The Literary Council of the Prince Pierre Foundation of Monaco met at the restaurant La Dame de Pic in Paris to establish the list of authors in the running for the Literary Prize, which honours a renowned French writer for all of his artwork.
The jury selected René De Ceccatty, Annie Ernaux, Linda Lê Tobie Nathan, and Maurizio Serra.
Also selected for the Bourse de la Découverte, a prize awarded to a French author for a first fiction book, was Adeline Baldacchino for One Who Said No (Editions Fayard); Violaine Huisman for Fugitive for Queen (Editions Gallimard); Sébastien Ministru for Learning to Read (Editions Grasset); Bruno Pellegrino for There, August is a Month of Autumn (Editions Zoé); and Agnès Riva for Geography of an Adulterer (Editions L’arbalète/Gallimard).
All of these books will be part of the Reading Marathon, which will start on Wednesday, June 20, at the Monaco Media Library. The Literary Prize and the Discovery Grant will be announced on Thursday, October 4, in Monaco.
Many species of birds occupy cavities, such as hollow trees, interstices on a facade or the spaces under a roof to shelter in the winter and nest in the spring. In an urbanised environment like Monaco, where natural shelters are becoming more rare, man can intervene to provide suitable nesting places.
Monaco’s Environment Department has taken up the challenge and is installing artificial nest boxes to encourage the nesting of a number of bird species in parks and gardens.
In addition to contributing to the conservation of bird populations for their own sake, these boxes help the nesting of small insectivores for natural parasite control. Some nesting boxes are being set up in places with an educational focus to help the study and monitoring of bird populations of scientific interest.
Photo: Michael Alesi/DC
The target species are mainly sparrows, already accustomed to an urban environment, as well as two small raptors – the Scops owl and the kestrel. A preliminary study, carried out by the Conservatoire d’Espaces Naturels of Provence Alpes-Côte d’Azur, identified the nest boxes best adapted to these species and chose the most suitable locations in the gardens and parks of the Principality.
In addition, as part of interdisciplinary practical training in life sciences and technology, nesting boxes for great tits have been designed by a third class of College Charles III and installed in Monaco’s gardens.
Prince Albert’s wealth has come under the spotlight in a report published by the UK publication Business Insider. According to the business news portal, the Sovereign Prince ranks third in a list of 10 European royal houses, with an estimated net worth of one billion US dollars.
Prince Albert reportedly owns about a fourth of the land he reigns over; the Philadelphia-area home of his mother, Grace Kelly, which he purchased in 2016 for an estimated $754,000USD; an antique car collection; shares in the Monte Carlo resort Société des Bains de Mer; and a pricey stamp collection, all of which contribute to the House of Grimaldi’s net worth, Business Insider says.
The Sovereign Prince is listed behind Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, with a net worth of €4 billion, in second place, and topping the list, Prince Hans Adam II of Liechtenstein, with a net worth of €5 billion, much of it in the privately owned bank LGT Group.
Trailing the list of ten is King Philippe of Belgium, with a personal wealth of $13 million.
The winners of the Monte-Carlo Woman of the Year awards were announced at a Gala ceremony in the Salle de la Mer at the Fairmont Monte-Carlo on Monday night, May 14. The theme for the 2018 event was Women in Sport.
Now in its seventh edition, having been created by the journalist Cinzia Sgambati-Colman in 2012, the event is sponsored by Walgreens Alliance Boots, the first global pharmacy-led, health and wellbeing enterprise in the world.
Photo: Axel Bastello/Palais Princier
The overall winner of the Monte-Carlo Woman of the Year Award was Géraldine Rey (France). Géraldine Rey 44, married with two children, grew up between cars and engines, since her father, Jean Jacques Rey, was a rally driver. She always felt excluded from her clearly masculine surroundings and women at that time did not participate in things like the Dakar Rally.
