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Sexual ritual

Sexual rituals fall into two categories: culture-created, and natural behaviour, the human animal having developed sex rituals from evolutionary instincts for reproduction, which are then integrated into society, and elaborated to include aspects such as marriage rites, dances, etc. Sometimes sexual rituals are highly formalized and/or part of religious activity, as in the cases of hieros gamos, the hierodule, and Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.).

Rites of passage
Part of the rites of passage of growing up are what have been termed 'rites of separation from the asexual world...followed by rites of incorporation into the world of sexuality'. These may be formal or semi-formal—'for some students, going to college is partly a sexual ritual, like the ceremonial dances of the whooping crane' —or take the form of a more private induction: 'formal and artificial...the impression that a long-established rite was to be enacted, among Staffordshire figurs and papier-mâché trays, with the compelling, detached formality of nightmare'.

Freud was particularly interested in ethnological accounts of 'the "ceremonial" (purely formal, ritual, or official) coitus, which takes place' in connection with 'the taboo of virginity'.

Wedding as orgy
Freud also noted that in 'numerous examples of marriage ceremonies there can be no doubt that people other than the bridegroom, for example his assistants and companions (our traditional "groomsmen"), were granted full sexual access to the bride'. To his followers, 'the wedding as orgy, with the bride taking on all the men present, is the clear historical reality behind the modern jokes... and the climactic line-up or "gang"-kissing of the bride, by all the men present'.

In such a view, 'other examples of sacred or permitted public coitus of all women with all men do survive, in similarly modified "kissing" form', as under the mistletoe 'to revive the dying sun at the winter solstice, when the strongest human "life-magic", namely ritual intercourse, is to be deployed'.

Interaction ritual
To the sociologist looking upon 'sexual intercourse as interaction ritual...sexual intercourse is the ritual of love; it both creates and recreates the social tie (since Durkheimian rituals need to be repeated periodically, as solidarity runs down), and symbolizes it'. In similar fashion, Margot Anand has pointed out that 'rituals pervade our daily life and give it a sense of ceremony and celebration (...) a ritual, through your own unique symbolic gestures...will help you transform your lovemaking into a special and sacred act'.

Erving Goffman has noted however 'the considerable informational delicacy of this form of interaction', and how 'individuals may use darkness to ensure strategic ambiguity'.

Compulsions
In perversion, sexual rituals may emerge as a necessary part of sexual activity. For the criminologist, 'sexual ritual involves repeatedly engaging in an act or series of acts in a certain manner because of a sexual need'. Within a relationship, 'the Compulsive libido type takes advantages of opportunities to use the specific sexual ritual that causes intense arousal, and in its stronger form, the Compulsive lover can only arouse using the sexual object or ritual''. In any relationship however, 'a sexual habit that becomes routine or stylised...can lead to a sexual ritual', so that 'if you don't have a way to talk to your partner about your sexual relationship, you may find yourself...stuck in sexual rituals that could be limiting your sexual enjoyment': as a wife might say, '"Same old technique, same old Lewis. It's you all right, I'd know that old routine anywhere'. Thus one's sex life may all 'be about rituals: the ritual of sex in the morning, or the ritual of sex at night; and the ritual of sex at anniversaries, and the ritual of sex at Christmas'.

Dharmic art
In the Buddhist art of India, Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet, yab-yum is the male deity in sexual union with his female consort. The symbolism is associated with Anuttarayoga tantra where the male figure is usually linked to compassion () and skillful means (upāya-kauśalya), and the female partner to 'insight' (prajñā). The symbolism of union and sexual polarity is a central teaching in Tantric Buddhism, especially in Tibet. The union is realised by the practitioner as a mystical experience within one's own body. Yab-yum is generally understood to represent the primordial (or mystical) union of wisdom and compassion. Tantric Buddhism is itself an outcrop of Tantrism, advanced techniques of which included 'the ritual sex act (Maithuna) which was a feature of Tantric yoga'. Given that 'sex is holy to a Tantric...Tantric art, writings and religious rituals glorify sex'.

Private worship
A sex organ 'makes an admirable fertility symbol, and has been worshipped as such privately from time to time, or even publicly...gives dramatic promise of productivity and protection'. Such "worship" may only become more common in late modernity, as 'in our secular culture sexuality often replaces religion as a means of pursuing the meaning of life'. Alan Watts maintains that 'when you are in love with someone, you do indeed see them as a divine being...through a tremendous outpouring of psychic energy in total devotion and worship for this other person'. A woman may 'want someone who adores me...like he was adoring my breasts with his hands'. A man (more ambivalently) may muse on 'the white breasts he worships; adores; is scared of; detests'. For Shakespeare, 'this is the liver-vein, which makes flesh a deity, a green goose a goddess; pure, pure idolatry'.

In the further reaches of chick lit, 'the male organ...becomes a tower of strength, a tree trunk in girth, the pillar that sustains the universe...a Pillar of Hercules, sustaining heaven' —evidence perhaps that 'the phallic religious tendency is alive in the modern and the civilized...a compulsive fascination' with what Jung termed 'the phallus as the quintessence of life and fruitfulness'. Correspondingly, the Western adept may borrow, in the quest 'to create a Sacred Space...names given to the vagina in the East, including Valley of Joy, Great Jewel, Pearl, Lotus Blossom, Moist Cave, Ripe Peach, Enchanted Garden, and Full Moon'.

Literature
In the Satyricon, the hero is throughout 'hounded by the mighty rage of Priapus of Hellespont'—almost certainly because early on he 'has offended Priapus...by impersonating him in some sexual ceremonies'.

title: Sexual ritual


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Walther Rathenau

Walther Rathenau (29 September 1867 – 24 June 1922) was a German industrialist, writer and politician who served as foreign minister of Germany from February to June 1922.

Rathenau was one of Germany's leading industrialists in the late German Empire. During World War I, he played a key role in the organisation of the German war economy and headed the War Raw Materials Department from August 1914 to March 1915.

After the war, Rathenau was an influential figure in the politics of the Weimar Republic. In 1921 he was appointed minister of reconstruction and a year later became foreign minister. Rathenau negotiated the 1922 Treaty of Rapallo, which normalised relations and strengthened economic ties between Germany and Soviet Russia. The agreement, along with Rathenau's insistence that Germany fulfil its obligations under the Treaty of Versailles, led right-wing nationalist groups (including a nascent Nazi Party) to brand him part of a Jewish-communist conspiracy.

Two months after the signing of the treaty, Rathenau was assassinated by members of the ultra-nationalist Organisation Consul in Berlin. His death was followed by national mourning as well as widespread demonstrations against counter-revolutionary terrorism, which briefly strengthened the Weimar Republic. Rathenau came to be viewed as a democratic martyr during the Weimar era. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, all commemorations of Rathenau were banned.

Early life
Rathenau was born in Berlin to Emil Rathenau, a prominent Jewish businessman and founder of the Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG), a producer of electricity and electrical equipment, and Mathilde Nachmann.

Education and business experience
Rathenau studied physics, chemistry and philosophy in Berlin and Strasbourg, and received a doctorate in physics in 1889 after studying under August Kundt.

Rathenau worked as a technical engineer in a Swiss aluminium factory and then as a manager in a small electro-chemical firm in Bitterfeld, where he conducted experiments in electrolysis. He returned to Berlin and joined the AEG board in 1899, becoming a leading industrialist in the late German Empire and early Weimar Republic. He set up power stations in Manchester, Buenos Aires and Baku. AEG acquired ownership of a streetcar company in Madrid, and in East Africa he purchased a British firm. In total he was involved with 84 companies worldwide. AEG was particularly praised for vertical integration methods and a strong emphasis on supply chain management. Rathenau developed an expertise in business restructuring and turning companies around. His strong organizational abilities made his company very successful. He made substantial profits from commercial lending on a wide industrial scale, which he then reinvested in capital and assets.

