title: Idli

text: A precursor of the modern idli is mentioned in several ancient Indian works. "Vaddaradhane", a 920 CE Kannada language work by Shivakotiacharya mentions "iddalige", prepared only from a black gram batter. Chavundaraya II, the author of the earliest available Kannada encyclopedia, "Lokopakara" (1025 CE), describes the preparation of this food by soaking black gram in buttermilk, ground to a fine paste, and mixed with the clear water of curd and spices. The Western Chalukya king and scholar Someshwara III, reigning in the area now called Karnataka, included an idli recipe in his encyclopedia, "Manasollasa" (1130 CE). This Sanskrit-language work describes the food as "iḍḍarikā". In Karnataka, the Idli in 1235 CE is described as being "light, like coins of high value", which is not suggestive of a rice base. The food prepared using this recipe is now called "uddina idli" in Karnataka.


title: Idli

text: The recipe mentioned in these ancient Indian works leaves out three key aspects of the modern idli recipe: the use of rice (not just black gram), the long fermentation of the mix, and the steaming for fluffiness. The references to the modern recipe appear in the Indian works only after 1250 CE. Food historian K. T. Achaya speculates that the modern idli recipe might have originated in present-day Indonesia, which has a long tradition of fermented food. According to him, the cooks employed by the Hindu kings of the Indianised kingdoms might have invented the steamed idli there, and brought the recipe back to India during 800–1200 CE. Achaya mentioned an Indonesian dish called "kedli", which according to him, was like an idli. However, Janaki Lenin was unable to find any recipe for an Indonesian dish by this name. According to food historian Colleen Taylor Sen the fermentation process of idli batter is natural process that was discovered independently in India, since nearly all cultures use fermentation in some form.


title: Idli

text: Gujarati historians believe that it was Saurashtrian textile merchants who introduced idli to South India during the 10th and 12th centuries. There are even claims that a mix of rice and black gram ground together and later steamed to form cakes had its origins in Gujarat. The Gujarati work "Varṇaka Samuccaya" (1520 CE) mentions idli as "idari", and also mentions its local adaption "idada" (a non-fermented version of dhokla).


title: Idli

text: The earliest extant Tamil work to mention idli (as "itali") is "Maccapuranam", dated to the 17th century. In 2015, Chennai-based Idli caterer Eniyavan started celebrating 30 March as the "World Idli Day".


title: Idli

text: To make Idli, four parts uncooked rice (idli rice or parboiled rice) to one part whole white lentil (black gram, "Vigna mungo") are soaked separately for at least four hours to six hours or overnight. Optionally spices such as fenugreek seeds can be added at the time of soaking for additional flavour. Once done soaking, the lentils are ground to a fine paste and the rice is separately coarsely ground, then they are combined. Next, the mixture is left to ferment overnight during which its volume will more than double. After fermentation some of the batter may be kept as a starter culture for the next batch. The finished idli batter is put into greased moulds of an idli tray or "tree" for steaming. The perforated molds allow the idlis to be cooked evenly. The tree holds the trays above the level of boiling water in a pot, and the pot is covered until the idlis are done (about 10–25 minutes, depending on size). A more traditional method is to use leaves instead of moulds.


title: Idli

text: Since plain idlis are mild in taste, a condiment is considered essential. Idlis are often served with chutneys (coconut based), sambar and Medu vada. However, this varies greatly by region and personal taste, it is also often served with kaara chutney (onion based) or spicy fish curries. The dry spice mixture podi is convenient while travelling.


title: Idli

text: There are several regional variations of idlis made in South India and Sri Lanka. With the emigration of south Indians and Sri Lankans throughout the region and world, many variations on idli have been created in addition to the almost countless local variations. Hard-to-get ingredients and differing cooking customs have required changes in both ingredients and methods. Parboiled rice can reduce the soaking time considerably. Store-bought ground rice or cream of rice may also be used. Similarly, semolina or cream of wheat may be used for preparing rava idli (wheat idli). Dahi (yogurt) may be added to provide the sour flavour for unfermented batters. Pre-packaged mixes allow for almost instant idlis.


title: Idli

text: In addition to or instead of fenugreek other spices may be used such as mustard seeds, chili peppers, cumin, coriander, ginger, etc. Sugar may be added to make them sweet instead of savoury. Idli may also be stuffed with a filling of potato, beans, carrot and masala. Leftover idlis can be cut-up or crushed and sautéed for a dish called idli upma. A microwave or an automatic electric steamer that is non-stick is considered to be a convenient alternative to conventional stovetop steamers. Batter preparation using a manual rocking rock grinder can be replaced by electric grinders or blenders. Many restaurants have also come up with fusion recipes of Idlis as idly manchurian, idly fry, chilly idly, stuffed idly, to name a few.


title: Idli

text: Fermentation of idli batter results in both leavening caused by the generation of carbon dioxide as well as an increase in acidity. This fermentation is performed by lactic acid bacteria especially the heterofermentative strain "Leuconostoc mesenteroides" and the homofermantative strain "Enterococcus faecalis" (formerly classified as "Streptococcus faecalis"). Heterofermantative lactic acid bacteria such as "L. mesenteroides" generate both lactic acid as well as carbon dioxide whereas homofermantative lactic acid bacteria only generate lactic acid.


title: Idli

text: Both "L. mesenteroides" and "E. faecalis" are predominantly delivered to the batter by the black gram. Both strains start multiplying while the grains are soaking and continue to do so after grinding.


title: Idli

text: "L. mesenteroides" tolerates high concentrations of salt unlike most other bacteria. Hence the salt in the batter and the ongoing generation of lactic acid both suppress the growth of other undesirable micro-organisms.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: The 2004–05 season was Chelsea F.C.'s 91st competitive season, 13th consecutive season in the Premier League and 99th year as a club. Managed by José Mourinho during his first season at the club, Chelsea won the Premier League title (their first league title in 50 years) and the League Cup.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: The season was historic for the vast number of Premier League records set during the season. The list of achievements included; most away wins in a season (15), most clean sheets kept in a season (25), fewest goals conceded away in a season (9), most wins in a season (29) and fewest goals conceded in a season (15). As of 2022, Chelsea 2004-05 still hold the defensive records for most clean sheets and fewest goals conceded in a Premier League season.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: After missing out on the league title to the unbeaten Arsenal in the previous season, Chelsea continued spending large sums of money in order to build a squad capable of challenging for honours. They were in their second season under the ownership of Roman Abramovich, enabling them to sign five players for more than £10 million each, including Ivorian striker Didier Drogba from Marseille and defender Ricardo Carvalho from Mourinho's former club, Porto. Portuguese defender Paulo Ferreira also followed Mourinho to Chelsea from Porto.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: In the Champions League, Chelsea aimed to improve upon their semi-final placing the previous year, but in the end only matched their achievement. They also exited the FA Cup in the fifth round to eventual semi-finalists Newcastle United.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: The team kit was produced by Umbro. The shirt sponsor was Emirates Airline; the kit bore the "Fly Emirates" logo. Chelsea's home kit, all blue with a white collar, was retained from the previous season. Their new away kit was black with grey shorts and accents. Chelsea retained last season's away kit (all white with black and blue stripes down the center) as the third kit for this season.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: A total of 20 teams competed in the Premier League in the 2004–05 season. Each team played 38 matches; two against every other team and one match at each club's stadium. Three points were awarded for each win, one point per draw, and none for defeats. At the end of the season the top two teams qualified for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League; teams in third and fourth needed to play a qualifier.[16]


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: The provisional fixture list was released on 24 June 2004, but was subject to change in the event of clashes with other competitions, international football, inclement weather, or matches being selected for television coverage.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: Chelsea opened their Premier League campaign at home against a depleted Manchester United side on 15 August 2004. Eiður Guðjohnsen's 14th-minute goal was enough to separate the two sides, 1–0. The result was followed by another 1–0 win a weekend later, this time away at Birmingham City thanks to a strike by substitute Joe Cole. A few days later, Chelsea journeyed across London to Selhurst Park to face newly promoted Crystal Palace. A Didier Drogba debut goal for his new club (a header from a Celestine Babayaro cross) and a controlled, outside-the-box effort by Tiago were enough to ensure a 0–2 win and maintain Chelsea's 100 percent start. Chelsea concluded August with a 2–1 home win over Southampton. James Beattie gave the visitors a shock lead after 12 seconds (the fastest Premier League goal of the season and Chelsea's first conceded); Beattie subsequently scored an own goal at the other end following a Chelsea corner, and a Frank Lampard penalty four minutes short of half-time set Chelsea on their way to all three points, leaving them in second place (behind fellow 100 percenters Arsenal on goal difference).