In 2001, Géraldine created the Roses des Sables Trophy (Roses of Sands Trophy) in Morocco with her father, the first rally-that is 100 percent female, technically and economically accessible to all women. It has evolved into a tradition that brings into play the competitive spirit and strategic thinking of women united with values such as solidarity, teamwork and friendship in an area that used to be exclusively for men. In addition to the competitive aspect, the rally helps women and children along the course.
Photo: WSM/Mchael Alesi
The Monaco Award was won by Yelena Isinbaeva (Russia). The pole vault champion and Monaco resident was the first female athlete to clear five metres in her event. In 2013, she set up a foundation that aims to help orphaned children, children left without parental care or those in a difficult life situation to practice sport, as well as to promote mass sport and to support talented athletes.
Isabelle Henchoz (Switzerland) won the Special Award. Having taught, among many others, the future Princess Diana at a finishing school near Gstaad, Isabelle found herself confined to a wheelchair after an illness in 2008. She has gone on to serve on the committee of Capdenho, a charity whose objective is to contribute to the leisure and adapted sports of people with physical and/or mental handicaps, suffering from an illness or any other difficulty hindering them in their daily autonomy. She is active in promoting the use of specially adapted tandem skis for the disabled.
On Wednesday, May 16, Grimaldi Forum, which regularly holds events to raise public awareness about environment preservation, has chosen to share a living testimony of the impacts of deforestation on the planets primary forests, by organising an exceptional meeting with Chief Papou Mundiya Kepanga.
Leader of the Kobe Tumbiali community, Mundiya Kepanga is a respected leader of the Huli tribe in Papua New Guinea. Living in the heart of one of the primary forests of the globe, he leads a traditional life. However, since 2003 he has travelled around Europe giving lectures at the invitation of museums, researchers and schools. Additionally, he has spoken on numerous occasions at international symposia in Paris (COP21, UNESCO), in London (GEM Report UNESCO) and in New York, inviting others to reflect on the way they look at indigenous peoples and themselves.
With a strong commitment to the defence of the environment and especially the primary forest of his country, Mundiya Kepanga is at the origin of eco-development programmes such as the creation of a bed and breakfast, a source of essential income for his entire village, and a voice of indigenous peoples and an observer of the world that he comments on in a very personal way.
TV channel Arte will also broadcast the documentary, which will be screened during the evening at the Grimaldi Forum, “Brothers of the trees,” the film made by Marc Dozier and Luc Marescot. The film carries a message dedicated to all mankind: our forest is a universal heritage that produces the oxygen we all breathe and must be safeguarded. It is a call to protect all the primary forests of the globe that reminds us that we are all brothers of the trees.
As the preservation of the planet also involves younger generations, in the morning Grimaldi Forum, in collaboration with the Directorate of National Education, Youth and Sports of Monaco, a private screening of a special documentary film on the Chief for fourth and fifth grade Monaco students who will also have the chance to talk to Chief Kepanga.
HE Rémi Mortier and Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni. Photo: DR
HE Rémi Mortier, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Principality of Monaco to the Council of Europe, and Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, signed a biannual cooperation agreement between Monaco and the Council on Wednesday, May 9.
Monaco has reaffirmed its support for the Council of Europe by pledging to pay a minimum amount of €240,000 activities over the period 2018-2019.
The projects financed by the Prince’s Government are in line with the priority areas of engagement of the Principality internationally and concern more specifically five areas in which the Council of Europe has demonstrated recognised: Combat violence against women, domestic violence and violence against children in the Southern Mediterranean region; produce an Action Plan on the protection of refugee and migrant children in Europe; Strengthen the effectiveness of the European Court of Human Rights; Support the implementation of the Budapest Convention on combating cybercriminality; Support for achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals on the environment, protection of biodiversity and climate change through the Bern Convention.
In view of the budgetary circumstances currently facing the Council of Europe, the Ambassador has also signed an agreement for the payment of an exceptional contribution of €8,000 to GRECO (Group of States against Corruption) to support its activities in 2018.
Lastly, €50,000 were paid by the Principality to support the organisation’s initiatives against money laundering and terrorist financing in the States and territories covered by MONEYVAL, the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism.
