Day: 4 February 2018

Created in Canada fifteen years ago, the “Students on Ice” programme offers young students the opportunity to take part in an educational cruise every summer where they come into contact with the realities of the Arctic region and discover how it is evolving.

Over the past 11 years, thanks to a partnership between the Department of Education, Youth and Sports and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, two students from the sixth form in the Principality are selected each winter to take part in this once-in-a lifetime experience.

In the presence of Prince Albert, the 2018 selection process, which will pick two winners from the “Life without plastic” contest, was launched on Friday at the Lycée Technique et Hôtelier in Monaco.

On hand were the winners of the 2017 edition, Léa Collange, and Célia Benkerrache, and Geoff Green, the Founding President of Students on Ice, presented the programme for the 2018 mission.

After, the Sovereign Prince visited the exhibition “Climate Change in Lapland – What can we do?” accompanied by curator Stéphanie Lefrère. The exhibition is located in the hall of the Auditorium at the Lycée technique.

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HE Carole Lanteri, Ambassador and Representative of the Principality to the United Nations Office in Geneva, participated in a Divonne-les-Bains retreat on Thursday, February 1, in the Francophone Group, dedicated to strengthening the Human Rights Council.

Ambassadors and experts from the member countries of the Group of Francophone states discussed the current challenges facing the UN Human Rights Council. Topics – such as the effectiveness of decisions taken, budgetary constraints, the efficiency of working methods and respect for multilingualism – were on the table.

Ms Lanteri co-chaired, together with the Ambassador of Switzerland, the session on challenges related to the internal functioning of the Human Rights Council. This session discussed the problems of delegations following the work of the Council, in particular the multiplication of the number of texts negotiated and adopted as well as the large number of meetings necessary to respect the calendar. The discussions held during this session threw up some solutions to meet the challenges.

The Human Rights Council is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly. As the main United Nations forum for the promotion and protection of human rights, the Council is based in Geneva, where it holds three annual sessions. It is composed of 47 States elected by the General Assembly for a period of three years.

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Organisers of the Monaco Yacht Show have issued a statement emphasising that attendees of this years show should book hotels through the official booking partner, Monaco Check-In.

In a statement issued on Friday, February 2, the MYS Organising Committee said: “You might have already been contacted by companies for booking your hotel nights for the 2018 Monaco Yacht Show (September 26 to 29).

“The MYS exclusively partners with the agency Monaco Check-In to offer you the best rates to stay in Monaco during the show.”

The statement adds that any other company that pretends to partner with the Monaco Yacht Show for selling hotel nights is “totally wrong.”

“As organisers of the MYS, our aim is to recommend you the most loyal and viable suppliers for preparing your participation.”

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Nice City Council voted to increase the rate of housing tax for second homes at a public meeting on Friday, February 2, local French daily Monaco-Matin reports.

Until now, second home owners were required to pay housing tax at a 20 percent higher rate than principal home owners, but from 2019 the surcharge will increase to 60 percent, the ceiling allowed by French law.

The opposition on the City Council agreed with the move, with Socialist leader Patrick Allemand saying that someone who pays for a second home in Nice has the means to pay a few hundred euros of additional housing tax.

The only opponent of the tax hike was Benoit Kandel, well-known for his liberal economic outlook.

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