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: Due to the international fixtures, Chelsea did not play again until 11 September, dropping their first points of the season in a 0–0 draw at Aston Villa, but both sides were not without their chances to break the deadlock, Drogba having a penalty claim turned down and being booked for diving in the process. A second successive 0–0 draw, at home to Tottenham Hotspur, meant they lost ground on defending champions and leaders Arsenal, falling two points behind. Chelsea later claimed their first win of the month courtesy of a free-kick routine finished by Drogba nine minutes from time away at Middlesbrough one week later to give them a vital 0–1 win. At the end of September 2004, Chelsea were still occupying second place, two points behind Arsenal.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: Chelsea began October with yet another 1–0 win, this time against Liverpool, a Joe Cole flick from an inswinging Lampard free kick maintained their unbeaten league start. The run, however, ended after they suffered their first and only defeat of the season away at Manchester City, with Nicolas Anelka stroking home a penalty in the 11th minute that he won himself after being felled in the box by Paulo Ferreira. The result cast Chelsea further behind pace-setters Arsenal, the margin now at five points. Manager Jose Mourinho maintained his optimism regarding his side's performances despite the media bemoaning Chelsea's lack of goals and style of play, particularly in contrast to the verve of unbeaten league leaders Arsenal.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: Nonetheless, Chelsea recorded one of their most emphatic victories of the season a week later, winning 4–0 at home against Blackburn Rovers, an Eiður Guðjohnsen hat-trick set them on their way to the win. The result was significant in that it closed the gap to two points, as Arsenal lost their unbeaten record in controversial fashion a day later at Old Trafford, losing 2–0 to Manchester United. Another irrefutable result, a 1–4 win away at West Bromwich Albion, pulled Chelsea level with Arsenal (but behind on goal difference) at the end of October, as the reigning champions were showing signs of faltering, narrowly earning a 2–2 draw that day.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: A 1–0 home win against Everton at Stamford Bridge coupled with another draw for Arsenal allowed Chelsea to top the table for the first time in the season. A week later, they retained their two-point lead at the top thanks to a thumping 4–1 away triumph at Fulham. Despite a 2–2 home draw to Bolton, they maintained their table-topping lead after Arsenal could only manage a 1–1 draw themselves to West Brom at home on the same day; Chelsea rounded off November 2004 with a 4–0 thumping of Charlton Athletic at The Valley with Duff, Terry twice and Gudjohnsen all on the scoresheet to see Chelsea move 5 points clear at the top as Arsenal suffered their second defeat of the season at Liverpool the next day.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: Chelsea began the new month as they ended the last, with a 4–0 victory, this time at home against Newcastle. In their next outing, they visited rivals Arsenal and despite going behind twice, equalised twice to earn a 2–2 draw at Highbury and preserve their lead at the top of the Premier League. Chelsea won the rest of their December fixtures without conceding: 4–0 vs Norwich, 1–0 vs Aston Villa, and 2–0 away to Portsmouth - to end 2004 sitting atop the Premier League, five points clear of champions Arsenal.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: 2005 began with a trip to Anfield on New Year's Day, Joe Cole once again proved the difference between the two sides, finding the back of the net five minutes after coming on as a substitute to earn a now-routine 1–0 victory for the visitors. They went on to win all their remaining games in January to nil (2–0 vs Middlesbrough, 2–0 away at Tottenham Hotspur and 3–0 against Portsmouth), extending their commanding lead to 10 points, as rivals Arsenal continued to flounder.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: As February dawned, Arsenal lost 4–2 against Manchester United at Highbury, the latter leapfrogging Wenger's Arsenal into second and prompting the Frenchman to rule his side (now 13 points behind leaders Chelsea) out of the title race with Manchester United showing signs of a mid-season surge; nevertheless, Chelsea continued their relentless form, earning a 1–0 win at Blackburn Rovers on 2 February; in doing so, Petr Cech (who saved a penalty late on in the game to ensure Chelsea's victory) set a new record of minutes gone without conceding (781), breaking Peter Schmeichel's record of 695 with Manchester United. The eighth straight win saw the Blues move 11 points clear as their quest for a first Premier League title remained on track.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: They later dropped their first points of 2005, a 0–0 stalemate at home to Manchester City, but soon returned to winning ways with a 1–0 away victory at Everton on 12 February, closing the month with a 9-point advantage over second-placed Manchester United.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: Chelsea conceded their first goal in 2005, during a 3–1 win at Norwich on 5 March, to end Petr Cech's Premier League record of minutes without conceding at 1,028 (later broken by Edwin van der Sar of Manchester United in 2009). The Blues went on to register a 1–0 win over West Bromwich Albion at home and completed March with a 4–1 victory against Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge as they closed in on their first league title for 50 years.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: The penultimate month of the season opened for Chelsea with a 3–1 away win over Southampton, a well-worked team goal finished off by Eidur Gudjohnsen rounding off the result with seven minutes to spare. A week later on 9 April, Dider Drogba rescued a point for the West Londoners after Walter Pandiani had given Birmingham City a shock lead with half an hour to go at Stamford Bridge; however, their form and results elsewhere conspired to leave Chelsea needing just six points from their last six fixtures of the campaign to be assured of their first-ever Premier League title.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: On 20 April, Chelsea played out a goalless draw at home against nearest rivals Arsenal with both sides (particularly the hosts) missing a myriad of opportunities to break the deadlock. But the Blues swiftly rediscovered their touch at Stamford Bridge days later against neighbours Fulham, putting them to the sword with a 3–1 result, Frank Lampard scored the pick of the goals, a crisp low drive inside the area from Arjen Robben's cut-back on the left to restore Chelsea's lead after Collins John had equalised Joe Cole's earlier opener.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: The result meant Chelsea could win the title provided closest challengers Arsenal (whose form has picked up considerably towards the season's end) dropped points against Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby at Highbury a couple of days later, but the Gunners picked up all three points in a 1–0 win.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: Chelsea travelled to Bolton's Reebok Stadium on 30 April 2005 with the knowledge a win and all three points would crown them Champions of England for the first time in half a century, and despite a tense and goalless first-half, the second half saw Lampard win a battle against a defender for a high, bouncing ball just outside the penalty area before making space for a fierce right-foot drive to give Chelsea the lead after an hour gone; it was a lead Chelsea doubled as they countered from a Bolton corner fifteen minutes later, Lampard picking up Claude Makélélé's through ball and rounding goalkeeper Jussi Jääskeläinen, slotting into an empty net for his second goal of the game to seal a conclusive 2–0 win and the league title for the Blues - Mourinho's first in English football - as the Blues sat top of the league with a now-unassailable 11-point lead after 35 games at the end of April 2005.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: The final month of the season saw the new champions step on to the Stamford Bridge pitch against Charlton on 7 May, and were made to wait until just moments from time to record a 1–0 victory as Frank Lampard won a penalty in the closing stages, Makélélé (who had never scored previously for the club) was given the honours but scored on the rebound following the save of his initial effort by Charlton goalkeeper Dean Kiely. The game marked Chelsea's final home match of the season, therefore the trophy presentation and post-match celebrations were held afterwards in front of a capacity home crowd.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: Three days later, Chelsea travelled to Old Trafford for the penultimate game of the season against third-placed Manchester United, receiving another pre-match guard of honour (customary for their remaining games since clinching the title against Bolton); and in spite of Ruud van Nistelrooy's opening goal, the Blues hit back, notching three times through Tiago, Gudjohnsen and Joe Cole late on to complete a Premier League double over United and claim a record 29th victory of the league season, moving onto 94 points.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: Their final league game on 15 May 2005 ended in a 1–1 draw, away to Newcastle United in an inconsequential yet unusually ill-disciplined end-of-season fixture that saw eight yellow cards brandished; the club's top-scorer Frank Lampard scoring from the penalty spot to equalise an own goal by Geremi at the other end minutes earlier.


title: 2004–05 Chelsea F.C. season

text: Chelsea completed their historic campaign with notably new Premier League records of 95 points (12 clear of second-placed Arsenal), 29 wins (14 of them at home - a record in itself), 1,025 consecutive minutes without conceding and just 15 goals conceded - suffering only one defeat all season.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: The Shanghai Metro (; Shanghainese: "Zaonhe Dithiq") is a rapid transit system in Shanghai, operating urban and suburban transit services to 14 of its 16 municipal districts and to Kunshan, Jiangsu Province. Served as a part of Shanghai rail transit, the Shanghai Metro system is the world's biggest metro system by route length, totaling . It is also the second biggest by the number of stations with 396 stations on 19 lines. It ranks first in the world by annual ridership with 3.88 billion rides delivered in 2019. The daily ridership record was set at 13.29 million on March 8, 2019. Over 10 million people use the system on an average workday.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: A subway was first proposed for Shanghai in 1956. Tests started in 1964, but construction was suspended during the Cultural Revolution in the mid-1960s. Opening in 1993 with full-scale construction extending back to 1986, the Shanghai Metro is the third-oldest rapid transit system in mainland China, after the Beijing Subway and the Tianjin Metro. From 2003 in most years new lines have come into operation. During the years leading up to the Expo 2010 (between the end of 2007 and 2010) the system length and number of stations saw the largest growth. It is still expanding quickly, with its most recent expansions having opened in December 2021. The following data displays the system length of Shanghai Metro and the number of stations.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: The economic and population boom of Shanghai led to a surge in traffic that was beginning to overwhelm the transportation system by the end of the 1980s. The State Council of China approved the Master City Plan of Shanghai (1983–2000), the first-ever approval by the State Council in the history of Shanghai was approved in 1986. A 40-year phased program was designed that would include 11 metro lines covering over 325 km by 2025. On 14 August 1986, China's State Council approved the Proposal Concerning Construction of Shanghai City Subway Line from Xin Long Hua Station to Shanghai Railway Station.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: The southern section of line 1 (four stations) opened on May 28, 1993. Full line (including middle and northern sections) eventually opened on April 10, 1995, and in the first year, it was handled an average of 600,000 passengers daily. The first phase of line 2 was inaugurated in June 2000, which is 2010 linked Hongqiao International Airport (SHA) and Pudong International Airport (PVG). The 25 km Pearl line (line 3) opened for revenue service in 2001. Line 5 opened in 2003. Line 4 joined the network in January 2006 and became a circular line in 2007.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: The Master Plan of Shanghai Metro-Region 1999–2020 was approved by the State Council of China on May 11, 2001. The plan had 17 lines in total, containing four intra-city-region express rail lines, eight urban metro lines, and five urban light-rail lines with a total length of about 780 kilometers. The total length of the planned MRT network in the central city will add up to 488 kilometers. In addition, Shanghai will strengthen the development of the suburban rail transport network so that it can link to and coordinate with state rail lines, metro lines, and light railways. One or two rail transport lines are planned between every new city and the central city.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: In 2003 when the length was only 3 lines, 65 kilometers (with a further 5 lines already under construction), Shanghai was named host city for the World Expo 2010, plans were made to extend the length of the Metro to 400 kilometers by the time it opened in 2010. Thereby it completed the initial 40-year plan 15 years ahead of schedule.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: In 2009 Shanghai announced it would have 21 lines operating by 2020 with lines extending further into the suburban areas. At the end of 2021 (expected), most of the lines of the plan were opened (with an exemption of line 20, Jiamin line, and Chongming line) leading to 19 lines (line 1-18 and Pujiang), 802 km, 516 stations.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: On 16 October 2013, with the extension of line 11 into Kunshan in Jiangsu province (about 6.5 km), Shanghai Metro became the first rapid transit system in China to provide cross-provincial service and the second intercity metro after the Guangfo Metro.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: The National Development and Reform Commission has approved the 2018-2023 construction plan for the city's Metro network. The construction of five new metro lines (and two commuter rail lines) and two extensions to opened lines are expected to take five to six years and are planned to start construction before 2023. After completion, there will be 27 metro and commuter rail lines covering 1,154 kilometers.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: With the Shanghai Master Plan, 2017-2035 more emphasis was put on other rail transit modes. The plan calls for a comprehensive transportation system that consists of multimodel rail transit. Intercity lines (intercity railway, municipality railway, and express railway), urban lines (subway and light rail), and local lines (modern tramcar, rubber-tired transit system) in a length of more than 1,000 km each.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: By 2035, public transportation will account for over 50% of all means of transportation, and 60% of rail transit stations in the inner areas of the main city will have 600m of land coverage. According to the NDRC, the Shanghai Metro network (including commuter rail) will cover 1,642 kilometers in total by 2030 and more than 2,000 kilometers by 2035.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Since 1993, the ridership of the entire network has grown as the new lines or sections come into operation. In 1995, the first year of operation, line 1 carried 62 million passengers (average daily passenger volume of 223,000). Ridership increased between 2011 and 2016 with 10% per annum, between 2017 and 2019 with 5%. The reduction in ridership in 2020 is due to Covid-19. Ridership recovered to close to pre-covid levels in 2021, with a ridership on 31 December of 13.014 million.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: There are currently 19 lines in operation, with lines and services denoted numerically as well as by characteristic colors, which are used as a visual aid for better distinction on station signage and on the exterior of trains, in the form of a colored block or belt.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Most tracks in the Shanghai Metro system are served by a single service; thus "Line X" usually refers to both the physical line and its service. The only exception is the segment shared by lines 3 and 4, between Hongqiao Road station and Baoshan Road station, where both services use the same tracks and platforms.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: The Shanghai Metro system is one of the fastest-growing metro systems in the world. Ambitious expansion plans call for 25 lines with over of length by 2025. By then, every location in the central area of Shanghai will be within of a subway station. In 2023 Shanghai Metro will connect with the metro system of Suzhou; the under construction Suzhou Metro line S1 will connect Shanghai Metro line 11 with Suzhou Metro line 3.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: There are currently over 7,000 railcars in the Shanghai metro system. The train fleet reached 1,000 cars in 2007, 2,000 cars in 2012, and 3,000 cars in 2016, the 4,000th car was delivered on December 17, 2016, the 5,000th car was delivered on July 20, 2018. The 7,000th car was delivered on December 25, 2020.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Most lines currently use semi-automatic train operations (STO/GoA2). Starting and stopping are automated, but a driver operates the doors, drives the train if needed and handles emergencies. The exceptions being:


