title: Emotional dysregulation

text: While cognitive behavioral therapy is the most widely prescribed treatment for such psychiatric disorders, a commonly prescribed psychotherapeutic treatment for emotional dysregulation is dialectical behavioral therapy, a psychotherapy which promotes the use of mindfulness, a concept called dialectics, and emphasis on the importance of validation and maintaining healthy behavioral habits.


title: Emotional dysregulation

text: When diagnosed as being part of ADHD, norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake inhibitors such as methylphenidate (Ritalin) and atomoxetine are often used. A few studies have also showed promise in terms of non-pharmacological treatments for people with ADHD and emotional problems, although the research is limited and requires additional inquiry.


title: Muskellunge

text: The muskellunge (Esox masquinongy), often shortened to muskie, musky or lunge is a species of large freshwater predatory fish native to North America. It is the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae.


title: Muskellunge

text: The name "muskellunge" originates from the Ojibwe words "maashkinoozhe" (meaning "great fish"), "maskinoše" or "mashkinonge" (meaning "big pike" or "ugly pike") and the Algonquin word "maskinunga", which are borrowed into the Canadian French words "masquinongé" or "maskinongé". In English, before settling on the common name "muskellunge", there have been at least 94 common names applied to this species, including but not limited to: "muskelunge", "muscallonge", "muskallonge", "milliganong", "maskinonge", "maskalonge", "mascalonge", "maskalung", "muskinunge" and "masquenongez".


title: Muskellunge

text: Muskellunge closely resemble other esocids such as the northern pike and American pickerel in both appearance and behavior. Like the northern pike and other aggressive pikes, the body plan is typical of ambush predators with an elongated body, flat head, and dorsal, pelvic, and anal fins set far back on the body. Muskellunge are typically long and weigh , though some have reached up to and almost . Martin Arthur Williamson caught a muskellunge with a weight of 61.25 lb (27.8 kg) in November 2000 on Georgian Bay. The fish are a light silver, brown, or green, with dark vertical stripes on the flank, which may tend to break up into spots. In some cases, markings may be absent altogether, especially in fish from turbid waters. This is in contrast to northern pike, which have dark bodies with light markings. A reliable method to distinguish the two similar species is by counting the sensory pores on the underside of the mandible. A muskie will have seven or more per side, while the northern pike never has more than six. The lobes of the caudal (tail) fin in muskellunge come to a sharper point, while those of northern pike are more generally rounded. In addition, unlike pike, muskies have no scales on the lower half of their opercula.


title: Muskellunge

text: Anglers seek large muskies as trophies or for sport. In places where muskie are not native, such as in Maine, anglers are encouraged not to release the fish back into the water because of their negative impact on native populations of trout and other smaller fish species.


title: Muskellunge

text: Muskellunge are found in oligotrophic and mesotrophic lakes and large rivers from northern Michigan, northern Wisconsin, and northern Minnesota through the Great Lakes region, Chautauqua Lake in western New York, north into Canada, throughout most of the St Lawrence River drainage, and northward throughout the upper Mississippi valley, although the species also extends as far south as Chattanooga in the Tennessee River valley. Also, a small population is found in the Broad River in South Carolina. Several North Georgia reservoirs also have healthy stocked populations of muskie. They are also found in the Red River drainage of the Hudson Bay basin. Muskie were introduced to western Saint John River in the late 1960s and have now spread to many connecting waterways in northern Maine. The Pineview Reservoir in Utah is one of three Utah locations where the hybrid Tiger Muskellunge is found.


title: Muskellunge

text: They prefer clear waters where they lurk along weed edges, rock outcrops, or other structures to rest. A fish forms two distinct home ranges in summer: a shallow range and a deeper one. The shallow range is generally much smaller than the deeper range due to shallow water heating up. A muskie continually patrols the ranges in search of available food in the appropriate conditions of water temperature.


title: Muskellunge

text: Muskies are ambush predators who will swiftly bite their prey and then swallow it head first. Muskellunge are the top predator in any body of water where they occur and they will eat larger prey than most other freshwater fish. They eat all varieties of fish present in their ecosystem (including other muskellunge), along with the occasional insect, muskrat, rat, mouse, frog, or duck. They are capable of taking prey up to two-thirds of their body length due to their large stomachs. There have even been reports of large muskellunge attacking small dogs and even humans, although most of these reports are greatly exaggerated.


title: Muskellunge

text: As muskellunge grow longer they increase in weight, but the relationship between length and weight is not linear. The relationship between them can be expressed by a power-law equation:


title: Muskellunge

text: The exponent b is close to 3.0 for all species, and c is a constant for each species. For muskellunge, b = 3.325, higher than for many common species, and c = 0.000089 pounds/inch³.


title: Muskellunge

text: According to the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) the largest muskellunge on record was caught by Cal Johnson in Lac Courte Oreilles (recognized as Lake Courte Oreilles by the association), Hayward, Wisconsin, United States, on July 24, 1949. The fish weighed 67 lbs 8 oz (30.61 kg) and was 60.25 in (153.035 cm) in length, and 33–34 in (83.82-86.36 cm) in girth.


title: Muskellunge

text: Muskellunge are sometimes gregarious, forming small schools in distinct territories. They spawn in mid to late spring, somewhat later than northern pike, over shallow, vegetated areas. A rock or sand bottom is preferred for spawning so the eggs do not sink into the mud and suffocate. The males arrive first and attempt to establish dominance over a territory. Spawning may last from five to 10 days and occurs mainly at night. The eggs are negatively buoyant and slightly adhesive; they adhere to plants and the bottom of the lake. Soon afterward, they are abandoned by the adults. Those embryos which are not eaten by fish, insects, or crayfish hatch within two weeks. The larvae live on yolk until the mouth is fully developed, when they begin to feed on copepods and other zooplankton. They soon begin to prey upon fish. Juveniles generally attain a length of by November of their first year.


title: Muskellunge

text: Adult muskellunge are apex predators where they occur naturally. Only humans and (rarely) large birds of prey such as bald eagles pose a threat to an adult but juveniles are consumed by other muskies, northern pike, bass, trout, and occasionally birds of prey. The muskellunge's low reproductive rate and slow growth render populations highly vulnerable to overfishing. This has prompted some jurisdictions to institute artificial propagation programs in an attempt to maintain otherwise unsustainably high rates of angling effort and habitat destruction.


title: Muskellunge

text: Though interbreeding with other pike species can complicate the classification of some individuals, zoologists usually recognize up to three subspecies of muskellunge.


