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EU approves Kirchhoff takeover from Strabag
The European Commission approved the takeover of the German
road builder Kirchhoff by the Cologne-based subsidiary of
the Austrian Strabag company media reported on July 16.
Brussels emphasised that the companies low market shares
meant that competition would not be adversely affected by the
acquisition....
NIKI signs small jet deal
Austrian budget airline NIKI Luftfahrt has signed a contract
with Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer for up to 10 aircraft
Austrian media reported on July 15. The deal worth 117
million Euro in total is part of the airlines plans to use smaller...
Plus Supermarket branches to become Zielpunkt stores
The 97 Plus supermarket branches in Austria will be re-branded
as Zielpunkt local media reported on July 18. Zeilpunkt will
concentrate on its core competence as a Soft Discounter in the
future and offer consumers an interesting alternative to traditional
discounters Zielpunkt President Johann...
Wienerberger reports 10% drop in half-year earnings
Austrian brickmaker Wienerberger on July 10 predicted a 10 percent drop in half-year earnings before interest taxes depreciation and amortisation EBITDA down from 256.6 million Euro in the first half of 2007 it was reported. Year-on-year earnings for 2008 would...
Agrana issues a hard profit warning
Agrana the sugar starch and fruit group based in Vienna reported revenue growth of 10.3 percent to 495.1 million Euro on July 10. However Group operating profit before exceptional items fell 36 percent in the first quarter to 18.0 million...
AMI wants to sell Italian plant
The Linz-based Agrolinz Melamine International AMI is looking to sell its production facility in Italy. The plant located in Castellanza near Milan stopped producing melamine in March 2007 company officials said. Kerstin Meckler the companys press spokeswoman has confirmed the...
Strabag in the final four for Romanian highway project
The construction firm Strabag has been selected as one of the final four bidders to be awarded a contract to build a highway in Romania the Austrian Times reported on July 9. The other three firms are French Colas and...
Raiffeisen bank completes a 5.98 million Euro merger
Raiffeisen International completed the merger of its two Czech subsidiaries Czech Raiffeisenbank and eBanka the companies said. EBanka was acquired by Raiffeisen International a subsidiary of Raiffeisen Zentralbank RZB in 2006. The new company will operate under the Raiffeisenbank brand...
Austrian Airlines ponders an enticing Asian deal
The Supervisory Board of Austrian Airlines AUA reiterated their current difficulties when they met on June 25 Austrian Times reported. The airline is looking for a capital-strong strategic partner to help deal with its current problems and is considering legal...
EC approves acquisition of Plus Hungary by Austrias Spar
The European Commission on June 25 cleared the proposed acquisition of Plus Elelmiszer Diszkont Kft a Hungarian discount retailer by the Austrian retailer Spar Portfolio Hungary reported. The Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in...
NIKI air is downsizing its operation off costs
Austrian budget airline operator NIKI Luftfahrt GmbH is in talks with Brazils Embraer SA and Bombardier Inc to buy smaller planes in the face of soaring fuel prices Austrian Times reported on June 25. Faced with rising kerosene prices we...
ECHR orders Austria to compensate Bulgarian deportee
Austria must pay a deported Bulgarian national 3 000 Euro USD 4 684 in compensation the European Court of Human Rights ruled last week. The 24-year-old had moved as a six-year-old to Austria where his family still lives and has...
Plansee sales up 11 % reach 1 billion Euro
The Plansee Group a supplier of powder metallurgical products
and components has reported sales of more one billion Euro for
the first time Austrian Times reported on July 3. In its last business
year that ended on February 29 the group increased its
sales...
Philippine hydro-power plant to go modern with Andritz
Andritz VA Tech Hydro has received a new contract to modernise a hydro-power plant in the Philippines worth 30 million Euro the company said. The renovation and modernisation of the plant will enable it to increase output from 104 to...
Further privatisation of Verbund being readied
The Austrian government looked set to keep up their privatisation
drive with Economic Minister Martin Bartenstein suggesting
a possible decrease of the governments stake in Verbund
Austrias largest electrical utility media reports said. Bartenstein
said This is not only possible but even desirable....
