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The sale of Adolf Hitler's family home in the Austrian town of Braunau am Inn has triggered concern that it could become a shrine for Nazi sympathisers. The unassuming house where Hitler was born in 1889 has been put on the market priced at 2.2m euros (£1.9m; $3.3m). Residents and local politicians fear that the property could fall into the hands of far-right extremists. Braunau's mayor Gerhard Skiba wants to prevent that happening, but the council does not have the funds to buy it. The building is currently used by an organisation helping the disabled and has at various times...

A 60-year-old man was burnt alive as he tried to kill his wife at their home in Feistritz an der Drau in Carinthia’s Villach-Land district today (Tues). Police said the man had doused himself and petrol and then poured it around his house before shouting "I will burn all of you to a crisp" and setting the home ablaze. The man was killed instantly as he was turned into a human torch but his wife and another man, whom police suspect she was having an affair with, escaped. They were treated for smoke inhalation at Villach provincial hospital.

Namouh was arrested in September 2007 for engaging in more than 1,000 online conversations and producing videos praising violent attacks on US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as helping distribute ransom demands for kidnappers of a British journalist in Gaza. In online postings, he also touted his explosives expertise and threatened future attacks in Germany and Austria because of their military roles in Afghanistan. According to prosecutors, Namouh was a member of the Global Islamic Media Front, which is said to be involved in propaganda and jihad recruitment for Al-Qaeda. He faces possible life in prison.

" chemist who led to the invention of the birth control pill says he regrets the demographic catastrophe that has resulted from people using the contraceptive device to separate reproduction from sexuality, reports Baptist Press. Carl Djerassi, the 85-year-old Austrian chemist who was one of three whose formulation of synthetic hormones paved the way for the pill, wrote an opinion piece in the Austrian newspaper Der Standard lamenting the way the pill has been used. Austria's population now includes more people over age 65 than under 15, and Djerassi said the country soon will face an "impossible situation" as the...

Protest in Vienna: Pro-Lifers Demonstrate at City Hall Written by Bruno Schroeder    Thursday, September 17, 2009 A national controversy erupted in Austria when Vienna’s Mayor Michael Häupl allowed a jubilee-party honoring thirty years of “good work” by Austria’s first abortion clinic with the misnomer Pro-Woman. The September 3 celebration was held at City Hall and provoked a storm of protest including nearly 500 people demonstrating outside during the celebration. Pro-lifers sent hundreds of protest letters to the mayor asking him in vain not to honor the celebration of the killing of unborn babies. They then organized a demonstration...

I am considering some extended travel - basically living in either Germany or Austria.. Any comments about what I should look for? I want a base over there to explore the rest of Europe for a 6-12 month period. Rent an apt or house? As an American, what issues would I have to deal with?

In haste, late at night from the Upper Austrian News. The Sunday worship celebration in the Parish of St. Peter in Linz did not make the excommunicated "Bishop" Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger as happy as she would have wished. Bishop Ludwig Schwarz refused her communion with the Host. Then she took the wafer herself. 400 people joined the celebration of Mass in the Parish of St. Peter on 28June.. It was held in honour of the church's patron, St. Peter. Among them, high-ranking politicians. But few noticed what happened during the Communion. Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger was dressed as a Bishop when she...

US, UK and Austrian prosecutors are investigating former Austrian fund manager Sonja Kohn, chair of Austria's Bank Medici, they believe was paid more than $40M in kickbacks to funnel billions of dollars to Madoff via separate companies she controlled, according to affidavits reviewed by The WSJ. Ms. Kohn apparently turned three Bank Medici funds into "feeder funds" that supplied Madoff with an estimated $3.5B from European investors. Kohn, a 60-year-old Viennese former Wall Street penny-stock broker, has repeatedly denied prior knowledge of Madoff's fraud or any wrongdoing. According to an April affidavit from DOJ filed with Vienna prosecutors, Kohn is...

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn During his visit to the Vatican with a delegation of Austrian Bishops in the past two days, the Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna delivered a message from his flock, as Italian news agency ASCA reports: In the Vatican, Card. Schönborn also presented the so-called "Initiative of the lay faithful" (Laieninitiative), a petition by relevant Austrian Catholics launched earlier this year, which asks for the abolition of compulsory celibacy, the return to activity of married priests, the opening of the diaconate to women, and the ordination of [married] 'viri probati'. Below is the original ASCA article, in Italian....

