-winged crake, curve-billed reedhaunter, burrowing owl and the rhea.


title: Pampas

text: Historically, frequent wildfires ensured that only small plants such as grasses flourished, while trees were less common. The dominant vegetation types are grassy prairie and grass steppe, in which numerous species of the grass genus "Stipa" are particularly conspicuous. "Pampas grass" ("Cortaderia selloana") is an iconic species of the Pampas. Vegetation typically includes perennial grasses and herbs. Different strata of grasses occur because of gradients of water availability.


title: Pampas

text: The World Wildlife Fund divides the Pampas into three distinct ecoregions. The Uruguayan Savanna lies east of the Paraná River, and includes all of Uruguay, most of Entre Ríos and Corrientes provinces in Argentina, and the southern portion of Brazil's state of Rio Grande do Sul. The Humid Pampas include eastern Buenos Aires Province, and southern Entre Ríos Province. The Semiarid Pampas includes western Buenos Aires Province and adjacent portions of Santa Fe, Córdoba, and La Pampa provinces. The Pampas are bounded by the drier Argentine Espinal grasslands, which form a semicircle around the north, west, and south of the Humid Pampas.


title: Pampas

text: Winters are cold to mild, and summers are hot and humid. Rainfall is fairly uniform throughout the year but is a little heavier during the summer. Annual rainfall is heaviest near the coast and decreases gradually further inland. Rain during the late spring and summer usually arrives in the form of brief heavy showers and thunderstorms. More general rainfall occurs the remainder of the year as cold fronts and storm systems move through. Although cold spells during the winter often send nighttime temperatures below freezing, snow is quite rare. In most winters, a few light snowfalls occur over inland areas.


title: Pampas

text: Central Argentina boasts a successful agricultural business, with crops grown on the Pampas south and west of Buenos Aires. Much of the area is also used for cattle, and more recently, to cultivate vineyards in the Buenos Aires wine region. The area is also used for farming honey using European honeybees. These farming regions are particularly susceptible to flooding during the thunderstorms. The weather averages out to be 60 °F (16 °C) year-round in the Pampas.


title: Pampas

text: Starting in the 1840s but intensifying after the 1880s, European immigrants began to migrate to the Pampas, first as part of government-sponsored colonization schemes to settle the land and later as tenant farmers "working as either a sharecropper or as paid laborers for absentee landowners" in an attempt to make a living for themselves.


title: Pampas

text: However, many immigrants eventually moved to more permanent employment in cities, as industrialization picked up after the 1930s. As a result, Argentina's history of immigration in Buenos Aires Province is typically associated with cities and urban life, unlike in Entre Ríos Province and Santa Fe Province, where European immigration took on a more rural profile.


title: Jazz Raycole

text: Jazzmine Raycole Dillingham (born February 11, 1988) is an American actress and dancer. She is best known for her role as Claire Kyle on the sitcom "My Wife and Kids" during its first season.


title: Jazz Raycole

text: Raycole was born as Jazzmine Raycole Dillingham in Stockton, California, the daughter of Ray, a water company superintendent, and Claudia Dillingham, who owned a dance studio and managed Raycole's career during her childhood. A trained dancer, Raycole first danced when she was a toddler. Raycole studied dance under both her mother and Barbara Faulkner, and was a competitive dancer by the age of four. She was part of the Boston Ballet in 2001, and also taught dance classes that year. Raycole was home schooled by her mother.


title: Jazz Raycole

text: Raycole's acting career began in 1995, when she appeared in two films: voicing a puppy in "Babe" and as Onika Harris in "Waiting to Exhale". One of her earliest roles on television was a guest spot on sitcom "Ellen". She also once featured as the voice of a one-time appearing character named Chloe on Nickelodeon's "Hey Arnold!" in 2003.


title: Jazz Raycole

text: In 2001, Raycole appeared in the first dozen episodes of "My Wife and Kids" as Claire Kyle, with Damon Wayans portraying her father. However, she was subsequently replaced on the show by Jennifer Freeman when the second season began. It is reported that Raycole herself said "I was 12 years old when I got that job. The producers wanted a different thing, they wanted someone a little bit older. I wasn't ready for that," she said. "I ended up going to New York to dance, which was my first passion. I really thank God for that because I got to grow and travel."


