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Month: August 2026

Monaco International Book Fair to mark 15th anniversary at Grimaldi Forum

by: Virginia D’Umas
05/08/2026

The Salon International du Livre de Monaco will return to the Grimaldi Forum for its 15th anniversary edition on 5th and 6th September. Organised by the association Les Rencontres Littéraires Fabian Boisson, the Mediterranean-focused cultural event brings together authors, academics, and researchers across multiple disciplines.

True to its roots, the fair connects different types of writing, from novels to essays, and links modern ideas with history. The upcoming schedule includes more than 20 conferences, small group debates, and open-mic sessions designed to let the public talk directly with authors. 

Official patronage and cultural commitment

The event operates under the High Patronage of Prince Albert II, who champions the growth of arts and letters in the Principality. Citing Jean Cocteau, the Prince said that art forms a procession of solitudes that yield an incalculable force when united.

New additions: The Sports Book Prize and Himalayan expeditions

This year introduces the inaugural Sports Book Prize (Le Prix du Livre Sportif), an addition created to evaluate the relationship between physical competition and literature. The jury is chaired by mountaineer and author Orianne Aymard.

Complementing the new prize, the organisation has integrated live transmissions from Aymard’s active expedition in the Himalayas as she ascends Mount Manaslu, linking the physical theater of high-altitude mountaineering directly to the festival’s academic programming.

Remembering Sylvana Lorenz

This year’s fair will also pause to remember the late author and art dealer Sylvana Lorenz, a regular guest at past events. Organisers and readers will pay tribute to her life, her warm connection to the festival, and her notable literary works — including her celebrated books on the fashion icon Pierre Cardin (Madame Cardin and Pierre Cardin: Son fabuleux destin) as well as her vibrant memoirs chronicling her life as an art gallerist (L’art est une partie de plaisir). 

Keynote highlights and notable guests

The 2026 lineup features many well-known writers and thinkers, including physicist Étienne Klein, novelist Emmanuelle de Boysson, and political scientist Gilles Kepel. A main highlight of the Literary Cafés will be a talk by former diplomat Hubert Védrine, who will discuss global changes from a Mediterranean point of view.

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Photo credit: Berna – Pexels

New EU rules give consumers the right to affordable appliance repairs

by: Cassandra Tanti
04/08/2026

As of 31st July, new European Union rules are giving consumers a right to have many everyday products repaired rather than thrown away and replaced, in a change designed to cut waste and lower the long-term cost of household appliances and electronics.

The rules, set out in an EU directive adopted in 2024, apply to goods that already carry European repairability requirements, among them washing machines, vacuum cleaners, mobile phones and tablets. For years, it has often been cheaper and simpler to bin a faulty product and buy a new one than to have it fixed, a habit the European Commission estimates costs consumers close to €12 billion a year and generates some 35 million tonnes of waste across the bloc.

What changes

At the heart of the reform is a new obligation on manufacturers. Consumers will be able to ask a manufacturer to repair a product that is technically repairable under EU law, and the repair must be carried out within a reasonable time and, unless it is offered free, at a reasonable price, so that fixing an item becomes a genuine alternative to replacing it. This duty applies even after the standard two-year legal guarantee has expired.

Where a consumer chooses to have a product repaired rather than replaced while it is still under guarantee, that guarantee will be extended by at least a further 12 months, covering the whole product and not only the repaired part. Manufacturers will also have to make clear, accessible information about their repair services available, and to supply spare parts at a reasonable price.

What it means for consumers

For shoppers, the reforms tilt the balance between repairing and replacing. With manufacturers obliged to carry out repairs at a reasonable price and within a reasonable time, a guarantee that runs longer for those who choose to repair, and clearer access to spare parts and repair information, keeping a washing machine, a vacuum cleaner or a phone going should increasingly make more sense than buying a replacement. The intention is to move away from a throwaway habit that has long made replacement the path of least resistance, and to give everyday products a longer life.

A push for the circular economy

The Commission expects the reforms to encourage more sustainable consumption and to generate around €4.8 billion in growth and investment across the EU. To make repairs easier to arrange, a new European online platform is due to come into service from 2027, allowing consumers to find suitable repairers, with a dedicated section for each member state.