Visits to Germany's African colonies
During the same period, Rathenau was becoming interested in politics. He became close friends with the businessman Bernhard Dernburg, who was appointed Germany's first colonial secretary in May 1907. Dernburg introduced Rathenau to Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow, who agreed that at his own expense Rathenau could accompany Dernburg on official visits to the colonies of German East Africa in 1907 and German Southwest Africa in 1908. Soon after returning from East Africa, Rathenau submitted a report to the German government which was influential in developing official policy towards the colony. Like Dernburg, Rathenau believed that African workers were the most valuable resource in the colony and that it was essential to care for their well-being. Rathenau also argued that the colonial justice system must treat Africans fairly.

During his time in German South West Africa, Rathenau condemned the treatment of the Herero people, referring to the Herero and Namaqua genocide as "the greatest atrocity that has ever been brought about by German military policy". He condemned the "system of deportation and concentration camps" and described the "present position of the native" as having the "outward appearance of slavery".

Thoughts on German Jews
Rathenau's main personal characteristics were courage, vision, imagination, tenacity and creativity. Along with seeing pleasure from profit's ability to elevate society as one of the joys of work, he also wrote about personal and social responsibility to the community and insisted that technology come to the aid of manual labourers. According to one biographer, Rathenau had a sense of inferiority in society that was due to his Jewishness, writing that over time Rathenau realised "that he had come into the world as a second-class citizen and that no amount of ability and merit could ever free him from the condition".

His German Jewish heritage and his accumulated wealth were both factors in establishing his deeply divisive reputation in German politics at a time of increasingly widespread antisemitism in Germany. In a 1918 book, he summed up his thoughts on growing up Jewish in Germany, writing that his patriotism and loyalty to his country were no different than that of any fellow German regardless of religion or ethnicity:

"I am a German of Jewish origin. My people are the German people, my homeland is Germany, my faith is German faith, which stands above denominations."At the time, there was a widespread belief in Germany that Jews could never put their country first. The idea that the Jews were "our misfortune", as the German nationalist historian Heinrich Treitschke wrote, led to the proliferation from the 1880s of antisemitic parties. There were no Jewish officers in the Prussian Army – the ruling class in the Imperial Officer Corps was both outspokenly and latently antisemitic and eventually supported the Nazis' antisemitic policies.

Rathenau was a strong proponent of full and radical assimilation of German Jews into German society. In his 1897 article Höre, Israel! ("Hear, O Israel!"), he wrote:

"Strange sight! In the midst of German life an isolated, strange human tribe, resplendently and conspicuously adorned, hot-blooded and animated in its behaviour. An Asian horde on the soil of the March of Brandenburg. The forced cheerfulness of these people does not betray the amount of old, unquenched hatred that rests on their shoulders. Little do they know that only an age that keeps all natural forces in check is able to protect them from what their fathers would have suffered. In close association with each other, strictly closed off from the outside – thus they live in a semi-voluntary, invisible ghetto, not a living member of the people but a foreign organism in its body. ... What, then, must happen? An event without historical precedent: the conscious self-education of a race to assimilate to outside demands. ... Assimilation in the sense that tribal qualities – regardless of whether they are good or bad – that are demonstrably hateful to fellow Germans are cast off and replaced by more suitable ones. ... The goal of the processes should not be imitation Germans, but Jews who are German by nature and education."

War Raw Materials Department
Rathenau played a key role in convincing the War Ministry to set up the War Raw Materials Department (Kriegsrohstoffabteilung, KRA), of which he was put in charge in August 1914 and where he established its fundamental policies and procedures. The KRA focused on raw materials threatened by the British blockade, as well as supplies from occupied Belgium and France. It set prices, regulated the distribution to vital war industries and began the development of substitute raw materials.

He left the KRA in March 1915 and became president of AEG upon his father's death in June of that year.

Postwar statesman
Rathenau was a moderate liberal in politics. After World War I, he joined the German Democratic Party (DDP) and moved to the left in the face of postwar chaos. Passionate about social equality, he rejected state ownership of industry and instead advocated greater worker participation in the management of companies. His ideas were influential in postwar governments, although in 1919 when his name was mentioned in the Weimar National Assembly as a candidate for president of Germany, there was a burst of laughter among the other members. Referring to the extreme right-wing organizations that arose within months of the communist-inspired Spartacist uprising in January 1919, he said in the Reichstag that they were, "the product of a state in which for centuries no one has ruled who was not a member of, or a convert to, military feudalism".

In 1920, he worked on the Socialisation Commission, a group of experts set up by the Council of the People's Deputies in November 1918 to examine ways of socialising parts of the German economy, and took part in the Spa Conference, at which German disarmament and reparations were discussed. Because of his international reputation and negotiating skills, he became minister of reconstruction in Chancellor Joseph Wirth's cabinet in May 1921. He supported Wirth's "fulfilment policy", which attempted to show that Germany was unable to meet the Entente's reparations demands by making a good faith effort to fulfil them. In October he concluded the Wiesbaden Agreement with France on private-sector German deliveries of goods to French war victims. Rathenau resigned as minister at the end of October when the DDP withdrew from the governing coalition, but he continued to work for the government in London and at the Cannes Conference on reparations.

Foreign minister
In 1922, Rathenau became foreign minister in Wirth's second cabinet. His insistence that Germany should fulfil its obligations under the Treaty of Versailles but work for a revision of its terms infuriated extreme German nationalists. He also angered them by negotiating the Treaty of Rapallo with the Soviet Union, which was signed on 16 April 1922 on the sidelines of the Conference of Genoa. The Rapallo Treaty, which normalised relations between Germany and the USSR, allowed Germany to return to the international diplomatic stage but isolated it from the Western powers.

The leaders of the still obscure Nazi Party and other extremist groups claimed that he was part of a "Jewish-communist conspiracy", despite the fact that he was a liberal German nationalist who had bolstered the country's war effort. The British politician Robert Boothby wrote of him, "He was something that only a German Jew could simultaneously be: a prophet, a philosopher, a mystic, a writer, a statesman, an industrial magnate of the highest and greatest order, and the pioneer of what has become known as 'industrial rationalisation'."

Assassination and aftermath
On 24 June 1922, two months after the signing of the Treaty of Rapallo, Rathenau was assassinated. He was being chauffeured from his house in Berlin-Grunewald to the Foreign Office in the Wilhelmstraße when his car was passed by another with Ernst Werner Techow behind the wheel and Erwin Kern and Hermann Fischer in the back seat. Kern opened fire with a submachine gun at close range, killing Rathenau almost instantly, while Fischer threw a hand grenade into the car before Techow quickly drove them away. Also involved in the plot were Techow's younger brother Hans Gerd Techow, future writer Ernst von Salomon, and Willi Günther (aided and abetted by seven others, some of them schoolboys). All conspirators were members of the ultra-nationalist secret Organisation Consul. A memorial stone in the Königsallee in Grunewald marks the scene of the crime.

