Tag Archives: Austria

The Associated Press reports: Five people including the founder of the Blackwater security firm went on trial in Austria on Thursday, accused of exporting two crop-spraying aircraft that were allegedly refitted for military purposes without required permits. Prosecutors say that two Ayres Thrush agricultural aircraft were equipped with armor, extra tanks and a special camera that could be used for …

Bloomberg News reports: Former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz was formally charged with providing false testimony to a parliamentary committee investigating government corruption. White collar investigators at Austria’s Justice Ministry said Friday that Kurz could face as many as three years in jail if found guilty, according to an emailed statement. Authorities had been probing statements made by Kurz in relation …

Reuters reports: Austrian security services said on Sunday they had thwarted a planned attack on Saturday’s pride parade in the capital. Three suspects between the ages of 14 and 20 were arrested on suspicion of planning to attack the parade in Vienna, which was held to celebrate LGBTQ+ rights and attracted around 300,000 people, officials said. “Through the successful and …

The Associated Press reports: Austria’s parliament voted Thursday to introduce a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for adults from Feb. 1, the first of its kind in Europe. Lawmakers voted 137 to 33 in favor of the mandate, which will apply to all residents of Austria aged 18 and over. Exemptions are made for pregnant women, people who for medical reasons can’t …

TVN24 GO reports: One of Austria’s most famous opponents of coronavirus vaccines, Johann Biacsics, has died from COVID-19, local media reports. His condition worsened from October, and he was hospitalized in early November. Despite his breathing difficulties and critical condition, he refused conventional treatment. As the family wrote on the website, Biacsics had been ill since October, and his condition …

Reuters reports: Austria will become the first country in western Europe to reimpose a full COVID-19 lockdown, it said on Friday as neighbouring Germany warned it may follow suit, sending shivers through financial markets worried about the economic fallout. A fourth wave of infections has plunged Germany, Europe’s largest economy, into a national emergency, Health Minister Jens Spahn [photo] said, …

The BBC reports: Days after Austria imposed a lockdown on the unvaccinated, it has announced a full national Covid-19 lockdown starting on Monday. Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said it would last a maximum of 20 days and there would be a legal requirement to get vaccinated from 1 February 2022. He was responding to record cases numbers and one of the …

The Associated Press reports: Austria took what its leader called the “dramatic” step Monday of implementing a nationwide lockdown for unvaccinated people who haven’t recently had COVID-19, perhaps the most drastic of a string of measures being taken by European governments to get a massive regional resurgence of the coronavirus under control. The move, which took effect at midnight, prohibits …

The New York Times reports: New lockdown restrictions for Austria’s unvaccinated population are likely because reports of new coronavirus cases in the country are rising rapidly, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said on Thursday. Though such restrictions would be a “very harsh measure,” they appear to be necessary and “probably inevitable,” the chancellor said at a news conference on Thursday. The Austrian …

The Associated Press reports: Unvaccinated people in Austria who also haven’t had COVID-19 will no longer be allowed to enter restaurants, hotels and hair salons or attend public events larger than 25 people under new rules that take effect Monday, the government said. Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg outlined the rules Friday night after a meeting with state-level leaders to discuss …

The Associated Press reports: Unvaccinated people in Austria could face new lockdown restrictions if coronavirus case numbers continue to rise, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said. The news came after a Friday evening meeting between Schallenberg and state-level leaders to discuss their response to rapidly increasing case numbers. “The pandemic is not yet in the rearview mirror,” Schallenberg said. “We are about …

The New York Times reports: Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of Austria announced on Saturday that he would resign, days after prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into allegations he used federal money to pay off pollsters and journalists for favorable coverage. The move came amid intense pressure from all sides, with Mr. Kurz’s partners in the government, the Greens, threatening to quit …

The BBC reports: The US government is investigating a series of health incidents in the Austrian capital Vienna involving its diplomats and other administration staff. More than 20 officials have reported symptoms similar to Havana Syndrome – a mystery brain illness – since President Joe Biden took office in January. The syndrome is unexplained, but US scientists say it is …

The Associated Press reports: Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Wednesday said there was a financial link between the man who killed 50 people in mass shootings at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the far-right Identitarian Movement in Austria. Hansjoerg Bacher, spokesman for prosecutors in Graz, said Martin Sellner, head of the Identitarian Movement – which says it wants to …

Reuters reports: The Austrian capital Vienna has topped Mercer’s index of most liveable cities for the 10th year in a row. Known by tourists for its imperial past, gilded palaces and classical music, the city of 1.9 million is also nicknamed “red Vienna” for having long been run by the political left, with cheap public services and abundant social housing. …

The BBC reports: Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst says she is HIV positive, and has been receiving regular treatment for “several years”. The 29-year-old star said she had intended to keep the information private, but an ex-boyfriend had “threatened to go public”. “I will not give anyone the right to frighten me and influence my life,” she wrote on Instagram. “Coming …

This is GORGEOUS. ESC Today reports: Eurovision 2014 winner Conchita and dialect artist Ina Regen have interpreted Heast As Net (Don’t You Hear It), a song in Austrian dialect originally sung by popular folk musician Hubert von Goisern and his band Die Alpinkatzen. Heast As Net is a bittersweet song, about time that passes by, leaving only memories. Transitoriness and …

Deutsche Welle reports: Same-sex couples will be allowed to marry in Austria from 2019, according to a ruling by the country’s Constitutional Court announced on Tuesday. Same-sex couples in Austria have been able to enter only into “registered partnerships” since 2010, with nearly the same rights of married couples. But the court ruled that “the distinction between marriage and registered …

From the Facebook page of attorney Helmut Graupner: In a decision of 12 October just delivered, the Austrian Constitutional Court followed all my arguments and reversed its case-law (that segregation in marriage and registered partnerships is admissible.) I am representing five children (and their same-gender parents) arguing that the marriage ban stigmatizes the children as illegitimate and the families as …

The Washington Post reports: Austria became the latest European country to take a sharp turn right on Sunday, with the conservative People’s Party riding a hard-line position on immigration to victory in national elections and likely to form a government with a nationalist party that has long advocated for an even tougher stance. The result puts the 31-year-old foreign minister …