News from Austria

Oh for a frozen pond to skate on. That was one of my great loves. Still got the ice skates.

bb1 wrote:Oh, that looks wonderful, LL!

But can be dangerous, The Danube in Vienna consist of three parts, the main river, the Alte Donau and Neue Donau. Some info you might like to read. LL

The "Alte Donau" or "Old Danube" in Vienna is a dead end of a former river branch of the Danube, separated from the actual Danube by a dam. Since the Alte Donau has no direct connection to the main course of the river, it is a shallow lake that is popular as a recreational area. The Alte Donau is one of the very few attractions of the otherwise boring suburban district of Floridsdorf, the 21st district of Vienna. The Alte Donau is divided into two sections by the Kagraner Brücke, a bridge. The north-western part is called "Obere Alte Donau" and extends between the Floridsdorfer Brücke and the Kagraner Brücke. The south-eastern part is called "Untere Alte Donau" and extends to the Praterbrücke, where you also find the previously mentioned dam

The New Danube (German Neue Donau) is a side channel on the eastern side of the Danube in Vienna, Austria. It was created to provide flood relief by containing excess water. The Donauinsel (Danube Island), made out of the removed material, separates the new waterway from the main channel of the river. The project was referred to by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) as "the first truly multipurpose fully sustainable flood protection scheme." The New Danube flows parallel to the river for approximately 21 kilometres (13 mi) through the Vienna metropolitan area.

So the shallow lake section would be safe enough?

bb1 wrote:So the shallow lake section would be safe enough?

I wouldn't like to say, As I remember, though the water ices over, the under water never freezes possibly due to underground thermal springs which are present as Austria abuts onto Hungary. LL

'12-year-old boy' part of Austrian Islamic extremist cell.
A young boy under the age of 14 has been identified as part of a suspected Islamic extremist network in Vienna, Austrian authorities have said.

He has not been arrested as he is not old enough to be tried in court but he has been detained and is being questioned. The Krone newspaper reports that the boy is just 12 years old, although police would not confirm his exact age.

http://www.thelocal.at/20170123/12-year-old-boy-part-of-austrian-islamic-extremist-network

Unfortunately, the child will be well brainwashed by now.

January could break 30-year record for cold weather in Austria.

Snow in Innsbruck.

Icy temperatures could make this month Austria’s coldest January in 30 years, according to the ORF weather forecasters.

On Monday average temperatures across the country were -6C. If temperatures remain this low for the rest of the month, it will be the coldest January since 1987. Back then the average temperature was -6.9, according to the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG).

1985 was a particularly cold January, with average temperatures of just -8.2C.

December 2016 was relatively mild, and it remains to be seen if the cold weather will endure through February. Last January was changeable, with two cold phases and temperatures of -10C in some parts of the country, but springlike conditions in the east with 19.3C recorded in Wiener Neustadt. In January 2015 Graz had a record temperature of 21.7C. This year it’s a different story, with temperatures below average (as low as -12.3C) for the past seven days in Vienna alone. Other state capitals have been even colder, with Salzburg recording a low of -17.7C.

It’s also been a good month for snow and winter sports enthusiasts. Many parts of Austria currently have good snow cover, particularly the northern side of the Alps, Upper Styria and large parts of the west.

There’s not been much snow in low-lying eastern areas, the south-west of Carinthia or lower parts of East Tyrol - with ski resorts there still reliant on snow machines.

The cold weather looks set to continue, with temperatures as low as -19C forecast. Dense fog is also expected across much of the country on Tuesday, particularly in Flachgau, Upper and Lower Austria, Vienna and Burgenland. Mountainous areas will have the best of the sunshine.

Oh dear, still no sign of a break in the weather.

This coming Sunday according to Meteo France.

Popular animals to be phased out at Schönbrunn to stop them going wild.

Say goodbye to the little muntjac deer. Photo: Tiergarten Schönbrunn

Vienna’s Schönbrunn Zoo has said it will be “phasing out” animal species which have been banned from being bred by zookeepers under an EU regulation.

Some zoos, such as Leipzig Zoo in Germany, have decided to kill some of the animals on the list of banned species - such as the popular muntjac deer - and feed them to their big cats, but Schönbrunn will not be doing this.

The hit list of 37 species has been drawn up to protect native plant and animal species in several EU member states.

Officials are concerned that species considered 'dangerous' in certain countries could escape and become established in the wild, having a detrimental effect on that state's ecology.

Schönbrunn Zoo also has muntjac deer, but its only female died last January and they will not be replacing her. “We will simply let the muntjacs die a natural death,” zoo spokeswoman Johanna Bukovsky said. The same goes for the coypu, or river rat, which is originally native to South America.

The South American coati is also on the banned list, but Schönbrunn Zoo only built a new enclosure for its coatis in 2014 - not realising they would be on the hit list - and is still considering what it should do.

Red-bellied turtles are also on the list. All of Schönbrunn’s red-bellied turtles were donated by private owners, and in future the zoo says it won’t be able to accept any more turtles. “Hopefully this won’t mean that people set their turtles free in the wild - where they become a problem for the domestic European swamp turtle," Bukovsky said. Racoons and chipmunks are also on the list.  

