Special Branch

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

The first Special Branch, or Special Irish Branch, as it was 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.

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.

Special Branch (Bangladesh)

The Special Branch or SB is the prime intelligence agency of Bangladesh, being an important agency in the Bangladeshi intelligence community. The chief of the SB has the rank of Additional Inspector General (Addl IGP) (Grade - 1) who comes from Bangladesh Police, and directly reports to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh. The agency has around 64 district based offices, called District Special Branch (DSB) and also has offices in many Upazilla/Thana areas. All the members are recruited from the Bangladesh Police. The SB (Special Branch) has twelve different wings through which it carries out the directives of the Government. This is the only intelligence outfit of Bangladesh which works in all strategic, operational and tactical levels. The organization also has the capability to work within and outside the country.

Historical background

At the beginning of British rule in India, the Government generally was dependent on the village-watch system for the collection of information about crime and socio-religious developments from the remote areas. There was hardly any organized system of reporting of information of political nature. Another channel of information of the local administration was their personal contacts with the Zamindars and other influential persons of the society.

Special Branch (TV series)

Special Branch is a British television series made by Thames Television for ITV and shown between 1969 and 1974. A police drama series, the action was centred on members of the Special Branch anti-espionage and anti-terrorist department of the London Metropolitan Police.

The first two series were shot mainly in a studio on videotape with filmed location inserts; a standard method of the time but one which suffered from jarring differences in picture quality between interior and exterior scenes. The location scenes of some episodes were shot on outside broadcast cameras, leading to smoother transitions between location and studio work for those episodes. Series 1 and 2 starred Derren Nesbitt as Det Insp Jordan, working to Det Supt Eden (Wensley Pithey) and subsequently Det Supt Inman (Fulton Mackay). The episodes featuring Eden (the first 9 of Series 1) were recorded in black and white, while all subsequent episodes were recorded on colour videotape.

The show was revamped in 1973 after Thames Television's Euston Films subsidiary took over production using film which allowed for a less studio-based series. Euston Films had pioneered the technique of shooting action and adventure series entirely on location using 16mm film, for a more gritty and realistic look. These episodes starred George Sewell as Chief Inspector Alan Craven and Roger Rowland as Bill North. The show was slow to take off so the producers introduced Patrick Mower as Detective Chief Inspector Tom Haggerty, and by the 1974 series Bill North had been axed, having had a nervous breakdown, though he returned for one episode later in the run.

Roland

Roland (Frankish: Hruodland) (died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the Matter of France. The historical Roland was military governor of the Breton March, responsible for defending Francia's frontier against the Bretons. His only historical attestation is in Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni, which notes he was part of the Frankish rearguard killed by rebellious Basques in Iberia at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass.

The story of Roland's death at Roncevaux Pass was embellished in later medieval and Renaissance literature. He became the chief paladin of the emperor Charlemagne and a central figure in the legendary material surrounding him, collectively known as the Matter of France. The first and most famous of these epic treatments was the Old French Chanson de Roland of the eleventh century.

Two masterpieces of Italian Renaissance poetry, the Orlando innamorato and Orlando furioso, are even further detached from history than the earlier Chansons. Roland is poetically associated with his sword Durendal, his horse Veillantif, and his oliphant horn.

Borderlands (video game)

Borderlands is an action role-playing first-person shooter video game that was developed by Gearbox Software for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It is the first game in the Borderlands series. The game was released worldwide in October 2009, with the Mac OS X version of being released on December 3, 2010 by Feral Interactive.

A sequel, Borderlands 2, was released worldwide in September 2012.

Gameplay

Borderlands includes character-building elements found in role-playing games, leading Gearbox to call the game a "role-playing shooter". At the start of the game, players select one of four characters, each with a unique special skill and with proficiencies with certain weapons. The four characters are: Roland the Soldier, Mordecai the Hunter, Lilith the Siren, and Brick the Berserker. From then on, players take on missions assigned through non-player characters or from bounty boards, each typically rewarding the player with experience points, money, and sometimes a reward item. Players earn experience by killing both human and non-human foes and completing in-game challenges (such as getting a certain number of kills using a specific type of weapon). As they gain levels from experience growth, players can then allocate skill points into a skill tree that features three distinct specializations of the base character; for example, Mordecai can become specialized in sniping, gunslinging with revolvers, or using his pet Bloodwing to assist in kills and health boosting. Players can distribute points among any of the specializations, and can also spend a small amount of in-game money to redistribute their skill points.

Roland (train)

The Roland was an express train that ran in Germany. For part of its existence, it was also an international train. Introduced in 1939, suspended during World War II, and reintroduced in 1952, it was operated in Germany by the Deutsche Reichsbahn Gesellschaft (DRG), the Deutsche Bundesbahn (DB) and the Deutsche Bahn (DB), respectively.

When running internationally, the train was also operated by the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB-CFF-FFS); between 1969 and 1979 its operators included the Italian State Railways (FS).

The train was named after the statue of Roland that was erected in the market square (Rathausplatz) of Bremen, Germany, in 1404 and has since become a symbol of that city. The Roland depicted in the statue was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne.

Over the years, the termini, route, classification and formation (consist) of the Roland varied significantly. However, in view of the train's name the route always included Bremen Hbf, in Bremen. When introduced in 1939, the Roland was a Fernschnellzug (FD). After its post-war revival in 1952, it ran as a Schnellzug (D). After about 1956, it was a first-class-only F-Zug.