For the last three months, banned items confiscated from passengers at security checkpoints at Nice Airport have been handed over to the charity Restos du Coeur rather than being binned as waste.
Since 2006, airline passengers attempting to go through security with containers holding liquid of more than 100 millilitres have been confiscated, whether it be water, perfumes, toiletries or alcohol, as well as certain foodstuffs and items such as knives and aerosol cans. This leads to tons of perfectly good, brand new products being put into landfills or otherwise destroyed, a waste by any standard.
In an attempt to stop this practice, Nice Airport has agreed with charity Restos du Coeur to donate suitable unused items. Teams from the charity come to the airport twice a week to collect between 70 and 100 kilos of products which are then redistributed.
“In normal years, Terminal 2 alone removes 120,000 items and groceries from baggage. Half could be donated to charity instead of being destroyed.” Aymeric Staub, an airport spokesman for the Cote d’Azur, said.
The system is only currently up and running in Terminal 2, though negotiations are underway with the security company who manages Terminal 1 to incorporate the practice also. If an agreement is settled on, it is estimated that the collection volume would double.
This redistribution system is the first for France airports, though if successful, it is hoped that it will catch on in other places as well.
Photo source: Nice Côte d’Azur Airport
CHPG gifted with CaliNange device for hospitalised newborns
The CHPG has been given a new device designed to maintain the connection between parents and hospitalised newborns, easing the worries of parents and the stresses on fragile babies.
Every year, 8% of babies are born prematurely. These tiny infants are usually hospitalised, with stays ranging on average from two weeks to three months – a period that is difficult for both parents and the child, who requires contact in order to thrive.
Though parents are allowed to stay nearby, and there are methods such as “kangaroo care” whereby the baby and parent share skin to skin contact for short periods, it is no substitute for the interactions that would normally take place in a non-hospital setting.
This problem was brought to light for Aurore Saintigny when her baby was born prematurely. It inspired her to create a new way of ensuring that preemies get the most possible contact from parents and loved ones, even when circumstances prevent actual contact.
Called CaliNange, the system, which works without screens or waves, comes in the form of a small heart-shaped device that is personalised for each child. It allows the baby to hear its parents’ voices and the heartbeat of a loved one, to smell its mother’s scent on a cloth cover that encapsulates the device, and provides a soft and light environment.
This approach has many benefits including the improvement of a child’s well-being when close proximity isn’t an option, prolonging the bonding time through the presence of one or both parents, as well as being a source of comfort to those children who are hospitalised for long periods for other illnesses.
“It seemed to me completely in line with what Princess Grace achieved and carried out, to propose the CaliNange to the team of Dr Haas at the CPHG to maintain the parent-child bond,” said Carla Shechter-Fadoul, President of Monaco Liver Disorder-MLD, who brought the system to the Princess Grace Hospital Centre on Monday 13th June. “Family is essential for the improvement of the development and the follow-up of the child.
“Giving additional means of comfort and relief to caregivers during painful care is also one of our strongest wishes. It is not always possible to take your child in your arms when they need it, which is why discovering and supporting a solution that allows the parent to be as close as possible to their baby, even in an incubator, even in a sterile bubble, even in the operating room or for paediatric services, immediately spoke to us.”
CaliNange is produced in France, with 98% of the pieces sourced in a radius of less than 100 kilometres. The components are all washable and sterilisable and are compatible for use in an incubator. Safety has been tested in independent labs for both medical and home use and the lighting is suitable for a newborn, using comparable radiation to the baby’s belly exposed to full sun. Sounds are emitted at frequencies that are soothing to the child and are created according to algorithms. For more info, visit the website at www.calinescence.fr.
Top photo: Presentation of the CalinAnge by Carla Shechter, President of Monaco Liver Disorder-MLD, to Dr Hervé Haas, head of the Paediatric department of the CHPG, by Clement Martinez
Photos: John Christodoulou awarded Goodwill Ambassador 2022
There was plenty of festive plate smashing on Saturday night as the Monaco Ambassador’s Club, under the high patronage of Prince Albert II, honoured Monaco resident and Cypriot businessman John Christodoulou with the Goodwill Ambassador’s Award at a lavish ceremony at the Hôtel Hermitage.
