Tobacconist throws cigarette pack at armed robber

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General News

A have-a-go tobacconist scared off an armed robber by throwing a pack of cigarettes straight into his face, yesterday (Weds).Graz police said the 56-year-old shop owner did not hesitate when the robber demanded money from him at gunpoint and chucked the pack of Gauloises straight into the gunman’s face.The would-be robber and his accomplice waiting […]

Wrong direction motorway biker ‘looked for lost wallet’

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A Slovakian biker shocked drivers on an Austrian motorway by driving in the wrong direction to look for his wallet.The motorcyclist was stopped by Carinthian traffic policemen near the Wolfsberg exit after terrified motorists called to report him speeding the wrong way down the A2 southern motorway’s breakdown lane yesterday (Weds).The 34-year-old man told police […]

Diplomats off sick most often, study shows

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United Nation (UN) officials and diplomats working in Austria have the highest number of sick leave days, it has been revealed.Figures presented by Austrian health insurance officials today (Weds) show that officials employed at the UN’s Vienna headquarters and at the Vienna-based Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) took an average 39.3 off days […]

‘Owl of Death’ haunts Carinthian village

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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 […]

Hungarian cigarette smuggler caught on A1 motorway

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A 37-year-old Hungarian has been arrested after police found 500 packets of cigarettes worth 40,000 Euros stashed in his car last night (Tues).A spokesman for Austrian motorway police forces said today (Weds) the man who didn’t have a valid driving licence was stopped on the A1 western motorway near the Eberstalzell exit in Upper Austria.This […]

Carinthian boy buried by ping-pong table

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A two-year-old boy suffered serious head injuries and a broken lower leg when a table-tennis table landed on him in Carinthia yesterday (Tues).The child was running around his 58-year-old grandfather’s estate in St. Gertraud in the province’s Lavant Valley when a freak gust of wind blew the ping-pong table on top of him as he […]

BMW and Alfa Romeo get top marks in crash test

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New models by BMW and Alfa Romeo have won an Austrian car club’s crash test.Motorists’ association ÖAMTC said today (Weds) the BMW 5 Series and the Alfa Romeo Giulietta reached top marks of its five-star ranking, while the new Mazda CX-7 bagged four stars.ÖAMTC lauded the two winning models for avoiding serious pressure on any […]

Fabergé egg stolen as neighbours look on

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Boldfaced robbers have stolen a Fabergé egg worth half a million Euros from an elderly couple’s house after they left for a flea market.Police in Theresienfeld, Lower Austria, said today (Tues) the crooks had told curious neighbours they had been ordered to pick something up while they loaded up their car with the 500,000 Euro […]

Authorities quarrel over Nazi criminal’s health bills

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Austrian authorities are at odds over the health bill of an alleged World War Two criminal.Josias Kumpf was extradited aged 84 to Austria from the United States in April 2009. The Austrian-born man is accused of being involved in the shooting of 8,000 Jewish women, men and children while working as a guard at Trawniki […]

Brit triathlete gives chase to campsite car thieves

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Would-be car thieves did a runner when the triathlon athlete owner was woken by the noise they made.Police in Schönbühel, Lower Austria, said today (Tues) they were investigating after Saturday night’s incident in which an unidentified trio stole car keys and mobile phones from the British couple sleeping in a tent at a local camping […]