Historian Martin Sabrow points to Hermann Ehrhardt, the leader of the Organisation Consul, as the one who ordered the murders. Ehrhardt and his men believed that Rathenau's death would bring down the government and prompt the Left to act against the Weimar Republic, thereby provoking civil war in which the Organisation Consul would be called on for help by the Reichswehr. After an anticipated victory Ehrhardt hoped to establish an authoritarian regime or a military dictatorship. He carefully saw to it that no connections between him and the assassins could be detected. Although Fischer and Kern contacted the Berlin chapter of the Organisation Consul to use its resources, they mainly acted on their own in planning and carrying out the assassination. The historian Michael Kellogg argued that Vasily Biskupsky, Erich Ludendorff and his advisor Max Bauer, all members of the Aufbau Vereinigung, a group of tsarist exiles and early Nazis, colluded in the assassination of Rathenau, although the degree of their participation was not entirely clear.

Millions of Germans gathered on the streets to express their grief and demonstrate against counter-revolutionary terrorism. When the news of Rathenau's death became known in the Reichstag, the session turned into turmoil. DNVP politician Karl Helfferich in particular became the target of scorn because he had recently made a vitriolic attack upon Rathenau. During the official memorial ceremony the next day, Chancellor Joseph Wirth from the Centre Party made a speech which soon became famous. While pointing to the right side of the parliamentary floor, he said, "There is the enemy – and there is no doubt about it: The enemy is on the right!"

The crime itself was soon cleared up. Willi Günther had bragged about his participation in public. After his arrest on 26 June, he confessed to the crime without holding anything back. Hans Gerd Techow was arrested the following day, and Ernst Werner Techow, who was visiting his uncle, was taken into custody three days later. Fischer and Kern, however, remained on the loose. After a daring flight, which kept Germany in suspense for more than two weeks, they were finally spotted at Saaleck Castle in Thuringia, whose owner was a secret member of the Organisation Consul. On 17 July, they were confronted by two police detectives. While waiting for reinforcements during the standoff, one of the detectives fired at a window, unknowingly killing Kern by a bullet in the head. Fischer then took his own life.

When the case was brought to court in October 1922, Ernst Werner Techow was the only defendant charged with murder. Twelve more defendants were arraigned on various charges, among them Hans Gerd Techow and Ernst von Salomon, who had spied out Rathenau's habits and kept in contact with the Organisation Consul, as well as the commander of the Organisation Consul in Western Germany, Karl Tillessen, a brother of Matthias Erzberger's assassin Heinrich Tillessen, and his adjutant Hartmut Plaas. The prosecution left aside the political implications of the plot and focused upon the issue of antisemitism. Before his assassination, Rathenau had been the frequent target of vicious antisemitic attacks, and the assassins had also been members of the violently antisemitic Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund. According to Ernst Werner Techow, Kern had argued that Rathenau had to be murdered because he had intimate relations with Bolshevik Russia and had even married his sister to the communist Karl Radek – a complete fabrication – and that Rathenau himself had confessed to being one of the three hundred "Elders of Zion" as described in the notorious antisemitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. (Ernst von Salomon later claimed that Kern's argument was merely a pretext. Historian Norman Cohn believes that Techow's evidence stands.)

The defendants vigorously denied that they had killed Rathenau because he was Jewish. The prosecution was unable to fully uncover the involvement of the Organisation Consul in the plot. Tillessen and Plaas were convicted of non-notification of a crime and sentenced to three and two years in prison, respectively. Salomon received five years imprisonment for accessory to murder. Ernst Werner Techow narrowly escaped a death sentence when, in a last-minute confession, he managed to convince the court that he had acted only under the threat of death by Kern. Instead he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for being an accessory to murder.

Initially, the reactions to Rathenau's assassination strengthened the Weimar Republic. The most notable response was the enactment of the Law for the Protection of the Republic, which took effect on 22 July 1922. It set up special courts to address politically motivated violence, established severe penalties for political murders and gave government the authority to ban extremist groups. As long as the Weimar Republic existed, the date 24 June remained a day of public commemorations. In public memory, Rathenau's death increasingly appeared to be a martyr-like sacrifice for democracy.

The situation changed with the Nazi seizure of power in 1933. The Nazis systematically wiped out public commemoration of Rathenau by destroying monuments to him, closing the Walther-Rathenau-Museum in his former mansion and renaming streets and schools dedicated to him. Instead, a memorial plate to Kern and Fischer was solemnly unveiled at Saaleck Castle in July 1933, and in October 1933, a monument was erected on the assassins' grave.

The Nuremberg U-Bahn station Rathenauplatz is not only named after him but also bears his face in portrait along the walls.

Fictional portrayals
Rathenau is generally acknowledged to be, in part, the basis for the German noble and industrialist Paul Arnheim, a character in Robert Musil's novel The Man Without Qualities. Rathenau also appears as the ghostly subject of a Nazi seance in a famous scene in Thomas Pynchon's Gravity%27s Rainbow. In 2017, the events and aftermath of Rathenau's assassination were depicted in the first episode of the National Geographic series Genius.

Works

 * Reflektionen (1908)
 * Zur Kritik der Zeit (1912)
 * Zur Mechanik des Geistes (1913)
 * Von kommenden Dingen (1917)
 * Vom Aktienwesen. Eine geschäftliche Betrachtung (1917)
 * An Deutschlands Jugend (1918)
 * Die neue Gesellschaft (1919) The New Society translated by Arthur Windham, (1921) New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co.
 * Der neue Staat (1919)
 * Der Kaiser (1919)
 * Kritik der dreifachen Revolution (1919)
 * Was wird werden (1920, a utopian novel)
 * Gesammelte Schriften (6 volumes)
 * Gesammelte Reden (1924)
 * Briefe (1926, 2 volumes)
 * Neue Briefe (1927)
 * Politische Briefe (1929)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Walther Rathenau


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Saint-Rémy-Blanzy

Saint-Rémy-Blanzy is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France.

title: Saint-Rémy-Blanzy


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Twins (group)

Twins are a Hong Kong Cantopop duo that was created in the summer of 2001 by Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG). Twins are made up of two girls, Charlene Choi (蔡卓妍) and Gillian Chung (鍾欣潼). They are a popular group in Hong Kong and a top band in mainland China. Their fan-base have included Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Canada, Australia, United States, Vietnam and Philippines. Their music was generally targeted at young teens, but in 2004 they began to attract a wider audience by venturing into different styles of music. In February 2008 the duo temporarily separated after the Edison Chen photo scandal involving Gillian Chung. The group reunited two years later in 2010.

Since 2001, the group has released twelve Cantonese studio albums, four Mandarin studio albums, three extended plays, five compilation albums and four live albums. Most of their singles reached the top of many musical charts.

2001–2003: Debut and first albums
Gillian Chung had also worked as a part-time model during one of her summer vacations in Hong Kong. Similar to her erstwhile partner, Charlene Choi was also a part-time model who had appeared in several advertisements. She became famous after her participation in the Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) television program Y2K. Both caught the attention of EEG manager Mani Fok (霍汶希). They subsequently auditioned for and later formed the duo known as "Twins".

Twins signed to Emperor Entertainment Group and were formed on 18 May 2001. According to Mani Fok, EEG's plan for Twins was to emulate the success of the Japanese duo KinKi Kids. In August 2001, they released their debut extended play Twins (AVEP) with hit single "Open Love, Secret Love, Tutoring Institute". This EP contained 3 music videos and 6 songs. As part of album promotions, Twins collaborated with MSN to make personal pages and web games. In addition, EEG bundled gifts and coupons with the EP, so that teenage album owners got more value from their purchase by receiving things like hair care products and vouchers for dance courses. It went platinum in its first week of selling. In November, Twins released their second EP Twins' Love, which contained 8 songs and 1 music video for the lead single, "Slam Drunking Love".