Wienerberger buys Croatian brick producer stake
Wienerberger AG is expanding its operations in Croatia with
the purchase of a 25 percent stake in the brick producer IGM
Ciglana doo Petrinja the company said. Johann Windisch a
Wienerberger board member said The local residential construction
market has shown strong development in...
EU approves Vienna Insurance/Erste Bank deal
The European Commission has given its approval for Vienna
Insurance Group VIG to take over the insurance subsidiary of
Erste Bank. They did include two conditions however that
Vienna Insurance sell the insurance subsidiary of Bank Austria
Creitanstalt BACAV and the companys Romanian subsidiary
Unita....
Austria to issue passports with fingerprints check
Austrian Interior Minister Gunther Platter and Justice Minister
Maria Berger on June 11 presented on June 11 the implementation
of fingerprints-passports to the Council of Ministers in
Vienna. The Interior Ministry said the new passports would
include fingerprints of one persons both index fingers...
Austrian carrier shows loss mulls a strategic partner
As Austrian Airlines AUA predicted losses of up to 90 million
Euro for 2008 its governing board commissioned a study on a
potential strategic partner according to a company statement.
The Austrian flag carrier expected higher fuel prices to spill over
to company results...
Erste Bank and Bayern LB are talking merger
Austrias Erste Bank has held talks with BayernLB to sound out
prospects for acquiring the German state bank close sources.
After Erste emphatically denied that an acquisition deal was
in the works sources said the chief executives of both companies
had met and discussed...
Voestalpine sales top 10 bln Euro
Austrian steel giant Voestalpine reported on June 5 that its net profit in fiscal 2008 slipped 1.7 percent to 751.9 million Euro USD 1.17 billion reflecting the costs of a major acquisition. Linz-based Voestalpine said that it was the most...
Upper Austria goes solar
Energy AG Upper Austria plans to build a solar power plant to provide power to 300 homes companys general director and CEO Leo Windtner announced at a new solar energy plant in Spain early last week Austrian Times reported. Questions...
Vienna Insurance pledge to be Erstes White Knight
Erste bank is safe in the knowledge that it will remain Austrian after the chief of Vienna Insurance Group pledged to step in and front the cash in the case of a hostile takeover from an international bank Austrian Times...
Air France-KLM keep mum on the AUA deal
Air France-KLM has declined to comment on a report that it had expressed a potential interest in buying the Austrian governments stake in Austrian Airlines early last week. The hushing down comes after reports that the Austrian government is prepared to...
EU roaming caps have failed says critical Telekom chief
European Union price caps on using your mobile phone abroad that were supposed to make roaming more popular have failed according to the Chief of Austrias biggest mobile phone company Telekom Austria. The EU price caps were expected to increase...
Vodafone partners up with mobilkom austria group
Vodafone Group Plc announced the extension of its partner market agreement with mobilkom austria group to introduce an extensive range of Vodafones products and services into FYROM. VIP Operator mobilkoms subsidiary will provide customers with Vodafone products and services for...
Austrias home hardware giant heads for Turkey
Baumax the largest hardware and home improvement store chain in Southeastern Europe is eying Turkey for new investments with the Austria-based company planning to open 10 stores in Turkey within two years the company reported. Baumax will join Turkeys rising...
FYROM looks like an attractive banking market
Austrias Steiermarkische Bank is negotiating to buy a strategic share package in Skopjes Investbanka FYROMs Stock Exchange said. The value of the package in total is worth over 38 million Euro while the price of a single share would be...
OMV under fire over Iran at its shareholders meeting
Anti-Iran activists held protests at the outset of the annual shareholders meeting of Austrias oil and gas company OMV on May 14 slamming a planned multi-billion Euro gas deal. A small number of activists from several anti-nuclear Kurdish or Jewish...
Telekom Q1 profits down speculation over company split
Austrias formerly state-run telecommunications provider Telekom Austria on May 14 reported an 11.9 percent profit drop to 129.7 million Euro amid speculation over a possible split of the former monopolist. Earnings before interest taxes amortisation and depreciation EBITDA for the...
