Espionage

Espionage or, casually, spying involves a spy ring, government and company/firm or individual obtaining information considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, as it is by definition unwelcome and in many cases illegal and punishable by law. Espionage is a subset of "intelligence" gathering, which includes espionage as well as information gathering from public sources.

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

One of the most effective ways to gather data and information about the enemy (or potential enemy) is by infiltrating the enemy's ranks. This is the job of the spy (espionage agent). Spies can bring back all sorts of information concerning the size and strength of enemy forces. They can also find dissidents within the enemy's forces and influence them to defect. In times of crisis, spies can also be used to steal technology and to sabotage the enemy in various ways. Counterintelligence operatives can feed false information to enemy spies, protecting important domestic secrets, and preventing attempts at subversion. Nearly every country has very strict laws concerning espionage, and the penalty for being caught is often severe. However, the benefits that can be gained through espionage are generally great enough that most governments and many large corporations make use of it to varying degrees.

Secret Agent 777

Agente segreto 777 - Operazione Mistero or Secret Agent 777 is a 1965 Italian spy film directed by Enrico Bomba. Its plot includes several science fiction and horror elements. It has a sequel, Secret Agent 777: Ticket to Die, directed by the same Bomba and released the same year.

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James Bond

The James Bond series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have written authorised Bond novels or novelizations: Kingsley Amis, Christopher Wood, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd and Anthony Horowitz. The latest novel is Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz, published in September 2015. Additionally Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond, and Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the diaries of a recurring series character, Moneypenny.

The character has also been adapted for television, radio, comic strip, video games and film. The films are the longest continually running and the third-highest-grossing film series to date, which started in 1962 with Dr. No, starring Sean Connery as Bond. As of 2016, there have been twenty-four films in the Eon Productions series. The most recent Bond film, Spectre (2015), stars Daniel Craig in his fourth portrayal of Bond; he is the sixth actor to play Bond in the Eon series. There have also been two independent productions of Bond films: Casino Royale (a 1967 spoof) and Never Say Never Again (a 1983 remake of an earlier Eon-produced film, Thunderball).

Verona

Verona (Italian pronunciation: [veˈroːna]; Venetian: Verona, Veròna) is a city straddling the Adige river in Veneto, northern Italy, with approximately 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of northeast Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona covers an area of 1,426 km² (550.58 sq mi) and has a population of 714,274 inhabitants. It is one of the main tourist destinations in northern Italy, owing to its artistic heritage, several annual fairs, shows, and operas, such as the lyrical season in the Arena, the ancient amphitheatre built by the Romans.

Three of Shakespeare's plays are set in Verona: Romeo and Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and The Taming of the Shrew. The city has been awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO because of its urban structure and architecture.

Etymology

The etymology of the name Verona is unknown. It may be derived from Vera, perhaps an Etruscan person's name; or it might be of Gallic origin; it may be the name of a Roman family or come from the Latin ver, meaning "spring". But according to one legend the legendary founder of the city, the Gallic chieftain Brenno, called the new inhabited centre Vae Roma, that is "Accursed Rome", which then over the centuries became Verona.

Van Helsing (film)

Van Helsing is a 2004 American dark fantasy action film directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as vigilante monster hunter Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious. The film is an homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and 1940s (also produced by Universal Studios which were in turn based on novels by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley), of which Sommers is a fan.

The eponymous character was inspired by the Dutch vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing from Irish author Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. Distributed by Universal Pictures, the film includes a number of monsters such as Count Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and werewolves in a way similar to the multi-monster movies that Universal produced in the 1940s, such as Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man and House of Dracula.

Despite mostly negative reviews, the film grossed over $300 million worldwide and did well with the general public, becoming one of the biggest blockbusters released in 2004.

Verona (Erie Railroad station)

Verona Station was a station on the Caldwell Branch of the Erie Railroad in Verona, New Jersey. The station was originally contstructed in 1891 at the intersection of Depot Street and Personette Street by the Caldwell Railway, which was soon merged into the Erie Railroad system. The station burned down twice: the 1891 station depot burned down in 1905, and the second station survived until 1960, when arsonists destroyed it..

However, the freight station built in 1891, a one-room shed, remained standing between both burnings, and although passenger service on the Caldwell Branch ended on October 3, 1966 (and the tracks removed in1979), the freight station in Verona is the only remaining structure left of the entire line. In 2010, the town of Verona proposed to restore the old freight shed, which stands along the right-of-way as a one-room museum. Also that year, the shed was added as the first of Verona's local landmarks by its historical commission.

History