A documentary-style film highlighting the signs to look for in a person being abused has been created in Monaco to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Thursday 25th November.
The latest campaign from the Committee for the Promotion and Protection of Women’s Rights will be revealed on 25th November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
Entitled ‘Violence is something we must be aware of’, the campaign aims to raise public awareness of aggression against women and the fight against such behaviour. It also reminds people of the measures already in place in the Principality and the resources available to people who are being abused.
“Last year, we targeted violence within the household because it is the majority of cases,” said Céline Cottalorda, Interministerial Delegate for Women’s Rights. “This year, we want to give the keys to decipher the mechanisms of manipulation of the perpetrators and show that violence can take different forms: psychological, verbal, sexual, economic or physical.”
The movement emphasises awareness of violence on both sides of the situation, that of the victim and that of those closest to them who may not know what signs to look for. The message is clear: To escape violence, people must already be aware that they are dealing with it.
“On the basis of testimonies of victims, we realise that often the first signs of violence are hardly visible or that we do not want to see them, then there is a real hold that is being put in place of which it is very difficult to get out of,” says Ms Cottalorda.
The 2021 campaign is being rolled out with numerous acts. First, there will be a screening of a short film that will be premiered on the 25th on Monaco Info and social media networks. The film, made documentary-style, features nine women and shows the gradual stages of manipulation taking hold, escalating until more tragic situations occur.
Posters will also be displayed in town, notably at the Fontvieille Shopping Centre where stands will be set up on 26th November from 10am to 6pm. Those manning the stands will be able to answer questions about what to look for and where to get help.
State services including DASO and Public Security associated with AVIP receive, informing and supporting victims; SheCanHeCan and Fight Aids Monaco for the operation ‘No to violence’, inviting men to take action against violence by coming to have their picture taken at their booth; the Soroptimist Club, Aux cœurs des mots, Zonta Club Monaco and Women World Leaders Monaco will also welcome the public with stands.
Additional operations taking place concurrently include a poster campaign on buses by Women World Leaders Monaco, while the Zonta Club Monaco will install tarpaulins on public benches and shoes on the stairs of St Charles Church. Cashiers at Carrefour will wear a badge in orange, the colour of the movement, and, finally, the Prince’s Palace, National Council, Oceanographic Museum will be illuminated in orange on the evening of 25th November.
For more information on the event, visit www.dfm.mc. For those who suspect abuse or are the victims of violence, an anonymous and free hotline has been set up free and round the clock on 0800 91 90 10.
Photo: Céline Cottalorda surrounded by the actresses of the film by Manuel Vitali, Communication Department
Vroom Monaco showcases revolutionary South Korean start-ups
This year’s Vroom summit welcomed innovative, global-minded South Korean start-ups and Monaco Life delved in deeper with two of them: L-Base and its novel treatment for lung cancer, and Prinker with its revolutionary temporary tattoos.
The organisers of this year’s Vroom summit partnered up with KISED (Korea Institute of Start-up and Entrepreneurship Development), bringing together innovative South Korean companies with local investors. The aim: to facilitate the insertion of these start-ups into the European market.
Prior to their investment pitches on the first day of the summit, L-Base sat down with Monaco Life to discuss its exciting new cancer drug, which has the potential to completely revolutionise the way that the disease is treated. For Joe Kim, the managing director of L-Base, the desire to pursue this potentially life-saving project was simple: “There are so many lung cancer patients around the world, and in Europe alone there are 320,000 people that suffer every year and 2.2 million globally. Despite this, there aren’t really any effective solutions.”
Lung cancer, and cancers more generally, are lacking in effective treatments. They are often treated with chemotherapy, which, as Mr Kim points out, isn’t necessarily the safest or the most effective treatment: “Chemo is so deadly, people die from it. The problem with the targeted solution is that it causes so many side effects.”
This is where L-Base’s treatment comes to the fore, positing a viable alternative to chemotherapy. It is based on a ground-breaking study by L-Base, which had discovered a cancer associated cell, thereafter known as ‘CAGE’. “It is inhibited in every cancer cell that exists and we found that in 2002,” says Mr Kim. “That was found by our team and it was a revolutionary finding, which later became known to the world.”