In January 2002, Twins released their third EP Twins. The EP contained one CD with five new songs, and a VCD, with 2 music videos. Since it was near Chinese New Year, the single "Ma Bao 668" was a greeting song for Chinese New Year. In May 2002, Twins finally released their debut album Our Souvenir with two discs. Disc one, CD contained 10 tracks with single "Er Ren Shi Jie Bei". Disc two was a VCD, with two music videos. Their debut album (just like a debut EP) was a great success. In August 2002, Twins released second album Amazing Album, consisted of two discs, CD with 11 songs, and a DVD with three videos. In 2002, Twins had their first concert ever, and three more in 2003 (which were held in Guangzhou).

Between 2001 and 2003, the duo received a total of 72 total awards. By 2003, they have received a large number of awards from the four major Hong Kong media organizations of RTHK, Commercial Radio Hong Kong, Metro Radio and TVB. In April 2003, they released third album, Touch of Love. It contained two discs, CD and DVD. Two months later, in June 2003, the second version of the album was released with a new single and its music video "Bian Bian Bian". The song was theme for their movie The Twins Effect and sung by Twins and Jackie Chan. With the brand new look, Twins released 1 disc 10 track fourth album named Evolution in September 2003.

2004–2005: Continued success with Cantonese releases, Singing in the Twins Wonderland albums and Mandarin debut
In 2004, Twins had released four volumes of their children albums Singing in the Twins Wonderland, which were released for little children and it contained English nursery rhymes and stories. In January 2004, Twins released fifth studio album Magic, consisted of eleven songs. It was called Magic to emphasis their new musical style and the theme of the album. The Twins' Girl Power was the Olympic-themed album released in June 2004. It came in a special edition package. Included are: Six mini posters measuring 15" x 20" Twins Effect 2 beverage coaster Lucky draw scratch-and-win card for the music VCD. Similar to their previous albums, this album was larger than usual, using a large cardboard book-like package to carry the AVCD and posters. There were six different colored fabric bands wrapped around the package. Included is the theme song for Twins Effect II, (Love Is Invincible, seventh track).

In early 2005, Twins released their debut Mandarin album Trainee Cupid. In June 2005, one year after the last Cantopop album, Twins released their sixth studio album Samba with the singles "Samba Queen" and "Pink Guitar". Their seventh studio album The Missing Piece, was released in December 2005, after their album 36 Stratagems. They made a popular concert with the same name where they hugged each other and released a live/video album "Twins: The Missing Piece Concert".

In December 2005, a rumor mentioned the splitting of the two singers. However, they attended the May 2006 MTV Asia Awards in Thailand together. They were nominated for and won the Hong Kong Favorite Artist Award.

2006–2009: Final albums, touring and disbandment
In June 2006, they released their second mandarin album Around the World with 80 Dollars which was a great success. Tracks "One Time Not Twice" and "I Really Want to Love Him" were nominated, and album Around the World with 80 Dollars won Top 10 Gold Songs at the Hong Kong TVB8 Awards, presented by television station TVB8, in 2006. The eighth album Ho Hoo Tan was released in September 2006. It consisted of a CD and a DVD with music videos. At the 2006 Hong Kong Entertainment Awards ceremony Choi tearfully acknowledged that there have been criticisms of the Twins' singing abilities and that she hoped that they could better improve in the coming year.

In February 2007, they celebrated their sixth year together in the Hong Kong music industry. They released a special Sixth Anniversary New + Best Selection CD/DVD. In September of the same year, Twins embarked on a multi-city North American concert tour, with special guests Sun Boy'Z. International stops included San Francisco, Toronto, and Atlantic City. It was their first time performing on a major tour across several North American cities. In 2007, Twins released their ninth studio album Twins Party. The album was a success. It was released in three versions: Twins version, Gillian solo version and Charlene solo version.

In early January 2008, Twins won two major awards at the 2007 Jade Solid Gold Top 10. They earned the most popular group award as well as the most popular Asia Pacific region female artist award. That year, Twins released their third Mandarin and final album before their hiatus, titled Twins Language. The group was dragged into the fray when Gillian was involved in the Edison Chen photo scandal. Her private images were among those which found their way onto the internet at the end of February 2008. With Gillian deciding to duck out of the public eye, Twins announced its "temporary dissolution" in July 2008. Charlene said she was highly optimistic that they would reunite some day in the future.

On 16 January 2009, during a TVB interview on My 2008 (我的2008), Choi talked about how she handled the media. During the 31st RTHK Top 10 Gold Songs Awards hosted in January 2009, Choi said Twins would return.

2010–present: Reunion, 3650, 2 Be Free and #LOL
Two years after the split, many wondered whether Twins had become a myth. In February 2010, Charlene Choi talked to the media about her experience in going solo. She summed up the experience by describing the name of her song "Two without one" (二缺一). She said that Twins was a symbol for their generation, and that they would never break up.

On the night of 27 February 2010 the "EEG 10th anniversary concert" was held at The Venetian Macao luxury hotel. A number of singers were present including EEG and non-EEG representatives. Some notables include Joey Yung, Nicholas Tse, Leo Ku, Vincy Chan, William Chan, Yumiko Cheng, Anthony Wong and many more. Gillian Chung and Charlene Choi appeared on stage together for the first time in two years to do a small performance for the anniversary concert. They sang (風箏與風), (下一站天后), (女校男生), (飲歌), (戀愛大過天) and (人人彈起).

A few days later on 3 March, Twins appeared in public at the Harbour plaza after parading around in a purple Porsche. A public announcement was made that Twins would reunite to perform in a three-day "Nokia Twins 2010 concert" from 16 to 18 April at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Hung Hom. The last time they performed at the same stage was four years previously.

In 2011, Twins released their comeback Mandarin album 3650. They released it as a celebration of 10th anniversary of their first project. The album had many covers, which were their photos (like "Our Souvenir" album cover) that were re-taken in 2011. In March 2012, Twins released their new, twelfth studio album titled 2 Be Free. Album contained one disc with ten new songs and a DVD with 3 new music videos.

After their album 2 Be Free was released, Chung and Choi focused on their solo careers again. Chung released two studio albums Vernicia Flower (2013) and Wholly Love (2014). Choi also released albums Montage (2012) and Blooming (2013). However, they reunited at 2015 Emperor Group Annual Celebration & Emperor Entertainment Group 15th Anniversary Ceremony on 1 February 2015 in Beijing, China. Twins performed in the Hong Kong Coliseum on the last day of 2015, as well as the first day of 2016 until 4 January. Their last performance was said to be filmed for their upcoming concert DVD and it lasted for 3.5 hours where their last encore was a full hour.

