Category Archives: Austria

Passengers incensed: Vienna adds perfumed trains to €1 a day travel

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Austrian capital follows success of cheap season ticket with another sweet deal for commuters

The rush-hour subway train glides into the station, the doors snap open and passengers move forward to board. As they enter the crowded carriage, they are met not with a musty mix of human odours, but with the subtle aroma of citrus fruit.

A select few trains on Vienna’s U-bahn are trialling perfumed carriages following complaints that the city’s subway system was unpleasant during the summer, despite widespread air conditioning.

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Austrian far-right leader searched on suspicion of forming terrorist group with Christchurch shooter

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Investigation widens to include Martin Sellner’s fiancee Brittany Pettibone following her contact with Australian far-right figure Blair Cottrell

The Austrian identitarian leader, Martin Sellner, has been subjected to further searches by Austrian police in connection with the Christchurch shooter, according to Austrian media reports and videos on Sellner’s own YouTube channel.

The investigation has also reportedly widened to include Sellner’s US-based fiancee, Brittany Pettibone, and her own alleged connections with Australian far-right figure Blair Cottrell.

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Austria approves US extradition of Ukrainian tycoon

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Supreme court clears way for Dmytro Firtash to face trial on bribery charges

Austria’s supreme court has upheld a decision granting a request by the US to extradite the Ukrainian tycoon Dmytro Firtash on bribery charges.

A US grand jury indicted Firtash in 2013, along with a member of India’s parliament and four others, on suspicion of bribing Indian government officials to gain access to minerals used to make titanium-based products. Firtash denies wrongdoing.

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La Scala poised to name Dominique Meyer as manager

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Milan opera house expected to choose Frenchman to replace Alexander Pereira

Dominique Meyer, the French director of the Vienna State Opera, is poised to be named as general manager of Milan’s La Scala opera house.

Giuseppe Sala, La Scala’s president and the mayor of Milan, said the board had reached an agreement on who would replace the Austrian Alexander Pereira, and that an official decision would be made on 28 June.

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Vienna’s changing LGBT spaces – a cartoon

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As the city prepares to host EuroPride, Lars van Roosendaal paints the places at the heart of its storied queer scene

Gay pick-up behaviour has changed a lot in recent decades. The increasing social recognition of LGBT people and the arrival of new internet dating platforms mean you do not have to go to hidden places, often known only to initiates, to find a potential partner. This has led to changes in how queer spaces manifest themselves, and nowhere more so than in Vienna, with its rich LGBT history.

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Austrian far-right party likely to back motion to oust chancellor

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Sebastian Kurz faces no-confidence vote after his party tops EU election polls despite video-sting scandal

Austrian politicians are likely to sack the chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, in a no-confidence vote after the leader of the far-right Freedom party (FPO) indicated it would probably vote against him.

Kurz’s conservatives came out on top in Sunday’s European parliament elections despite a video-sting scandal a week ago involving the FPO leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, which brought down their coalition government. Strache then resigned from all his political posts.

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At least four more die on Everest amid overcrowding concerns

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Latest deaths, including an Irish climber, come as others report ‘insane’ delays at the peak

Four more deaths have been reported on Everest as concerns grow about the risks posed by the severe overcrowding on the world’s highest mountain this year.

Kevin Hynes, 56, from Ireland, died in his tent at 7,000 metres early on Friday, having turned back before reaching the summit. The father of two was part of a group from the UK-based 360 Expeditions.

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Austrian government collapses after far-right minister fired

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Freedom party members quit posts after Herbert Kickl sacked in wake of Ibiza video

Austria’s far-right interior minister, Herbert Kickl, has been fired in the wake of the “Ibiza” corruption scandal that has engulfed the Freedom party (FPÖ), leading to the complete collapse of the country’s governing coalition.

In response to the sacking, the remaining Freedom party ministers resigned from their posts, which included the ministries for defence, work and transport.

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Ibiza scandal: why has Austria’s government collapsed? – video

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Austria is preparing for an election in September after a video from 2017 appeared to show the far-right vice-chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, offering lucrative public contracts in exchange for campaign support. The country's coalition government, formed between the Freedom party and the Austrian People's party, will end. Twenty-four hours after the video was released Strache resigned. 

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Footage appears to show Austrian vice-chancellor promising contracts for campaign support – video

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The Austrian vice-chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, resigned on Saturday after two German newspapers published footage of him apparently offering lucrative government contracts to a potential Russian benefactor. The daily Süddeutsche Zeitung and the weekly Der Spiegel published extracts of covert video on Friday, which allegedly showed Strache offering government contracts to a Russian woman purportedly interested in investing large amounts of money in Austria.

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Austria’s ‘Ibiza scandal’: what happened and why does it matter?