title: Muskellunge

text: The tiger muskellunge ("E. masquinongy" × "lucius" or "E. lucius" × "masquinongy") is a hybrid of the muskie and northern pike. Hybrids are sterile, although females sometimes unsuccessfully engage in spawning motions. Some hybrids are artificially produced and planted for anglers to catch. Tiger muskies grow faster than pure muskies, but do not attain the ultimate size of their pure relatives, as the tiger muskie does not live as long.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: The Mughal–Maratha Wars, sometimes referred to as a whole as the Deccan War, the Maratha War of Independence, or the Twenty-Seven Years' War were a set of wars fought between the Mughal Empire and the Maratha Empire from 1680 until the death of Aurangzeb in 1707.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: This war was begun in 1680 by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb’s invasion of the Maratha enclave in Bijapur, which was established by the Maratha leader Shivaji. The war expended a 100000 Mughal troops annually, and thrice that number in horses, elephants and other beats of burden each year. After the death of Aurangzeb, Marathas defeated the Mughals in Delhi and Bhopal, and extended their empire up to Peshawar by 1758.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: In the first half of 1681, several Mughal contingents were dispatched to lay siege to Maratha forts in present-day Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh. The Maratha Chhatrapati Sambhaji provided shelter to the emperor's rebel son Sultan Muhammad Akbar, which angered Aurangzeb. In September 1681, after settling his dispute with the royal house of Mewar, Aurangzeb began his journey to Deccan to conquer the relatively young Maratha Empire. He arrived at Aurangabad, the Mughal headquarters in the Deccan and made it his capital. Mughal contingents in the region numbered about 500,000. It was a disproportionate war in all senses. By the end of 1681, the Mughal forces had laid siege to Fort Ramsej. But the Marathas did not succumb to this onslaught. The attack was well received and it took the Mughals seven years to take the fort. In December 1681, Sambhaji attacked Janjira, but his first attempt failed. At the same time one of the Aurangzeb's generals, Husain Ali Khan, attacked Northern Konkan. Sambhaji left Janjira and attacked Husain Ali Khan and pushed him back to Ahmednagar. Aurangzeb tried to sign a deal with the Portuguese to allow trade ships to harbour in Goa. This would have allowed him to open another supply route to Deccan via the sea. This news reached Sambhaji. He attacked the Portuguese territories and forced them back to the Goan coast. But the viceroy of Alvor was able to defend the Portuguese headquarters. By this time the huge Mughal army had started gathering on the borders of Deccan. It was clear that southern India was headed for a large, sustained conflict.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: In late 1683, Aurangzeb moved to Ahmednagar. He divided his forces in two and put his two princes, Shah Alam and Azam Shah, in charge of each division. Shah Alam was to attack South Konkan via the Karnataka border while Azam Shah would attack Khandesh and northern Maratha territory. Using a pincer strategy, these two divisions planned to encircle Marathas from the south and north to isolate them. The beginning went quite well. Shah Alam crossed the Krishna river and entered Belgaum. From there he entered Goa and started marching north via Konkan. As he pushed further, he was continuously harassed by Marathas forces. They ransacked his supply chains and reduced his forces to starvation. Finally Aurangzeb sent Ruhulla Khan to his rescue and brought him back to Ahmednagar. The first pincer attempt failed.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: After the 1684 monsoon, Aurangzeb's other general Shahbuddin Khan directly attacked the Maratha capital, Raigad. Maratha commanders successfully defended Raigad. Aurangzeb sent Khan Jehan to help, but Hambirao Mohite, commander-in-chief of the Maratha army, defeated him in a fierce battle at Patadi. The second division of the Maratha army attacked Shahbuddin Khan at Pachad, inflicting heavy losses on the Mughal army.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: In early 1685, Shah Alam attacked south again via the Gokak-Dharwar route, but Sambhaji's forces harassed him continuously on the way and finally he had to give up and thus failed to close the loop a second time. In April 1685, Aurangzeb changed his strategy. He planned to consolidate his power in the south by undertaking expeditions to the Muslim kingdoms of Golkonda and Bijapur. Both of them were allies of Marathas and Aurangzeb was not fond of them. He broke his treaties with both kingdoms, attacked them and captured them by September 1686. Taking this opportunity, Marathas launched an offensive on the North coast and attacked Bharuch. They were able to evade the Mughal army sent their way and came back with minimum damage. Marathas tried to win Mysore through diplomacy. "Sardar" Kesopant Pingle was running negotiations, but the fall of Bijapur to the Mughals turned the tides and Mysore was reluctant to join Marathas. Sambhaji successfully courted several Bijapur "sardars" to join the Maratha army.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: Sambhaji led the fight but was captured by the Mughals and killed. His wife and son (Shivaji's grandson) were held captive by Aurangzeb for twenty years.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: After the fall of Bijapur and Golkonda, Aurangzeb turned his attention again to the Marathas but his first few attempts had little impact. In January 1688, Sambhaji called together his commanders for a strategic meeting at Sangameshwar in Konkan to decide on the final blow to oust Aurangzeb from the Deccan. To execute the decision of the meeting quickly, Sambhaji sent ahead most of his comrades and stayed back with a few of his trustworthy men, including Kavi Kalash. Ganoji Shirke, one of Sambhaji's brothers-in-law, turned traitor and helped Aurangzeb's commander Muqarrab Khan to locate, reach and attack Sangameshwar while Sambhaji was still there. The relatively small Maratha force fought back although they were surrounded from all sides. Sambhaji was captured on 1 February 1689 and a subsequent rescue attempt by the Marathas was repelled on 11 March. He refused to bow down to Aurangzeb, so he was beheaded.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: According to John F. Richards, however, Sambhaji was executed for killing and capturing Muslims. The judgement was handed down by a panel of ulema.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: To Aurangzeb, the Marathas seemed all but dead by end of 1689. But this would prove to be almost a fatal blunder. The death of Sambhaji had rekindled the spirit of the Maratha forces, which made Aurangzeb's mission impossible. Sambhaji's younger brother Rajaram was now given the title of "Chhatrapati" (Emperor). In March 1690, the Maratha commanders, under the leadership of Santaji Ghorpade launched the single most daring attack on Mughal army. They not only attacked the army, but sacked the tent where the Aurangzeb himself slept. Luckily Aurangzeb was elsewhere but his private force and many of his bodyguards were killed. However, this was followed by a betrayal in the Maratha camp. Raigad fell to the treachery of Suryaji Pisal. Sambhaji's queen, Yesubai and their son, Shahu I, were captured.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: Mughal forces, led by Zulfikar Khan, continued this offensive further south. They attacked fort Panhala. The Maratha killedar of Panhala defended the fort and inflicted heavy losses on Mughal army. Finally Aurangzeb himself had to come and Panhala was surrendered.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: Maratha ministers realised that the Mughals would move on Vishalgad. They insisted that Rajaram leave Vishalgad for Senji (Gingee) (in present Tamil Nadu), which had been captured by Shivaji during his southern conquests and was now to be the new Maratha capital. Rajaram travelled south under escort of Khando Ballal and his men.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: Aurangzeb was frustrated with Rajaram's successful escape. Keeping most of his force in Maharashtra, he sent a small number to keep Rajaram in check. This small force was destroyed by an attack from two Maratha generals, Santaji Ghorpade and Dhanaji Jadhav, who then they joined Ramchandra Bavadekar in Deccan. Bavdekar, Vithoji Chavan and Raghuji Bhosale had reorganised most of the Maratha army after defeats at Panhala and Vishalgad.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: In late 1691, Bavdekar, Pralhad Niraji, Santaji, Dhanaji and several Maratha sardars met in the Maval region and reformed the strategy. Aurangzeb had taken four major forts in Sahyadrais and was sending Zulfikar khan to subdue the fort Ginjee. So according to new Maratha plan, Santaji and Dhanaji would launch offensives in the East to keep rest of the Mughal forces scattered. Others would focus in Maharashtra and would attack a series of forts around southern Maharashtra and northern Karnataka to divide Mughal won territories in two, thereby posing significant challenge to enemy supply chains. Having a strong navy established by Shivaji, the Marathas could now extend this divide into the sea, checking any supply routes from Surat to south.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: Now war was fought from the Malwa plateau to the east coast. Such was the strategy of Maratha commanders to counter the might of the Mughals. Maratha generals Ramchandrapant Amatya and Shankaraji Niraji maintained the Maratha stronghold in the rugged terrains of Sahyadri.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: Through cavalry movements, Santaji Ghorpade and Dhanaji Jadhav defeated the Mughals. In the Battle of Athani, Santaji defeated Kasim Khan, a noted Mughal general.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: Aurangzeb by now had realised that the war he had started was much more serious than he had originally thought. He decided to regroup his forces and rethink his strategy. He sent an ultimatum to Zulfikar Khan to capture Jinji or be stripped of the titles. Zulfikar Khan tightened the Siege, but Rajaram escaped and was safely escorted to Deccan by Dhanaji Jadhav and the Shirke brothers. Haraji Mahadik's son took command of Jinji and bravely defended the city against Julfikar Khan and Daud Khan until its fall in January 1698. This gave Rajaram ample amount of time to reach Vishalgad.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: After significant Mughal losses, Jinji was captured in a classic Pyrrhic victory. The fort had done its work: for seven years the three hills of Jinji had kept a large contingent of Mughal forces occupied while inflicting heavy losses. It had significantly depleted Mughal resources in the region, from the treasury to material.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: Marathas would soon witness an unpleasant development of their own making. Dhanaji Jadhav and Santaji Ghorpade had a simmering rivalry, which was kept in check by the councilman Pralhad Niraji. But after Niraji's death, Dhanaji grew bold and attacked Santaji. Nagoji Mane, one of Dhanaji's men, killed Santaji. The news of Santaji's death greatly encouraged Aurangzeb and the Mughal army.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: But by this time the Mughals were no longer the army they were earlier feared to be. Aurangzeb, against the advice of several of his experienced generals, continued the war.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: The Marathas again consolidated and began a counter-offensive. Rajaram appointed Dhanaji Jadhav as commander-in-chief and the army was split into three divisions, headed by Jadhav himself, Parshuram Timbak and Shankar Narayan. Jadhav defeated a large Mughal force near Pandharpur and Narayan defeated Sarja Khan in Pune. Khanderao Dabhade, who led a division under Jadhav, took Baglan and Nashik, while Nemaji Shinde, a commander with Narayan, scored a major victory at Nandurbar.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: Enraged at these defeats, Aurangzeb took charge and launched another counter-offensive. He laid siege to Panhala and attacked the fort of Satara. A seasoned Maratha commander, Prayagji Prabhu, defended Satara for a good six months but surrendered in April 1700, just before the onset of the monsoon. This foiled Aurangzeb's strategy to clear as many forts before the monsoon as possible.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: In March 1700, Rajaram died. His queen, Tarabai, who was daughter of the Maratha commander-in-chief Hambirrao Mohite, took charge of the Maratha army and continued fighting for the next seven years.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: After the Battle of Satara, Aurangzeb contested for every inch of Deccan region at great cost of life and money. Aurangzeb drove west, deep into Maratha territory notably conquering Satara (the Maratha capital) the Marathas expanded eastwards into Mughal lands Hyderabad. Aurangzeb waged continuous war in the Deccan for more than two decades with no resolution and thus lost about a fifth of his army.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: Signs of strain were showing in the Mughal camp in late 1701. Asad Khan, Julfikar Khan's father, counselled Aurangzeb to end the war and turn around. The expedition had already taken a giant toll, much larger than originally planned, on the empire and it looked possible that 175 years of Mughal rule might crumble due to being involved in a war that was not winnable.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: By 1704, Aurangzeb conquered Torana, Rajgad and some other handful forts mostly by bribing maratha commanders, but he had spent four precious years for this. It was slowly dawning to him that after 24 years of constant war, he was not succeeded to annex the Maratha State.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: The final Maratha counter-offensive gathered momentum in the North, where Mughal provinces fell one by one. They were not in position to defend because the royal treasuries had been sucked dry and no armies were available. In 1705, two Maratha army factions crossed Narmada. One, under the leadership of Nemaji Shinde, hit as far north as Bhopal; the second, headed by Khanderao Dabhade, struck Bharoch and the west. With his 8000 men, Dabhade attacked and defeated Mahomed Khan's forces numbering almost fourteen thousand. This left entire Gujarat coast wide open for Marathas. They immediately tightened their grip on Mughal supply chains. By 1705 end, Marathas had penetrated Mughal possession of Central India and Gujarat. Nemaji Shinde defeated Mughals on the Malwa plateau. In 1706, Mughals started retreating from Maratha dominions.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: In Maharashtra, Aurangzeb became despondent. He started negotiations with the Marathas, then cut them abruptly and marched on the small kingdom of Wakinara whose Naik rulers traced their lineage to the royal family of the Vijaynagar empire. His new opponents had never been fond of the Mughals and had sided with the Marathas. Jadhav marched into Sahyadris and won almost all the major forts back in a short time, while those of Satara and Parali were taken by Parshuram Timbak, and Narayan took Sinhgad. Jadhav then turned around, taking his forces to help the Naiks at Wakinara. Wakinara fell but the Naik royal family escaped.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: Aurangzeb had now given up all hope and planned a retreat to Burhanpur. Jadhav attacked and defeated his rearguard but Aurangzeb was able to reach his destination with the help of Zulfikar Khan. He died of a fever on 21 February 1707.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: Marathas expanded their territory to include Malwa after the Battle of Delhi and Battle of Bhopal in 1737. And by 1757, the Maratha Empire had reached Delhi.


