Day: 18 December 2016

Local French-language daily Monaco-Matin is to have new proprietors. Majority ownership of the local title, together with sister publications Nice-Matin and Var-Matin, currently held by a workers’ cooperative, will be transferred to the Belgian group Tethys. The purchase process will take place in increments and last until 2019, with Tethys holding 20 percent of the titles at the outset.

The Nice-Matin Group had been in bankruptcy protection before the workers’ cooperative took over its operation in December 2014. A new investor had been sought from the end of last year, and an initial agreement with Nethys was announced in May this year.

The Belgian group, which publishes francophone regional titles in its homeland, has said it will invest “the necessary amounts” to guarantee the future of the local titles. Tethys, with annual turnover of €750 million, has holdings in telecom and energy companies as well as in the media.

One more city has been added to the departure points of the new Rally Monte-Carlo Classique. Lisbon joins Barcelona, Bad Homburg, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Reims and Stockholm as a starting city, each with a maximum of ten cars.

This fun-only event celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Rally Monte-Carlo Historique, and F.I.A. or FIVA identities form will not be needed, Monaco’s Automobile Club says.

However, only exceptional cars, of a same model that actually participated in a Rally Monte Carlo between 1911 and 1980, will be accepted. The Rally starts on Wednesday, January 25. More information is available at Automobile Club de Monaco.

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A reminder that the Post Office on Place des Moulins will reopen on Tuesday, December 20, at 8 am, following its closure of three weeks.

A third window has been added to the busy office, which is open weekdays from 8 am to 7 pm weekdays and to 1 pm on Saturday, in order to provide users with faster service.

On the same day, the Post Office at Larvotto, which has been coping with extra business during the last few weeks, will be closed as work continues on the nearby Palais de la Plage development.

With one week to go before the jolly man in the red suit makes an appearance, there are quite a few festive events Sunday in the Principality to get into the holiday spirit.

The Children’s Nativity Play, a traditional Christmas pageant with children acting out the birth of Jesus, takes place during the 10:30 am family service at St Paul’s Anglican Church on ave Grande-Bretagne.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36QiuRc_3I8

At 11 am, the classic “Singing in the Rain”, starring (for those in the back of the class) Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor, has been organised by Monaco Audiovisual Archives, in association with the Ballets de Monte-Carlo, at Grimaldi Forum’s Salle Camille. Free entrance with reservation at the ticket office (+377 99 99 30 00) or from the Casino Atrium.

A Christmas concert by the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra takes place at 4 pm at Eglise Saint-Charles (4 ave Saint Charles). Conducted by Andrei Feher and featuring Sara Gouzy (soprano), Isabelle Druet (mezzo-soprano), Julia Brian (contralto), François Rougier and Thomas Dolié (tenors) and the Camerata Apollonia Choir, also on the programme is Camille Saint-Saëns.

What the Evening Standard referred to as “former figure skaters who have thrown out the sequins and smiles to create a new ice dance for the 21st century”, Le Patin Libre, the Contemporary Skating Company, organised by the Monaco Dance Forum, have a performance of “Confidences” at 5:30 at the skating rink (Stade Nautique Rainier III). Show time: 5:30 pm, free entrance without reservation, on a first come, first serve basis.

A busy day at St Paul’s. After the morning nativity play, the traditional Christmas carols and worship service, a celebration of Christmas readings and carols, starts at 7:30 pm.

To end the day, for football fans (and those looking for any opportunity to wear Christmas red), at 9 pm, AS Monaco – the highest-scoring team in Europe’s top leagues with 53 goals in 17 Ligue 1 matches – take on Lyon in the French Premier League Football Championship at home.

AS Monaco will face Manchester February 21, 2017, at Etihad Stadium.