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VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Three skiers and two snowshoe hikers have died as heavy snow and avalanches hit Austria, isolating several areas of the mountainous country, authorities said Monday. Two German skiers lost their lives in avalanches in the western region of Vorarlberg on Sunday, and a Slovenian died in the region of Salzburg, rescue services said. The bodies of two missing snowshoe hikers were discovered Monday as snow caused chaos in parts of the […]
VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Former Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern announced Saturday he would retire from politics, thereby also ending his bid to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as EU Commission president next year. Kern, who stepped down as head of the opposition Social Democrat (SPOe) party last month, earlier indicated he had considered putting himself forward as a candidate to take over from Juncker. But on Saturday, the 52-year-old told reporters he was ending his career […]
by Frank Zeller Agence France-Presse VIENNA, Austria (AFP) – The top diplomats of Iran and five world powers meet Friday as Tehran seeks assurances it will benefit economically from the nuclear deal despite the US withdrawal from the pact. But in a setback on the eve of the talks, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani told French President Emmanuel Macron that European economic measures now on offer did not go far enough. Rouhani, who this week visited Europe […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — The first draft of music Mozart wrote for the last act of his opera “The Marriage of Figaro” is expected to sell for half a million euros ($578,000) when it goes under the hammer in Paris. The “exceptional” manuscript from 1786 which will be auctioned on Wednesday in the French capital comes from the peak of the composer’s career in Vienna, the auction house Ader Nordmann said. Called “Scena con Rondo”, Mozart […]
VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — President Vladimir Putin on Monday downplayed suggestions Russia was seeking to disrupt the European Union’s cohesion, saying it was in his country’s interests for the bloc to remain “united and prosperous”. “We have an interest in an EU that’s united and prosperous, since the EU is our most important commercial and economic partner,” Putin told Austria’s ORF television a day before an official visit to Vienna. “The more problems at the heart […]
VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell has announced it will sell assets in New Zealand to the Austrian oil and gas group OMV for $578mn. The deal includes stakes in the Maui and Pohokura gas fields and follows the company’s sale of its stake in the Kapuni field last year. Shell opened operations in New Zealand in 1911, but in 2015 announced a review of activities there as part of a […]
VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — New Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Wednesday used his first post-election speech to vow to make “combating anti-Semitism in all its forms” a top priority. “We will determinedly fight anti-Semitism in all its forms — those already existent but also imported into our country as an essential duty of our government,” said the youthful conservative whose coalition also contains the hard right Freedom Party. Kurz made his vow three days after neighboring Germany’s interior […]
by Nina Lamparski Agence France Presse VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Austrians were voting Sunday in a snap election tipped to see conservative Sebastian Kurz, 31, become the EU’s youngest leader and form an alliance with the far-right, in the bloc’s latest populist test. A rightward shift in the wealthy European Union member of 8.75 million people would be a fresh headache for Brussels, as it already struggles with Britain’s decision to leave and the […]
by Laurence BENHAMOU with Nina LAMPARSKI in Vienna Agence France-Presse SALZBURG, Austria – The EU is a “real step” closer to overhauling a controversial rule on detached workers, after talks with leaders from eastern and central Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday. The so-called Posted Workers Directive allows firms to send temporary workers from low-wage countries to other member states without paying local social charges. The regulation has come under fire from rich nations like […]
VIENNA, Austria (AFP) – Austria said Monday it had barred Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci from entering the country to attend a rally marking the anniversary of last year’s failed coup attempt in Turkey. “He has been barred because his visit was not planned as part of a bilateral exchange, but was about his public appearance at an event marking the coup attempt,” foreign ministry spokesman Thomas Schnoell told AFP. Zeybekci’s attendance would have represented […]
by Philippe Schwab Agence France Presse MARIA GUGGING, Austria (AFP) — Nestled in the hills of Austria sits Gugging, an artists’ colony with a difference where the worlds of psychiatry and art collide — with spectacular success. Over the past 50 years, mentally ill patients here have churned out an astounding 75,000 recognized artworks, some selling for over 100,000 euros ($110,000). In particular, it is a wellspring for “Art Brut,” producing some of the giants […]
(Eagle News) — Dismissed Interior and Local Government Secretary Ismael “Mike” Sueno said he has accepted “wholeheartedly” the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte, but insisted he is not corrupt. In a statement, Sueno also said he would have wanted the President to have “validated” the information that had reached him. “I just wished the information was validated. If only the President asked DILG personnel from the central down to the regional and field offices, […]