title: Jazz Raycole

text: She has made several guest appearances on television series, including "Malcolm & Eddie", "The Jamie Foxx Show", "Smart Guy", "Everybody Hates Chris", "Monk" and "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend". Between 2007 to 2008, she portrayed Allison Hawkins in the post-apocalyptic drama "Jericho". She replaced Geffri Maya Hightower, who played the role in the show's pilot episode. Raycole appeared regularly as Lyric Ballentine on the TV Land sitcom "The Soul Man" (2012−14). From 2017 to 2018, Raycole starred as college student Sydney Fletcher on the BET series "The Quad". She also played the daughter of Stanley Hudson on the TV show "The Office".


title: Jazz Raycole

text: Raycole appeared as Mae, the girlfriend of Kimiko Glenn's character, in the television film "" (2019). She portrayed Sage, a pregnant woman who has Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker syndrome, in short-lived series "Council of Dads". In 2020, Raycole was set to play in the lead role of Izzy, Mickey's client in the drama series "The Lincoln Lawyer", which was based on novel and was written by David E. Kelley, however the pilot was passed by CBS due to the scheduling conflict, but on February 2, 2021, Raycole returned in the lead role of Izzy in "The Lincoln Lawyer" with Manuel Garcia-Rulfo replacing Logan Marshall-Green as Mickey Haller.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: Opposition to the government of President Vladimir Putin in Russia can be divided between the parliamentary opposition parties in the State Duma and the various non-systemic opposition organizations. While the former are largely viewed as being more or less loyal to the government and Putin, the latter oppose the government and are mostly unrepresented in government bodies.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: The "systemic opposition" is mainly composed by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF), the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), A Just Russia — For Truth (SRZP), New People and other minor parties; these political groups, while theoretically claiming to be in opposition, generally support the government's policies.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: Major political parties considered to be part of the non-systemic opposition include Yabloko and the People's Freedom Party (PARNAS), along with the unregistered party Russia of the Future and Libertarian Party of Russia (LPR). Other notable opposition groups included the Russian Opposition Coordination Council (KSO) (2012–13) and The Other Russia (2006–11), as well as various non-governmental organizations (NGOs).


