The Today Radio News team brings you the latest news headlines for Friday, 7 July.

Luxembourg

TOP TEN POLITICIANS - In the second part of a survey produced for RTL and the Luxemburger Wort, voters ranked the country’s top politicians on sympathy and competence.  The current foreign minister Jean Asselborn came out on top, health minister Paulette Lenert in second place and incumbent Prime Minister Xavier Bettel sits in third place.

MURDER CASE - In the murder case of Diana S., an investigating judge visited the crime scene in Diekirch together with the murder suspect yesterday. There were also investigators from the judicial police, a court doctor and members of the police. The murder of 40-year-old Diana S., who at the time of the death was living in Diekirch, made waves in the Greater Region last winter. A mutilated body of a woman was found behind an abandoned supermarket in Mont-Saint-Martin in France. A few weeks later, body parts were also found in Temmels, a village on the Luxembourg border. The trail quickly led to Luxembourg and DNA analysis confirmed the victim’s identity. A 48-year-old man was arrested.

GERMANY WFH AGREEMENT - Cross-border workers from Germany will now be permitted to work from home 34 days a year, thanks to a new agreement between the two countries. To date, cross-border workers living in Germany could only work from home for a maximum of 19 days per year before having to contribute to social security and taxes in their home country. Now, the latest amendment to the double taxation agreement (known as DBA) will lead to tax simplifications for these employees. The regulation will only apply from 2024 onwards.

NOISE COMPENSATION - In a unanimous vote, Luxembourg's Chamber of Deputies has approved a bill that will provide financial assistance to homeowners looking to insulate their properties against noise pollution from Findel Airport. This legislation, which targets residences constructed before 31 August 1986, is a significant step towards addressing the longstanding issue of airport noise in the region.

Word

THREADS LAUNCH - Twitter is considering legal action against the social media giant Meta, claiming the newly launched 'Threads' platform uses its intellectual property. Within a few hours of its launch in 100 countries, more than 30 million people had downloaded Threads, according to Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg.

AMAZON DEFORESTATION - Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon has fallen by one-third in the first six months of President Lula da Silva's administration, compared to the same period of last year. The 33.6 percent drop is based on satellite images captured by the National Institute of Space Research, which said that from January through June a total of 2,649 square kilometers of rainforest were felled.

Sports

CYCLING - Tadej Pogacar unleashed a devastating turn of speed to win stage six of the Tour de France yesterday, but defending champion Jonas Vingegaard took the overall race lead 25 seconds ahead of the Slovenian. Stage seven today takes the Tour away from the Pyrenees and through the vineyards of the Bordeaux region.

TENNIS - Andy Murray was within touching distance of the Wimbledon third round yesterday when he opened up a two sets to one lead over world number five Stefanos Tsitsipas. British two-time champion Murray lost the first set but roared back to lead 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 when the Centre Court duel was halted just before the curfew of 11pm. The match resumes today. In the biggest shock of the tournament so far, fourth seed Casper Ruud crashed out at the hands of British wild card Liam Broady in five sets. Defending women's champion Elena Rybakina has reached the last 32 with a 6-2, 7-6 (7/2) win against Alize Cornet.

Weather

It’s a scorcher… temperatures could hit as high as 32°C today - so it's sun hats, sunscreen and shades at the ready! Temperatures start off at a cool 12-16°C in the morning, before rising up to real summer temperatures of around 30-32°C in the afternoon.

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