MONACO SPORT, ASM: Monaco dominated the first half of tonight's game at home to Sochaux, second from bottom in France's Ligue 1, but managed to win by just 2-1. ASM's first goal was by recent signing Dimitar Berbatov after just six minutes, the second, from a penalty, came from James Rodriguez in the 55th minute after Berbatov was brought down in the goal area...

MONACO EVENTS: The Girls Just Wanna Have Fun soirée organised by the private club Ladies & the City on the Star Deck of Stars'n'bars yesterday received a nice surprise from actresses of M.A.S.C. (Monaco Art & Scene Compagnie), who will perform tonight at Theatre des Varietes to mark the International Women's Day. The song from this performance and a poem by Boris Vian: 'Never Marry Girls' were performed especially for Ladies & the City during their annual fun soirées, after the actresses turned up unexpectedly...

MONACO: Monaco's judicial services yesterday issued a statement on reports that a senior French judge had been promised a position in Monaco by former president Nicolas Sarkozy, denying that there had been any outside intervention in the appointment of a judge. Gilbert Azibert had been a candidate for a role as a Monaco judge, but did not get the job…

MONACO: To coincide with International Women's Day, Cristina Montepilli Sanikidze, a resident of Monaco, will be leaving to take part in the third edition of the Rally du Jebil-Donne nelle Dune 2014, alongside another former model, Cindy R Wirth, a Californian now living in Italy, who is also a non-professional rally driver…

MONACO SPORT, ASM: Since tomorrow is International Women's Day, AS Monaco is offering tickets to women for the game against Sochaux, for just one euro...

MONACO: Monaco may be drawn into a new Sarkozy affair, according to local French-language daily Monaco Matin. Police from Paris, together with an investigating judge, have been in Nice this week at the home of Thierry Herzog, Mr Sarkozy's lawyer, where they spent ten hours looking at computers and telephones…

MONACO EVENTS: An important two-day conference for professionals operating in the high net worth and ultra high net worth sectors will be held in the centre of Monte-Carlo, at the Salon Bellevue of the Cafe de Paris, on November 6 and 7, 2014. The event is organized by Brodie Media Services, publishers of Monaco Today and monacolife.net...

PRINCESS GRACE: The troubled movie Grace of Monaco, the release of which has been twice delayed, is back in the news with a new trailer that gives star Nicole Kidman a speaking role, a marked improvement on the original and breathless teaser. Grace is due to open the Cannes Film Festival just before the Monaco Grand Prix in May, and will hit British screens in June. Just when it will see the light of day in the US remains anyone's guess…

PRINCE ALBERT: HRH Prince Moulay Rachid and HSH Prince Albert inaugurated on Wednesday an exhibition on "The discovery of Prince Albert I of Monaco of Morocco in the late 19th century" in Bab Rouah gallery in Rabat. The exhibition showcases the journey of Prince Albert I in Morocco, featuring photographs and writing....

MONACO GRAND PRIX: The biggest yacht ever to be built by Sunseeker in Poole is undergoing sea trials before delivery to Eddie Jordan in Monaco, the Bournemouth Daily Echo reports. The tri-deck 155 Yacht, thought to be worth £32 million, has been built for former Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan, who is now a BBC presenter...

MONACO TOURISM: The Monaco Government Tourist Bureau has new contact details for its Sydney, Australia office after Australian & New Zealand visitors numbers to Monaco climbed from 11th performing region to 7th place. Special projects this year include: Launching a trade incentive with French Travel connection (exclusive distributor of the *Passport to Monaco* package which includes free helicopter transfers in Monaco; launching a new meetings and incentive industry deal and Monaco will be the principal destination honour for the French Travel Workshops in Sydney and Melbourne in September 2014...

MONACO SPORT, ASM: AS Monaco vice-president Vadim Vasilyev has hit out at clubs that are contesting the 50 million euro deal already agreed with the French Football League that permits the team to keep its headquarters in the principality, espn reports...

PRINCESS CHARLENE: Princess Charlene was at the centre of attention in Paris today when she attended the autumn show of Louis Vuitton. Princess Charlene, 36, posed with designer Nicolas Ghesquiere, fashion's current hottest property, according to the UK's Daily Mail.

Ghesquiere, 42, celebrated his debut ready-to-wear range with France's finest fashionistas supporting him in the front row, including Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chiara Mastroianni and her mother Catherine Deneuve...

MONACO BUSINESS: Associated Shipbroking of Monaco is one of seven companies worldwide to be released from the grip of US sanctions against Iran. The other companies are PCCI of Jersey/Iran, Royal Oyster Group of the United Arab Emirates, Speedy Ship of UAE/Iran, Tanker Pacific of Singapore, Ofer Brothers Group of Israel, and Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) of Venezuela...

