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Day: 28 June 2024

Lisa Pou and Théo Druenne to lead Monaco’s Olympic athletes in Paris

by: Niki Borisova
28/06/2024

The Monegasque Olympic Committee has introduced the five athletes who will represent the Principality at the upcoming 2024 Paris Games. Among them are swimmers Lisa Pou and Théo Druenne, who were named as the official flag bearers at a ceremony attended by Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene. 

In his capacity as President of the Monegasque Olympic Committee, Prince Albert II led the proceedings at the event, which was held at the Yacht Club de Monaco on 27th June. 

“You will represent Monaco,” he told the sportsmen and women with pride. “You will defend our colours. You will do so with enthusiasm, tenacity and talent. On behalf of the Monegasque Olympic Committee, I wish to express my most sincere and warm encouragement, and, wholeheartedly, I wish you to fully experience these Olympic Games.“ 

The athletes 

Five Monegasque athletes will be representing the Principality at the upcoming Summer Olympics. They include swimmers Lisa Pou and Théo Druenne, who will carry the Monaco flag at the official opening ceremony in Paris on 26th July.  

Pou, who secured her spot for the Paris Games by finishing ninth in the 10km open-water event at the World Championships in Doha last February, was introduced first. She has earned multiple medals in junior and senior categories at the Games of the Small States of Europe. This will be her first appearance at the Olympics, where she will compete in the marathon swimming 10km event. 

See more: Monegasque swimmer Lisa Pou qualifies for Paris 2024 Olympics

For Théo Druenne, a bronze medallist in the 5km at the French Junior Championships in 2023, this will be his second Olympic appearance. At the Tokyo Games in 2020, Druenne set a personal best in the 1500 freestyle swimming event. This summer, he will compete in the 800m freestyle.  

Xiaoxin Yang, a prominent figure in table tennis, became the first official Monegasque entry when she won the sport’s Olympic qualifying tournament in Doha in March 2021. Currently ranked 10th in the Olympic standings and 15th globally, this will also be her second showing at the Olympics. Most recently, she was among the local torchbearers when the Olympic flame passed through the Principality. 

See more: Crowd cheers on as Princely Family take Olympic flame during historic stop in Monaco

Rowing standout Quentin Antonelli, who collected gold, silver and bronze medals at the World Coastal Rowing Championships between 2015 and 2017, was also presented. This will mark his second Olympic participation. He will compete in the single sculls event. 

Marie-Charlotte Gastaud, a national record holder in the 200m and 400m hurdles, is the fifth Monegasque athlete who will represent Monaco this summer. Gastaud recently ran a personal best of 7.95 seconds in the 60m at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, and clocked 12.52 seconds in the 100m at the European Championships in Rome. She will make her Olympic debut in the 100m event. 

The athletes will now continue their preparations for the Games, which will be held in Paris between 26th July and 11th August. 

To see more from the event, watch the Monaco Instagram reel below:

 

Monaco Life is produced by real multi-media journalists writing original content. See more in our free newsletter, follow our Podcasts on Spotify, and check us out on Threads,  Facebook,  Instagram,  LinkedIn and Tik Tok.  

 

Photo credit: Manuel Vitali / Monaco Communications Department

Monaco added to money laundering ‘grey list’

by: Cassandra Tanti
28/06/2024

Global anti-money laundering watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said Friday it had added Monaco to a “grey list” of countries subject to increased monitoring, despite making “significant progress” on certain aspects of its fight against money laundering. 

At a plenary meeting in Singapore, the FATF also added Venezuela to the list of nations considered to have “strategic deficiencies” in countering money laundering and terrorist financing, while however cooperating with the FATF to correct the problems.

When the FATF places a jurisdiction under increased monitoring, it means the country has committed to implement an Action Plan to resolve swiftly the identified strategic deficiencies within agreed timeframes.

“Since the adoption of its mutual evaluation report (MER) in December 2022, Monaco has made significant progress on several of the MER’s recommended actions including by establishing a new combined financial intelligence unit (FIU) and AML/CFT supervisor, strengthening its approach to detecting and investigating terrorism financing, implementing targeted financial sanctions and risk-based supervision of non-profit organisations,” said FATF in its report.

However, the FATF identified several areas in which Monaco must make further progress, in particular in terms of money laundering and tax fraud committed abroad. 

