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Month: January 2023

Roca Team begin 2023 with a loss in Serbia

by: Luke Entwistle
06/01/2023

AS Monaco Basketball suffered a fourth-quarter collapse in the Stark Arena cauldron in Serbia as Sasa Obraodivc’s men began the year with a loss against Partizan Belgrade (100-80) on Thursday.

The Roca Team were kept alive in the game by the efforts of Elie Okobo, who after a short period of adaptation, has become one of the leading creative sources within the side. His 17 points and nine assists helped Monaco keep up with Partizan, who were free-scoring throughout the fixture.

Familiar faces

The usually infallible Mike James was off-colour on the night, registering a meagre nine points, and his performance epitomised the Monaco collective, who after a brilliant end to 2022, couldn’t carry their form into the New Year.

In Belgrade, Monaco came up against a familiar face in Danilo Andjusic, the Roca player, who departed the Principality club in the summer in search of a new challenge. The Serbian was prolific from outside the arc, scoring all four of his T3 attempts, and at the right time, allowing Partizan to grow an unassailable lead in the fourth-quarter.

Offensively stifled, Monaco couldn’t stop bleeding points at the other end either as they suffered a nightmarish 10 minutes of basketball (31-12) on their way to a heavy defeat (100-80).

In defeat, Monaco missed the chance to move clear at the top of the Euroleague table, however, not all is lost with Baskonia and Barcelona losing earlier on Thursday evening.

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Photo by AS Monaco Basket

AS Monaco academy product Benoît Badiashile joins Chelsea

by: Luke Entwistle
05/01/2023

Benoît Badiashile has joined Chelsea from AS Monaco on a seven-and-a-half-year deal. The defender came through the ranks at the club, going on to represent the France national team. 

Badiashile came through the club’s renowned La Diagonale academy, signing his first professional contract in February 2018 before making his professional debut the same year. The 21-year-old defender then went on to amass 135 appearances for Les Monégasques, including multiple appearances in European competitions. In September, he made his France debut, featuring twice for Les Bleus during their Nations League campaign.

Despite attracting interest in the summer of 2022, Badiashile remained at the club to continue his development. However, following negotiations between Chelsea and Monaco, which began before the turn of the New Year, he has now left the club. Monaco Life understands that the fee is in the region of €40m.

As witnessed by Monaco Life, the player was absent from Monaco’s training session in La Turbie on Thursday 5th January, with the finishing touches being made to his transfer to the Premier League giants. He has signed a seven-and-a-half-year deal with Chelsea that will keep him at the club until 2030.

In an emotional message posted on his social media, Badiashile said, “I will never have enough words to sum up my story with the mythical club that is AS Monaco. I have experienced everything at this club: from the training centre, to my debut in Ligue 1. Launched by Thierry Henry, I wore this shirt with pride more than 100 times. I have felt your support for seven years, in the good moments and the bad ones, and know that I will never forget you. I arrived a child, and leave a man. I will forever have red and white in my heart. Thank you for everything and Daghe Munegu!”

 

Photo by AS Monaco

Strict limits on trade of endangered plants and animals backed by Monaco

by: Elsa Carpenter
05/01/2023

Monaco, with its enduring passion for biodiversity conservation, has given its full support to a range of stringent new restrictions on the trade of endangered fauna and flora agreed at COP19 CITES.

The 19th edition of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (COP19 CITES), hosted between 14th and 25th November last year, was historic for several reasons.

In terms of scale, it was perhaps the most well-attended event since the convention’s creation in 1973, and more than 2,500 delegates, government representatives, observers and journalists from over 160 countries worldwide travelled to Panama to vote through a record number of new protective measures that will help tackle the controversial trade of endangered plants and animals.

In total, more than 500 new species have joined the CITES protected list, and will now benefit from either a total ban on international trade or strict regulations.

“This new registration makes it possible in particular to fight against the trafficking of endangered species by imposing the obligation to obtain permits for any transaction concerning them”, said the Monegasque government in an official communiqué following the event.

Monaco, a long-time advocate for sharks around the world, spoke out in favour of increasing the protection for the species by adding hammerhead, oceanic whitetip and silky sharks to the list for “controlled trade” as well as freshwater stingrays and eagle and mobula rays. It also welcomed the decisions to extend protection to a number of species of glass frog, tree frog, sea cucumber and tree.

The Principality was represented at COP19 CITES by Astrid Claudel Rusin, a member of the Principality’s Department for the Environment, and it played an active role at the conference, chairing a special side-event on the safeguarding of seahorses, using the opportunity to call on CITES to help produce a multilateral report on the illegal trade of seashores.

“Trade underpins human well-being, but we need to mend our relationship with nature,” said CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero. “The decisions coming from this meeting will serve the interests of conservation and wildlife trade that doesn’t threaten the existence of species of plants and animals in the wild for future generations.”

