Bosses at a Styrian university have decided to forbid wearing veils, it has emerged.Managers of the Medical University of Graz (MUG) decided today (Thurs) to prohibit wearing veils that disguise womens faces in seminars and exams.MUG vice director Gilbert Reibnegger stressed however that students would still be allowed to wear veils in lectures. He stressed […]
Around 6,000 immigrants have opened accounts at Erste Bank in the past three years following a groundbreaking project targeting foreigners.Peter Thier, a spokesman for the institute, said today (Fri): “Our pilot project worked so well that we decided to keep and expand it.”He explained five clerks speaking Serbian, Croatian and Turkish worked in branches in […]
Social Democratic (SPÖ) Chancellor Werner Faymann is narrowly ahead of Peoples Party (ÖVP) Vice Chancellor Josef Pröll in a popularity poll.Researchers Karmasin said today (Mon) Faymann would have the support of 24 per cent if people were eligible to elect the chancellor in a direct vote similar to the ballot for the federal president.Its survey […]
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 […]
More than four in 10 Austrians think immigrants receive preferential treatment compared to the countrys citizens, a new study has revealed.Pollsters IMAS said today (Fri) 42 per cent of the 1,000 Austrians they interviewed complained foreigners, asylum seekers and immigrants were treated better by authorities than themselves.The research results come just weeks after Viennese agency […]
Freedom Party (FPÖ) leader Heinz-Christian Strache has vehemently defended controversial Deutsche Bundesbank executive board member Thilo Sarrazin.The German caused global outcry with various statements regarding immigration and the intelligence quotient of ethnic groups made in his new book “Deutschland schafft sich ab” (Germany Abolishes Itself) which was published last week.The German Social Democrats (SPD) are […]
Freedom Party (FPÖ) leader Heinz-Christian Strache has announced a referendum over minarets if he wins the upcoming Vienna election.The right-winger announced today (Tues) he will hold a referendum to let residents decide whether they want a law preventing the construction of minarets in the capital.He said: “I will immediately hold a referendum over the issue […]
Freedom Party (FPÖ) leader Heinz-Christian Strache has spoken out against the construction of additional minarets in Austria.The right-winger said on state-owned TV channel ORFs “Sommergespräche” (Summer Talks) series last night (Mon): “We say yes to houses of prayers, but no to minarets and muezzins.”Straches statement comes after Anas Schakfeh, president of the Austrian Islamic Denomination […]
Freedom Party (FPÖ) officials have hit out at Anas Schakfeh, president of the Austrian Islamic Denomination (IGGiÖ), for calling for a mosque in all nine provinces.FPÖ General Secretary Harald Vilimsky today (Mon) suggested an “immigration stop” for people from “Islamic regions” in a first reaction to Schakfehs statements from the weekend.Schakfeh said he wanted “visible” […]
The head of Austrias second-biggest bank has caused a stir by calling for the introduction of a tax on assets.Erste Bank boss Andreas Treichl told weekly magazine News today (Thurs): “A decent taxation on assets must be set up, of course, as well as (higher) real estate tax levels and inheritance tax.”Treichl also said tax […]