The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are over and France is basking in the glory of its success in hosting them amid spectacular historic landmarks with no major glitches.
Organisers enjoyed an "I told you so" moment after naysayers were proven wrong and France was gripped at the last-minute by the excitement of the Games, as its athletes broke previous medal records.
"For two weeks, the air was lighter," said President Emmanuel Macron on Monday in a speech at the Elysee Palace.
"Everyone told us we couldn't do it. Thank you, you did it," he said, speaking to representatives of those who worked on the Olympics, including police officers, medical staff and firefighters.
Paris 2024 President Tony Estanguet described his job as a "marathon against the pessimists and all those who predicted a catastrophe".
"The Games were even better than imagined," he said in a radio interview.
Sweaty but happy, crowds walked out of the Stade de France, the main Olympic stadium, on Sunday evening after a spectacular closing ceremony, still high from the excitement of dancing the night away with 9,000 athletes.
The handover to Los Angeles 2028 was embodied by the dramatic appearance of Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise, who abseiled into the stadium.
The Mission Impossible actor landed right beside people sitting in the front row, including Jeremy, 37, and his mother Therese, 68.
Their T-shirts drenched in sweat and a smile plastered on their faces, Jeremy and Therese walked in the hot summer night towards the nearest metro station, where volunteers greeted the crowd with placards that read "thank you" and "see you soon".
"It was one big party. It felt good," said Jeremy. Their front-row seats meant they were able to mingle with athletes as they celebrated their wins under the eyes of 80,000 spectators and about 9.5 million television viewers.
The reputation of Paris, already one of the world's most popular destinations, has been further enhanced abroad.
"I’ve been here a couple days and haven’t seen so many beautiful things in my entire life,’ said Edmund Sin, 27, from New York.
There was beach volleyball in front of the Eiffel Tower, fencing and taekwondo under the glass vaults of the Grand Palais and an enchanting golden hot-air balloon carrying the Olympic flame hovering above the Tuileries Gardens every night.
All the competitions scheduled to take place in the Seine river went ahead despite concerns over its polluted water after a clean-up effort that cost €1.4 billion ($1.53 billion).
Hosting successful mass sporting events in places designed for vastly different purposes hundreds of years ago was a feat that was saluted around the world.
"The Olympics needed a reset. Merci Paris for providing it," wrote The Washington Post. Meanwhile, The Telegraph described the Games as "sumptuous, seductive and laced with scandal".
There were some glitches but not enough to derail the Games. A few hours before the opening ceremony, part of the railway network was hit by sabotage, raising fears of security attacks. It was quickly fixed.
France was thrilled by the open-air opening ceremony along the Seine despite some complaints in conservative circles over apparent disrespect of Christian biblical scenes. This interpretation was rejected by organisers who said they wanted to celebrate diversity.
Algerian boxer Imane Khelif became embroiled in a gender eligibility controversy and filed a harassment complaint in France. Her gold medal and her wide smile at the closing ceremony trumped the bitterness caused by the row. Fans outside the stadium said they were proud of her.
"She has been the target of racists, transphobes and Islamophobes," said Nabil, 22, who came without a ticket to the closing ceremony to enjoy the atmosphere, wearing an Algeria football shirt. "She's a source of pride for Algeria."
Many hope France will be gripped by similar excitement for the Paralympics, which will run from August 28-September 8.
Yet sales have been slow, with more than a million tickets – roughly half the total – left unsold. Mr Estanguet said on Monday that momentum was picking up and tickets were selling five times faster than before the Olympic Games started.
But there is a creeping feeling that the best part of the party has come to a close. "It feels weird to think these Olympic Games are over," added Mr Estanguet.
Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Dubai Bling season three
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The five types of long-term residential visas
Obed Suhail of ServiceMarket, an online home services marketplace, outlines the five types of long-term residential visas:
Investors:
A 10-year residency visa can be obtained by investors who invest Dh10 million, out of which 60 per cent should not be in real estate. It can be a public investment through a deposit or in a business. Those who invest Dh5 million or more in property are eligible for a five-year residency visa. The invested amount should be completely owned by the investors, not loaned, and retained for at least three years.
Entrepreneurs:
A five-year multiple entry visa is available to entrepreneurs with a previous project worth Dh0.5m or those with the approval of an accredited business incubator in the UAE.
Specialists
Expats with specialised talents, including doctors, specialists, scientists, inventors, and creative individuals working in the field of culture and art are eligible for a 10-year visa, given that they have a valid employment contract in one of these fields in the country.
Outstanding students:
A five-year visa will be granted to outstanding students who have a grade of 95 per cent or higher in a secondary school, or those who graduate with a GPA of 3.75 from a university.
Retirees:
Expats who are at least 55 years old can obtain a five-year retirement visa if they invest Dh2m in property, have savings of Dh1m or more, or have a monthly income of at least Dh20,000.
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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