Pope Benedict XVI met Tuesday for a second day with Austrian clergy to discuss the bungled appointment of an ultraconservative priest and a sex scandal _ two events that have shaken the country's Catholic church. The talks between the pope and Austrians, led by Vienna archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, were conducted with "brotherly dialogue and a constructive spirit," the Vatican said in a statement. It said Benedict "recalled the urgent need for deepening the faith and complete faithfulness" to the church's doctrine. Austria's Catholic church has been struggling to regain confidence among its members since the 2004 discovery of a...

European elections: extremist and fringe parties are the big winners Millions of voters deserted mainstream parties in the wake of the economic crisis David Charter and Rory Watson in Brussels Extremist and fringe parties were the beneficiaries as voters across Europe deserted mainstream parties or stayed at home in protest at the state of their economies. The Centre Left was set to be the big loser across the 27 European Union countries with the Centre Right consolidating its position as the largest group in the Parliament. Anti-immigrant parties gained MEPs in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands and Slovakia. Governing...

Voters punish incumbent left parties for the economic crisis. Ruling liberal/leftist parties have been punished in EU-wide elections, the first such vote since the world went into economic turmoil. In almost every country, right and even far-right candidates gained ground in the EU parliament. The UK Labor party -- which is in disarray following scandal and the resignation of several chiefs just in the last week -- had a horrible night. Conservatives walloped the party of incumbent Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and even the ultra right British National Party picked up a seat, its first in the EU parliament. The...

Riots erupted across the Punjab region of India on Monday in response to the killing of a leader of a Sikh sect who died after an attack on a temple in Vienna on Sunday. At least one person in Punjab was killed and a curfew was imposed in four towns after a day of violent protests followed the attack at the temple in Vienna. At the temple, six young Sikh men armed with guns and knives had stormed into a hall where two visiting sect leaders and hundreds of worshipers had gathered, said S. R. Heer, a senior official at...

AN EASTER EGG hunt ended in disaster when a teenage girl tripped an illegal hunting trap baited with birds' eggs. Carina Faerber, 13, mistook the bait for chocolate eggs, setting off the hair trigger of a vicious razor-sharp gin-trap that left her hand hanging by a thread. Her wrist was broken and almost severed altogether when she tried to pick up the eggs - used to lure weasels in woods near her house in Weisskirchen, Austria. Her screams alerted local walkers who dialled emergency services, as reported by the Austrian Times. Police say the eggs were left as bait by...

Barack Obama in his own words during a speech at a recent NATO Conference

Q Sonja Sagmeister from a little country, Austria, from Austrian Television. Mr. President, you said you came here to learn and to listen. So a quite personal question -- what did you learn from your personal talk with the European leaders? And did this change in a certain way your views on Europe and its politics? PRESIDENT OBAMA: It's an interesting question. I had already formed relationships with many of them. ... There's a lot of -- I don't know what the term is in Austrian -- wheeling and dealing -- and, you know, people are pursuing their interests, and...

Palaiz [sic! - Palace is spelled Palais in French] de la Musique et Des Congres Strasbourg, France 4:32 P.M. (Local) ---[SNIP]--- [Full press release at link above]  Q Sonja Sagmeister from a little country, Austria, from Austrian Television. Mr. President, you said you came here to learn and to listen. So a quite personal question -- what did you learn from your personal talk with the European leaders? And did this change in a certain way your views on Europe and its politics? PRESIDENT OBAMA: It's an interesting question. I had already formed relationships with many of them. Some of...

Mol, the Hungarian energy group, yesterday accused OMV, its Austrian rival, of acting as a "front" for Russian interests in a deal involving a 21 per cent stake in Mol. Zsolt Hernadi, Mol's chairman, made the claim before a Hungarian parliamentary committee looking into the €1.4bn (£1.3bn) sale of the stake, which has raised a political storm in Budapest and prompted questions about the impact on Hungary's and the European Union's energy security. OMV, which acquired the Mol stake in an unsuccessful takeover bid two years ago, sold the stock this week to Surgutneftegaz, a Russian oil group with close...