title: Shanghai Metro

text: All subway cars have air-conditioning. During summer of 2021 the subway's first and last carriages on Metro lines 3-5, 10-13, and 15-18 will be 2 degrees Celsius warmer than the other carriages, the air-conditioning is adjustable for different carriages on these lines. The measure aims to address the needs of some passengers who find the trains "too cold," especially the elderly and children.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Almost all stations have (full height) platform screen doors with sliding acrylic glass at the platform edge. Only half height doors called automatic platform gates are placed at most of the elevated sections and the section of line 2 from Songhong Road to Longyang Road. The train stops with its doors lined-up with the sliding doors on the platform edge and open when the train doors open, and are closed at other times.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: During construction of the early lines conditions were reserved for the installation of platform screen doors but not installed, due to cost considerations and no domestic company made them. In the early 2000s, before the screen doors were installed, the annual suicide rate on the Shanghai subway system averaged about eight. In 2003 Shanghai Metro Operation Technology Development Co., Ltd. developed domestically platform screen doors with costs only 40% of imported platform screen doors (they cost over RMB6 million each to install). , opened 28 December 2004, was the first station to have installed platform screen doors. To help cope with passenger handling, platform safety doors were built for line 4 onwards and a program for retrofitting older lines was put in place. The retrofitting on existing lines started in November 2005 with line 1 (first station was ) whose core stations had doors by the end of 2006. Originally, platform screen doors were adopted to prevent cool or hot air from leaving the station to reduce electricity usage, not save lives.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Shanghai metro started building solar plants from 2013 and the process has been accelerated since 2019, with plans to build rooftop solar plants with a total electricity generation capacity of 30 to 50 megawatts between 2021 and 2025. In 2021 it owned through it subsidiary Shanghai Metro New Energy Co., Ltd. ten rooftop solar plants on depots and parking lots (Chuanyanghe, Zhibei, Jinqiao, Longyang Road, Sanlin, Fujin Road, Zhongchun Road, Beizhai Road, Chentai Road and Pujiang Town) generating an average annual power generation of about 23 million kwh. Annual electricity consumption of Shanghai Metro exceeds 2.5 billion kWh.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: There is cellular phone network coverage across the network. In 2020, all stations provided 5G network coverage. Free WiFi is also provided. There are toilets for passengers in more than 90% metro stations in Shanghai. The system is 100% wheelchair accessible, with elevators at all stations.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Riders are subject to searches of their persons and belongings at all stations by security inspectors using metal detectors, X-ray machines. Items banned from public transportation such as "guns, ammunition, knives, explosives, flammable and radioactive materials, and toxic chemicals" are subject to confiscation.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Stations are equipped with closed-circuit television. Police use it to arrest pickpockets caught on CCTV, for example.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Smoking is strictly prohibited in the metro premises. Bicycles (including folding bikes) and pets (including cats, dogs etc.) are not allowed in stations. The use of skateboards, roller skates and other equipment is not allowed in stations and carriages.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Since April 1, 2020 there is a national ban on "Uncivilized Behavior" on China's Subways, which also includes conduct rules cracking down on bad subway etiquette, such as stepping on seats, lying down on a bench or floor and playing music or videos out loud. It also bans eating and drinking on subway cars nationwide, with exceptions for infants and people with certain medical conditions.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: First AEDs (automatic external defibrillator) were installed at Metro stations in 2015, with all metro stations having AEDs at the end of 2021.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: From February 14, 2022 the operations of line 11 in Kunshan have been suspended due to COVID-19 cases in Suzhou.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Plasma screens on the platforms show passengers when the next two trains are coming, along with advertisements and public service announcements. The subway cars contain LCD screens showing advertisements and on some lines, the next stop, while above-ground trains have LED screens showing the next stop. The LED screens are being phased in on line 1 and are also included in lines 7 and 9, two underground lines.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Station signs are in Simplified Chinese and English. There are recorded messages stating the next stop in Mandarin, English, and (on lines 16 and 17 only) Shanghainese, but the messages stating nearby attractions or shops for a given station (a form of paid advertising) are in Mandarin only. The metro operating company is resistant to expanding use of Shanghainese for announcing stops, on the basis that, on most lines, the majority of passengers can understand either Mandarin or English.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: The Metro authority has tested a new systematic numbering system for stations on line 10, but did not extend it to other lines.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: On December 31, 2009 Shanghai launched a website displaying real-time comprehensive passenger flow information, each station and line is displayed as either green (normal operation), yellow (crowded), and red (suspended/not in operation).


