Luxembourg makes all public transport free

(CNN) — With a population of 602,000, Luxembourg is one of Europe's smallest

countries -- yet it suffers from major traffic jams.

But that could be about to change. As of March 1, 2020 all public transport -- trains,
trams and buses -- in the country is now free.

The government hopes the move will alleviate heavy congestion and bring
environmental benefits, according to Dany Frank, a spokesperson for the Ministry of
Mobility and Public Works.

Tiny country, big traffic

Landlocked Luxembourg is one of the richest countries in Europe, with the highest per
capita GDP in the European Union.
Taking up 2,586 square kilometers, Luxembourg is roughly the size of Rhode Island.
From the capital of Luxembourg City, Belgium, France and Germany can all be reached
by car in half an hour.

High housing costs, especially in Luxembourg City, mean more than 180,000 of its
workforce commute from those neighboring countries every day.
"Luxembourg is a very attractive place for jobs," explains Geoffrey Caruso, a professor
at the University of Luxembourg and the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic
Research specializing in land use and transportation.
But its "booming economy" and high concentration of jobs have led to congestion
issues, he says.

In 2016, Luxembourg had 662 cars per 1,000 people, and driving is a "primary means
of transportation" for commuters, according to a 2017 report by the Ministry of
Sustainable Development and Infrastructure.
That year, drivers in Luxembourg City spent an average of 33 hours in traffic jams. It
fared worse than European cities Copenhagen and Helsinki, which have comparable
population sizes to all of Luxembourg -- yet drivers in both only spent an average of 24
hours in traffic.

Free transport for all

Luxembourg's public transport system covers the whole country and costs $562 million
(€508 million) per year to run. Each year, it generates around $46 million in ticket
sales, according to the ministry.

The government is putting up the cost of making it free, Frank says. "The country at
this very moment is in really good shape. We, the government, want the people to
benefit from the good economy."
Caruso is concerned that making transport free may unintentionally deter people who
would normally walk or cycle in urban areas. "Rather than walking 500 meters, you see
a bus coming and you say, 'I (can) get on and travel 500 meters because it's free,'" he
says.

He adds, however, that the new scheme can signal important changes ahead when it
comes to Luxembourg's reliance on driving.

"(The government) might say, 'It's important that you ditch your car, and look, we
made public transport free' -- and maybe this is helpful given the immense cultural
shift we need."

Originally published in 2019, updated March 2, 2020.

 Vatican to open controversial WW2-era files on Pope Pius XII

Rome (CNN) Secret archives at the Vatican will be opened for the first time on Monday,
giving scholars access to documents that may shed light on the controversial figure of
Pope Pius XII, who has been accused of failing to help to save Jews during World War
II.

Scholars and Jewish groups have been asking for decades that the archives, which
contains millions of letters, cables and correspondence from Pius XII's 1939-1958
pontificate, be made available for study.

"We need to express our enormous gratitude and appreciation to Pope Francis for
taking this step," said Menachem Rosensaft, associate executive vice president and
general counsel of the World Jewish Congress.

The Vatican normally waits 70 years after the death of a pope before making his
archives available for study.

Pope Francis has fast-tracked the opening of the Pius XII archives in order to help clear
up the debate over the war-time pope, whose process for sainthood has been
temporarily halted.

"The Church is not afraid of history," Francis said last March when announcing his
decision to make the archives available.
The Pope said he hoped that the "hidden but active diplomacy" of Pius XII would be
evaluated "in its proper light."

Pope Pius XII was praised by world leaders following WW2 but his reputation
deteriorated after his death in 1958.

The controversy

In the years immediately following the war, Pius XII was praised by world leaders,
including Israel's then-Prime Minister Golda Meir. But his reputation began to
deteriorate in the 1960s when Rolf Hochhuth's play "The Deputy" accused the pope of
being silent in the face of the Nazi extermination of Jews.

Other books critical of Pius XII followed, such as "Hitler's Pope," by John Cornwell in
1999, and "Under His Very Windows" by Susan Zuccotti in 2000.

In January this year, the Miami Jewish Film Festival premiered a documentary entitled
"Holy Silence" that also questioned whether Pius XII did enough to help save Jews from
the Holocaust.