The six outstanding issues that Monaco will continue to work with the FATF on in implementing it’s Action Plan are: strengthening the understanding of risk in relation to money laundering and income tax fraud committed abroad; demonstrating a sustained increase in outbound requests to identify and seek the seizure of criminal assets abroad; enhancing the application of sanctions for AML/CFT breaches and breaches of basic and beneficial ownership requirements, completing its resourcing program for its FIU and strengthening the quality and timeliness of STR reporting, enhancing judicial efficiency, including through increasing resources of investigative judges and prosecutors and the application of effective, dissuasive and proportionate sanctions for money laundering, and increasing the seizure of property suspected to derive from criminal activities.

In January 2023, Monaco was pinned by the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering body Moneyval, which was then calling for “fundamental improvements to strengthen the effectiveness of the supervision, investigations and prosecution of money laundering and confiscation of the proceeds of crime”, and in the financing of terrorism.

Since then, nine new laws have been passed by Monaco’s parliament to strengthen the Monegasque Financial Security Authority (AMSF) and the anti-money laundering legal arsenal, strengthening its means of detecting and investigating terrorist financing and putting in place targeted financial sanctions and supervision of non-profit organisations based on a risk assessment.

Monaco Life is produced by real multi-media journalists writing original content. See more in our free newsletter, follow our Podcasts on Spotify, and check us out on Threads,  Facebook,  Instagram,  LinkedIn and Tik Tok. 

Photo by Monaco Life

Grace de Monaco presents elegant new sunglasses collection

by: Stephanie Horsman
28/06/2024

The philanthropic fashion house, Grace de Monaco, has unveiled its latest collection of sunglasses for the summer season. The eight elegant designs are a nod to the late Princess’ timeless style, and the profits will all go towards funding projects spearheaded by her eponymous foundation.  

Princess Grace, the American actress who married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956, was known the world over for her sophisticated style. Her signature look lives on thanks to the high-end Grace de Monaco maison, a philanthropic fashion brand, which recently released a line of sunglasses worthy of her imitable aesthetic. 

There are eight models to choose from for both men and women alike, and far from being throwbacks, the frames are sleek and modern, capturing the essence of today in a wearable way and using sustainably sourced plant-based acetate or recycled metal.  

The new collection features eight designs for men and women. Photo credit: Grace de Monaco

Claudia Poccia, Chief Executive Officer of Grace de Monaco, says of the new range, “When your muse is someone as timeless as Princess Grace, there’s no shortage of iconic moments from which to draw inspiration. It was only natural that the Grace de Monaco brand expand our maison with this newest addition of a sunglass line.”  

The campaign accompanying the sunglasses features classic shots by American photographer Howell Thomas Conant, who, in his time, made Princess Grace the subject of many of his works. It also highlights two of the Italy-made designs, Drama and Grand Prix, in local settings around the Principality. 

To sweeten the pot, the first 100 customers to purchase a pair of sunglasses will receive a beautiful Grace de Monaco silk scarf of their choosing for free.  

The brand donates 100% of its profits to the Princess Grace Foundation-USA, which provides talented young people from the worlds of theatre, dance and film with grants and bursaries. 

To explore the new collection for yourself, click here. 

 

Monaco Life is produced by real multi-media journalists writing original content. See more in our free newsletter, follow our Podcasts on Spotify, and check us out on Threads,  Facebook,  Instagram,  LinkedIn and Tik Tok.  

 

Photo credit: Grace de Monaco

Basketball: Roca Team signs Vitto Brown for the next two seasons

by: Niki Borisova
28/06/2024
vitto brown

AS Monaco Basketball has announced the signing of American power forward Vitto Brown for the next two seasons. The 28-year-old joins the Roca Team from Turkish club Pinar Karsiyaka, where he has played for the last two years. 

Known for his impressive skill set in the power forward position and his ability to shoot from long range, the US player had a 46.5% success rate in his most recent season and is particularly strong in the three-point zone.  

Though he has spent the last two seasons with Turkish side Pinar Karsiyaka, the Oklahoma-born player is familiar with French basketball, having played for Le Mans during the 2020/21 season, where he averaged 10 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. He is a University of Wisconsin alum and played in the NCAA finals in 2015 before spending three years in the G-League. 

Speaking about his decision to sign with AS Monaco for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 seasons, Brown said, “Monaco offered the best opportunity among the teams I was considering. They needed me in the power forward position, and they provided a chance to win.” 

He continued, “This club has established itself as one of the best in Europe over the past few years. I’m excited to represent Monaco and help it achieve its goals. I want to prove myself and am ready to seize this opportunity.” 

