RAVINE PLUNGE - A traffic accident occurred on Wednesday morning along the CR145, culminating in a harrowing plunge for a motorist into the depths of a ravine. Details from the Grand Ducal Fire and Rescue Corp reveal that the vehicle veered off the CR145 towards Greiveldange at around 8.40am, careening down an embankment for a staggering 20 metres before coming to a halt in a nearby stream. Emergency services deployed a team of 20 firefighters, who worked diligently to extricate the driver from the vehicle. The driver, who sustained only minor injuries, was successfully rescued and transported back to the road using an evacuation tray.
EPP CRITICISM - Tommy Klein, political advisor to the Pirate Party, voiced strong criticism on Wednesday morning regarding the European People’s Party and their prioritisation of border protection over humanitarian concerns. In an interview with our colleagues from RTL Radio, Klein denounced the proposal endorsed by the EPP, which mirrors the UK government’s Rwanda plan, suggesting the transfer of migrants to third countries. He characterised this approach as “appalling,” emphasising the need to prioritise human life over border control measures.
CYBER SECURITY - In late March, around 70 websites in Luxembourg fell victim to a major wave of cyberattacks, prompting heightened concerns about cybersecurity within the country. The issue of cyberattacks and cybersecurity was recently raised in a parliamentary question by the Pirate Party. The Director of the Government IT Centre (CTIE) confirmed that the vast majority of websites targeted in March belonged to the state or a small number of municipalities. Notably, the parliamentary question, posed by MP Ben Polidori, preceded the most recent cyberattack, believed to originate from Russia. Regardless of this incident, cybersecurity remains a pressing concern.
TAIWAN QUAKE - A helicopter plucked six miners to safety from a Taiwan quarry on Thursday as rescuers worked to free scores of people trapped in highway tunnels after the island’s biggest earthquake in quarter of a century. Nine people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in Wednesday’s magnitude-7.4 quake, but strict building regulations and widespread public disaster awareness appear to have staved off a major catastrophe on the island. Dozens of residents of the worst-hit city spent a night outdoors rather in apartments still being shaken by aftershocks. A massive engineering operation is now under way to fix damaged roads and prop up tilting buildings.
AID WORKER DEATHS - US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak on Thursday, a US official has said, in their first call since an Israeli strike killed seven aid workers in Gaza. The call comes after Biden expressed outrage over the deaths of the employees of the US-based World Central Kitchen group and said Israel must do more to protect aid workers and civilians. Netanyahu has said the Israeli military “unintentionally” killed the aid workers in the attack. The victims included a US-Canadian national along with three Britons, a Pole, an Australian and a Palestinian.
RUSSIA CALL - Russia said that its defence minister Sergei Shoigu and French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu discussed the potential for talks on the Ukraine conflict during a rare telephone call on Wednesday, a claim that Paris immediately denied. The unexpected call, which Moscow said was initiated by France, marks a rare instance of high-level contact between the two countries, whose ties have been severely strained by the two-year Ukraine war. The French defence ministry acknowledged the pair discussed Ukraine, but stressed Lecornu reaffirmed France’s support for Kyiv’s fight against Russia.
FOOTBALL - In last night’s prominent football matches Bayer Leverkusen recorded an emphatic 4-0 victory over Fortuna Düsseldorf in the DFB Cup, Fiorentina narrowly beat Atalanta 1-0 in the Copa Italia, and PSG overcame Rennes 1-0 despite Kylian M’Bappe missing an earlier penalty
BASEBALL - The opening games of next year’s US Major League Baseball season will be held in Japan on March 19 and 20, the Japanese baseball commissioner said. The exact location and teams are not yet decided, Japanese media said, citing Sadayuki Sakakibara of the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization. Sakakibara last month met MLB commissioner Rob Manfred in South Korea, where Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani and his Los Angeles Dodgers opened the current campaign.
We’ve all heard about April showers but today’s weather takes not only the biscuit, but the entire cake platter... Heavy rainfall and strong winds are set to batter the Grand Duchy throughout the day, with up to 10 litres of rain per square metre in the morning. The rain will slow somewhat as we head into the afternoon, although winds may reach up to 65 km/h at the day’s peak.
Temperatures will range from 9-11°C in the morning, with highs of just 13 °C during the daytime.
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