One of the Vatican's chief archivists, Johan Ickx, said the accusations against Pius XII
were unfounded.
"He was not at all silent," Ickx said. "All of his priests in central Europe and the north of
Europe were actively doing nothing else than trying to save people, Jews as well, all
people, because that was one of their charges."

Scholars will be allowed into the Vatican archives to study the files.
Ickx says scholars from all nations and religions are welcome, so long as "they have
studied a little bit at university to know what they are dealing with."

A group of scholars from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum will be
among those studying the papers.

Rosensaft stressed it was too early to speculate on what the archives might disclose,
but he hopes it will allow historians to have all the facts.

"We can't rewrite history," Rosensaft said, "but history has to be written based on full
evidence and that is what we're looking for."

This story has been corrected to better reflect the group of scholars studying the papers
from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
 Coronavirus mobile apps are surging in popularity in South Korea

Seoul (CNN Business)South Korea is one of the world's most tech savvy countries. So when the
deadly novel coronavirus outbreak reached the Korean peninsula, app developers there knew
exactly how to react: They started coding.

Mobile apps that help track the disease in South Korea ranked as six of the top 15 downloads
on the country's Google Play app store on Thursday. Developers of some apps — which source
their data from public government information — told CNN Business that they have been
getting a surge in downloads since launching their products earlier this month.

"The installs are increasing about 20,000 every hour," said Bae Won-Seok, one of the
developers of Corona 100m, an app that allows people to see the date that a coronavirus
patient was confirmed to have the disease, along with that patient's nationality, gender, age
and where the patient visited. The person using the app can also see how close they are to
coronavirus patients.

The app has been installed more than 1 million times since it was launched February 11,
according to Google Play. Bae said that a recent surge in downloads, sparked by the escalating
number of cases in the country, crashed the application's server.

Lee Jun-young, the developer of Corona Map, said he made his app because he found the
government data hard to understand. Although health officials release locations that show
where coronavirus patients have been, the official information isn't very visual.

"I thought it would be nice to mark them on a map," said Lee, a former Android software
engineer who lives in Seoul.

There have now been more than 83,000 cases of coronavirus recorded worldwide, with
infections on every continent except Antarctica. South Korea's 2,337 cases as of Friday mark
the largest outbreak outside of mainland China, where the vast majority of cases have been
recorded.

The outbreak has already begun to affect life and business in Korea. Korean Air, the country's
flagship airline, is conducting temperature checks for passengers. Hyundai Motor shut down a
plant in the country after one of its employees tested positive for the virus. The hit K-pop band
BTS canceled four concerts in Seoul.

One of the developers said he's even taken more precautions because of what the apps have
shown. Bae said he was so concerned about the number of coronavirus cases in his
neighborhood that he sent his daughter to stay with her grandparents to reduce the risk of
exposure.

Developers who spoke to CNN Business said they are spending their own money to run their
apps. The developers behind Corona 100m and Corona Doctor are also asking for donations
from users.

"When I think that this app can prevent the spread of coronavirus patients by advising people
not to go to certain places ... I feel proud," said Lee, the Corona Map developer. He said he
hopes the government develops its own app to pick up from where his project started.
 Apple will pay up to $500 million to settle lawsuit over slowing down
older iPhones

San Francisco (CNN Business)Apple will pay up to half a billion dollars to settle a class
action lawsuit accusing it of slowing down older iPhone models to compel users to buy
new ones.

The proposed settlement agreement requires Apple (AAPL) to pay the owners of
certain iPhone models $25 per affected device, totaling a minimum of $310 million and
a maximum of $500 million, according to documents released on Friday in US District
Court in San Jose, California. The amount each user receives could increase or decrease
depending on how many claims are filed as well as any additional legal fees and
expenses approved by the court, the document added.

The settlement agreement, which is subject to approval by a judge on April 3, caps a

legal battle that's gone on for more than two years during which Apple tried to ease a
global backlash.

The company admitted in December 2017 that it used software updates to slow down
older iPhones, soon after angry customers and tech analysts flagged that the updates
were causing diminished performance. Some of them suggested that Apple did so to
force users to upgrade to the latest iPhone model, but the company said it was aimed
at addressing issues with older lithium-ion batteries that would make the phones
suddenly shut down to protect their components.