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: The Mughal empire was split in regional kingdoms, with the Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab of Oudh and Nawab of Bengal quick to assert the nominal independence of their lands. Anxious to divert Marathas away from his Deccan strongholds, and to save himself from the Mughal emperor of North India's hostile attempts to suppress his independence, the Nizam encouraged the Marathas to invade Malwa and the northern Indian territories of the Mughal empire. The Nizam says that he could use the Marathas to his own advantage in the Maasir-i Nizami:


title: Mughal–Maratha Wars

text: "I consider all this army (Marathas) as my own and I will get my work done through them. It is necessary to take our hands off Malwa. God willing, I will enter into an understanding with them and entrust the Mulukgiri(raiding) on that side of the Narmada to them."


title: Largest known prime number

text: The largest known prime number () is , a number which has 24,862,048 digits when written in base 10. It was found via a computer volunteered by Patrick Laroche of the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) in 2018.


title: Largest known prime number

text: A prime number is a positive integer, excluding 1, with no divisors other than 1 and itself. According to Euclid's theorem there are infinitely many prime numbers, so there is no largest prime.


title: Largest known prime number

text: Many of the largest known primes are Mersenne primes, numbers that are one less than a power of two, because they can utilise a specialised primality test that is faster than the general one. , the eight largest known primes are Mersenne primes. The last seventeen record primes were Mersenne primes. The binary representation of any Mersenne prime is composed of all 1's, since the binary form of 2"" − 1 is simply "k" 1's.


title: Largest known prime number

text: The record is currently held by with 24,862,048 digits, found by GIMPS in December 2018. The first and last 120 digits of its value are shown below:


title: Largest known prime number

text: The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) currently offers a US$3,000 research discovery award for participants who download and run their free software and whose computer discovers a new Mersenne prime having fewer than 100 million digits.


title: Largest known prime number

text: There are several prizes offered by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for record primes. GIMPS is also coordinating its long-range search efforts for primes of over 100 million digits and larger and will split the Electronic Frontier Foundation's US$150,000 prize with a winning participant.


title: Largest known prime number

text: The record passed one million digits in 1999, earning a US$50,000 prize. In 2008, the record passed ten million digits, earning a US$100,000 prize and a Cooperative Computing Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Time" called this prime the 29th top invention of 2008. Both the US$50,000 and the US$100,000 prizes were won by participation in GIMPS. Additional prizes are being offered for the first prime number found with at least one hundred million digits and the first with at least one billion digits.


title: Largest known prime number

text: The following table lists the progression of the largest known prime number in ascending order. Here is the Mersenne number with exponent "p". The longest record-holder known was , which was the largest known prime for 144 years. No records are known prior to 1456.


title: Largest known prime number

text: GIMPS found the fifteen latest records (all of them Mersenne primes) on ordinary computers operated by participants around the world.


title: Largest known prime number

text: A list of the 5,000 largest known primes is maintained by Chris K. Caldwell, of which the twenty largest are listed below.


title: Fairouz Ai

text: was born on 6 July 1993 in Tokyo to a Japanese mother and an Egyptian father. She was named after the Lebanese singer Fairuz. She spent a few years of her elementary education at Cairo Japanese School before returning to Japan. During her junior high school years, she became familiar with the manga series "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure". Due to her growing interest in the series, she would join Skype reading sessions with other fans. Eventually, she was inspired to pursue a career in voice acting, but her parents initially disapproved of her plans. Instead, she would initially study at a graphic design vocational school before spending a year as a dental assistant. Once she was able to save enough money for tuition, she enrolled in a voice acting training school.


title: Fairouz Ai

text: After finishing her training, Fairouz became affiliated with the voice acting agency Pro-Fit. In 2019, she was cast in her first major role as Hibiki Sakura, the protagonist of the anime television series "How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?". She and Kaito Ishikawa performed the series' opening theme , and as part of promotions for the series, she would appear in various weightlifting videos. She was cast as Emily Orange in the multimedia franchise "Kandagawa Jet Girls" and as Eripiyo in the 2020 anime series "If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die"; she also performed the latter series' ending theme "Momoiro Kataomoi", a cover of a song originally performed by Aya Matsuura.


title: Fairouz Ai

text: In 2020, Fairouz was one of the recipients of the Best New Actress Award at the 14th Seiyu Awards. In 2021, she voiced the role of Manatsu Natsuumi/Cure Summer in "Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure".


title: Fairouz Ai

text: On 4 April 2021, Fairouz voiced the role of Jolyne Cujoh in the of the sixth story arc of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure", "Stone Ocean".


title: Fairouz Ai

text: Following the closure of Pro-Fit on 31 March 2022, Fairouz became affiliated with Raccoon Dog, a voice acting agency founded by voice actor Nobuhiko Okamoto.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: Adam and the Ants were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. The group existed in two incarnations, both fronted by Adam Ant, over the period 1977 to 1982. The first, founded in May 1977 and known simply as The Ants until November of that year, transitioned from the punk rock to the post-punk and new wave era and released one album. The final line-up of this incarnation—Dave Barbarossa, Matthew Ashman, and Leigh Gorman—left the band in January 1980 at the suggestion of manager Malcolm McLaren to form Bow Wow Wow.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: The second incarnation of Adam and the Ants featured guitarist Marco Pirroni and drummer/producer Chris Hughes, and was noted for its use of Burundi drums. This group lasted from February 1980 to March 1982, achieving major commercial success in the UK. With their music videos receiving airplay on MTV and Ant appearing as a guest VJ on the station, they were associated with the Second British Invasion.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: Prior to Adam and the Ants, Adam Ant played bass in pub rock group Bazooka Joe, now primarily known as the band that headlined when the Sex Pistols played their first concert on 6 November 1975 at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. They disbanded soon afterwards. While looking to form a new band, Ant befriended some influential figures in the burgeoning London punk scene, most notably Jordan, who worked in Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's SEX boutique. He eventually formed a new band, named The Ants in early 1977 with a line-up of Lester Square (guitar), Andy Warren (bass guitar) and Paul Flannagan (drums). The band play their first show at the Roxy Club in April 1977 together with Siouxsie and the Banshees. A month later Square left to finish his course at an art school, and he later formed the Monochrome Set.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: He was replaced by Mark Ryan and this line-up began to play regular gigs and support slots around London. In early June, Flannagan was replaced with Dave 'Barbe' Barbarossa and this line-up recorded the songs "Plastic Surgery" and "Beat My Guest" at Chappell Studios in London. Adam Ant also featured in the film "Jubilee" as the character Kid while the band featured with the stand-in drummer Kenny Morris from the Banshees. During a performance of "Plastic Surgery" Ant dislocated his knee. Towards the end of the year, difficulties with management resulted in Ryan to be fired and replaced by Johnny Bivouac, while the name of the band was extended to Adam and the Ants.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: Touring extensively around the UK, often with Siouxsie and the Banshees, they proved to be unpopular with much of the British music press who disliked their fetishistic lyrics and imagery. In response, the group formed a strong – at times ideological – rapport with amateur punk fanzines such as "Ripped And Torn" which gave them more favourable coverage. The band built up a strong cult following, but struggled to find mainstream success or even a record deal (apart from the two "Jubilee" soundtrack songs) until 1978, when they were signed to Decca.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: The band made their radio debut on the John Peel show with a session recorded on 23 January 1978, which included the songs "Deutscher Girls, "It Doesn't Matter", "Puerto Rican" and "Lou". The latter featured the group's manager Jordan on lead vocals, as she did regularly during live performances until 14 May 1978 when she stepped away from the band after a concert at the Roundhouse. The day after the Peel Session, they re-recorded "Deutscher Girls" and overdubbed a new guitar break on the Chapels Studio version of "Plastic Surgery" at AIR studios for the "Jubilee" soundtrack album that was released later that year. The un-dubbed version can be heard in the film itself.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: On 15 May 1978, the afternoon after Jordan's final gig with the Ants, Bivouac also left the band and was replaced soon after by Matthew Ashman. This line-up continued to demo new material and on 10 July 1978 recorded a second Peel session that featured the songs "Zerox", "Physical", "Friends" and "Cleopatra". At the end of the month, the band signed for two singles with Decca Records. The line up of Adam Ant (vocals and guitar), Matthew Ashman (guitar), Andy Warren (bass guitar) and Dave Barbe (drums) embarked on the first tour of continental Europe. Upon their return in November 1978, the band did a session of "Zerox" and "Kick" at RAK Studios in London produced by Stephen 'Snips' Parsons. In October 1978 Decca released their first single "Young Parisians" to little success and leaving the company to abandon plans for a second release. In January 1979, the band did embark on the Young Parians tour across Great Britain throughout January and February. Additional material was recorded at Decca's own studio in West Hampstead The band recorded a third Peel Session on 26 March 1979 that included "Ligotage", "Tabletalk", "Animals & Men" and "Never Trust A Man (With Egg On His Face)".


title: Adam and the Ants

text: After the Decca single, the band signed with the independent label Do It Records and re-recorded the second single "Zerox" backed with "Whip In My Valise" at the Roundhouse Studios. Released in July 1979, the band did a 17-date Zerox tour around Britain, in support, culminating a sell-out show at the London Lyceum on 5 August. Al Spicer described this first incarnation of the band as 'a fairly standard black-leather, sour-puss punk image, with songs that had a habit of building slowly towards a full-volume 'sturm-und-drang' climax'.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: At the end of August, the band started recording their debut album at the Sound Development Studios in London. Written and produced by Adam Ant, the sessions were completed within weeks, as the band had rehearsed most of the material on stage. After two sell-out shows at the Electric Ballroom, Ant sacked Ashman and Warren, the latter of whom joined The Monochrome Set in early October. He was replaced by Lee Gorman and Ashman soon returned while the album was slated for a November release.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: The album, "Dirk Wears White Sox" (1979, Do It Records) reached the top of the UK Independent Albums Chart, launched in early January 1980. Ant decided to change managers and asked Malcolm McLaren to take over for a flat fee, while they played a sell-out New Years Day gig at the Electric Ballroom. At the end of January 1980, McLaren convinced guitarist Matthew Ashman, bassist Leigh Gorman and drummer Dave Barbe to leave Adam and the Ants and form Bow Wow Wow, fronted by Annabella Lwin.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: In the following months, a new version of Adam and the Ants was formed with Marco Pirroni (guitar), Kevin Mooney (bass guitar), and two drummers, Terry Lee Miall and Chris 'Merrick' Hughes. Pirroni became an influential member of the group, co-writing regularly with Adam Ant throughout much of his career. Falcon Stuart was enlisted to manage the new band after McLaren had dropped Ant. It signalled a style change by adapting Burundi-style African drumming and an image that mixed Native American make-up with pirate style colourful costumes.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: While reforming the band, Ant and Pirroni re-recorded the "Dirk Wears White Sox" track "Cartrouble Pt.2" as a contract-fulfilling single for Do It, together with future Culture Club drummer Jon Moss. The label hired Hughes to produce the duo at the Rockfield Studios in Wales, after which they asked him to join. The label released the single under the shorter title "Cartrouble" in March 1980, with Moss credited as "Terry 1+2". Ant and Pirroni signed a publishing deal with EMI and worked with Hughes and the rest of the band on new material at the Matrix Studios in London. Stuart took these to prospective record companies while the band embarked on a 14-day Ant-Invasion tour of the UK, culminating in a show at the Empire Ballroom.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: In July 1980, the band signed a deal with CBS Records and released the "Kings of the Wild Frontier" single, which initially reached No. 48 in the UK Singles Chart. Hughes continued to produce the band and they completed the recording at Rockfield by the end of August. A second single, "Dog Eat Dog" appeared in October and fared better by reaching the top 10 and resulted in their first appearance on "Top of the Pops".