This incredible finding laid the groundwork for scientists to develop the drug, which as well as proving effective in in-vitro and animal trials, is also symptom-free. It is this element that renders L-Base’s peptide-based drug such a unique project. “The current, available anti-cancer drugs are very much target-driven solutions, whereas we are more looking into the root cause of the cancer problems…We have produced a drug which provides so few side effects relative to other treatments.”
L-Base has thus far experienced great success in their mission to create a safer, more efficient cancer treatment. However, their journey is about to reach a critical juncture as they prepare for human trials, and L-Base see the Vroom summit as crucial in allowing them to continue on their journey. “The initial stage of the first part of the clinical human study will be done through King’s College in the UK… That will put us into the real cycle of the human trial, which will be in 2022… All the preclinical tests so far indicate that it is going to work.”
To continue on their path, and to bring their life-saving product to the market, L-Base now seeks further financial backing, and they have identified the unique characteristics of local, Monegasque investors that would make them an ideal partner. “We are hoping to raise a fund to help us lead into the human clinical study of our product,” Mr Kim reveals. “We wish to find not just money. I believe that Monaco has very fine investors who can actually invest a good amount, however we are looking for investors who can share our vision, share our tears and our success. For that reason, we don’t believe that institutional investors will do that job at this stage, and we believe that there are more investors like that in Monaco, and Vroom and Whitecastle will help us to find that.”
Any investment would potentially be funding not only a revolutionary advancement in the treatment of lung cancer, but also, as Mr Kim revealed, a treatment for a range of other cancers. “We have other pipelines planned for example blood cancer, breast cancer, and pancreatic cancers… This drug can also apply to colorectal cancer, which currently doesn’t have any remedies, so when we’ve finished with the lung cancer drug, we are going to get ready for preclinical trials for colorectal cancer.”
The Vroom summit could therefore help L-Base bring a whole dossier of life-saving products onto the market, highlighting the crucial relationship that exists between innovative, revolutionary start-ups and passionate investors. Also hoping to benefit from this crucial relationship is Prinker, who is seeking to bring its world-first, temporary tattoo printer into the European market. May Ching, manager of Prinker at the Vroom summit
Founded in 2015, Prinker has already begun asserting itself on the international stage, having already gained popularity in the US market. Similar to L-Base, Prinker is revolutionary within its own field, providing a temporary option to the traditional tattoo.
The product itself consists of ink cartridges, a skin primer and, most importantly, the electronic device which makes the print itself. The device is linked to the Prinker application, which can be found on Android or IOS stores. From there, users can choose from over 8,000 different designs, which are then automatically downloaded onto the printing device, and by skimming the device over the skin, the tattoo is then printed, and can only be washed off by soap.
According to May Ching, manager of Prinker, the uniqueness of the product opens up the tattooing market to a huge, new demographic. “As a temporary tattoo, you don’t have to worry about the pain, you don’t have to worry about the long-term commitment. No worries, no issues, no pain… Our product is a great alternative for kids and there are also parents and adults, who have always wanted a tattoo, but have always been afraid because of the pain and because of the long-term commitment, and some of us just want to have a change of design every day.”
Indeed, not only does the uniqueness of Prinker’s product resolve the issue of long-term commitment, one of the main reasons which make adults reticent towards the idea of getting a tattoo, but their product also has applications in a business context. “Businesses like event agencies or marketing companies use our solution as a form of activation at their events,” says Mr Ching. “So if I am a company such as Channel and I want my attendees to have the Channel logo on their skin, I can upload my logo onto the app and then print it on users, so it has a lot of different uses and hence the target market is so wide.”
Although their global target market may be vast, this is not the case for their domestic market in South Korea, as one of their co-founders Luke Yun points out: “We are not actually a domestic company, we are based in South Korea, but we are carrying out our business in the US market. More specifically, the Korean market is very conservative about skin expression because getting a tattoo is illegal.”
Given the stringent control that the government still has over skin expression in South Korea, it is a wonder that Prinker’s novel idea was even conceived at all. Mr Yun and his other co-founders had to look globally for inspiration, and delve into the concept of tattooing in order to formulate their idea. “The idea comes from this complex situation because skin expression is very varied across the world, for example we looked at the Amazon tribes. But we really believe tattooing is related to human instinct. We wanted to find a way to serve this instinct.”
