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It will take longer than usual for today's fog to clear. The sky will be covered by high clouds, which will clear in the evening. No rain is expected. 

Temperatures during the day — up to 21-23°C, at night — down to 14-16°C

It is partly cloudy in Luxembourg

EDF, which operates France's Cattenom nuclear power plant, has reconnected reactor 2 to the grid after it was shut down for 

. All four reactors at the plant are now operational and supplying electricity. Despite fears among residents in the border regions, nothing dangerous has happened.

Reactor 2 at the Cattenom nuclear power plant in France has been reactivated

On September 22, 2023, the first "all-sky camera" was inaugurated in Our Nature Park. Installed on a water tank in the Wäisse Wak area of Putscheid, it 

will capture high-resolution images of the night sky

 and will be used by scientists, astronomers, schools, and planetariums to study the universe. Funding for the project is shared equally between the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development and Our Nature Park.

A special camera installed in northern Luxembourg

Despite significant inflation, the purchasing power of the Luxembourg population has increased over the last four years. This is due to wage increases and indexation. However, this growth has not been evenly distributed. Low-income households continue to struggle due to 

. The data also showed that the tax rate is not indexed. As a result, taxes have increased as wages have risen.

Wages and purchasing power in the country are on the rise

Luxembourg's middle class is shrinking, according to a report by the Improof, a think tank within the Chamber of Employees. The group defines the middle class as households earning between 75% and 200% of the median net income, which was 41,192 euros in 2019. Only 61.4% of households were in the middle class that year, down from nearly 71% in 1985. To reverse this trend, Improof suggests 

that tax rates, benefits, and entitlements should be adjusted

 so that households in the lower and middle classes pay less in taxes and the richest 9% pay more.

The shrinking of the middle class in the Grand Duchy is a threat

🇱🇺 Gudde Moien! Bonjour! Guten Morgen! The main news by the morning of September 26

Luxembourg film to represent the country at the Oscars

Luxembourg to spend 50 million euros on urban sustainability

Luxembourgers work harder than any of their neighbors

Will Luxembourg fight shrinkflation

Coliving is a new trend in Luxembourg

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Greenpeace has published a curious study, a British artist has announced an ambitious challenge, and writers are preparing to sue ChatGPT.

 research centers. According to the latest study, the length of roads in Europe increased by 60% between 1995 and 2020, while the length of railways decreased by 6.5%.

The EU, as well as Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, spent 1.5 trillion euros between 1995 and 2018 to expand their roads, but only 0.93 trillion euros to expand their railways.

In the last four years covered by the study, from 2018 to 2021, the investment gap narrowed from 66% to 34%. This was largely due to the efforts of 7 European countries that invested more in railways than their alliance partners. These countries were Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The rest of the countries continue to spend more on roads.

. They also point out that such an unbalance of forces gradually removes alternatives to the car from people's lives. Environmentalists also point to the carbon footprint that is already visible and contributing to global temperature change.

Authors filed a class action lawsuit against OpenAI

The creators accuse the company of illegally using the works to train some artificial intelligence algorithms. OpenAI is involved in the development of ChatGPT and DALL-E. The former is a well-known neural network capable of writing a diploma or correcting errors in code; the latter is a rather popular graphical neural network, but inferior to MidJourney and Stable Diffusion.

Against ChatGPT has turned writers, including the author of "Game of Thrones" George R. R. Martin

. According to the claimants, the company used texts to train AI without permission and consent of copyright holders. Now, the authors are seeking a ban on the use of books without prior agreements, as well as damages.

This is not the first lawsuit against AI. Now society is divided into two camps: those who categorically reject the innovations, and those who support the technology, seeing it as a convenient tool and an aid that can be entrusted with the solution of routine tasks.

A St Davids artist has painted 1,000 portraits

10 years ago, Grahame Hurd-Wood set himself the ambitious task of painting a portrait of every resident in his town. It must be said the artist was lucky: only 1800 people live in St David's, but even so the project took a decade to complete.

It all began when a friend of Grahame's learned of her terminal illness. She asked him to paint her portrait. Grahame made a few sketches but finished after the woman died. Then the idea of capturing every face in the city was born and took form.

Since then, the master has been working diligently, meeting people and offering them as models for his brushes. 

Grahame now has 1,000 paintings in his collection

, but one important face is missing — the face of Grahame himself. He hopes that one day one of the artists will put him on the list of paintings.

In the meantime, the work is buzzing. People who don't live in St David's, but who often visit or have a connection to the town, are now coming to see the famous portraitist.

