Re: News from Austria

**bb1** Tue Sep 27, 2016 9:43 am

Oh, whoever could have forecast that happening?

**Lamplighter** Tue Sep 27, 2016 8:45 pm

Fire chief in Lower Austria confirmed as arsonist
27 Sep 2016 14:53 GMT
The fire chief of Wolfsbach in Lower Austria has admitted to starting seven separate fires that amounted to €80,000 in damages.
He has since been arrested and banned from the fire department.
https://www.thelocal.at/20160927/fire-chief-in-lower-austria-confirmed-as-arsonist

**lily** Tue Sep 27, 2016 8:52 pm

Oh boy......

**Lamplighter** Wed Sep 28, 2016 8:22 am

Woman found stabbed to death in Vienna's Favoriten district
Published: 27 Sep 2016
A 53-year-old woman was found stabbed to death with a kitchen knife early on Tuesday morning in Vienna’s Favoriten district.
Police are currently searching for the 54-year-old murder suspect, the woman’s partner of 13 years.
https://www.thelocal.at/20160927/woman-found-stabbed-to-death-in-viennas-favoriten-district

**Lamplighter** Wed Sep 28, 2016 11:21 am

Neo-Nazi crimes on the rise in Austria
Published: 28 Sep 2016
Neo-Nazi crimes are on the rise in Austria - particularly in the states of Tyrol and Upper Austria, according to a report in Der Standard newspaper.
The most common offences are glorifying Adolf Hitler in Facebook postings and spraying Nazi graffiti on walls.
https://www.thelocal.at/20160928/neo-nazi-crimes-on-the-rise-in-austria
------------
Man hit by tram during fight between Chechens and Turks
Published: 28 Sep 2016
A man was seriously injured after being hit by a tram during a mass brawl between a group of Chechens and Turks in Vienna’s Favoriten district on Tuesday evening.
https://www.thelocal.at/20160928/man-hit-by-tram-during-mass-fight-between-chechens-and-turks

Interesting as Turks and Chechens are mainly Sunni Muslim, so I think this was secular, not religious. LL

**bb1** Wed Sep 28, 2016 11:57 am

Police are currently searching for the 54-year-old murder suspect, the woman’s partner of 13 years.

It's a sad reflection on the times when people are relieved when murders are 'just' domestics.

The brawl could have been over anything, LL - drugs, disrespecting someone, the colour of Allah's flying horse, gang warfare....

Of course support for the Right is rising. It is absolutely inevitable when authorities fail in their first duty - the protection of their own citizens.

Why the HELL should the people of Vienna put up with imported trouble makers brawling in their beautiful city? It's Darwinism, not politics.

And the more said authorities clamp down on people for being ar@es on FB, the more the Right is fuelled, because the clamping down chimes in with Right-wing conspiracy theories. This is all going to end very badly, IMO.

**Lamplighter** Sat Oct 01, 2016 11:52 am

Driver in Vienna 'shouting Allahu Akbar' tries to run over pedestrians
Published: 30 Sep 2016 10:08
Police in Vienna are investigating whether a 21-year-old man who tried to run over pedestrians with his car on Thursday morning had a terrorist motive. Nobody was injured, as the people he targeted managed to jump out of the car’s path in time.

“He was obviously aiming at and trying to hit pedestrians,” police spokesman Thomas Keiblinger told Radio Wien. “Witnesses said that they heard him shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ out of the car window, which was open,” he added.

The incident happened at around 11:00 am in the district of Favoriten.

According to Austrian media the driver was born and lives in Vienna and has a Turkish background. The man was detained by police shortly after the incident. Keiblinger said he continued to shout Allahu Akbar as he was arrested.

Authorities are now investigating whether he might have had religious or political motives, but say that so far they have not found any links to extremist groups. According to police he has not yet made any statements.

Officers who searched his apartment and seized computers and mobile phones say they were attacked by his brother who was in the property at the time. He was also arrested and later released.

The incident came on the same day as a court in Graz sentenced a 27-year-old man to life imprisonment after he deliberately ran over and killed three people last June. Alen R. was sentenced to be sent to a facility for mentally unstable criminals.

However the court ruling was invalidated as prosecutors failed to deliver their statement. The man’s lawyer says she will file an appeal.

**bb1** Sat Oct 01, 2016 12:16 pm

I am beginning to wonder if many of the Allah-worshippers are sane, frankly. Links to terrorism set aside, trying to kill innocent people whilst shouting the praises of your moon good is not far removed from human sacrifice.

**lily** Sat Oct 01, 2016 9:49 pm

Now you put it like that......