Having searched globally for inspiration, they are now hoping to grow globally. Having already penetrated the US market, Prinker is hoping that the Vroom summit is a springboard for growth in Europe. “Europe is somewhere that we are trying to break into. We are already available in European nations through our official online store at prinker.us and we are also available on Amazon, and there are lots of chances where we can expand further into the European region.” The Vroom team with this year’s participants
Primed to help startups, such as Prinker and L-Base, to make the most of those ‘chances’ is Whitecastle Partners, the scouting department for the Vroom summit. Soyeh Kim, Whitecastle’s advisor for Asian finance, highlighted difficulties facing South Korean start-ups in Europe. “There are so many good innovative start-ups in Korea, they want to expand their market into Europe, but when it comes to Europe most of the start-ups are struggling.”
Mrs Kim says that technology, and its suitability to the European market, is a key issue facing South Korean start-ups on the continent, but also alludes to the importance of overcoming these issues: “The Korean government is thinking that the future of Korea is start-up, and they think that globalisation will be the key to their success.”
As a result, all start-ups looking to grow in Europe with Whitecastle Partners must exhibit one key characteristic according to Mrs Kim: “We always have to check that they have a global mind and global thinking, or at least planning to. That is our major criteria.”
The build-up to the inaugural edition of the Beking cycling event, set to take place on Sunday 28th November, has hit full speed with a social media campaign involving professional cyclists encouraging everyone to get involved.
Peter Sagan, three-time world cycling champion and one of the 40 professional riders set to race at the event, is amongst a group of participants seeking to create a buzz around the event through a series of videos that can be found on the Beking Twitter account.
In his social media video, the Slovakian rider highlights the unique opportunity for fans to race alongside the professionals at the event. “We’re going to be riding with you guys. Come along, and I’ll be happy to see you on the 28th.”
Monaco resident, former European Road Race cycling champion and co-founder of the Beking event, Matteo Trentin launched a similar appeal through the event’s media channels. “Whoever you are, bring your bike and enjoy riding with us.”
Amateurs wishing to race alongside the professional riders at the pro / AM racing on the Sunday morning can register at www.bekingevents.com. Those selected will not only share the same track as European and Tour de France champions, but also some of the biggest stars from four-wheel racing, including Mercedes’ F1 driver Valterri Bottas and the Monegasque F3 driver Arthur Leclerc.
Despite the inclusion of amateur riders, which will give the average cycling fan a once in a lifetime opportunity to ride alongside Tour de France winners such as Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas, the event will in fact be part of the official UCI race calendar, providing a highly competitive element to the day.
Beking Monaco will therefore be a hybrid event – combining both competitive and amateur sport, but it also has the aim of raising funds, and awareness, for charitable foundations, including the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation. The event will be seeking to harness the unique power of sport into creating positive social change through donating to, and promoting, charitable foundations.
Following the professional event on the Sunday afternoon, there will also be a conference on ‘soft mobility’, which will focus on the environmental aspect of the event.
The first edition of Beking Monaco will therefore unite both professional and amatuer riders for a truly enjoyable festival of cycling, which will not only celebrate achievements on the track, but also contribute to a good cause.
For the second week running, the circulation of Covid-19 in Monaco has doubled. Meanwhile, the EU has just approved the first Covid treatment pill.
In its weekly communication of the Principality’s Covid screening campaign, the government on Monday revealed that 3.58% of the 3,487 PCR and antigen tests conducted over the previous seven days were positive.
The incidence rate therefore had increased significantly, jumping from 107 to 198. At the beginning of November, the incidence rate was 55.
On Tuesday, the number of confirmed Covid cases in Monaco had jumped to 45, the highest in months. There are now nine Covid patients being treated in the Princess Grace Hospital Centre, three of whom are residents of Monaco. In addition, two patients – both non resident – are in ICU.
In an effort to limit the effects of the virus, the Monaco government has made a third dose of the Covid vaccine available to any citizen or resident aged 18 years and over who was given their second dose more than six months ago.
In the neighbouring French department of the Alpes-Maritimes, there has also been a significant rise in circulation, and the incidence rate now sits at 224 compared to 60 at the beginning of November. Mayor of Nice Christian Estrosi on Monday said that the situation was deteriorating rapidly and that from 1st December, a third dose of the vaccine will be made available to all over the age of 12, provided there is enough supply of the vaccine.