Discography

 * Cantonese studio albums
 * Our Souvenir (2002)
 * Amazing Album (2002)
 * Touch of Love (2003)
 * Evolution (2003)
 * Magic (2004)
 * Girl Power (2004)
 * Samba (2005)
 * 36 Stratagems (2005)
 * The Missing Piece (2005)
 * Ho Hoo Tan (2006)
 * Twins Party (2007)
 * 2 Be Free (2012)
 * LOL Ep1/Ep2 (2015)
 * Mandarin studio albums
 * Trainee Cupid (2005)
 * Around the World with 80 Dollars (2006)
 * Twins Language (2008)
 * 3650 (2011)

Filmography
Featuring both Charlene and Gillian:

Concerts

 * 13–15 September 2002 | Ichiban Amazing Show (Twins Ichiban 興奮演唱會)
 * 18–19 January 2003 | Matsunichi Twins Guangzhou Amazing Show (松日Twins廣州興奮演唱會)
 * 25 June 2003 | Tou Hao Ren Wu Chang Hao Music Concert (頭號人物唱好音樂會)
 * 2 August 2003 | Netvigator NETCash Pop-up Concert ( 網上行叱吒樂壇Pop-Up音樂會)
 * 31 December 2003 – 4 January 2004 | Matsunichi Twins 04 Concert (Twins 04 好玩演唱會)
 * 3 June 2005 | Starlight Amusement Park Concert (Australia)
 * 4–7 January 2006 | Twins Star Mobile Incomparable Concert (Twins 星Mobile 一時無兩演唱會)
 * 18–19 August 2006 | Twins Concert in Genting Malaysia
 * 15 September 2007 | Twins in Concert Cow Palace, San Francisco/Daly city
 * 18 September 2007 | Twins Concert in Toronto at Casino Rama (我們相愛6年)
 * 22–23 September 2007 | Twins Sixth Anniversary World Tour 2007 [Atlantic City] (Twins 我們相愛6年 環遊世界[大西洋城]演唱會)
 * 16–18 April 2010 | Nokia Twins Everyone Bounce Concert (Nokia 舞樂作動 Twins 人人彈起演唱會)
 * 13 November 2010 | Twins Everyone Bounce Concert Live in Macau (Twins 人人彈起 Concert Live in Macau)
 * 31 December 2015 – 4 January 2016 | Twins #LOL #LiveinHK Concert
 * 21–23, 25–29 January 2024; 1–6 February 2024 | Twins Spirit Since 2001 Live in Hong Kong

Photo albums

 * August 2001 Twins Love the Colorful Travel 112 pages
 * November 2001 Twins 1+1 Photo Album 96 pages
 * August 2003 Twins Love Hong Kong 112 pages
 * December 2004 Twins Hold Hands Hong Kong 112 pages

title: Twins (group)


text:
Mort Walker

Addison Morton Walker (September 3, 1923 – January 27, 2018) was an American comic strip writer, best known for creating the newspaper comic strips Beetle Bailey in 1950 and Hi and Lois in 1954. He signed Addison to some of his strips.

Early life
Walker was born in El Dorado, Kansas, as the third of four children in the family. His siblings were Peggy W. Harman (1915–2012), Robin Ellis Walker (1918–2013) and Marilou W. White (1927–2021). After a couple of years, his family moved to Amarillo, Texas, and later to Kansas City, Missouri, in late 1927, where his father, Robin Adair Walker (d. 1950), was an architect, while his mother, Carolyn Richards Walker (d. 1970), worked as a newspaper staff illustrator. He was of Scottish, Irish, and English descent. One of his ancestors was a doctor aboard the Mayflower.

During his elementary school years, he drew for a student newspaper. He attended Northeast High School, where he was a cheerleader, school newspaper editor, yearbook art editor, stage actor in a radio show and ran neighborhood teen center that belonged to several organizations. He had his first comic published at age 11 and sold his first cartoon at 12. At age 14, he regularly sold gag cartoons to Child's Life, Flying Aces, and Inside Detective magazines. When he was 15, he drew a comic strip, The Lime Juicers, for the weekly Kansas City Journal, and worked as a staff artist at the same time for an industrial publisher. At age 18, he was the chief editorial designer for Hallmark Brothers (later Hallmark Cards) and was instrumental in changing the company's cards from cuddly bears to gag cartoons, which were more suitable for soldiers.

Graduating from Northeast High School, he attended one year at Kansas City Junior College in 1942–43 before going to the University of Missouri. Walker's physical presence in Columbia is noted by The Shack, which was a rambling burger joint behind Jesse Hall on Conley Avenue. Images resembling the interior of the shack appeared in Beetle Bailey cartoons and is mentioned by name in the September 14, 1950 Beetle Bailey strip. Walker visited the Shack on return trips to Columbia with the last being to the original structure in 1978. The Shack was destroyed in a fire in 1988 and Walker returned in 2010 for dedication of a replica of the building in the student center with the dining area now formally called "Mort's". A life-sized bronze statue of Beetle Bailey stands in front of the alumni center which is near The Shack's original location.

Military service
In 1943, Walker was drafted into the United States Army and served in Italy, where he was an intelligence and investigating officer and was also in charge of an Allied camp for 10,000 German POWs. After the war he was posted to Italy where he was in charge of an Italian guard company. He was discharged as a first lieutenant in 1947.

Comic strips
Walker graduated in 1948 from the University of Missouri, where he was the editor and art director of the college's humor magazine, Showme, and was president of the local Kappa Sigma chapter. After graduation, Walker went to New York to pursue a career in cartooning. He began doing Spider, a one-panel series for The Saturday Evening Post, about a lazy, laid-back college student. When he decided he could make more money doing a multi-panel comic strip, Spider morphed into Beetle Bailey, eventually distributed by King Features Syndicate to 1,800 newspapers in more than 50 countries for a combined readership of 200 million daily.

In 1954, Walker and Dik Browne teamed to launch Hi and Lois, a spin-off of Beetle Bailey (Lois was Beetle's sister). Under the pseudonym "Addison", Walker began Boner's Ark in 1968. Other comic strips created by Walker include Gamin and Patches, Mrs. Fitz's Flats, The Evermores (with Johnny Sajem), Sam's Strip, and Sam and Silo (the last two with Jerry Dumas). In 2008 the collection was moved to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University.

In 1974, Walker opened the Museum of Cartoon Art, the first museum devoted to the art of comics. It was initially located in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Rye Brook, New York, before moving to Boca Raton, Florida, in 1992.

During his life he drew special drawings for individuals, in particular for those who were ill.

From previous marriages, Walker and his wife, Catherine, had ten children between them. Walker's sons Brian and Greg Walker produce the Hi and Lois strip with Chance Browne.

Books
In addition to books about comics and children's books, Walker has collected his strips into 92 "Beetle Bailey" paperbacks and 35 "Hi and Lois" paperbacks, plus writing his autobiography, Mort Walker's Scrapbook: Celebrating a Life of Love and Laughter.

In his book The Lexicon of Comicana (1980), written as a satirical look at the devices cartoonists use, Walker popularized a vocabulary called Symbolia, including the term "squeans" to describe the starbusts and little circles that appear around a cartoon's head to indicate intoxication, and grawlixes to indicate the typographical symbols that stand for profanities, which appear in dialogue balloons in the place of actual dialogue.

In 2006, he launched a 24-page magazine, The Best of Times, distributed free throughout Connecticut and available online. It features artwork, puzzles, editorial cartoons, ads, and a selection of articles, comics and columns syndicated by King Features. His son, Neal Walker, was the editor and publisher. Between 2006 and 2010, they published 27 issues.

Exhibitions
In September 2000, the University of Missouri staged a Beetle Bailey 50th-anniversary exhibition in the grand concourse of the Elmer Ellis Library, displaying original daily and Sunday strips, published reprints and poster-size lithographs of selected strips.

Awards
In 1974, Walker founded the National Cartoon Museum, and in 1989 was inducted into its Museum of Cartoon Art Hall of Fame. He received the Reuben Award of 1953 for Beetle Bailey, the National Cartoonists Society's Humor Strip Award for 1966 and 1969, the Gold T-Square Award in 1999, the Elzie Segar Award for 1977 and 1999, and numerous other awards. In 1978, Walker received the American Legion's Fourth Estate Award, and in 2000, he was given the Decoration for Distinguished Civilian Service by the United States Army. He was awarded the Inkpot Award in 1979.