GDP grows unexpectedly in first quarter of 2008
Austrias real GDP growth increased by 0.8 percent in the first quarter of 2008 from the final quarter last year Austrias Institute for Economic Research WIFO said. Compared with the same period last year the countrys GDP grew by 3.5...
Wienerberger bricks are big in Central Europe
Austrian brick maker Wienerberger reported a net profit drop by nine percent to 30.2 million Euro for the first quarter of 2008 but said strong business in Eastern Europe was driving growth. Operating profits were up by nine percent to...
Austria plans to accelerate hydropower development
Austrian Economy Minister Martin Bartenstein said in Vienna on May 5 that his country would speed up the development of hydroelectric power in the next a few years. He pointed out that Austria has considerable potential and rich water resources...
Saudi investor running from its Austrian Airlines deal
Austrias flag carrier Austrian Airlines AUA said that a key Saudi investor was set to pull out of a 150 million-Euro deal designed to shore up the ailing airline. Austrian Airlines confirmed receiving a letter from lawyers representing Mohamed bin...
Strabag reports 15% operating profit increase for 2007
The Austrian-based construction group Strabag SE on April 30 said operating profits for 2007 were up 14.6 percent to 312.4 million Euro because of booming business in the Middle East and the CEE region. Revenues were up 4.8 percent to...
Defying the markets Erste Bank reports record Q1 profits
Austrias Erste Bank on April 30 reported that its net profits increased by 4.5 percent to 315.6 million Euro driven by the strong performance of its Central and Eastern European subsidiaries. Earnings before interest and taxes EBIT for central Europes...
Uniqa reports 53% profit increase for last year
Uniqa Group Austrias largest insurance company said on April 25 it increased net profits by 53.7 percent to 269 million Euro in 2007 boosted by strong growth in its Central and Eastern European CEE business. The good performance was based...
MELs fall continues faster than its profits drop
Troubled Austrian real estate developer Meinl European Land MEL said its 2007 profit before tax dropped to 193 million Euro versus 279 million the previous year. The firm said net asset value NAV per share was 15.25 percent at the...
Keep talking to Turkey but the door could shut
Austrian Foreign Minister Ursala Plassnik has pledged to keep open European Union membership negotiations with Turkey but stressed that Austrias position was that the result of the talks would not necessarily mean that Turkey will join the union. Speaking at...
Gazprom OMV spat could leave Austria out in the cold
Russian gas giant Gazprom was reportedly discussing a new route for its South Stream project that would bypass Austria after relations between the Russian company and Austrias OMV worsened but both companies leaders said talks would still go on about...
Bad times for RZB a 312 mln Euro sub-prime loss
Raiffeisen Zentralbank Group RZB has reported a 312 million Euro write-off for the 2007 financial year as a result of the international financial crisis although losses were softened by a strong performance of the banks Central and Eastern European CEE...
Ride the bus or use your mobile phone but not both
If youre going to use public transportation in the city of Graz put your mobile phone on silent and keep it in your pocket because theyre going to be banned there.Grazs decision which is upsetting a lot of people makes...
Serbia halts copper smelter sale to A-Tec
A request from A-Tec Industries AG for more time to raise funds to buy the troubled copper smelter RTB Bor has led Serbia to cancel the sale the companies said. Serbias privatisation board also recommended the government open talks with...
Paybox is getting paid as its revenues rise
Vienna mobile company Paybox can thank new business areas for an increase in operating turnover to 26 million Euro in 2007 the company reported. Paybox which specialises in mobile phone-based payment methods already provides services to over a million Austrians....
Protests over China Olympics could hurt long-term exports
Austrias economic relationship with China could be affected by the continuing global protests over Chinese oppression in Tibet in the run-up to the Olympic Games Austrian diplomats in China have warned. Oskar Andesner Commercial Counsellor at the Austrian Embassy in...
AEE wins major order new business in Australia
Austrian Energy amp; Environment AEamp;E which forms the ATEC Industries Groups Plant Construction Division has won a major contract for the 450 megawatt power station in Australia for CITIC Pacific Mining. The client is a subsidiary of CITIC Pacific one...
Strabag buys Swedish firm looks to Scandinavia market
Strabag SE an Austrian-based construction company expanding on the back on booming business in Russia has bought Swedish bridge and tunnel builder Oden the company said on April 2. Strabag took an 85-percent stake in Oden Anlaeggningsentreprenad AB entering the...