PRINCE ALBERT: Prince Albert leaves today for Morocco, where he will spend three days. Today the Prince will inaugurate an exhibition in Rabat dedicated to the sea voyages of his predecessor, Albert 1...

MONACO PROPERTY: The world's super rich are turning from luxury mansions to hotels and office blocks, as they hunt for bigger property deals to preserve their growing fortunes, which hit a combined $20 trillion in 2013, the news agency Reuters reports.

MONACO PROPERTY: Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2014 says that $1 million can buy 15 square metres of luxury real estate in Monaco, compared to 20.6 square metres in Hong Kong, 25.2 square metres in London, and 32.6 square metres in Singapore. $1 million will buy 41.2 square metres in Sydney, 41.7 square metres in Paris, 43 square metres in Moscow, 46.2 square metres in Shanghai and 95.7 square metres in Mumbai...

MONACO SPORT, ASM: Monaco captain Eric Abidal is due to resume training today after being hospitalized three days ago with a viral infection as a precautionary measure, the club said yesterday. Abidal has been at Princess Grace Hospital since Sunday…

TOP MARQUES: Top Marques Monaco is internationally renowned as a launch pad for ground-breaking supercars and now a growing number of ship yards are also choosing the show to unveil their latest state-of-the-art models...

MONACO: Mireille Pettiti, General Director of the Department of External Relations and Cooperation, participated today at the 25th session of the Council of Human Rights * (UN) in Geneva...

Monaco Events & Announcements

TUESDAY MARCH 11 Monaco Life Mixer: Local author Melissa Roen will be 'In the Spotlight.' The first ever Monaco Life monthly mixer open to all, at Stars'n'bars, from 18:00 to 20:00. Melissa, the author of Last Call for Caviar, set on the Riviera, will sit 'in the Spotlight' to answer questions from monacolife.net publisher Martina Brodie. Questions submitted from the audience. Entrance 10 euros, includes one beer or wine and nibbles. Net proceeds will go to the UNHCR - the United Nations Refugee Agency - to aid refugees in the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria. Happy hour prices. PHOTO: Melissa Roen

MONACO LIFE BUSINESS LEADERS LUNCH: Marika Taishoff, MBA Professor at the International University of Monaco, will be the guest speaker at the next Monaco Life Business Leaders Lunch, to be held at the Pacific Restaurant, ave des Spelugues, on Wednesday March 12 from 12:30. The topic is the changing business of luxury and the title: Luxury Goes Against the Rules. The cost, including a three-course lunch, a welcome cocktail and drinks is 75 euros. To book, please email monacotoday@gmail.com.

PRINCESS GRACE IRISH LIBRARY: Tuesday, March 12, 19:30, a talk by Professor Paul Monod, "When the Celtic Tiger Lived in France 1689-1789." Reservations needed: pglib@monaco.mc. 10 euros payable at the door.

BAM Happy Hours are on Thursday, March 13 at the Monaco Yacht Club and Thursday March 27 at the Bar du Quai, Quai des Artistes.  These are between 18.30 and 20:00 - this is a good way to meet up with some members of the Committee and members.

MONACO-IRELAND ARTS SOCIETY: MIAS will celebrate its 20th birthday with a Retrospective at the College Charles III, ave. de L'Annonciade, on Friday, March 14 at 20:30. Actors will read from the works of an array of Irish literary talent, including Meditation Upon a Broomstick by Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol, amongst many others.

CREATE THE SPARK: The next Create the Spark! course will take place on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th March at the Columbus Hotel in Monaco. “Generating Confidence: the Power of Self-Esteem” will be held in English, from 9 am to 7 pm (including lunch) and will be led by Louise Smith and Grisel Damgaard. For details call Grisel on + 33 6 12 70 34 61 or email her at grisel@createthespark.com. For testimonials and course information visit www.createthespark.com.

Monaco Ireland... Presents Irish Senator John Crown Visiting Monaco for St. Patrick’s Day, March 19th: You Don’t Have to be Irish to Celebrate St. Patrick…as everyone is Irish around St. Patrick’s Day! Monaco-Ireland celebrates St. Patrick’s Day with guest Senator John Crown, from Ireland. Guinness on tap.  Wear something green.  Tombola.  The Star Deck upstairs at Stars'n’Bars.  Happy hour prices 18:00 – 20:00. No entrance fee.  Wednesday, March 19th. 18:00 – 21:00.  Please RSVP Tracy Rohan for attendance rsvp@monacoireland.com. Visit www.monacoireland.com for more details.