Another key outcome of the event was a decision to investigate the contribution that CITES can make to reducing zoonotic diseases. According to CITES, “70% of emerging diseases are estimated to be transferred from wild animals to humans…. CITES is to look at the role it could play in reducing the likelihood of this transfer.”

 

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Photo source: Zdenek Machacek for Unsplash

Proxy voting made easier in Monaco

by: Stephanie Horsman
05/01/2023

Following on from the 2020 amendments to laws on national and municipal elections, Monaco voters unable to get to polling stations can now make a simple online request for a proxy.

In the past, those who wished to vote in Monegasque elections, but were not able to get to their nearest voting booth, had to fill out forms specifying the exact reason why they were unavailable to be there in person.

When laws on elections changed in June 2020, that rule was also updated, allowing citizens to request a proxy vote without strings by appointing a representative.

This simplified process has been made even more convenient by the Mairie de Monaco, who now are offering the service online for voters holding activated Monegasque identity cards.

The online application for the elections on 10th March must be submitted by 6pm on 27th January via the official town hall website, under the National Elections 2023 or Municipal Elections 2023 banner, or on the government portal.

Paper options are also still available and can be collected directly from the Mairie or downloaded on the website under the downloadable documents tab. Equally, they can be downloaded from the government’s website. Paper forms must also be received by 27th January.

 

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Photo source: Arnaud Jaegers for Unsplash

Fort Lauderdale and Monaco forge ties with Princely visit

by: Stephanie Horsman
05/01/2023

Prince Albert and Princess Charlene visited Fort Lauderdale in Florida ahead of the opening of the city’s newly renovated Aquatic Centre, and announced plans for collaboration in the years to come.

Fort Lauderdale’s famed Aquatic Centre has just completed a multi-million dollar make-over project, and if that weren’t reason enough to celebrate, a pre-opening visit on 29th December by Monaco’s Prince Albert and Princess Charlene certainly would be.

The visit was prompted by Mayor Dean Trantalis’ recent trip to the Principality, where he was involved in meetings designed to bring Fort Lauderdale and Monaco closer. These talks included a possible collaboration between the two port destinations and their famous respective boat shows as well as other investment opportunities.

Prince Albert and Princess Charlene were bestowed a great honour by the American city and were given a key to Fort Lauderdale during their trip. They were also keen visitors to the new aquatics centre, a site that holds interest for both: Princess Charlene as a former Olympic swimmer and Prince Albert as an International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) honouree. Incidentally, his uncle Jack Kelly, the late Princess Grace’s brother, was the president of the ISHOF in the 1980s.

The new Aquatic Centre has one of the tallest diving towers in the world in addition to top-notch competition pools. It is hoped that the renovations will help revitalise the Floridian city as a destination for competitive events.

Mayor Trantalis, who is currently working to establish Monaco as a twin city to Fort Lauderdale, said, “The renovation of the aquatic complex restores Fort Lauderdale as a premier destination for global competitive swimming and diving at a venue that is also available to the public. The visit by their Serene Highnesses of Monaco shows the global value we have achieved and the excitement that we are generating.”

The couple were treated to a demonstration of the high dive platform by diver Braden Rumpit as well as with competitions by Olympians, a Paralympian and student athletes.

“We hope these ties will continue even beyond the celebration here today,” said Prince Albert at the event. “We have wonderful plans of maybe getting one of [the] major events both in Monaco and here in Fort Lauderdale – the Boat Show and the Monaco Yacht show – to collaborate in a much more fruitful way. We really look forward to all these opportunities.”

 

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Photo credits: Jason Koerner/Getty Images for City of Fort Lauderdale

Monaco Run 2023 obtains World Athletics Label

by: Luke Entwistle
05/01/2023

The Monaco Athletics Federation has obtained the World Athletics Label, rewarding and ultimately enhancing the professionalism and prestige of the Monaco Run event.

The Monaco Run, which this year will take place on 11th and 12th February, is now part of 238 races worldwide that have the title.

Reacting to the news, the president of the federation, Prince Albert II, said, “Our federation is proud to obtain a World Athletics label for our 5km run, which rewards the credibility and enthusiasm of the organisation of the Monaco Run. For many years, our organisation has been able to respond to the numerous essential criteria for the smooth running of such a competition.”

The president of World Athletics, Sebastien Coe, announced that 1,200 runners are set to take to the streets of the Principality for the 2023 edition of the race in February.

Coe, a Monaco resident, added, “We are delighted to attribute the World Athletics Road Race label to the Monaco Athletic Federations’ Monaco Run… Whilst road running continues to gain in popularity around the world, and since we are trying to increase participation at all levels of our sport, we are delighted that this race is offered to debutants and elite-level runners alike.”

He continued, “We thank the Monaco Athletics Federation for working with us to create more opportunities to participate in our sport and for helping us promote our sport in the country in which we are based, here in Monaco.”

 

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Photo by Monaco Run