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: Their supporters vary in political ideology, ranging from liberals and socialists to nationalists. They are mainly unified by their opposition to President Putin and corruption in the government. However, a lack of unity within the opposition has also hindered its standing. Opposition figures also claim that a number of laws have been passed and other measures taken by President Putin's government to prevent them from having any electoral success.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: "The Guardian"'s report from Luke Harding noted that during the 2000s Neo-Nazis, Russian nationalists, and ultranationalist groups were the most significant opposition to Putin's government.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: Since 2012, for the protesters for fair elections the term "white ribbon opposition" has been applied, as they wore white ribbons as their symbol.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: Some observers noted what they described as a "generational struggle" among Russians over perception of Putin's rule, with younger Russians more likely to be against Putin and his policies and older Russians more likely to accept the narrative presented by state-controlled media in Russia. Putin's approval rating among young Russians was 32% in January 2019. Putin's support among Russians aged 18–24 was 20% in December 2020.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: In addition, smaller-scale series of actions are conducted. For example, in Moscow in the spring of 2012 saw a series of flash mobs "White Square", when protesters walked through the Red Square with white ribbons, in the late spring and summer, they organized the protest camp "Occupy Abay" and autumn they held weekly "Liberty walks" with the chains symbolizing solidarity with political prisoners.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: Some opposition figures, for example, chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov, said there are no elections in Putin's Russia, and that participation in a procedure called elections only legitimizes the regime.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: On the other hand, a small part of liberals (the party of "Democratic Choice") consider elections as the main tool to achieve their political goals.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: The Dissenters' March was a series of Russian opposition protests started in 2006. It was preceded by opposition rallies in Russian cities in December 2005 which involved fewer people. Most of the Dissenters' March protests were unsanctioned by authorities. The Dissenters' March rally was organized by The Other Russia, a broad umbrella group that includes opposition leaders, including National Bolshevik Party with its leader Eduard Limonov, far-left Vanguard of Red Youth as well as liberals such as former world chess champion and United Civil Front leader Garry Kasparov.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: Strategy-31 was a series of civic protests in support of the right to peaceful assembly in Russia guaranteed by of the Russian Constitution. Since 31 July 2009, the protests were held in Moscow on Triumfalnaya Square on the 31st of every month with 31 days. Strategy-31 was led by writer Eduard Limonov and human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: Starting from 5 December 2011, the day after the elections to the State Duma, there have been repeated massive political actions of Russian citizens who disagree with the outcome of these "elections". The current surge of mass opposition rallies has been called in some publications "a snow revolution". These rallies continued during the campaign for the election of the President of Russia and after 4 March 2012, presidential election, in which Putin officially won the first round. The protesters claimed that the elections were accompanied by violations of the election legislation and widespread fraud. One of the main slogans of the majority of actions was "For Fair Elections!" and a white ribbon has been chosen as symbol of protests. Beginning from spring 2012 the actions were called marches of millions and took the form of a march followed by a rally. The speeches of participants were anti-Putin and anti-government.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: The "March of Millions" on 6 May 2012 at the approach to Bolotnaya Square was dispersed by the police. In the Bolotnaya Square case 17 people are accused of committing violence against police (12 of them are in jail). A large number of human rights defenders and community leaders have declared the detainees innocent and the police responsible for the clashes.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: For the rally on 15 December 2012, the anniversary of the mass protests against rigged elections, the organizers failed to agree with the authorities, and participation was low. Several thousand people gathered without placards on Lubyanka Square and laid flowers at the Solovetsky Stone.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: In 2014, members of the Russian opposition have held anti-war protests in opposition to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and Crimean crisis. The March of Peace protests took place in Moscow on 15 March, a day before the Crimean status referendum. The protests have been the largest in Russia since the 2011 protests. Reuters reported that 30,000 people participated in 15 March anti-war rally.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: On 26 March 2017, protests against alleged corruption in the Russian government took place simultaneously in many cities across the country. The protests began after the release of the film "He Is Not Dimon to You" by Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation. An April 2017 Levada poll found that 45% of surveyed Russians supported the resignation of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, against it 33% of respondents. "Newsweek" reported that "An opinion poll by the Moscow-based Levada Center indicated that 38 percent of Russians supported the rallies and that 67 percent held Putin personally responsible for high-level corruption."


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: A May 2017 Levada poll found that 58% of surveyed Russians supported the protests, while 23% said they disapprove.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: From July 2018, almost every weekend, protest rallies and demonstrations were organized against the planned retirement age hike. Such events occurred in nearly all major cities countrywide including Novosibirsk, St.-Petersburg and Moscow. These events were coordinated by all opposition parties with the leading role of the communists. Also trade unions and some individual politicians (among whom Navalny) functioned as organizers of the public actions.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: An intention to hike the retirement age has drastically downed the rating of the President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in Russia. So in July 2018, just 49% would vote for Putin if the presidential elections were held in that moment (while during the elections in March 2018, he got 76.7%).


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: From July 2019, protest rallies for an access to 2019 Moscow City Duma election of independent candidates started in Moscow. The 20 July rally was the largest since 2012. The 27 July rally set a record in number of detainees and police violence. The 10 August rally outnumbered the 27 July rally,


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: On 9 July 2020, the popular governor of the Khabarovsk Krai, Sergei Furgal, who defeated the candidate of Putin's United Russia party in elections two years ago, was arrested and flown to Moscow. Furgal was arrested 15 years after the alleged crimes he is accused of. Every day since 11 June, mass protests have been held in the Khabarovsk Krai in support of Furgal. On 25 July, tens of thousands of people were estimated to have taken part in the third major rally in Khabarovsk. The protests included chants of "Away with Putin!", "This is our region", "Furgal was our choice" or "shame on LDPR" and "Shame on the Kremlin!"