March unemployment rate drops by 11.5%
Austrias unemployment rate in March dropped by 11.5 percent year-on-year continuing a trend from the first two months of the year the countrys economy ministry said on April 1. The number of job seekers dropped by 27 259 to 210...
Telekom Austria Group closes Tele2 acquisition deal
The Telekom Austria Group has announced they have finalised the acquisition of Tele2s Austrian mobile operations. The group had agreed to buy the entire mobile communications operation of Tele2 a Swedish firm in October 2007 for around seven million Euro....
Austria Rail under fire over its salary levels
The Social Democrats SPO and the Freedom Party FPO have criticised the salaries of Austrian Federal Railways Board of Directors over its pay structure. The Freedom Partys General Secretary Harald Vilimsky said While the Railway managers are pocketing decent money...
New Europe News: The European News Source
New Europe News: The European News Source.
View from the top of Germany
One of my favorite places to be in Europe is atop the Zugspitze -- the highest point in Germany. Standing on this 9,700-foot peak, you can't help but marvel at the thought that you are above everyone else in the entire country -- No. 1 out of 82 million. From here, facing south, I feel like a maestro conducting a symphony of snow-capped peaks, as the mighty Alps stretch seemingly forever to the right and left.
Date-rape drugs police raid 600 premises
German investigators say police searching for chemicals used to make the date-rape drug GHB have raided some 600 homes and offices in Austria, Switzerland and Germany.
Gabriele Marcotti: From Austria to Zlatan, the best of Euro 2008 so far
ZURICH, Switzerland -- From top to bottom, here is an A to Z of the best and worst of the European Championship through two weeks of action.
Euro 2008: Germany Defeats Austria
The pre-tournament favorites put an end to the co-hosts' hopes in a fixture that is always about more than just football
Euro 2008: the Hosts' Fates Diverge
While the Dutch continue to reinvent 'The Beautiful Game', France's woes continue. And it's mixed fortunes for the tournament's hosts
Justices are well-off, well-traveled
Most of the Supreme Court justices piled up a lot frequent flyer miles in 2007, jetting to such exotic locales as Austria, India and Hawaii, according to financial disclosure reports released Friday.
Gabriele Marcotti: Five-minute guide to Euro 2008
SI.com's Gabriele Marcotti is in Switzerland and Austria for the 2008 European Championship. Here's his primer for the tournament.
Can Austria's Cellar Children Recover?
The three kids who emerged from an Austrian dungeon face a host of challenges adjusting to the outside world
Images emerge from 'house of horror'
The building in Amstetten, eastern Austria, seems innocuous enough. But it is underneath this family home --- now known as "the house of horror" -- that a woman was held for nearly 24 years by her father and repeatedly raped, giving birth to seven children as a result.
Cellar Incest Case Shocks Austria
Josef Fritzl has confessed to holding his daughter captive for 24 years and fathering her seven children. How did it happen?
Austria Dad Admits Abuse
A 73-year-old man has confessed to holding his daughter captive in his home cellar for nearly 24 years and fathering seven children by her, Austrian police say
Avalanche buries street in Austria ski area
An avalanche fell on a street in an Alpine town in Austria, close to many ski resorts, covering the roadway in three to four meters of snow, but no one was hurt, Austrian police said Tuesday.
Celebrating with the Christkind
Like a German child's fantasy, Nurnberg's fairy-godmother-like teenage angel stretched out her arms and said, "If you're very, very gentle, you can touch my wings." I stayed seated while little Bavarian preschoolers mobbed the stage to touch their Christkind.
Pope fulfils vow to revisit shrine
Calling himself a "pilgrim among pilgrims" Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday visited the Marian sanctuary of Mariazell southwest of Vienna, fulfilling a promise he made in 2004 -- while still a cardinal -- to return to the shrine on its 850th birthday.
Pope Benedict Stays Lofty in Austria
But he may need to grapple again, and more diplomatically, with world affairs
Visiting pope honors Austrian Jews
Pope Benedict XVI paid solemn tribute to Holocaust victims as he began a three-day pilgrimage to Austria on Friday.