Deported ex-Nazi guard freed by Austria March 22, 2009 JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A former Nazi SS guard was freed by Austria a day after being deported from the United States. Josias Kumpf, 83, of Racine, Wis., could not be put on trial in Austria because the statute of limitations had expired, according to the Austrian justice ministry. The ministry told the United States before Kumpf's extradition that he would be freed since he was younger than 20 at the time of the crimes and because he was never an Austrian citizen, nor were the crimes committed in Austria, Reuters reported....

former Nazi concentration camp guard who was deported from the United States on Thursday is now a free man because he cannot be prosecuted in Austria, the Austrian justice ministry said on Friday. Josias Kumpf, 83, who has admitted to participating in a 1943 massacre of 8,000 Jews in the Trawniki labour camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, arrived in Austria on Thursday after the United States deported him following the revocation of his citizenship. [ID:nN19523234] Austrian justice ministry spokeswoman Katharina Swoboda said Vienna had warned U.S. authorities in the past that Austria would be unable to prosecute Kumpf because the statute...

The United States has deported to Austria a former Nazi concentration camp guard who admitted he participated in the 1943 massacre of 8,000 Jews, the Justice Department said on Thursday. It said Josias Kumpf, 83, who was living in Racine, Wisconsin, served as a guard at the Nazi-run Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany and at the Trawniki labor camp in Poland. At Trawniki, he participated in a mass shooting in which about 8,000 Jewish men, women and children were killed in pits on November 3, 1943, department officials said. Kumpf said his assignment was to watch for victims who were...

An Austrian man charged with imprisoning his own daughter and raping her repeatedly for 24 years has pleaded guilty to all charges in the case. Josef Fritzl, 73, had entered a partial guilty plea earlier this week, denying charges of enslaving his daughter and murdering their newborn son. But Fritzl told the court in the city of Sankt Poelten Wednesday that watching 11 hours of his daughter's videotaped testimony caused a change in heart and he decided to acknowledge his guilt on all charges. Prosecutors say Fritzl locked his daughter, Elisabeth, in the cellar of his home starting in 1984...

In Austria's recent general election, nearly 30 per cent of voters backed extremist right-wing parties. Live visits the birthplace of Hitler to investigate how Fascism is once again threatening to erupt across Europe.

In Austria's recent general election, nearly 30 per cent of voters backed extremist right-wing parties. Live visits the birthplace of Hitler to investigate how Fascism is once again threatening to erupt across Europe.

Vienna, one of the spy capitals of the world by Philippe Schwab Fri Feb 20, 9:06 pm ET VIENNA (AFP) – Twenty years after the end of the Cold War, Vienna remains a spy haven, swarming with foreign agents who think nothing of killing in broad daylight, while the Austrian authorities turn a blind eye, experts say. Vienna formed the backdrop to Orson Welles's legendary spy thriller "The Third Man" in 1949, but even today it remains a hive of secret service activity. "Austria is still a favourite place for agents. They're frequently known to the authorities, but rarely hindered....

"Pakistan Acknowledges Mumbai Attacks Planned Partially In Pakistan; Trail Leads To Spain, Italy, Austria, Houston" SNIPPET: "The Urdu-language website of the Pakistani television channel ARY OneWorld reports that Pakistan has acknowledged that part of the planning for the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks took place in Pakistan." SNIPPET: "According to a report carried by the website of Pakistani daily Dawn, ‘‘Investigators had also discovered that some funds transferred from Italy and Spain were used to finance the attacks, Austrian telephone SIM cards were used, and he [Rahman Malik] also spoke of a link, possibly an Internet domain, to Houston in...

Austrian police say a former Nazi concentration camp has been vandalized with anti-Muslim graffiti. Police in Upper Austria province say the graffiti extends about 20 meters (66 feet) along the outer wall of the former Mauthausen concentration camp, which is now a memorial site.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A newly appointed Austrian bishop once linked the 2005 Katrina disaster to what he called "the spiritual pollution" plaguing New Orleans. "The amoral conditions in this town are indescribable," Bishop-designate Gerhard Wagner said in a parish newsletter in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina had devastated New Orleans. "This is not just any city which has been drowned, but the people's dream town with the 'best brothels and the most beautiful whores,'" he said, according to excerpts from the newsletter which appeared on the Austrian Catholic Web site Kath.net. The Vatican announced Jan. 31 that Pope Benedict had...

The NEFA Foundation has obtained a new communiqué from the Army of Islam in Gaza, in which the group urges the Austrian government to release Muhammad Shawqi Mahmoud from jail. In March 2008, Mahmoud was sentenced to four years in prison for belonging to a terrorist organization. Mahmoud, a central figure in the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF), was involved in producing a March 2007 GIMF video that threatened Austria and Germany if the countries did not withdraw their troops from Afghanistan.

Some European governments are doing their best to usher in the blasphemy laws of sharia. Just days ago we saw a Dutch Court rule that politician Gert Wilders should be prosecuted on charges of inciting racial hatred because of his criticism of Islam.

