High Court confirms Holocaust denier Honsik’s conviction

Categories
General News

The Austrian High Court (OGH) has confirmed Holocaust denier Gerd Honsik’s conviction for spreading Nazi ideology.It emerged today (Tues) that the conviction had been confirmed in a private session several weeks ago.Vienna Appellate Court (OLG) will issue a ruling on 1 March on the question of whether his five-year sentence is long enough, OLG spokesman […]

BauMax to open four new stores in Romania

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Business

Austrian building materials retailer BauMax will open four new stores in Romania this year, the company announced yesterday (Thurs).A new shop is going to open in Bucharest on 25 February at the new Sun Plaza shopping mall, which is being developed by Erste Group’s real estate subsidiary Sparkassen Immobilien AG.Other stores will open in the […]

Number of VIA’s passengers up in January

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Business

The number of passengers at Vienna International Airport (VIA) rose by 4.1 per cent year on year to 1,203 million in January 2010, the airport reported today (Thurs).VIA added that the number of passengers with Middle Eastern destinations had gone up by 11.3 per cent and the number with Western European destinations had risen by […]

Church speaks out after Wagner comments on earthquake

Categories
General News

Senior Catholic figures in Austria have been forced to speak out after controversial comments by an ultra-conservative pastor over the Haiti earthquake.Pastor Gerhard Maria Wagner had claimed 90 per cent of Haitians practised voodoo in an interview published in the newspaper Kurier on Sunday when he was asked if the Haitian earthquake had been God’s […]

Evangelical Church membership stable in 2009

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General News

By William GreenThe Austrian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions reported today (Fri) its membership had remained stable last year.The Church said 3,128 people had left and 839 had joined in 2009. At the end of the year, it had 325,314 members, down 0.69 per cent year on year.The number of people who […]

Catholic Church exodus

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General News

By David RogersThe number of Catholics leaving the Church soared last year, according to Catholic press agency Kathpress.It reported today (Weds) that 53,216 people had left the Church last year – 30.9 per cent more than in 2008.The figure was 0.96 per cent of all Austrian Catholics, the agency said.The number of Catholics in Austria […]

VCÖ deplores boom in SUV sales

Categories
Green Austria

By Lisa ChapmanThe Austrian Traffic Club (VCÖ) has criticised this year’s boom in registrations of gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles (SUVs).VCÖ said today (Weds) the number of registrations of SUVs had increased year on year by 22.5 per cent in 2009. There was an increase of only 8.0 per cent for all cars.It said the biggest […]

Recession slashes power consumption

Categories
Green Austria

By William GreenPower consumption plunged this year amid an industry downturn because of the recession, the Association of Austrian Electricity Enterprises (VEÖ) said today (Tues).VEÖ said the fall reached its lowest point in April, when consumption was down by 10.3 per cent year on year.Declines of 6.1 per cent and 7.1 per cent occurred year […]

Chancellor plans new stimulus package as jobless rate soars

Categories
Finance

By Thomas HochwarterSPÖ Chancellor Werner Faymann has announced plans for a new economy stimulus package as figures show unemployment soared almost 20 per cent year on year last month.The Social Democrat said today (Tues) he wanted to introduce a third stimulus package, adding he had “many plans” to help people to “gain better qualifications”.Faymann claimed […]