Tens of thousands of people welcomed the Olympic torch Wednesday in the southern French city of Marseille, marking another milestone in the lead-up to the Summer Games in Paris. The flame arrived after a 12-day trip from Greece onboard the Belem, a 128-year-old three-masted barque that once transported sugar from France’s colonies in the West Indies.
Reuters reports that the torch was brought to land by Florent Manaudou, France’s 2012 Olympic men’s 50 metres freestyle swimming champion, who handed it to Paralympic athlete Nantenin Keita, a 400 metres gold medallist at the Rio Games in 2016.
She then passed it on to Marseille-born rapper Jul, who lit the cauldron in front of an ecstatic crowd estimated at 150,000. Earlier a flotilla of pleasure boats had welcomed the Belem to French shores.
On Saturday, May 4, the cruise ship 
Update: One of the world’s busiest shipping channels was closed to traffic in both directions after 
In the last week or so, over 1,000 sea lions have hauled out on San Francisco’s Pier 39, K-Dock, the largest assembly of the boisterous pinnipeds in roughly 15 years.
I have been away for the better part of a month on a transatlantic sail from Barbados to Malta on a five-masted square rigger. (
Yesterday, the 
An updated repost. Melville’s masterpiece, 
My short story