BAM jazz evening, Thursday, March 20. Jilly Jackson, will be performing, just for BAM, a jazz evening at 'La Trinquette' in Villefranche.  Jilly's charm, elegance and exceptional crystalline voice is already known to many BAM members - her rich repertoire includes an exciting mixture of great jazz standards along with contemporary British and French hits. She will be accompanied by two remarkable musicians who make up The Jilly Jackson Trio: Marc Peillon on double-bass, and Beatrice Alunni who can really make her keyboard sing and swing! The restaurant 'La Trinquette', an 'institution' on the Darse in Villefranche, is renown for its musical evenings.  It has a welcoming, cosy atmosphere on the sea front and is an ideal venue for a relaxed jazz evening. The concert will be accompanied by a delicious home-cooked meal 'a la francaise' with wine and soft drinks. Don't miss out on this wonderful musical evening! Places are limited so bookings in by March 13. €45 for members and €55 for for non-members. Booking forms can be found on www.bam-monaco.org

BAM (British Association of Monaco) Friday March 21- Friday Friendship Club meetings held at St Paul's Church Library, between 15:00 - 17:00. This is an excellent way to meet up with friends over afternoon tea and home made cakes. There is an ongoing jigsaw to mull over, an ever-changing supply of books (lots of new titles),and an ever-increasing DVD library. Also home-made jams, marmalades and chutneys are for sale.

CONTINUES - Andy Warhol at Ribolzi Gallery: The exhibition of art and artifacts of Andy Warhol The American Dream continues at the Adriano Ribolzi Gallery, next to the Hotel Hermitage, until the end of February.

Listings in Events & Announcements are free for non-profit associations, charged for commercial events and entities. To place listing email monacotoday@gmail.com

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EMPLOYMENT: Negotiator, Estate Agent, Successful Monaco Agency. We are looking for a successful, hardworking and self-motivated person. Loyal and experienced with a good track record in real estate. Work involves dealing with sales and rentals in Monaco. Bringing in business in Monaco only
Looking for a long term career in a family business. Very interesting package. Fluent English. Excellent support and working environment. Please email skay@rivieramail.com or call +377 607 939 324.
 

FOR SALE: Fletcher 19 Sportscruiser with 115 hp Mercury outboard. Year 2000, one owner and regularly serviced from new. Dry berthed near Cannes and berth available. Perfect for summer at € 9,500. Tel. 06 78 63 73 56.

LANGUAGE SERVICE: Improve Your Communication in English — Written and Spoken. English language training, coaching and consultancy tailored to your needs. Group or individual. Help with Documents, CVs, Cover Letters, Academic Theses, Writing and Editing. English mother tongue teacher. Berlitz trained, MBA, professional background. Flexible availability. tel:  0678635709   email:  englishplusmc@gmail.com

FOR RENT:  3 Bed / 3 Bathroom beautiful modern townhouse in the centre of St Jean Cap Ferrat's fishing village. Approx floor space 90m2 over 3 floors. Patio 16m2. On street parking. Air-con/heating throughout. Priced at €3000 PCM +33 6 01 43 55 89  

TOUR LEADER: Karim Seif, tour leader/guide with 15 years experience speaks A/E/F/I/S/NL is offering his services in tourism or the interpreting field in Monaco, Nice or on the Riviera. Mobile phone: 00 33 6 32 76 86 58 – mail: karimseif@yahoo.fr 

To see our terms and conditions, please click on MORE

Buy local or bye local

I passed a sign at a farmer’s market in the UK recently that said: “Buy local or bye local.” As a farm-bred girl, I endorse the philosophy of buying local. Indeed, I hanker back to the halcyon days of my youth when my family lived a self-sufficient utopia with an organic vegetable garden, a chicken coop, bee hives, and fields where a local farmer grazed his sheep and paid us annual rent in half a lamb for our freezer.  My sisters and I spent our days hunting for blackberries, and canoeing and swimming in the muddy river at the bottom of our garden. At least that’s how I remember it, but the rose-tinted spectacles of nostalgia probably make it sound a lot more Swallows and Amazons than it was...
 

A bemused reader in Beaulieu-sur-mer speculates about the air traffic controllers' strike and President Hollande and his runabout.

Dear Sir, More travel misery – that’s why Trierweiler was flying back home from India yesterday; the whole trip was planned round the air traffic controllers' strike programme.