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Partial service patterns exist on all lines except line 16. Partial services serve only a (usually busier) sub-segment of the entire physical line.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Line 11, one of the three branch lines of the metro system, operates a different partial service pattern. Trains traveling to and from the branch line terminate at Huaqiao Station and Sanlin respectively. Hence, a passenger who wants to travel from the terminus of the branch to the eastern terminus of the line, at Disney Resort must change trains.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Line 16, unlike the rest of the system, is built with passing loops and operates an express and rapid services. The service was postponed on January 30, 2014, due to lack of available trains, but resumed on March 21, 2016.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: The operating hours for most Shanghai metro stations starts between 5:00 to 6:00 in the morning and ends between 22:30 to 23:00 CST. The current timetable is available on the Shanghai metro website.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: The interval of trains during peak hours differ between 1 minutes and 50 seconds on line 9 and 6 minutes on line 18. Lines in the inner sections have train intervals under three minutes during morning peak hours and under 3 minutes and 45 seconds during evening peak hour. The more suburban outer sections, outside peak hours train intervals are longer.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: On lines in the city center on Fridays and Saturdays, operating hours are extended by an additional hour.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: From April 1, 2017, the operating hours of lines 1, 2, and 7-10 were extended by an hour after the regular last train on each Friday, Saturday and the last working days before Chinese Public Holidays. Since July 1, 2017 this was extended such that lines 1-4 and 5-13. By the end of 2018, all the stations in the city center extended their operating hours after midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Since September 30, 2020 extended operation was resumed on lines 1, 2, 9 and 10. Since April 30, 2021 also extended weekend operation of lines 7 and 13 was resumed.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: On Sunday to Thursday, there are two trains on both line 2 and 10 taking passengers from Hongqiao Railway Station and airport after normal operation time and only stop at selected stations.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Like many other metro systems in the world, Shanghai Metro uses a distance-based fare system. The system uses a "one-ticket network", which means that interchanging is possible between all interchange stations, given that the transfer staying within the Shanghai Metro system, without the purchase of another ticket where available, excluding some stations where transferring to another line at said station requires leaving the Fare Zone which mandates a Single-Journey Ticket be used before entering that of another line, requiring the purchase of another Single-Journey Ticket (Shanghai Public Transport Cards are exempt as they are not consumed upon exit). The Shanghai Public Transport Card, which allows access to most public transport in Shanghai under one card, is another form of payment.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: All stations are equipped with Shanghai public transport card self-service recharge machines, some of which support card sales and card refund operations. Passengers can also choose to purchase public transport cards to travel.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Automatic ticket vending machines are divided into "coins only" and "coins and banknotes are collected", the coin only machine collects 1 yuan and 0.5 yuan, and the coins and banknotes all accept 5, 10, 20, and 50 yuan banknotes and 1 and, 0.5 yuan coins. Vending machines will provide change.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: One or two children not taller than 1.3 meters (inclusive) are exempted from paying a fare in accompany of another passenger. In cases of more than two, the passenger should buy tickets. A preschool child, unattended by an adult, is not allowed to take the train alone.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: A pass for unlimited travel within the metro system for either 24 or 72 hours is offered. This pass is not available through vending machines, but has to be purchased at Service Centers at metro stations.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Only passengers with unused tickets at the station on the day can refund tickets at the service center. Refunds can also be processed in the event of a train failure for more than 15 minutes, and the apology letter can be downloaded on the official website, WeChat public account and Metropolis app.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Single-Journey tickets can be purchased from ticket vending machines, and at some stations, at a ticket window. Single-ride tickets are embedded with RFID contactless chips. When entering the system riders tap the ticket against a scanner above the turnstile, and when they exit they insert the ticket into a slot where it is stored and recycled. This ticket does not facilitate transfers at a virtual interchange station. Passengers would have to purchase a new ticket when reentering the fare gate.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: In addition to a Single-Ride ticket, the fare can be paid using a Shanghai public transport card (SPTC or Jiaotong Yikatong), which is similar to the Octopus card of Hong Kong's MTR. This RFID-embedded card can be purchased at selected banks, convenience stores and metro stations with a 20-yuan deposit. This card can be loaded at ticket booths, Service Centers at the metro stations as well as many small convenience stores and banks throughout the city. The Shanghai Public Transportation Card can also be used to pay for other forms of transportation, such as taxi or bus. Refunds can be obtained at selected stations.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Public transport cards of other cities and provinces with Union Pay are accepted, but those do not offer discount and at virtual interchange stations transfers will be counted as a new ride.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Passengers can also pay their Shanghai Metro fares using a mobile phone app, Daduhui (Metro Metropolis in English) since January 2018. The app requires one to scan a QR code when entering the fare gate at the origin station and again when exiting at the destination station. The fare is then deducted.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: The system supports Alipay, WeChat Pay and Union Pay, three of the most commonly used mobile payment methods in China.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: The official reported daily fare evasion rate accounts for about 0.16% of the total passenger flow. In the Shanghai Metro fare evasion will result in a fine of 6 times the fare.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: Shanghai Metro have been cooperating with police to crack down on subway fare evasion. In 2012, the Shanghai Metro has reported 202,457 counts fare evasion, and an additional 472,898 yuan of adjusted fare was collected. Since June 3, 2013, the subway operator announced that all evaders will be recorded in the personal credit information system, which may lead to obstacles in loan applications and job hunting in the future. However, in actual implementation, the subway law enforcement officers only took the above measures for those who refused to make up the fare; and in some stations where fare evasion often occurred, the ticket gates were changed from the original three-bar type to gate type gates.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: In 1999, Shanghai Electric and Alstom Metropolis signed an agreement to invest 28 million US dollars to establish Shanghai Alstom Transportation Equipment Co., Ltd., and introduce a rail transit train production line in Minhang, which would be able to assemble 300 trains annually. Shanghai Alstom only had the national license to produce C-type cars from its establishment and no license to produce A-type cars. At that time, the municipal government stipulated that Shanghai would purchase 300 C-cars produced by the new company on lines 5, 6, and 8 of the future rail transit construction. The two parties reached an agreement on the purchase of 300 cars at that time. For this reason, the Transportation Research Institute had to "reduce" the predicted passenger flow to accommodate the C-type railcars, allowing for a reduction of the station's civil construction scope for the smaller trains. In the construction of lines 5, 6, and 8, the railcars were not supplied by the completion of the tender, but by a signed agreement for the railcars after "internal consultation and coordination" between Shentong Group and Shanghai Alstom, a violation of Articles 3 and 4 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Tendering and Bidding.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: The person in charge of the passenger flow forecasting project of line 8 confirmed that the passenger flow forecast report of line 8 was not completed until 2005 after continuous revision. However, in 2003 an agreement was signed for line 8 to supply 168 C-type vehicles, i.e., Shentong Group signed an agreement with Shanghai Alstom two years before the release of the forecast report, and decided to use the C-type car. At that time, it was predicted that the forecast passenger flow of line 8 would be about 500,000 passengers per day during the three years from 2007 to 2010. The operator used as initial forecast passenger flow of only 200,000 passengers per day. line 8 was extremely congested upon opening, even leading to physical conflicts between passengers. In 2010, to deal with the overcrowding Shanghai Metro hired passenger pushers to assist commuters boarding line 8 trains. Today, line 8 carries up to over 1 million passengers a day.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: The estimated passenger flow of line 6 was more than 105,000. However, the highest passenger flow in the first few days of opening reached 150,000. With a headway of 13.5 minutes at opening and only four carriages, during peak hours people had to wait 45 minutes to get a ride. The relevant departments did not conduct a comprehensive survey of the residents around the proposed line to estimate passenger flow but instead household registration data was used which excludes migrant populations.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: In June 2012 Shanghai Metro published a post on Weibo asking women to wear more clothing in public. The post argues it is not surprising for women to be harassed in the subway if they are wearing revealing clothing and called on women to cherish themselves. This post attracted backlash from women's rights advocates and feminists calling the post misogynistic.


title: Shanghai Metro

text: The Shanghai Metro logo is a circular pattern composed of the first letters "S" and "M" of the English "Shanghai Metro", which means that the subway runs around the city and extends in all directions. The design reflects the rapid and convenient subway transportation and the speed of subway development. The logo is red, the font is black, and the background color is white:


title: Shanghai Metro

text: On 4 February 2010, in the run-up to the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, the subway mascot named Changchang () was unveiled. The mascot is a dynamic boy with red, white and blue as the main colors. Changchang means "happiness, smoothness, and imagination", which not only reflects the happiness that Shanghai subway brings to the city and life, but also reflects the dense network and unimpeded development of the subway throughout the city. It symbolizes its infinite possibilities to meet the diversified future.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: The Egyptian Armed Forces () are the military forces of the Arab Republic of Egypt. They consist of the Egyptian Army, Egyptian Navy, Egyptian Air Force and Egyptian Air Defense Forces.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: The President of the Republic serves as the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. The Minister of Defence and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the senior uniformed officer, is Colonel General Mohamed Zaki (since June 2018), and the Chief of Staff is Lieutenant General Osama Askar (since October 2021).


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: Senior members of the military can convene the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, such as during the course of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, when President Mubarak resigned and transferred power to this body on February 11, 2011.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: The armament of the Egyptian armed forces varies between eastern and western sources through weapons deliveries by several countries, led by the United States, Russia, France, China, Italy, Ukraine and Britain. Many of the equipment is manufactured locally at Egyptian factories. The Egyptian armed forces celebrate their anniversary on October 6 each year to commemorate the Crossing of the Suez during the October War of 1973.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: The modern Egyptian armed forces have been involved in numerous crises and wars since independence, from the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Egyptian Revolution of 1952, Suez Crisis, North Yemen Civil War, Six-Day War, Nigerian Civil War, War of Attrition, Yom Kippur War, Egyptian bread riots, 1986 Egyptian conscripts riot, Egyptian-Libyan War, Gulf War, War on Terror, Egyptian Crisis, Second Libyan Civil War, War on ISIL and the Sinai insurgency.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: In the early 1950s, politics rather than military competence was the main criterion for promotion. The Egyptian commander, Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer, was a purely political appointee who owed his position to his close friendship with Nasser. He would prove himself grossly incompetent as a general during the Suez Crisis. Rigid lines between officers and men in the Egyptian Army led to a mutual "mistrust and contempt" between officers and the men who served under them. Tsouras writes that the Israelis "seized and held the ..initiative throughout the campaign and quickly destroyed the Egyptian defences." In a few instances, such as at the Mitla Pass and Abu Agelia, Egyptian defences were well-organised and stubbornly held, but this did not make enough difference overall. Nasser ordered a retreat from the Sinai which allowed the Israelis to wreak havoc and drive on the Canal; on 5 November, British and French parachute landings began in the Canal Zone but by 7 November, U.S. pressure had forced an end to the fighting.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: The Egyptian Armed Forces suffered a catastrophic defeat in their intervention in the North Yemen Civil War in what was dubbed as "Egypt's Vietnam" which contributed to their withering defeat in the Six-day war against Israel. At the peak of deployments, there were 70,000 Egyptian soldiers in Yemen. At the end of the war, Yemen remained a republic but at the cost of more than 10,000 Egyptian soldiers. As The New Republic explained in 1963:


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: "In this terrain, the slow-moving Nile peasant has proved a poor match for the barefoot, elusive tribesmen armed only with rifle and jambiya -- the vast, curved, razor-sharp dagger which every male Yemeni wears in his belt."


