The catastrophic fire burning through Gironde in the southwest of France for nearly a week has regained intensity as the country endures a “heat apocalypse”.
Heatwaves have become a summer rite of passage in Monaco and France, with each year bringing record temperatures and high heat warnings, making life uncomfortable at best and deadly at worst.
The southwest and west of France have been particularly hard hit by this latest heatwave, with 15 departments under a “red vigilance” warning, the highest level attainable.
With intense heat there comes dry vegetation, making fires a real probability. This has been the case in Gironde, where 14,000 hectares of land have burned since last Tuesday and thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. So far, more around 16,000 tourists and residents have been told to pack up and get out.
In Teste-de-Buch, “the situation is deteriorating”, says the prefecture in a Tweet. “The fire has reached the sea and is heading south”.
Social media is abuzz with eyewitness video and photo accounts of the fire which ravaged Lagune Beach, south of the Dune du Pilat. Flames 30 metres high are being seen, a terrifying sight and a horrific tragedy.
The Ministry of the Interior announced via a press release that reinforcements were on their way and that three additional planes would join the six bombers already engaged. It also sad that 200 additional firefighters with 11 trucks were being sent to join the 1,700 on the ground.
“Big resources are being deployed in the area. However, the fire should not reach the Landes department because the wind should turn towards the west and the north”, said AFP lieutenant-colonel Arnaud Mendousse.
As if the fires weren’t enough, the heatwave is meant to peak by midday on Monday, making the fire brigade’s job all the more dangerous.
The red alert issued on Sunday recommends that residents of the areas concerned observe “absolute vigilance” in the face of “dangerous phenomena of exceptional intensity”, and covers the departments of Charente, Charente-Maritime, Côtes-d’Armor, Dordogne, Finistère, Gers, Gironde, Ille-et-Vilaine, Landes, Loire-Atlantique, Lot-et-Garonne, Maine-et-Loire, Morbihan, Deux-Sèvres and Vendée.
A total of 51 departments, including the Alpes-Maritimes, and by extension, Monaco, are under orange alerts, with temperatures hitting 35º-36º inland and 31º-33º at the coast. Orange alerts mean people should be “very vigilant”.
Additionally, the high heat is bringing high levels of air pollution to the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region according to Prev’air, the national air quality forecast centre.
France isn’t the only country suffering with the heat. All of Western Europe is feeling the brunt, with forest fires also raging through Portugal and Spain. The UK has also been issued a red alert for extreme heat for the first time ever, with temperatures topping out at 36º in the southeast on Tuesday.
A new law has come into play in the European Union making speed-limiters mandatory on all new vehicles.
On 23rd June, the delegated act ‘Technical requirements and test procedure for approval of intelligent speed assistance (ISA)’ was adopted by the European Commission. The act will now be sent to the European Parliament and Council for two-month scrutiny.
It means that from July 2022, Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) will be mandatory for new models/types of vehicles introduced on the market. The ISA will become mandatory for all new cars that will be sold from July 2024. It will not concern the vehicle fleet already registered and in circulation before that date.
Speed limiters are nothing new, but this law takes things a step further.
ISA systems are a default, rather than optional feature on new models. In current cars, the device warns drivers if they are surpassing the speed limit on a given road. There has been no requirement for the actual limiter to be turned on.
The new law though looks to change that, manufacturers to make the device active all the time.
Before panic sets in, regulators have been a bit sketchy on details thus far. They have not set specific rules as to how it is to be carried out, just that it needs to be. It gets murkier when considering addendums added to the rule. ISA’s currently monitor posted limits via a vehicle’s exterior cameras. The EU wants to create speed limit maps using the data from individual vehicles and share the data between all others on the road. This raises privacy issues, and will no doubt be bucked by many consumers who have concerns about privacy and the EU centralising so many aspects of traffic enforcement.
The EU is defending the idea saying, “The EU-funded and [Society for Risk Analysis] co-ordinated project PROSPER looked into ways that advanced assisted driving technology and technology relating to speed limitation devices can improve safety, and also at the barriers for the implementation of ISA. Research has shown that ISA and physical measures to reduce road speed are complementary rather than competing methods.”