Vienna - Austrian far-right parliamentarian Susanne Winter was convicted Thursday of incitement because of her anti-Muslim statements, including the claim that Islam's prophet Mohammed was a paedophile. A court in Winter's home town of Graz also found the 51-year-old politician guilty of humiliating a religion. She was sentenced to a fine of 24,000 euros (31,000 dollars) euros and a suspended prison term of three months, Austrian news agency APA reported. The politician, who took a seat in parliament last fall for the Freedom Party (FPOe), made the anti-Islamic remarks in January 2008. She also proposed in a discussion with students...

Russian gas flow to Austria plunges 90 percent Tue Jan 6, 2009 9:14am GMT FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Russian gas flows to Austria dropped 90 percent on Tuesday amid a dispute between Moscow and Ukraine, oil and gas group OMV said, but added it was using its natural gas reserves to cover the shortfall. Russia cut off supplies to Ukraine on January 1 over debts, pledging supplies to western Europe would be safeguarded, but some southern and eastern European countries have seen flows fall or stop. OMV said it had been informed by its Russian partners that gas supplies would fall...

But the Fuehrer has been given centre stage by the next European City of Culture. Liverpool naturally highlighted its connections to the Beatles, its most famous sons, when it became City of Culture in 2008. But the Austrian city of Linz, with no lederhosen version of the Fab Four to exploit, has instead decided to showcase the works of the architect of the Third Reich. The Nazi leader spent nine years of his childhood in the city which he loved so much he intended to make it the location for a magnificent five star Adolf Hitler Hotel. He had also...

Well worth viewing. How did they do that?

VIENNA, Austria — Josef Fritzl, the Austrian builder who locked his daughter in a cellar and fathered seven children with her, sees himself as a born rapist, a victim of his own tyrannical mother. According to the first leaked account of interviews with a forensic psychiatrist, which is due to appear in two Austrian newspapers today, Fritzl hatched his plan to incarcerate his daughter, Elisabeth, while he was in prison for rape. “I have realized that I had a mean streak. For someone who was born to be a rapist, I have managed to contain myself for a relatively long...

Hello, I'm Arnold. I teach history - and a bit of das future too, as I view things.. In ze 20th century, America was big. Ja. But not as big and important as you "yanks" seem zu think. SHUT UP!! By now, wir find our selbst in ein totally different world. GM, Ford and America are bancrupt and every sane person today putsch their trust in ze €uro and God bless my grandmutter's überundunterundschwishendieheimatpatriotischen unterwear für that, like I use to say! Ze reason we Europeans decided to break your financial backbone, namely ze dollar (monopoly money manufactured by illegal...

DEVELOPING: A passenger aboard a domestic Russian flight has hijacked the aircraft and ordered it to divert to Vienna, according to Russian law enforcement, Reuters reported. "At 5.20 p.m. one of the passengers on a flight from Adler to Moscow cried 'Allah Akbar' and announced that the flight had been hijacked and demanded to change the course from Vnukovo (airport outside Moscow) to Vienna," Reuters quotes Russian news sources as reporting. Emergency vehicles are on their way to Vnukovo Moscow airport.

FNC is reporting now that a 737 has been hijacked with 130 people onboard and diverted to Vienna.

The successor of the Austrian far-right leader Jörg Haider was dismissed yesterday after he revealed a “special” relationship “far beyond” friendship with his former mentor. In emotional interviews with the national broadcaster and a tabloid newspaper Stefan Petzner spoke openly about his affair with Haider, who died at the age of 58 in a high-speed car crash after heavy drinking session at a gay club this month. Haider’s party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria, captured 11 per cent of the vote in national elections last month . “He was the man of my life. Our relationship went far...

In 1911, when Archduke Karl begins thinking of marriage, he remembers the younger sister of some of his childhood playmates. Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma is a young, beautiful, vivacious and religiously devout young woman, and Karl’s heart is set on marrying this exceptional woman. Because he is shy around women, he asks for assistance from his step-grandmother—who also happens to be Zita’s aunt—Archduchess Maria Theresa. She arranges a weeklong hunting party at her estate and invites both of the young people, giving the opportunity for them to meet, talk and get to know one another. Afterwards, Karl takes Zita to...

