The Today Radio news team brings you the latest news headlines for Friday, 22 March.
Luxembourg
CYBERATTACK - The State's IT systems were affected by a cyber attack yesterday, described as a DDOS (distributed denial-of-service) attack which had flooded the State's servers, rendering them unusable. A number of websites run by the State were unavailable for some time, including gouvernement.lu and MyGuichet.lu services, but were fixed within a couple of hours. Prime Minister Luc Frieden, who was at an EU summit in Brussels, convened a crisis unit to discuss further steps, overseen by digitisation minister Stéphanie Obertin. There are no details on the provenance of the attack but a post circulating on social networks Telegram and X claimed that the attack is due to Luxembourg's involvement in the purchase of ammunition for Ukraine.
MISSING PERSON - According to police, a 15-year-old girl is missing since Wednesday. Zoé Reuter is described as being between 1.60 and 1.70m tall, with shoulder-length brown hair. She wears glasses and was last seen in Sandweiler at around 1pm on Wednesday. Police say she has links to the Gare district in Luxembourg City and could be staying in the area.
CHARITY SCAMS - According to the police, scammers are continuing to pose as charity workers in order to steal money from unsuspecting citizens. After striking up conversations, the attackers then take advantage of any lapses in concentration to steal the victim's purse or wallet, or they use underhanded tactics to convince the victim to hand over their bank details or debit card.Anyone approached by these individuals is encouraged to contact the police.
World
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA EU - Bosnia-Herzegovina is a step closer to entering formal talks on its accession to the European Union after the bloc’s 27 leaders green-lighted the move yesterday. It comes eight years after the Western Balkan country first applied for EU membership. EU Council President Charles Michel congratulated Bosnia-Herzegovina and said it’s place is in the European Family. Michel followed it up with a warning that a lot of work remains to be done before the country can join, including economic, judicial and political reforms as well as efforts to tackle corruption and money laundering.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Israel today to press for a truce in Gaza, ahead of a key UN Security Council vote on a US draft resolution on the need for an "immediate" ceasefire. Fighting in Gaza this week has centred around the Al-Shifa hospital, with Israel also vowing to launch a new ground assault in overcrowded Rafah in the south. At the same time talks focused on securing a truce agreement are continuing, hinged on the release of hostages held by Hamas militants in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody and the delivery of more aid to Gaza.
PIG KIDNEY TRANSPLANT - Doctors have performed the first transplant of a genetically modified kidney from a pig into a living human. The four-hour surgery was performed at Massachusetts General Hospital, which was also the first hospital to perform a kidney transplant in 1954. The patient, Rick Slayman, who had been diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease, is recovering well and expected to be discharged from the hospital soon.
Sport
FOOTBALL – Luxembourg lost 2-0 to Georgia last night, meaning it will not be at Euro 2024. After having been dominated and losing 1-0 at half-time, Luc Holtz's team came out of the locker room with every intention of getting back into the game. It didn't take the Luxembourgers more than six minutes to equalize on a wonderful strike by Gerson Rodrigues, which was then disallowed after Maxime Chanot was sent off for a foul. Being one-man up, the Georgians pushed forward, making it 2-0 after an hour of play.
FORMULA 1 – McLaren's Lando Norris outpaced world champion Max Verstappen earlier today to top the timesheets in a first practice in Melbourne. The Briton Norris powered round the Albert Park circuit with a best time of one minute 18.564 seconds on soft tyres. Verstappen won the first two races of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, but they were overshadowed by turmoil within the Red Bull camp. The 26-year-old has vowed to see out his contract until 2028 and is hoping to put off-track distractions behind him with records on the line at Sunday's Australian Grand Prix.
Weather
Today should be a rather pleasant and sunny Friday, especially in the afternoon. Try to make the best of it, though, as we are expecting a rainy comeback late tonight / early Saturday. The morning will start off at around 6-8°C, but we should have a pretty nice temperature of 16-18°C in the afternoon.
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