title: Adam and the Ants

text: In November 1980 the "Kings of the Wild Frontier" album was released and became a hit in the United Kingdom. It put the band at the forefront of the New Romantic movement as they did a 32-day tour around the UK. The album reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart on 24 January 1981.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: A third single, "Antmusic" was released later in November and reached No. 2 in January 1981 and No. 1 in Australia for five weeks. Decca and Do It Records both re-released the band's previous output meaning that "Young Parisians" reached No. 9 in December 1980 (giving the Ants a posthumous UK Top 10 hit single) while "Dirk Wears White Sox" made it to No. 16 in the UK Albums Chart in February 1981. "Cartrouble" and "Zerox" also charted that month, making it to No. 33 and No. 45, respectively, in the UK Singles Chart.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: In February 1981, the band played the Royal Variety Show where an onstage incident with bassist Kevin Mooney occurred. He was subsequently sacked and replaced with Gary Tibbs. CBS re-released the "Kings of the Wild Frontier" single and it reached No. 2 in March.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: While the second album and re-released singles brought growing chart success, Hughes together with Ant, Miall and Pirroni recorded the single "Stand and Deliver" to bridge the gap between albums. The band, now with Tibbs on board, filmed a video for the song at Hatfield House that featured the dandy highwayman storyline.In support, the band did a six date theatre tour around Great Britain in March and ventured over to the US for a club tour in April. The single became the first No. 1 record for the band in the UK for 5 weeks in May 1981. The band spent much of the summer touring around continental Europe before going into the AIR Studios in London to complete the third album. The first single and title track "Prince Charming", also reached the top of the UK Singles Chart for four weeks in September 1981. In the same month the band embarked on the Prince Charming Revue tour that saw them travel to Austria and Japan.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: In November 1981, Adam and the Ants released the parent album "Prince Charming" which spent three weeks at number 2. A third single from the album, "Ant Rap" reached No. 3 in January 1982. The band was one of the most successful single acts in the UK in 1981. All three singles from the album as well as the previous single "Kings of the Wild Frontier" is listed on the official top 50 best-selling singles of 1981, "Stand and Deliver" and "Prince Charming" as the third and fourth best-selling single respectively. By the end of January 1982 the band had completed their touring obligations.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: There was a further round of reissues of early material in the first half of 1982. The two "Jubilee" soundtrack songs were reissued by Polydor in February as a 7-inch single with "Deutscher Girls" as the A-side, reaching No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart and giving the original Ants band a second posthumous Top 15 hit. Do It! records released the "Antmusic EP", a 12" EP of three unused tracks from the "Dirk" sessions plus a remix of "Cartrouble (Parts 1 & 2)"), that reached No. 46. In early 1982, the band received a BRIT Award for Best Album ("Kings of the Wild Frontier") and a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist. Ant and Pirroni also received the Songwriter of the Year Award for "Stand and Deliver" at the 27th Ivor Novello Awards in April 1982.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: In early 1982, the band received a BRIT Award for Best Album ("Kings of the Wild Frontier") and a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: In March 1982 Adam Ant disbanded the group. Newspaper articles at the time offered various explanations for the motivations behind the split. Initially Adam was quoted as saying that the split was amicable, but later he was to say that "the interest just wasn't there any more. It might have been Adam and the Ants on the billboards but not on stage". In addition, it was said that Pirroni quit performing live as he was tired of touring.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: Ant launched a solo career a few months after the split, retaining Marco Pirroni as co-writer. They enjoyed success with a third UK No. 1 hit single "Goody Two Shoes" and further albums during the 1980s. Hughes continued to work as a record producer.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: To date, Ant has released six solo studio albums. Songs by both versions of the Ants have remained staples of his solo live concerts and tours up to the present day. His partnership with Pirroni continued until the pair fell out in March 2010. During the late 2000s and early 2010s, Pirroni was a member of The Wolfmen with Ant's 1982-1985 bassist Chris Constantinou; together they released two albums.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: Hughes and Tibbs formed the short-lived duo Merrick and Tibbs, which released the single "Call of the Wild" in 1983. It peaked at number 95 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1983. Mooney later formed Wide Boy Awake with Jordan, and Max with Ashman.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: Barbe, Ashman and Gorman's post Ants band Bow Wow Wow eventually scored two UK Top 10 hits. The trio later formed Chiefs of Relief and released an album on Sire Records by which point only Ashman remained. The Monochrome Set, featuring Warren and Square, have released fourteen albums to date. Bivouac achieved TV comedy success as Strings in a BBC police sitcom, "Operation Good Guys".


title: Adam and the Ants

text: In 1990, a ten track selection of the early radio sessions was released as the "Peel Sessions". All three appeared in integral format on "The Complete Radio 1 Sessions" in 2001 with a later session by Ant added.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: "Antbox", a retrospective box set spanning Ant's career from the late 1970s through the 1990s, was released in 2000. The box set included 66 tracks on three CDs, and quickly sold the initial 10,000 units. In 2003, the Antbox set was re-released in a different form (with the same tracks) and sold once again with success.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: 2004 saw the digitally remastered re-release of the albums "Dirk Wears White Sox", "Kings of the Wild Frontier", and "Prince Charming", with bonus material in the form of previously unreleased demo songs. These were overseen by Marco Pirroni, and "Kings of the Wild Frontier" and "Prince Charming" were remastered by Chris Hughes.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: In 2014, Ant, Barbe and Gorman, the surviving three-quarters of the December 1979 - January 1980 lineup, reunited to perform, along with selected members of Ant's current band, the "Dirk Wears White Sox" album in its entirety and in sequence at the Hammersmith Apollo, (preceded by five warm-up shows) to promote the album's reissue on Ant's own Blueblack Hussar label.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: Ant and his regular band subsequently performed the album for four nights at the Islington Assembly Hall in November 2014 and on a full UK tour in Spring 2015. The Dirk performance section (plus selected other portions) of the Hammersmith concert was released on DVD in 2015 as "Dirk Live At The Apollo". In 2016, this exercise was repeated with the "Kings of the Wild Frontier" album performed live on tour in the UK and US, to promote a deluxe gold vinyl reissue by Sony Records which charted in the UK Albums Chart at number 69.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: The visual aspect formed a large part of the impact that band had, especially at the height of their success between 1980 and early 1982. As Al Spicer noted, "Adam's career is better defined by his changing image than his music". Together with their music videos and flamboyant stage presence, Adam and the Ants had significant mainstream success that was dubbed 'Antmania' in the British press. Simon Reynolds summed it up as combination of 'heroic imagery, sexmusic and tribalism' while highlighting the early influence of Malcom McLaren, and Paul Evans in the Rolling Stone album guide described the band as 'leering, self-mythologising (..) loopy faux-teen fun' and Ant as a 'the campiest figurehead of the New Romantic moment'. Commentators also noted the links between 'Antmania' and the glam-rock of Marc Bolan and David Bowie in the 1970s.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: The band seized the opportunities provided by music videos on the new MTV channel to develop a theatrical, charismatic and heroic persona. With romantic costumes and heavy make-up, the band was often seen as an early example of the New Romantic movement (though Adam Ant himself has always denied any connection with that movement). Lavish videos were produced for "Stand and Deliver", "Prince Charming", and "Ant Rap". All Adam and the Ants music videos were produced and storyboarded by Adam Ant. These videos helped to establish the band in the United States when MTV began airing them in 1981. The "Prince Charming" video features a guest appearance by British film actress Diana Dors as the fairy Godmother, and "Ant Rap" features Scottish pop singer Lulu as the "damsel in distress".


title: Adam and the Ants

text: In early 1995, Ant and Pirroni joined Nine Inch Nails on stage to perform "Physical (You're So)", "Red Scab" and "Beat My Guest", three songs from Adam and the Ants' early catalogue. Nine Inch Nails also covered "Physical (You're So)" on their 1992 EP "Broken".


title: Adam and the Ants

text: On 8 May 2006, Hyper released their debut album, "We Control", that featured a cover of "Antmusic", with Leeroy Thornhill of the Prodigy on lead vocals. In April 2009, No Doubt performed a cover of "Stand and Deliver" on an episode of the American TV show "Gossip Girl", and performed it at the Bamboozle music festival, New Jersey, in May 2009.


title: Adam and the Ants

text: In 2011, CBBC programme Horrible Histories featured the song "Dick Turpin" that was a pastiche on Adam and the Ants "Stand and Deliver".


title: Adam and the Ants

text: An affectionate short film, featuring Nick Moran as Adam and Mackenzie Crook as Gary Tibbs, called "Ant Muzak", featuring Adam and the Ants visiting a supermarket late at night at the same time as Sigue Sigue Sputnik, was made in 2002. Gary Tibbs appeared in the film as Dirk, the supermarket manager, and wore white socks. The film is available on DVD with two similar parodies.


title: Dubai Metro

text: The Dubai Metro is a rapid transit rail network in the city of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is currently operated by the French company Keolis. The Red Line and Green Line are operational, with a major 15 km (9.3 mi) extension to the Red Line known as Route 2020 to the Expo 2020 site announced in April 2015 and opened in 2021. These first two lines run underground in the city centre and on elevated viaducts elsewhere. All trains are fully automated and driverless, and, together with stations, are air conditioned with platform edge doors. Architecture firm Aedas designed the metro's 45 stations, two depots and operational control centers. The Al Ghurair Investment group were the metro's builders.


