There is a saying in Marseille: "First you have the sea, then the city, and beyond that is another country called France."
Thousands of years of cultural exchange, trade and migration have given the country’s second city a truly unique identity. It is an atmosphere you feel the moment you step out of its magnificent 19th-century railway station, and gaze down flights of stairs to a bustling and beautiful city, and across the old port to the famous Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica that looms high on a hill.
Marseille has a reputation for many things ― for its seafood, for its soap, for its football team and legends such as Zinedine Zidane, for its hip-hop and street art, and for its long history of multiculturalism. When Emmanuel Macron took on the far-right's Marine Le Pen in the 2017 French presidential election, he signalled his difference from her in a major rally in the city, saying: “When I look at Marseille, I see a French city shaped by 2,000 years of history, of immigration … I see Armenians, Italians, Algerians, Moroccans, Tunisians, Malians, Senegalese. But what do I see? I see the people of Marseille. I see the people of France.”
In the past, it has also had a reputation among outsiders for corruption and crime, for being insalubrious and unsafe. No doubt there is some racism and northern French snobbery there, mixed in with some fair reflection on decades of local political corruption, and the midcentury history of the heroin trade passing through Marseille ― the infamous “French connection”.
But it has little bearing on the city today, which is proud of its international reputation ― although perhaps locally, it always has been. In the Marseille History Museum, there is a tourism poster from 1960 with a globe hovering in front of the city’s old port. “The entire world passes by Marseille”, reads the slogan. The museum is packed with remarkable Roman and pre-Roman artefacts, showing how Marseille has faced outwards to the Mediterranean for thousands of years, bringing in ceramics, cereals and wine from as far afield as ancient Carthage (Tunis) and Byzantium (Istanbul).
These days, that diversity is evident in the residents of modern-day Marseille, as Macron observed, and it is also enticingly evident in the city’s cuisine. Indeed, barely five minutes from the train station, we pass a cafe called Le Carthage, offering mint tea, merguez, salad and french fries, alongside their sweet crepes.
The traditional French breakfast materials of spectacularly fresh croissants, pain au raisin and baguettes are available in superb boulangeries on every corner, and it would be foolish to pass them by ― but it would be equally foolish to visit Marseille and stick to the strict canon of brasserie classics ― moules frites, steak tartare et al.
Nowhere is the lure greater than in the souq-like Market du Capucins, in the heart of the city centre, where shops piled high with mounds of loose spices, seeds, teas, salts and dried flowers and fruit offer a riot of colour and aromas more associated with Marrakech or Istanbul than Paris. Soaps and harissa, rose and orange oils and water, and beautifully patterned pottery fill the shelves.
Outside, we pick up some magnificent, filling and cheap North African street food, joining a fast-moving queue for mahjouba, a thick and tasty savoury Algerian pancake stuffed with finely chopped chicken, almonds, egg and onion. Others are filled with feta, tomato and spinach, or tuna, egg and potato, and are equally fresh and carefully spiced. There are Egyptian flatbreads, pitta with falafel, and some amazingly piquant and tasty “beignets de pomme de terre” for the princely sum of €1 ($0.98). These deep-fried potato cakes leave the mouth happily tingling with chilli, coriander and cumin and are a world away from the sweet French doughnut that is usually given the name "beignet".
Across the sprawl of the city, the idea of a homogenous French cuisine and culture seems very far away. We pass Senegalese and Peruvian restaurants we can’t even fit into our schedule, and, at L’Escalie, have tapas of black arincini, spiced pumpkin puree and panisse, a kind of chick-pea chip, served with mustard. Another delightful and intimate dinner spot, La Lune de Bejaia, offers Kabyle specialities from northern Algeria. The sweetness of ifelfel, a cold salad of grilled red and green peppers, tomatoes, egg and spices, drizzled in olive oil, will stay with me for some time ― followed by merguez, and some of the best couscous and stewed vegetables I can remember.
Many parts of the world beyond Italy have their fair share of pizza restaurants, but Marseille is on another level. The roots of the city’s obsession go back more than a century, when migrants from Naples (the home of pizza) fled poverty en masse for their fellow port city on the French coast ― in the 1906 census, half the population of Marseille was Neopolitan.
The city quickly adopted pizza as its own, and today everything from traditional margheritas and street-based “by the slice” spots, to spiced, minced lamb pizzas similar to lahmacun are available. Our favourite was La Colisee, a friendly and highly creative little restaurant, where a wide range of classics and specialties were on offer; from baguette-shaped folded pizzas to Turkish pide-style to Georgian khachapuri. If it’s in the international pizza family, and fits in a wood oven, it’s on the menu.
Of course, when you’ve had a pizza weighed down with mozzarella and reblochon cheese for dinner, you wake up feeling a bit weighed down yourself ― but there was no better way to walk it off than taking in the dazzling Museum of Civilisations of Europe and the Mediterranean, which opened in 2013, a central part of a major dockside regeneration.