France would be one of the countries earmarked for the trial period, along with Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, The Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
Autobus de Monaco has added an extra electric shuttle servicing The Rock this summer, giving people a convenient way to head to Monaco’s oldest quarter in the evenings.
The 100% electric shuttle service began on 18th July and will run every 15 minutes from 8pm to 10:45pm to supplement the usual lines that head up to The Rock and back during the day. The aim is to give residents and tourists quick and easy access to the shops and restaurants of the neighbourhood in the evenings as well.
The bus will make a circuit linking Monaco-Ville, Place d’Armes, three stops at Port Hercule including Princess Stéphanie, Stade Nautique and Princesse Antoinette, before moving on to Place Sainte Dévote. It will then go up Rue Grimaldi, with stops at Princesse Florestine and Place d’Armes before returning to Monaco-Ville.
The first of this type of electric shuttle was deployed in 2019 where the loop stopped at various spots around Monaco Ville including The Prince’s Palace, the Oceanographic Museum, the Cathedral, and the Place de la Visitation.
The Rock is the most ancient part of Monaco, and in addition to the attractions mentioned above, it features narrow alleyways that date from the Middle ages and are filled charming shops and fantastic eateries.
A new showcase for the country’s emerging projects, called Monaco Innovation Runway, has officially been launched at MonacoTech by Prince Albert II and Monaco Telecom owner Xavier Niel as part of the nation’s attractiveness strategy.
The Principality’s innovation scene was unveiled at MonacoTech on Friday 8th July with some serious heavy hitters in attendance.
Called the Monaco Innovation Runway, it’s a vehicle for next generation projects coming from the Principality, namely from local business incubator MonacoTech as well as other businesses focused on advanced technologies.
The opening event was well-attended with Prince Albert II, Minister of State Pierre Dartout, Ministerial Advisors Jean Castellini, Patrice Cellario and Isabelle Berro-Amadei, Interministerial Delegate for Attractiveness and Digital Transition Frédéric Genta, and Xavier Niel, majority shareholder of Monaco Telecom, as well as a select group of local political and economic personalities.
The launch featured three government-supported projects working under the Extended Monaco framework as well as six start-ups nurtured at MonacoTech.
“The meeting between technology, infrastructure and the know-how of project leaders is a tremendous source of opportunities, which this place intends to highlight,” said Jean Castellini. “Entrepreneurship and innovation are doubly difficult and all the more important to support. In this place, the Government, Monaco Telecom and MonacoTech are these supports.”
The Extended Monaco collaborations included Jumeau Numerique, a 3-D interface compiling topographical data to predict the evolution of mobile coverage in Monaco and helping to optimise the service as new buildings are constructed, Upciti, a data sensor solution deployed in the Principality making it possible to monitor the urban environment in real time, and Eurecom, an R&D project for simulating rising waters to make it possible to better study the impacts of major natural disasters like tsunamis or floods.
The MonacoTech start-ups were represented by Vizua, who created a 3dverse collaborative platform that allows for the exchange of 3D digital models for real-time collaboration, without limits on file size or format, and without having to download an application or data, eH2P, a company that designs and produces clean high-performance powertrains for the marine and motorsports sector, Coraliotech, who develops, promotes and markets innovative marine active ingredients for the well-being, care and human health markets, Infineis, who is revolutionizing intracranial surgery by offering tailor-made and ready-to-use devices to simplify operations and reduce costs and InnoDeep, who are developing a platform for rapid and remote diagnosis of medical images for the detection of Covid-19 and breast cancer.
Lionel Galfré summed it up by saying, “Today we see many projects carrying innovations that have real meaning for the general interest, whether in health, the environment or the development of the city. In most cases, innovation is the meeting of know-how and innovative technologies that makes possible things that were not possible or very difficult before. These projects deserve to be shown, supported, visible; this is the objective of the Monaco Innovation Runway.”
J-Med, the programme aimed at supporting projects for young people in the Mediterranean basin, has announced the 33 winners of the 2022 edition, including a Peace and Sport collaboration with TIBU Maroc called Girls CAN- Peacemakers.
