Day: 8 January 2017

HSH Prince Albert and Princess Charlene last week enjoyed a short and very informal break in Ireland. With a small group of close friends, the royal couple visited Brú na Bóinne, an outstanding prehistoric settlement in County Meath, north of Dublin, and Newgrange, a Stone Age monument that has been described as the jewel in the crown of Ireland’s ancient east.

The group, totalling 18 in all, had lunch at the Monasterboice Inn, where, according to the local press, the Prince had chowder and a local drink called Hophouse 13. The young Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella were not with the party.

Prince Albert has strong links with Ireland, having first visited with Prince Rainier, Princess Grace and older sister Princess Caroline on an official state visit in 1961 that ruled the headlines for several days.

The Prince returned with his bride-to-be shortly before their wedding in 2011. (Feature photo: 56th International Television Festival/Facebook Palais Princier de Monaco)

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Since mid-2016, disposable plastic bags have been prohibited in the Principality. On January 1, 2017, this ban was extended to all plastic bags intended for packing goods in shops, including supermarkets, butchers, markets, pharmacies and other retail outlets.

Only biodegradable bags containing at least 30 percent bio-sourced material will remain authorised. This proportion will increase progressively to at least 40 percent on January 1, 2018, then 50 percent on January 1, 2020, and 60 percent on January 1, 2025. Compostable bags display the NF T51-800 standard or the “OK compost Home” label.

In practice, this prohibition concerns the packaging of bulk goods on the shelves of food shops or on market stands (weighing fruit and vegetables, packing fish, dried fruit, etc.). The move is a strong commitment that constitutes a new step in favour of more environmentally friendly trade. Its implementation rests on the commitment of the merchants and consumers of the Principality.

The Prince’s Government sent in September all residents a bag made of organic cotton, “A bag for life“, accompanied by a flyer, to raise awareness of the use of reusable bags.

During the campaign launch, Marie-Pierre Gramaglia, Minister of Public Works, the Environment and Urban Development, explained the need to reduce the use of plastic bags: “There are 250 billion plastics bags in the Mediterranean sea, and each bag takes 450 years to decompose.”

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This year’s strain of flu is particularly dangerous for the very elderly, according to health professionals in France. In one case, 13 residents of an old people’s home in Lyon have died from the infection since late December and a further six are still in hospital. Out of a total of 110 residents of the Korian Berthelot home, 72 contracted the flu.

Early results from a special inspection of the care home suggest that there was no negligence on the part of the staff, but that the victims died as a result of the virulence of the virus, which preys on the weakness caused by other ailments, such as heart problems and diabetes. The virus A(H3N2) is closely related to the strain that is estimated to have contributed to the deaths of 18,000 people in the winter of 2014/2015. Last winter’s Type B virus was considerably less dangerous.

According to the French health authorities, deaths from flu infection can be reduced by about 35 percent if elderly people are vaccinated. But it is also vital that others around them are also vaccinated, they say.

The government reminds Monaco residents that “health insurance organisations will reimburse the full cost of this vaccine to insured persons and their dependents”.

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