An elderly woman lamenting her mothers death has been pronounced dead herself by bungling pension officials.Retired restaurant boss Edda S. revealed she stopped receiving payments from her public pension agency after the recent death of her mother at the age of 88. The 66-year-old Carinthian who ran an eatery at the Ossiacher Lake […]
An Austrian priest will receive this years Right Livelihood Award for his courageous work with native Indians in the Brazilian rainforest, it was announced today (Thurs).Erwin Kräutler has been bishop of the Xingu prelature the biggest diocese of the South American country since 1981. The 71-year-old has been under permanent police protection since […]
John Grisham has hit out at the United States over the death penalty.The bestselling author said today (Fri) no country had the right to execute humans.He told Austrian magazine News: “Thirty-eight (US) States still carry out the death sentence. ( ) Many verdicts based on DNA analyses are wrong. This system doesnt work. Death penalties cost […]
Right-wing Austria is entangled in a bitter war of words over the sexual orientation of its late icon Jörg Haider after controversial statements by a Vienna councillor.Vienna Freedom Party (FPÖ) official Gerald Ebinger tried to encourage homosexuals to support his party at the 10 October city parliament elections.Asked why people should support the FPÖ which […]
Organisers of the Frequency Festival are in hot water after a firm assigned to clean up after last weekends mega event has been accused of illegally employing most of its staff.A special unit formed by finance ministry officials and police found out that 48 of the 53 workers hired by the company to clean up […]
The son of Freedom Party (FPÖ) MP Barbara Rosenkranz is accused of having shouted “Heil Hitler!” at a group of teenage students.Newspapers report today (Thurs) that a teacher reported 20-year-old Volker Rosenkranz to police for allegedly making the infamous Nazi greeting towards his students outside Vienna City Hall on 24 April. The group were leaving […]
An Austrian has been sentenced to 15 years in prison by a Prague court for beating a love rival to death.Judges at a court in the Czech capital heard yesterday (Tues) how the Austrian truck driver kidnapped the 21-year-old man after finding out that the Czech had met his girlfriend.The defendant, 41, however accused the […]
Residents of a small town in Carinthia feared they were doomed after a bird nicknamed the “Owl of Death” started to make strange sounds in the middle of the night.Locals in Drobollach at the Faaker Lake consulted the local hunter after several sleepless nights of the shrieking beeping sounds from the Eurasian Scops-owl. Obscure myths […]
The Vienna Institute for International Dialogue and Cooperation (VIDC) called on the Austrian government today (Weds) to give refuge to Iranian dissidents.Noting that Germany had announced on Monday that it would accept Iranian citizens, VIDC Director Walter Posch said: “I warmly welcome that step by the German government, and I am waiting for the Austrian […]