STATE BUDGET – Luxembourg’s Chamber of Deputies adopted the 2026 state budget yesterday with 34 votes in favour and 25 against. Finance Minister Gilles Roth called it a budget of “record investments” focused on stability and sustainability. Housing receives the largest share at 42% of tax expenditure. Today’s plenary session tackles pension reform and opening hours. The OGBL and LCGB unions are set to demonstrate outside the Chamber against liberalising Sunday work rules.
PETROL PRICES – Petrol prices have dropped overnight. 95-unleaded falls by 3.6 cents to €1.39 per litre, while 98-petrol decreases by 4.6 cents to €1.52 per litre.
MISSING PERSON – Police are searching for 47-year-old Diane Odem, missing since 10 December. She is described as 1.70m to 1.80m tall with black hair and may be driving a blue Ford Escort with Luxembourg registration plates. She was last seen in Differdange and may have traveled to Belgium. Ms. Odem requires medical assistance. Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts is asked to contact the Käerjeng/Péiteng police.
LUXTRUST OUTAGE – LuxTrust confirms its services are back to normal after a technical outage paralysed authentication and payment systems nationwide for over a day. The company will make a full analysis of the incident and share its conclusions. The issue has prompted political scrutiny with questions over reliability and the company’s monopoly position.
EU SUMMIT – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses EU leaders today as they meet in Brussels for a critical summit. The main issue: whether to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s war effort. The debate comes as Vladimir Putin dismissed Western warnings of a wider conflict as “hysteria”, but warned Russia will pursue territorial claims by force if peace talks fail. EU leaders will also discuss defence, migration, and the Middle East.
According to the news site Politico, representatives from the USA and Russia are scheduled to negotiate a Ukraine peace agreement again this weekend. The meeting is said to take place in Miami.
UK ERASMUS – Britain is to rejoin the European Union’s Erasmus student exchange programme, which it left almost five years ago following Brexit. The EU called the deal an important step in resetting post-Brexit relations with Britain.
EU INTEREST RATES – The European Central Bank is expected to hold interest rates steady at 2% today for the fourth consecutive meeting, as inflation remains around its two-percent target and eurozone growth holds steady.
FOOTBALL – Barcelona and Lyon have secured Women’s Champions League quarter-final spots, while Chelsea rallied to beat Wolfsburg and advance. Arsenal must go through play-offs after missing the top four and Bayern Munich claimed the final automatic quarter-final place.
FIFA has announced a record $655 million prize fund for the 2026 World Cup, up 50% from Qatar 2022. The winners will receive $50 million in prize money.
ATHLETICS – World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said he shared people’s “frustration” that the women’s marathon world record held by Ruth Chepnyatich still stands despite the Kenyan receiving a three-year doping ban in October .Coe said legal constraints prevented the 31-year-old being stripped of her record.
TENNIS – Men’s tennis world number one Carlos Alcaraz has announced he is splitting from his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero after seven hugely successful years together with assistant coach Samuel Lopez taking over. Alcaraz has won six Grand Slams among his 24 tour level titles under the guidance of fellow Spaniard Ferrero, including this year’s French and US Opens.
It feels like it has been a while since we’ve seen the sun, but today we should see some sunshine in the afternoon but for the rest – we still have clouds dominating most of the day. In terms of temperatures: 3–5°C in the morning, a solid 9–11°C in the afternoon.
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