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: Before the June 1967 War, the army divided its personnel into four regional commands (Suez, Sinai, Nile Delta, and Nile Valley up to the Sudan). The remainder of Egypt's territory, over 75%, was the sole responsibility of the Frontier Corps.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: In May 1967, President Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran to passage of Israeli ships. Israel considered the closure of the straits grounds for war and prepared their armed forces to attack. On June 3, three battalions of Egyptian commandos were flown to Amman to take part in operations from Jordan. But U.S. historian Trevor N. Dupuy, writing in 1978, argues from King Hussein of Jordan's memoirs, "My "War" with Israel", that Nasser did not intend to start an immediate war, but instead was happy with his rhetorical and political accomplishments of the past weeks. Nevertheless, Israel felt it needed to take action.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: The Egyptian army, comprising two armored and five infantry divisions, were deployed in the Sinai. In the weeks before the Six-Day War began, Egypt made several significant changes to its military organisation; Field Marshal Amer created a new command interposed between the general staff and the Eastern Military District commander, Lieutenant General Salah ad-Din Muhsin. This new Sinai Front Command was placed under General Abdel Mohsin Murtagi, who had returned from Yemen in May 1967. Six of the seven divisions in the Sinai (with the exception of the 20th Infantry 'Palestinian' Division) had their commanders and chiefs of staff replaced. What fragmentary information is available suggests to authors such as Pollack that Amer was trying to improve the competence of the force, replacing political appointees with veterans of the Yemen war.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: After the war began on 5 June 1967, Israel attacked Egypt, destroyed its air force on the ground, and occupied the Sinai Peninsula. The forward deployed Egyptian forces were shattered in three places by the attacking Israelis. Field Marshal Amer, overwhelmed by events, and ignoring previous plans, ordered a retreat by the Egyptian Army to the Suez Canal. This developed into a rout as the Israelis harried the retreating troops from the ground and from the air.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: In July 1972, President Anwar Sadat expelled Soviet Armed Forces advisors from Egypt. The Soviet advisors had significant access and influence previously. When the Yom Kippur War began in October 1973, the Egyptians were initially successful in crossing the Suez Canal and establishing a bridgehead on the eastern bank. In the costly and brutal Battle of the Chinese Farm, the Israeli Defence Force shouldered aside portions of the Second Army on the eastern bank, then crossed the canal and rapidly advanced, destroying surface-to-air missile sites and then cutting off the Third Army. Peace was only imposed after the United States and Soviet Union stepped in.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: When Sadat and the Israelis made peace in the Camp David Accords of September 1978, part of the "quid pro quo" for the Egyptians accepting peace was that the U.S. would provide substantial military assistance to Egypt. Today the U.S. provides annual military assistance often quoted at some nominal $1.3 billion to the Egyptian armed forces ($ billion in ). This level is second only to Israel.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: Scholars such as Kenneth Pollack, DeAtkine, and Robert Springborg have identified a number of reasons why Arab (and Egyptian) armies performed so poorly against Israel from 1948 to the 1970s and afterwards; In battle against Israel from 1948, junior officers consistently demonstrated an unwillingness to manoeuvre, innovate, improvise, take initiative, or act independently. Ground forces units suffered from constant manipulation of information and an inattention to intelligence gathering and objective analysis. Units from the two divisions dispatched to Saudi Arabia in 1990–91, accompanied by U.S. personnel during the 1991 Gulf War, consistently reported fierce battles even though they actually encountered little or no resistance. This occurred whether or not they were accompanied by U.S. military personnel or journalists. Later researchers such as Springborg have confirmed that the tendencies identified in the 1980s and 1990s persist in the Armed Forces in the twenty-first century.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: In the second decade of the 21st century, the Armed Forces enjoy considerable power and independence within the Egyptian state. They are also influential in business, engaging in road and housing construction, consumer goods, resort management, and own vast tracts of real estate. A significant amount of military information is not made publicly available, including budget information, the names of the general officers and the military's size (which is considered a state secret). According to journalist Joshua Hammer, "as much as 40% of the Egyptian economy" is controlled by the Egyptian armed forces, and other authoritative works such as Springborg reinforce this trend.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: On 31 January 2011, during the Egyptian revolution of 2011, Israeli media reported that the 9th, 2nd, and 7th Divisions of the Army had been ordered into Cairo to help restore order.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: On 3 July 2013, the Egyptian Armed Forces launched a coup d'état against the elected government of Mohamed Morsi following mass protests demanding his resignation. On 8 July 2013, clashes between the Republican Guard and pro-Morsi supporters left 61 protestors killed. On 14 August 2013, the Egyptian Army along with the police carried out the Rabaa massacre, killing 2,600 people. The total casualty count made 14 August the deadliest day in Egypt since the Egyptian revolution of 2011 which had toppled former President Hosni Mubarak. Several world leaders denounced the violence during the sit-in dispersals.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: In 2018 there were no evident internal cracks within the Armed Forces. The Egyptian Armed Forces’ unrivalled dominance, both in politics and within the security apparatus, appear to be the result of three combined factors: substantial economic interests, a long-time legitimacy buttressed by the army’s active involvement in welfare and development initiatives, and the reliance on universal conscription as the main avenue for the successful accommodation of class and social cleavages.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: On March 25, 2020, it was reported that two army generals, Shafea Dawoud and Khaled Shaltout, had died from the COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt, and at least 550 officers and soldiers had been infected with the virus.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: In March 2021, Human Rights Watch accused the EAF of violating international human rights law and committing war crimes by demolishing more than 12,300 residential and commercial buildings and 6,000 hectares of farmland since 2013 in North Sinai.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: The Supreme Commander-in-Chief is the President of Egypt, currently Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. All branches, forces, armies, regions, bodies, organs and departments of the Armed Forces are under the command of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, who is at the same time the Ministry of Defence and Military Production.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) is composed of 23 members, chaired by the Commander-in-Chief and Minister of Defence, and is represented by the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. Commanders of military areas (central, northern, western, southern), heads of bodies (operations, armament, logistics, engineering, training, finance, military justice, Armed Forces Management and Administration), directors of many departments (officers and Military Intelligence and Reconnaissance), and assistant secretary of defence for constitutional and legal affairs. The Secretary of the Board is the Secretary General of the Ministry of Defence.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: Conscripts for the Egyptian Army and other service branches without a university degree serve three years as enlisted soldiers. Conscripts with a General Secondary School Degree serve two years as enlisted personnel. Conscripts with a university degree serve one year as enlisted personnel or three years as a reserve officer. Officers for the army are trained at the Egyptian Military Academy. The IISS estimated in 2020 that the Army numbered 90-120,000, with 190-220,000 conscripts, a total of 310,000.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) is the aviation branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces. Currently, the backbone of the EAF is the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. The Mirage 2000 is the other modern interceptor used by the EAF. The Egyptian Air Force has 216 F-16s (plus 20 on order). It has about 579 combat aircraft and 149 armed helicopters as it continues to fly extensively upgraded MiG-21s, F-7 Skybolts, F-4 Phantoms, Dassault Mirage Vs, and the C-130 Hercules among other planes.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: The Egyptian Air Defense Forces or ADF (Quwwat El Diffaa El Gawwi in Arabic) is Egypt's military service responsible for air defense. Egypt patterned its force after the Soviet Air Defence Force, which integrated all its air defence capabilities – antiaircraft guns, rocket and missile units, interceptor planes, and radar and warning installations. It appears to comprise five subordinate divisions, 110 surface-to-air missile battalions, and 12 anti-aircraft artillery brigades. Personnel quality may be 'several notches below' that of the Air Force personnel. The IISS estimated in 2020 that personnel numbered 80,000 active and 70,000 reserve.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: The Egyptian Navy existed thousands of years ago, specifically during the Early Dynastic period in 2800 BC.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: During the early modern era, in 1805, Muhammad Ali of Egypt became the Wali of the country forming his own autonomous rule over Egypt. To build the empire he always wished, he needed a strong military and so he managed to prepare that military starting with the army then the Navy. During his reign, the Navy already existed but it was only used for troop transportation. Its first engagement was during the Wahhabi War where it was used to transport troops from Egypt to Yanbu in Hejaz. Later in 1815, Muhammad Ali built Alexandria Shipyard to build warships not just transport ships. The Navy then participated in the Greek War of Independence where in 1827 it had over 100 warships and hundreds of transport ships. After the Second World War, some fleet units were stationed in the Red Sea, but the bulk of the force remained in the Mediterranean. Navy headquarters and the main operational and training base are located at Ras el Tin near Alexandria.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: The Navy also controls the Egyptian Coast Guard. The Coast Guard is responsible for the onshore protection of public installations near the coast and the patrol of coastal waters to prevent smuggling. The IISS "Military Balance 2017" listed the Coast Guard with 2,000 personnel, 14 fast patrol boats (PBF) and 65 patrol boats (including 15 Swiftships, 21 "Timsah", three Type-89 and nine "Peterson"-class.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: The Armed Forces Medical Service Department provides many military health services. The Armed Forces College of Medicine in Heliopolis, Cairo, provides medical training. As of February 2020, the AFCM commandant was Maj. Gen. Dr. Amr Hegab.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: Egypt also maintains 397,000 paramilitary troops. The Central Security Forces comes under the control of the Ministry of Interior. As of 2017, the Egyptian Border Guard Corps falls under the control of the Ministry of Interior as well. Circa 2020, according to the "IISS Military Balance 2020," they comprised an estimated 12,000, in 18 border regiments, with light weapons only (IISS 2020, p. 375). However, that listing of numbers has remained the same at least since the 2017 edition (p375).