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: In a Levada Center poll carried out from 24 to 25 July 2020, 45% of surveyed Russians viewed the protests positively, 26% neutrally and 17% negatively.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: On 23 January 2021, protests across Russia were held in support of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was detained and then jailed after returning to Russia on 17 January following his poisoning. A few days before the protests, an investigation by Navalny and his Anti-Corruption Foundation was published, accusing Putin of corruption. The video garnered 70 million views in a few days.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: Since jailing of Navalny a "hardening of the course" was observed from the government side, with a choice of "go West or East" being offered to prominent opposition figures, meaning a non-negotiable alternative of either going on emigration ("West") or to prison colonies ("East"). Among those who left Russia are politicians Lyubov Sobol, Dmitry Gudkov, Ivan Zhdanov (whose father had been however arrested in Russia as a hostage), Kira Yarmysh, journalists Andrei Soldatov, Irina Borogan, Roman Badanin. The wave of repressions has been also linked with the September 2021 Duma elections.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, protesters have used the white-blue-white flag as a symbol of opposition though not all used the flag. Several opposition activists (such as Maria Motuznaya) had criticized the justification by AssezJeune (one of the creators of the flag) to remove the red stripe.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: On the afternoon of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Investigative Committee of Russia issued a warning to Russians that they would face legal repercussions for joining unsanctioned protests related to "the tense foreign political situation". The protests have been met with widespread repression by the Russian authorities. According to OVD-Info, at least 14,906 people were detained from 24 February to 13 March, including the largest single-day mass arrests in post-Soviet Russian history on 6 March.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: In February 2022, more than 30,000 technology workers, 6,000 medical workers, 3,400 architects, more than 4,300 teachers, more than 17,000 artists, 5,000 scientists, and 2,000 actors, directors, and other creative figures signed open letters calling for Putin's government to stop the war. Some Russians who signed petitions against Russia's war in Ukraine lost their jobs.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: On 17 March, Putin gave a speech in which he called opponents of the war "scum and traitors," saying that a "natural and necessary self-cleansing of society will only strengthen our country." Russian authorities were encouraging Russians to report their friends, colleagues and family members to the police for expressing opposition to the war in Ukraine.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: More than 2,000 people were detained or fined by May 2022 under the laws prohibiting "fake" information about the military. In July 2022, , a member of the Krasnoselsky district council in Moscow, was sentenced to seven years in prison after making anti-war comments at a council meeting in March. Lawyer Pavel Chikov said that this was the first jail term under the new Russian 2022 war censorship laws.


title: Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia

text: The white-blue-white flag is a symbol of opposition to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine that has been used by Russian anti-war protesters. It has also been used as a symbol of opposition to the current government of Russia.


title: Kathy Boudin

text: Kathy Boudin (May 19, 1943 – May 1, 2022) was an American radical leftist who served 23 years in prison for felony murder based on her role in the 1981 Brink's robbery. The robbery resulted in the killing of two Nyack, New York, police officers and one security guard, and serious injury to another security guard. Boudin was a founding member of the militant Weather Underground organization, which engaged in bombings of government buildings to express opposition to U.S. foreign policy and racism. She was released on parole in 2003 and after earning a doctorate became an adjunct professor at Columbia University.


title: Kathy Boudin

text: Kathy Boudin was born in Manhattan on May 19, 1943, into a Jewish family with a storied left-wing history. She was raised in Greenwich Village, New York City. Her paternal grandparents had emigrated from Russia and Austria. Her great-uncle was Marxist theorist Louis B. Boudin, while her brother is conservative U.S. Judge Michael Boudin. Her mother was poet Jean (Roisman) Boudin, whose sister Esther was married to radical journalist I.F. Stone (making him Kathy's uncle). Her father, attorney Leonard Boudin, had represented controversial clients such as Judith Coplon, the Cuban government, and Paul Robeson. A National Lawyers Guild attorney, Leonard Boudin was the law partner of Victor Rabinowitz, himself counsel to numerous left-wing organizations. Kathy Boudin graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1965 as class valedictorian. After college, she attended Case Western law school for one year.