Kadriia Sadykova

Highlights of the week of September 18-24

Minister of the Environment, Climate, and Sustainable Development, Joëlle Welfring, visited the Sustainable Development Goals Summit in New York. The politician met with colleagues from around the world to discuss the most pressing issues of energy transition, climate action, and environmental challenges.

The summit also hosted a roundtable of the City Climate Finance Gap Fund, an initiative of Luxembourg and Germany. It is an important international financial instrument aimed at increasing the sustainability of cities and improving the climate. The fund finances cities in the start-up phase of environmental projects.

Joëlle Welfring announced that Luxembourg will increase its annual contributions by 25%. From now on, they will amount to 12.5 million euros per year, and between 2024 and 2027, the country will pay about 50 million euros to the fund.

Gouvernement.lu

In its latest report, ACI EUROPE found that in the peak month of July, passenger traffic at European airports rose to 97% of the highest pre-pandemic levels.

This is the result of a systemic increase in capacity. In June of this year the difference from pre-pandemic levels was -5.9% and in July, as mentioned above, it was only -3%. Over the past year, the number of passengers has increased by 12.8%. This is despite unprecedented increases in ticket prices and the general cost of living crisis.

According to Olivier Jankovec, Director of ACI EUROPE, this is due to the increased need to travel for leisure, to meet family and friends. However, we must not forget the uneven distribution of the burden on airports and the resulting differences in performance.

In fact, not all hubs experienced growth, but negative figures were often balanced out by strong growth at other airports. The main peaks occurred in countries focused on tourism and transatlantic flights. The following countries reported growth Iceland (+16.2%), Croatia (+15.7%), Greece (+14.8%), Portugal (+10.5%), 

, Poland (+7.1%), Malta (+6.3%), Cyprus (+3%), Italy (+2.3%), Spain (+1.3%) and Ireland (+0.6%).

Things are not so rosy for the Grand Duchy's neighbors. Germany has one of the largest passenger shortfalls in the EU: 19.2% lower than before COVID-19. France has not fully recovered either but shows a more optimistic trend: only -6.6%.

Luxembourg, on the other hand, did not make it to the top of the rankings for freight transport. Although Cargolux remains one of the largest carriers, the capacity of Findel Airport itself is significantly lower than that of its foreign competitors.

ACI Europe

Luxembourg among the leaders in air transportation in Europe

This week saw unusual flooding in Portugal, Belgian schools threatened with closure, and one of the most original awards announced its winners.

On Wednesday, September 13, Portuguese media published a video of a flood of wine pouring into the streets of a small town in the municipality of Anadia.

The flow of wine looked like something out of a movie. It flooded streets, the ground, and, according to emergency services, a cellar. The total amount of liquid is estimated at about 2.2 million liters. 

Despite the impressive size of the spill, there was no smell on the streets of the city

. The producer assures that this is due to the high quality of the wine.

In any case, Destilaria Levira, whose wine ended up on the streets, has taken full responsibility for the incident and is investigating. Preliminary version: one of the wine storage tanks burst due to a design flaw and the flow of wine was so strong that it overturned a neighboring tank.

Luckily, the wine did not get into a local river. That would have been an environmental disaster. Now the extra alcohol has been removed from the city streets and taken to a sewage treatment plant.

The country's prime minister has expressed concern over several incidents this week. Relatively peaceful Belgium has seen a rise in arson attacks on schools. The attacks are linked to protests against a controversial and sensational sex education course.

Some conservative families and religious institutions

 have already expressed their discontent with the new course, although no one has openly claimed responsibility for the arsons. At the scene of the incidents, graffiti with protest slogans was also found.

Conservatives are of the opinion that such issues should be the subject of family discussions only and not in schools. The creators of the course, on the other hand, point out that the program talks not only about sexual relations but also about psychology, emotional management, and social adjustment. The goal is to raise children to become mature and responsible adults.

were announced last Thursday, September 14

. The ten awards are given annually "for achievements that first make people laugh, then make them think. This is where serious science meets crazy ideas that may seem ridiculous to some. In fact, all of this research is done by real scientists who then publish in scientific journals and present at conferences. And sometimes this research leads to other discoveries that win awards at a different level.

For example, in the Chemistry and Geology category, a study that explains why scientists lick rocks won an award: because the texture of the rock is easier to see on a wet surface. A study of the sensation people experience when they repeat a word many times in a row is noted in the literature. Scientists have named this effect jamais vu, in analogy to déjà vu. It can be a symptom of migraine or epilepsy.