John Christodoulou is a low-profile, self-made Cypriot billionaire who has forged an international, privately held real estate empire with a portfolio of residential, hotel, retail and leisure properties in the United Kingdom and Europe. His 74-metre yacht Zeus is a mainstay on the Monaco horizon.
But John Christodoulou is also a well-known philanthropist, backing numerous projects that help improve the lives of vulnerable children through his John Christodoulou Foundation. Most recently, he also supported many projects during the Covid-19 pandemic, funded a new gym facility for staff at Monaco’s Princess Grace Hospital Centre, and offered two of his UK hotels for free to home 750 Ukrainian refugees.
Born in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 1965, Christodoulou has been a Monaco resident for a number of years. On Saturday night, during a gala on the beautiful terraces of the Hermitage Hotel, Prince Albert II and Monaco Ambassadors Club President Christian Moore awarded John Christodoulou with the Goodwill Ambassador’s Award for his achievements and his “unquestionable loyalty to Cyprus”, said Christian Moore.
“It gives me great pleasure to present this year’s Goodwill Ambassador’s Award to John,” said Prince Albert II of Monaco. “He is a great friend, and a great supporter of Monaco and everything that we do here. Thank you so much for that, for all of your philanthropic activities, and for your kindness and outstanding generosity not only to your friends but to all those in need.”
Prince Albert was presented with an award from Cyprus, while Christodoulou was also presented with the Holy Humanitarian Cross by Ieronymos Pyliotis, a representative of the church of Cyprus.
“One of the things we have in common with the church is they are the biggest landlords in the world,” said Christodoulou, laughing. “As a real estate guy, we are trying to get there.”
Privileged guests of the MAC gala were transported to the islands for an evening thanks to a delicious Greek-inspired menu, traditional music and, of course, some celebratory plate smashing.
Upon receiving the Goodwill Ambassador’s Award, John Christodoulou said, “When you live in Monaco, we sometimes take it for granted, but this is the best place to live in Europe. Our Prince is doing an incredible job.”
The Goodwill Ambassador’s Gala was organised by the staff of the Monaco Ambassadors Club including General Secretary Alessandra Sparaco, Club Manager Catherine Bernaz and Event Manager Manon Delpont. It was sponsored by Borsalino and Benedetta Bizzini, with limited edition Monte Cristo hats being been offered to Prince Albert, MAC President Christian Moore, MAC Vice President Mike Powers and John Christodoulou, Goodwill Ambassador 2022.
The Monaco Ambassadors Club will next year be celebrating its 50th anniversary. It was established in 1973 by HSH Princess Grace of Monaco to assemble the rich blend of cultures in the Principality, with each member bringing a particular dynamic to the club and becoming an emissary of Monaco. The next big MAC event on the calendar is the Summer Party, to be held at the stunning La Vigie villa, on 6th July.
Another technical failure befell Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari on Sunday, as he once again failed to convert a strong qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix while Max Verstappen eked-out his championship lead.
The season is yet young, and the 34-point gap that separates Leclerc and Verstappen is far from insurmountable, but Sunday’s engine failure on the streets of Baku is nonetheless a “significant” blow to Leclerc’s title aspirations.
Despite four consecutive pole positions, Leclerc has failed to convert either into a race win, whilst he has only managed to finish on the podium once in that run. A technical failure at the Spanish GP, a poor choice of strategy on a drying Monaco track at his home Grand Prix, and now an engine failure means that he hasn’t finished on the podium since taking second in Miami in early May.
After hopping out of his stricken Ferrari, Leclerc said, “It feels bad, it hurts. It’s more than significant. I don’t really have the words. It is just a huge disappointment and I hope that we can jump back from it and be on top of these things.”
