Austria

Popular petitions (Volksbegehren) enable the electorate to initiate the law-making procedure.

The descent into homelessness can be dizzyingly fast, explains social worker Susanne Peter, but the climb back out is painstakingly slow.

Emerging from the escalator at the Westbahnhof U-Bahn station, the crowd surged forward, carrying us directly into the swelling group of activists. 

Light and luminous. That is the impression conveyed by Vienna’s “new” Jewish Museum, which re-opened in October after a nine month face-lift that cost a total of €2.6 million. The darkness of the Holocaust recedes from view, while gleaming Torah crowns in illumined showcases recall the wealth and vibrancy of Jewish life in the Habsburg Empire. 

While a duo of lute and violin played a solemn tune accompanying an Arabic song, Austria’s foreign minister Michael Spindelegger leaned over to say something to the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Alfaisal. That was all it took. Suddenly, the music was lost in a cacophony of flashing cameras and clicking shutters.  

Indeed, this was the perfect photo op to accompany suspicions of ulterior motives behind the Saudi king’s giant investment in Vienna. 

As insecurity reigns on global financial markets, and debt crises grip Europe and the United States, the Swiss franc (CHF) has become a lifeboat for investors looking for sound bonds. But as currency traders swim to safety, they are kicking off waves that leave others struggling. 

The resulting hike in the franc’s value – which has appreciated by 20 per cent against the euro over the last year – has increased the debt burden for Europeans holding CHF denominated loans, including many Austrians. In sum, Austrian banks such as Erste Bank, Raiffeisen International, and UniCredit’s Bank Austria have lent €51.3 billion in CHF denominated loans in Austria, and €18.3 billion in Central and Eastern Europe via their subsidiaries.

Toni walks down a long hall in the Vienna courthouse (Landesgericht für Strafsachen), his regard fixed ahead of him, his gait relaxed, a slight tremble in his hand. At the end of the hall his two assailants from the night of his beating stand waiting to enter the courtroom. As he enters with a solemn face and walks through the crowd of five defendants, their eyes follow him as he sits down outside the courtroom for the hearing. They haven't seen him since the early morning hours of Feb.

Moving to a new city in a new country is often exhilarating for an independent professional. But for parents with small children it can be a nightmare, entailing an alien care system and the absence of the usual support from grandparents and trusted nannies. For children, the experience of lacking a common language with their peers can be isolating and discouraging.

Yet in Vienna, city authorities have sought to ease the transition for parents and young children. To notable effect: The Mercer Study, assessing the liveability of world cities for those facing an international job transfer, ranked Vienna first in 2009 and 2010. Among the ten categories evaluated by the study are schools and education, as well as public services.

It was a balmy August evening in London when, standing in a parking lot in the deprived Haringey borough, hip-hop artist Lefty made a dark prediction about an imminent rise in the local crime rate.