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Refugee crisis

Austrian Parliament building. Photo: MrPanyGoff/Wikimedia

Austria changes constitution to accept more refugees

Austria's upper house changed the constitution Friday to force local authorities to accept a quota of migrants equal to 1.5 percent of their population despite opposition from the resurgent far-right.

Refugee crisis

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban. Photo: Photo: Barna Burger/Hungarian Govt

Hungary to seal border with Croatia

Hungary's hardline Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Friday that Budapest eventually plans to seal its border with Croatia to stop the influx of tens of thousands of migrants bound for northern Europe.

Jenny Downing/Flikr

Shadow economy costs €454bn says economist

Shadow economies could be costing the EU up to €454 billion in tax losses according to Linz University economist Friedrich Schneider.

AMS

Teenager in court for fatal knife attack

A 17-year-old Afghan boy accused of stabbing a 31-year-old man to death on a German language course in March has told a court in Vienna that he never meant for anyone to die.

Refugee Crisis

Muslim Hands UK

Austria returns 5000 migrants to EU countries

Over 5,000 migrants have been sent back from Austria to the first EU country they entered and more will be returned in the future, says Austria's Interior Minister.

Refugee crisis

Photo: APA

Forensic investigators begin to ID victims

Austrian forensic investigators have so far identified nine of the men and one of the women from the lorry in which 71 refugees lost their lives in August.

Refugee crisis

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban. Photo: Photo: Barna Burger/Hungarian Govt

Faymann to meet Orban over migrant crisis

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will meet with his Austrian counterpart Werner Faymann in Vienna on Friday, his office said, amid tensions between the two over how to respond to Europe's migrant crisis.

The Böcksteinstrasse in Gasteiner Tal. Photo: APA/Gindl

Winter makes early visit to Salzburg

After a summer of record high temperatures winter has already arrived in some parts of Austria - with the Grossglockner alpine road in the state of Salzburg closed on Thursday for safety reasons after snowfall.

Final heatwave before autumn comes

Refugee Crisis

Refugees arriving at Westbahnhof station. File photo: Caritas

Refugees to march in thanks in Vienna

A group of refugees is planning a ‘peace march’ on Vienna’s Mariahilferstrasse on September 28th, as a way of showing appreciation for the welcome they have received in Austria.

Refugee Crisis

Refugees at Vienna's Westbahnhof station. Photo: Kim Traill

EU leaders commit fresh billions for refugees

EU leaders have agreed on spending and strategy for the coming months to try and lighten the load on countries most heavily burdened by the refugee crisis.

Features

This Week in History

After 5000 years under ice, Ötzi is now on display in a cooling chamber at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. Photo: DPA

5000 years on ice: Ötzi, Europe's oldest celebrity

When German tourists Erika and Helmut Simons found a human body in the Austrian-Italian Alps, they had no idea what they'd stumbled upon. This iceman was over 5000 years old - and was something archaeologists had never seen before.

Refugee crisis

Saad and Oula in their new home. Photo: R Waites

One family's terrifying journey to Austria

After years of waiting and hoping the civil war in Syria would come to an end, Saad and his wife Oula finally decided to leave their home in Damascus and travel to Austria, where Oula’s brother has lived and worked for the past 11 years.

Help Me, Helen

Creating a Relationship Vision takes time and effort

How to create a ‘relationship vision’

Do you have a vision statement for your relationship? Companies have vision statements to articulate their values, define their goals and give employees and shareholders direction. Relationships need them as well.

The Local List

The roof of the Stephansdom. Photo: Unesco/Vincent Ko Hon Chiu

The harshest TripAdvisor comments about Austria

Austria has something to offer every visitor, whether for a winter or summer break. First class ski resorts, cities buzzing with culture, magnificent palaces, beautiful mountains with spectacular hiking, and lakes so clear and clean you can drink from them. But not everyone is convinced of the alpine republic’s charms… 12 comments

My Austrian Career

Andreas Tattersall. Photo: Private

'I know the struggle of moving to a new city'

Having moved to Austria ten years ago for love, Andreas Tattersall’s transition into his new life was difficult at first. The native Englishman felt isolated in the cultural hub of Vienna as he only knew one other person - the woman he moved for. He spoke to The Local about how significant the presence of an expat group has been in his life.

More news

Photo: Franz Wunsch/Tiergarten Schönbrunn

Giraffes 'hum' to communicate at night

Lions roar, wolves howl and elephants trumpet. But what do giraffes do to communicate? They "hum", new research from Vienna University suggests - and only at night.

The luxury hotel Palais Coburg was a major venue for the talks while parties were in Austria. Photo: Palais Coburg

Mossad 'bugged' high level nuke talks

A report in the Swiss broadsheet Der Tagesanzeiger alleges that Swiss investigators found sophisticated monitoring cameras bugging talks at Swiss and Austrian hotels. 5 comments

5 comments

Refugee Crisis

Refugees at the Traiskirchen reception centre. Photo: ORF

Austria probed for EU asylum violations

The European Commission said on Wednesday it had opened an investigation into 19 countries for violations of asylum laws, including Austria, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.

Max Schrems displays Facebook's logo with his smartphone. Photo: AFP

Small victory for Austrian Facebook plaintiff

Austrian law graduate Max Schrems, who is suing Facebook for various rights violations, has won a victory in his fight at the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

Florentina's school. Photo: Christoph Gantner

12-year-old dies after fall from loft bed

A 12-year-old girl from Upper Austria has died after falling from a loft bed and suffering fatal head injuries.

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From our other editions

EXPAT GUIDE | Presented by Geneva Relocation

Photo: Patrick Nouhailler

The biggest challenges of moving to Switzerland

Switzerland is one of the world’s best expat countries, with some of the highest living standards and a sophisticated, multilingual population. Yet moving to Switzerland can still be stressful and difficult if you don't do it right.

Photo: DPA

Aachen couple cause outrage with public sex

When it comes to sex, what goes on behind closed doors is supposed to be nobody else's business. But have sex while hanging out of the window of your ground-floor apartment, and the neighbours might just take offence – a lesson one Aachen couple learned the hard way last week.

The body parts were found in the man's freezer (not pictured here). Photo: Peter Galvin/Flickr

Dane cut off women’s genitals in South Africa

South African police have arrested a Danish citizen after 21 pieces of female genitalia were discovered in his freezer.

The Spanish clowning group's protest has not gone down well with Palestinians. Photo: Pallasos en Rebeldía/Facebook

Spanish naked clown protest flops after sparking outrage in Palestine

A Spanish clowning group has caused controversy after stripping off in front off the wall separating Israel and Palestine in protest at Israeli policy.