STATE VISIT - On the third and last day of the Grand Ducal couple’s state visit to Belgium, the focus was on the cooperative relationship between Luxembourgish and Belgian armed forces. Grand Duke Henri and Belgium’s King Philippe visited the air base at Melsbroek on Thursday morning, where they were shown around one of the Belgian A400M aircraft, just as its Luxembourgish counterpart was undergoing maintenance in the same hanger. Following the visit to the air base the royal party moved on to Liège, where the visit included a university seminar on the subject “Security and Defence: challenges in and from space.” The day’s schedule also allowed for a visit to the city’s Prince-Bishops Palace.
UKRAINE SUPPORT - The Ministry of Defence has confirmed Luxembourg collaborated with Belgium and the Netherlands as part of the continued military assistance to Ukraine. Luxembourg has contributed 2 million euros to the Czech initiative to continue buying ammunition outside the EU to the benefit of Ukraine. The government’s budget proposal for the year 2024 foresees a minimum of 70 million euros in military support for Ukraine, according to a statement published by the Ministry of Defence.
RAILWAY FATALITY - A man was pronounced dead earlier on Thursday after being struck by a train between Luxembourg City and Dommeldange. The incident left trains disrupted in both directions for several hours on Thursday afternoon. CFL also closed the level crossing in Dommeldange as a result of the collision. Police said a man was struck by an oncoming train at around 12.20pm on Thursday. The victim is reported to have died of his injuries shortly afterwards. A forensics team was dispatched to the site of the incident.
IRAN/ISRAEL - Iran’s state media reported explosions in the central province of Isfahan on Friday, as US media quoted officials saying Israel had carried out retaliatory strikes on its arch-rival. Israel had previously warned it would hit back after Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel over the weekend. Most of them were intercepted. Iran’s Fars news agency reported “three explosions” were heard near the Shekari army airbase in the northwest of Isfahan province, while Iran’s space agency spokesman Hossein Dalirian said “several” drones had been “successfully shot down”.
US VETO AT UN - The United States on Thursday spoiled a long-shot Palestinian bid for full United Nations membership, vetoing a Security Council measure despite growing international distress over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The move by Israel’s key ally had been expected ahead of the vote, taking place more than six months into Israel’s military offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory, in retaliation for the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel. Twelve countries voted in favor of the draft resolution recommending full Palestinian membership. Britain and Switzerland abstained.
WORLD’S BIGGEST VOTE - India began voting Friday in a six-week election with an all but assured victory for Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as a weakened opposition is pushed to the sidelines. A total of 968 million people are eligible to take part in the world’s biggest vote -- a staggering logistical exercise that critics say follows a concerted effort to delegitimise rivals. Modi, 73, remains resoundingly popular after a decade in office that has seen India rise in diplomatic clout and economic power, as well as efforts by his government to bring the country’s majority faith in ever closer alignment with its politics.
FOOTBALL - Despite a 1-0 victory, Liverpool’s season continued to unravel as they were knocked out of the Europa League by Atalanta as their Italian opponents moved on to the semi-finals,of the competition with a 3-1 aggregate victory.
Meanwhile, Roma recorded an historic victory over their Serie A rivals AC Milan, recording a 2-1 win despite going down to 10 men for the majority of the match.
Bayern Leverkusen also progressed after drawing 1-1 with West Ham to record a 3-1 aggregate victory. And despite recording a 1-0 victory over Benfica, it took a penalty shoot out for Marseille to book their place in the semi-finals spot of the competition with the French team winning out 4-2 on spot kicks.
F1 - Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was quickest in first and only practice for the Chinese Grand Prix on Friday, ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, with championship leader Max Verstappen third. Canadian Stroll took advantage of a rapidly quickening track at the end of the 60-minute session and some upgrades to his car to record a blistering lap of 1min 36.302sec, beating Piastri by 0.327sec, with the Red Bull of Verstappen 0.031sec further back. The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez was fourth in Shanghai followed by the much-improved Haas pair, Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, who benefited from significant upgrades to their cars. A big surprise was Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who could only finish 13th and 14th respectively in their Ferraris, almost two seconds off the pace.
Well, well, well what else do you expect from Luxembourgish weather? T-shirts last week, parkas today! We can expect showers throughout the country and even some snow in the cold, cold north, not to mention winds whipping up to 65 km/h to keep us on our toes!
The temperatures don’t make for great reading either, ranging from 2-5°C in the morning, a slight rise to 5-8°C in the afternoon and a one degree dip in the evening. Despite the weather, make it a great day. Dress warmly and you will be grand.
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