Luxembourg (Europe)

(CS) Education minister Mady Delvaux-Stehres has decided to prolong the negotiation phase of the school reform until 2013 to allow for further talks with teachers' associations and students.

The move comes after months of protests following the first detailed plans of the school reform, which saw several changes to the current system, including combining the first two years of “postprimaire” education into one block with no option of failing, as well as an extended written paper.

The seven traditional sections of secondary education are also meant to be reduced to two “dominantes.”

(CS) Some 1,660 students dropped out of Luxembourg schools in the 2009-2010 academic year, the lowest number in six years, with a peak of over 1,900 in 2003, the first year the survey was conducted.

Over a third (666) of students drop out only temporarily, registering again with another school in Luxembourg or abroad.

(CS) Luxembourg City's population has grown by almost 2,900 citizens in the past year, now counting 96,750 inhabitants, with 66% foreigners from over 150 nationalities.

Also, the Portuguese community is no longer the biggest foreign community in the city centre. The French have taken over with 14,173 residents in comparison to 14,084 Portuguese.

It was at this point an accident occurred and French police were able to stop the car, restrain the two occupants and alert their Luxembourg colleagues, who arrived at the scene and arrested the suspects.

Such cross-border operations by neighbouring police forces in each other’s territories is permitted thanks to an agreement between the authorities of each country.

Residents will be able to connect to the internet in more than 600 new locations around the city thanks to the extension of the HotCity network.

On Monday, the Luxembourg City council approved the enlargement of the WiFi network to 300 new outdoor locations and 320 locations inside public buildings.

Once the new areas are active, subscribers to the HotCity WiFi service will be able to choose from 1,092 locations to connect to the internet.

Tradition has it that men give their sweetheart a pretzel for Bretzelsonndeg, the Sunday four weeks after the start of Lent. Should the woman in question wish to return the sentiment, she will give a chocolate egg to the man on Easter Sunday.

However, as this year is a leap year, roles are reversed and it is the woman's turn to gift the sweet pastry.

If you think it’s cold now in Luxembourg, you aint seen nothing yet! According to the latest weather reports Tuesday is going to be the coldest at -15 °C in the morning together with winds making for extremely bitter conditions.