Walker received the Sparky Award for lifetime achievement from the Cartoon Art Museum at the 2010 New York Comic Con. On September 29, 2017, Walker was honored at Yankee Stadium, during the 7th-inning stretch, for his service in World War II.

Personal life and death
Walker was married in 1949 to his first wife, Jean Suffill, whom he had met during his time at the University of Missouri. They had seven children: Greg, Brian, Polly, Morgan, Marjorie, Neal, and Roger. The marriage later ended in a divorce in 1985. His second wife was Catherine Prentice, whom he married on August 24, 1985. Walker had three stepchildren via Cathy and her previous marriage to cartoonist John Prentice.

Walker died from complications of pneumonia on January 27, 2018, at his home in Stamford, Connecticut. He was 94 years old. He was interred at Willowbrook Cemetery in Westport, Connecticut.

title: Mort Walker


text:
Special Branch

Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and intelligence in British, Commonwealth, Irish, and other police forces. A Special Branch unit acquires and develops intelligence, usually of a political or sensitive nature, and conducts investigations to protect the State from perceived threats of subversion, particularly terrorism and other extremist political activity.

The first Special Branch, or Special Irish Branch, as it was then known, was a unit of London's Metropolitan Police formed in March 1883 to combat the Irish Republican Brotherhood. The name became Special Branch as the unit's remit widened to include more than just Irish Republican-related counterespionage.

Australia
Most state police forces and the federal police had a Special Branch. They were tasked mainly with monitoring the Communist Party of Australia and related political groups regarded as extremist or subversive. They also focused on German and Japanese activity during World War II.
 * The Commonwealth Police Force was formed in 1917 as "a form of federal special branch" under the War Precautions Act 1914. It was disbanded in 1919.
 * The Commonwealth Police Special Branch was established in 1957. It was absorbed into the Australian Federal Police in 1979.
 * The Australian Federal Police Special Branch was renamed the Special Intelligence Branch in 1985 and merged into the Security Intelligence & Diplomatic Liaison Branch in 1995.
 * The New South Wales Police Force Subversive Organisations Branch was formed in 1933. It was combined with the Commonwealth Police, Royal Australian Navy Police and Australian Army Police at the outbreak of World War II to form the Military/Police Intelligence Branch. The civilian component was formed back into the Police Subversive Organisations Branch in 1946, which was renamed Special Branch in 1948. The Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service found Special Branch was gathering information on people who posed no threat of politically motivated violence, and as a result it was disbanded in 1997.
 * The Queensland Police Special Bureau was formed on 30 July 1940 and renamed Special Branch on 7 April 1948. It has been criticised for being used for political purposes by the Bjelke-Petersen government in the 1970s and 1980s, such as enforcing laws against protests (sometimes outnumbering the protesters or using provocateurs to incite violence so the protesters could be arrested ) and investigating and harassing political opponents. It was disbanded in 1989 following a recommendation by the Fitzgerald Inquiry into police corruption. The Special Branch destroyed its records before Fitzgerald could subpoena them.
 * South Australia Police formed an Intelligence Branch at the outbreak of World War II in 1939, which was disbanded in 1945. A Subversive Section was established in 1947 and renamed Special Branch in 1949. It amassed files on Australian Labor Party politicians, church leaders, trade unionists and so-called "pink files" on gay community activists at a time when homosexuality was still illegal. The South Australia Police was deliberately vague about the existence of Special Branch. In 1970, Commissioner Harold Salisbury told Premier Don Dunstan that Special Branch did not exist. A 1977 inquiry by Justice White of the Supreme Court of South Australia confirmed the existence and found the files were "scandalously inaccurate, irrelevant to security purposes and outrageously unfair to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of loyal and worthy citizens". Dunstan sacked Salisbury for misleading Parliament about the existence of the "pink files". Special Branch was disbanded in 1984.
 * The Victoria Police Special Branch was formed in 1931 and disbanded in 1983. Similar work in monitoring terrorism is conducted by the Security Intelligence Group, established in 2000.

Bahamas
The Security and Intelligence Branch, also known as Special Branch, is the main domestic intelligence and security service in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. It is mandated to perform intelligence operations inside the Bahamas to ensure the safety of Bahamian citizens and foreigners. The branch is also mandated to perform background checks on persons who have been recruited for jobs such as police officers and defence force officers and to check persons up for promotions. The Director of the Security Intelligence Branch holds the rank of Chief Superintendent.

Bangladesh
The Bangladeshi Special Branch is an intelligence agency of Bangladesh Police. The Special Branch has twelve different sections through which it carries out the directives of the Government and around 64 district based offices, called District Special Branch and also has offices in many Upazila/Thana areas. All the members are recruited from the Bangladesh Police. The chief of the Special Branch has the rank of Additional Inspector General (Addl IGP) and reports directly to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

Belize
It is responsible for the internal affairs of the country and collecting intelligence on behalf of the security services.

Brunei
The ISD was created to replace the Royal Brunei Police's Special Branch division, which was disbanded on August 1, 1993.

Canada
The RCMP Security Service was a counterintelligence unit or "Special Branch" from 1950 to 1984. It was replaced by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

Fiji
The Special Branch unit of the Fiji Police Force is classed as one of the best intelligence units in the Asia Pacific region. Similar to their Commonwealth counterparts, the Fijian Special Branch deals with matters of national security. They facilitate Interpol, counter terrorism, surveillance, anti-espionage and VIP protection units. Entry into Special Branch is usually by recruitment. Even though it is a police unit, Special Branch also recruits from the Republic of Fiji Military Forces.

The unit's name was changed to the Fiji Police Intelligence Bureau in 2009. According to the Fijian government, this was done due to the "impact of modern crimes with other unlawful and illegal activities in national development demands dramatic changes in the Force." This was also done while the police force was being modernised.

Hong Kong
In the face of a perceived direct Communist threat to Hong Kong, an Anti-Communist Squad was established in the Criminal Investigation Department of the then Hong Kong Police by 1930. It was named the Political Department in Chinese (政治部). In 1933, the squad's English name became "Special Branch" while its Chinese name remained unchanged. In addition to anti-subversion operations, its role during its first two decades also included immigration, passport control and registration of persons.

The division was disbanded in 1995, prior to the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997. Units of SB were reassigned under the Security Wing (Department B) – Crime and Security.

India
The Special Branch is a separate wing in the state police agencies in India. Like their counterparts in the United Kingdom, they deal with matters of state security. However, more serious espionage detection is the responsibility of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), India's federal internal security agency. The nomenclature varies from state to state, such as State Special Branch (SSB), Special Branch CID (SB-CID), State Intelligence Department (SID),etc.

The Special Branch functions at the state level and is headed by a senior-ranked officer, the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP). The State Special Branch is responsible for collecting, assessing, and collating significant intelligence and communicating it to the government through periodic and special reports. The special branch functions as an intelligence agency and as the eyes and ears of the respective state governments. The special branch consists of several units such as Intelligence, Security, Internal Security, and sub-units like the extremist cell, digital surveillance unit, organized crime cell, VVIP security, bomb detection disposal squad, foreigners cell, passport verification, etc."

There have been many allegations that the Special Branch is used by the ruling government for setting up surveillance on their political opponents. The Special Branch has its own Detective Constables, Head Constables, Inspector rankings and superior police officer rankings. Every police station is to have a Special Branch head constable or Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) (working plain clothes or Mufti), he would be observing the society in general, and also taking reports from the uniformed police constables on general patrol. The special branch staff play a very important role in collecting advance intelligence about law and order matters as well as illegal activities like cannabis plantation/transportation, illicit attacks, etc. They forward the information to the respective Superintendents of police for necessary action.