The only answer for these disruptive strikers is to delocalize the whole French ATC sector to Bangalore. The Aiguilleurs du ciel never see a plane anyway, just their computer screens, so no problem putting the images offshore. As has been done with the military radar on Mont Agel – all the screens are manned in Lyon so only a few maintainers are left in BA943 above Monaco, a good nuclear target, but don’t tell the buyers flocking to settle in the tax haven just below, in the fall-out zone.

As for the Elysée, nobody has asked who the owner is of that Paris apt, home to Valerie. She says it is “in his name”; but his Declaration de Patrimoine (www.huffingtonpost.fr/.../declaration-patrimoine-francois-hollande-117-)...makes no mention of it – only the Mougins house and two small apts in Cannes.  Nor of any liquid capital to buy a large Paris apt.  So he keeps below the threshold for the ISF.  There's work for investigative journalists.

My main gripe about the President is he rides a foreign scooter – an Italian Piaggio, whereas I have just done my best to save France by buying not only a new Peugeot scooter, but also a ditto car (Peugeot 107).  Why does he not buy French, like me? Earlier civilizations were run by specially treated men, called Castrati, who were also in demand as singers. Not too late to apply this in the Elysée – though some high-profile ladies might not appreciate it.

Peter, Beaulieu-sur-mer (name and address supplied)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR CAN BE SENT TO monacotoday@gmail.com. Please include a telephone number.

Previous letters can be found at MORE

MONACO MEDIA: The media world has been stunned this week by news that the founder of Amazon - the online shop - has bought the iconic Washington Post newspaper at what seems to be a knockdown price. The $250 million Jeff Bezos paid is just a little over one percent of his personal wealth of $23 billion, making a very small dent indeed in his bank account. Never mind that since its founding Amazon has lost money more than it has made, making Bezos a virtual billionaire in charge of a virtual empire. Perhaps he bought the Post because he yearned for something real.

To decry the sale of the Post is not just to indulge in unworldly sentimentality. Its disposal marks another milestone on the way to the cemetery for printed newspapers as we have known them for the centuries since the Times of London first appeared in 1785 as the Daily Universal Register, changing its name three years later. In the ever-evolving world of media, print is in its death throes.

If it's almost all over for ink except the burials, and the standouts are disappearing fast, should we be surprised? No. Disappointed, sorry? Yes. The great newspapers of the past, including the Post, the New York Times, the Times, the UK's Daily Telegraph, are empty imitations of their former selves thanks to cost-cutting. The greatest loss as these titles decline and disappear is the quality of the journalism that called them home..

SATURDAY, MARCH 8:

CHAMBERLAIN NATURALISED: Colonel Luc Fringant, Chamberlain to HSH Prince Albert since November 2012, has become a naturalised Monegasque by order of the Prince. He was born in 1953 in Maxeville, Meurthe-et-Moselle.

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Treorchy Male Voice Choir the stars of St Davids Day

Adriano Ribolzi is extending his Andy Warhol expo until the end of April

Nick Danziger was the special guest at a British Association of Monaco event at BOMO

Marika Taishoff, MBA Professor at the International University of Monaco, talks about luxury

Martina Brodie interviews top wildlife artist and Monaco resident Spencer Hodge

Sir Jackie Stewart and Roman Polanski at 'Weekend of a Champion' press conference

Father Walter Raymond tells us what's on at St Paul's Church this Christmas

Kory Tarpenning on opening the first Starbucks in Monaco

Dena Lyons and Art Factory Monaco

Anita Di Sotto talks about Whisky Weekend

Martine Ackerman talks about Child CARE Monaco

Martina Brodie interviews artist Laure Fissore

Martina Brodie interviews Peace and Sport champions

Ian Brodie interviews President of National Council

Ian Brodie interviews author of Mayhem in Monte Carlo

click on images to view

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Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Monte-Carlo Diary

6/6 for effort

I can hardly put into words how welcome some sunny weather will be. Every school day we trudge to the train station and from Nice Riquier to the school with our nine year-old genius. When it's raining, as it has been, we have to take a change of clothes, although I have greatly benefited by the recent purchase of sailing boots for the teenager. I have to wear three pairs of socks to stop them sliding off.

Monaco, so I am told, turned down the offer of an alternative private school, so it migrated west. Perhaps the Principality was too keen on its position at the top of the exam league tables to want anything more adventurous than a standard French school with its strict and orthodox adherence to 'the system.' We are very happy with Nice. The school, that is.

George is doing very well. He knows all about the pyramids and the solar system, although I have to admit to a nagging nervousness over his numeracy. Last week he showed me his sums. 0/6. Bearing in mind the need for constant praise and encouragement, I wished him better luck next time, as if he were a gambler at the Monte-Carlo Casino. "Ah, but Dad," he said, "I did much better than Michel. He got 0/0."