In the Engineering Mechanics category, the prize went to scientists who pumped dead spiders with air through a syringe and found that their legs straightened. As a result, it can lift objects 1.3 times its weight. And in the medical category, scientists tested whether the number of hairs in people's nostrils was the same. This study was prompted by interest in alopecia areata, a disease characterized by hair loss.

Highlights of the week of September 11-17

Morocco was hit by the largest earthquake in the last hundred years: more than 300,000 people were affected. In Italy, an international film festival ended, and in India, the debate over the official name of the state flared up again.

On Friday, September 8, Morocco was struck by 

, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale. It started at 23:11 local time, at which time many residents were getting ready for bed. However, the tremors forced people to leave their homes.

measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale struck

. The epicenter of the quake was in the High Atlas Mountains, but the natural disaster was felt throughout the country and hit Marrakech hardest, some 70 kilometers (44 miles) away. The main cause was the collision of the tectonic plates on which the European and African continents rested.

According to the latest figures, the death toll from the quake has risen to 1,037, with about 1,200 people injured. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 

 and the surrounding area were affected by the powerful earthquake.

Several countries have already offered assistance to Morocco

, including Italy, Spain, France, and the United States. The Red Cross has already pledged 1 million Swiss francs (about 1,045,807 euros) from the organization's emergency disaster relief fund. Along with many countries that have offered assistance, Algeria has agreed to open its airspace to help Morocco, even though it broke off relations with its neighbor two years ago.

One of the world's biggest film festivals was held for the 80th time this year. American director Damien Chazelle ("La La Land", "Babylon") was this year's jury president. The main prize - the Golden Lion - went to the film of 

 ("The Killing of a Sacred Deer", "The Favorite" and "The Lobster"), a leading representative of the new wave, "Poor Things".

has long been considered the place where future Oscar contenders debut

. So it is likely that "Poor Things" will be one of the favorites for the American Award next year, along with "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer". The star of the film, Emma Stone, is already being predicted for major awards at the upcoming festivals and awards in the world of cinema.

There were many interesting events at this festival. For example, 

there was a promo for Robert Zemeckis' film "Here"

, which was filmed using artificial intelligence. Director Harmony Korine presented the premiere of "Aggro Dr1ft", a film in which visual effects were created using AI Stable Diffusion. According to experts, the world of cinema is waiting for a serious reboot, and creators are now on the threshold of great discoveries and endeavors.

Debate in the Indian government over the name of the state

It all began when the official invitations for dinner guests at the G20 Summit came not from the office of the President of India, 

. This sparked speculation that the state wanted to change its name to Bharat, a Sanskrit term found in scriptures more than 2,000 years old. In addition, the spokesman for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, is seen sitting in front of a Bharat sign 

in a recent video posted on his official Twitter page

While India is the most common name for the state, officials and locals often refer to their country as Bharat. 

A growing number of BJP MPs are calling for the name to be changed

. "India" is the traditional English name of the country and symbolizes the colonial period of the state's history. Petitions for a name change have been filed before but were rejected by the Supreme Court in 2016 and 2020.

Modi's nationalist government has already renamed several cities associated with the Mughal and colonial eras. Critics see this as an attempt 

, who ruled the country for 300 years, from history. Representatives of other parties have also urged that the more common and accepted name of the country should not be abandoned and that both names should continue to be used.

Highlights of the week of September 4-10

The question of whether water will be found on the Moon has been on the minds of scientists since the successful landing of the Indian lunar module. At the same time, a huge lottery jackpot is won in Europe, and the world focuses on finding Paul McCartney's guitar.

The organizers of the EuroMillions lottery announced that the jackpot of more than 100 million euros was drawn on Friday, September 1st. The lucky winner of the main prize was a resident of France. 

Of course, according to the law, there will be taxes to be paid to the state, but we can already assume that the winnings will be enough for a comfortable life. By the way, this is not the biggest prize in lottery history.

 went to a British resident in 2022 - 230 million euros. In 2021, another French citizen won 220 million euros, and another British citizen won 215 million euros in 2022.

The Lost Bass Project is launching a global campaign to find Paul McCartney's instrument. The iconic musician and former Beatles member bought a Höfner bass for 30 pounds sterling in Hamburg in 1961.

Songs like Love Me Do and She Loves You feature the sound of this bass. However, 8 years after the purchase, in 1969, the legendary instrument disappeared. Since then, no one knows where it is. Of course, McCartney did not stop playing and used other instruments, but as the musician himself said, would not mind returning the lost one.

The Search Project has teamed up with Höfner and several journalists to give everyone the opportunity 

to take part in the investigation and try to track down the legendary instrument and return it to where it should be

The Vikram lunar module has done what no one else on the planet has ever done - successfully landed on the cold and desolate south pole of the Moon. 

