MARATHON FEAT - A Luxembourgish man has successfully completed seven marathons on seven continents in seven days, raising around €100,000 for charity along the way. Leudelange resident Pit van Rijswijck finished second in the World Marathon Challenge with an average marathon time of 3h 24m 54s. The 36-year-old runner wanted to test himself against other ultra-endurance runners and also to raise money for a cancer charity, after promising his father, who died of brain cancer, that he would do so.
GERMANY STRIKES - Workers at seven German airports, including the busy hubs of Frankfurt and Munich, are staging a one-day strike today to push their demand for higher wages. Some 2300 flights have already been cancelled, Lufthansa alone has had to cancel 1300 flights. Here, Findel airport is also affected, as all flights to Germany have been cancelled today. You can find details on luxairport.lu
SECURITY CONFERENCE - The Munich Security Conference is taking place this weekend, an annual gathering of world leaders and defence experts. US Vice-President Kamala Harris, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanual Macron are among 150 high-ranking government representatives taking part in the conference, in the context of the war in Ukraine. Luxembourg is represented by the Minister of Defence François Bausch.
QUAKE RESCUES - Turkish rescuers have pulled a 17-year-girl and a woman in her 20s from the rubble of last week’s devastating earthquake, as hopes fade of finding more survivors. Aleyna Olmez was rescued 248 hours after the quake flattened entire cities, killing more than 41,000 people across southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria. NTV television later reported that Neslihan Kilic, in her 20s, was rescued 258 hours after the first tremor in the same city.
EU CORRUPTION - Eva Kaili, the Greek MEP at the centre of the corruption scandal engulfing the European Parliament has been ordered to remain in prison for at least two more months. The embattled lawmaker has been in pre-trial detention since 9 December, when she was arrested by Belgian police. She has been charged with participation in a criminal organisation, corruption and money laundering. Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella, former MEP Pier Antonio Panzeri and NGO director Niccolò Figà-Talamanca have also been arrested and criminally charged. Panzeri, the presumed ringleader, has signed a plea deal with Belgian authorities, admitting actions of bribery and committing to sharing “revealing” information. The Italian’s pre-trial detention was also extended on Thursday.
WILLIS DEMENTIA - The actor Bruce Willis has been diagnosed with dementia. The family of the 67-year-old, who starred in movies such as “Die Hard” and “Pulp Fiction” said he had a form of the disease, which affects his ability to speak and write. Doctors say there are no treatments for the disease at this time.
Sports
LUX FOOTBALL - The women’s national football team will play two test matches in Malta in the next few days. The first one is tonight at 6pm. The 2nd one is on Sunday.
ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS - This weekend, the Luxembourg Open for artistic gymnastics is taking place in Belair. 11 countries are participating in this international competition, which is being organized again for the first time in 14 years. Two Luxembourgers are hoping to qualify for the Olympics in Paris next year - Céleste Mordenti and Quentin Brandenburger.
SKIING WORLD CUP - The men’s giant slalom at the World Cup in France starts this morning. Mathieu Osch is there. The Luxembourger came 21st in qualification yesterday. In the women’s giant slalom, the American Mikaela Shiffrin won the title yesterday. Luxembourger Gwyneth Ten Raa came in 37th place, her sister Joyce in 51st.
FOOTBALL RESULTS - In the playoffs in the Europa League last night, Barcelona drew 2-2 with Manchester United, Leverkusen lost at home 2-3 against Monaco and Juve also drew 1-1 with Nantes. Today is the 21st matchday in the German Bundesliga; tonight’s match is Augsburg against Hoffenheim.
We have a foggy start and can expect some drizzle in the afternoon. Temperatures start off around 6-8°C will rise to a high peak of 11°C in the afternoon, before falling to 7-10°C in the evening.
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