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Deputy chancellor and head of far-right party has resigned after video sting operation

On Friday night, two German media outlets published a video that shows the Austrian deputy chancellor and leader of the far-right Freedom party (FPÖ), Heinz-Christian Strache, talking to an unidentified woman purporting to be the niece of a Russian oligarch at a luxury resort in Ibiza. When the woman expresses an interest in gaining control of the country’s largest-circulation tabloid, Kronen Zeitung, Strache suggests he could offer lucrative public contracts in exchange for campaign support.

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Austrian vice-chancellor resigns over secret video footage

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Far-right Strache appears to offer public contracts in return for campaign help

Austria’s vice-chancellor has resigned after a video appeared to show the far-right politician promising public contracts to a fake Russian backer in return for campaign help.

In a press conference in Vienna on Saturday, the Freedom party (FPO) leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, said he had been the victim of a “political hit-job” aimed at breaking apart Austria’s governing coalition, and insisted the full video would show he had done nothing wrong.

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Austrian deputy leader endorses far-right term ‘population replacement’

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Heinz-Christian Strache says term associated with extreme right is a ‘term of reality’

Austria’s deputy leader has said his party is fighting against a “replacement” of the native population, endorsing a term usually employed by the extreme right, as the country’s rightwing populists double down on their rhetoric before the European elections.

Heinz-Christian Strache, the deputy chancellor in Austria’s conservative-nationalist coalition government and the leader of the far-right Freedom party (FPÖ), told the Krone newspaper on Sunday that his party was “consistently following the path for our Austrian homeland, the fight against population replacement, as people expect of us.”

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Politician from Hitler’s home town resigns over ‘deeply racist’ poem

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Christian Schilcher’s poem about immigration is described as ‘abominable’, ‘disgusting’ and ‘inhuman’

The deputy mayor of Adolf Hitler’s home town has resigned after publishing a poem about immigration whose imagery was described by Austria’s chancellor as “disgusting, inhuman and deeply racist”.

Christian Schilcher, the deputy mayor of Braunau am Inn, published his poem in the Easter edition of a local newspaper affiliated to his far-right Freedom party.

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Stormzy pulls out of Austrian festival citing ‘racial profiling’

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Rapper cancels headline slot at Snowbombing hours before he was due to go on stage

Stormzy has pulled out of his headline slot at Snowbombing festival just hours before he was due to perform, after accusing its staff of racially profiling his manager.

The Brit award-winning rapper, 25, said his friends had been targeted by security at the event in Mayrhofen, Austria, on Thursday looking for someone carrying a weapon, “despite no one [in their party] fitting the description”.

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Vienna State Opera’s ballet academy hit by abuse scandal

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Austrian magazine alleges pupils were subjected to physical, mental and sexual abuse

The Vienna State Opera has launched an investigation and promised far-reaching reforms after allegations that students at its prestigious ballet academy were subjected to physical, mental and sexual abuse by two teachers.

“Things have happened that are unacceptable,” the State Opera’s director, Dominique Meyer, said on Wednesday after the Austrian magazine Falter published a detailed exposé of the alleged abuse based on interviews with students and staff.

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Albania airport heist: armed robbers steal €2.5m from Austrian Airlines plane

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Police arrest four people and question 40 over audacious runway heist at Tirana’s Mother Teresa airport

Albanian police have arrested four people and questioned 40 others after armed robbers stole millions of euros from an Austria Airlines aeroplane in a deadly heist.

Armed men broke onto the runway of Tirana airport on Tuesday and stole the money due to be transported to a bank in Vienna, police said.

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Austrian authorities raid far-right group over alleged links to Christchurch shooter

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Home of far-right ‘Identitarian’ raided after he received a large donation from a person sharing the same surname as Christchurch suspect

Austria’s chancellor called Tuesday for authorities to “ruthlessly” investigate possible ties between an Austrian nationalist group and the alleged Christchurch mosque gunman, after it emerged that a prominent far-right activist had received a donation in the suspected shooter’s name.

Martin Sellner, head of the Identitarian Movement of Austria, said on social media that police searched his apartment Monday and seized electronic devices after he received a “disproportionately high donation” from a person named Tarrant the same surname as the suspected Christchurch shooter.

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Five paintings allegedly by Adolf Hitler to be auctioned in Nuremberg

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The sale of the artworks has sparked outrage with one landscape attributed to the Nazi leader expected to fetch at least €45,000

Five paintings allegedly by Adolf Hitler will be auctioned off on Saturday in the German city of Nuremberg, sparking anger that the Nazi memorabilia market is alive and well.

The city’s mayor, Ulrich Maly, has condemned the upcoming sale as being “in bad taste,” speaking to Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

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Vintage ski posters – in pictures

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A collection of vintage ski and winter sports posters up to a century old – some worth thousands of dollars – is about to be auctioned in New York. The resorts advertised range from Europe’s Alpine jewels to the mountains of Canada, and all offer fun in the outdoors

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