title: Kathy Boudin

text: Boudin fell in love with David Gilbert in the 1970s and gave birth to their son Chesa Boudin in 1980. When her son was 14 months old, she was arrested and subsequently convicted and incarcerated for felony murder based on her role as a decoy in the 1981 Brink's robbery. Her son was raised by former Weatherman leaders Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.


title: Kathy Boudin

text: In 1969, Boudin was a founding member of the Weatherman faction of Students for a Democratic Society, which in 1970 became the Weather Underground Organization (WUO). In 1970 she and Cathy Wilkerson were the only survivors of the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion, when a bomb that their comrades were constructing in the basement, intending to use it to attack U.S. Army personnel that evening, exploded prematurely, killing three of the militants and demolishing the building they were using as a hideout and bomb factory. The WUO soon after renounced actions that sought to inflict human casualties. Boudin remained a fugitive for more than a decade, engaging in multiple additional bombings (none of which resulted in injuries) and other actions.


title: Kathy Boudin

text: In 1981, Boudin and several former members of the Weather Underground, with current members of the May 19th Communist Organization and the Black Liberation Army, robbed a Brink's armored car at the Nanuet Mall, in Nanuet, New York. Boudin was in the front seat of a U-Haul truck used as a switchcar getaway vehicle and also acted as a decoy. Responding police testified that when they spotted and pulled over the getaway vehicle, Boudin feigned innocence and encouraged the two responding officers put their guns down. Her accomplices leaped from the back of the truck and shot officers Edward O'Grady and Waverly Brown, killing them. In addition to the deaths of O'Grady and Brown, the robbers severely wounded guard Joseph Trombino; killed his partner, Peter Paige; and injured two other police officers.


title: Kathy Boudin

text: Boudin was arrested while attempting to flee the scene on foot. She eventually pleaded guilty to felony murder and robbery for an agreed sentence of 20 years to life in prison. While incarcerated, Boudin published articles in the "Harvard Educational Review" ("Participatory Literacy Education Behind Bars: AIDS Opens the Door," Summer 1993, 63 (2)), in "Breaking the Rules: Women in Prison and Feminist Therapy" by Judy Harden and Marcia Hill ("Lessons from a Mother's Program in Prison: A Psychosocial Approach Supports Women and Their Children," published simultaneously in "Women & Therapy", 21), and in "Breaking the Walls of Silence: AIDS and Women in a New York State Maximum-Security Prison". She co-authored "The Foster Care Handbook for Incarcerated Parents" published by Bedford Hills in 1993. She also co-edited "Parenting from inside/out: Voices of mothers in prison", jointly published by correctional institutions and the Osborne Association. Boudin also co-founded AIDS Committee for Education (ACE) inside the prison in 1988 with other incarcerated women including Katrina Haslip and Judith Alice Clark to provide accurate education on living with HIV.


title: Kathy Boudin

text: Boudin also wrote and published poetry while incarcerated, publishing in books and journals including the PEN Center Prize Anthology "Doing Time", "Concrete Garden", and "Aliens at the Border". She won an International PEN prize for her poetry in 1999.


title: Kathy Boudin

text: Boudin and Roslyn D. Smith contributed the piece "Alive Behind the Labels: Women in Prison" to the 2003 anthology "", edited by Robin Morgan.


title: Kathy Boudin

text: After almost 23 years' imprisonment, Boudin was granted parole on August 20, 2003, in her third parole hearing. She was released from the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility on September 18, 2003.


title: Kathy Boudin

text: After her release from prison, Boudin accepted a job in the HIV/AIDS Clinic at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, meeting the work provisions of parole that required active job prospects.


title: Kathy Boudin

text: In May 2004 Boudin published an essay in the Fellowship of Reconciliation's publication "Fellowship", expressing remorse for her participation in the Brink's robbery, which she described as "horrific." Subsequently, she received an Ed. D. from Columbia University Teachers College. In addition to her work at St. Luke's-Roosevelt, Boudin worked as a consultant to Osborne Association in the development of a Longtermers Responsibility Project taking place in the New York State Correctional Facilities, utilizing a restorative practice approach, and co-authored the Coming to Terms curriculum used in the program. She also consulted for Vermont Corrections and the Women's Prison Association and supervised social workers.