It is a place that could open the eyes of scientists not only to the secrets that the closest celestial body to our planet holds but also to many of the mysteries of the cosmos

The lunar south pole is a rather desolate place. Due to the slight tilt of our satellite's axis, it is almost always semi-dark and the sun's rays fall almost horizontally. The luminary itself is very low above the horizon. This creates a bizarre and deceptive play of shadows on the lunar surface. It is these shadows that pose the greatest threat to the lunar modules. They interfere with the accurate assessment of conditions and trajectories for maneuvers.

But India's Chandrayaan-3 mission managed to land its vehicle more than a month after it was launched from the Earth. The Pragyaan lunar rover began its journey at a speed of about one centimeter per second and has already sent the results of its first study back to Earth. It turns out that in this place the temperature on the surface is about 50 ° C, but at a depth of only 8 centimeters - already -10 ° C. The nature of this phenomenon scientists have yet to unravel.

The module also analyzed the soil and found that it contains 

sulfur, aluminum, calcium, iron, titanium, manganese, chromium, and oxygen

. Most interesting, however, are the craters. Due to the peculiarities of the location, the bottom of the craters is never illuminated by the sun. It is the hypothesis of researchers that the craters could be the storage of ice that was formed billions of years ago.

Either way, the presence of ice could lead to a new milestone in space exploration. Ice can be split into hydrogen and oxygen, providing fuel for rockets and air for lunar settlers. Speaking of the latter, in 2025, 

NASA plans to land humans on the lunar surface

 for the first time in half a century as part of its 

Highlights of the week of August 28 — September 3

Germany's current chancellor Olaf Scholz is facing serious problems, Romania is recovering from a series of bombings, and Italy doesn't know what to do with migrants.

The German chancellor may have been involved in a massive fraud scheme that allowed billions of euros to be laundered, not just in the European Union, but around the world.

after an investigation by independent journalists

. The CumEx case involved many well-known politicians, bankers, and investors. Put simply, the scheme went like this: representatives of the European elite received tax deductions through banks for dividends they never paid. Of course, budget money was also used.

Olaf Scholz testified during the Warburg Bank investigation, and now the authorities have expressed doubts about the politician's honesty. If it can be proven that the chancellor committed perjury, his political career will be in danger. However, Scholz's silence is also alarming, and political circles hope that the chancellor will comment on the allegations.

The night before, at approximately 6:00 p.m., a gasoline pump exploded in Crevedia. 

A large fire broke out immediately after the explosion and quickly spread to the gas station and a nearby house

Emergency services from Dâmbovița County, where the community is located, arrived on the scene immediately. Authorities began evacuating residents within an 800-meter radius of the site.

The public prosecutor's office has already launched an investigation into the accident. It is known that there are 2 dead and several dozen injured. Many of the patients have been transferred to foreign hospitals in Italy, Austria, Belgium, Germany, and other countries. The families of the victims have been promised 3000 lei each.

In the last 24 hours alone, nearly 2,000 migrants arrived on 63 boats. Lampedusa has become the main transit point for migrants from Africa. It is reported that 100,000 migrants have arrived in Italy since the beginning of the year, a number comparable to last year's figures.

The problem is not only illegal entry and 

does not have the resources to provide support and shelter for such numerous people

. For example, the reception and shelter center on Lampedusa is designed for 400 people. But there are 3,983 people there. That's almost 10 times the number.

The authorities are now trying to move the new arrivals to other regions of the country, removing them from the reception centers only to receive a new batch of migrants.

Highlights of the week of August 21-27

Today, August 25, a new European Union law on internet safety comes into force. It will require major online platforms to combat hate speech, bullying, and other issues that can harm people or threaten their privacy.

The first thing that the new legislation highlights is the regulation of transparency and legality of the purchase of goods or services. Now large trading platforms will have to clearly and accurately label prohibited and fake goods, as well as services of inappropriate quality. Users will also be able to clearly understand from whom they are buying a particular product.

This issue will affect social networking in particular, as this is where cyberbullying is most widely spread. Now all images, personal information, publications with the purpose of bullying or humiliation can be removed if the victim did not give permission and consent to their placement.

This is something that a lot of people have been waiting for a long time. From now on, Internet resources will have to label advertisements and give the user information about why he or she is seeing a particular ad.

Advertising based on sexual orientation, nationality, race, or religion will be banned, and any advertising to minors based on their personal data will be completely prohibited.

Many people have faced situations where a social network or other platform has deleted published content, based on the rules. In 90% of cases, it has been almost impossible to appeal such a decision. Now it will be easy to complain about a moderator's decision and restore justice.