title: Dubai Metro

text: The first section of the Red Line, covering 10 stations, was ceremonially inaugurated at 9:09:09 pm on 9 September 2009, by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, with the line opening to the public at 6 am (UTC 04:00) on 10 September. The Dubai Metro is the first urban train network in the Arabian Peninsula and either the second in the Arab World (after the Cairo Metro) or the third (if the surface-level, limited-service Baghdad Metro is counted). It is the fourth in the Middle East, as Iran and Israel also have Metros.


title: Dubai Metro

text: More than 110,000 people, or nearly 10 percent of Dubai's population, used the Metro in its first two days of operation. The Dubai Metro carried 10 million passengers from launch on 9 September 2009 to 9 February 2010 with 11 stations operational on the Red Line. Engineering consultancy Atkins provided full multidisciplinary design and management of the civil works on Dubai Metro.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Until 2016, the Dubai Metro was the world's longest driverless metro network with a route length of , as recognized by Guinness World Records in 2012. The system was surpassed by the Vancouver SkyTrain in 2016 for the longest fully automated system in the world but regained the title in 2021 with the opening of Route 2020. However, its total route length have since been surpassed by the automated lines of the Singapore MRT. Nevertheless, the Red Line, at , remains the world's longest driverless single metro line.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Planning of the Dubai Metro began under the directive of Dubai's Ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who expected other projects to attract 15 million visitors to Dubai by 2010. The combination of a rapidly growing population (expected to reach 3 million by 2017) and severe traffic congestion necessitated the building of an urban rail system to provide additional public transportation capacity, relieve motor traffic, and provide infrastructure for additional development.


title: Dubai Metro

text: In May 2005, a AED 12.45 billion/US$3.4 billion design and build contract was awarded to the Dubai Rail Link (DURL) consortium made up of Japanese companies including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation, Obayashi Corporation, Kajima Corporation and Turkish firm Yapı Merkezi, and the Project Management ('The Engineer') and Construction Management services contract awarded to a French-American joint venture between Systra and Parsons Corporation. The first phase (worth AED 15.5 billion/US$4.2 billion) covers of the proposed network, including the Red Line between Al Rashidiya and the Jebel Ali Free Zone set for completion by September 2009 and the Green Line from Al Qusais 2 to Al Jaddaf 1. This was to be completed by June 2010. A second phase contract was subsequently signed in July 2006 and includes extensions to the initial routes. The Red Line partially opened at 9 minutes and 9 seconds past 9 pm on 9 September 2009 (9/9/9 9:09:09 PM), inaugurated by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.


title: Dubai Metro

text: The construction cost of the Dubai Metro project has shot up by about 80 percent from the original AED 15.5 billion/US$4.2 billion to AED 28 billion/US$7.8 billion. The authorities contradicted this, saying that the cost of the project did not overshoot. They attributed the increase in expenditure to the major changes in the scope and design of the project. The authorities also expect to generate AED 18 billion/US$4.9 billion in income over the next 10 years, but they speculate that the Metro would not be a profit-making enterprise since the fares would be subsidized.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Work officially commenced on the construction of the metro on 21 March 2006. In February 2009, an RTA Rail Agency official stated the US$4.2 billion Dubai Metro project would be completed on schedule despite the global crisis. However, only 10 out of 29 metro stations of the Red Line opened on 9 September 2009.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Construction of the 18 stations on the Red Line and another 18 on the Green Line restarted on 7 February 2010, according to contractors, after a settlement was reached with a Japanese-led consortium over disputed payments of about US$2 billion–US$3 billion. Construction of all 29 metro stations on the Red Line was declared complete on 28 April 2010 by the acting chief of the RTA Rail Agency.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Seven more stations on the Dubai Metro Red Line opened on 30 April 2010. Ten new trains were pressed into service, giving a total of 22 trains in service when the stations opened. The seven stations are Emirates Station, Airport Terminal 1 Station, Dubai Internet City (TECOM) Station, Al Karama Station (now ADCB), Emirates Towers Station, Dubai Marina Station (now SOBHA REALTY), and Ibn Battuta Station. In addition to this, a further three stations were opened on 15 May 2010; GGICO Station and World Trade Center Station. Furthermore, Business Bay Station, First Gulf Bank Station (Now First Abu Dhabi Bank), mashreq (Al Barsha) Station, Al Khail (Emirates Golf Club) Station, and Jumeirah Lakes Towers Station (Now DMCC) were opened on 15 October 2010. After much delay, Jebel Ali Station, the terminus of the Red Line on the Abu Dhabi side was opened on 11 March 2011, and Jebel Ali Industrial Station, renamed Danube Station, was opened on 12 December 2012. The final two stations, Al Jadaf and Creek, on the Green Line were opened on 1 March 2014.


title: Dubai Metro

text: The Dubai Metro is operated by keolis under contract to the Roads & Transport Authority. It has been renewed a number of times, most recently in March 2019. In March 2021, the French-Japanese consortium of Keolis and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was announced as a new operator from 8 September 2021.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Red Line trains run every 5 to 7 minutes off-peak (averaging 8.5 trains per hour), with a minimum headway of 3 minutes 45 seconds (16 trains per hour) during peak hours, with 44 trainsets in service. Trains from the Red Line and Green Line can depart differently due to technical glitches. From 2010, when 51 trains were in service, the line had a peak-hour capacity of 11,675 passengers per hour in each direction. , the Red Line operates 60 trains (train registrations 5001–5045, 5065–5079) The theoretical maximum design capacity is 25,720 passengers per hour, which would require 106 trains.


title: Dubai Metro

text: The Green Line had an initial capacity of 6,395 passengers per hour per direction, with 19 trains (train registrations 5046–5064) in service as of September 2014. The design capacity of this route is put at 13,380 passengers per hour with 60 trains in service.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Before launch, Dubai Municipality Public Transport Department expected the metro to provide transport for 12% of all trips in Dubai. After the first month of operation (on a limited network), the monthly total was 1,740,578 passengers, which equates to under 60,000 passengers/day. After the opening of more stations in May 2010, ridership surged to 103,002 passengers/day and reached 130,000/day by the beginning of October 2010. When the Green Line opened on 9 September 2011, passengers on the Red Line was noted as 180,000/day. In 2013, passengers rose to 377,000/day, split 64% for the Red Line and 36% for the Green Line. During the first half of 2015, RTA announced that 88,252,034 passengers have used the metro. In August 2017, RTA announced that total ridership since 2009 had surpassed 1 billion total trips.


title: Dubai Metro

text: One issue for the new system was how to reliably and comfortably get riders to their final destination if it is not located near a metro station. The RTA has added "feeder bus routes" also known as Metro link buses. Seen in Blue and White. Which act as shuttle services to and from major locations in and around the station area. There are bus and taxi laybys constructed as well as drop off zones at each station for ease of passenger access.


title: Dubai Metro

text: In addition 268 km of light rail lines are also planned, these will serve as feeders to the Dubai Metro. The Dubai Tram is one of the light rail plans.


title: Dubai Metro

text: To permit fully automated operation, Thales Rail Signalling Solutions is supplying its SelTrac IS communications-based train control and NetTrac central control technology. This is configured for a minimum headway of 90 seconds (40 trains per hour). The top speed of the trains is estimated to be around , giving a round-trip time of 2 hours 23 minutes for the Red Line and 1 hour 23 minutes for the Green Line.


title: Dubai Metro

text: The first two lines of the Dubai Metro have of lines, and 47 stations (nine of them being underground).


title: Dubai Metro

text: The red line stretches along the city from the Jebel Ali area to the border with Sharjah. It passes through several tourist attractions such as Mall of the Emirates, The Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa. The green line, on the other hand, stays within the old Dubai area. It passes through many historical sites, such as the Dubai Museum, the Gold Souk, the Spice Souk among others. Because of that, many stations near those places are themed on the history of Dubai, with photos depicting the UAE in the 1960s or earlier being on display within the station. Some stations are even specially designed with the architecture of traditional Emirati houses, mirroring the architecture in the surrounding area.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Route 2020: A 15 kilometer (9 mi) extension with seven new stations (including two underground) already built which starts at the Jebel Ali Station and ending at the Expo 2020 Site. Future plans will also extend this line to the Al Maktoum International Airport. The extension is served by new, redesigned trains from Alstom. The extension opened in stages in 2021. Since Red Line trains now run directly on the new track to Expo 2020, the Red Line section from Jabal Ali to UAE Exchange is now run as a separate branch line.


title: Dubai Metro

text: In 2011, the RTA stated that there are no "immediate plans" to build the Blue and Purple lines "in the next five or six years". This is mainly because the planned area is empty and developing.


title: Dubai Metro

text: In 2013, the RTA laid out a three-phase plan to expand the existing lines and build new ones: extending the Green Line by 12 stations and to Academic City by 2020; expanding the overall system by 58 stations and by 2025 and completing expansion with a total of 69 stations and 221 km over and above the present 47 stations and that are present as of January 2013.


title: Dubai Metro

text: In 2014, the RTA approved the recent proposal of extending the Red Line from Al Rashidiya station to Mirdif City Center which will increase 3.5 kilometers with the new station. However, there is also a proposal to extend it further to Al Warqa’a which is currently being studied.


title: Dubai Metro

text: On the Green Line, the RTA finalized the extension plan of 20.6 kilometers from Al Jaddaf to Academic City in 2014. The extension is due to go through Festival City, Lagoons, Ras Al Khor Industrial Area, International City, Dubai Silicon Oasis, and Dubai Academic City.


title: Dubai Metro

text: In 2018, the engineering firm Aurecon produced a study into a 7.5 km express metro line from Al Qiyadah station on the Green Line till Sharjah. The line would cost AED 3 billion, and could reduce traffic congestion between the two cities by up to 30%.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Dubai Metro is composed of at-grade (G) elevated Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 (T1, T2 and T3, respectively) underground stations (U) and underground transfer station types (UT). Type 1 is the regular at-grade concourse station, Type 2 is a regular elevated concourse station, and Type 3 is an elevated special track station with an extra track to hold a non-operational train. Underground transfer stations accommodate both the Red and Green lines for easy transfers.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Besides these differences, there are five themes used in the interiors of the stations: The red line individually has 29 stations including the Interchange Stations between Green Line. The green line has 20 stations including the Interchange Stations between Red Line. Route 2020 (Connected with the Red Line from Jebel Ali) individually has 7 stations in total (including Jebel Ali; 6 without it).