Apple later apologized and offered battery replacements to its customers for $79,
which it knocked down to $29 in January 2018. The company's CEO, Tim Cook,
admitted a year later that revenue for 2018 was partly hit by "significantly reduced
pricing for iPhone battery replacements."

iPhone users in the United States can file settlement claims if they owned an iPhone 6,
6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, 7, 7 Plus or SE device bought before December 21, 2017.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
 How to stay motivated on your job search when you keep getting
rejected

The perfect resume is all about mind games

You've made it to the final round of job interviews, your references have been checked
and things are looking good. Then you get the dreaded call informing you they decided
to go with the other candidate ... again.

Even worse, you get ghosted. If you've been in this situation a few times during a job
hunt it can be hard to stay motivated.
"Getting rejected can be energy-zapping and frustrating when you feel like you are
constantly on the job-search hamster wheel," said Alison Sullivan from job review web
site Glassdoor.

Don't take it personally

Just because a company went with another candidate doesn't mean you aren't good at
what you do.
"It's not personal," said Hallie Crawford, a certified career coach.
Sometimes you are competing against an internal worker or an employee-referenced
candidate, which can be tough to compete with.

Ask for feedback

When you get the rejection call, thank the person for their time and ask for any
feedback about the decision.

Maybe you were missing a certain skill or experience that you can work on that will get
you across the hiring finish line next time.

Asking for feedback also shows you are interested in self-improvement and leaves a
positive last impression with the hiring manager.

"It helps continue to establish a relationship," said Sullivan. "People move around a lot
and maybe there is an opportunity in the future."

Not everyone is going to be willing to give you feedback, but you can still do your own
gut check to identify areas you can work on.
"It's a journey and you have to stop and reflect along the way," said Paul Wolfe, senior
vice president of human resources at job search site Indeed. "Take stock of what is
working."

Perhaps your resume could include more concrete examples of your management
experience or you didn't quite jibe with the hiring manager and you can work on
building a better rapport during interviews in the future.
 Continue to build new skills

Finding ways to enhance your skills can re-energize your job search while also giving
you something else to bolster your resume.
Professional development doesn't have to be expensive or a big time commitment. It
can be as simple as watching a TED talk, reading a book or taking a free online seminar.

Review your search tactics

If you keep falling short of getting an offer, try reviewing whether you are applying to
the right jobs.
It might be time to cast a wider net or hone in on a particular role or industry to
increase your chances of getting an offer.
"Sometimes we are trying to hit the wrong target," said Crawford. "You are close, but
you need to adjust a smidge."

Lean on your network

A little pep talk can do wonders for getting back on the job hunt.
Spend some time with your career mentors or role models to get some momentum.
Attending industry events and other networking opportunities can also help get you
back on track and keep you motivated.
"Continue meeting new people -- employee referrals are one of the biggest source of
hires," said Wolfe.

Hit the pause button

Don't hesitate to take a little break from the job search and be sure to take some time
for some self care.
"Take a few days to think about something else that makes you feel good," said
Crawford. "Coming back fresh can be a really good thing. A lot of times people feel like
they have to double down, but sometimes we need to take a complete break."
 World's most powerful passport now features Japanese ukiyo-e art

Tokyo (CNN) — The world's most powerful passport just got a makeover.
Japan is issuing passports featuring art by ukiyo-e master Katsushika Hokusai to
Japanese citizens who applied after February 4.

"Ukiyo-e" is a genre of mass-produced Japanese woodblock prints that display

everything from theater announcements and landscapes to sumo wrestlers and even
salacious erotica.

The prints were cheap to produce and widely distributed in Edo (today's Tokyo)
between the 17th and 19th centuries.

The new passports will feature the "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" series created by
Hokusai in the 19th century, which features one of Japan's best-known ukiyo-e prints,
"The Great Wave off Kanagawa."

"Under the Wave off Kanagawa" is one of Japan's best-known ukiyo-e prints.

The prints on the new passports serve as background for the visa pages used for entry
and exit stamps. The front page design remains the same.

