The current defence minister Norbert Darabos will go back to the headquarters of the Social democratic party (SPÖ). His successor will be Gerald Klug who has been chairman of the SPÖ in the Austrian Federal Council. Gerald Klug was born in 1968 in Graz (South-Eastern Austria). He completed an apprenticeship in metalworking and started working […]
The People’s Party (ÖVP) is in turmoil after the resignation of Ferdinand Maier. Maier announced in a radio debate he would retire next month instead of in autumn. The controversial parliament member (MP) was not allowed to express his critical opinion regarding the decision of the government to make debts of 33 billion Euros to […]
A fake gastronomy industry official has tricked several publicans into handing over fines, it has emerged.The elderly man who claims to be an inspector assigned by the Burgenland branch of the Federal Economy Chamber (WKO) succeeded by ordering bar owners and restaurant bosses in the district of Güssing to pay 150 Euros each […]
A Slovakian gang accused of dozens of cash machine thefts in their homeland and in the neighbouring Czech Republic was not active in Austria, police announced today (Fri).A spokesman for the Federal Crime Office (BK) in Vienna said investigations to this point suggest that the five men who were arrested earlier this week […]
More than 20 court officials are facing charges for corruption, it has been reported.Viennese newspapers report today (Fri) that 23 people working for juridical authorities must brace themselves for disciplinary procedures or court cases over their wrongdoings. The dailies claim that the suspected staff, of whom the majority have already been suspended, are accused of […]
Officials have engaged in a bitter war of words after the Federal Economy Chamber (WKO) decided to stop subsidising the Austrian Tourism Marketing (ÖW).WKO said recently it will end its annual eight-million-Euro injection from 2012 and intensify its own tourism marketing initiatives instead. The authority criticised the ÖW for neglecting emerging markets like Brazil, India […]
Almost 20 per cent of Austrians want shops to adopt longer business hours, it has been reported.A survey conducted by Viennese agency Karmasin for magazine Regal shows that 19 per cent of Austrians want a change of federal trade laws so stores are allowed to open longer than the current maximum 72 hours per week.Especially […]
Police and political decision-makers are facing fresh pressure after the former head of the Federal High Court (OGH) claimed Kampusch case investigator Franz Kröll was “driven to suicide”.Johann Rzeszut, former OGH president and part of a special commission to investigate the polices handling of the Kampusch case filed a 46-page report to the justice ministry […]
A railway employee lost a leg when he was run over by a slow-moving train in Carinthia yesterday (Weds).The 52-year-old from St. Veit an der Glan was engaged in repair and maintenance work at a Weißenstein chemistry firms railway system when he failed to observe an oncoming train.Christoph Posch, a spokesman for Federal Railways ÖBB, […]
New German President Christian Wulff will come to Vienna this Wednesday, the office of Austrian President Heinz Fischer has announced. A spokeswoman for Fischer said today (Mon) that the former Christian Democratic (CDU) Minister President of Lower Saxony will stay in Vienna for a few hours. She announced Fischer and Wulff will meet for talks […]