title: Dubai Metro

text: The Earth stations have a tan-brown colour effects; water has blue-white colour effects; fire has orange-red colour effects; and the air has green colour effects.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Officials have negotiated with international and local companies over naming rights for 23 stations on the two lines. This corporate branding is the first of its kind. Some examples are: BurJuman, Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates, DAMAC Properties and UAE Exchange.


title: Dubai Metro

text: The Dubai Metro has built three large multi-level car parking with an estimated capacity to accommodate more than 8,000 vehicles for the passengers where they can park their car and ride the metro.


title: Dubai Metro

text: All metro stations have elevators and contrasting tactile guidance path to guide the visually impaired. There are also dedicated spaces for wheelchair users on all the trains. Handicapped passengers, also known as 'people of determination' in the UAE, can ride with any RTA service for free with a special, personalized Nol Card.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Emergency stop buttons, intercoms and platform screen doors with corresponding flashing light signals are installed at every station for the safety of the passengers. Trains are equipped with emergency stop buttons, door release levers, intercoms and fire extinguishers. CCTV is operational throughout the entire network and in trains and police officers are regularly on patrol in the stations, especially during rush hours.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Wi-Fi connectivity is available across all trains and stations which and is provided by "du" which is in par with the Wi-Fi UAE program which provides Wi-Fi connectivity across major parts of UAE. Mobile phone coverage is available across the entire network of the metro. The metro itself has Wi-Fi connectivity inside for the commuters to access with two tiers of Internet access with the normal service being free whereas the premium service can be accessed by a nominal fee.


title: Dubai Metro

text: The Dubai Transport is divided into 4 tiers (5 zones). The prices were slightly increased as of 11 November 2014. The cheapest ticket (not preloaded, and not in the "gold" class) with a distance not more than 3 km cost 3 AED (about $0.82) – the equivalent of Tier 0, and most costly single trip (Tier 3, exceed 2 zones, and paper not preloaded ticket also) 7.5 AED (about $2.04) and was not increased from opening. Tier 1 is one zone trip, where the travel exceeds 3 km, Tier 2 is neighbouring 2 zones travel. Also (excluding Gold class) using cards there is "no more paying" – a free rest of day travel if the cost exceeds 14 AED (about $3.81).


title: Dubai Metro

text: The Dubai Metro has a fixed fare based on three tiers and travelling under 3 km costs 3 AED. The tiers are:


title: Dubai Metro

text: The Nol Card are used by the passengers to check-in and check-out at the gates in their destination station. No other payment form (cash, credit card) can be used. The fare will be automatically deducted based on the number of zones traveled. Passengers will be allowed to check-in when their card has more than minimum credit required.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Children below the age of 5 years or less than 90 cm and people with disabilities (personalized Nol Card required) will be eligible to travel the metro for free.


title: Dubai Metro

text: There is also a Nol Card available for students & seniors, and they can get a student & senior citizens' discount.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Japanese manufacturer Kinki Sharyo built a total of 79 five-car trains (60 on Red Line, 19 on Green Line). They are designed to carry 643 seated and standing passengers, and unusually for a mass transit system, the trains have three classes of accommodation: Gold Class (first class), Women and Children class (a classification that is extended to a greater number of cars during the peak hours), and regular Silver Class (economy). The first train (5001) was delivered to Dubai in March 2008. The metro has driver less operation and uses third rail current collection. Trained wardens accompany passengers to help with emergencies. The four newer trains (5074, 5075, 5076, and 5077) are each painted with a different special livery, in which one of them (train 5077) representing the skyline of Dubai.


title: Dubai Metro

text: 50 new trains, the Alstom Metropolis, were introduced in November 2018. The trains have higher capacity, 696 passengers, up from 643 passenger on the current trains. This will increase passenger capacity by about 10%. The new trains have a refreshed interior with better air conditioning, digital maps, improved speed, brakes and doors. Out of these 50 trains, 35 will run on the Red and Green lines while the remaining 15 will run on Route 2020, which partially opened at the start of 2021.


title: Dubai Metro

text: On 1 November 2018, as part of the RTA's Public Transport Day, the longest diverse human chain of hand was formed in a Dubai metro train at Etisalat station. The record was acknowledged by Guinness World Records. The chain was formed by people from 96 countries around the whole world. Previously this record was with Norway, where 75 nations made a diverse human chain.


title: Dubai Metro

text: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, gave his directions to transform Dubai Metro stations into art museums under the supervision of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, The project was announced early April 2014 and aims at displaying contemporary and modern art.


title: Georgi Markov

text: Georgi Ivanov Markov ( ; 1 March 1929 – 11 September 1978) was a Bulgarian dissident writer. He originally worked as a novelist, screenwriter and playwright in his native country, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, until his defection in 1978. After relocating to London, he worked as a broadcaster and journalist for the BBC World Service, the US-funded Radio Free Europe and West Germany's Deutsche Welle. Markov used such forums to conduct a campaign of sarcastic criticism against the incumbent Bulgarian regime, which, according to his wife at the time he died, eventually became "vitriolic" and included "really smearing mud on the people in the inner circles."


title: Georgi Markov

text: Markov was assassinated on a London street via a micro-engineered pellet that might have contained ricin. Contemporary newspaper accounts reported that he had been stabbed in the leg with an umbrella delivering a poisoned pellet, wielded by someone associated with the Bulgarian Secret Service. Annabel Markov recalled her husband's view about the umbrella, telling the BBC's "Panorama" programme, in April 1979, "He felt a jab in his thigh. He looked around and there was a man behind him who'd apologized and dropped an umbrella. I got the impression as he told the story that the jab hadn't been inflicted by the umbrella but that the man had dropped the umbrella as cover to hide his face." It was reported after the fall of the Soviet Union that the Soviet KGB had assisted the Bulgarian Secret Service.


title: Georgi Markov

text: Georgi Markov was born on 1 March 1929, in Knyazhevo, a Sofia neighbourhood. In 1946, he graduated from the "Gymnasium" (high school) and began university studies in industrial chemistry. Initially, Markov worked as a chemical engineer and a teacher in a technical school. At the age of 19, he became ill with tuberculosis which forced him to attend various hospitals. His first literary attempts occurred during that time. In 1957, a novel, "The Night of Caesium", appeared. Soon another novel, "The Ajax Winners" (1959) and two collections of short stories (1961) were published. In 1962, Markov published the novel "Men" which won the annual award of the Union of Bulgarian Writers and he was subsequently accepted as a member of the Union, a prerequisite for a professional career in literature. Georgi Markov started working at the Narodna Mladezh Publishing house. The story collections "A Portrait of My Double" (1966) and "The Women of Warsaw" (1968) secured his place as one of the most talented young writers of Bulgaria. Markov also wrote a number of plays but most of them were never staged or were removed from theatre repertoire by the Communist censors: "To Crawl Under the Rainbow", "The Elevator", "Assassination in the Cul-de-Sac", "Stalinists" and "I Was Him". The novel "The Roof" was halted in mid-printing since it described as a fact and in allegorical terms the collapse of the roof of the Lenin steel mill. Markov was one of the authors of the popular TV series "Every Kilometer" ("Всеки километър" or "At Every Milestone") which created the character of the Second World War detective Velinsky and his nemesis the Resistance fighter Deyanov.


title: Georgi Markov

text: Although some of his works were banned, Georgi Markov had become a successful author. He was among the writers and poets that Todor Zhivkov tried to co-opt and coerce into serving the regime with their works. During this period Markov had a bohemian lifestyle, which was unknown to most Bulgarians.


title: Georgi Markov

text: Although not yet confirmed, Markov's first published work was considered to be "The Whiskey Record Holder", which was issued in the newspaper "Narodna kultura." There are at least three versions as to when he debuted as an author:


title: Georgi Markov

text: In 1969, Markov left for Bologna, Italy, where his brother lived. His initial idea was to wait until his status with the Bulgarian authorities improved, but he gradually changed his mind and decided to stay in the West, especially after September 1971 when the Bulgarian government refused to extend his passport. Markov moved to London, where he learned English and started working for the Bulgarian section of the BBC World Service (1972). He tried to work for the film industry, hoping for help from Peter Uvaliev, but was unsuccessful. Later he also worked with Deutsche Welle and Radio Free Europe. In 1972, Markov's membership in the Union of Bulgarian Writers was suspended and he was sentenced "in absentia" to six years and six months in prison for his defection.


title: Georgi Markov

text: His works were withdrawn from libraries and bookshops and his name was not mentioned by the official Bulgarian media until 1989. The Bulgarian Secret Service opened a file on Markov under the code name "Wanderer." In 1974, his play "To Crawl Under the Rainbow" was staged in London, while in Edinburgh the play "Archangel Michael", written in English, won first prize. The novel "The Right Honourable Chimpanzee", co-written with David Phillips, was published after his death. In 1975, Markov married Annabel Dilke. The couple had a daughter, Alexandra-Raina, born a year later.


title: Georgi Markov

text: Between 1975 and 1978, Markov worked on his "In Absentia Reports", an analysis of life in Communist Bulgaria. They were broadcast weekly on Radio Free Europe. Their criticism of the Communist government and of the Party leader Todor Zhivkov made Markov, even more, an enemy of the regime.


title: Georgi Markov

text: In 1978, Markov was killed in London (see below), allegedly by an operative connected to the KGB and the Bulgarian secret police under Zhivkov. His "In Absentia Reports" were published in Bulgaria in 1990, after the end of the Communist government.


title: Georgi Markov

text: In 2000, Markov was posthumously awarded the Order of Stara Planina, Bulgaria's most prestigious honour, for his "significant contribution to the Bulgarian literature, drama and non-fiction and for his exceptional civic position and confrontation to the Communist regime."


title: Georgi Markov

text: On 7 September 1978, Markov walked across Waterloo Bridge spanning the River Thames and waited to take a bus to his job at the BBC. While at the bus stop, he felt a slight sharp pain, as a bug bite or sting, on the back of his right thigh. He looked behind him and saw a man picking up an umbrella off the ground. The man hurriedly crossed to the other side of the street and got in a taxi which then drove away.


