TRAIN TUNNEL - Good news for those of you who regularly travel to the City from the North. Train services between Ettelbruck and Clervaux are likely to resume by 11 December. After Tuesday’s statement by Transport Minister François Bausch saying that it was unlikely for the line to reopen on 11 December, it appears that the tunnel will, after all, be functional again by that date. The closure of the tunnel was due to problems caused by the landslide in the Schieburg tunnel.
FUEL PRICES - SuperPlus 98 fuel will drop by almost ten cents per litre from today in Luxembourg to below the 2-euro mark. It will cost 1.96 per litre. However, diesel prices are again on the rise: a litre of diesel will now cost €2.07. For the moment, regular unleaded petrol (95) remains at €1.77 per litre.
EU ENERGY - EU Ministers are gathering in Brussels today, in preparation for the European Council meeting starting tomorrow. The energy crisis will dominate the meeting in the Belgian capital - among other issues, EU countries are considering buying gas together to get better deals. Luxembourg’s Minister of Energy, Claude Turmes, will present the new national emergency plan for gas supplies.
UKRAINE LATEST - More than a thousand towns and villages across Ukraine remain without power after massive Russian attacks in recent days. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 30% of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed in the past eight days. Parts of the capital Kyiv have no power and water after new strikes on Tuesday.
The new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, General Sergey Surovikin, has admitted the situation in the southern city of Kherson is difficult and said the army was preparing to evacuate civilians from the city.
SAKHAROV PRIZE - Today the EU Parliament will announce the winner of the Sakharov Prize. The nominees are: the Ukrainian people, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and a Colombian commission investigating human rights violations in Colombia. The prize for democracy and human rights is endowed with 50,000 euros. And it will be presented on December 14 during the last plenary session of the year in Strasbourg.
UK POLITICS - British prime minister Liz Truss is facing a potentially humiliating make-or-break Prime Minister’s Questions today, which could determine how long she can survive in office. She will appear in parliament for the first time since her new chancellor Jeremy Hunt dramatically reversed her economic programme.
NETFLIX SUBSCRIBERS - Netflix has reported that it gained more than 2 million subscribers over the July to September period, calming investor fears that the streaming giant was losing paying customers. That reversed the losses it suffered in the first half of the year after raising its prices in key markets. Hits such as ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’ helped draw viewers back to the site.
WORLD CUP COST - The bill being paid by Qatar for the most expensive World Cup ever held, is set to rise to fantasy levels in the one-month left to the November 20 kick off. Gleaming new stadiums that cost more than $6.5 billion are ready, a driver-less metro system with a price tag of $36 billion serves five of the eight venues. With Qatar’s organisers desperate to convince the world of the event’s lasting legacy -- clouded by a corruption investigation, and criticism of Qatar’s rights record and even the use of stadium air-conditioning -- more cost is likely. Estimates of up to $300 billion have been given for the total infrastructure spending over the past decade. By contrast, the 2014 World Cup in Brazil cost an estimated 11.5 billion and Russia 2018 about $14 billion.
LADIES TENNIS LUXEMBOURG - The Luxembourg Ladies Tennis Masters will take place at the Coque sporting centre from tomorrow until Sunday. The winner will receive a cash prize of €40,000. The tournament will be the first time that the all-time greats of women’s tennis will compete against each other in a tennis tournament. It will feature former world number one players such as Martina Hingis and Kim Clijsters. Scott Brown and Nathan Sneyd from Lëtz Talk Sport will be commenting live at the event, and will be providing us with some exclusive social media content over on RTL Today Radio’s instagram. So be sure to keep an eye out there!
Low-lying areas can expect fog once again as the sun rises, but once the mist has burned off, we’ll be graced by a perfectly warm and sunny autumn day. Morning temperatures will start off at 10-12°C, rising to highs of 19°C in the afternoon.
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