Prior to his retirement, Leclerc had endured a difficult start to Sunday’s race. The pole-sitter was beaten off the line by Monaco winner Sergio Perez. The Red Bull driver took the inside line into turn one, as Leclerc locked-up on the outside line and was fortunate not to cede another position to Verstappen.
But having damaged his tyres, it was to be a difficult first stint for Leclerc, who was forced to defend from Verstappen instead of chasing after the leader. Ferrari lost their first driver on lap nine, as Carlos Sainz was forced to stop on track.
Charles Leclerc racing at the Azerbaijan GP, credit: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
Leclerc pitted under the virtual safety car that ensued, and took the lead after Verstappen and Perez completed their pit stop. During that time, Verstappen had briefly taken the lead of the race as Perez was told not to fight the flying Dutchman, who had superior pace to his Mexican team-mate.
Leclerc looked to have better pace in the second stint, and post-race he revealed that he was managing the tyres well, but Ferrari’s day would go from bad to worse. On the long start/finish straight, a plume of smoke was seen billowing from Leclerc’s single-seater as his race ended prematurely on lap 21.
Unchallenged, Red Bull took the one-two, whilst George Russell rounded off the podium ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton who, not for the first time this season, mustered an impressive comeback having found himself in 11th after the first round of stops.
Not only does Verstappen extend his lead to 34 points, but Leclerc also drops behind Perez, who now has a 13-point lead over the Monégasque driver, whilst “Mr. Consistency” Russell is only 17 points behind. The Brit is the only driver to have finished in the top five in every race this season.
Leclerc is looking to put this difficult patch behind him as the paddock departs for North America. “It’s time to go home and reset before Canada,” said the Ferrari driver.
Ferrari have the chance to bounce back quickly with only a week in between races, but Red Bull’s race pace, coupled with Ferrari’s reliability issues, spells trouble for Leclerc’s title challenge, which began so promisingly with two wins in the first three races. There is now little room for error for Ferrari, or for Leclerc.
Photo of Charles Leclerc credit: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
AS Monaco Women bounced back from last weekend’s first-leg defeat against Bourges to progress to a play-off final against Toulouse, the first leg of which will take place in Beausoleil next weekend.
On a sweltering Sunday on the Riviera, fans packed into the Stade du Prince Héréditaire Jacques to spur on a side that have rarely tasted defeat this season, but did so in the first leg of the crucial play-off tie. Coming in with a one goal deficit against Bourges, the home side needed to score at least twice to progress.
The Ultras were in attendance at the match and provided a great atmosphere throughout, as the start of the match was accompanied by a smokey pyrotechnic display from their corner. Only minutes later, Monaco took the lead. Through on goal, Laura Domecq’s cut back was neatly converted by Kenza Chircop to level the scores on aggregate.
Monaco got a scare just seconds later as Bourges had the ball in the net, only for the Bourges attacker to be adjudged to be in an offside position.
The pivotal moment in the game came midway through the first-half. Through on goal, Domecq was tripped by Bourges’ Meta Camara, leaving the referee no choice but to brandish a red card. A player up and a goal up, Monaco were now firm favourites to grab the goal that would see them progress.
But they would have to wait for it. As Monaco midfielder Maddie Weston told Monaco Life, “You have to be patient, sometimes the easiest goals won’t go in, but then the craziest ones do go in. When we do have those chances, I think we have to work harder and better to make sure they are finished because as we advance further into the playoffs, perhaps those chances don’t come as often.”
Domecq hit the bar from just six yards out, before Chircop’s poorly hit strike from within the six yard box hit the post before dribbling agonisingly across the line and hitting the other post.
Monaco did eventually get their second mid-way through the second-half. As the 10 players of Bourges tired in the heat, the Principality side profited from their numerical advantage to create overloads. Domecq got on the scoresheet, converting Bree Fuller’s cutback before Moeko Morse added a third to give the home side margin for error.