title: Georgi Markov

text: When he arrived at work at the BBC World Service offices, he noticed a small red pimple had formed at the site of the sting he had felt earlier and the pain had not lessened or stopped. He told at least one of his colleagues at the BBC, Theo Lirkov, about this incident. That evening he developed a fever and was admitted to St James' Hospital in Balham, where he died four days later, on 11 September 1978, at the age of 49. His grave is in a small churchyard at the Church of St Candida and Holy Cross in Whitchurch Canonicorum, Dorset.


title: Georgi Markov

text: Bernard Riley, the attending physician treating Markov, considered many possible causes of his illness, including that he had been bitten by a venomous tropical snake. Riley had the inflamed area at the back of his leg x-rayed, but no foreign object was detected at this time. Due to the circumstances and statements Markov made to doctors expressing the suspicion that he had been poisoned, the Metropolitan Police ordered a thorough autopsy of his body. Rufus Crompton performed the autopsy, noting a red mark on the back of Markov's leg. He cut a tissue sample from the area, with a matching sample from the other leg. These samples were sent for further analysis at the Porton Down chemical and biological weapons laboratory. There, David Gall, the Research Medical Officer, found a tiny pellet in the tissue sample.


title: Georgi Markov

text: The pellet measured in diameter and was composed of 90% platinum and 10% iridium. It had two holes with diameters of drilled through it, producing an X-shaped cavity. Further examination by experts from Porton Down could not detect any remnant of poison. Considering possible poisons, scientists hypothesized that the pellet might have contained ricin.


title: Georgi Markov

text: Porton Down scientists also thought that a sugary substance had been used to coat the tiny holes, creating a bubble that trapped the poison inside the cavities, with a specially crafted coating designed to melt at : human body temperature. After the pellet was inside Markov, the coating might have melted and the poison released to be absorbed into the bloodstream and kill him.


title: Georgi Markov

text: Regardless of whether the doctors treating Markov had known that the poison might have been ricin, the result would have been the same, as there was no known antidote to ricin at the time.


title: Georgi Markov

text: Ten days before the murder, an attempt was made to kill another Bulgarian defector, Vladimir Kostov, in the same manner as Markov, in a Paris Métro station.


title: Georgi Markov

text: KGB defector Oleg Kalugin alleged that the Bulgarian Secret Service arranged the murder with help from the Soviet KGB. Nobody has been charged with Markov's murder, largely because most documents relating to it are unavailable, probably destroyed. Kalugin said that Markov had been killed using an umbrella gun.


title: Georgi Markov

text: The British newspaper "The Sunday Times" reported that the prime suspect was an Italian, Francesco Gullino or Giullino, who was last known to be living in Denmark. A British documentary, "The Umbrella Assassin" (2006), interviewed people associated with the case in Bulgaria, Britain, Denmark and America, and revealed that Gullino was alive and well, and still travelling freely throughout Europe. There were reports in June 2008 that Scotland Yard had renewed its interest in the case. Detectives were sent to Bulgaria and requests were made to interview relevant individuals. Gullino died in Austria in August 2021.


title: Georgi Markov

text: Markov's assassination is mentioned in John D. MacDonald's 1979 novel "The Green Ripper" when a character is murdered.


title: Georgi Markov

text: Markov’s assassination is mentioned in season two, episode seven of CSI, by Aaron as he describes people poisoned with ricin to Gil Grissom.


title: Georgi Markov

text: Markov's assassination is also mentioned in the neo-Western crime drama series "Breaking Bad", season two, episode one, "Seven Thirty-Seven" as Walter and Jesse think of plans to kill Tuco Salamanca.


title: Georgi Markov

text: It was also mentioned in an episode of "The Young Ones", "Demolition" when Jerzei Balowski gets off the bus.


title: Georgi Markov

text: Markov's assassination is used as the basis for an assassination story in the US Naval crime drama series "NCIS", season seven, episode twenty-one, "Obsession". The character, Lt Hutton, is working on a classified program at the Naval Info-Ops Centre (NIOC) and is discovered to have been murdered using the same method as Markov, leading to a Soviet KGB plotline.


title: Georgi Markov

text: Markov assassination is also mentioned in season two, episode one from “Slow Horses”, an Apple TV series. Robin Cartwright and Shirley point to the possibility of the same technique being used to murder a former MI6 agent, who was following a former KGB agent, possible “Cicada”. Then Robin finds out that some poison was inserted into the arm, through a similar but different method.


title: Georgi Markov

text: On 11 May 2012, a German man died almost a year after having been stabbed with an umbrella in the city of Hanover. German police – who noted a resemblance to the Markov case – analyzed the syringe which the victim had managed to take from the perpetrator, and found dimethylmercury; the reported cause of death was mercury poisoning.


title: Georgi Markov

text: In 2016, police in Chennai, India solved three separate murders when the four killers confessed to having used an umbrella tipped with a potassium cyanide-filled syringe. They had ridden past the victims on a bike and jabbed them into the thigh.


title: When You Say Nothing at All

text: "When You Say Nothing at All" is a country song written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz. It was a hit song for four different performers: Keith Whitley, who took it to the top of the "Billboard" Hot Country Singles chart on December 24, 1988; Alison Krauss, whose version was her first solo top-10 country hit in 1995; Irish singer Frances Black, whose 1996 version became her third Irish Top 10 single and brought the song to the attention of Irish pop singer Ronan Keating, whose 1999 version was his first solo single and a number-one hit in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and New Zealand.


title: When You Say Nothing at All

text: Overstreet and Schlitz came up with "When You Say Nothing at All" at the end of an otherwise unproductive day. Strumming a guitar, trying to write their next song, they were coming up empty. "As we tried to find another way to say nothing, we came up with the song", Overstreet later told author Ace Collins. They thought the song was OK, but nothing special. When Keith Whitley heard it, he loved it, and was not going to let it get away. Earlier, he had recorded another Overstreet-Schlitz composition that became a No. 1 hit for another artist - Randy Travis' "On the Other Hand." Whitley did not plan to let "When You Say Nothing at All" meet the same fate.


title: When You Say Nothing at All

text: RCA released "When You Say Nothing at All" as the follow-up single to the title song of Whitley's "Don't Close Your Eyes" album. The former song already had hit No. 1 on the "Billboard" Hot Country Singles chart, his first chart-topper after three prior singles made the top 10. "When You Say Nothing at All" entered the Hot Country Singles chart on September 17, 1988, at No. 61, and gradually rose to the top, where it stayed for two weeks at the end of the year. It was the second of five consecutive chart-topping singles for Whitley, who did not live to see the last two, as he died on May 9, 1989, of alcohol poisoning. "Keith did a great job singin' that song," co-composer Schlitz told author Tom Roland. "He truly sang it from the heart." In 2004, Whitley's original was ranked 12th among CMT's "100 Greatest Love Songs". It was sung by Sara Evans on the show. As of February 2015, the song has sold 599,000 digital copies in the US after it became available for download.


title: When You Say Nothing at All

text: In 1995, Alison Krauss covered the song with the group Union Station for a tribute album to Whitley titled "". After Krauss's cover began to receive unsolicited airplay, BNA Records, the label that had released the album, issued Krauss' version to radio in January 1995. That version, also featured on Krauss' compilation "", peaked at No. 3 on the "Billboard" Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, and a commercial single reached No. 2 on the same magazine's Hot Country Singles Sales chart. The B-side of the single was Keith Whitley's "Charlotte's in North Carolina", which was another previously unreleased track featured on the Tribute album.


title: When You Say Nothing at All

text: Its success, as well as that of the album, caught Krauss by surprise. "It's a freak thing," she told a "Los Angeles Times" reporter in March 1995. "It's kinda ticklin' us all. We haven't had anything really chart before. At all. Isn't it funny though? We don't know what's goin' on...The office said, 'Hey, it's charting,' and we're like, 'Huh?'"


title: When You Say Nothing at All

text: While Krauss' version was on the charts, Mike Cromwell, then the production director at WMIL-FM in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, concocted a duet merging elements of Krauss' version with Whitley's original hit version. The "duet" garnered national attention, and it spread from at least Philadelphia to Albuquerque, and has been heard on radio stations in California as well. This "duet" was however never officially serviced to radio and has never been available commercially.


title: When You Say Nothing at All

text: Krauss' recording won the 1995 CMA award for "Single of the Year". The song has been featured a couple of times in the soap opera "The Young and the Restless". Krauss' version was also used in the 1999 motion picture "The Other Sister". The song has sold 468,000 digital downloads as of May 2017.


title: When You Say Nothing at All

text: "When You Say Nothing At All" was the opening track on, and first single released from, Frances Black's third solo album, 1996's "The Smile On Your Face", the title of the album being a lyric from this song. Released in August 1996, this single became her third to reach the Irish Top 10, peaking at number 8 during an 11-week run in the top 30.


title: When You Say Nothing at All

text: "When You Say Nothing at All" was released as the debut solo single by Irish singer-songwriter Ronan Keating. The song was recorded for the soundtrack to the film "Notting Hill" and also appeared on Keating's debut solo album, "Ronan". This cover was released on July 26, 1999, in the United Kingdom. It peaked at number one in the UK, Ireland, and New Zealand. The single is certified platinum in Australia, Sweden, and the UK.


title: When You Say Nothing at All

text: In February 2003, Keating re-recorded the song as a duet with Mexican singer Paulina Rubio in Spanglish, which was released in Spain, Mexico, and Latin America (excluding Brazil) to promote Keating's second studio album, "Destination". In Brazil, Ronan chose the Brazilian singer Deborah Blando to re-record the song in English and English-Portuguese for the "10 Years Of Hits" album exclusive for that country. A music video was recorded for this version with Blando.


title: When You Say Nothing at All

text: "Daily Record" wrote that Keating "sounds like Marti Pellow on this drippy ballad." The popular Spanish website "Jenesaispop" described the Spanglish version as one of the most "squeaky" bilingual collaboration, while Victor González of GQ Spain praised the collaboration as "great" in an article of "unusual collaborations".


title: Dirigisme

text: Dirigisme or dirigism () is an economic doctrine in which the state plays a strong directive (policies) role contrary to a merely regulatory interventionist role over a market economy. As an economic doctrine, dirigisme is the opposite of "laissez-faire", stressing a positive role for state intervention in curbing productive inefficiencies and market failures. Dirigiste policies often include indicative planning, state-directed investment, and the use of market instruments (taxes and subsidies) to incentivize market entities to fulfill state economic objectives.


