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Month: August 2021

"The worst has been avoided, but the battle continues.”

by: Stephanie Horsman
18/08/2021

French President Emmanuel Macron left his holiday at Fort Brégançon on Tuesday to come see first-hand the wildfire situation in the Var, which he described as a consequence of climate change.
President Emmanuel Macron applauded the country’s “national solidarity” on Tuesday afternoon on his visit to meet with firefighters in the fire-stricken Var region where thousands of hectares of land have been consumed by flames since Monday.
The president cited the collective efforts made by fire brigades all over the country who offered men and equipment to help douse the blaze.
“Today, 11 Canadairs were mobilised on this fire, where France has 12″, said the head of state, who was joined by Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin.
Macron has been on holiday at the presidential retreat at Fort Brégançon, also located in the Var, and thus not far from the fires.
“It is clear that when there is strong drought and wind, these events are triggered (…) We must have humility, but climate change will lead us to have these kinds of events,” he said, adding, “The worst has been avoided, but the battle continues.”
The fire, which started Monday evening in the hinterland of the Var, has seen the evacuation of some 7,000 people so far, both tourists and residents. To house them, 15 reception centres have been activated in the eight municipalities on the Var coast. Two departmental roads remain closed to traffic.
Firefighters have been using every means available to contain, or even just control the blaze, but difficult terrain, high temperatures and low humidity have made an already challenging situation more so. One positive is that the mistral winds, which caused the fire to initially spread very rapidly, have now died down.
“There is no more wind at all, so we will be busy drowning all the edges,” said a spokesperson for the Var firefighters. “The situation is no longer alarming as it was last night, but it remains worrying,” he added.
The fire area covers 6,675 hectares with 4,000 of those burned, according to the fire brigade. A thousand firefighters and 225 vehicles have gathered from all over to France to assist in putting out the fire. So far, no casualties have been reported, though three firefighters have been injured.
 
 
Photo by Aurelien Ferriere Photographie
 
 
 

Down but not out

by: Stephanie Horsman
18/08/2021

The Red and Whites couldn’t quite pull off the win on Tuesday night in their Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk, but they still have another chance when they head to enemy territory next Wednesday.
AS Monaco fans are keeping Champions League playoff hopes alive despite a nil to one loss against Ukrainian powerhouses Shakhtar Donetsk at Stade Louis II.
Coach Niko Kovac employed his usual 4-4-2 line-up, pulling out all the stops, but still this wasn’t enough to get the win.
Goalkeeper Radoslaw Majecki had his work cut out from the start, with the first attempt on goal coming at nine minutes in. He was able to hold the Ukrainians off until the 19th minute when Pedrinho scored the opener.
Monaco sprang into action after the wake-up call and made some good attempts, the first coming at 23 minutes in with a header from Benoît Badiashile, followed quickly by tries from team stalwarts Wissam Ben Yedder and Kevin Volland, then a shot from Aurelien Tchouameni, but the conversion just kept eluding them.
“In the first 20 minutes we didn’t play the way we wanted,” said Coach Kovac. “Without the ball we were fine, we followed what was planned tactically, but the problem was that we lost the ball too quickly. After the goal we improved, we played our game, we were physically good, we created a lot of chances but we lacked a finish touch in front of goal.”
Though Monaco played hard much of the game, this doesn’t add up to much if no points are scored.
“We know we have to win to stay alive in this competition,” he went on to say. “We have to forget about those first 20 minutes, and analyse what the problem that I mentioned before were. We still believe in our chances because we dominated for 70 minutes and that’s the way we have to play in the return leg. There is no reason to think that we cannot qualify. I said it before the game, there are two legs and maybe we will have to play more than 180 minutes if we go into extra time. I know the players are disappointed, but this is no reason to give up on our dream. Last season, we fought really hard, for 38 rounds, to have this opportunity, so we have to believe in ourselves.”
ASM right back, Djibril Sidibé, backed up his coach’s philosophy, saying, “We lost the first leg but there are 90 minutes left. In the past, we have overcome difficult situations, for example I remember the match against Manchester City in 2017. We have to play a very good match.”
The team will have their chance next week when they go on the road to play the second leg on Wednesday 25th August at 8pm. Before that, though, they must face off against RC Lens on Saturday at 5pm for Ligue 1 action.
 
 
 
Monaco Life with AS Monaco press release, photo by AS Monaco
 
 
 

Netflix co-founder announces major new digital investment

by: Cassandra Tanti
18/08/2021

Mitch Lowe, co-founder of Netflix and president of MoviePass and Redbox, has joined the $3.5 million investment fund UseCrypt. The announcement took place in Monaco during the project’s launch at the Yacht Club of Monaco.
UseCrypt is a global, decentralised communications system that connects users and eliminates intermediaries. The original founders of the project are a group of Polish cryptographers and entrepreneurs. Since April 2019, the company is now owned by the American-Israeli Lazar Vision Fund led by Yuval Rabin. The application has been tested by the world’s leading authorities in the field of cybersecurity, including Oded Vanunu of Checkpoint Software Technologies.
UseCrypt is an all-in-one communications service, combining capabilities of applications such as Zoom, Dropbox, and WhatsApp with total user privacy and security through eight levels of cryptographic technology. The primary product of UseCrypt is UseCrypt Messenger, an application that encrypts all smartphone messages, preventing the extraction of conversational data from any device.
The application will be available with a monthly subscription. According to Lowe, “UseCrypt will be a value proposition, about a 70% discount from what you would pay for these unlimited services individually. Every month, users will be given a token to pay for the next months or to keep as an asset. It is a very interesting way to introduce people to cryptocurrencies, something that is clearly on an upward trend.”
The platforms offered include UseCrypt Messenger, UseCrypt Video, and UseCrypt Live, a streaming platform available to subscribers of the premium service, enabling chat and live streaming of entertainment industry icons, which is just making its debut.
“Until now, I have received shares in return for advising companies with which I have worked with. UseCrypt is the first project in which I have decided to invest a significant amount privately and dedicate my personal commitment to make UseCrypt successful. It offers hope to give people back genuine privacy in the area of communication,” said Mitch   Lowe during the UseCrypt reception at Yacht Club de Monaco.
UseCrypt’s tentative roll-out will be September.
 
