Minister of State, Serge Telle, has sent condolences to Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, following the terror attack at a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday night in which 12 people lost their lives and in which the perpetrator used a truck to mow down his victims.
“In the name of the Prince’s Government and in my own name, I would like to express my sadness and my profound solidarity with yourself, the German people, to the victims and their families.”
“My thoughts go out equally to those who were injured in the attack and to everyone who has been deeply shocked by this horrible event,” Mr Telle said.
Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer (SBM) has reopened the Sun Casino after a complete renovation.
The Sun Casino, sitting alongside the Fairmont Monte Carlo, has reinvented the casino experience with typical energy and dynamism, SBM says, adding that the venue is part of its strategy of providing visitors with an enchanting experience, with easy access to the gaming machines as to the tables, and with a bar, a restaurant and live music at the weekends from 9:30 pm.
The most American of SBM’s casinos, the Sun Casino is focussed on a young and cosmopolitan clientele, SBM says.
An operation called “Celebrate as you like,” will run from December 30 until January 7, from 10:30 pm until 3:30 am, while dancing girls will help ring in the arrival of the New Year, from 11 pm on December 31, when two iPhone 7s will be prizes in a draw.
Henning Solberg and co-driver Ilka Minor in their Ford Fiesta RS WRC in the 2015 Monte-Carlo Rally. Photo: McKlein/M-Sport
The registration deadline for the 85th Monte-Carlo Rally passed on Friday, December 16, and the list of participants will be made public by the Automobile Club de Monaco on January 6.
The rally runs from January 16 until January 22 and according to sources close to the event, 75 crews will take part in the opening stage between Monaco and Gap. A total of 89 crews took part in January 2016.
With the sudden withdrawal of VW, Sebastien Ogier, four times winner, will be driving for the UK team M-Sport as drivers set out from the Rock on the first stage.
The Monte-Carlo Rally was inaugurated by Prince Albert I in 1911 as a showcase for innovations in motor cars. In the early days, contestants started out from several European cities to converge on Monte-Carlo. Since 2009, the Monte-Carlo Rally has been the opening event of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
A waitress at a bar in Fontvieille had a narrow escape when she took the wheel of her Smart car after drinking with a customer, Monaco’s Criminal Court was told. Four months pregnant at the time, she crashed her car into road signs, zig-zagged across white lines and ended up lying in the road. She had a blood alcohol level of 1.78 g per litre.
The defendant told the court she still had glass from the smashed windscreen in her head, and she added that it was fortunate that she did not kill anyone and she could keep her unborn child.
Pointing out that the car had been driven on the left-hand side of the road for several minutes and had overturned several times, the public prosecutor asked for a sentence of two months suspended and three fines of €45 each.
“As her child is going to be born,” Cyrielle Colle said, “it is not medically possible to pronounce a prison sentence, but she has a problem with alcohol.”
The defence lawyer added that the defendant’s boyfriend had left her and she had been fired from her job. The court acquiesced.
Three young men from Nice have been sent to jail for an unprovoked attack in Larvotto last summer. The incident took place at around 3 am on the morning of August 7, Monaco’s Criminal Court was told. The victim had stopped to talk to two girls close to Sass Cafe, when the three young men attacked him.
The two brothers and a cousin, aged between 19 and 25, told the court they had acted in self-defence, although security cameras told a different story.
The outbreak of violence provoked the prosecutor to call for prison sentences. “All this because you are blaming this person for speaking English and then going on to French. And what a rampage, the images are extremely shocking … it’s unacceptable.”
The lawyer defending the two brothers asked for clemency, saying that the elder would lose his job in Monaco if sentenced to a jail term while his younger brother acted out of ‘“immaturity.”
The elder brother was given the opportunity to serve his two-month sentence at the weekends, while his younger brother was given eight days and the cousin ten.
Stéphane Valeri, Minister of Health and Social Affairs
The Commission for the Integration of Graduates has met for the seventh consecutive year in order to present its progress report and decide on its initiatives for 2017.
The Commission, under the presidency of the Minister of State, is composed of 13 members, and the Executive Board of the Commission operates under the authority of Stéphane Valeri, Minister of Health and Social Affairs.
Created in February 2010 by the Prince’s Government, the Commission reflects the wish of the Prince to promote the intellectual wealth of Monaco’s youth, as well as encouraging the return to Monaco of expatriate graduates.
The executive unit’s mission is to support young Monegasque and resident graduates and to promote the establishment of bridges, by establishing special contacts with companies in order to facilitate graduates’ access to suitable careers.
At last Thursday’s meeting Minister Valeri highlighted the very positive results of the Executive Unit since the creation of the Commission, stating a total of 134 partnerships have been signed with companies and 208 graduates, of whom 101 were of Monegasque nationality, found a job corresponding to their qualifications.
Of these, 89 were on permanent contracts, while 917 young graduates were received by the Commission, with an individual interview in order to be able, at the end of their training, to benefit from help in finding a first job.
Some 143 graduates have received an internship required by their training programme and 160 young graduates met and learned from professionals, in order to obtain their advice on certain specialisations. (Feature image: Facebook IUM)
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