MOSCOW - Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz says he is ready to get vaccinated with the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine or the Chinese vaccine, if they are approved by the EU. "Yes [I am ready to get vaccinated], if the vaccines [Russia’s and China’s] are approved in Europe," Kurz said in an interview with the German Welt am Sonntag newspaper. The chancellor said that Austria [...]

VIENNA - The experience of administration of Russian vaccines against COVID-19 is raising a great interest in Austria even though the countries are not currently engaged in specific negotiations, Russian ambassador Dmitry Lyubinsky said, praising the efficacy of the Russian vaccines. "There are currently no negotiations on exact plans related to the potential use of the Sputnik V vaccine in [...]

The original name of the small village has no special meaning or any connotations in German, while the new toponym will better reflect its pronunciation in the local accent. The Austrian village of Fucking (pronounced fooking in Standard German) will change its name to Fugging on 1 January 2021, Mayor Andrea Holzner told the broadcaster Oe24 Thursday. The move to rebrand the village comes [...]

Cell phone footage of a suspected terrorist attack originally reported to be taking place near Vienna’s main synagogue shows a massive police response and officers exchanging fire with one or multiple gunmen. In one video, filmed from above, a man dressed in white with a black balaclava can be seen going down a cobblestone-lined street and firing off several shots. Someone yells out a profa [...]

Nearly 130 Austrians have been stunned to receive $1,200 cheques signed by none other than US President Donald Trump. Washington’s sudden generosity appears to be a result of a mistake in its Covid-19 relief package system. Citizens of the small Alpine nation, located thousands of miles away from America, were baffled by the envelopes containing what was described as economic relief money from t [...]

VIENNA -Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Friday delivered a speech timed with the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in which he recalled the responsibility of his own country for the events of 1939-1945. "The horrors of National Socialism were so indescribable that we should make sure to draw our lessons from that time. This is especially true for Austria, because not o [...]

Austrians will soon be able to walk with no restrictions and gather in groups of 10, as coronavirus measures will be gradually lifted starting next month. The easing of the self-isolation measures was announced by Health Minister Rudolf Anschober, who said that the spread of the novel coronavirus remains quite slow and the forecast for the upcoming month looks “very good.” He also said that th [...]

Austria will massively expand coronavirus testing in the coming days to locate and isolate infected people and avoid an Italian-like overload of its health system, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has said. The Alpine republic with a population of 8.8 million has tested around 28,400 people so far with nearly 4,900 cases and 28 deaths confirmed, Reuters reported. It was one of the first European countrie [...]

VIENNA (Sputnik) - Austria will introduce an entry ban for citizens of Russia, Ukraine, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Sunday. The chancellor added that all restaurants across the country would be closed starting 17 March, while supermarkets and food delivery companies will continue to operate. [...]

The famed Rothschild family’s descendants have lashed out at the Austrian capital and local authorities over what they say amounts to expropriation of severely undervalued assets, as well as public trust in the private fund which was initially set up over 100 years ago to serve people by financing medical care projects. The great-grandson of the Rothschild family’s Austrian branch has launched [...]

The budget changes follow after London and Brussels managed to sign off on the Brexit deal and avoid a further delay, withdrawing the United Kingdom from the bloc after 47 years. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has stated that his country would veto the European Union's long-term budget plan for post-Brexit Europe, stressing it should be lowered. [...]

In December, US President Donald Trump signed the National Defence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, which, among other things, stipulates sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. The US also threatened to sanction any company or individual involved in providing services on the project. Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg has lashed out at the US over its push for sanct [...]

‘A Hidden Life’ by Terrence Malick celebrates an Austrian farmer’s Christian principled opposition to Hitler, and any attempts to draw a parallel between the movie and anti-Trump resistance are myopic at best. The new film is the true story of Franz Jagerstatter, a Catholic farmer in Austria who is conscripted into the German Army during WWII and must choose between his conscience, and pledg [...]

Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl was left impressed with Russian President Vladimir Putin's gallant behavior after the two waltzed at Kneissl's headline-grabbing wedding last year. "President Putin is an old-school gentleman. He has a special kind of manners that we don't see enough today, including in Central Europe," the diplomat told TASS on Monday. [...]

Austria has voted to ban glyphosate, the main ingredient in Bayer-Monsanto’s notorious Roundup weedkiller, becoming the first EU country to outlaw the chemical, creating a PR disaster for the troubled German company. [...]

A corruption scandal has Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s grip on power slipping by the day. With a no-confidence motion likely, can Austria’s right and left wings team up to boot the 32-year-old leader from office? [...]

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has proposed calling a snap election after the country's Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Starche resigned after what he called "political assassination." [...]

On Friday evening, Spiegel published a video and materials dating back to July 2017, when the leader of the Austrian Freedom Party Heinz Christian Strache and his assistant Johann Gudenus met with an alleged Russian woman in Ibiza, who declared desire to invest a large amount of money in Austria. [...]

Austrian Vice-Chancellor and leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) Heinz-Christian Strache announced earlier his resignation after he was purportedly filmed discussing what was described by the media as contracts with a Russian woman months before the 2017 election. [...]

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has told Austrian newspapers it's time for the EU to negotiate a new treaty with stronger collective rules and tougher sanctions for erring member countries while reining in expansive projects, such as Macron's proposed EU Army. [...]

Austria will continue buying Russian gas despite US pressure and fear-mongering from Poland and Ukraine about dangers to European energy security. The cost of importing US gas is just not right, says its Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. [...]

The UK, France, and Spain among a number of countries, have announced their recognition of Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president after Caracas did not cave into an ultimatum calling for snap elections with eight days. [...]