International Holocaust Remembrance Day, nursery head sentenced and oil spill in the Sûre

Luxembourg

HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL - Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. A commemoration ceremony will take place in Esch this afternoon with Prime Minister Xavier Bettel.  There is also a large memorial hour in the basilica in Trier, where representatives from Luxembourg, France and Belgium will be present. Memorial ceremonies will be held across the world, including at the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz to mark the 78^th anniversary of its liberation.

NURSERY DIRECTOR SENTENCED - The former director of a Bous nursery has been sentenced to three years in prison, along with a two-year suspension. The woman, who ran the "Kind Lion" nursery prior to its closure in 2017, was accused of intimidating and mistreating 15 children in her care, as well as at least three former staff members.

COVID NUMBERS - The number of Covid infections dropped by 16% over the past week, according to the latest update from the Ministry of Health. Despite the drop in cases, five people died from the virus last week. The BQ.1 variant is still dominant in Luxembourg, although the XBB mutation is beginning to gain ground, according to recent reports issued by the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology. The number of flu cases has also dropped by a quarter over the past week.

SURE POLLUTION - The Sûre river has been affected by an oil spill in Belgium, causing hydrocarbon pollution as far as the Luxembourgish border. Luxembourg's Water Management Administration sent units to Rombach-Martelange to clear the pollution, accompanied by teams from the fire and rescue services. As of Thursday afternoon, the operation has been largely unsuccessful due to the high water flow of the river, which hindered attempts to set up floating dams.

SANEM PRISON - 155 inmates have been moved to the Uerschterhaff pre-trial detention centre in Sanem. The Sanem premises is designed only to house prisoners in pre-trial detention. 158 men are still being held in preventative detention in Schrassig as of 23 January. 

World

RUSSIA COURT - Today in Strasbourg, the winter session of the Council of Europe comes to an end. Yesterday, the Parliamentary Assembly unanimously voted for the establishment of an international criminal court tribunal against Russia and Belarus. The government and military leaders of both countries should be held accountable for their war of aggression in Ukraine. Since March last year, Russia is no longer a member of the Council of Europe, the forum for general debates on European issues, which also advocates for the protection of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

CZECHIA ELECTIONS - The second round in the Czech presidential election is taking place  today and tomorrow. The run-off is between two candidates – former NATO General Petr Pavel and former President Andrej Babis. Both candidates reached 35% of the first round votes.

Sport

SWIMMING EURO MEET - The Euro Meet is taking place at the Coque in Kirchberg this weekend. A whole host of world-class athletes are involved. Among them the South African Chad le Clos, 16-time world champion and 4-time medal winner at the Olympics, the American Coleman Stewart, who currently holds the world record over the 100-meter back stroke and the Swiss simmer Lisa Mamié, the current European champion in the 200 meter breaststroke. From the Luxembourg’s side Julien Henx, Pit Brandenburger and Max Mannes will try to keep up with the world elite. You can watch the live stream on rtl.lu

HANDBALL WC - The semi-finals of the Handball World Cup are tonight. Denmark will face Spain at 6 o'clock. At half past 9, France meets Sweden.

TENNIS - At the Australian Open - the first semi-final between the Russian player Karen Kachanov and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas has been going on since half past five in the morning. Later this morning, in the second semi-final, the American Tommy Paul meets Novak Djokovic.

Weather

Two sides of the same coin; a chilly end to the week and a chilly start to the weekend. The sky is still very cloudy, overcast and foggy. Light rain and mixed snowfall or even snowfall will be possible during the afternoon and evening. Morning temperatures start off cold at -2 to 1°C, rising to around 0 to 2°C in the afternoon.

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