They would be grateful for it, as Monaco had to endure a nervy finish. Christelle Léger’s long-range effort beat the goalkeeper and left Monaco hanging on in the dying seconds of the tie. But hold on they did, and victory leaves them within two games of promotion to D2.
Post-match manager Stéphane Guigo reflected on their comeback victory. He told Monaco Life, “We don’t have the habit of losing. That gave them a shot in the arm, we got our heads right again this week and we worked hard to get the result today.” AS Monaco Women’s development manager Thomas Martini added, “It was a logical defeat in the first leg, we have to be honest. Today we saw more of what we’ve seen since the start of the season: effort and efficiency. We found a collective and that’s what we lacked in the first match.”
Weston added, “Losing isn’t a known feeling to us, but as great as that is, it lit a fire in us. It’s okay that it happens and we learn from it. It taught us to be more patient in this game and not force the ball over the top.”
She continued, “We got the job done today, but we’re not finished. We have two more games to win to get to our ultimate goal of getting up to D2.”
Guigo is expecting a tough match against Toulouse, stating, “I think we’re the underdog. It’s a former professional side. They have an ambitious project. We’ll welcome next week with a lot of humility. On the play-off final, Martini added, “Toulouse will be a level up. They are a team that likes to play from the back. It will be a very different scenario. In terms of quality, I think it will be 50/50. It will be the team that approaches the game the best that will go up to D2.”
The fixture seems finely poised, and Monaco will be hoping to get off to a good start when they host Toulouse in Beausoleil next weekend.
The Blue Climate Summit, co-convened by Prince Albert, last month set out to advance ocean-related solutions to climate change through concrete, actionable projects. The outcomes are in.
More than 200 scientists, business and political leaders, youth advocates and environmentalists gathered together from 14th to 20th May in French Polynesia for the Blue Climate Summit, organised by the Blue Climate Initiative.
A few themes took precedence at the conference, first and foremost, the need to strike a better balance between the oceans and man. It was hit home that without a strong marine environment, mankind will suffer.
“The living ocean, all of it, is inextricably connected to Earth’s climate and to the existence of life, humans very much included,” said Dr Sylvia Earle, an American marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer.
Next up was the importance of ocean health on human health. Threats are being made to the marine world in unimaginable ways. One such threat is deep sea mining. An obscure Jamaican entity called The International Seabed Authority is planning to issue deep sea mining licenses without knowing what this kind of disruptive project will do to the fragile ecosystems of the sea floors.
It is thought that large pieces of pristine ocean beds will be destroyed, whilst releasing massive plumes of debris, which will certainly affect life above. Participants at the Summit called for more scientific research to be made to learn what the impact and consequences of such explorative mining will cause.
President Édouard Fritch, whose country hosted the event, made clear his determination to create a better situation for the seas, saying, “With the largest managed marine area in the world and its 19,000 km2 Biosphere Reserve, our people of the largest ocean continent carry a message to offer to the world. On the occasion of the Blue Climate Summit, I invite the world to come to French Polynesia, to listen to us and, above all, to hear us.”
The Blue Climate Summit was regarded as not an event, but as a launchpad to important initiatives, though the plans will mean nothing unless they are followed up by action. To this end, the next several months will be critical to advancing, implementing and scaling the initiatives agreed upon.
The Summit was co-hosted by the Government of French Polynesia alongside other public and private institutions. Co-conveners included Prince Albert II of Monaco, President Edouard Fritch of French Polynesia, master navigator Nainoa Thompson from the Polynesian Voyaging Society, world-renowned oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, international environmental advocate Laura Turner, Richard Bailey, CEO of Pacific Beachcomber in Tahiti, Andrew Forrest, co-founder of the Minderoo Foundation, and Marc Benioff, co-founder and co-CEO of SalesForce.
Photo of the Hōkūleʻa ceremony at Taputapuātea, the UNESCO World Heritage site, on Raʻiatea, supplied.
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