NATO Airbase threat, Thai plane crash and crowded youth detention facility

Luxembourg

YOUNG OFFENDERS IN SCHRASSIG - Two teenagers that were arrested last Saturday night were placed provisionally in an adult prison after a youth detention facility that they were assigned to had no room. The teenagers aged 16 and 17 were arrested on Saturday night for breaking and entering, as well as theft. The young offenders were meant to be placed in provisional custody at the Unisec socio-educational centre for young people in Dreiborn, but the facility had no space. As a result, the public prosecutor's office decided to temporarily place the two individuals in Luxembourg's penitentiary centre in Schrassig.

TAX OFFICE REGROUPING - Minister of Finance Gilles Roth has confirmed plans to create a site in Luxembourg city to bring a number of tax services together in a new building at Cloche d'Or by 2026. In addition to this, the Diekirch and Ettelbruck offices are to be regrouped under a new "Nordstad Administrative Centre" in Ettelbruck by 2026, while the tax office in Differdange would be rehomed in a new building in the area. Further down the line by 2035, it is envisaged that a new complex for the Inland Revenue will be built in Kirchberg, with space for up to 1,500 employees.

World

NATO AIRBASE THREAT - NATO Airbase Geilenkirchen in western Germany raised its security level over a "potential threat" based on intelligence information it said in a post on social media platform X yesterday. The announcement comes just over a week after a German military base in Cologne-Wahn was sealed off for several hours as authorities investigated suspected sabotage.

THAI PLANE CRASH - Rescuers are looking for nine people missing after a turboprop plane crashed southeast of the capital Bangkok, though authorities expected no survivors. The aircraft went down in the jungle of Chachoengsao province on Thursday. According to local media, passengers included four Thais and five Chinese including two children aged 12 and 13.

ICELAND VOLCANO - A new volcano erupted on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwestern Iceland late last night, spewing hot lava into the air in the 6th eruption to hit the region since December, authorities said.
Live video images showed orange lava bursting out of a long fissure, illuminating the billowing smoke rising up into the night sky. The Icelandic Meteorological Office said in a statement that the eruption had started following a series of earthquakes.

DISPUTED ELECTION RESULTS - Venezuela's Supreme Court has declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner of the disputed July election amid opposition claims of widespread vote fraud. In its ruling the court said it had "indisputably certified election materials and validates the results of the July 28 presidential election issued by the National Electoral Council". Maduro himself had asked the court earlier this month to weigh in on the election, in which he claims to have defeated opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia with 52% of ballots cast, according to the National Electoral Council.

Sports

GOLD - England's Charley Hull enjoyed a superb finish, with four birdies on the back nine on the Old Course at St Andrews, to lead the Women's British Open with a five-under par opening round of 67. The 28-year-old is bidding for her first major title after finishing runner-up in both last year's Women's British Open and Women's US Open.

FORMULA 1 - even-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is "100 percent" backing a Grand Prix in Africa, as Formula One bosses are poised for talks over staging a race in Rwanda. F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali has set up a meeting next month with representatives from Rwanda, who have put forward a "serious" proposal. Africa has not hosted a Grand Prix since 1993 in South Africa.

Weather

The weekend is almost here but we still have to get through a mostly grey Friday. Besides grey skies, wind could be a mild nuisance blowing at 20–30 km/h, with stronger gusts reaching up to 50 km/h. Thermometers will point to 12–14°C in the morning, and will climb towards 25°C in the afternoon.

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