Photo: Mitch Lowe receives an award presented by Guillaume Rose, CEO of the Monaco Economic Board
 
Monaco Life with press release
 
 
 

Prince’s Foundation takes stunning exhibition to Italy

by: Cassandra Tanti
17/08/2021

The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s photography exhibition, highlighting the beauty of the natural world and the impact of human activities, will be held Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome from 10th to 20th September 2021. 
The most beautiful photos from the Foundation’s International Environmental Photography Prize will be presented to raise public awareness of the issues surrounding the accelerated loss of biodiversity.
“The choice of theme is significant. It reflects the lessons to be learned from the global crisis we are facing: human health depends on the health of animals and our environment,” says Olivier Wenden, Vice-President and CEO of the Foundation. “The photographs presented invite us to reflect on our relationship with wildlife and urge us to act in favour of global health.”
The city of Rome has given its patronage to the exhibition, which follows on from the first edition of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation’s Environmental Photography Prize. This competition involved nearly 6,000 photographs submitted by around 1,400 photographers from all over the world, in three categories: ‘Incredible Wildlife’, ‘Wildlife in Crisis’ and ‘Reasons for Hope’. The photographs illustrate the contrast between the beauty of wildlife and the terrible impact of human activities on natural habitats.
“It is imperative to raise public awareness of the need to develop a more harmonious relationship with nature. We are honoured that the city of Rome shares this conviction and has agreed to host this event,” says Marco Colasanti, President of the Foundation’s Italian branch.
The exhibition can be viewed online at: https://exposition.fpa2.org/online-exhibition/
 
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The winning photos of the Prince’s Environmental Awards

 
 
 
 
 
Photograph by Evegeny Borisov
 

Wildfire ravages the Var

by: Stephanie Horsman
17/08/2021

Firefighters are battling a massive wildfire that has so far claimed over 5,000 hectares in the Var, forcing evacuations and destroying properties. 

The blaze has mobilised 700 firefighters from the region, along with some from the neighbouring Alpes-Maritimes, reminding people of the dangers that the hot and dry weather can bring.

The fire started on Monday at around 5:45pm in Gonfaron and firefighters spent all day and night trying to get it under some sort of control. The mistral winds, which reached gusts of up to 70km/hour, have made efforts incredibly difficult. By dawn on Tuesday, the Massif des Maures, north-east of Toulon, was an eerie moonscape.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said that, “weather conditions are unfavourable” in what seems a vast understatement. He announced he will be visiting the affected area to monitor the situation. 

In addition to the manpower on the ground, helicopters and Canadair planes have been deployed to try and douse the blaze.

“The speed of propagation of the fire is out of the ordinary,” said Fire Captain Olivier Pecot. “Normally with these conditions, a fire moves at 1,000 meters per hour. There, it was moving and even again this night at 4,000 metres per hour.”

A crisis unit has been set up in the area as authorities fear the worst is yet to come. The fire is not under control, and flames are still being battled in the Plain des Maures and in the Golfe de Saint-Tropez areas.

So far, over a hundred homes have been affected, though on a positive note, there are no reported casualties. A dozen campsites have been cleared as a precaution and one site in Grimaud has been completely destroyed.

Several roads are closed to traffic including the RD33 from Le Luc to Les Mayons, RD75 from Gonfaron to La Garde-Freinet, RD558 from La Gardeto Freinet-Grimaud, RD14 and RD2048 in Grimaud, RD27 in La Môle. The prefecture is also asking residents not to travel by car between Bormes-les-Mimosas and Golde de Saint-Tropez, in both directions.

 The fire is one of the biggest to hit the region this summer and is reminiscent of the fires that decimated the area in 2003 when more than 54,000 hectares (133,500 acres) burned, killing three firefighters and two British tourists.

 

 
Photo by Sarah Luccarini
 
 

Which shopping centres now request a health pass?

by: Cassandra Tanti
17/08/2021

As of 16th August, people wanting to enter major shopping centres must present a health pass. One of the Riviera’s most popular shopping malls has managed to skip the list, while furniture giant Ikea hasn’t been so lucky.

The French government has mandated health passes at shopping centres larger than 20,000sqm in departments where the incidence rate exceeds 200 per 100,000 inhabitants over the period of one week.

In the Alpes-Maritimes on Tuesday, the incidence rate was 580.

As a result, several shopping malls are affected: Cap 3000 in Saint-Laurent-du-Var, Auchan in La Trinité, both Carrefour Lingostière and TNL in Nice, the Carrefour in Antibes and the Giant Casino in Mandelieu-la-Napoule.

Polygone Riviera in Cagnes-sur-Mer is not included in this list because it is an open-air shopping centre.

In the Var, there are also six shopping centres that will demand a health pass of customers: Auchan in La Seyne-sur-Mer, Carrefour in Ollioules, Carrefour Mayol-Toulon, Carrefour Grand Var Ouest in La Valette du Var, Géant Casino Center Azur in Hyères, and Ikea in Toulon.

Additionally, the obligation to wear a mask in the Alpes-Maritimes and the prohibition of alcohol consumption on public streets and amplified musical activity have been renewed.

A health pass can be obtained by presenting proof full vaccination, a negative PCR test carried out by an approved healthcare professional less than 72 hours prior to entry, or a certificate showing antibodies from previous infection.