The Eiffel Tower reopened on Friday after an eight-month shutdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, its longest closure since World War II.
As a countdown clock at the foot of the tower turned to zero, there were cheers and applause from visitors queuing to get in, a brass band started playing and people starting filing through the entrance.
"We feel pretty lucky to be here," said Patrick Perutka, an 18-year-old from Croatia who had been waiting for three hours for the gates to open.
He was on his first visit to the Eiffel Tower. "It's a big deal," he said of the tower.
Because of lingering concerns about the virus, masks remain compulsory for anyone over 11 years of age, and each elevator car will only carry half the normal number of visitors.
From July 21, visitors will need to show a French government "health pass" to demonstrate they are either vaccinated or have had a recent negative test for COVID-19.
At least 24 people were killed and 93 others wounded when Israeli airstrikes hit a mosque and a school sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip early on Sunday, the Hamas-run Gaza government media office said.
Russian air attacks on Ukraine kept the eastern half of the country under air raid alert for more than five hours, Ukraine's military said early on Sunday, with Moscow launching several waves of strikes targeting Kyiv and other cities.
Massive consecutive strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs from late Saturday into Sunday, sending booms across the city and sparking flashes of red and white for nearly 30 minutes visible from several kilometres away.
Over 80 police personnel have been injured in clashes with supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan taking part in a march near Islamabad, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Saturday.
Ukraine will present its "victory plan" at a regular meeting of its allies at Ramstein in Germany on October 12, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram on Saturday.
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