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: The inventory of the Egyptian armed forces includes equipment from the United States, France, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the People's Republic of China. This wide range of sources can cause serviceability difficulties. Equipment from the Soviet Union is being progressively replaced by more modern U.S., French, and British equipment, a significant portion of which is built under license in Egypt, such as the M1A1 Abrams tank.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: Egypt is one of the few countries in the Middle East, and the only Arab state, with a reconnaissance satellite and has launched another one, EgyptSat 1 in 2007.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: The Arab Organization for Industrialization supervises nine military factories which produce civilian goods as well as military products. Initially, the owners of AOI were the governments of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, before the latter governments gave their shares back to Egypt in 1993, valued at $1.8 billion. AOI is now entirely owned by the government of Egypt and has about 19,000 employees out of which 1250 are engineers. AOI fully owns ten factories and shares in two joint ventures, plus the Arab Institute for Advanced Technology.


title: Egyptian Armed Forces

text: There is an undergraduate military school for each branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces, and they include:


title: Montauk Monster

text: The "Montauk Monster" was an animal carcass that washed ashore on a beach near the business district of Montauk, New York, in July 2008. The identity of the creature and the veracity of stories surrounding it have been the subject of controversy and speculation. The corpse was eventually decided by experts to be that of a water-degraded raccoon.


title: Montauk Monster

text: The story began on July 23, 2008, with an article in the newspaper ""The F-22 Raptor"". Jenna Hewitt, 26, of Montauk, and three friends said that they found the creature on July 12 at the Ditch Plains beach, two miles east of the district. The beach is a popular surfing spot at Rheinstein Estate Park owned by the town of East Hampton. Jenna Hewitt was quoted:


title: Montauk Monster

text: Her color photograph of the creature ran in black and white under the headline "The Hound of Bonacville," a pun on the name Bonackers, which refers to the natives of East Hampton, and "The Hound of the Baskervilles" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The light-hearted article speculated that the creature might be a turtle or some mutant experiment from the Plum Island Animal Disease Center. It then noted that Larry Penny, the East Hampton Natural Resources Director, had concluded that it was a raccoon with its upper jaw missing. There were rumors that the carcass had been taken away from the site. A local newspaper quoted an anonymous resident who claimed that the animal was only the size of a cat, and that it had decomposed to a skeleton by the time of the press coverage. She would not identify its location for inspection. Hewitt claimed that "a guy took it and put it in the woods in his backyard", but would not say who or where. Her father denied that his daughter was keeping the body's location a secret.


title: Montauk Monster

text: Hewitt and her friends were interviewed on Plum-TV, a local public-access television show. Alanna Navitski, an employee of Evolutionary Media Group in Los Angeles, California, passed a photo of the creature to Anna Holmes at Jezebel, claiming that a friend's sister saw the monster in Montauk. Holmes then passed it along to the website Gawker.com which gave it wide attention on July 29 under the headline "Dead Monster Washes Ashore in Montauk".


title: Montauk Monster

text: Photographs were widely circulated via email and weblogs, and the national media picked up on it raising speculation about the creature. The potential urban legend stature of the Montauk Monster was noted by Snopes.


title: Montauk Monster

text: The monster has been discussed on "Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura". On August 4, 2011, the Montauk Monster was featured on the second episode of the third season of "Ancient Aliens", titled "Aliens and Monsters".


title: Montauk Monster

text: Initial media reports included speculation that the Montauk Monster might have been a turtle without its shell—although turtles' shells are fused with the spine and cannot be removed in this way— a dog, a large rodent, or a science experiment from the nearby government animal testing facility, the Plum Island Animal Disease Center.


title: Montauk Monster

text: William Wise, director of Stony Brook University's Living Marine Resources Institute, inspected the photo along with a colleague; they deemed the creature a fake, although Wise's "next-best guess" was that the creature could be a diseased dog or coyote which had "been in the sea for a while". Wise discounted the following general possibilities:


title: Montauk Monster

text: Palaeozoologist Darren Naish studied the photograph and concluded from the corpse's visible dentition, skull shape, and front paws that the creature was a raccoon, with its extremely odd appearance merely a byproduct of decomposition and water action removing most of the animal's hair and some of its flesh. Naish disagreed with the idea that the legs were disproportionately long for a raccoon, providing an illustration of a raccoon's body superimposed over the corpse in the photograph. Jeff Corwin also identified the carcass as that of a raccoon in a Fox News interview.


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: The Pontiac Solstice is a sports car that was produced by Pontiac. Introduced at the 2004 North American International Auto Show, the Solstice roadster began production in Wilmington, Delaware, starting in mid-2005 for the 2006 model year. It is powered by a naturally aspirated 2.4 L I4 engine, producing and of torque. The exterior styling of the production Solstice is similar to that of the 2002 Solstice concept that preceded it. Production of the Solstice was to be running before summer 2005, but delays at the Wilmington plant pushed volume production to the fourth quarter. The new hardtop targa top 2009 model was announced in mid-2008. The Solstice uses the GM Kappa platform, which also underpins the Saturn Sky, Opel GT, and Daewoo G2X. It was the brand's first two-seater since the Pontiac Fiero was discontinued in 1988. The Solstice was nominated for the "North American Car of the Year" award and "Design of the Year" award from the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) for 2006. It was a runaway hit for Pontiac, with 7,000 orders in the first 10 days of availability and 6,000 more orders before winter. Although first-year production was planned at 7,000, GM apologized to customers for delays and increased production, delivering 10,000 by March 1.


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: Following the 2008 economic recession, GM discontinued the Pontiac division. Production ended with the closure of the Wilmington Assembly plant in July 2009.


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: The "GXP" version of the Solstice debuted at the Los Angeles Auto Show in January 2006. It is powered by a new 2.0 Liter (121.9 cu in) I4 Ecotec engine equipped with a dual-scroll turbocharger. The engine's output is and . This is the highest specific output of any engine by cubic inches in the history of General Motors at 2.1 hp (1.6 kW) per cubic inch, and it is the first gasoline direct injection engine from an American automaker. According to pontiac.com, the GXP accelerates from 0 to in under 5.5 seconds.


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: Other GXP features include standard Stabilitrak traction control, a limited-slip differential, and anti-lock brakes. Summer tires on 18-inch wheels are standard. An available dealer installed option was a modified computer tune and two new sensors that resulted in an increased output to and , further enhancing the performance of the GXP model.


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: A targa coupe version of the Solstice was unveiled at the 2008 New York Auto Show. Engine choices are the same as the convertible versions. The roof can be removed, but the hard roof cannot be fitted into the trunk. An optional cloth top is available, which can be fitted into the trunk.


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: The car went on sale in early 2009. The Pontiac Solstice Coupes are considered to be quite rare: There were a total of 1,266 Solstice Coupes that were able to be manufactured before the production line in Wilmington, Delaware was shut down: 102 pre-production 2009 models, 1,152 sequentially vin'd regular production 2009 models, and 12 pre-production 2010 models. This is in contrast to over 64,000 of the Pontiac Solstice Convertibles that were manufactured.


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: Starting in April 2009 the Wilmington, DE. plant was business as usual and pre-production builds began for the 2010 model year. Between April 21, 2009 and May 28, 2009 thirty 2010 model year VIN-coded cars were built on the Kappa platform. Of those, were 12 Pontiac Solstice Coupes and 8 Pontiac Solstice roadsters. Of the other remaining, 8 were Saturn SKYs and 2 were Opel GTs. They were then used as GM company vehicles to be evaluated and also as special event display vehicles. These vehicles were built to the 2010 model year specs with 2010 model year changes and had legal 2010 VIN numbers. Following the end of use term within the GM fleet, the vehicles were sent to auction. After these 30 2010 models, more 2009-spec Solstices were produced and were the last ones made at the plant.


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: -(QKR) P245/45R18-96V performance, all-season radial tires (standard on 2MB67 Convertible and 2MB07 Coupe)


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: -(AU0) Remote Keyless Entry, with 2 transmitters, panic button and content theft alarm, RPO Code has changed to "(ATG)"


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: Heritage Edition, includes Blue or White Rally Stripe, Blue accent stitching on seats, steering wheel and shift knob (manual transmission only), (Q9Y) 18-inch polished aluminum split-spoke wheels, interior trim (192) Ebony leather seating surfaces and (20T) Blue cloth convertible top (Convertible). Only available with exterior colors (50U) Pure (Summit White) with Blue Rally Stripe or (GHF) Hypnotic (Ocean Blue Metallic) with White Rally Stripe.


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: Built by GM Performance Division, this special Solstice features a removable hardtop that drew inspiration from the Dodge Viper roadster, an aggressive body kit, and an oversized spoiler. Engine is rated . It includes 18-inch wheels with Goodyear Eagle F1 255/45ZR18 tires, cat-back performance exhaust system, T-2 race suspension package, along with larger diameter disc brakes.


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: The car was unveiled at the 2005 SEMA Show. This vehicle is featured as Jazz in the 2007 film "Transformers".


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: The GXP-R concept is a modified GXP with an engine rated and of torque. It includes an SSBC Performance Brake Package and 19-inch x 8.5-inch wheels with Goodyear Eagle F1 245/40ZR19 tires.


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: The SD-290 race concept is a single-seat Solstice GXP with engine rated . Weight is reduced by installing driver-side only windscreen and elimination of door glass/hardware, convertible top/hardware, HVAC system and wiper system. It includes Solo Performance cat-back exhaust system, KW Automotive coil-over suspension package, 6-piston aluminum calipers with rotors from Stainless Steel Brake Company, forged 19-inch wheels with Hoosier R6 racing tire, rear spoiler, Removable racing-style steering wheel, Racing seat with four-point safety harness, Chrome fire extinguisher, Pegasus center console gauge package, Driver's roll bar


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: The Solstice GXP Coupe concept is based on the GXP coupe. It is equipped with a GM Performance Parts Stage 2 performance kit and a performance air intake kit, which boosts engine power to about 290 hp (216 kW). The car also includes a GM Performance Parts cat-back exhaust system and race-ready suspension kit, polished factory wheels. The first version of the Coupe Concept was a metallic orange.


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: The sharing of technology and various components is a common practice among automakers, resulting in reduced parts costs. The Solstice shares major components with nearly every GM division:


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: In April 2009, after GM announced the discontinuation of the Pontiac brand by the end of 2010, CEO Fritz Henderson stated that the Solstice would not continue under another GM brand. Although they considered selling the Wilmington plant and the Solstice/Sky products to an outside business, the Wilmington assembly plant closed in July 2009. In October 2009, the new DeLorean Motor Company expressed interest in continuing production of the Solstice, going so far as to release concept artwork for a 2011 DeLorean Solstice. These plans were shelved shortly thereafter, when Fisker Automotive instead acquired the Wilmington Assembly where the Solstice was produced.


title: Pontiac Solstice

text: 20. The Pontiac Solstice Book. Author Gary Witzenburg. Publisher Lamm-Morada Publishing Co. Inc., Publishing Date 2006.


title: Jacob Pitts

text: Jacob Rives Pitts (born November 20, 1979) is an American television, film and stage actor. His most notable performances were as Cooper Harris in the film "EuroTrip" (2004), as Bill "Hoosier" Smith in the HBO miniseries "The Pacific" (2010), and as U.S. Marshal Tim Gutterson on the FX television drama "Justified" (2010–15). He appeared in the play "Where Do We Live" at the Vineyard Theatre in May 2004. Pitts has also appeared in TV shows such as "Law & Order", "Ed" and "Sex and the City". He had a recurring role in the first season of "The Sinner" and is currently starring as Lance Lord in the crime drama series "Sneaky Pete".


title: Jacob Pitts

text: Pitts grew up in Weston, Connecticut, the son of Arlene and Joseph Rives Pitts. He described himself as a hyperactive child. In high school, he was involved in the theater production company, and took part in productions while he was in school, including a performance as the Mysterious Man in "Into The Woods".


title: Jacob Pitts

text: Pitts began his career when he made his TV debut in 1999, and he appeared in an episode of Comedy Central's sitcom "Strangers with Candy". He then went on to the New York Broadway stage in 2000, when he played Fleance from the Shakespearean play "Macbeth". After his Broadway production, he was cast to appear in an episode each of "Law & Order" and "Sex and the City". In 2004, he played a role in "Eurotrip", and in 2008 was cast in "21".


title: Jacob Pitts

text: In 2008, Pitts was presented the Best Ensemble Award at the ShoWest Convention in the United States for his part in "21". The award was also presented to Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira, and Josh Gad for their parts in the movie.


title: Jacob Pitts

text: Pitts married Slovakian actress/director Tereza Nvotová in 2020. They reside in Bratislava, Slovakia.


title: Lawn darts

text: Lawn darts (also known as Javelin darts, jarts, lawn jarts or yard darts) is a lawn game for two players or teams. A lawn dart set usually includes four large darts and two targets. The game play and objective are similar to those of both horseshoes and darts. The darts are typically 12 inches (30 cm) in length with a weighted metal or plastic tip on one end and three plastic fins on a rod at the other end. The darts are intended to be tossed underhand toward a horizontal ground target, where the weighted end hits first and sticks into the ground. The target is typically a plastic ring, and landing anywhere within the ring scores a point.


title: Lawn darts

text: Starting in the late twentieth century, the safety of metal-tipped lawn darts was called into question in several countries. After thousands of injuries and at least three children's deaths were attributed to lawn darts, the sharp-pointed darts were banned for sale in the United States and Canada. They are still legal in the European Union.


title: Lawn darts

text: The game may be played with standard or Handly Cup rules. Either variation can be played one-on-one or by teams of two. In the team versions, the players stand with one member from each team at each end (they should be sure to stand well back when the other side is throwing) and toss the darts to a target about away (with variation based on the players' skill and the location of the game).


title: Lawn darts

text: In standard game play, points are scored when a dart lands in the target area. Usually if players from both teams land darts in the target, the scores cancel each other; for example, if Team A lands two darts in the target area and Team B lands one, Team A would get one point and Team B would get zero. Some versions of lawn darts include a smaller bullseye ring for additional points.


title: Lawn darts

text: With the Handly Cup style, scores are based on darts in the ring plus darts closer to the ring than any of the opposing team's darts. Darts landing inside the ring, or "ringers", are worth three points each, and can be canceled by darts thrown by opponents that also land in the ring. Any dart that is closer to, but outside, the ring than any other dart thrown by the opposing team is worth one point. This means that if neither team managed to place a dart into the ring, but Team A landed two darts closer than did any of Team B's darts, Team A would score two points. If Team A landed one dart in the ring, and one dart closer than any of Team B's darts, Team A would score four points. If both teams land darts in the ring, it is impossible for a dart outside the ring to score any points, as it is farther from the ring than the opposing team's dart that is inside. If Team A and Team B each land a dart inside the ring, and Team A also lands a dart outside the ring but closer to the ring than Team B's other dart, neither team would score any points for the round. Handly Cup style matches are typically played by teams of two, with the pairs alternating until one team's total score is 21 or more. For a point to count, the dart must stick into the ground.


title: Lawn darts

text: In 1970, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classified sharp-pointed lawn darts as a "mechanical hazard," a designation which prohibited the sale of lawn darts, unless the darts satisfied three requirements: (1) Be packaged with specified warning label that advised of the potential for serious injury and cautioned parents to keep the product out of the reach of children, (2) Include instructions on usage with warnings to avoid use when other persons or animals are within the field of play, and (3) Not be sold in toy stores or toy departments. The Consumers Union and the Children's Foundation petitioned the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), a different agency, to go further, asking that HEW use the emergency provisions of the Child Protection and Toy Safety Act of 1969 to ban outright, in addition to several other toys, "outdoor games with 13‐inch pointed darts weighing more than five ounces each." When HEW refused, Consumers Union sued, seeking a judicial order instructing HEW to enact the ban; on December 18, 1970, a federal judge held in favor of HEW.


title: Lawn darts

text: In April 1987, seven-year-old Michelle Snow was killed by a lawn dart thrown by one of her brothers' playmates in the backyard of their home in Riverside, California, when the dart penetrated her skull and caused massive brain trauma. The darts had been purchased as part of a set of several different lawn games and were stored in the garage, never having been played before the incident occurred. Snow's father David began to advocate for a ban on lawn darts, claiming that there was no way to keep children from accessing lawn darts short of a full ban, and, partly as a result of Snow's lobbying, on December 19, 1988, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission introduced an outright ban on lawn darts in the U.S. In the previous eight years, 6,100 Americans had visited hospital emergency rooms as the result of lawn-dart accidents. Of that total, 81% were 15 or younger, and half were 10 or younger. During the week when the commission voted to ban the product, an 11-year-old girl in Tennessee was hit by a lawn dart and fell into a coma.


title: Lawn darts

text: In Canada, lawn darts caused at least 55 serious injuries. They were banned for sale in the country from July 1989. The sale of second-hand lawn darts is also illegal under the Hazardous Products Act. Since then, alternatives have surfaced that are available for sale in Canada and are made of plastic. As of 2020, a modified, safer version of lawn darts with a modified blunt-tip design may be purchased in the United States.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. From 1982 to 1988, he won seven major singles titles (three at the French Open, three at the Australian Open, and one at the US Open), and one major men's doubles title (at Wimbledon). His breakthrough came suddenly and unexpectedly when he won the 1982 French Open at the age of 17.


title: Mats Wilander

text: In 1988, Wilander won three of the four singles majors and finished the year ranked as the world No. 1. Although he never won the singles title at Wimbledon, Wilander twice won the Australian Open when it was played on grass courts. This makes Wilander one of only six men (along with Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic) to have won major singles titles on grass courts, hard courts, and clay courts since it was first achievable in 1978 (when US Open was first played on hard courts). Wilander, Nadal, and Djokovic are the only men to have won at least two major singles titles on each of the three surfaces.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander won his fourth major singles title at the age of 20, the youngest man in history to have achieved the feat. He also won eight Grand Prix Super Series titles (1983–88), the precursors to the current ATP Tour Masters 1000. He won 33 singles titles and seven doubles titles during his career. He was also a driving force behind Sweden's run of seven consecutive Davis Cup finals in the 1980s.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Born in Växjö, Sweden, Wilander first came to the tennis world's attention when he won the French Open junior title, the European under-16 and under-18 championships, and the Orange Bowl under-16 event in Miami.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander made his debut on the professional tour at the clay court tournament in Båstad, Sweden in 1980. In September 1981, he lost his only career match against Björn Borg, losing in the first round of the Geneva Open in straight sets.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander surprised the tennis world at the 1982 French Open. As an unseeded player, he upset second seed Ivan Lendl in the fourth round, fifth seed Vitas Gerulaitis in the quarterfinals, fourth seed José Luis Clerc in the semifinals, and third seed Guillermo Vilas in a four-set final that lasted 4 hours and 42 minutes. At the end of the semifinal against Clerc he requested replay of the match ball as he did not want to win the game due to a questionable referee decision. This was seen as an extraordinary display of fair play and garnered him the Pierre de Coubertin World Fair Play Trophy. He was the youngest ever male Grand Slam singles champion at 17 years, 9 months, a record since broken by Boris Becker and Michael Chang. In only his third entry in a Grand Slam tournament, Wilander also became the player who needed the fewest attempts to win one, a record since equaled by Gustavo Kuerten at the 1997 French Open. Wilander then lost in the fourth round at both Wimbledon, to Brian Teacher, and the US Open to Lendl. Wilander won three additional tournaments in 1982 and finished the year ranked no. 7. During that year, Wilander was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander returned to the French Open in 1983, where he lost to Yannick Noah after defeating John McEnroe in a quarterfinal. He lost in the third round at Wimbledon to Roscoe Tanner and in the quarterfinals of the US Open to Lendl. Wilander won his second Grand Slam title later that year at the Australian Open, played on grass at Kooyong Stadium, where he defeated McEnroe in a semifinal and Lendl in the final. He won eight other tournaments in 1983, including two Grand Prix Championship Series titles, and finished the year ranked no. 4.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander retained his Australian Open title in 1984, beating Stefan Edberg in the quarterfinals and Kevin Curren in the final. He lost in the semifinals of the French Open to Lendl, the second round at Wimbledon to Pat Cash, and the quarterfinals of the US Open to Cash. He won three tournaments in 1984 including his third Championships Series title and again finished the year ranked no. 4.


title: Mats Wilander

text: In 1985, Wilander won the French Open for the second time, beating Lendl in the final, and again reached the Australian Open final, where he lost to Edberg. However, he lost in the first round at Wimbledon to Slobodan Živojinović and the semifinals of the US Open to McEnroe. He won three tournaments in 1985 and finished the year ranked no. 3.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander rose to the no. 2 ranking, behind Lendl, on 28 April 1986. He then lost in the third round of the French Open to Andrei Chesnokov, the fourth round of Wimbledon to Cash, and the fourth round of the US Open to Miloslav Mečíř. His consistency at other tournaments, however, allowed him to again finish the year ranked no. 3. Wilander partnered with countryman Joakim Nyström to win the men's doubles title at Wimbledon in 1986. He also won his fourth Grand Prix Championship Series title.


title: Mats Wilander

text: The 1987 season saw Wilander unveil a more potent service and a new highly effective one-handed slice backhand, the latter a somewhat remarkable development for a mid-career top-level tennis professional. Despite the improvements, however, Wilander was defeated by Lendl in the finals of both the French Open and the US Open in 1987. Cash again proved to be Wilander's nemesis at Wimbledon, winning their quarterfinal match in straight sets. Wilander won five tournaments in 1987 including two Grand Prix Tennis Championship Series titles and six overall, finishing the year ranked third in the world for the third consecutive year.


title: Mats Wilander

text: 1988 was the pinnacle of Wilander's career. In January, he won his third Australian Open singles title, this time on Melbourne Park's hardcourts, defeating Edberg in a five-set semifinal and home town favourite Cash in a five-set final. In doing so, he became the only player to win the Australian Open on both grass and hardcourt. Wilander faced another home crowd favourite, Henri Leconte, in the final of the French Open. Wilander won in straight sets, missing only two out of 73 first serves in the entire match. At Wimbledon, Wilander reached the quarterfinals where he lost to Mečíř. At the US Open, he reached his third Grand Slam final of the year. In a repeat match-up of the previous year's final, he defeated Lendl in five sets in close to 5 hours and ended Lendl's three-year reign at the top of the world rankings. This was Wilander's seventh Grand Slam singles title and resulted in his receiving the number one ranking, having won three of the year's Grand Slam tournaments, two more Grand Prix Championship Series titles at Key Biscayne and Cincinnati, and one other title in Palermo. He held the top ranking for a total of 20 weeks until Lendl reclaimed it at the end of January 1989.


title: Mats Wilander

text: His 1988 title at Cincinnati was his fourth there, at the time making him one of only three players since 1899 to win four titles in Cincinnati, along with Bobby Riggs and George Lott. Roger Federer has since joined the list.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander's motivation, results, and ranking suffered in 1989. He lost in the second round of the Australian Open to Ramesh Krishnan, the quarterfinals of the French Open to Andrei Chesnokov, the quarterfinals of Wimbledon to John McEnroe (7–6, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4), and the second round of the US Open to Pete Sampras (5–7, 6–3, 1–6, 6–1, 6–4). He did not win a tournament during 1989 and he finished the year ranked World No. 12.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander briefly moved back into the top 10 rankings on 12 February 1990, but by the end of the year, his ranking had slumped to World No. 41. He defeated Boris Becker in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, only to lose to Stefan Edberg in straight sets in the semifinals. He skipped the French Open and Wimbledon and lost in the first round of the US Open to Brad Gilbert.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander played only the first half of 1991. He lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open and the second round of the French Open. He finished the year ranked World No. 159.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander was absent from the tour in 1992. He played seven tournaments in 1993, losing in the first round of five of them. At the US Open, he lost in the third round to Cédric Pioline. He finished the year ranked World No. 330.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Except for Wimbledon, Wilander played a full schedule in 1994. He lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open to MaliVai Washington, the first round of the French Open to Andre Agassi (6–2, 7–5, 6–1), and the first round of the US Open to Guy Forget. His only victory over a top ten player was in the second round of the tournament in Indianapolis against Todd Martin. He finished the year ranked World No. 129.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander's results improved slightly in 1995 as he finished the year ranked World No. 46. After losing in the first round of the Australian Open to Jacco Eltingh, he lost in the second round of the French Open to eighth ranked Wayne Ferreira 6–7, 7–6, 6–3, 6–7, 8–6. He then lost in the third round of Wimbledon to Eltingh and the second round of the US Open to Martin. In other tournaments, he had wins against tenth ranked Marc Rosset, eighth ranked Ferreira, and sixth ranked Yevgeny Kafelnikov. He also won his final tour match against Edberg, in the second round of the Canadian Open in Montreal.


title: Mats Wilander

text: In 1996, Wilander played only one Grand Slam tournament, losing in the second round of the French Open to Martin. He retired from the tour after losing his final match to Martin Damm in Beijing in October.


title: Mats Wilander

text: During most of his career, Wilander used the Rossignol F-200 Carbon tennis racquet, an early fiberglass model.


title: Mats Wilander

text: During the 1995 French Open he and Karel Nováček tested positive for cocaine. They appealed the initial three-month suspension by the International Tennis Federation, claiming flawed test procedures but withdrew their appeals in May 1997 and on 15 May 1997 received a three-month suspension from the ATP Tour for failing a drugs test. Additionally Wilander had to return his prize money since May 1995, amounting to $289,005, and forfeit ranking points.


title: Mats Wilander

text: He reached his first final with Sweden in 1983, which they lost 3–2 to Australia (despite Wilander winning both his singles rubbers in the final). In 1984, Sweden (with Wilander) won the cup, beating the United States 4–1 in the final. Sweden retained the cup in 1985, with a 3–2 final victory over West Germany. Wilander helped Sweden reach the final again in 1986 but declined to play in the final because he was getting married (Sweden lost 3–2 to Australia). Wilander played in his fourth final in 1987, where Sweden beat India 5–0. Two more finals followed in 1988 and 1989, but Sweden lost both to West Germany. Wilander last played in Davis Cup in the 1995 semifinals, where he lost to Andre Agassi 7–6, 6–2, 6–2 and Pete Sampras 2–6, 7–6, 6–3.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander compiled a 36–16 record in singles and a 7–2 record in doubles in the Davis Cup for Sweden. However, Wilander's most memorable Davis Cup match came in defeat. In a July 1982 quarterfinal tie against the United States on carpet in St. Louis, Missouri, Wilander was defeated in the deciding fifth rubber by John McEnroe 9–7, 6–2, 15–17, 3–6, 8–6. At 6 hours and 32 minutes it remains the second longest singles match in Davis Cup history.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander, who won $8 million as a pro and more in endorsements, now spends much of his time living on an 81-acre estate in Hailey, Idaho, United States (part of the Sun Valley ski resort) with his wife Sonya (née Mulholland), a South African-born model. He competes from time to time on the senior tour. Since retiring as a player, he has served as captain of the Swedish Davis Cup team. Wilander also serves as a commentator for tennis matches on Eurosport.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander has four children, Emma, Karl, Erik, and Oskar. His son Erik suffers from a comparatively mild form of epidermolysis bullosa, which benefits from Idaho's cool and dry air, and Wilander and his wife have worked to raise funds for research into cures for the disease.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander created a minor controversy during the 2006 French Open when he criticized several top players, including Roger Federer and Kim Clijsters, as lacking the competitive edge to beat their toughest rivals. After Federer's 1–6, 6–1, 6–4, 7–6 loss to Nadal in the final, Wilander said that "Federer, today, unfortunately came out with no balls... you don't find too many champions in any sport in the world without heart or balls. He might have them, but against Nadal they shrank to a very small size and it's not once, it's every time."


title: Mats Wilander

text: In the aftermath of these comments, fans coined the neologism "Wilanders" as a humorous synonym for "balls", denoting a competitive spirit and tenacity to win.


title: Mats Wilander

text: Wilander began coaching Tatiana Golovin in July 2007. After working with Golovin in the later part of 2007, Wilander began coaching Paul-Henri Mathieu.


title: Ian Sinclair (voice actor)

text: Ian Sinclair (born March 2, 1984) is an American voice actor and voice director who works with Funimation and Sentai Filmworks. He provides voices for English versions of Japanese anime series and video games. Some of his major roles include Toraji Ishida in "Bamboo Blade"; Dallas Genoard in "Baccano!"; Douglas Rosenberg in "El Cazador de la Bruja"; Takeru Oyama in "Maken-ki!"; Brook in the Funimation dub of "One Piece"; Juzo Sakakura in the "Danganronpa" series; Whis in "Dragon Ball Super", and the title characters in "Toriko" and "Space Dandy". In addition he performs the voice in video games the likes of "Battleborn", Baron Flynt in "Borderlands", Professor Nakayama and Jimbo Hodunk in "Borderlands 2", and Berkut in "". Ian was in the English Dub cast as Yasuda in "Shin Godzilla".


title: Ian Sinclair (voice actor)

text: Sinclair was born in Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. on March 2, 1984. He is half-Canadian. Sinclair has been voice acting since he was studying theatre in college. After that, he had been working as an actor in Dallas, and occasionally in Los Angeles. Sinclair has also directed "Spice and Wolf II", "Black Butler I & II", "Initial D", and "Shana" movie.


title: XGBoost

text: XGBoost (eXtreme Gradient Boosting) is an open-source software library which provides a regularizing gradient boosting framework for C++, Java, Python, R, Julia, Perl, and Scala. It works on Linux, Windows, and macOS. From the project description, it aims to provide a "Scalable, Portable and Distributed Gradient Boosting (GBM, GBRT, GBDT) Library". It runs on a single machine, as well as the distributed processing frameworks Apache Hadoop, Apache Spark, Apache Flink, and Dask.


title: XGBoost

text: It has gained much popularity and attention recently as the algorithm of choice for many winning teams of machine learning competitions.


title: XGBoost

text: XGBoost initially started as a research project by Tianqi Chen as part of the Distributed (Deep) Machine Learning Community (DMLC) group. Initially, it began as a terminal application which could be configured using a libsvm configuration file. It became well known in the ML competition circles after its use in the winning solution of the Higgs Machine Learning Challenge. Soon after, the Python and R packages were built, and XGBoost now has package implementations for Java, Scala, Julia, Perl, and other languages. This brought the library to more developers and contributed to its popularity among the Kaggle community, where it has been used for a large number of competitions.


title: XGBoost

text: It was soon integrated with a number of other packages making it easier to use in their respective communities. It has now been integrated with scikit-learn for Python users and with the caret package for R users. It can also be integrated into Data Flow frameworks like Apache Spark, Apache Hadoop, and Apache Flink using the abstracted Rabit and XGBoost4J. XGBoost is also available on OpenCL for FPGAs. An efficient, scalable implementation of XGBoost has been published by Tianqi Chen and Carlos Guestrin.