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

Photo: AI generated image by Monaco Life

 

A powerful El Niño is building — and the world is bracing for the heat

by: Cassandra Tanti
04/08/2026

The UN’s weather agency has warned that a rapidly intensifying El Niño will push temperatures above normal across much of the world over the coming months and heighten the risk of heatwaves, drought and flooding, a warning that lands as southern Europe, including the French Riviera, contends with wildfires and repeated bouts of extreme heat.

In its latest update, the World Meteorological Organization said El Niño, which arrived earlier this year, is expected to strengthen into a strong event between August and October, with sea-surface temperatures in the key Pacific monitoring regions forecast to run more than 2.9°C above average. Combined with exceptionally warm oceans worldwide and a developing pattern in the Indian Ocean, it is expected to bring above-normal temperatures almost everywhere and to reshape rainfall, heavier in some regions and sharply reduced in others, raising the danger of drought, floods and wildfires.

What El Niño means

El Niño is the warm phase of a natural climate cycle in the tropical Pacific, in which the ocean releases stored heat into the atmosphere, temporarily lifting global temperatures and disrupting weather patterns far beyond the Pacific. Its effects ripple through agriculture, water and energy supplies and food prices. The agency stressed that the phenomenon is unfolding against a backdrop of long-term, human-driven warming, which is making its impacts more severe.

Records within reach

The warning comes with 2026 already among the hottest years measured, its first six months ranking as the third-warmest start to any year on record. The last El Niño, in 2023 and 2024, was among the five strongest ever and helped drive the record global temperatures of 2024. Forecasters say there is a strong chance that a year within the current decade will surpass that record, and that the developing El Niño could briefly push the global average past 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the tougher limit set in the Paris climate agreement.

A planet ‘already on fire’

The report landed as wildfires burned across parts of Europe and Africa and as monsoon flooding caused havoc in South Asia. The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, renewed his call for governments to stop developing new fossil fuels, with the UN describing an El Niño taking hold on “a planet already on fire”. For the Mediterranean and the Riviera, where a fresh heatwave has kept the region on alert this summer, the warning is a reminder that this year’s extremes sit within a longer, accelerating trend, one Monaco has long pressed the international community to confront through its work on climate and ocean protection.

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

Photo credit: NASA, Unsplash

Monaco deepens its Gulf outreach with a Bahrain visit

by: Cassandra Tanti
04/08/2026

Monaco and the Kingdom of Bahrain have set out a joint roadmap to deepen their economic cooperation, following a visit to the Principality on Tuesday 28th July by a Bahraini delegation led by Noor Al Khulaif, the country’s minister of sustainable development and chief executive of its Economic Development Board.

The visit, hosted by the investment-promotion agency Invest Monaco, came two years after the Principality’s first economic mission to Bahrain and built on talks held at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2026. The delegation was received by Isabelle Berro-Amadeï, Monaco’s Government Counsellor–Minister of External Relations and Cooperation, a mark of the weight the Principality attaches to the relationship.

Meetings across the Monaco economy

According to a government statement, Invest Monaco brought together institutional and business figures from across the Principality during the day. The delegation met representatives of the Monte-Carlo Société des Bains de Mer group, the Yacht Club de Monaco, the Société d’Exploitation des Ports de Monaco, the International University of Monaco and the Giraudi group, while a working lunch drew in the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the Monaco Economic Board and a number of leaders from the banking, consultancy and business communities based in Monaco.

A shared roadmap

On the margins of the visit, Al Khulaif and Ludmilla Raconnat Le Goff, the Delegate for Attractiveness to the Minister of State and chief executive of Invest Monaco, agreed a common roadmap between Bahrain’s Economic Development Board and Invest Monaco. The two sides said they would begin work immediately on the projects identified during the visit, involving private partners from both countries, with regular meetings planned over the coming months and the aim of a further Monegasque economic mission to Bahrain in the first half of 2027.

The visit fits a wider effort by Monaco to build ties with the Gulf, the Principality having recently strengthened its economic relations with Saudi Arabia and appointed its first ambassador to the region, in the United Arab Emirates. Both governments framed the cooperation around a shared emphasis on international openness, innovation and institutional stability.

“This visit is the natural culmination of the dialogue begun during our mission to Bahrain in 2024,” said Raconnat Le Goff. “By strengthening our ties with Bahrain, we affirm our determination to build lasting partnerships with the world’s major economic centres, for the benefit of the Principality.”

