Day: 1 September 2016

Described as the “strongman” of Monaco’s basketball team, club president Ukrainian Sergei Dyadechko was the victim of a break in at his Monaco apartment, according to the French-language press.

A strongbox was stolen at his home during the night of August 12 and 13, although the robbery wasn’t discovered until August 26. The safe, weighing 250 kg, contained jewellery valued at €2 million, sources are reporting.

Register for amateur basketball club at asmonacobasket.com

AS Monaco’s Vice-President, Vadim Vasilyev has told supporters that despite attempts by big European clubs to sign some of its players in the last few days of the transfer window, the soccer club has successfully chosen to keep all of the key players in its squad.

“We have merely allowed certain players to leave on loan in order to further their development. Consequently, I declare AS Monaco’s transfer business finished. I believe in our team and am convinced that we are set for a great season. More than ever, we will need your support.”

On transfer deadline day Wednesday, Monaco received a huge bid from a Manchester club for a teenager who is still pretty much unknown. Following Manchester United’s purchase of Anthony Martial last year, this time around it was Manchester City making the extraordinary bid for 17-year-old Kylian Mbappe, according to 101greatgoals.com.

L’Equipe reported that Monaco rejected a €40 million offer from the Premier League giants. The attacker broke into the first-team last season and became the club’s youngest-ever goal scorer.

Security at French schools has been enhanced for the start of the new school year. Despite limited resources, the government has placed a priority on protecting schoolchildren and teachers from the threat of terrorist attacks.

Providing extra security had become the number-one priority for school principals as pupils went back to school on Thursday, September 1, and 3,000 gendarmerie reservists were deployed for the day. However, the exercise was a one-day wonder, staged in part to put parents minds at ease after the recent atrocities in France, including the Bastille Day attack in Nice that cost the lives of 86 people, including many children.

A number of parents asked if this show of force would last longer, but manpower constraints will mean that mobile patrols will take its place. Future efforts will concentrate on identifying and securing suspect vehicles found parked near school entrances, installing security video-phones at entrances, and possibly gates that scan for metallic materials.

The city of Nice has joined other local authorities in suspending the anti-burkini ordinance introduced on August 19. The move followed a ruling of France’s Council of State invalidating a similar ordinance introduced by Villeneuve-Loubet. Menton withdrew its own ordinance on Wednesday night.

The moves mark an important victory for the Committee Against Islamophobia in France and the League for Human Rights. The European Convention on Human Rights declared the local rulings as discriminatory. Under Article 9 of the European Convention, freedom of religion includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and the freedom to exercise religion or belief publicly or privately, alone or with others. Advocates of repealing the local burkini bans have argued that beach dress is a matter of choice.

Internationally, the burkini bans have been met with incredulity, as police officers patrolled French beaches ordering women to take off more clothes.