Tag Archives: Austria

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen secured a second six-year term in office on Sunday by winning a clear majority of votes in an election to avoid a runoff, according to projections based on a partial vote count. The 78-year-old former leader of the Greens has garnered broad popularity by …

A train has derailed south of Austria’s capital Vienna, Austrian news agency APA reported on Monday. Newspaper Krone said two deaths and 15 injuries have been reported, without citing sources.

Vienna revoked the status of four diplomatic staff members, joining other European nations’ expulsion spree Austria has declared personae non-gratae to four Russian diplomats, the foreign ministry announced on Thursday. Many other nations made similar moves this week, expelling dozens of Russian diplomats. Three employees of the Russian embassy in …

Tens of thousands of protesters marched through several northwest European cities on Saturday to demonstrate against coronavirus restrictions imposed amid a surge in infections. Austria last month became the first country in Western Europe to reimpose a lockdown, which is set to last 20 days and said it would make …

Alexander Schallenberg has announced he is resigning as Chancellor of Austria, just two months after taking office. He said he would remain in the post until his party agrees on a new leader in the wake of Sebastian Kurz’s departure. Just hours earlier, Schallenberg’s predecessor and People’s Party leader Kurz …

Tens of thousands of people, many of them far-right supporters, protested in Vienna on Saturday against coronavirus restrictions a day after Austria’s government announced a new lockdown and said vaccines would be made compulsory next year. Whistling, blowing horns, and banging drums, crowds streamed into Heroes’ Square in front of …

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. The fourth wave of infections has plunged Germany, Europe’s largest economy, into a …

Austria’s government is likely to decide on Sunday to impose a lockdown on people who have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus as daily infections have surged to record levels, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said on Friday. Schallenberg did not say when the lockdown would take effect, but the two provinces …

An Austrian court has sentenced two men to jail over their involvement with ISIS in Syria, a spokeswoman said Wednesday, following a high-profile trial in the country that had one of Europe’s largest per capita rates of ISIS fighters. A Chechnya-born man who fled to Austria in 2004 was sentenced …

Austrian police said today that a car rammed into a crowd of people at a Sunday market in the Austrian town of Saint Florian, injuring 13 people, at least three of whom are in a critical condition. According to the “ORF” website, police spokesman Clemens Lehner said it was not …

Officials from Europol, the FBI, Sweden, and the Netherlands on Tuesday gave details of the European leg of a global sting in which criminals were given phones that allowed law enforcement officials to listen in on their conversations. Europol Deputy Executive Director Jean-Phillipe Lecouffe said that in all, law enforcement …

Austrian Muslim groups slam the government over map identifying locations of mosques and Islamic associations around the country. A leading Muslim group in Austria has said it plans to file a lawsuit against the government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for unveiling a controversial “Islam map”, according to Austrian media reports. …

Real Madrid has confirmed the long-anticipated arrival of Austria international David Alaba on a free transfer from Bayern Munich. The versatile 28-year-old had been linked with Europe’s top clubs after announcing in February he would leave Bayern at the end of his contract this summer, having turned down several offers …

Austria on Thursday slammed Russia after it refused to allow an Austrian Airlines flight to be rerouted to avoid Belarusian airspace, resulting in the Vienna-Moscow service being cancelled. “Based on a recommendation by the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Austrian Airlines has suspended flights through Belarusian airspace until further notice. …

Austria is investigating whether the weekend killing of a Chechen dissident was politically motivated, the prosecutors’ office handling the case said on Monday after two suspects were arrested. The 43-year-old, whom police have declined to identify, was shot dead on Saturday near a shopping center on the edge of Vienna. …

American and Russian negotiators have concluded a round of nuclear arms control talks in Vienna, aimed at producing a new agreement to replace the New START treaty that expires in February — the last remaining pact constraining the arsenals of the world’s two major nuclear powers. U.S. negotiator Marshall Billingslea …

Austria has unveiled plans to “neutralise” the building where Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler was born, by turning it into a police station. The government bought the building under a compulsory purchase order in 2016 after a lengthy dispute. Officials announced it would be turned into a police station in …

Switzerland’s borders with France, Germany, and Austria will reopen on 15 June, Swiss Federal Councillor Karin Keller Sutter announced on Wednesday. The councilor made her comments following a Federal Council meeting. The positive development of the coronavirus pandemic makes this possible. This decision was taken jointly with the interior ministers …

The Hofburg, the official residence and workplace of Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen, has been evacuated after a bomb threat, a police spokesman said in a statement. Shortly after 3 p.m. local time (1 p.m. GMT), police started the evacuation and erected extensive barriers at the site. Bomb detection …

Thousands of shops have reopened in Austria, as it seeks to ease restrictions brought in to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Garden centers, DIY stores, and small shops can open but with strict rules on social distancing. In Italy, where over 20,000 people have died in the pandemic, a …