Prince Albert with 2017 Students on Ice Léa Collange, and Célia Benkerrache and Geoff Green, Founding President of Students on Ice. Photo: E.Mathon/Palais Princier
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.
Students on Ice 2018. Photo: E.Mathon/Palais Princier
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.
HE Valentin Zellweger Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations Office at Geneva; Eric Tistounet, Head of the Branch of the Human Rights Council of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and HE Carole Lanteri, Ambassador, Representative of the Principality to the United Nations Office at Geneva. Photo: DR
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.
Marie-Pierre Gramaglia, Minister of Public Works, the Environment and Urban Development; Prince Albert; Richard Marangoni, Director of Public Security; Patrice Cellario, Minister of the Interior; Jacques Wolzok, Trustee of the Monte-Carlo Sun Building. Photo: Manuel Vitali/DC
A new police station was inaugurated on Friday in the Saint Roman district in the presence of Prince Albert, the Minister of Public Works, the Environment and Urban Planning, the Minister of the Interior and the Director of Public Security.
Strategically located at the beginning of the Boulevard d’Italie, on the roof terrace of the Monte-Carlo Sun, the 91-sqm metre space allows for increased police surveillance of the eastern entrance to the Principality and, if necessary, rapid deployment of units on the border zone.
Monaco Yacht Show 2017. Photo: Facebook Monaco Yacht Show
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.”
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.
Prince Albert on the track at St Eval Kart Circuit. Photo: Facebook St Eval Kart Circuit
Prince Albert visited Newquay Wednesday where he “swapped the Monaco Grand Prix for St Eval Kart Circuit”, reports CornwallLive.com.
The soon to be 60-year-old Sovereign flew by private jet into St Mawgan to celebrate the birthday of Jane Hill, a mutual friend of Prince Albert and fellow Olympic bobsledder Tom De La Hunty.
In 2006, Prince Albert attended Mr De la Hunty’s 50th birthday party in Cornwall. For this week’s visit, however, Mr De La Hunty was absent from the festivities as he is coaching the Dutch bobsleigh team at the Winter Olympics in South Korea.
After arriving in Cornwall on Wednedsay, Prince Albert and “his entourage headed to St Eval Kart Circuit for a private race event on Wednesday afternoon” before heading to Captain Jack’s restaurant on Marcus Hill, owned by Ms Hill and her fiancé Robin Foster, Mr De La Hunty’s brother-in-law.
According to Cornwalllive.com, Miss Hill said: “Prince Albert was an Olympic bobsleigh driver, and he knew Tom very well through that, and that’s how we got to know him.
“It was my birthday, and we wanted to invite him over and he came, which was a lovely gesture.
“I also invited some other friends over from Monaco. He flew into Newquay Airport, where we picked him up.
“We discussed what we should do, and we decided to go karting, because my son Tommy is the British open champion. It was a fun thing to do.
Prince Albert and his entourage , including Mark Thomas, at St Eval Kart Circuit. Photo: Facebook St Eval Kart Circuit
“Prince Albert has got to know our children, and he has followed my son’s karting career with interest.
“Tommy has Albert’s endorsement on his kart, and they are very close. So the prince decided to go karting with us.
“In the evening we had dinner at our restaurant, Captain Jack’s. We opened the restaurant for him. Our son is chef and he cooked us a lovely meal, and we had a good time.
“He was only here for a day, because he obviously has other commitments, and we all stayed at the Victoria Hotel, because Albert also knows the owners.
“It’s absolutely mad, but that’s what we did.”
Craig Broad, manager at St Eval Kart Circuit, commented that the group was in a “party mood”.
Prince Albert and his entourage , including Mark Thomas, at St Eval Kart Circuit. Photo: Facebook St Eval Kart Circuit
Mr Broad said: “Prince Albert came over for a friend’s birthday, who lives in Newquay. We had about 48 hours’ notice for him to come down, and there was a security inspection.
“He came over on Wednesday afternoon, there were about 14 people in the party. I can’t give names, but there were some high up there people, including film producers.
“He was here for about an hour and a half. It was a slight shame because they got caught in the hail.
“But the group was in quite the party mood, playing games among themselves. It was an upbeat group.
“The Prince didn’t talk about Newquay, or Cornwall, but he was very approachable and a really nice guy.
“He chatted to us, shook our hands and said thank you.
Prince Albert gets ready to go karting. Photo: Facebook St Eval Kart Circuit
“We get celebrities popping in quite often, I must admit, but it’s the first time we’ve had royalty here,” he added.
“Normal it will be celebs who are on TV; we get Nick Knowles popping in quite a bit, we’ve had Gordon Ramsay and other chefs, and EastEnders stars among others.
“It’s a crazy, crazy world.”
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