Japan wins seat at UN Security Council; Iran fails Japan was elected Friday to a seat at the UN Security Council for 2009-2010, overcoming a challenge from Iran for a place at the head table of international diplomacy. In a vote in the UN General Assembly, which includes all member nations of the world body, Japan took 158 votes against 32 for Iran, the assembly's president Miguel d'Escoto of Nicaragua said. Asia has two non-permanent seats on the 15-nation Security Council, on top of the permanent seat held by China. Indonesia's term is ending; Vietnam's stint continues through the end...

VIENNA (AFP) — Outspoken Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider, who sparked international outrage with comments praising Nazi policies, died on Saturday when his car veered off the road. ..................................... He was elected again but in 1995 said the feared Waffen-SS should be "honoured." New criticism erupted when he told the Austrian parliament that Nazi concentration camps were just "disciplinary camps." .......................................... Media-savvy, he was rarely out of the limelight, offering recently to mediate hostage crises in North Africa with his friend Seif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, or forcibly removing bilingual street signs in Carinthia, which has a...

Austrian far-right politician Joerg Haider has been killed in a road accident, police say. Mr Haider suffered severe head and chest injuries after his car came off the road in Carinthia, his political base. Police investigating the crash said he had been driving alone. The 58-year-old was leader of the Alliance for Austria's Future, and was known for his anti-immigration and anti-EU policies. The Alliance was one of two right-wing parties which did better than expected in general elections last month, fuelling speculation of a possible role in a ruling coalition. JOERG HAIDER: KEY DATES Joerg Haider 1950: Born in...

(Original article in Swedish. Translated by SB) Austrian party leader Jörg Haider killed in car accident The Austrian party leader Jörg Haider was killed in a car accident early Saturday morning. The governor of the Austrian province Kärnten, and party leader for BZÖ (The Union for Austria’s Future) Jörg Haider was killed in a traffic accident early Saturday in Klagenfurt, capital of Kärnten, it was reported by the news agency APA. The 58 year old Haider was driving his service car when it for unknown reasons left the road. Haider suffered severe chest and head injuries and died shortly after...

Austrian man kills in-laws with flame-thrower Vienna - A 48-year-old Austrian man allegedly has murdered his wife's parents with a home-made flame-thrower, Austrian news agency APA reported Saturday. The attack occurred Friday evening. The suspect's 84-year-old mother-in-law burned to death in her bed after she was torched with a modified propane-gas bottle. As she had lost both legs due to diabetes, she had no way of escaping. Her 84-year-old husband was found dead outside the house the elderly couple shared with their daughter and son-in-law in Lemberg in Styria province. Police said an antagonistic relationship between the two couples living...

White nationalists are on their way back into power in Austria: Austrian Party That Wants to Bring Back Nazi Imagery Wins Big. Students of history may feel misgivings at this point.

Last weekend’s elections in Austria produced a massive tidal shift of votes away from the Greens and the Socialists towards two parties of the Right. Our Austrian correspondent ESW has a report on what happened, drawn from Austrian news sources and accompanied by her own analysis. Austria has voted — Did politicians understand the message?by ESW Austrians are in for interesting political times: General elections this past Sunday changed Austria’s political landscape with a pull to the right. The Social Democrats lost votes, and the Conservatives lost even more. Both can no longer be considered “forces” in the political spectrum;...

A Muslim cemetery in Austria was desecrated in the same weekend that elections established the far-Right as the largest political bloc in the country. More than 90 graves were severely damaged at the cemetery in Traun, near Linz, in what police believe was an organised action of far-Right extremists. According to a Linz police spokesman, the incident happened between Friday night and Monday morning. The offenders have sprayed Jewish symbols such as the Star of David over some of the graves, but police believe that it was a bid to distract attention from far-Right offenders. A spokesman for the local...

Austria is special. Its tourist board will tell you that, as will the headlines on the infrequent occasions when the Alpine republic grabs global attention. One of those rare occasions happened this weekend: Austria's far-right parties scooped up 29 per cent of the votes between them in a general election, pushing them ahead of the conservative People's Party, and only just behind the Social Democrats. The last time Austria was in the news was in April when Josef Fritzl was arrested for imprisoning his own daughter in a cellar and fathering her seven children. While it would be absurd to...

VIENNA, Austria - Austrians wrestled Monday to understand the reasons behind a resurgence of the far right, a day after the country's two anti-immigration parties soared to almost 30 percent of the vote. Some experts suggested the results Sunday reflected a deep-seated discontent with the country's outgoing governing coalition rather than a sign that Austrians were becoming more extremist. The governing coalition between the center-left Social Democrats and the conservative People's Party collapsed in July after a shaky 18-month alliance that hit snags over tax reforms and EU policy changes.