title: Dirigisme

text: The term emerged in the post-World War II era to describe the economic policies of France which included substantial state-directed investment, the use of indicative economic planning to supplement the market mechanism and the establishment of state enterprises in strategic domestic sectors. It coincided with both the period of substantial economic and demographic growth, known as the Trente Glorieuses which followed the war, and the slowdown beginning with the 1973 oil crisis.


title: Dirigisme

text: The term has subsequently been used to classify other economies that pursued similar policies, such as Japan, the East Asian tiger economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and the Republic of China (ROC), and more recently the economy of the People's Republic of China (PRC) after the Chinese economic reform.


title: Dirigisme

text: Most modern economies can be characterized as dirigiste to some degree as the state may exercise directive action by performing or subsidizing research and development of new technologies through government procurement (especially military) or through state-run research institutes.


title: Dirigisme

text: Before the Second World War, France had a relatively fragmented capitalist economic system. The many small companies, often family-owned, were often not dynamic and efficient in comparison to the large industrial groups in Germany or the United States. The Second World War laid waste to France. Railroads and industries were destroyed by aerial bombardment and sabotage; industries were seized by Nazi Germany; in the immediate postwar years loomed the spectre of long years of rationing (such as the system enforced in that period in the United Kingdom). Some sections of the French business and political world lost authority after collaborating with the German occupiers.


title: Dirigisme

text: Post-war French governments, from whichever political side, generally sought rational, efficient economic development, with the long-term goal of matching the highly developed and technologically advanced economy of the United States. The development of French dirigisme coincided with the development of meritocratic technocracy: the École Nationale d'Administration supplied the state with high-level administrators, while leadership positions in industry were staffed with Corps of Mines state engineers and other personnel trained at the École Polytechnique.


title: Dirigisme

text: During the 1945–1975 period, France experienced unprecedented economic growth (5.1% on average) and a demographic boom, leading to the coinage of the term "Trente Glorieuses" (the "Glorious Thirty [years]").


title: Dirigisme

text: Dirigisme flourished under the conservative governments of Charles de Gaulle and Georges Pompidou. In those times, the policy was viewed as a middle way between the American policy of little state involvement and the Soviet policy of total state control. In 1981, Socialist president François Mitterrand was elected, promising greater state enterprise in the economy; his government soon nationalised industries and banks. However, in 1983 the initial bad economic results forced the government to renounce dirigisme and start the era of "rigueur" ("rigour"). This was primarily due to the Inflation of the French Franc and the Keynesian policies taken by François Mitterrand. Dirigisme has remained out of favour with subsequent governments, though some of its traits remain.


title: Dirigisme

text: The main French tool under dirigisme was indicative planning through plans designed by the "Commissariat général du plan" ("Commission for the Plan"). Indicative planning used various incentives to induce public and private actors to behave in an optimal fashion, with the plan serving as a general guideline for optimal investment. During this period France never ceased to be a capitalist economy directed by the accumulation of capital, profit-maximizing enterprise and market-based allocation of producer goods.


title: Dirigisme

text: In contrast to Soviet-type central planning practiced in the former Soviet bloc, where economic planning substituted private profit incentivized investment and operated the factors of production according to a binding plan, the French state never owned more than a minority of industry and did not seek to replace private profit with central planning. The idea of dirigisme is to complement and improve the efficiency of the market through indirect planning intended to provide better information to market participants. This concept is held in contrast to a planned economy, which aims to replace market-based allocation of production and investment with a binding plan of production expressed in units of physical quantities.


title: Dirigisme

text: Because French industry prior to the Second World War was weak due to fragmentation, the French government encouraged mergers and the formation of "national champions": large industry groups backed by the state.


title: Dirigisme

text: Two areas where the French government sought greater control were in infrastructure and the transportation system. The French government owned the national railway company SNCF, the national electricity utility EDF, the national natural gas utility GDF, the national airline Air France; phone and postal services were operated as the PTT administration. The government chose to devolve the construction of most autoroutes (freeways) to semi-private companies rather than to administer them itself. Other areas where the French government directly intervened were defense, nuclear and aerospace industries (Aérospatiale).


title: Dirigisme

text: This development was marked by "volontarisme", the belief that difficulties (e.g. postwar devastation, lack of natural resources) could be overcome through willpower and ingenuity. For instance, following the 1973 energy crisis, the saying "In France we don't have oil, but we have ideas" was coined. Volontarisme emphasized modernization, resulting in a variety of ambitious state plans. Examples of this trend include the extensive use of nuclear energy (close to 80% of French electrical consumption), the Minitel, an early online system for the masses, and the TGV, a high-speed rail network.


title: Dirigisme

text: Dirigisme is seen in India but was especially prevalent during pre-liberalisation period (1947–1991). After the end of British rule, domestic policy in India tended towards protectionism, with a strong emphasis on import substitution industrialisation, economic interventionism, a large government-run public sector, business regulation, and central planning, while trade and foreign investment policies were relatively liberal. However, in regards to trade and foreign investment, other authors disagree stating that high tariff barriers were maintained, with import duties of 350% not being uncommon, and there was also severe restrictions on the entry of foreign goods, capital, and technology. After 1991 India shifted from a planned dirigisme to market dirigisme economy.


title: Dirigisme

text: The state has complete control and ownership of railways, highways; majority control and stake in banking, insurance, farming, dairy, fertilizers & chemicals, airports, nuclear, mining, digitization, defense, steel, rare earths, water, electricity, oil and gas industries and power plants, and has substantial control over digitalization, Broadband as national infrastructure, telecommunication, supercomputing, space, port and shipping industries, among other industries, were effectively nationalised in the mid-1950s. Indian Government has indirect control on all sector except technology and consumer goods.


title: Dirigisme

text: Economic dirigisme has been described as an inherent aspect of fascist economies by Hungarian author Iván T. Berend in his book "An Economic History of Twentieth-Century Europe". However, the fascist systems created by Benito Mussolini (Italy), António Salazar (Portugal), Francisco Franco (Spain), Emperor Hirohito (Japan), and Adolf Hitler (Germany) are a varied mix of elements from numerous philosophies, including nationalism, authoritarianism, militarism, corporatism, collectivism, totalitarianism, and anti-communism.


title: Dirigisme

text: Dirigisme has been brought up as a politico-economic scheme at odds with "laissez-faire" capitalism in the context of French overseas holdings. To varying degrees throughout the post-colonial period, countries such as Lebanon and Syria have been influenced by this motif.


title: Little Italy, Manhattan

text: Little Italy (also ) is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City, known for its large Italian population. It is bounded on the west by Tribeca and Soho, on the south by Chinatown, on the east by the Bowery and Lower East Side, and on the north by Nolita.


title: Little Italy, Manhattan

text: Little Italy on Mulberry Street used to extend as far south as Worth Street, as far north as Houston Street, as far west as Lafayette Street, and as far east as Bowery. It is now only three blocks on Mulberry Street north of Canal St. Little Italy originated at Mulberry Bend south of Canal, in what had formerly been the Five Points area but is now the heart of Chinatown. Jacob Riis described Mulberry Bend as "the foul core of New York's slums." During this time period "Immigrants of the late 19th century usually settled in ethnic neighborhoods". Therefore, the "mass immigration from Italy during the 1880s" led to the large settlement of Italian immigrants in lower Manhattan. The results of such migration had created an "influx of Italian immigrants" which had "led to the commercial gathering of their dwelling and business".


title: Little Italy, Manhattan

text: Bill Tonelli from "New York" magazine said, "Once, Little Italy was like an insular Neapolitan village re-created on these shores, with its own language, customs, and financial and cultural institutions." Little Italy was not the largest Italian neighborhood in New York City, as East Harlem (or Italian Harlem) had a larger Italian population. Tonelli said that Little Italy "was perhaps the city's poorest Italian neighborhood".


title: Little Italy, Manhattan

text: In 1910 Little Italy had almost 10,000 Italians; that was the peak of the community's Italian population. At the turn of the 20th century, over 90% of the residents of the Fourteenth Ward were of Italian birth or origins. Tonelli said that it meant "that residents began moving out to more spacious digs almost as soon as they arrived." Such a vastly growing community impacted the "U.S. labor movement in the 20th century" by making up much of the labor population in the garment industry".


title: Little Italy, Manhattan

text: After World War II, many residents of the Lower East Side began moving to Brooklyn, Staten Island, eastern Long Island, and New Jersey. Chinese immigrants became an increased presence after the U.S. Immigration Act of 1965 removed immigration restrictions, and the Manhattan Chinatown to Little Italy's south expanded. In 2004, Tonelli said, "You can go back 30 years and find newspaper clips chronicling the expansion of Chinatown and mourning the loss of Little Italy."


title: Little Italy, Manhattan

text: Before 2004, several upscale businesses entered the northern portion of the area between Houston and Kenmare Street. Tonelli said, "Real-estate prices zoomed, making it even tougher for the old-timers—residents and businesspeople alike—to hang on." After the September 11 attacks in 2001, areas below Houston Street were cut off for the rest of the fall of 2001. The San Gennaro feast, scheduled for September 13, was postponed. Business from the Financial District dropped severely, due to the closure of Park Row, which connected Chinatown and the Civic Center; as a result, residents in Little Italy and Chinatown suffered. Tonelli said the post-9/11 events "strangely enough, ended up motivating all these newfangled efforts to save what's left of the old neighborhood."


title: Little Italy, Manhattan

text: In 2004 Tonelli said "Today, Little Italy is a veneer—50 or so restaurants and cafés catering to tourists, covering a dense neighborhood of tenements shared by recent Chinese immigrants, young Americans who can't afford Soho, and a few remaining real live Italians." This sentiment has also been echoed by Italian culture and heritage website "ItalianAware". The site has called the dominance of Italians in the area "relatively short-lived." It attributes this to the quick financial prosperity many Italians achieved, which allowed them to leave the cramped neighborhood for areas in Brooklyn and Queens. The site also goes on to state that the area is currently referred to as Little Italy more out of nostalgia than as a reflection of a true ethnic population.


title: Little Italy, Manhattan

text: In 2010, Little Italy and Chinatown were listed in a single historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. Little Italy, by this point, was shrinking rapidly.


title: Little Italy, Manhattan

text: "The New York Times" sent its reporters to characterize the Little Italy/Mulberry neighborhood in May 1896: