title: Quantum supremacy

text: Some researchers have suggested that the term "quantum supremacy" should not be used, arguing that the word "supremacy" evokes distasteful comparisons to the racist belief of white supremacy. A controversial Nature commentary signed by thirteen researchers asserts that the alternative phrase "quantum advantage" should be used instead. John Preskill, the professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology who coined the term, has since clarified that the term was proposed to explicitly describe the moment that a quantum computer gains the ability to perform a task that a classical computer never could. He further explained that he specifically rejected the term "quantum advantage" as it did not fully encapsulate the meaning of his new term: the word "advantage" would imply that a computer with quantum supremacy would have a slight edge over a classical computer while the word "supremacy" better conveys complete ascendancy over any classical computer. In December 2020, "Nature's" Philip Ball wrote that the term "quantum advantage" has "largely replaced" the term "quantum supremacy". In February 2021, a "Scientific American" opinion piece proposed the term "quantum primacy" as a suitable replacement.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: Hugh Everett III (; November 11, 1930 – July 19, 1982) was an American physicist who first proposed the many-worlds interpretation (MWI) of quantum physics, which he termed his "relative state" formulation. In contrast to the then-dominant Copenhagen interpretation, the MWI posits that the wave function never collapses and that all possibilities of a quantum superposition are objectively real.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: Discouraged by the scorn of other physicists for MWI, Everett ended his physics career after completing his PhD. Afterwards, he developed the use of generalized Lagrange multipliers for operations research and applied this commercially as a defense analyst and a consultant. In poor health later in life, he died at the age of 51 in 1982. He is the father of musician Mark Oliver Everett.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: Although largely disregarded until near the end of Everett's lifetime, the MWI received more credibility with the discovery of quantum decoherence in the 1970s and has received increased attention in recent decades, becoming one of the mainstream interpretations of quantum mechanics alongside Copenhagen, pilot wave theories, and consistent histories.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: Hugh Everett III was born in 1930 and raised in the Washington, D.C. area. Everett's parents separated when he was young. Initially raised by his mother (Katherine Lucille Everett née Kennedy), he was raised by his father (Hugh Everett Jr) and stepmother (Sarah Everett née Thrift) from the age of seven.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: At the age of twelve he wrote a letter to Albert Einstein asking him whether that which maintained the universe was something random or unifying. Einstein responded as follows:


title: Hugh Everett III

text: Everett won a half scholarship to St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C. From there, he moved to the nearby Catholic University of America to study chemical engineering as an undergraduate. While there, he read about Dianetics in "Astounding Science Fiction". Although he never exhibited any interest in Scientology (as Dianetics became), he did retain a distrust of conventional medicine throughout his life.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: During World War II his father was away fighting in Europe as a lieutenant colonel on the general staff. After World War II, Everett's father was stationed in West Germany, and Hugh joined him, during 1949, taking a year out from his undergraduate studies. Father and son were both keen photographers and took hundreds of pictures of West Germany being rebuilt. Reflecting their technical interests, the pictures were "almost devoid of people".


title: Hugh Everett III

text: Everett graduated from the Catholic University of America in 1953 with a degree in chemical engineering, although he had completed sufficient courses for a mathematics degree as well. He received a National Science Foundation fellowship that allowed him to attend Princeton University for graduate studies. He started his studies at Princeton in the mathematics department, where he worked on the then-new field of game theory under Albert W. Tucker, but slowly drifted into physics. In 1953 he started taking his first physics courses, notably "Introductory Quantum Mechanics" with Robert Dicke.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: During 1954, he attended Methods of Mathematical Physics with Eugene Wigner, although he remained active with mathematics and presented a paper on military game theory in December. He passed his general examinations in the spring of 1955, thereby gaining his master's degree, and then started work on his dissertation that would (much) later make him famous. He switched thesis advisor to John Archibald Wheeler some time in 1955, wrote a couple of short papers on quantum theory and completed his long paper, "Wave Mechanics Without Probability" in April 1956.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: In his third year at Princeton, Everett moved into an apartment which he shared with three friends he had made during his first year, Hale Trotter, Harvey Arnold and Charles Misner. Arnold later described Everett as follows: It was during this time that he met Nancy Gore, who typed up his "Wave Mechanics Without Probability" paper. Everett married Nancy Gore the next year. The long paper was later retitled as "The Theory of the Universal Wave Function".


title: Hugh Everett III

text: Wheeler himself had traveled to Copenhagen in May 1956 with the goal of getting a favorable reception for at least part of Everett's work, but in vain. In June 1956 Everett started defense work in the Pentagon's Weapons Systems Evaluation Group, returning briefly to Princeton to defend his thesis after some delay in the spring of 1957. A short article, which was a compromise between Everett and Wheeler about how to present the concept and almost identical to the final version of his thesis, was published in "Reviews of Modern Physics" Vol 29 #3 454-462, (July 1957), accompanied by an approving review by Wheeler. Everett was not happy with the final form of the article. Everett received his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton in 1957 after completing his doctoral dissertation titled "On the foundations of quantum mechanics."


title: Hugh Everett III

text: Upon graduation in September 1956, Everett was invited to join the Pentagon's newly-forming Weapons Systems Evaluation Group (WSEG), managed by the Institute for Defense Analyses. Between 23–26 October 1956 he attended a weapons orientation course managed by Sandia National Laboratories at Albuquerque, New Mexico to learn about nuclear weapons and became a fan of computer modeling while there. In 1957, he became director of the WSEG's Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. After a brief intermission to defend his thesis on quantum theory at Princeton, Everett returned to WSEG and recommenced his research, much of which, but by no means all, remains classified. He worked on various studies of the Minuteman missile project, which was then starting, as well as the influential study "The Distribution and Effects of Fallout in Large Nuclear Weapon Campaigns".


title: Hugh Everett III

text: During March and April 1959, at Wheeler's request, Everett visited Copenhagen, on vacation with his wife and baby daughter, in order to meet with Niels Bohr, the "father of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics". The visit was a complete disaster; Everett was unable to communicate the main idea that the universe is describable, in theory, by an objectively existing universal wave function (which does not "collapse"); this was simply heresy to Bohr and the others at Copenhagen. The conceptual gulf between their positions was too wide to allow any meeting of minds; Léon Rosenfeld, one of Bohr's devotees, talking about Everett's visit, described Everett as being "undescribably [sic] stupid and could not understand the simplest things in quantum mechanics". Everett later described this experience as "hell...doomed from the beginning".


title: Hugh Everett III

text: However, while in Copenhagen, in his hotel, he started work on a new idea to use generalized Lagrange multipliers for mathematical optimization. Everett's theorem, published in 1963, relates the Lagrangian bidual to the primal problem.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: In 1962 Everett accepted an invitation to present the relative-state formulation (as it was still called) at a conference on the foundations of quantum mechanics held at Xavier University in Cincinnati. In his exposition Everett presented his derivation of probability and also stated explicitly that observers in all branches of the wavefunction were equally "real." He also agreed with an observation from the floor that the number of branches of the universal wavefunction was an uncountable infinity.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: In August 1964, Everett and several WSEG colleagues started Lambda Corp. to apply military modeling solutions to various civilian problems. During the early 1970s, defense budgets were curtailed and most money went to operational duties in the Vietnam War, resulting in Lambda eventually being absorbed by the General Research Corp.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: In 1973, Everett and Donald Reisler (a Lambda colleague and fellow physicist) left the firm to establish DBS Corporation in Arlington, Virginia. Although the firm conducted defense research (including work on United States Navy ship maintenance optimization and weapons applications), it primarily specialized in "analyzing the socioeconomic effects of government affirmative action programs" as a contractor under the auspices of the Department of Justice and the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. For a period of time, the company was partially supported by American Management Systems, a business consulting firm that drew upon algorithms developed by Everett. He concurrently held a non-administrative vice presidency at AMS and was frequently consulted by the firm's founders.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: Everett cultivated an early aptitude for computer programming at IDA and favored the TRS-80 at DBS, where he primarily worked for the rest of his life.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: In 1970 Bryce DeWitt wrote an article for "Physics Today" on Everett's relative-state theory, which evoked a number of letters from physicists. These letters, and DeWitt's responses to the technical objections raised, were also published. Meanwhile DeWitt, who had corresponded with Everett on the many-worlds / relative state interpretation when originally published in 1957, started editing an anthology on the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. In addition to the original articles by Everett and Wheeler, the anthology was dominated by the inclusion of Everett's 1956 paper "The Theory of the Universal Wavefunction", which had never been published before. The book was published late in 1973, sold out completely, and it was not long before an article on Everett's work appeared in the science fiction magazine, "Analog".


title: Hugh Everett III

text: In 1977, Everett was invited to give a talk at a conference Wheeler had organised at Wheeler's new location at the University of Texas at Austin. As with the Copenhagen visit, Everett vacationed from his defense work and traveled with his family. Everett met DeWitt there for the first and only time. Everett's talk was quite well received and influenced a number of physicists in the audience, including Wheeler's graduate student, David Deutsch, who later promoted the many-worlds interpretation to a wider audience. Everett, who "never wavered in his belief in his many-worlds theory", enjoyed the presentation; it was the first time for years he had talked about his quantum work in public. Wheeler started the process of returning Everett to a physics career by establishing a new research institute in California, but nothing came of this proposal. Wheeler, although happy to introduce Everett's ideas to a wider audience, was not happy to have his own name associated with Everett's ideas. Eventually, after Everett's death, he formally renounced the theory.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: At the age of 51, Everett, who believed in quantum immortality, died suddenly of a heart attack at home in his bed on the night of July 18–19, 1982. Everett's obesity, frequent chain-smoking and alcohol drinking almost certainly contributed to this, although he seemed healthy at the time. A committed atheist, he had asked that his remains be disposed of in the trash after his death. His wife kept his ashes in an urn for a few years, before complying with his wishes. About Hugh's death his son, Mark Oliver Everett, later said:


title: Hugh Everett III

text: Of the companies Everett initiated, only Monowave Corporation still exists (in Seattle as of March 2015). It is managed by co-founder Elaine Tsiang, who received a Ph.D. in physics under Bryce DeWitt at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before working for DBS as a programmer.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: Everett's daughter, Elizabeth, died by suicide in 1996 (saying in her suicide note that she wished her ashes to be thrown out with the garbage so that she might "end up in the correct parallel universe to meet up w[ith] Daddy"), and in 1998, his wife, Nancy, died of cancer. Everett's son, Mark Oliver Everett, who found Everett dead, is also known as "E" and is the main singer and songwriter for the band Eels. The Eels album "Electro-Shock Blues", which was written during this time period, is representative of these deaths.


title: Hugh Everett III

text: Mark Everett explored his father's work in the hour-long BBC television documentary "Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives". The program was edited and shown on the Public Broadcasting Service's "Nova" series in the USA during October 2008. In the program, Mark mentions how he wasn't aware of his father's status as a brilliant and influential physicist until his death in 1982.


title: Metro-2

text: Metro-2 () is the informal name for a purported secret underground metro system which parallels the public Moscow Metro (known as Metro-1 when in comparison with Metro-2). The system was supposedly built, or at least started, during the time of Joseph Stalin and was codenamed D-6 (Д-6) by the KGB. It is supposedly still operated by the Main Directorate of Special Programmes and Ministry of Defence.


title: Metro-2

text: Metro-2 is said to have four lines which lie deep. It is said to connect the Kremlin with the Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters, the government airport at Vnukovo-2, and an underground town at Ramenki, in addition to other locations of national importance.


title: Metro-2

text: In 1994, the leader of an urban exploration group, the Diggers of the Underground Planet, claimed to have found an entrance to this underground system.


title: Metro-2

text: Historic evidence however paints a much more conservative picture, with one "line" existing by the late 1960s, from the Kremlin, specifically site 103, to the site 54 south from Moscow State University, with a spur going north-west from there, to the area of the Matveevskaya railway platform and the DV-1 there. Additional lines, i.e. to Vnukovo, are likely a later invention by the enthusiast community, though with the change in generations of the hardened protective structure design in the 1970/80s a redundant back up of this system may have been at least considered.


title: Metro-2

text: In the summer of 1992, the literary and journalistic magazine "Yunost" () published a novel by the author and screenwriter Vladimir Gonik entitled "Preispodniaia" () (), set in an underground bunker in Moscow. Earlier, in the spring of that year, excerpts from the novel had been published in the weekly newspaper "Sovershenno sekretno" . In an interview with both the newspaper's editor and Gonik in 1993, the author stated that the term "Metro-2" had been introduced to them, and that the novel had been written based on information collected over the previous 20 years by the two of them on things such as secret bunkers and the underground railways connecting them. Gonik admitted that he had worked on the book between 1973 and 1986, and that some of the more sensitive information had been purposefully misrepresented.


title: Metro-2

text: In later years, Gonik has argued that the bunkers, and therefore the so-called "Metro-2", had been for use by the leadership of the Politburo and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), along with their families, in case of war. According to him, in the early 1970s the General Secretary of the CPSU, Leonid Brezhnev, personally visited the main bunker, and, in 1974, awarded the Chairman of the KGB at the time, Yuri Andropov, the Gold Star Medal of the Hero of Socialist Labour. Apparently, each member of the Central Committee had a apartment, with a study, lounge, kitchen and bathroom. Gonik claims to have gathered this information working as a doctor in the polyclinic of the Ministry of Defence.


title: Metro-2

text: After the publication of the novel in 1992, the subject of a second, secret, underground railway has been raised many times, especially in the Russian media. In particular, the magazine "Ogoniok" () has referred to a "Metro-2" several times.


title: Metro-2

text: Russian journalists have reported that the existence of Metro-2 is neither confirmed nor denied by the FSB or the Moscow Metro administration. However, listed below is evidence for the Metro-2's existence.


title: Metro-2

text: In 2021, a book by Dmitry Yurkov was published which covered new research on the history of special fortification in Moscow. Below is a summary of findings.


title: Metro-2

text: From declassified archival documents, an overall layout of the track system and its main components can be established for the late 1960s (this is limited by the source material officially released so far). While the system was eventually assembled in the late 1960s by the KGB, originally it was a collection of structures built for a variety of purposes and operators.


title: Metro-2

text: This is the oldest component of Metro-2. Construction began in the mid-1950s, and its design was finalised in 1956. It intended to provide a solution to the challenge of extending the red line southwest, beyond the Sportivnaya metro station and the river. Because of the conflicting requirements—a reasonable cost, a secure river crossing, and a civil defence shelter capacity—the final design included a shallow metro line with a vulnerable bridge backed up by a deep single track tunnel—which spurs from the main line after the Sportivnaya station (the initial part of this spur is seen on normal track maps)—and a high-speed elevator shaft.


title: Metro-2

text: Order 10-A is composed out of sites 54 and 54a and was intended to provide protected work spaces for the personnel of the planned Palace of the Soviets behind the Moscow State University campus. The plans for those administrative buildings were tied to the shafts and other features of this underground infrastructure project, but sadly the Palace of the Soviets—much like its pre-World War II variant—was not meant to be located next to Kropotkinstaya metro station.


title: Metro-2

text: Order 10-A was made by the 9th directorate of the Ministry for Defence, and for it a new construction organisation (US 10-A, presently Transinzhstroi) was set up in 1955. Construction was started in 1956 and completed by 1963.


title: Metro-2

text: Site 54 is composed of at least 5 shafts (1, 2, 3, 5, 6 explicitly mentioned) and includes extensive supporting systems such as air filtering stations and power generation, with the latter designed to support the planned above-ground administrative complex in case of emergencies. The site is connected to the deep single track tunnel at the depth of 189m. Shaft R6, which was used during order 10-A construction, still exists in Moscow and is a marker for its overall location.


title: Metro-2

text: Site 103 is a large U-shaped structure built in central Moscow, designed to enhance the legacy World War II infrastructure by providing: site 1A in Kremlin (at the depth of 55m), a protected work spaces for the leadership; site 15N, a communications node; site 100 shelter (passing under site 101), a protected work spaces for the KGB. There were links to the existing legacy structures such as sites 25 and 25/2 in Kremlin, and site 201 at Lubyanka. It is also connected to the post-war site 101 at Zaryadie, which was intended to provide protected work spaces for officials working in the 8th Stalin's skyscraper; however, the skyscraper was never built, so site 101 was repurposed to support local Moscow region officials.


title: Metro-2

text: However, this project was plagued with a number of problems, such as slow construction (which went well into the mid-1960s), and uncertainty of how it could be evacuated after a nuclear attack. The latter was solved by the construction of "Branch" (), which linked site 103 in the city center to the deep single track tunnel and enabled moving people to the city outskirts.


title: Metro-2

text: After some initial work on a network of air filtering and then air regeneration stations, such as site 703 (aka ChZ-703), the decision was made to shift towards using several large air filtering stations on the outskirts of the city and pumping this clean air into the rest of the deep metro from there. Those were quite large structures (600,000–800,000 m3/h productivity) and required extensive supporting infrastructure of their own.


title: Metro-2

text: While five remote air intakes were planned in Moscow, this was later cut to three, with only two actually being built: "Matveevsky" (DV-1) and "Rizhsky" (DV-2). While the latter was neatly connected to the post-war deep metro line, the former used a proprietary air supply tunnel connecting its location at the Matveevskaya railroad platform to the deep single track tunnel. This air supply tunnel was later retrofitted with track, and joined the network. For construction of this air supply tunnel and other related structures, shaft R6 was transferred from US 10-A.


title: Metro-2

text: A related additional structure was the special connector line between the red and circle lines, as it would allow transport of air from the deep and nuclear hardened post-war section of the red line to the similarly protected circle line, bypassing the vulnerable area of the red line, which was built in the 1930s. DV-1 could also have been be used as an evacuation exit for the Moscow Metro, due to its location in the city outskirts at the time.


title: Metro-2

text: In the late 1960s, the DV-1 and its related support infrastructure (i.e. the deep single track tunnel) were transferred to the KGB from the Moscow Metro, with a number of modifications being made, such as reworking the deep single track tunnel connection to the red line and adding a hardened hangar for 10 APCs at the DV-1.


title: Metro-2

text: DV () is quite similar to D6 (Д6), and may be one of the ways this designation came to be used in modern online discussions. The so-called "underground city in Ramenki" is likely the result of urban explorers observing extensive support infrastructure for the DV-1. Alternatively, this term has also been linked to the order 10-A (i.e. with the CIA map drawing a large rectangular box with the known shaft R6 in the center).


title: Metro-2

text: In 1991, the United States Department of Defense published a report entitled "Military forces in transition", which devoted several pages to a secret government underground in Moscow. It also included a diagram of the system superimposed on a map of the city.


title: Metro-2

text: "The Soviets have constructed deep-underground both in urban Moscow and outside the city. These facilities are interconnected by a network of deep interconnected subway lines that provide a quick and secure means of evacuation for the leadership. The leadership can move from their peacetime offices through concealed entryways in protective quarters beneath the city. There are important deep-underground command posts in the Moscow area, one located at the Kremlin. Soviet press has noted the presence of an enormous underground leadership bunker adjacent to Moscow State University. These facilities are intended for the national command authority in wartime. They are estimated to be between and deep, and can accommodate an estimated 10,000 people. A special subway line runs from some points in Moscow and possibly to the VIP terminal at Vnukovo Airfield(...)"


title: Metro-2

text: In 1992, in an interview with "Time", Deputy Director Broadcaster Igor Malashenko spoke about the existence of Sofrino-2, about to the north-east of Moscow's television broadcasting centers, built at great depths in case of nuclear war. According to Malashenko, the equipment was unusable due to age. He went on to say that the same fate befell many of the underground bomb shelters, and in particular a system of underground bunkers beneath the building of Moscow State University, which he said were flooded and had deteriorated.


title: Metro-2

text: In 2004, former advisor of Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, former Russian president Boris Yeltsin and then president Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Shevchenko confirmed the existence of a secret in the Moscow Metro.


title: Metro-2

text: "Reports on the number of underground communications are greatly exaggerated. In the days of Stalin, who was very afraid of assassination attempts, there was in fact a single-track underground railway line running from the Kremlin to his so-called "Nearby Dacha" in Volynskoye. Today, neither the Dacha nor the subway line are in use. In addition, there were underground transport links between the General Staff and several other government facilities. In 1991


title: Metro-2

text: a pneumatic mail tube was constructed between the CPSU Central Committee building in Moscow's Old Square and the Kremlin."


title: Metro-2

text: "Currently, the Kremlin subway cannot be called a transportation artery, and, as far as I know, for its continued operation it required major repairs: for among other things there are a lot of underground utilities which will eventually decay."


title: Metro-2

text: "This is an extensive network of tunnels and an emergency command center in case of war, where you can command the nuclear forces of the country. It can hide a lot of people - its maintenance was necessary. I know that the "Metro-2" has branches that go to the suburbs so that the command could move away from the epicenter of a nuclear attack."


title: Metro-2

text: When ex-chief of the Moscow Metro Dmitry Gayev was questioned on the existence of the Metro-2, he responded:


title: Metro-2

text: "There is a lot of talk about the existence of secret transport tunnels. I will not deny anything. I would be surprised if they did not exist. You ask: Can we use them to transport passengers? It is not for me to decide, but for those organizations who own the railways. I do not exclude such a possibility."


title: Metro-2

text: In 2008, in an interview in "Argumenty i Fakty", the head of the Moscow Metro independent trade union, Svetlana Razina, admitted:


title: Metro-2

text: "Several years ago, among the drivers of the Izmailovo depot there was a recruiting for a service on secret routes, and although there were many willing, they were to select only one. Entering the midst of these tunnels is only for people with special clearance. Most often, these branches used very short trains, consisting of battery-electric locomotive and one passenger car."


title: Metro-2

text: "Line of the Metro-2 has long been in the KGB office, and subsequently came under the wing of the FSB."


title: Metro-2

text: Oleg Gordievsky, a former colonel of the KGB who worked for the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) for 11 years and defected in 1985, in an interview with "Argumenty i Fakty" called "The supreme secret of the KGB, which has not been disclosed until now" stated


title: Metro-2

text: "You still do not know the main KGB secret yet: a huge underground city, a whole communications network of such facilities. But they will not show you; they will never, of course."


title: Metro-2

text: In 2006, the Museum of the Cold War was opened to the public, located in the old Tagansky Protected Command Point. Also known as "Bunker-42" this museum is located at the GO-42 site, that took over sites 02 and 20. Site 02 was a deeply buried hardened protective structure housing a secure telephone exchange, while site 20 was some sort of military communications node (little hard archival evidence exists beyond that).


title: Metro-2

text: Sites 02 and 20 were connected to the regular Metro, with site 02 forming a ring of hardened telephone exchanges together with sites 01 (close to Belorusskaya metro station) and 03 (close to Kievskaya metro station). None of those sites were physically connected to the "Metro-2".


title: Metro-2

text: In 2018, a museum opened at the location of the former ministry for foreign affairs secure archive facility ("Bunker-703, also known as MFA site 2 or ChZ-703) . Around 42 meters deep, it was originally intended as a metro air filtering, then air regeneration station, before the metro began work on a remote air intake network.


title: Metro-2

text: In southwest Moscow, near the Ramenki District, there is a vacant lot to the southwest of the main building of Moscow State University. A complex of buildings of the research base of Association "Science" (NEBO "Nauka"), built to a depth of between and 200 m, is the largest underground bunker in Moscow. According to the same source, it is connected with other secret underground facilities, and appears to be able to house up to 15,000 people. A complex of surface buildings was built by architect Eugene Rozanov in 1975 by order of Glavspetsstroy.


title: Metro-2

text: One of the first times the facility was mentioned was in "Time" in 1992. Its article refers to a source named a "KGB officer", who claims he took part in the construction of a large underground facility in Ramenki. It was claimed construction began in the mid-1960s and was complete by mid-1970. The facility was named by the journalist as the "Underground City", which was supposedly intended to give refuge to 15,000 people for 30 years in the event of a nuclear attack on Moscow.


title: Metro-2

text: Most likely this is the sites 54, 54a of the order 10-A due to the location, time of construction (1956-1962), depth (189m at the connection to the deep single track tunnel) matching. The inflated numbers for the shelter capacity may be influenced by the original deep single track tunnel's civil defence mission, which was to provide additional capacity to the metro. However, despite the high capacity, this was only a temporary, short term shelter, much like the other civil defence infrastructure.


title: Metro-2

text: In the media, the "Underground City" is often referred to as "Ramenki-43", the address of one of the supposed entrances to the facility. Ostensibly, the address is home to Militarized Rescue Squad 21 and the 1st Paramilitary Rescue Squad.


title: A Kind of Murder

text: A Kind of Murder is a 2016 American mystery thriller film, directed by Andy Goddard from a screenplay by Susan Boyd. It is based upon the 1954 Patricia Highsmith novel "The Blunderer". It stars Patrick Wilson, Jessica Biel, Vincent Kartheiser, Haley Bennett, and Eddie Marsan. The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 17, 2016.


title: A Kind of Murder

text: Walter Stackhouse is an architect by day, and an aspiring writer by night. He writes short-story crime fiction and is fascinated by a recent murder of a local woman. He meets her husband by visiting the man's used bookstore. Stackhouse has a troubled marriage, and his wife turns up dead. The police detective investigating both deaths suspects each husband of killing his wife, and a possible connection between the two crimes.


title: A Kind of Murder

text: In February 2013, it was revealed that Andy Goddard had been attached to direct the film, from a screenplay by Susan Boyd, with Ted Hope, Christine Vachon, and Kelly McCormick producing under their Killer Films and Sierra Pictures banner, respectively. In May 2014, it was announced that Patrick Wilson, Jessica Biel, Imogen Poots and Toby Jones had been cast in the film. In November 2014, Haley Bennett joined the cast of the film, replacing Poots. That same month, Eddie Marsan joined the cast of the film, replacing Jones. In August 2015, the film was re-titled "A Kind of Murder".


title: A Kind of Murder

text: Principal photography began on November 17, 2014 in Cincinnati, Ohio, under the title "The Blunderer". In December 2014, a casting call was put out for 1950 cars, and male extras. Production concluded on December 16, 2014.


title: A Kind of Murder

text: In June 2015, it was reported that Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans had composed the score for the film.


title: A Kind of Murder

text: The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 17, 2016. Shortly after, Magnolia Pictures acquired distribution rights to the film. The film was released on December 16, 2016.


title: A Kind of Murder

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 35% based on reviews from 17 critics. On Metacritic the film has a score of 50% based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: A Kind of Murder

text: Nick Schager of "Variety" wrote: "While thrills are mitigated by convoluted plotting and suspect character behavior, the film's uniquely bleak twist on classic noir conventions is enlivening."


title: A Kind of Murder

text: John DeFore of "The Hollywood Reporter" called it "A handsome period piece that plays more like a scant-clues mystery than like the psychological thriller it intends to be."


title: Raincoat (film)

text: Raincoat is a 2004 Indian drama film directed by Rituparno Ghosh, and starring Ajay Devgn and Aishwarya Rai. It tells the story of two lovers, separated by destiny, who meet again one day. This encounter allows each to realize the truth about the lives they are living. It is an adaptation of short story "Protihingsha" by Manoj Basu


title: Raincoat (film)

text: The shooting for the film was completed only in 16 days. The film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi and Aishwarya Rai was nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.


title: Raincoat (film)

text: Manoj (Ajay Devgan) is a country man with very little money who lives in Bhagalpur, and is sent to Calcutta by his mother to look for money for his sister's wedding. While there, he stays with two friends, Alok and Sheela (Mouli Ganguly), who are very helpful in his desperate quest to find money. Alok makes some phone calls and writes a letter for him to send to his former classmates. The letter explains Manoj's plight, and asks for any money to spare. Manoj, ashamed, tells Alok to forget the letter and that he will go out the next day and ask for money personally.


title: Raincoat (film)

text: The next morning, Alok tells about his career. He has gotten quite wealthy as a producer for TV serials. Also, as a part of a diet, he has Herbalife for breakfast. Manoj asks Alok about an address that he plans to stop at while looking for money that day, and the address turns out to be of a woman that Manoj was supposed to marry, but married another. Alok remembers what he had to go through to get Manoj over her, and insists he not go there and upset himself. Sheela tells Alok not to get so angry, and let Manoj go where he pleases. The woman is supposed to be quite wealthy, and Manoj hopes not only to see her again (for the first time since her marriage), but perhaps to get some money as well. Alok finally backs off.


title: Raincoat (film)

text: To prepare Manoj for his journey out in the pouring rain, Alok gives him an address book of the people he may be able to collect money from, while Sheela gives Manoj a mobile phone, teaches him to use it, and a raincoat to keep him dry. On his journey, Manoj manages to collect 12,000 rupees before stopping at the home of his lost love, Neerja (Aishwarya Rai). Being there, he gets a memory of being a doorstep before, when they were together and happy, but is interrupted by Neerja's voice. She doesn't believe it is really him at first, and takes quite a while to open the door. When she does, she tells him that she fell asleep, and warmly invites him to stay and sit until the rain stops. There is no one home. Neerja's husband is away, and the servants are out playing cards.


title: Raincoat (film)

text: While sitting, she tells him that he has changed. His hair is missing, he's gotten dark and lost weight. He asks for her to switch on a light so he can see her better, because she does not look well, and she leaves, but forbids him to follow her in the rest of the house. She brings the light, and shows her face, free of bruises or black eyes, and assures him that her husband really loves her. He asks her why she wears such an expensive sari around the house, and she says it would just sit there otherwise, since she never leaves the house. Neerja is very paranoid. She never opens the door for fear of burglars in her dangerous town coming to invade her wealthy home. She says her husband is away to Japan on business and offered her to come, but refused because of a fear of being locked in a bathroom and not knowing English. Manoj laughs and tells her she hasn't changed a bit.


title: Raincoat (film)

text: The doorbell soon rings and Manoj insists on answering it. Neerja gets very afraid and urges him to let it be because she doesn't want to be seen home alone with another man while her husband is away and for word to get to him. He starts to answer the door anyway and she gets very upset, so he sits down. Manoj has a flashback of him getting very sick when he hears of Neerja's marriage. He was still very much in love with her at the time.


title: Raincoat (film)

text: Later, Neerja asks what Manoj does for a living and he says that he produces serials. In fact, he is the owner of the company. He tells her that he and his mother live in a two-story apartment and that she should visit some time. Of course, this is far from true, he has a flashback of him bringing his mother a portable toilet, just so she won't have to walk far to use it. Neerja asks if he is married, and he hints that his mother has a girl set up. Neerja doesn't seem pleased.


title: Raincoat (film)

text: Another flashback reveals that, although very sick from a fever, Manoj had an outburst about Neerja's engagement, demanding it be broken off. He tells her that he can support her, he'll find a way. Back in the present, Sheela calls him on his mobile to see how he is and if he has eaten. When Neerja asks who it was he says that it his is secretary. Neerja asks about her looks and her knowledge, and when Manoj tells her she's pretty and fluent in English she becomes jealous. She accuses him of flirting when she asked if he has eaten, then realizes she has neglected to feed him. He says that there's no need and he takes Herbalife, but she insists on going out to get him food, for the food in the house she doesn't think he'll like. She tells him to answer the door for no one, takes his raincoat and leaves.


title: Raincoat (film)

text: While she is gone, he has a flashback of her engagement, and him begging her one last time not to marry, and to stay with him. It is interrupted by a man at the window, begging to be let in to use the bathroom. Manoj reluctantly lets him in, but after he uses it he refuses to leave. Suspicious, Manoj confronts him and he reveals that he is the landlord. The landlord mistakes Manoj to be a renter of the space, and Manoj asks him why a couple so rich would need to rent. The landlord then reveals that Neerja and her husband are not rich at all. In fact, they are close to being evicted from their home for lack of paying rent. The landlord even shows Manoj the bathroom, which he was refused access to, and sees how empty and dirty it is...like the bathroom of a very poor family. He is confused, for he remembers when Neerja got married, the wedding was very expensive and her husband has an very nice job. The landlord reveals the he lost it in a scam, and has been a conman ever since, scamming others for money, the reason he is not home. And the reason Neerja never opens the door is for fear of bill-collectors and those who want to throw them out of their home. Very alarmed, Manoj gives the landlord the 12,000 rupees he had collected to pay three months' rent and makes the man promise not to throw her out immediately. And to call him if he ever does reach such a decision. The landlord leaves.


title: Raincoat (film)

text: Manoj writes her a letter telling her that he now knows the truth and what he has done to help her. He also says that had they been married, he would have done so anyway. He puts the letter under a sofa cover. Neerja returns and says that the shopkeeper was sleeping and she had to wake him up, which is why she took so long. He eats the food she brought and continues to lie about his profession and lifestyle while she grows upset. She says that she feels trapped in the house and that she wants to go far away, even if she gets stuck in the airplane bathroom. Manoj says that even if that were to happen, someone like him would be there to let her out. She doesn't want to be given false hope and starts to cry. He comforts her and she sits down and continues to ask about his business. She also tells him that they are going to be moving into a bigger house and that he should come to visit when he returns. He eventually asks to wash his hands after eating and, once again, she refuses him to see the rest of the house and goes to get him a finger bowl. He rinses off his hands and wipes them on the sofa cover, which Neerja scolds him for. He apologizes and he tells her to have it washed.


title: Raincoat (film)

text: Manoj returns to Alok and Sheela, and Alok is quite upset to hear that Manoj managed to lose all of the money he collected, but Sheela calms him down. Before Manoj goes to sleep that night, Sheela comes into his room to give him a letter she said she found in the pocket of the raincoat. In the envelope are golden bangles along with a letter. Confused, Manoj reads the letter which is from Neerja, saying that she is glad he let her borrow the raincoat that day, because she found the letter in the pocket of it, the letter begging his friends for the money he came to Calcutta for. She scolds him for not telling her his troubles, but tells him that she's giving him her jewelry to help him out. She says that if they had gotten married instead, he never would have refused to take her jewelry.


title: Raincoat (film)

text: Debajyoti Mishra experimented with the music of the film. The songs are all background numbers. Famous classical singer Shubha Mudgal lends her voice for the title track. Songs are listed below.


title: Raincoat (film)

text: The song "Piya Tora Kaisa Abhimaan" is sung by Raghav Chattopadhya and not by Hariharan. Hariharan had recorded this song for the film but the picturisation of this song is by Raghav Chattopadhya.


title: Raincoat (film)

text: The Times Of India gave a three stars out of five. Rediff cited "Some films attempt to showcase a series of wonderful moments and tend to go overboard. "Raincoat" captures just one poignant moment and tells it as simply it can, leaving you with a wow. For someone heralded as the most beautiful woman in the world, Aishwarya Rai looks terrifyingly depressing in the film. Her Neeru looks cynical to the point of suicide. And that's a compliment. Her body language is a strange mix of a passive housewife and a passionate girlfriend. Though the effort to sound rustic shows, the restraint in her dialogue delivery and performance is commendable. Hesitation, desperation, humiliation -- Ajay Devgan conveys them eloquently. He particularly stands out in the scenes where he cries in the bathroom, or begs Neeru not to marry someone else".


title: Raincoat (film)

text: The Hindu stated ""Raincoat"... essentially a chamber piece, it weaves a narrative with just two characters in most of the frames. "Raincoat" can easily be Aishwarya Rai's best performance, and as Neerja, the former beauty queen appears to have shed her inhibitions about looking unglamorous. In fact, most of time, Rai looks quite plain. What is more, she seems to have made an earnest effort to emote, using less of her body and limbs and more of her face, and eyes in particular. Ajay Devagan as Manoj is Devagan, as we have seen him in an umpteen number of parts earlier, although Ghosh draws the actor out of a certain woodenness that he is known for".


title: Raincoat (film)

text: Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama said "On the whole, "Raincoat" will appeal to a handful of critics and connoisseurs of art house cinema who'll heap lavish praises/lustrous words, but from the box-office point of view, "Raincoat" will face stormy weather at the ticket window".


title: Raincoat (film)

text: Derek Elley from Variety (magazine) described it as ""Raincoat" is a chamber-sized gem. Melancholic, rainy afternoon drama, almost entirely set in a single house, features meaty roles for two of Indian cinema's biggest stars, Aishwarya Rai and Ajay Devgan, in very different guises from their usual Bollywood ones. Though pic is unlikely to score big locally when it goes out in August against more commercial heavy-hitters like "Swades" and "The Rising", "Raincoat" could build a solid rep at fests, with some pickups by specialized webs and niche distribs. As in Ghosh's previous pic, "Chokher Bali: A Passion Play" (2003), Rai reveals herself as a considerable actress given the right script and direction, far from the comic-romantic roles in most of her Bollywood productions. Shunning her usual immaculate makeup and duds, and looking more like a broken, malfunctioning doll, she makes Niru a mixture of child and temptress/charmer, driven by capricious moods and clearly unhappy inside. It's the showier of the two perfs, but Devgan, in ultra low-key mode, is equally impressive, especially in the latter stages as his great love for the woman he once knew reveals itself in an act of charity".


title: Aaron Yan

text: Aaron Yan (, born Wu Keng-lin on 20 November 1985) is a Taiwanese actor, singer, television host and businessman. He was also one of the members of Taiwanese boy band Fahrenheit.


title: Aaron Yan

text: Yan was born as Wu Keng-lin in Taipei, Taiwan on 20 November 1985. When he was very young, he and his family moved to Connecticut, United States, where he lived for five years, and then moved back to Taiwan. In 2004, Yan posted some of his pictures on a public blog and was scouted by Taiwanese management company, Comic Productions. In August 2004, he made his acting debut in Taiwanese drama, "I Love My Wife". In 2005, after signing with Comic Productions and HIM International Music, Yan starred in Taiwanese dramas, "It Started with a Kiss" and "KO One".


title: Aaron Yan

text: In December 2005, he formed a boy band named Fahrenheit with three other Taiwanese artists: Wu Chun, Jiro Wang, and Calvin Chen. In September 2006, Fahrenheit released their eponymous debut studio album, "Fahrenheit", and they won a Hito Music Award for Best Boy Band.


title: Aaron Yan

text: In 2007, Yan reprised his roles in the sequels "The X-Family" and "They Kiss Again". In November 2008, Yan played his first leading role in Taiwanese suspense drama, "Mysterious Incredible Terminator". He also starred in "Love Buffet" and "Gloomy Salad Days".


title: Aaron Yan

text: In May 2012, Yan starred in Taiwanese musical drama, "Alice in Wonder City". In October 2012, he released his debut studio album, "The Moment".


title: Aaron Yan

text: In June 2013, Yan starred in Taiwanese romantic comedy drama, "Just You". The drama topped ratings in its timeslot during its run.


title: Aaron Yan

text: In February 2014, Yan starred in Taiwanese metropolitan romance drama, "Fall in Love with Me". Yan won the Asia Star Award at the Seoul International Drama Awards. In May 2014, he released his second extended play, "Drama". In June 2014, he released his third extended play, "Cut".


title: Aaron Yan

text: In March 2015, Yan debuted in Japan with the single titled, "Moisturizing". The album debuted within the top ten spots on the Oricon Singles Chart. In September 2015, he released his second Japanese single, "Gelato".


title: Aaron Yan

text: In March 2016, Yan starred in Taiwanese workplace romance drama, "Refresh Man". The drama was a massive hit both domestically as well as across Asia, boosting Yan's popularity to a new high. In June 2016, Yan released his third Japanese single "Monochrome Dandy". The single peaked at number 8 on the Oricon Singles Chart.


title: Aaron Yan

text: The same year Yan released his fifth extended play "Dear Monster" which includes the single "Sleeping Titan".


title: Aaron Yan

text: In 2019, Yan starred as the male lead in period suspense drama "Please Give Me a Pair of Wings". The same year, he co-starred in the romance comedy drama "Kiss Love, and Taste".


title: Submarine volcano

text: Submarine volcanoes are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as mid-ocean ridges. The volcanoes at mid-ocean ridges alone are estimated to account for 75% of the magma output on Earth. Although most submarine volcanoes are located in the depths of seas and oceans, some also exist in shallow water, and these can discharge material into the atmosphere during an eruption. The total number of submarine volcanoes is estimated to be over 1 million (most are now extinct) of which some 75,000 rise more than 1 km above the seabed. Only 119 submarine volcanoes in Earth's oceans and seas are known to have erupted during the last 11,700 years.


title: Submarine volcano

text: Hydrothermal vents, sites of abundant biological activity, are commonly found near submarine volcanoes.


title: Submarine volcano

text: The presence of water can greatly alter the characteristics of a volcanic eruption and the explosions of underwater volcanoes in comparison to those on land.


title: Submarine volcano

text: For instance, water causes magma to cool and solidify much more quickly than in a terrestrial eruption, often turning it into volcanic glass. The shapes and textures of lava formed by submarine volcanoes are different from lava erupted on land. Upon contact with water, a solid crust forms around the lava. Advancing lava flows into this crust, forming what is known as pillow lava.


title: Submarine volcano

text: Below ocean depths of about 2200 m, where the pressure exceeds the critical pressure of water (22.06 MPa or about 218 atmospheres for pure water), it can no longer boil; it becomes a supercritical fluid. Without boiling sounds, deep-sea volcanoes can be difficult to detect at great distances using hydrophones.


title: Submarine volcano

text: The critical temperature and pressure increase in solutions of salts, which are normally present in the seawater. The composition of aqueous solution in the vicinity of hot basalt, and circulating within the conduits of hot rocks, is expected to differ from that of bulk water (i.e., of sea water away from the hot surfaces). One estimation is that the critical point is 407 °C and 29.9 MPa, while the solution composition corresponds to that of approximately 3.2% of NaCl.


title: Submarine volcano

text: Scientists still have much to learn about the location and activity of underwater volcanoes. In the first two decades of this century, NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration has funded exploration of submarine volcanoes, with the Ring of Fire missions to the Mariana Arc in the Pacific Ocean being particularly noteworthy. Using Remote Operated Vehicles (ROV), scientists studied underwater eruptions, ponds of molten sulfur, black smoker chimneys and even marine life adapted to this deep, hot environment.


title: Submarine volcano

text: Research from the ROV KAIKO off the coast of Hawaii has suggested that pahoehoe lava flows occur underwater, and the degree of the submarine terrain slope and rate of lava supply determine the shape of the resulting lobes.


title: Submarine volcano

text: In August 2019, news media reported a large pumice raft floating in the South Pacific between Fiji and Tonga. Subsequent scientific investigations revealed the pumice raft originated from the eruption of a nearby submarine volcano, which was directly observed as a volcanic plume in satellite images. This discovery will help scientists better predict for the precursors of a submarine eruption, such as low-frequency earthquakes or hydrophone data, using machine learning.


title: Submarine volcano

text: Many submarine volcanoes are seamounts, typically extinct volcanoes that rise abruptly from a seafloor of 1,000 - 4,000 meters depth. They are defined by oceanographers as independent features that rise to at least 1,000 meters above the seafloor. The peaks are often found hundreds to thousands of meters below the surface, and are therefore considered to be within the deep sea. An estimated 30,000 seamounts occur across the globe, with only a few having been studied.


title: Submarine volcano

text: However, some seamounts are also unusual. For example, while the summits of seamounts are normally hundreds of meters below sea level, the Bowie Seamount in Canada's Pacific waters rises from a depth of about 3,000 meters to within 24 meters of the sea surface.


title: Submarine volcano

text: There are two types of sound generated by submarine eruptions: One created by the slow release and bursting of large lava bubbles, while quick explosions of gas bubbles create the other one. Using this method to be able to distinguish the two can help measure the related affects on marine animals and ecosystems, the volume and composition of the lava flow can also be estimated and built into a model to extrapolate potential effects.


title: Submarine volcano

text: Scientists have connected sounds to sights in both types of eruptions. In 2009, a video camera and a hydrophone were floating 1,200 meters below sea level in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa, watching and listening as the West Mata Volcano erupted in several ways. Putting video and audio together let researchers learn the sounds made by slow lava bursting and the different noises made by hundreds of gas bubbles.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Tourism in Pakistan is a growing industry. In 2010, Lonely Planet termed Pakistan "tourism's 'next big thing' for more years than we care to remember". The country is geographically and ethnically diverse, and has a number of historical and cultural heritage sites. Condé Nast Traveller ranked Pakistan The Best Holiday Destination for 2020 and also declared it the third-highest potential adventure destination in the world for 2020. As security in the country improves, tourism increases; in two years, it has increased by more than 300%. The Pakistani government had launched online visa services for 175 countries and 50 countries were offered visa on arrival, making a visit to Pakistan easier. The country received an influx of travel vloggers, who promoted the characteristics of the country, such as in the Northern Pakistan, like Hunza and Skardu.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: In 2018, the British Backpacker Society ranked Pakistan the world's top adventure travel destination, describing the country as "one of the friendliest countries on earth, with mountain scenery that is beyond anyone's wildest imagination". Forbes ranked Pakistan as one of the ‘coolest places’ to visit in 2019. The World Economic Forum's Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report placed Pakistan in the top 25 per cent of global destinations for its World Heritage sites, which range from the mangroves in the Indus delta to the Indus Valley civilization sites including Mohenjo-daro and Harappa.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: According to the World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017, the direct contribution of travel and tourism to Pakistan's GDP in 2015 was US$328.3 million, constituting 2.8% of the total GDP. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the direct contribution of travel and tourism to Pakistan's GDP in 2016 was , constituting 2.7% of the total GDP. By 2025, the government predicts tourism will contribute to the Pakistani economy.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: In October 2006, one year after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, "The Guardian" released a list of "the top five tourist sites in Pakistan" to help the country's tourism industry. The sites included Lahore, the Karakoram Highway, Karimabad and Lake Saiful Muluk. To promote the country's cultural heritage, in 2007, Pakistan launched the "Visit Pakistan" marketing campaign that involved events including fairs, religious festivals, regional sporting events, arts and craft shows, folk festivals and openings of historical museums.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: In 2021, a private company has launched Pakistan’s first satellite tourism TV namely Discover Pakistan TV to promote tourism in Pakistan.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: In 2013, over half a million tourists visited Pakistan, contributing $298 million; these figures have since risen to over 6.6 million tourists in 2018. By comparison, Pakistan's domestic tourism industry is estimated at 50 million tourists who travel in the country on short trips usually between May to August. The largest inflow of tourists are from the United Kingdom, followed by United States, India and China.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Major tourist attractions in Pakistan include the ruin of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, the Himalayan hill stations. Pakistan is home to several mountain peaks over , including K2, which draw adventurers and mountaineers from around the world. The north of Pakistan has many old fortresses, ancient architecture and the Hunza and Chitral valleys, which are home to small Kalash communities and Fairy Meadows, and the Diamer District of Gilgit Baltistan. Punjab province has the historic city Lahore, Pakistan's cultural capital, with many examples of Mughal architecture such as Badshahi Masjid, Shalimar Gardens, Tomb of Jahangir and Lahore Fort.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Along with Afghanistan Pakistan continues to be on extended international travel restrictions advisory of WHO due to yet to be achieved satisfactory level of polio immunization and concern of international spread of the polio decease again.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: According to Samira Shackle, Pakistan during the 1960s was part of the famous “hippy trail” stretching from Europe to Asia. But that tourism disappeared in the 1970s with the conversion from a liberal government to an Islamized Pakistan under dictator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Due to subsequent Taliban and al-Qaeda influence, especially after the September 11 attacks, westerners became the target of local branches of those terror organizations. Shackle says even domestic tourism came to a halt due to terrorism which - as of 2018 - has taken the lives of more than 65,000 in Pakistan since the year 2001.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: The upsurge in tourism in the past few years has been aided by the Government of Pakistan's recent decision to end mandatory No Objection Certificates for foreign tourists seeking to visit certain parts of the country. According to Samira Shackle, since 2018 one estate dealing company promoting Gwadar properties as new Dubai started organizing visits for travel influencers. Shackle says, lately Pakistan has become an unexpected destination for western social media influencers producing glossy, upbeat travel content. Travel influencers popular on social media like Rosie Gabrielle, Food Ranger, Drew Binsky too were roped in image building for Pakistan tourism. Shackle says, under Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Government of Pakistan has encouraged this tourism. For 2020 Forbes listed in top ten tourist destinations where as Condé Nast Traveller went ahead to rank Pakistan on first number as a tourist destination. Shackle says, while some Pakistanis find pride in recruited influencer driven image making, many other Pakistanis are bewildered. While on one hand Pakistan is being promoted as ideal destination, any one from civil society presenting critical narrative are bulldozed, even journalist Shackle herself was asked to display only positive sides of Pakistan. According to Shackle some critics believe that promotion of tourism is just mere attempt of deflecting domestic & international attention from realities of terrorism, nuclear irresponsibility, money laundering, lack of democracy and human rights issues in Pakistan.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Shackle maintains that the influencers are accused of parroting Pakistan government's points. But as per Zayer Hussain, Government of Pakistan is not pushy about what travel influencers speak, but only if any thing bad is spoken travel permits are refused to travel influencers. Shackle says, Pakistan has a 'White (Gora) complex' just a for mere being white traveler Pakistanis are ever ready to provide preferential treatment along with free mass media and social media exposure. One travel influencer Alex Reynolds admits to Shackle that when she was moving with a white boy friend they were offered all kind of privileges when moving around but same privileges did not come by her when she visited alone. In January 2019 Karachi-based one comedian, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh went on to create a hoax Twitter account with name and image pretending to be American woman vlogger by name 'Samantha A Gerry'; within hours twitter handle of 'Samantha A Gerry' received hundreds of messages including from highprofile Pakistanis offering to take care and party. When twitter handle wrote how beautiful Pakistan is along with some anti India sentiment popularity among Pakistani social media enthusiasts increased immediately. According to Amtul Baweja and Fahad Tariq it is okay if foreign tourist vloggers are given good treatment but same treatment is not given to they being even local vloggers.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Many liberals and feminists in Pakistan too express their reservations about misrepresentation of Pakistan's objective reality about status of women in Pakistan by western white travel influencers. During International Women's Day March in Pakistan a placard came questioning, "If Cynthia does it, she's applauded. If I do it, I'm the villain". Cynthia Ritchie is an American travel and Social media influencer who rode a bike in Peshawar, a city in north-western Pakistan, Pakistani women are usually forbidden from cycling because it is seen as immodest, for example bicycle rally by girls in Peshawar was forced to be cancelled, same time Cynthia Ritchie was being applauded, so Pakistan feminists questioned the double standard of Pakistani society. In 2021 March a travel influencer Twitter handle iKatherineGeorg praised behavior of Pakistani Men No one in the world respects women as much as Pakistani men. Very respectful and humble" and "Pakistan is a country that loves and respects women", but Pakistani feminists on social media wondered and asked her to take them to that Pakistan.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Shackle says just months after influencer Eva Zu Beck's vlogs hotel and bus transport was attacked by terrorists, still she does not seem to address the issue or keep audience informed. According to travel influencer Eva Zu Beck, their vlogs are neither travel guides nor practical pieces of advice but those are just stories, and she declines any obligation to offer security advice saying they are not in that kind of content. According to Shackle one of the travel influncer Cynthia Ritchie went on to embroil herself in Pakistani politics including attacking Pakistani liberals and political opposition. Another travel influencer Alex Reynolds maintains her self to be an adventure tourist.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: According to Tazayian Sayira (2022) study, suffered by anthropogenic crisis Pakistan needs image make over from it being known for place of violent conflict and terrorism and Government of Pakistan has lately attempted some repositioning in direction of image makeover. Tazayian Sayira (2022) study says, while Quran encourages traveling, but in practice very trying constraints are placed on participation of women in tourism in Muslim majority countries like Pakistan, like many of them are restrained from traveling without close male relative called "mahram" (i.e. father, non cousin brother, son), though women are main behind the scene contributors in service provisions like food, laundry, souvenir production, the labour that most times presumed as unpaid routine family work.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: In 2019, Pakistan increased the availability of travel visas in a bid to increase tourism to the country. The new program grants visas on arrival to travellers from 50 countries, including the United States. Citizens of another 175 countries can apply for visas on the internet. Previously, visas could only be obtained from Pakistani embassies abroad.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Pakistan is subdivided into provinces Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh; the federal territory Islamabad Capital Territory; and autonomous regions Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Gilgit-Baltistan includes some of the highest peaks in the world, including K2, the world's second-highest peak. Gilgit Baltistan's landscape includes mountains, lakes, glaciers and valleys. The province is also visited for its landmarks, culture, history and people. K2 Basecamp, Deosai, Naltar, Fairy Meadows Bagrot Valley and Hushe valley are common tourist destinations in the province.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province by area, constituting approximately 43% of the country. Balochistan is home to one of the oldest Neolithic (7000 BC to c. 2500 BC) sites in archaeology. Mehrgarh and Nausharo was an ancient city that is linked to the Indus Valley civilization. Ancient sites dating back 800 years are the Nausherwani tombs at Qila Ladgasht. There was an ancient port at the site of Oraea that was used during the Hellenistic civilisation.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Quetta is the provincial capital of Balochistan. Sites of interest include the protected Hazarganji-Chiltan National Park, Hanna Lake, Quetta Geological Museum, Balochistan Arts Council Library, Quetta Archaeological Museum and Command and Staff College Museum. The Quaid-e-Azam Residency in the city of Ziarat, which is famous for having the world's largest and oldest juniper forests. Sibi is an important historical city in which the Jirga Hall has a collection of pieces that were found at the archaeological sites of Mehrgarh, Nasshero and Pirak. The annual Sibi Festival includes a Horse and Cattle Show.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: The province includes a number of mountain passes. The Bolan Pass was the main entrance to the provincial city Quetta; others include Lak Pass, Khojak Pass and Harnai Pass. The Balochistan coastline extends from the boundary of Sindh province to the Iranian border, measuring over . The city of Gwadar has the largest port in the province and is based near the ancient area Makran. Pasni is a medium-sized town that is known for fishing. Along the Makran Coastal Highway, there are several rock formations, as well as Kund Malir and the Hingol National Park.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Sindh is located in south-eastern Pakistan. The province is known for its religious heritage and rapid urbanisation and was home to the ancient Indus Valley civilisation. Mohenjo-daro near the city of Larkana was one of the largest city-settlements in South Asia and is an official UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Chaukhandi tombs are another example of ancient Sindhi and Balochi heritage located near the town of Landi. Another ancient city Aror is located near the city of Sukkur. Kahu-Jo-Darro is an ancient Buddhist archaeological site near Mirpurkhas where a Buddhist stupa was excavated.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: The first arrival of Islam in South Asia took place in Karachi. A number of sites within the province have led archaeologists to suggest this. Makli Hill is one of the largest necropolises in the world and is home to a number of ancient tombs and graves of Islamic dynasties. The Talpur Mirs of Hyderabad also left a number of sites including, Tombs of Talpur Mirs, Faiz Mahal in Khairpur, Qasim fort, Pacco Qillo and the Kot Diji Fort in Kot Diji; and the Ranikot Fort was built during the Islam invasion. Sindh has a number of cultural shrines and mausoleums including Thatta, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, Lal Shahbaz Qalander, Shahjahan Mosque, Mazar-e-Quaid, Minar-e-Mir Masum Shah, Bhambore and Garhi Khuda Bakhsh.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Karachi is the provincial capital of the province and largest city of Pakistan. It is home to the founder of the nation Mohammad Ali Jinnah, whose tomb at Mazar-e-Quaid is the most iconic mausoleum in Pakistan. The Port of Karachi is the country's largest post followed by the second largest, Port Qasim. The city has a number of cultural sites including Mohatta Palace, National Museum of Pakistan, Empress Market, Frere Hall, Jehangir Kothari Parade, Karachi Municipal Corporation Building and the Hindu Gymkhana. There are several beaches within the city, some of the most famous are Clifton Beach, French Beach, Sandspit Beach and Manora Island.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: The province forms the basin of the Indus River and has a number of lakes, including Keenjhar Lake, Manchar Lake and Bakri Waro Lake. Kirthar National Park is a protected reserve for several wildlife species. The Thar Desert is also located in the province which adjoins Punjab and India. The Great Rann of Kutch is a protected wetland site in the province, which has two wildlife sanctuaries; Rann of Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary and the Nara Desert Wildlife Sanctuary. The Sukkur Barrage was built to alleviate famines caused by lack of rain.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Port Grand Food and Entertainment Complex is a recreational area in the centre of Karachi that was built along the waterfront of the 19th-century Native Jetty Bridge. The complex is expected to attract up to 5,000 visitors a day and is a major hub of shopping, dining, cultural and coastal recreational activities. Port Grand is located on Napier Mole Bridge, which is historically significant to the city, and the 19th-century Native Jetty Bridge.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is located in the north-west region of Pakistan and is popular with adventurers and explorers. The province has a varied landscape ranging from rugged mountains, valleys, hills and farms. There are a number of Buddhist archaeological sites from the Gandhara civilisation such as Takht Bhai and Pushkalavati, and other Buddhist and Hindu archaeological sites including Bala Hisar Fort, Butkara Stupa, Kanishka stupa, Chakdara, Panjkora Valley and Sehri Bahlol.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: The province's capital city is Peshawar, which is home to a number of sites including Bala Hisar Fort, Peshawar Museum, archaeological site of Gor Khuttree, Mohabbat Khan Mosque, old city of Sethi Mohallah, Jamrud Fort, the Sphola Stupa and the market at Qissa Khwani Bazaar. The city Dera Ismail Khan is known as the entrance into the province from Punjab and Balochistan, and for its Hindu ruins at Kafir Kot. Mardan city has Buddhist ruins at Shahbaz Garhi.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: In the north of the province is the Swat valley One of the most important cities in the province is Mansehra, which a major stop for tourists setting out to the Northern Areas and Azad Kashmir. The city is connected by the Karakoram Highway, which ends in China. Along the route, there are several stops including the Kaghan Valley, Balakot, Naran, Shogran, Lake Saiful Mulook and Babusar Top. There are also several other sites that attract a large number of tourist every year including Ayubia, Batkhela, Chakdara, Saidu Sharif, Kalam Valley and Hindu Kush mountain range in Chitral.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Several mountain passes run through the province. One of the most famous is the Khyber Pass, which links Afghanistan with Pakistan. The trade route sees a large number of trucks and lorries transporting goods in and out of the region. The Babusar Pass connects Thak Nala with Chilas on the Karakorum Highway. The Lowari Pass connects Chitral with Dir via the Lowari Tunnel. The highest mountain pass in Pakistan is the Shandur Pass, which connects Chitral to Gilgit and is known as the "Roof of the World". The pass is the centre of the Hindukush, Pamir and Karakoram ranges.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Punjab is the second-largest province in Pakistan. It is known for its ancient cultural heritage and its religious diversity. The Indus Valley civilisation once ruled the region and a significant archaeological find was discovered at the ancient city of Harrapa. The Gandhara civilisation was also dominant at the site of Taxila in the north of Punjab. Several other civilisations such as Greeks, Central Asians and Persians ruled Punjab, leaving a number of sites that still exist today. Islam arrived in the region during the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate followed by the Ghaznavids. The Mughals took control of the region and ruled its land for several centuries. The Mughal heritage remained strong in Punjab with a large number of forts, tombs and monuments sintact today. The Durrani Empire ruled Punjab after the fall of the Mughal Empire for a short period following the rise of the Sikh Empire. The strong control of the Sikhs also left ta number of sites that have remained intact throughout Punjab. The British Raj took control of the region until the independence.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Tourism in Punjab is regulated by the "Tourism Development Corporation of Punjab". The province has a number of large cosmopolitan cities, including the provincial capital Lahore. Major visitor attractions there include Lahore Fort and Shalimar Gardens, which are now recognised World Heritage Sites. The Walled City of Lahore, Badshahi Mosque, Wazir Khan Mosque, Tomb of Jahangir and Nur Jahan, Tomb of Asaf Khan, Chauburji and other major sites visited by tourists each year.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Rawalpindi is a famous hill station stop for tourists. The Pharwala Fort, which was built by an ancient Hindu civilisation, is on the outskirts of the city. The city of Sheikhupura also has a number of sites from the Mughal Empire, including the World Heritage-listed Rohtas Fort near Jhelum. The Katasraj temple in the city of Chakwal is a major destination for Hindu devotees. The Khewra Salt Mines is one of the oldest mines in South Asia. Faisalabad's clock tower and eight bazaars were designed to represent the Union Jack.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: The province's southward is arid. Multan is known for its mausoleums of saints and Sufi pirs. The Multan Museum and Nuagaza tombs are significant attractions in the city. The city of Bahawalpur is located near the Cholistan and Thar deserts. Derawar Fort in the Cholistan Desert is the site for the annual Cholistan Jeep Rally. The city is also near the ancient site of Uch Sharif which was once a Delhi Sultanate stronghold. The Noor Mahal, Sadiq Ghar Palace, Darbar Mall were built during the reign of the Nawabs. The Lal Suhanra National Park is a major zoological garden on the outskirts of the city.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Azad Kashmir is situated in northern part of the country. The northern part of Azad Jammu and Kashmir encompasses the lower part of the Himalayas, including Jamgarh Peak . Sarwali peak in the Neelum Valley is the highest peak in the province. Ganga Choti is a peak in Bagh. The province is fertile, green and mountainous.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Islamabad, Pakistan's capital city, is located on the Pothohar Plateau in the north-eastern part of the country between Rawalpindi District and the Margalla Hills National Park to the north. The region has historically been a part of the crossroads of [Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the Margalla Pass acting as the gateway between the two regions. Faisal Mosque (the largest mosque in South Asia, Margalla Hills National Park, Daman-i-Koh, Pakistan Monument, Rawal Lake, Simli Lake and Fatima Jinnah Park are among the tourist attractions in the territory. It is ranked as the second most-beautiful capital city in the world


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: In 2004, the Ministry of Tourism pushed forward for new sites in Pakistan to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In total, 26 sites are awaiting to be categorised as of 2016 which include:


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Other landmarks and structures have not yet made the UNESCO Tentative List. Long before the creation of Pakistan after its partition from India in 1947, there existed diverse cultures and religions in the undivided India. India was the centre of various wars that led to several dynasties and tribes ruling its lands. They left behind landmarks, some of which have become national icons in Pakistan now whilst others need the attention of concerned authorities. Some of these include:


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Post-independence Pakistan retained its heritage by constructing sites to commemorate its independence by blending styles and influences from the past. Some of these include:


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Prime minister Imran Khan planned to boost tourism to create millions of jobs. In his first television address to the nation, he said; "Pakistan has huge tourism potential. We will promote tourism to strengthen the economy". The tourism industry in Pakistan has witnessed a boom as law and order has improved across the country in the last five years. The country of 220 million is known for its hospitality globally.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Military operations launched by Pakistan armed forces during 2013–2017 against militants wiped out terrorism and militancy across the country, especially in northern areas, paving the way for revival of tourism. The Government of Pakistan has also eased the country's visa policy, which has played a key role in attracting a large numbers of foreign tourists. "We are improving processes to issue tourist visas, in particular for groups and champion initiatives, which strengthen our visa on arrival program and eliminate NoC condition for high potential tourist destinations besides providing four-star accommodation at affordable cost", said Fawad Chaudhry, a minister in government. He also said; "peace had been restored and the local and foreign tourists were coming in large numbers to visit the scenic places and heritage sites".


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: The Imran khan government organised the Pakistan Tourism Summit, which occurred on 2 and 3 April 2019 at Jinnah Convention Centre, Islamabad, and was attended by Prime Minister Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Interior Minister Shehryar Afridi, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, and some well-known international bloggers, who spoke about their experiences during the panel discussion and answered question from the participants. Due to these measures, 1.9 million tourists visited Pakistan in 2018 and as of 2020, tourism in the country has increased by more than 300%.


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: In October 2006, "The Guardian" released what it described as "The top five tourist sites in Pakistan". Pakistan was ranked 47 out of 200 countries in an analysis of the World Travel and Tourism Council's (WTTC) growth figures by Lovehomeswap.com, which said, "If the country becomes more peaceful, visitor numbers are predicted to rise".


title: Tourism in Pakistan

text: Indians are only eligible for business, pilgrim or Visitor Visas to Pakistan. The pilgrim VISA allows Indians to visit 15 sites in Pakistan for religious tourism – they will be given a visitor visa. The Visitor Visa is granted if you have close family members or friends in Pakistan and you can only visit a maximum of 5 cities for 3 months.


title: Trapani

text: Trapani ( , ; ; ; ) is a city and municipality ("comune") on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an important fishing port and the main gateway to the nearby Egadi Islands.


title: Trapani

text: Drepana was founded by the Elymians to serve as the port of the nearby city of Eryx (present-day Erice), which overlooks it from Monte Erice. The city sits on a low-lying promontory jutting out into the Mediterranean Sea.


title: Trapani

text: It was originally named "Drépanon" from the Greek word for "sickle", because of the curving shape of its harbour. Carthage seized control of the city in 260BC, subsequently making it an important naval base, but ceded it to Rome in 241BC following the Battle of the Aegates in the First Punic War.


title: Trapani

text: Two ancient legends relate supposed mythical origins for the city. In the first legend, Trapani stemmed from the sickle which fell from the hands of the goddess Demeter while she was seeking for her daughter Persephone, who had been kidnapped by Hades. The second myth features Kronos, who eviscerated his father Ouranos, god of the sky, with a sickle which, falling into the sea, created the city. In ancient times, Saturn (i.e., the Punic god Baal Hammon) was the patron god of Trapani. Today, Saturn's statue stands in a piazza in the centre of the city.


title: Trapani

text: After its Roman, Vandal, Ostrogoth, Byzantine and (from 827) Arab conquests, Trapani was taken by the Normans of Roger I in 1077, flourishing under their dominations and having also a role in the Crusades as one of the most important ports in the Mediterranean Sea. In the 17th century, the city decayed due to revolts, plagues, and famines, but in the following century, it grew from 16,000 to 30,000 inhabitants; commerce remained of local importance, while its military position in the Kingdom of Naples remained notable.


title: Trapani

text: The city was badly damaged during World War II, when it was subjected to intense Allied bombardments. It has grown greatly since the end of the war, sprawling out virtually to the foot of Monte San Giuliano. Tourism has grown in recent years due to the city's proximity to popular destinations such as Erice, Segesta, and the Egadi Islands.


title: Trapani

text: The "comune" of Trapani consists of two discontiguous parts separated by the "comune" of Paceco. The northern part includes much of the city and some rural area; the much larger southern part includes the area of Marausa, half of Trapani-Birgi Airport and a large rural area. The "comune" does not include the north-eastern suburbs of the urban area, such as Casa Santa, which are part of the "comune" of Erice. The "comune" of Trapani has a population of 70,000 but the entire urban, including those parts in the "comune" of Erice, has over 90,000 residents.


title: Trapani

text: Much of Trapani's economy still depends on the sea and fishing and canning are the main local industries. Coral is also an important export, along with salt, marble, and marsala wine. The nearby coast is lined with numerous saltworks formed by the evaporation of seawater situated majestically along the coast road between Trapani and Marsala.


title: Trapani

text: The city is also an important ferry port, with links to the Egadi Islands, Pantelleria, Sardinia, France and Tunisia. It also has its own airport, the Trapani-Birgi Airport.


title: Trapani

text: Trapani is one of the traditional locations of the "mattanza" tuna fishing technique, alongside: (San Giuliano, San Cusumano, Isola di Formica, Favignana, Bonagia, San Vito Lo Capo, Scopello, Capo Granitola). Today, this technique is forbidden but the fishing port is very active and hosts 142 small and medium fishing boats, for a total of 2805 GRT (gross tonnage).


title: Trapani

text: The old fish market, renovated in 1998, is now used for cultural events and a new one, large and modern, more functional to fishing activities has been located near the port. It represents the only market in the Province and its recent restructuring, with European funds, places it at the forefront in the national level both in terms of marketing and product traceability.


title: Trapani

text: Between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Trapani fishermen began to practice coral fishing, and coral craftmen started to develop its processing succeeding throughout the Mediterranean. A network of prestigious commissions was consolidated throughout Europe and it was thus possible to produce ever richer and more elaborate works. Today, however, fishing has almost completely disappeared, while coral processing is limited to few craftsmen.


title: Trapani

text: Windmills and saltworks are evidence of industrial archeology. Saltworks are located in the area of Natural Reserve of Saline di Trapani and Paceco managed by the WWF and characterized by a remarkable flora and fauna. Thanks to the protection guaranteed by the Reserve, the activity of the saltworkers and the production of salt have increased, favoring the return and reproduction of dozens of species of migratory birds, including the pink flamingo.


