STATE VISIT - Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Marie-Therese begin a state visit to Belgium today, on the invitation of the Belgian Royals. The Grand Ducal couple will visit different projects and companies in 3 Belgian cities: Brussels, Ghent and Liege. They are accompanied by a large financial and economic delegation, including Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel. This evening there will be a state banquet in the castle of Laeken, where Prime Minister Luc Frieden will also be present. He is also taking part in the EU summit of the heads of state and government in Brussels, which starts tomorrow.
Belgian King Philippe and Grand Duke Henri also have something to celebrate. The two have their birthday today. King Philippe turns 64, his cousin Grand Duke Henri celebrates his 69th today.
LUXAIR MANCHESTER - Luxair inaugurated its first flight to and from Manchester on Monday morning. Passengers on the first 10:20 flight were treated to a Luxembourgish-British breakfast, including croissants, Luxembourgish Schneck, local crémant but also English breakfast tea. Scheduled three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Manchester will be Luxair’s second UK direct flight after London City, hugely cutting down travel time for passengers visiting northern UK.
RENT CAP - The government council has confirmed that the controversial rent cap presented by the former government is off the table. The rent cap was intended to drop from 5 percent of the invested capital to 3.5 percent “to prevent the most outrageous rents”. The current government will drop this component due to the criticism surrounding it. Some opponents argue that imposing such a cap could deter investors, potentially reducing real estate investments and exacerbating the housing shortage. The cost of renting a home in Luxembourg City has more than doubled since 2010.
SPEED CAMPAIGN - And in a pan-European campaign for road safety, Luxembourg Police are participating in the 2024 “Speed” campaign this week. The “Speedmarathon” takes place on Friday of this week, 19 April, with extra police presence and checks. Citizens have the opportunity to propose specific locations to police where excess speeding is common. Users can mention towns, villages and even streets to law enforcement via @policelux on Instagram.
IRAN ATTACK - Israel’s war cabinet has met for a second time in as many days, to discuss how to respond to Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack. The head of Israel’s army reiterated that Tehran’s weekend attack would be met with a response.
TRUMP TRIAL - The first day of Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York has seen dozens of prospective jurors dismissed , after they admitted they couldn’t be impartial. Trump has become the first former US president on trial in a criminal case. He is charged with falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to an adult film star. He has dismissed the case as a witchhunt.
SUDAN AID - France and its allies have drummed up aid pledges of over two billion euros for Sudan a year after civil war erupted sparking one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and 8.5 million more forced to flee their homes since fighting broke out on April 15 last year between rival generals. Attention to Sudan’s plight from the international community has been crowded out by conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.
FOOTBALL - The return matches in the quarter-finals of the Champions League will start this evening. Barcelona has a 3-2 home advantage against Paris St Germain. Dortmund must overcome a 1-2 deficit against Atletico at home to advance. Tomorrow, Bayern will play against Arsenal, and Manchester City against Real Madrid.
OLYMPICS 2024 - Nearly 100 days before the 2024 Paris Games open, the Olympic flame will be lit in ancient Olympia today for a torch relay stretching from the Acropolis to French Polynesia. After a relay race through Greece, the flame will arrive in France by ship. It will come to Luxembourg on its way to Paris – it will be brought to Schengen on the 27th of June.
Meanwhile President Macron has said for the first time that the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony could move from the river Seine to the national stadium in the event of a security threat. With war raging in Ukraine and in Gaza, the ceremony leaves teams potentially vulnerable to attack -- French authorities have, for example, mentioned the possibility of an attack launched by drones.
LUXEMBOURG TEAM - The football federation is getting a makeover with two new logos, adorning the jerseys of the national teams. Having come very close to a historic qualification for Euro 2024 with its men’s team, the selection is definitely entitled to revised jerseys.The FLF unveiled two new logos this Monday: that of the federation and the Red Lions. The two new badges will adorn the jerseys of the men’s and women’s teams.
Today should remain wet and windy but MeteoLux have not issued an alert as of yet, with gusts of up to 50km/h. The skies will be cloudy and grey, with the rain expected to show up at various times - including a light possibility of snow in the morning, up north.
You should also get ready for a slight drop in temperatures: we’ll start at 3-5°C in the morning, timidly going up to around 7-9°C in the afternoon.
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