Despite a disappointing season in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, the Roca Team dominated the domestic French league and secured a second consecutive Champions of France title in the Betclic Elite.  

See more: Basketball: Roca Team misses out on Final Four place in the EuroLeague by just one point

The EuroLeague action will recommence in less than three months, and it will be Brown’s first taste of the competition.   

“I look forward to this competition every night,” said Brown.

He may well prove himself to be just what Monaco was missing in their 2023/24 campaign. 

 Read related:

AS Monaco Basket become Champions of France for second year in a row

 

Monaco Life is produced by real multi-media journalists writing original content. See more in our free newsletter, follow our Podcasts on Spotify, and check us out on Threads,  Facebook,  Instagram,  LinkedIn and Tik Tok.  

 

Photo credit: Pinar Karsiyaka

 

Prince Albert II attends launch of OceanoScientific’s second Mediterranean expedition

by: Niki Borisova
28/06/2024

The Nice-based OceanoScientific team has embarked on its second eDNA Mediterranean Expedition. The Love The Ocean catamaran, which will tour key sites across the region, departed the Yacht Club de Monaco earlier this week following a ceremony attended by Prince Albert II of Monaco.  

Following a “positive and encouraging” mission along France’s Mediterranean coast in 2023, the OceanoScientific eDNA Mediterranean Expedition has been launched anew for a second project that will see the team visit 19 of the key sites that were explored in-depth last year.  

The goal is to establish a comprehensive marine biodiversity inventory of this section of the Mediterranean coastline.

The team aboard the Love The Ocean research catamaran will be led by Yvan Griboval, who has been the president of OceanoScientific since 2018. The first task for his group of researchers and scientists will be to identify the range of fish, crustaceans and cephalopods living within the boundaries of the Station Sentinelle de Biodiversité Marine in Menton. 

See more: BioDivMed mission along France’s Mediterranean coast returns “positive and encouraging” results

Speaking to Monaco Life, Justine Camus, who is in charge of overseeing OceanoScientific’s missions, said, “The objective is to return to these 19 sites that we have marked to further explore them and to observe the scientific progress at these sites from year to year.” 

“I am sure this expedition will produce interesting results and help us better understand the Mediterranean, our home,” said Monaco’s Prince Albert, a devoted ocean conservationist, at the launch event.  

Pierre Boissery from the Rhône Mediterranean Corsica Water Agency and Professor David Mouillot from the University of Montpellier also presented a review of the results of the 2023 mission, which was coordinated by BioDivMed Mission, the Rhône Mediterranean Corsica Water Agency, MARBEC Joint Research Unit-University of Montpellier, the Centre d’Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive de Montpellier, SPYGEN, Andromède Océanologie and the philanthropic association We Are Méditerranée.   

Mouillot noted, “We have invested a substantial sum into new technologies that can speed up the progress of our expeditions, such as AI, high-resolution satellites, advanced trackers and others.” 

Boissery, meanwhile, spoke of the importance of missions such as these in engaging the next generation of conservationists, saying he hoped the project would inspire young people to be “curious about the Mediterranean and its evolution”.  

To read more about this second mission, click here.

Read related:

Monaco Explorations prepares for Greek Odyssey mission 

 

Monaco Life is produced by real multi-media journalists writing original content. See more in our free newsletter, follow our Podcasts on Spotify, and check us out on Threads,  Facebook,  Instagram,  LinkedIn and Tik Tok.  

 

Photo by Monaco Life 

4th July celebrations: Cowboys and country music at the Condamine

by: Elsa Carpenter
28/06/2024

The Marché de la Condamine will be hosting a special Southern-themed soirée to mark American Independence Day in early July. Here are all the details. 

On Thursday 4th July, between 7.30pm and 10.30pm, the Marché de la Condamine will be embracing all things American with an event that will feature live country music performances and a mechanical bull. 

Vintage Drive will be providing the musical ambience while a passionate troupe of country dancers will be offering guests an initiation into the dance style, which is experiencing something of a popular revival in the States at the moment.  

Reservations are recommended as this is likely to be a popular event. To secure your seat or a table for friends and family, speak to one of the market’s merchants. 

For more information about the Soirée Américaine, which is being organised by the Mairie de Monaco, click here.  

Read related:

Independence Day: all-American celebration on the Riviera

 

Monaco Life is produced by real multi-media journalists writing original content. See more in our free newsletter, follow our Podcasts on Spotify, and check us out on Threads,  Facebook,  Instagram,  LinkedIn and Tik Tok. 

 

Photo credit: Mairie de Monaco