Ireland
In Ireland, the 'Special Branch' is known officially as the Special Detective Unit (SDU). The counter-terrorist and counterintelligence unit operates under the auspices of the Crime & Security Branch (CSB) of the Garda Síochána (Irish National Police). The SDU is responsible for the investigation of threats to state security and the monitoring of persons and groups who pose a threat on both national and international fronts. The SDU works closely with other special units within the Garda Síochána, such as the National Surveillance Unit (NSU) and Emergency Response Unit (ERU), and Ireland's national and military intelligence agency – the Defence Forces Directorate of Military Intelligence. The Special Detective Unit has a close working relationship with similar units in other western countries, particularly the United Kingdom, who share information to target, detect and disrupt the activities of terrorists.

Malaysia
The Malaysian Special Branch is an intelligence agency attached to the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP). The SB is empowered to acquire and develop intelligence on internal and external threats to the nation, subversive activities, extremist activities and activities of sabotage and spying. It is also empowered to analyse and advise on the necessary course of action to the various departments and agencies both within the Police Department and other related agencies.

Myanmar
The Special Branch under the control of the Myanmar Police Force is also known as the Special Intelligence Department.

New Zealand
The New Zealand Police Special Branch was formally created on 29 December 1949. At the time, the-then Police Commissioner Jim Cummings decided that the section of the Police Force dealing with subversive organisations would be designated the Special Branch, following a recent precedent established by a conference of Police Commissioners in Melbourne in November 1949. Its functions included dealing with subversive organisations and vetting public servants. Known targets of the Special Branch included the Communist Party of New Zealand, the Waterside Workers' Union, and the left-wing New Zealand diplomat and alleged KGB spy Desmond Patrick Costello and the civil servant and intellectual Bill Sutch. In November 1956, the Special Branch's functions were transferred to the New Zealand Security Service, which was later renamed the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service.

Pakistan
The Special Branch is an intelligence unit of the Police Service of Pakistan.

Papua New Guinea
Special Branch sections of the New Guinea Police Force and Royal Papuan Constabulary, in Australia-controlled Territory of Papua and Territory of New Guinea, were established in 1947. These were merged into the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary in 1950.

Rhodesia
The British South Africa Police (BSAP) developed its Special Branch in the early 1950s amid growing political unrest in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. It remained active following the dissolution of the federation and was instrumental in creating the Selous Scouts during the Rhodesian Bush War. Following formal recognition of Zimbabwean independence in 1980, the Special Branch was succeeded in part by the Central Intelligence Organisation and later, the Police Internal Security and Intelligence division (PISI).

Singapore
The Internal Security Department of Singapore was initially established as the Criminal Intelligence Department in 1918 after the Sepoy Mutiny of 1915. In 1933, the CID was renamed as Special Branch.

In 1939, it was restructured into the Malayan Security Service (MSS) which was not yet fully operational by the time of the outbreak of the Second World War. The MSS was disrupted by the Japanese invasion and subsequent occupation of Singapore and Malaya. It was disbanded in 1948 and two secret branches, one in Singapore and the other in Malaysia, were created.

The Singapore Special Branch (SSB) was first established on 23 August 1948 by the British colonial government, after the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) launched an armed uprising to establish a communist state. It was structured under the Singapore Police Force and headed by a Deputy Commissioner.

After Singapore achieved independence, the SSB was renamed as the Internal Security Department and became a separate agency on 17 February 1966, together with its foreign counterpart, the Security and Intelligence Division (SID). Both agencies operated under the former Ministry of Interior and Defence until 11 August 1970, when the ministry was split into the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and MHA with SID and ISD falling under the them respectively.

South Africa
During Apartheid, the South African Police's Security Branch, also known as the Special Branch was a police unit often used to attack anti-Apartheid groups using techniques and tactics including such as conducting surveillance, infiltrating meetings, recruiting informers, and obtaining documents and leaflets. They have also been linked to torture, extralegal detention, and forced disappearances and assassinations against anti-Apartheid activists in the ANC and SACP. They first gained this role in the 1960s, under the regime of Justice Minister "B.J." Vorster, who convened the Special Branch to target these groups. Controversially, they have also been linked to the bombing of anti-apartheid groups COSATU and SACC during the South African Truth & Reconciliation Committees. It is now the Crime Intelligence Unit which investigates crime but which continues to investigate groups perceived to be enemies of the state such as social movements.

Sri Lanka
The Special Branch of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) was created in late 1966 tasked with national security as an intelligence agency attached Ceylon Police Force. This was closed down in 1970.

United Kingdom
The first Special Branch in the world was that of the Metropolitan Police, formed in London in 1883, with each British police force going on to form its own Special Branch. In Northern Ireland, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (1922–2001) had the RUC Special Branch. Many of those in county and city police forces have since been merged or converted into inter-force regional counter terrorism units and organised crime units.

title: Special Branch


text:
Security Service

Security Service or security service may refer to:

Government

 * Security agency, a nation's institution for intelligence gathering
 * List of security agencies (MI5, NSA, KGB, etc.)
 * Sicherheitsdienst (SD), Nazi German agency which translates as "Security Service"
 * MI5, also called the Security Service, the United Kingdom's counter-intelligence and security agency
 * U.S. Air Force Security Service, a former designation of the US Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency
 * RCMP Security Service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's political intelligence branch
 * Swedish Security Service
 * Secret service, a government agency concerned with gathering intelligence data
 * Secret police, a police agency beyond the law to protect the political power of a dictator or regime

Other

 * Security service (telecommunication), security architecture for the interconnection of open systems
 * Security and Intelligence Services (India)
 * Private security company
 * Private military company

title: Security Service


text:
Ligier

Ligier is a French automobile and minibus maker created by former racing driver and rugby player Guy Ligier (1930–2015), specialized in the manufacturing of microcars. Ligier is best known for its involvement in the Formula 1 World Championship between 1976 and 1996.

In collaboration with Automobiles Martini, the Ligier-Martini entity offered sports prototypes used in endurance or hillclimbing (CN). After the announcement of the creation of the new category LMP3 by the ACO, Ligier and Martini associated with Onroak Automotive (the manufacturer department of OAK Racing) to offer a full range of prototypes (CN, LMP3, LMP1 and LMP2).

History
The firm entered the automobile business with the Ligier JS2, a mid-engined sports car for the road initially powered by a Ford V6 and from 1971 by the same Maserati V6 engine as the Citroën SM. The JS2 was considered by many as a well-designed car with a very good power-to-weight ratio. The Ligier motorcars were all designated with the prefix "JS" in honour of Ligier's great friend and cohort Jo Schlesser who was killed in the 1968 French Grand Prix while driving for Honda. The final SMs were also produced in the Ligier factory in Vichy. The 1973 energy crisis caused such a decline in the market for the JS2 that production ceased soon after, and the firm changed its focus to microcars, beginning with the 1980 moped-powered Ligier JS4.

One of the world's first experimental prototypes of automatic parallel parking was developed on a Ligier electric car at INRIA in the mid-1990s.

In September 2008, Ligier Automobiles completed its acquisition of Beneteau Group's Microcar division, with financing provided by 21 investimenti partners. Phillipe Ligier, son of the company's founder, remains as CEO. The Ligier and Microcar brands are to retain their separate identities and manufacturing facilities. The merger creates Europe's second largest microcar manufacturer (after Daimler's Smart unit, if one considers that a microcar), and largest manufacturer of drivers license-exempt vehicles.