"Merde!" I said. "No Dad, not merde, merrde." His French is brilliant.

Jeff Daniels

The Jeff Daniels column is published in the interests of editorial diversity, and views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the publishers.

to read previous columns, please click on MORE

Hollande gets fiscal

I feel a pang of sympathy for Francois Hollande, recently caught out chasing and catching up with a delightful young actress for bilateral talks at her place. I believe the beleaguered President needs time out from his tiring and surely frustrating search for new taxes to impose on his befuddled countrymen. The Eco-tax may have been a good idea on paper, the fact that it threatened to plunge one of the country's major market gardening areas into terminal decline saw Bretons rise up in revolution and that was the end of that.

But surely one of the least sane of Hollande's madcap fiscal schemes was/is the plan to tax the owners of agricultural plots of land in urban areas. As justification for this the President and his team have said the Infill tax will help stop 'profiteering,' presumably when beleaguered urban market gardeners sell off their plots because growing carrots doesn't pay their living costs never mind the tax bill. What with all this mental arithmetic as he tries to find more ways to meet the costs of retirement at 60, plus the physical exertions of his horizontal conversations, Hollande must be fagged out. Which reminds me. From today, the cost of a packet of cigarettes in France rises to seven euros.

to read the previous Meanwhile in France, Impotent Hollande taxes sex, click on MORE

MY MONTE-CARLO WEEKEND

Sunday, December 15

My editor asked me to show my face at the World Policy Conference, which continued into Saturday, and then I saw the application form for accreditation and gave up. I don't have 30 minutes to spare to fill in forms. The fact that the Foreign Minister of Iran and the head of Mossad and other people who think they're important were in town had almost nothing to do with Monaco itself. Later I heard that one US diplomat was refused entry to a particular forum because there 'wasn't room,' so what hope would there be for a humble journalist?

On Sunday went to church to see my two sons and 28 others perform the Nativity Play. As usual, the voices of the little ones didn't carry too far, but since our eldest has reached puberty his "Oh, to go to Bethlehem is so exciting" was absolutely clear. A pity he rolled his eyes to heaven, like the ironic teenager he is, on the word 'exciting.' Meanwhile, a baby on the front row started crying, rather loudly, and I couldn't hear very much. I turned to my wife.

"Why don't they take out that noisy baby," I asked.
"That's Jesus," she said.
"Oh My God!"

Meanwhile, I have been reliably informed by an anonymous correspondent that Father Christmas has gone missing from the large sleigh at the foot of the stairs from St Charles Church down to blvd. des Moulins. I shall investigate. No accreditation needed.

Jeff Daniels

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Christmas tips from Ruth Tongue

Don’t beat yourself up this festive season – but do keep an eye on the waist band! Our new in-house nutritionist and Pilates specialist Ruth Tongue shares her tips on how to start 2014 feeling fresh, energised and motivated - rather than sluggish and carrying a few unwanted extra pounds.

Everyone likes to indulge a little (ok, a lot) over Christmas and the New Year – and that’s normal. But there’s nothing worse than getting to the second day of January feeling heavy, tired and like you want to hibernate until your skinny jeans fit again! Follow these tips to ensure you enjoy the party season without feeling the effects when 2014 rings in...

What on earth is the French President doing in Monaco? Well, there are a few things to see, such as the Oceanographic and Monaco's Scientific Centre. And a few bits of paper to sign. Lunch at the Palace should be good, and will not disappoint the Socialist President's champagne tastes. Otherwise, not much will be going on and the visit will be marked by an inconvenience to road traffic. That will be its high point, since it seems that the President won't be meeting any of the remaining 8,000 French residents - whose families have lived here for generations - to discuss the fact that they have to meet the high cost of living in Monaco while paying French taxes, an arrangement inherited from the treaty with France into which Prince Rainier was famously coerced in 1963.

If I were a Frenchman, or woman, I would wonder what my President was doing in Monaco. Perhaps he has come to open a bank account. Switzerland is certainly less attractive than it was for French savers. Or perhaps I would conclude that Mr Hollande fancied a day away from the office and a very unattractive in-tray.

Jeff Daniels

Jeff Daniels reviews

Mayhem in Monte Carlo

Long-term Monaco resident and former ad-man Mike Ferrier's second book in a trilogy, Mayhem in Monte Carlo, is at first sight a mixed bag of intelligent insight and mundane stereotyping. And as many new writers do, Mike has cut out the middleman. The book can be ordered on Amazon, to be read on a tablet or consumed in book form, a modern form of buying novels that appeals to some more than others...

(more and video)