In Italy on the other side of the border, the health situation has also worsened, particularly in the north-east. Local governments are now pushing for new measures, primarily in the form of further restrictions on the unvaccinated under a so-called “super green pass” scheme. Meanwhile, the health minister has confirmed that the Covid-19 vaccine boosters will be available five months after the first vaccine cycle – one month earlier – for eligible groups. The first anti-Covid pill available in the EU
As the number of contaminations and deaths continues to rise in Europe under the effect of the fifth wave, the European Union has just authorised the use of an anti-Covid pill. The emergency-use pill from Merck was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on 19th November. The drug, which data shows reduces the risk of hospitalisation and death in at-risk patients, “can be used to treat vulnerable adults with Covid-19 who do not need supplemental oxygen”, detailed the EMA in a press release.
While the drug has not yet received full marketing authorisation, the European regulator has issued the opinion in order to “support the national authorities who may decide on a possible anticipated use of the drug before the marketing authorisation, for example in emergency situations.”
France has already ordered 50,000 doses, France’s Health Minister Olivier Véran told the Senate on 26th October.
Monaco Renewable Energy has announced the acquisition of five new photovoltaic parks which will cover about 12% of the Principality’s electricity consumption.
Since the government began plans to transition to cleaner energy and achieve energy autonomy by 2025, it has been implementing a mix of technologies including wind, water and solar to power the country.
It resulted in the creation of a new organisation, Monaco Renewable Energy (MER), a joint effort between the government and the Société Monégasque de l’Electricité et du Gaz (SMEG).
“In accordance with this objective, the company has just acquired five additional photovoltaic parks with a production capacity of 53MWpeak,” said Samy Touati, President of MER, in a statement. “Located in the Côte d´Or, Haute Vienne, Landes and Gard, they generate a total production of 65,000 MWh per year, or around 12% of the electricity consumption of the Principality of Monaco.”
These new additions will bring the total number of solar parks under MER’s credit to 15 by the end of this year.
This latest operation will increase the overall power of the Monaco Renewable Energy plants to 128 MWpeak, made up of 106 MW photovoltaic and 22 MW wind, together producing 184 GWh per year, equalling 34% of Monaco’s energy consumption.
“Every step forward by MER is a source of great pride for the SMEG teams who bring their expertise in the renewable energy sector, identify the best development opportunities and ensure the best possible operating returns,” said
Thomas Battaglione, Managing Director of SMEG and MER.
Samy Touati, added, “We invest in power plants regardless of their stage of development, from the start of operation of units ready to produce until the full development of projects. This strategy allows us to accelerate the constitution of our production fleet while creating new capacities. The impact of these goes beyond the energy issue alone and is part of the environmental rehabilitation of the land used.”
Due to the vast number of sunny days in the Principality, photovoltaic panels are found on several building roofs in Monaco as well as the larger scale MER projects. Many schools, such as École du Parc and the Lycée Technique et Hôtelier, are equipped with such panels, for example.
They are also found on residential buildings, such as Hélios and Jardins d’Apolline, and on office buildings like the SBM Offshore building in Fontvieille. All these panels produce electricity which is consumed by the building to meet its basic energy needs such as lighting.
There are also solar thermal panels on the outside of the Ecole St Charles building. These heat the water for the swimming pool. The Annonciade complex was fitted out with solar thermal panels in 2008, as well, to heat and maintain the temperature of the water in the swimming pool.
Photo source: Monaco Renewable Energy
Popular restaurants ordered to close for non-compliance
Seven of Monaco’s most well-known restaurants have been temporarily closed for not adhering to the strict mandatory mask rule for employees.
As Covid numbers in the Principality continue to rise, police are out in force to make sure Monaco’s restaurants are following the latest health and safety rules.
In the Journal of Monaco dated 19th November, seven eating establishments were recorded to have been placed under provisional administrative closure orders of either four or seven days. This is the greatest number of closures the public security forces have made in a single sweep since the start of the pandemic.
The seven restaurants involved are Puchinella, Quai des Artistes, Le Neptune, Stars ‘n’ bars, Le Before, Le Cova and the restaurant located at the Club 39 sports hall on Avenue Princesse Grace.
Their primary infraction was a failure to respect the wearing of masks in the kitchen or whilst serving customers. The government’s position on this is quite clear: “Breaches, specifically on the ministerial orders, which constitute a serious and characterized disregard of the regulatory provisions enacted in the fight against the Covid-19 epidemic, cannot be permissible in the current state of health.”
Six of the restaurants have already reportedly been subject to warnings, and in some cases other temporary closures, from officials during previous checks.
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