Your daily briefToday's most important news in one place

Luxembourg Red Cross volunteers deliver gifts to 150 children in need

Around 150 children and adolescents from socially disadvantaged families will receive gifts this year, thanks to a volunteer-led initiative by the Luxembourg Red Cross.

The presents, which range from LEGO sets to stuffed animals, were selected by the children themselves from a provided list. Funding was secured through collections at the recent Red Cross Bazar.
While the majority of the collected funds were used to purchase these gifts, any remaining money will support future holiday camp days. The Red Cross noted that with more than 150 families in Luxembourg unable to afford Christmas gifts, selecting beneficiaries for this initiative was a difficult task.

Within two weeks of the project’s launch, most gifts had been acquired. Volunteers, who also played a key role in the bazar, then gathered to wrap the presents.
The wrapped gifts were distributed to Red Cross centres across the country, ensuring that 150 additional young people will find a present under their Christmas tree this year.

Also today

• Following the terrorist antisemitic attack at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi beach yesterday, where 15 people -including a child – were killed, the Australian PM has announced the country’s gun laws will be strengthened.
• The Louvre closed its doors to thousands of disappointed visitors today due to a strike over working conditions at the Paris landmark, two months after a major robbery.
  Employees assembled outside the state-run museum’s glass pyramid, blocking the main entrance and holding up banners.
• There have been more reports of pickpocket incidents including an attempted theft of a phone on a tram Sunday evening, police said, while a separate mugging attempt was reported in Wasserbillig.
• The deaths of Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife are being treated as an apparent homicide, police said, as tributes poured in from across the political and cultural world.
• Spain’s government announced today it had fined Airbnb more than 64 million euros, notably for advertising banned rental properties, at a time the country faces a housing crisis.

On air

Are you a mulled wine, or an eggnog person? What’s your ‘forbidden fuit’ Christmas drink?

Figure of the day

Luxembourg’s government and the national rail operator CFL have signed a new 15-year infrastructure management contract, for €4.7 billion

• The agreement will run from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2040, with the money allocated to the management and development of rail infrastructure, including the network at the Mertert River Port and 68 stations, including two in France.
• Currently, CFL’s infrastructure division employs around 1,800 people. The agreement also covers the renewal of rolling stock used for infrastructure operations. New equipment includes 10 Robel intervention machines, a tamping machine to ensure track alignment, a ballast distribution unit, and transport wagons.

Stay connected: tune in to RTL Today Radio, now on DAB+, and follow the latest news as it unfolds on our website.