In August 2018, Ligier teased a new road-going sports car to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The car will be built in collaboration with Onroak. It will feature a 3.7 liter V6 producing approximately 330 hp, and a 6-speed manual transmission. It will be homologated to FIA E II-SH regulation. More details are to be released in September 2018, and it is expected to go on sale in November 2018 at a price of €89,000.

Models
The Ligier model line currently consists of the JS50 line of mini cars, the X-Pro line of small commercial vehicles, and the Be Up/Be Two line of open-air, roadster-type vehicles. The company also produces a line of quad bikes and off-road utility vehicles sold as the Be Pro, Be Four, and Be Truck.

The JS50, Ixo, Xtoo, Nova or Ambra are about two and a half meters long and have two seats. They are front-engined. Power units include two 2-cylinder four-stroke diesels of about half a liter displacement and feature a CVT for power transfer.

EZ10
The Ligier vehicle that's gained the most attention, is EZ10 EasyMile, a self-driving shuttle bus for light city transit. EasyMile SAS develops and markets the autonomous vehicles, and is a joint venture formed in June 2014 by Ligier and Robosoft Technology PTE Ltd (France). The joint venture is the result of the CityMobil2 project co-funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development (FP7).

One EZ10 minibus can take between 8–10 passengers, and its speed is up to 40 km/h. In 2017, EZ-10 was introduced on the grounds of National Taiwan University in Taipei, and in Tallinn, Estonia.

In conjunction with Estonia's presidency of the EU Council, the minibus was presented in Tallinn on 14 July 2017 by EasyMile, and the tech companies in Estonia that co-financed the month-and-a-half-long project to bring the shuttle bus to the country. The buses will serve one line, including a stretch of tram line under reconstruction, and will run in Tallinn until the end of August.

Microcars

 * Ligier JS4 (1980–1987)
 * Ligier Optima (1987–1995)
 * Ligier 162 (1995–2002)
 * Ligier Ambra (2001-2011)
 * Ligier Nova (2002–present)
 * Ligier Be Up (2000–present)
 * Ligier X-Too (2004–2010)
 * Ligier IXO (2010–2014)
 * Ligier JS RC (2012–2016)
 * Ligier JS 50 (2012–present)
 * Ligier JS 60 (2020–present)
 * Ligier Pulse 3 (2014–present)
 * Ligier Pulse 4 (2013–present)
 * Ligier Myli (2023–present)

Ligier in motorsport

Ligier is best known for its Formula One team, Équipe Ligier, that operated from to. Ligier entered Formula One in with a Matra V12-powered car, winning its first Grand Prix with Jacques Laffite in.

Ligier also competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans from to.

title: Ligier


text:
Civil Contingencies Committee

The Civil Contingencies Committee is a British cabinet committee chaired by the Home Secretary. It is intended to deal with major crises such as terrorism or natural disasters. It is supported by the Civil Contingencies Secretariat, which is part of the Cabinet Office.

The Civil Contingencies Committee is held in Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, giving the committee its popular name COBRA. However, this is not an official name, even if it is sometimes used by officials.

The Civil Contingencies Committee, through the Civil Contingencies Secretariat, operates a website, UK Resilience, which is intended as a central source of public information on British civil defence and disaster preparedness activities.

title: Civil Contingencies Committee


text:
Civil Contingencies Secretariat

The Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS), created in July 2001 and disbanded in July 2022, was the executive department of the British Cabinet Office responsible for emergency planning in the UK. The role of the secretariat was to ensure the United Kingdom's resilience against disruptive challenge, and to do this by working with others to anticipate, assess, prevent, prepare, respond and recover. Until its creation in 2001, emergency planning in Britain was the responsibility of the Home Office. The CCS also supports the Civil Contingencies Committee, also known as COBR (or popularly – but incorrectly – as COBRA).

Formation
In the aftermath of the Y2K bug scare, the fuel protests of 2000, flooding in autumn 2000, and the foot and mouth epidemic of 2001 the UK government felt that the existing emergency management policies and structures were inadequate to deal with natural or man-made disasters, and formed the Civil Contingencies Secretariat in July 2001, located in the Cabinet Office. Soon after the 9/11 attacks the remit of the CCS was expanded to include mitigating the consequences of a large scale terrorist attack.

Until 2001 the Home Office carried out emergency preparedness planning through its Emergency Planning Division, which in turn replaced the Home Defence and Emergency Services Division. From 1935 to 1971 a separate department, called the Civil Defence Department (in the early years the Air Raid Precautions Department, Ministry of Home Security), existed.

Remit and reporting
In 2002 David Blunkett, then Home Secretary, stated, in a written reply to a parliamentary question: "The remit of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat is to make the United Kingdom more effective in planning for, dealing with, and learning lessons from emergencies and disasters."

- David Blunkett

He went on to state: "The Secretariat services the Civil Contingencies Committee, which I chair and in addition as part of the Cabinet Office reports to my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister (Mr. Blair) through the Cabinet Secretary (Sir Richard Wilson)."

- David Blunkett

The Civil Contingencies Committee, often informally referred to as COBR from the name of the room used, is a forum for ministers and senior officials to discuss and manage serious (level 2) and catastrophic (level 3) emergencies.

In 2010, the secretariat launched an emergency communications service based on the Skynet military communication satellite system, called High Integrity Telecommunications System, for use by UK police and other emergency services, primarily at Strategic Command Centres and at major events and emergencies. It replaced the earlier Emergency Communications Network.

Serco operates the Emergency Planning College in Easingwold, North Yorkshire under contract to the secretariat.

Structure
The secretariat was led by a director and initially comprised five divisions dealing with:

 * Assessment – assessing known risks and scanning for future potential risks
 * Capability Management – working with departments facing potential disruption, and advising on how to prevent or manage crisis
 * Communication and Learning – including the News Co-ordination Centre in the Cabinet Office and the Emergency Planning College
 * National Resilience Framework – developing partnerships between governmental agencies, voluntary agencies, local communities and private sector groups
 * Programme Co-ordination – providing secretariat support for the Civil Contingencies Committee

In 2012, the CCS still had five sections, with a slightly different emphasis:

 * Capabilities
 * Local Response Capabilities
 * Emergency Planning College
 * Horizon Scanning & Response
 * Natural Hazards Team

Reform and disbandment
Following the Covid pandemic, and as a result of the risks faced by the UK becoming more complex, interconnected and demanding, the Cabinet Office made changes in July 2022 to support how the government responds to emergencies and to improve the long-term resilience of the UK. The Civil Contingencies Secretariat was split into two separate resilience functions:

 * The COBR Unit, which will continue to lead the government's response to crisis, domestic and international, malicious and non-malicious
 * A Resilience Directorate, which will lead the government's efforts to bolster the UK's resilience. This unit is responsible for the government's work on national resilience, managing the resilience system, resilience frameworks and risk processes.

Directors of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat

 * Mike Granatt, CB (2001–2002)
 * Susan Scholefield, CMG (2002–2004)
 * Bruce Mann (2004–2009)
 * Christina Scott (2009–2013)
 * Campbell McCafferty (2013–2016)
 * Katharine Hammond (2016–2020)
 * Roger Hargreaves (2020–2022)

Documents issued
The CCS has produced the following documents:
 * Emergency Response and Recovery which provides non-statutory guidance to accompany the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. First published in November 2005, it was last updated in October 2013.

title: Civil Contingencies Secretariat


text:
Talk:In the wake of huge hog lots, what is replacing the heartland's family farms?

This is an unwieldy title; and the newspaper article was adapted into a book. It might be better to discuss both on the page for the book -- Tarquin 14:00 Jan 2, 2003 (UTC)