**Lamplighter** Mon Oct 03, 2016 1:28 pm

Kurz says EU should drop plan to share out refugees
Published: 03 Oct 2016

Austria's foreign minister says the EU should drop its "unrealistic" proposal to share out refugees across the bloc, as voters in neighbouring Hungary rejected the plan in a closely-watched referendum.

Speaking to German daily Welt am Sonntag, Sebastian Kurz said the European Union should stop clinging to its troubled plan to distribute 160,000 refugees throughout member states, only a fraction of whom have been resettled so far.

Hungary has not accepted a single refugee of the 1,300 allocated under the scheme and instead joined Slovakia in filing a legal challenge against it.

"The target is totally unrealistic," Kurz said, warning that countries' disagreements over the plan could threaten "the cohesion of the entire European Union". Another problem, he added, was that "many refugees refuse to go to certain EU countries such as Romania, Hungary and Poland - they want to go to Austria, Germany or Sweden.”

In another interview with German television network ARD on Sunday evening, he strongly criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door asylum policy: "Germany is forcing other countries to follow a policy that they do not want."

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has vehemently campaigned against any mandatory quotas to take in refugees. Orban's 'No' camp comfortably won Sunday's referendum on the EU plan - with 98 percent of those who took part voting against quotas. However, voter turnout was only 43 percent which means the result is not binding.

Kurz cautioned against criticising the Hungarian government for its stance, which contrasts strongly with Merkel's policy. "It becomes dangerous when some European Union states create the impression they have the moral high ground over other member countries," he told the Welt am Sonntag.

Kurz said that rather than granting asylum to refugees who have made their way illegally to Europe, the EU should take refugees directly from crisis areas - which would discourage people smuggling.

https://www.thelocal.at/20161003/kurz-says-eu-should-drop-plan-to-share-out-refugees

**lily** Mon Oct 03, 2016 4:06 pm

That makes a lot of sense?

**bb1** Mon Oct 03, 2016 4:53 pm

In another interview with German television network ARD on Sunday evening, he strongly criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door asylum policy: "Germany is forcing other countries to follow a policy that they do not want."

That's the heart of it, IMO - Merkel has caused the whole problem. I suspect the UK might not have Brexited if it hadn't been for her arrogance in trying to force her surplus guests onto other people.

**Lamplighter** Tue Oct 04, 2016 1:11 pm

Vienna to start taxing income from Airbnb-style room rentals
Published: 04 Oct 2016
People in Vienna who rent out spare rooms or apartments for short-term stays on sharing economy platforms such as Airbnb or Craigslist must now register with the city - even if they only rent out a room occasionally on a private basis and not as a business.
A recent amendment to the Vienna Tourism Promotion Act means that short-term rental landlords who advertise online are now obliged to provide all the information necessary to establish whether they are liable to pay any tax from the money they make.
https://www.thelocal.at/20161004/vienna-to-start-taxing-income-from-airbnb-style-room-rentals

**bb1** Tue Oct 04, 2016 1:36 pm

Oh, that will have been a nice cash in hand income....

**Lamplighter** Tue Oct 04, 2016 1:54 pm

bb1 wrote:Oh, that will have been a nice cash in hand income....

I pay taxes on my properties there and on the rent I collect, sometimes on very short lets. The money I make in profit goes for upkeep etc. LL

**bb1** Tue Oct 04, 2016 2:20 pm

Apologies if you thought I meant you, LL. hug

No, I was thinking of the characters involved with unregulated set-ups like AirBnB and similar......

**Lamplighter** Tue Oct 04, 2016 2:31 pm

bb1 wrote:Apologies if you thought I meant you, LL.
No, I was thinking of the characters involved with unregulated set-ups like AirBnB and similar......

I thought no such thing, dear lady! I support the Austrian Government over this. LL hug

**Lamplighter** Wed Oct 05, 2016 7:01 am

Pub brawl leaves three in hospital
Published: 04 Oct 2016
Three people have been hospitalised after a brawl erupted between Bosnian migrants who used knives and a gas pistol to settle a pub fight.
The incident happened when a 54-year-old Bosnian man with his two sons aged 22 and 23 went to a pub in in the Austrian city of Salzburg.
In the pub, the three Bosnians got into a fight with a 37-year-old Bosnian migrant, as well as 44-year-old Bosnian who has been living in Slovenia.
https://www.thelocal.at/20161004/pub-brawl-leaves-three-in-hospital-bosnian-bosniak

**Lamplighter** Thu Oct 06, 2016 9:06 am

Boutique in Vienna shopping district found floorless
Published: 05 Oct 2016
Two business partners in Vienna’s central district of Marihilf discovered a three-meter deep hole in their temporarily closed shop from one day to the next.
https://www.thelocal.at/20161005/boutique-in-viennas-central-shopping-district-found-floorless