The 10-year passport has 54 pages, excluding the front cover. Each of the 24 works
that compose the "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" will be used as a single work on the
48 pages of the back cover, personal information page and visa column.

Sixteen works from the series will be used on 32 pages for the 5-year Japanese
passport.
The new Japan passport pages, pictured, feature the "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji."
Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Foreign Ministry decided to redesign the passport four years ago. They considered
signature Japanese motifs such as cranes, cherry blossoms and festival scenes before
choosing Hokusai's work.

The ministry said the complicated design will strengthen counterfeit-prevention

measures but also help introduce Japanese culture to the world as the country
prepares to host the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Earlier this year, the Henley Passport Index, which periodically measures the world's
most travel-friendly passports, released its first report of the new decade in January
2020.

Japan is now top of the leaderboard, its passports offering visa-free or visa-on-arrival
access to an incredible 191 destinations around the world.
 The ‘virtual kidnapping’ scam that’s claimed at least 1,500 victims in
Spain so far

Earlier this year, a 69-year-old woman who lives in Madrid received a phone call from a
man with a foreign-sounding accent who told her that her daughter had been
kidnapped. “Either you pay €10,000 or we’ll send you a video of us cutting off one of
your daughter’s fingers,” she was told.

Using very violent language, the caller demanded immediate payment of a large sum
of money. Just as the woman was headed for the bank, with the alleged kidnapper still
on the line, she was stopped by the police, who had been alerted by her husband.
Officers had quickly confirmed that the couple’s daughter was in fact at her workplace,
unaware of what was going on.

They start out by demanding €10,000, then typically bring this amount down
significantly, sometimes to €500

This is the latest known case of a type of an extortion scheme in which criminals call a
person – often randomly selected – and try to convince him or her that they have
kidnapped a relative. They start out by demanding €10,000, then typically bring this
amount down significantly, sometimes to €500.

In the last five years, Spain has seen 1,474 reported cases of this type of fraud,
according to figures released by the Interior Ministry. Half of them took place in 2016,
with as many as four a day during the month of July.

The number of reported cases has dropped significantly since then, with 104 recorded
in 2018. Last year there was a slight pick-up with 136 reported cases, according to a
government reply to a question by a lawmaker from the Basque party EH Bildu. In this
period of time, law enforcement agencies have arrested or investigated 17 individuals.

But Chief Inspector Juan Alcolea, of the National Police’s kidnappings and extortion
department, notes that this is a type of crime where many cases go unreported. “Many
people who don’t pay also don’t file a police report,” he notes.

Alcolea points to another difficulty when it comes to making arrests. “In the vast
majority of cases, the perpetrators are not in Spain but in South America, more
specifically in Chile.”

Many people who don’t pay also don’t file a police report

These are often jailed inmates who have access to cellphones and “randomly dial
telephone numbers. There have been cases of calls placed to the headquarters of the
[conservative Popular Party], or to Social Security offices. They make lots of failed calls,
but so long as one works out, it’s worth it to them.”
The distance is no problem when it comes to receiving the payment, adds this expert,
who says a joint investigation team is being created with the Chilean police in a bid to
curb the scam.

“The vast majority of times, they urge the victim to go to a call center and wire the
money to their country, although we’ve seen a few cases where payment was
demanded in [the virtual currency] bitcoins,” says a Civil Guard captain in charge of the
homicide and kidnapping department who requested anonymity.

“We cannot stop a criminal sitting inside a prison in Chile, Colombia or Peru from
placing a call to Spain,” adds this source. “The key lies in securing cooperation from
banks and money-transfer establishments so they will alert us if they see a person
walking in who seems very nervous, wants to transfer money, and is on the phone. We
are also providing citizens with information so they will know how to proceed if they
receive one of these calls.”

In the last five years, experts say that the criminals have perfected their technique.
“Sometimes they exploit the fact that victims have shared personal information on
social media, to make the story sound more credible,” says the Civil Guard expert.

Both sources consulted by this newspaper said that there is a Mexican form of the
fraud, which is more sophisticated as it requires finding Spanish citizens on a trip in
Mexico, convincing them to change hotels, then calling their relatives to claim that
their loved ones have been kidnapped and are being held at an undisclosed location.