Since 2020, J-Med has been assisting organisations to create and maintain projects in the Mediterranean nations of Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Lebanon, through partnerships with their neighbours on the northern and eastern shores that benefit the young people of the region.
The association, which is a joint effort between several entities including the government of the Principality’s International Cooperation Department, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs Interministerial Delegation for the Mediterranean and Delegation for Relations with Civil Society and Partnerships, the European Institute for Cooperation and Development and Monegasque organisation ILLIS, met on 11th July in Monaco to announce the projects that will be receiving subsidies, which can be up to €15,000, for this year.
The event was opened by Minister for External Relations and Cooperation Isabelle Berro-Amadeï, who said she felt, “the pride of the Government of Monaco in having built this innovative system of support for young people in the Mediterranean with the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. Thanks to J-MED, civil society associations in the Mediterranean can carry out the projects that concern young people: training, education, integration. In the Mediterranean as elsewhere, it is by involving young people that we will achieve sustainable development that benefits everyone.”
Last year’s four winner’s programmes ranged from the integration of women in Mauritania by Global Health, culture and education through theatre for the Moroccans of Dramedia, climbing as a vector for the inclusion of young Tunisians at The Crag Bouldering – Climb’in, and the access of Dom women to decent opportunities in Lebanon by Lebanese Developers.
There were 33 winners selected in this year’s edition, amongst them TIBU Maroc’s Casablanca-based girl’s football project Girls CAN-Peacemakers.
Nearly 180 organisations have been supported by J-Med in its short three years of existence, including 111 from the southern and eastern Med. The youth of the region have benefitted from activities in fields such as education, vocational training, culture, heritage, sport, gender equality, environmental preservation and entrepreneurship and solidarity.
Photo by Stéphane Danna – Government Communication Department
ROKiT Venturi Racing and lead driver Edoardo Mortara lost their respective championship leads in New York this weekend after a difficult qualifying session hindered Sunday’s race.
Saturday was, however, a contrasting tale. The team earned vital points through an unconventional source – Lucas Di Grassi. Although it is Swiss team-mate Mortara who is in the hunt for the title, Di Grassi put in a stellar drive to secure second place. Mortara could only manage fifth after qualifying in ninth. Nonetheless, the points earned were enough for him and his team to keep hold of their championship leads.
The chequered flag of that race was brought out in abnormal circumstances. As weather conditions deteriorated at the Brooklyn circuit, cars began to aquaplane. Both Venturi’s, Nick Cassidy and Stoffel Vandoorne, were involved in separate crashes at turn six, bringing out the red flag.
The damage to the barriers couldn’t be repaired and the race was subsequently abandoned. The final standings were based on the positions from the previous lap.
An even worse qualifying for the second race made the prospect of any points unlikely. Mortara would start in 21st after a brake-by-wire issue, whilst Di Grassi’s two fastest laps were deleted, meaning he started in 18th.
Lucas Di Grassi (BRA), ROKiT Venturi Racing, 2nd position, celebrates on the podium with his trophy. Photo source: ROKiT Venturi Racing,
Both drivers managed to cut through the field, and were on the cusp of the points scoring positions. However, Di Grassi made contact with Jean-Eric Vergne in the dying laps, leading to the Brazilian’s retirement. His misfortune was to the benefit of team-mate Mortara, who with that dual retirement, moved up into 10th. The former championship leader also scored a point for the fastest lap to further limit the damage from what was a very difficult weekend in the Big Apple.
The lead of the championship may be lost, but he remains within striking distance of Vandoorne, who is just 11 points away. Venturi have also slipped to second; they now trail Mercedes-EQ by 10 points with just four races remaining in the season.
Team principal Jérôme D’Ambrosio reflected on his team’s difficult weekend in America, saying, “Today was about damage limitation and we know we have the performance and the potential to fight at the front. We need to learn from this weekend, move onto the next one and optimise all that we can in London.”
The Monégasque team cannot afford another weekend like this one. Whilst they remain firmly in the hunt, any further errors could prove fatal for their chances. The paddock heads to the UK in two weeks’ time and Venturi will be hoping to retake their lead with two races taking place across the race weekend.
Photo source: ROKiT Venturi Racing
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