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

Photo credit: Stephane Danna, Government Communications Department 

Unearthing Monaco’s deepest past with the International Archaeological Field School

by: Virginia D’Umas
04/08/2026

The Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology of Monaco, founded by Prince Albert I, is preparing to launch the Fouille-École Internationale Monaco 2026 at the Grotte de l’Observatoire. Scheduled from 8th to 30th September, the international field school will involve the study of archaeological layers dating between 250,000 and 200,000 years old.

According to organisers, these old layers represent the earliest known evidence of human occupation in Monaco, giving a clear look at early humans who once travelled around the Mediterranean.

Bridging fieldwork and laboratory science

Designed as an intensive, hands-on learning experience, the programme divides its curriculum between outdoor excavation and post-excavation analysis.

During the fieldwork phase, attendees will gain practical expertise in stratigraphic excavation, field data recording, archaeological surveying, and the delicate in situ study of artifacts. As the schedule shifts indoors, the focus turns to the post-excavation laboratory analysis: sorting and inventorying material, properly packaging delicate vestiges, conducting preliminary collection studies, and mastering modern data processing and management techniques. 

Photo credit: Deb Hayes – Pexels 

Cultivating the next generation of prehistorians

The field school operates on a full-time schedule, running Monday through Friday from 8.30am to 12pm and 1.30pm to 5pm.

Tailored specifically for undergraduate, Master’s, and doctoral students specialising in archaeology, prehistory, and anthropology—as well as early-career researchers—the programme serves as a bridge between academic theory and practical application. While French functions as the primary working language, proficiency in English is considered an advantage for participating in the international group. 

Applications for the 2026 session, consisting of a CV and a cover letter, are currently being accepted by the Musée d’Anthropologie préhistorique de Monaco.

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Grotte de l’Observatoire in Monaco. Photo credit: Shootcase Chronicles – Pexels

Booming superyacht refit market targeted with new industry event in March

by: Cassandra Tanti
04/08/2026

Monaco will host the superyacht industry’s first event dedicated exclusively to refit and maintenance, after Informa Prestige, the owner of the Monaco Yacht Show, announced ‘The Future of Refit’, to be held at the Grimaldi Forum from 31st March to 2nd April 2027.

The three-day event will be staged in partnership with the Yacht Club de Monaco, which will host an on-water display of refit yachts in its marina. It forms part of the club’s ‘Monaco, Capital of Advanced Yachting’ initiative, which brings together industry stakeholders around innovation, modernisation, performance and sustainability, and follows earlier YCM projects such as the SEA Index for measuring and reducing yachts’ carbon footprint and the annual Monaco Energy Boat Challenge, whose 14th edition runs from 29th June to 3rd July 2027.

A market worth billions

For Informa Prestige, a luxury division of the events group Informa that also owns the title Boat International, the launch targets a sector of growing commercial weight. The global superyacht refit market is estimated to be worth between $3 billion and $5 billion a year and to be growing at 6 to 9 per cent annually, accounting for around 36 per cent of earnings across the superyacht sector.

The market is underpinned by a global fleet of more than 6,000 active superyachts over 30 metres, a large share of which is now entering its first or second major refit cycle following the construction boom of the 2000s and 2010s. Owners typically spend around 10 per cent of a yacht’s value each year on operations and upkeep, with major refits every five to 10 years. The organisers point to tightening environmental regulation, sustained charter-market demand, limited new-build capacity at leading yards and the growing technical complexity of modern yachts as forces likely to keep refit work in demand.

Filling a gap in the calendar

Held over three days at the Grimaldi Forum, the event will combine a conference programme and professional exhibition with the on-water display at the Yacht Club de Monaco. At its centre is ‘Refit Live’, an interactive forum of keynote speeches, roundtables, case studies and workshops, including daily sessions led by the BOAT International editorial team.

“Refit is no longer a secondary consideration within the superyacht industry — it is one of its defining economic realities,” said Toby Moore, chief executive of Informa Prestige. “It is the right conversation, in the right place, at the right time — in Monaco, in the spring, at a moment in the superyacht calendar that is genuinely uncontested.”

Informa Prestige said it would develop the event in dialogue with the refit community, engaging shipyards, industry bodies, equipment suppliers and specialists, with further details on the programme, confirmed participants and exhibition opportunities to follow in the coming months.

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

Photo source: Grimaldi Forum Monaco