The members of a Spanish music band named Delorean went through this experience
in October 2013, when their relatives in the Basque Country were asked for a payment
of five million pesos (€300,000). The fraud was stopped by a joint operation of the
Spanish and Basque police.

“In 2019, we only know of five cases where people paid up a total of €5,700,” says
Chief Inspector Alcolea.
 The plan to combat depopulation and isolation in Spain’s dying villages

In the village of Síllar Baja, in Spain’s southern Granada province, there hasn’t been a
game of cards or Dominos in a bar for three years. Nor in the village of Limones. It’s
not that the locals have lost their desire to play; it’s that neither of these villages in
Granada have a bar. In both cases, the last establishment was closed three years ago,
and none has reopened since then.

It was only a matter of time. It’s difficult for an owner to get by just serving a few
coffees and beers a day. In villages such as Limones or Síllar Baja, where there are only
a few dozen residents, a bar is not profitable, but it does serve a necessary social
function. It’s an excuse for locals to come together, talk, and socialize. It gets elderly
residents out of the house. When the last bar in the village closes its door, life changes
dramatically.

There are days when I don’t talk to anybody

Francisco Ruiz, 80

Francisco Ruiz is 80 years old, and lives in Caparacena – another Granada village
without a bar. “It’s been seven or eight months since [the bar] closed. There are days
when I don’t talk to anybody,” he says while going for a walk, by himself of course. Like
many other provinces in Spain, Granada has a serious depopulation problem. Villages
are being deserted, or are only home to the elderly. As a result, basic services shut
down or relocate.

Síllar Baja is home to just 67 people, according to the village mayor, Emilia Troncoso.
The bar has been closed for three years, but it’s been “eight or 10” since the last store
closed down. The shopping choices in Síllar Baja are limited to a van that delivers
bread daily, another that sells fish on Wednesdays, and the pharmacy van that passes
by each Saturday. Meat, fruit and vegetables have to be bought in a town called Darro,
which is seven kilometers away or in Diezma, which is even further. According to
Troncoso, “apart from one family that has two young children, everyone, everyone, is
old or very old” in Síllar Baja.

In other villages in Granada, such as Lecrín, there are two supermarkets and a
butcher’s shop – but no way to buy fresh fish. Fortunately, there is José Manuel Aguilar
Lirola, who comes every day in his van with freshly bought goods from the port of
Motril, which is half an hour away.

Apart from one family that has two young children, everyone, everyone, is old or very
old
Emilia Troncosa

Around 20 villages and districts in Granada do not have either a store or a bar. And just
more than a dozen have one or the other. These are the results of a census that
Granada’s provincial government is completing in an effort to address the problem.
The census came about after José Entrena, the head of Granada’s provincial
government, began traveling from village to village. On more than one occasion, when
he suggested having a beer or a coffee after the official visit, Entrena was told: “José,
we don’t have a bar here.” This caught his attention and he decided to carry out the
census.

A few days ago, Entrena announced a plan that, if successful, would allow many of
these towns to have multi-use spaces that would serve as a bar and a store for basic
goods. If local councils agree to provide the space and cover the cost of fitting it out,
the provincial authority will take charge of the refurbishment project. With the support
of both the local and provincial government, it should be easier for potential
entrepreneurs to run the bar-stores, and breathe life back into Granada’s villages.

Limones is 45 minutes from the city of Granada. Surrounded by olive trees, it's one of
the seven districts in the Moclín municipality. Lucía Lucena is the mayor of Limones
and also its last shopkeeper. Lucena closed her food and pharmacist shop eight years
ago. Years later, the last remaining bar in a village of retirees also shut down. Shopping
is now done according to the calendar: bread arrives daily, the fruit and fish vendor
comes on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and there are sporadic visits from the butane gas
salespeople, the pharmacist van, and little more. A cheesemaker, who also brings
sausages, comes to Limones every 15 days. Meat has to be ordered in.

The problem of how to buy medicine has been solved for a year. A pharmacist – who is
“much needed because everyone here is between 60 and 80 years old,” says Lucena –
comes to the village every Wednesday and Friday, to coincide with the doctor’s visit.
The pharmacist works out of a space granted by the city council that villagers like to
call “the first aid kit.”