No Second Kidnapper
Wolfgang Priklopil, the man who abducted Natascha Kampusch and imprisoned her for eight years, “almost certainly” acted alone, as Jörg Ziercke, president of the German criminal police BKA stated when presenting a special investigator’s report. A woman claimed to have seen a second person pull Kampusch into Priklopil’s van, but was found to be “objectively [...]
Young terrorist arrested
The Austrian Mohamed Mahmoud, who posted a video in March threatening Austria and the rest of Europe, has been arrested in the Turkish province of Hatay near Syria, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In the video, the 28-year-old Mahmoud appears wearing a military vest and holding an AK-47, announcing attacks against cities, trains, [...]
U.K. Buys Austrian Guns
The British Ministry of Defence has signed a 9 million pound sterling contract to purchase 25,000 Austrian-made Glock pistols. The contract will outfit British forces in Afghanistan with the fourth generation Glock 17 to replace their current sidearm, the Browning L981. After two years of rigorous testing, the handgun has been chosen to replace the [...]
Company bankruptcy incurs loss of child benefits
Despite a unanimous government decision to tighten the criteria for the income-based child benefit (einkommensabhängiges Kindergeld) as of 2012, Gabriele Heinisch-Hosek, Social Democratic Minister for Women’s Affairs, now demands a revision. The Minister refers to numerous cases of pregnant women, who were not able to be employed for at least six months before maternity leave [...]
Majority for Civil Service
For the first time since the beginning of the debate in 2010, a clear majority has opted for a professional army. Until now, young men have had an obligatory year of enlistment in the Austrian Army (Bundesheer), or alternatively, one and a half years of civil service in public institutions. The recent market-survey for Der [...]
Tax deal with Switzerland
On Friday 13 April, Austria clinched a deal with Switzerland that will see Austrians’ secret accounts in the country taxed from 2013, Reuters reported. The agreement came as a relief to Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter, who had been criticised for pre-maturely including a €1 billion tax windfall from Swiss accounts in the government’s savings [...]
Terrorism’s Right Hand
Terror in Norway: Opinions, Jul. 28 by Andreas Mölzer, FPÖ Member of Parliament: “The Norway tragedy is an act of insanity. Anybody trying to cash in on this event politically should be ashamed. Now the FPÖ has to listen to the Left accusing it of providing the ideological breeding ground for such madness. Why is it [...]
Young (and Older) Love: Coach Freed, Resigns
A 42-year-old Austrian handball coach who started a relationship with a (then) 13-year-old boy was given a 22-month suspended sentence in Wiener Neustadt’s Provincial Court Nov. 10. Renata C. from Croatia, who pleaded guilty, was forced to resign from her post as a coach of a local team, when the relationship with the student handball [...]
Austria Leads Nations In Press Freedoms
Austria ranked seventh in the recently released 2010 World Press Freedom Index compiled by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (Reporteurs san frontiers RSF), up from 13th place last year. This year, Austria came in just behind a six-way tie for first among Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, in the annual survey, which measures [...]