We spent hours there, engrossed in an exhibition contrasting life in some of the great cities of the Mediterranean, in the 21st century (Marseille, Casablanca, Cairo and Istanbul), and in the 16th (Seville, Genoa, Algiers, Venice and Lisbon), and learnt about the Mediterranean triad ― cereals, olive trees and vines ― that has acted as the foundation of local agriculture and diet since the Neolithic period. Like Marseille in general, the museum is located in France, but perched on a dramatic, windswept waterfront that looks firmly out to the world.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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INDIA'S%20TOP%20INFLUENCERS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBhuvan%20Bam%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fbhuvan.bam22%2F%3Fhl%3Den%22%20target%3D%22_self%22%3EInstagram%3C%2Fa%3E%20followers%3A%2016.1%20million%3Cbr%3EBhuvan%20Bam%20is%20a%2029-year-old%20comedian%20and%20actor%20from%20Delhi%2C%20who%20started%20out%20with%20YouTube%20channel%2C%20%E2%80%9CBB%20Ki%20Vines%E2%80%9D%20in%202015%2C%20which%20propelled%20the%20social%20media%20star%20into%20the%20limelight%20and%20made%20him%20sought-after%20among%20brands.%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EKusha%20Kapila%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fkushakapila%2F%3Fhl%3Den%22%20target%3D%22_self%22%3EInstagram%3C%2Fa%3E%20followers%3A%203.1%20million%3Cbr%3EKusha%20Kapila%20is%20a%20fashion%20editor%20and%20actress%2C%20who%20has%20collaborated%20with%20brands%20including%20Google.%20She%20focuses%20on%20sharing%20light-hearted%20content%20and%20insights%20into%20her%20life%20as%20a%20rising%20celebrity.%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDiipa%20Khosla%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fdiipakhosla%2F%3Fhl%3Den%22%20target%3D%22_self%22%3EInstagram%3C%2Fa%3E%20followers%3A%201.8%20million%3Cbr%3EDiipa%20Khosla%20started%20out%20as%20a%20social%20media%20manager%20before%20branching%20out%20to%20become%20one%20of%20India's%20biggest%20fashion%20influencers%2C%20with%20collaborations%20including%20MAC%20Cosmetics.%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EKomal%20Pandey%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fkomalpandeyofficial%2F%3Fhl%3Den%22%20target%3D%22_self%22%3EInstagram%3C%2Fa%3E%20followers%3A%201.8%20million%3Cbr%3EKomal%20Pandey%20is%20a%20fashion%20influencer%20who%20has%20partnered%20with%20more%20than%20100%20brands%2C%20including%20Olay%20and%20smartphone%20brand%20Vivo%20India.%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENikhil%20Sharma%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fnikkkhil%2F%3Fhl%3Den%22%20target%3D%22_self%22%3EInstagram%3C%2Fa%3E%20followers%3A%201.4%20million%3Cbr%3ENikhil%20Sharma%20from%20Mumbai%20began%20his%20online%20career%20through%20vlogs%20about%20his%20motorcycle%20trips.%20He%20has%20become%20a%20lifestyle%20influencer%20and%20has%20created%20his%20own%20clothing%20line.%3Cbr%3E%3Cem%3ESource%3A%20Hireinfluence%2C%20various%3C%2Fem%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
It
Director: Andres Muschietti
Starring: Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor
Three stars
Sanju
Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Manish’s Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Boman Irani
Rating: 3.5 stars
Greatest Royal Rumble results
John Cena pinned Triple H in a singles match
Cedric Alexander retained the WWE Cruiserweight title against Kalisto
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt win the Raw Tag Team titles against Cesaro and Sheamus
Jeff Hardy retained the United States title against Jinder Mahal
Bludgeon Brothers retain the SmackDown Tag Team titles against the Usos
Seth Rollins retains the Intercontinental title against The Miz, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe
AJ Styles remains WWE World Heavyweight champion after he and Shinsuke Nakamura are both counted out
The Undertaker beats Rusev in a casket match
Brock Lesnar retains the WWE Universal title against Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
Braun Strowman won the 50-man Royal Rumble by eliminating Big Cass last
Results
6.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (Dirt) 1,400m. Winner: Rio Angie, Pat Dobbs (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer).
7.05pm: Handicap Dh170,000 (D) 1,600m. Winner: Trenchard, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
7.40pm: Maiden Dh165,000 (D) 1,600m. Winner: Mulfit, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.15pm: Handicap Dh210,000 (D) 1,200m. Winner: Waady, Dane O’Neill, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Handicap Dh210,000 (D) 2,000m. Winner: Tried And True, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
9.25pm:Handicap Dh185,000 (D) 1,400m. Winner: Midnight Sands, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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2.
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China
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3.
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UAE
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4.
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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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The%20specs
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The Specs
Price, base Dh379,000
Engine 2.9-litre, twin-turbo V6
Gearbox eight-speed automatic
Power 503bhp
Torque 443Nm
On sale now
Match info
Costa Rica 0
Serbia 1
Kolarov (56')
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
Did you know?
Brunch has been around, is some form or another, for more than a century. The word was first mentioned in print in an 1895 edition of Hunter’s Weekly, after making the rounds among university students in Britain. The article, entitled Brunch: A Plea, argued the case for a later, more sociable weekend meal. “By eliminating the need to get up early on Sunday, brunch would make life brighter for Saturday night carousers. It would promote human happiness in other ways as well,” the piece read. “It is talk-compelling. It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week.” More than 100 years later, author Guy Beringer’s words still ring true, especially in the UAE, where brunches are often used to mark special, sociable occasions.
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
5) Identity theft
Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Married Malala
Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.
The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.
If you go:
The flights: Etihad, Emirates, British Airways and Virgin all fly from the UAE to London from Dh2,700 return, including taxes
The tours: The Tour for Muggles usually runs several times a day, lasts about two-and-a-half hours and costs £14 (Dh67)
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is on now at the Palace Theatre. Tickets need booking significantly in advance
Entrance to the Harry Potter exhibition at the House of MinaLima is free
The hotel: The grand, 1909-built Strand Palace Hotel is in a handy location near the Theatre District and several of the key Harry Potter filming and inspiration sites. The family rooms are spacious, with sofa beds that can accommodate children, and wooden shutters that keep out the light at night. Rooms cost from £170 (Dh808).
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