The previous issue is impossible without changing the concept of providing user agreements. Now, instead of text written in tiny fonts that few people even try to read, resources will be required to provide a clear and simple summary of the key points without complicated legal formulations.

All the changes described above will primarily affect such giants as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Amazon, and Google. However, we should expect that the requirements will eventually apply to smaller online resources as well.

European Comission

EU tightens requirements for social networks and other resources

The German citizenship reform has become perhaps one of the most widely discussed events of the past week. Yes, there are still several mandatory procedures to be completed before its adoption, but the mere fact that one of the strictest countries is easing its requirements is worth considering.

The conditions for the simplification of procedures were outlined several months ago. As early as June, it was announced that 

the number of workers in Germany would stop growing in the near future

 and then begin to decline. Of course, such losses are unacceptable for a country where, as in Luxembourg, the majority of the workforce consists of expats. Experts believe that there will be some changes in the legislation.

to make the immigration laws more flexible

. This will make it easier for qualified professionals from Europe and third countries to obtain the necessary permits and find jobs. Now it is time for the citizenship process.

Perhaps the most important change will be the ability to hold two passports at the same time. Simply put, this is dual citizenship. In addition, the naturalization process will not take 8 years as it does now, but only 5. The bill also provides for an expedited naturalization process for those who demonstrate a high level of integration and language skills. Such expats will be able to obtain 

one of the strongest passports in the world in just 3 years

In the light of these changes, the question is whether Luxembourg will continue to follow the path of simplification. In fact, this is unlikely. Obtaining citizenship in Luxembourg is already considered quite simple. The main requirements are 

to live in the country for the required period of time

 (a language test of the Luxembourg language).

In addition, the Grand Duchy has recently adopted changes to its immigration law that will allow 

family members of expats to find a job in the country more quickly

Luxembourg recognizes dual citizenship. This means that you don't have to renounce your first passport in order to become a citizen of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

It will be easier to get German citizenship, but what about Luxembourg?

Fires continue to rage in Canada and a hurricane rages on the Pacific coast. The number of people affected is growing.

Hurricane Hilary, which formed in the middle of the week in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, was only recently rated as a level 4 threat. Hurricanes of this strength wreak havoc on the regions they pass through, sweeping away homes and causing dozens of deaths. The wind speed in such an airstream reaches up to 60 m/s.

Now the hurricane has weakened considerably. The wind speed has decreased to 37 m/s, and the category of danger has been downgraded from 4 to 1. However, it is still dangerous for infrastructure and population. The expected path of the vortex is through the Baja California state in Mexico and the states of California and Nevada.

Experts expect Hilary to weaken further to tropical storm strength. 

It will be the first such event to hit the U.S. coast in 80 years

The storm's danger cannot be ignored. Numerous floods are possible due to the enormous amount of rainfall. The U.S. and Mexico are already mobilizing emergency services to form humanitarian corps with supplies and temporary shelters in case people are forced to evacuate from harm's way.

The situation is no better in the United States' northern neighbor. Wildfires that have been raging for months have destroyed millions of acres of forest and now threaten tens of thousands of homes in British Columbia. In the region, about 400 fires have been reported.

Now, Canadian authorities have restricted travel between urban centers. Some towns in the province have already been hit by fires, and residents are being evacuated to safer areas. 

The number of homes in the high-risk zone is growing: in just one day, the number has doubled — from 15,000 to 30,000

. Some people have already left their homes, but others prefer to stay and seek shelter in the city.

This year's fires have turned out to be the most destructive in the last ten years. Ecologists blame climate change. The fires and their rapid spread are fueled by prolonged drought.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is completing its orbit around our satellite and will soon begin its landing operation. This is the first mission ever to land a research lunar rover on the dark side of the celestial body. India's main rival in this race was Russia, but the Luna-25 project crashed while landing on the surface.

India launched its rocket on July 14. The vehicle was in space for over a month, first orbiting the Earth to gain the necessary speed, then circling the Moon, taking pictures of the satellite's surface, and preparing for landing. Contact with the lunar surface was expected in a few days.

The main problems of the whole operation are the irregularity of the lunar surface near the South Pole and the extremely poor lighting

. The sun is not high above the horizon here, so the shadows are very long and it is difficult to see the relief. In addition, the surface here is full of craters, so landing the device will be a real feat.

If the operation is successful, scientists will be able to obtain previously inaccessible images of the surface, data on soil analysis, and, most importantly, information on the presence of water, which can be used for drinking or producing fuel.