Schönbrunn Zoo said that together with other zoos it will try and negotiate special permits for certain species. "The topic of invasive species is a very important one, and we think that zoos should also be able to communicate this via the animals in question,” Bukovsky added.

Some zoos, such as Leipzig Zoo in Germany, have decided to kill some of the animals on the list of banned species - such as the popular muntjac deer - and feed them to their big cats

Horrible.

Reading that, I am even more glad I voted Leave.

bb1 wrote:
Some zoos, such as Leipzig Zoo in Germany, have decided to kill some of the animals on the list of banned species - such as the popular muntjac deer - and feed them to their big cats

Horrible.

Reading that, I am even more glad I voted Leave.

It is normal practice in zoos, including ones in the UK. LL

They are not normally killed because they are the Wrong Kind Of Animal, according to the EU LL. It's unneccesary - why not just prevent them from breeding and live out their natural lives?

“We will simply let the muntjacs die a natural death,” zoo spokeswoman Johanna Bukovsky said. The same goes for the coypu, or river rat, which is originally native to South America.

That's perfectly correct and sensible. And kind.

Skier falls from chairlift at Austrian resort onto a car below.
A skier who fell seven metres from a ski-lift at the Stuhleck ski resort in Semmering on Monday is lucky to be alive, after a car that happened to be driving underneath the lift broke her fall.

http://www.thelocal.at/20170124/skier-falls-from-chairlift-at-austrian-resort-onto-a-car-below
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Austria considers ankle tags for jihadists returning from Syria.
Austria's defence minister suggested on Tuesday that suspected jihadists returning from the Syrian war should wear electronic tags under a planned package of new "anti-terror" measures.

http://www.thelocal.at/20170124/austria-eyes-electronic-tags-for-jihadists-returning-from-syria

I would suggest not letting the scumbags back into the country would be 100% effective, though I can see the value in knowing what they're up to - if it works.

Witnesses were horrified when they saw the couple falling out of the lift. The man (39) landed in a safety net, but his wife crashed onto a car being driven by an Austrian man who was arriving at the resort for a day’s skiing. The impact of her body broke his car windscreen.

That's awful - both for the poor woman and the driver.

Austrian Neo-Nazi jailed for selling Hitler songs online.

An Austrian Neo-Nazi has been sentenced to two years and nine months in prison under the country’s anti-Nazi law.

He was found guilty of selling recorded songs with titles such as “Adolf Hitler Lives” and displaying Nazi tattoos all over his body.

Austria prohibits the praise or propagation of Nazi ideology. The 38-year old, from Upper Austria, denied wrongdoing, saying his ideology reflected the fact that “I back my nation.” He said he identified as right-wing; “if the Freedom Party is right-wing, then so am I”, and told the judge that the Third Reich is “part of Austria’s history”.

His name has been withheld from the media, in keeping with Austrian privacy laws

Recordings he sold online included a song referencing Hitler’s propaganda minister, called “Goebbels for All”, and another praising a death camp that was set to the melody of a popular children’s song.

His tattoos include infamous Hitler accomplices and a man making the Nazi salute. He often displayed them in public, including at an outdoor swimming pool. He also kept Nazi memorabilia in a glass cabinet in his living room.

The man served previous jail sentences in 2010 and 2011, and was one of the founding members of a now-banned right-wing website called "Thiazi Forum".

Sounds like a candidate for a lunatic asylum, frankly. At least he should be easy for the public to spot when he gets out....

Good Lord!



Adolf, whose body is covered in far-right symbols, was jailed for two and nine months for selling songs praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4156718/Judge-jails-man-named-Adolf-covered-Nazi-tattoos.html#ixzz4Wo19ItIP
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

I should think he cleared the swimming pools when the other customers saw that. He scores pretty high on my 'absolute nutjob' scale.

Maybe instead of being jailed, he should have been ordered to spend the next couple of years walking around outside without a shirt on, so people could point and laugh at him? Make him an object of ridicule, instead of feeding his undeserved sense of 'martyrdom'?

I hadn't realised what an utter tw@t he is till I saw the photos in the Mail.

Oh, and people should follow behind him singing the famous song.....

Hitler has only got one ball,
Göring has two but very small,
Himmler has something sim'lar,
But poor old Goebbels has no balls at all.

Sorry. Could not help that.....

Anti-terror raids in Vienna and Graz.

Austrian police are carrying out anti-terror raids in a number of provinces this morning.

According to media reports there are large scale police operations in the cities of Graz and Vienna.

A report in the Krone newspaper says that around 800 officers are involved in raids on apartments, as well as a mosque in Graz.

The Interior Ministry says no details can be released while the raids are still in progress.

They come after the arrest of a 17-year-old man on Friday evening in Vienna. He is being held in police custody.

He’s been named as Lorenz K. and is an Austrian citizen from the Albanian minority. The Interior Ministry said earlier this week that leads suggesting he may be part of a larger network in Austria are being investigated.

One dead after gas explosion in Vienna's 17th district.

One person is reported to have died and three other people have been seriously injured in a gas explosion in a residential building on Vienna’s Hernalser Hauptstrasse, in the 17th district.

http://www.thelocal.at/20170126/four-seriously-injured-in-gas-explosion-in-viennas-17th-district

It's a sad comment on the world when it's a relief that fatal explosions are 'only' caused by gas leaks.....