The Monaco Government has issued a storm warning from midnight on Wednesday until 6 am on Thursday, September 15. Météo-France has predicted an episode of intense rain with wind gusts in excess of 70 kph, the Government said.
Not only should residents of the Principality take the usual precautions to prevent falling objects, particularly from exposed balconies, but people should also avoid venturing out of doors during this period, the authorities said.
The orange alert is also for the Alpes-Maritimes where heavy rains and flood risk warnings are already in effect.
A former player for AS Monaco football club, Franck Dumas, has been sentenced in his absence to three years in jail for tax evasion. It was claimed in court in Caen that Dumas failed to declare revenues from 2011 until 2013 as coach for the Norman club, where he worked from 2005 until 2012.
The court heard that Dumas received €1.395 million from Caen in 2012. “In sport there are sometimes a few euros that evaporate,” said the President of the Criminal Court of Caen Christophe Subts. He said that the former Monaco player owes the French taxman a total of €557,496 for the period when he led Stade Malherbe Caen, before moving to Arles and later to Morocco, Laos and Cambodia.
The magistrate said that the attitude of the Caen football club was “scandalous” in making payments to a personal account. Dumas’ companion was also heavily criticised.
Tax inspector Michel Dieder said that Dumas had a reputation for “living large”. “He made substantial cash withdrawals. He apparently gambled at the casino. He had no difficulty squandering his money.”
Following the hearing, Dumas, currently residing in Equatorial Guinea, told the French sports magazine L’Equipe: “I’m obviously going to appeal. And I’ll be there at the [full] trial. Contrary to what I read, the court knew that I could not be here today. I warned everybody. What amazes me also is the decision that requires the sentence to be displayed on the door of the Stadium Ornano in Caen for a month.”
One man dead, four others injured on cruise ship in Marseille
Harmony of the Seas. Photo: Kees Torn
One person has been killed and four others injured – two critically – after a lifeboat fell from the world’s biggest cruise liner, Harmony of the Seas, which was docked in the French port of Marseille on Tuesday morning.
According to La Provence, the local newspaper, five members of the ship’s navigation crew were on board when the lifeboat became detached.
The accident is understood to have taken place during a basic security drill.
“One person has died and four suffered multiple injuries with two in a critical condition and two seriously hurt but stable,” said a spokesman for Marseille’s marine emergency service. “The lifeboat became detached” from the boat owned by Royal Caribbean, an American company, said a police source.
Julien Ruas, of the Marseille marine services, said the lifeboat “fell 10 metres” with the five people inside. “All were members of the crew,” he said. The deceased was a 42- year-old man of Philippine nationality. At 1,188 feet from bow to stern, Harmony of the Seas is 125 feet longer than the height of the Eiffel Tower and one foot longer than the previous record-breaking cruise ships Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas. (Sources: Figaro, Daily Telegraph, La Provence)
Record 2,839 participants at Les Rendez-vous de Semtembre. Photo: Twitter RVS2016
Reinsurance firms meeting in Monaco this week at the 60th edition of Les Rendez-vous de Septembre believe that premiums will more or less stabilise in 2016 after five years of decline. The $600 billion reinsurance market is a backstop for insurers when faced with heavy claims for events such as natural disasters.
The annual gathering, the most important in the industry, always precedes the Monaco Yacht Show.
“The rate decreases have slowed down and we actually have seen a more flattish market,” Ulrich Wallin, chief executive of Hannover Re, told a media briefing. “Things look a little more optimistic than a year ago … (but) we are not expecting a broad-based hardening of the market as yet,” he added.
Ratings agencies, speaking last week, said premiums could fall by up to five percent in 2017, following similar price falls this year, which had hit returns. Reinsurers’ return on equity averaged 8.6 percent at the end of June, down from 10.3 percent at the end of 2015, ratings agency Moody’s said.
“The worst-hit reinsurers are likely to be smaller, less diversified and operating in markets where premiums have fallen to the point where they are barely covering the cost of capital,” Fitch said. “These firms may become acquisition targets as stresses leave them more likely to accept lower valuations.”
Professionals decry “shipwreck” of yachting industry
Photo: Facebook ECPY
The Committee of European Yachting Professionals (ECPY) and the organisation that manages the ports of Nice, Cannes, Villefranche and Golfe-Juan – CCI Nice Côte d’Azur – have joined in raising the alarm over a crisis in the yachting sector. Of most concern is the raising of taxes and fees and the reintroduction of rules and regulations that had fallen into disuse.
The economic and regulatory burden is now so heavy that yacht owners are considering moving their vessels to other Mediterranean jurisdictions, they say. The yachting sector has doubled in size over the last ten years and the prospects for further growth are excellent, but France risks losing a large part of the industry that helps support local economies.
French taxation as applied to the yachting sector is also very complex, the CCI says. The organisation is resorting to social media to get its message across and has launched a Linkedin group on “taxation for yachting” as well as producing a short explanatory film on the subject.
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The Monaco Government has issued a storm warning from midnight on Wednesday until 6 am on Thursday, September 15. Météo-France has predicted an episode of intense rain with wind gusts in excess of 70 kph, the Government said.
