Day: 25 June 2018

The exemplary research of Distinguished Professor Terry Hughes, coral reef scientist and Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies based at James Cook University, has been honoured by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, EurekAlert reports.

At a prestigious ceremony held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, HSH Prince Albert presented Professor Hughes with the 2018 Climate Change Award, recognising his contribution to advancing understanding of the influence of rapid climate change on the world’s coral reefs.

“I wanted to create these Awards in order to offer all my support to the exceptional men and women who have made a commitment to saving our planet,” Prince Albert said.

Professor Hughes is internationally renowned for his outstanding research leadership in the field of coral reef ecology and his work to raise the profile of coral reefs and their vulnerability to unchecked climate change.

In 2016, Professor Hughes convened the National Coral Reef Taskforce to coordinate Australia’s response during the global mass coral bleaching event.
Later that year, Professor Hughes was recognised by Nature magazine as one of Nature’s “Top Ten People Who Mattered This Year” for his leadership in responding to this unprecedented event.

Nature dubbed him “Reef Sentinel” for the global role he plays in applying multi-disciplinary science to securing reef sustainability.

Professor Hughes said he was delighted to receive the award. “I am deeply grateful to Prince Albert and the Foundation for honouring me in this way, and I would like to acknowledge the important contribution by many, many colleagues around the world.”

Professor Hughes is one of the world’s most highly cited coral reef scientists. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, and a recipient of the International Society for Reef Studies’ Darwin Medal and an Einstein Professorship from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Rack Centre, Africa’s Premium Data Centre and the leading carrier neutral Tier III constructed facility certified colocation data centre provider, has been honoured with the prestigious Datacloud Award for regional excellence in the Data Centre Geographical Location category, Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper reports.

The Datacloud Europe Award event, held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, is globally regarded as the world’s defining accolade for the Data centre and cloud industry. The awards recognise the leading individuals and companies shaping the global data economy and honour innovation, service excellence, and diversity.

Mr Phillip Low, Chairman of Broadgroup, parent company of Data Economy Magazine and organiser of the award ceremony, said “Globally relevant, the Datacloud Awards have yet again both delighted and surprised reflecting the incredible dynamism, talent and spirit that exists in the industry.”

Ayotunde Coker MD Rack Centre said: “We are truly proud of this award to Rack Centre representing Nigeria and West Africa. Last year we were finalist in one category, and this year, finalist in two categories and selected as winner by an august panel of judges.

“We continue to strive to sustain excellence, world class quality and market leadership in all we do and the recognition at such prestigious global awards is fantastic recognition for Nigeria.”

As part of His regular visits to territories with historic ties to His family, HSH Prince Albert II went to the Essonne Department of France on June 19 for a friendly visit tracing His ancestors’ local connections.

The Princes of Monaco bear, among others, the historical titles of Count of Longjumeau, Baron of Massy and Marquis of Chilly, inherited from their ancestor Honoré IV through his marriage to Louise d’Aumont-Mazarin in 1777, which produced two Princes of Monaco: Honoré V and Florestan I, the latter being HSH Prince Albert II’s great-great-great-great-grandfather.

The Sovereign Prince was enthusiastically welcomed in the towns of Longjumeau, Massy and Chilly-Mazarin.

Greeted at the Château du Clos Saint-Cyr de Longjumeau by mayor Sandrine Gelot and members of her town council, the Prince discovered the Biodiversity Zone in the adjoining Nativelle Park. With its greenhouses, landscaped garden, pond and Maison de l’Abeille (Bee House), it was renamed Albert II of Monaco Biodiversity Zone. With the CME (Children’s Town Council), the Sovereign planted an olive tree, before visiting an exhibition prepared by Renaissance et culture, the local heritage association.

In Massy, the Prince was greeted in the wedding hall at Town Hall by mayor Nicolas Samsoen, town council members and Vincent Delahaye, former mayor of Massy and vice president of the French Senate. He visited the Opéra de Massy where the Opéra de Monte-Carlo will perform Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto in May 2019. This opera house is also home to an educational facility for children, now called “Espace Pédagogique Prince de Monaco”.

The Prince then proceeded to Chilly-Mazarin, where the Town Hall stands in the Park of the Sovereign’s ancestors’ old château. Greeted by Mayor Jean-Claude Beneytou and town council members, the Prince attended a benediction in the Saint-Étienne church, recently restored with the Sovereign’s support. The tombs of the Princes of Monaco’s ancestors are there and a stained-glass window, offered by Prince Albert I, bears the inscription In memory of the Princes of Monaco, last seigneurs of Chilly.

After the benediction, the Prince, the mayor and schoolchildren planted two olive trees in front of the church before the inauguration of an exhibition hall in the Town Hall named for Louise d’Aumont, Marquise of Chilly.

The Prince visited an exhibition there on the ties between Chilly-Mazarin and Monaco. A book has been published to mark the occasion, Des Seigneurs de Chilly aux Princes de Monaco.
This day ended with a symphonic concert offered by students from the Conservatoire de Chilly-Mazarin/Longjumeau.

Within a month of violent hailstorms destroying a large part of the wine harvest in parts of France, including the Bordeaux region, hailstones the size of ping pong balls hit the Var on Sunday, causing more damage to vineyards as well as to property and vehicles.

“It was very brief, but very intense,” the mayor of the town of Carnoules told Var-Matin. Electricity was cut to scores of properties.

On Monday morning, the mayor announced that the Prefecture has refused to consider hail as a form of natural disaster, on the grounds that hail is included in the clauses of insurance contracts.

Violent hailstorms had ravaged parts of the Bordeaux wine region at the end of May, destroying thousands of hectares of vines.

Last year the Bordeaux region suffered one of its worst harvests in history with a fall of 39 percent on the year due to late frosts, which lead to a jump in prices.