title: Trapani

text: The old city of Trapani dates from the later medieval or early modern periods; there are no more remains of the ancient city and many of the city's historic buildings are designed in the Baroque style.


title: Trapani

text: The city is renowned for its Easter related Holy Week activities and traditions, culminating between Good Friday and Holy Saturday in the Processione dei Misteri di Trapani, colloquially simply the "Misteri di Trapani" (in English the Procession of the Mysteries of Trapani or the Mysteries of Trapani), a day-long passion procession organized and sponsored by the city's guilds, featuring twenty floats of wood, canvas and glue sculptures, mostly from the 17th and 18th centuries, of individual scenes of the events of the Passion.


title: Trapani

text: The "Misteri" are among the oldest continuously running religious events in Europe, having been played every Good Friday since before the Easter of 1612. Running for at least 16 continuous hours, but occasionally well beyond the 24 hours, they are the longest religious festival in Sicily and in Italy. Important also to the cult of the Madonna of Trapani.


title: Trapani

text: The city gives its name to a variety of pesto – "pesto alla trapenese" – made using almonds instead of the traditional pine nuts in Ligurian pesto.


title: Trapani

text: Trapani-Birgi Airport is a military-civil joint use airport (third for traffic on the island). Recently the airport has seen an increase of traffic thanks to low-cost carriers from all parts of Europe (i.e. London-Stansted and London-Luton, Paris Beauvais, Dublin, Bruxelles, Munich, Frankfurt, Eindhoven, Stockholm, Malta).


title: Trapani

text: From September 28 to October 9, 2005, Trapani was the location of Acts 8 and 9 of the Louis Vuitton Cup. This sailing race featured, among other entrants, all the boats that took part in the 2007 America's Cup.


title: Trapani

text: The town is also the base for the local football team Trapani Calcio. Founded in 1905, they are nicknamed the Granata (the Maroons) after their kit colour. In 2010, Trapani Calcio was admitted into the 2010–11 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione (formerly Serie C2), ending the club's 13-year absence from the professional ranks. Subsequently, it made debut in Serie B in the 2013–14 season. It currently plays in Serie B with the coach Fabrizio Castori.


title: Trapani

text: Trapani has a hot-summer mediterranean climate with hot and dry summers coupled with moderately wet and mild winters. Summer lows are cooler than in other places of Sicily and Calabria, while at the same time remaining significantly warm for several months.


title: Indoor soccer

text: Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor soccer, as it is most often known in the United States and Canada, was originally developed in these two countries as a way to play soccer during the winter months, when snow would make outdoor play difficult. In those countries, gymnasiums are adapted for indoor soccer play. In other countries the game is played in either indoor or outdoor arenas surrounded by walls, and is referred to by different names (such as "fast football" ("futbol rapido") in Mexico, "Futebol Society" or "showbol" in Brazil, and "indoor football" ("futbol indoor") in Spain).


title: Indoor soccer

text: Indoor soccer has different regulations from other versions of association football designed for indoor play, such as futsal and five-a-side football. Unlike futsal, which is played on wooden or ceramic surfaces, indoor soccer is played on synthetic turf (or, in the case of the British Masters Football variety, synthetic carpet). Indoor soccer courts are either delimited by walls or lines, and there are no player throw-ins.


title: Indoor soccer

text: FIFA, the international body that oversees international association football competitions, does not sanction the synthetic turf version of indoor soccer, having developed its own code of indoor football (which they refer to as futsal).


title: Indoor soccer

text: Indoor soccer is most popular in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with several amateur, collegiate and professional leagues functioning. While internationally less popular than futsal, indoor soccer is also played at the league level in many countries outside North America. The World Minifootball Federation (WMF) is the governing body of indoor soccer at the international level, having replaced the International Fast Football Federation (FIFRA).


title: Indoor soccer

text: The term "minifootball", which was originally coined in Europe, has been adopted by the WMF as a standard international name for the sport.


title: Indoor soccer

text: Indoor soccer is played throughout the world. Currently, the international federation dedicated to promoting the sport is the World Minifootball Federation (WMF) based in Switzerland. The WMF replaced the International Fast Football Federation (FIFRA), which had been based in Mexico and later, the United States. There are also regional federations who govern the sport including: African Minifootball Federation (AMF), Asian Minifootball Confederation (AMC), Confederación Panamericana de Minifútbol (CPM), European Minifootball Federation (EMF), Oceania Minifootball Federation (OMF).


title: Indoor soccer

text: Before Futsal was overseen by FIFA, the Federation Internationale de Football Association, the first Futsal World Champion was held in São Paulo, Brazil. This competition took place in 1982 and was conducted by the FIFUSA (before FIFA). Brazil came in first the first Futsal World Tournament (1982) and the second Futsal World Tournament (1985). FIFA overtook this championship in 1989 and renamed the competition the FIFA Futsal World Championship.


title: Indoor soccer

text: During its existence, FIFRA organized several indoor soccer tournaments for national teams, including the Indoor Soccer World Championship. The only edition of this tournament took place in Mexico in 1997. No other world championship was played until 2015, when the first WMF World Cup was held in the United States. As of 2019 three WMF World Cups have been organized, with Mexico being the current world champion. A World Cup for Under-21 players was held in Prague in 2018, with the Czech team taking the title. A World Cup for women is planned for 2021 in Kyiv, Ukraine.


title: Indoor soccer

text: Star Sixes, an indoor six-a-side football tournament for national teams from around the world, was held in the O2 Arena in London in 2017. Held outside the auspices of the WMF, this tournament featured players which formerly played in the association football national teams of their home countries. A total of twelve teams participated, with France winning the title. It is intended to make Star Sixes a recurring event; a second edition took place in 2019, with England winning the title.


title: Indoor soccer

text: Indoor soccer is a common sport in the United States and especially Canada, with both amateur and professional leagues, due to the short season for outdoor soccer in Canada and the Northern United States, and the ubiquity of arenas built for ice hockey and basketball which can easily be converted to indoor soccer (similar reasons as to why indoor lacrosse is more popular in Canada, field lacrosse in the United States). Indoor soccer is especially popular in Northern Canada due to the often unplayable outdoor conditions and its appearance in the Arctic Winter Games.


title: Indoor soccer

text: The United States Indoor Soccer Association was founded in 1998. USIndoor soccer oversees all indoor soccer sports as well as "arena soccer" and "Futsal" in the United States.


title: Indoor soccer

text: Indoor soccer or futbol rapido has also become a popular sport in Mexico, being included as part of the "Universiada" (University National Games) and the "CONADEIP" (Private School Tournament), in which university school teams from all over Mexico compete. In Mexico, "indoor" soccer fields are frequently built outdoors (though indoor courts are also used in some tournaments). In 2012 an eight-team indoor soccer league was launched, which consists of former professional association football players from Liga MX.


title: Indoor soccer

text: Indoor soccer is known in Brazil as "showbol", with several current regional leagues. Formal national leagues have also been formed in Bolivia, Colombia, Uruguay, Ecuador and Peru. However, the most common variations of indoor soccer played in Brazil are futsal but also .


title: Indoor soccer

text: Indoor soccer is also played in several European countries. In the United Kingdom, Masters Football is the most well-known competition. Tournaments among Masters teams (consisting of veteran former players from professional 11-a-side teams from each country) are regularly played. In Spain, some over-30 ex-professionals represent their clubs in the Liga Fertiberia which plays a five-a-side variant.


title: Indoor soccer

text: The European indoor soccer federation, known as the European Minifootball Federation (EMF), organizes the European Minifootball Championship (miniEURO) every year, and in recent years countries have established national minifootball associations. EMF organize variations of six-a-side football and this could come in different shapes and sizes from a large custom-built facility with multiple pitches or even an 11-a-side pitch temporarily split into smaller pitches. This is not to be confused with the term used in Russia and some other former Soviet countries, where the term mini-football is used to describe futsal.


title: Indoor soccer

text: Rules vary between governing bodies, but some of the nearly universal rule deviations from association football include:


title: Indoor soccer

text: Beyond these common threads, the sport is structured according to the idiosyncrasies of individual leagues. Most of these rules are adopted from other arena sports like ice hockey. Below is a listing of some of the more common ones:


title: Camille (album)

text: Camille is the upcoming second posthumous studio album by American musician Prince. The album was originally recorded in 1986 under the pseudonym Camille, a feminine alter ego portrayed by Prince via pitch-shifting his vocals up to an androgynous register. Prince planned to release the album without any acknowledgement of his identity. The project was initially scrapped several weeks before its planned release, with rare early LP pressings eventually surfacing for auction in 2016; several tracks recorded for "Camille" were instead included on various other projects, most prominently Prince's 1987 double LP "Sign o' the Times".


title: Camille (album)

text: In March 2022, Third Man Records announced that they had received the rights to release the album, with Ben Blackwell (co-founder of the label) saying "Prince’s people agreed – almost too easy." While the label indicated plans to release "Camille", no release date or method of release has been announced yet.


title: Camille (album)

text: After abandoning his "Dream Factory" LP and breaking up his backing band The Revolution in mid-1986, Prince entered the studio with engineer Susan Rogers in late October to begin a new project. He began experimenting with his vocals in an artificially pitched-up style, achieved either by using a pitchshifter or by recording his vocals at a slower tempo and then speeding up the tape to create a higher, androgynous tone (he had previously experimented with this technique on his 1984 B-side "Erotic City").


title: Camille (album)

text: Prince began referring to this new pitched-up voice as a feminine alter ego named Camille. The sessions commenced with the recording of the dance track "Housequake" and within ten days he had completed enough material for an album, which he planned to release pseudonymously under Camille's name as a self-titled debut. He informed Warner Bros. that his image would not appear on the cover and that he would not acknowledge the album as his own work. At some point, his plans for Camille also extended to ideas for a movie. It has been suggested that the name was inspired by the 19th century French intersex person Herculine Barbin, who also used the alias Camille and was the subject of the 1985 film "Mystère Alexina".