Ex-UN Chief Waldheim Dead at 88
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, who was elected Austrian president despite an international scandal about his secretive World War II Nazi connections, died Thursday
Global child-porn ring uncovered
Austrian police have uncovered a massive child-pornography ring on the Internet, tracking downloads of sexually violent material to more than 2,300 people in 77 countries, a government official said.
'This is our Mona Lisa'
At about midnight last July 5, the New York Police Department closed Manhattan's East 86th Street. Billionaire Ronald S. Lauder walked back and forth in the street, waiting. Employees of his boutiq...
Hiring expected steady for rest of year
U.S. employers project healthy hiring for the fourth quarter, despite talk of a possible downturn in the economy, according to a survey released Tuesday.
Breaking Tradition
The Problem
Europe scrambles to stop bird flu
European Union veterinary experts have backed plans to boost surveillance of migratory birds and impose stricter bans on imports as officials desperately tried to find ways to curb the spread of deadly bird flu on the continent.
EU Turkish entry talks postponed
Diplomats say the European Union has postponed a ceremony to mark the historic start of Turkey's membership talks, setting no new time.
EU 'on precipice' over Turkey
Britain said the European Union was on the "edge of a precipice" on Monday over terms for historic membership talks with Turkey.
Austria cable car accident kills 9
At least nine tourists have been killed after a helicopter dropped a concrete block on a cable car in western Austria, according to police.
Supplies arrive in flood-ravaged areas
Helicopters are delivering food and other supplies and lifting hundreds of people to safety in the aftermath of deadly floods in central and southern Europe.
Love the movie? Vacation in it
Sooner or later, there comes a point when vacationers don't care to see another museum, castle, landscape, or historical site.
Schwarzenegger: No country more welcoming than the USA
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, an immigrant, Tuesday night addressed the Republican National Convention where he spoke of the greatness of America. Schwarzenegger, born in Austria, is a former actor and body builder. Here is a transcript of his remarks:
Review: What led to World War I
Historians still disagree about the reasons that led to the First World War, even if they roughly concur on the war's causes.
GET AN AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN PORTFOLIO ON THE CHEAP
Of all the emerging Eastern bloc nations, none has a brighter future than Hungary. This peppery land of goulash and bauxite has taken to economic freedom with a vengeance. Within the last year or s...
THE WORLD'S HOTTEST SHARES
Is your investing antenna picking up irresistible international signals? It should be. Share prices of a number of corporations in Europe and Asia rose dramatically in the first six months of the y...
Austria: News & Videos about Austria - CNN.com
Find stories, videos, and photos about Austria from CNN.com.
Big Tour, Little Tour, Everything in Between
 Europeans understand cycling, and no matter where the event is, their passion is evident. A prime example: The Tour of Austria.
Governing Coalition in Austria Collapses; Early Election Expected
New elections, most likely in September, seemed all but certain pending parliamentary approval after the People’s Party withdrew from the governing coalition.
Sacred Songs Sell, Drawing Attention to Their Source
 Since word got out that the Cistercian monks of the Stift Heiligenkreuz had been signed by Universal Music, their monastery finds itself in an exhilarating and unsettling media whirligig.
Germany Defeats Austria to Advance
Michael Ballack scored on a second-half free kick Monday to give Germany a 1-0 win over Austria in Vienna and a place in the quarterfinals of the European Championship.
Another Imprisoned Woman Is Found, This Time in Italy
The discovery of a woman who authorities say was locked in a room for 18 years has Italians pondering similarities with widely publicized cases that have shaken Austria.
Austrians Strip for Lens
Spencer Tunick, the photographer known for his mass nudes, did his thing in Vienna.
Austria’s Dungeon Man: ‘I Must Have Been Crazy’
The 73-year-old Austrian man who imprisoned and raped his daughter for nearly a quarter century, admitted a lifetime of abuse and depraved domesticity.
Dungeons & Austrians
 Austrians are on the defensive again, this time about our status as, in the words of a marketing executive quoted in The Times of London, “the land of dungeons.”
Austria Stunned by Case of Imprisoned Woman
 Austrian police have arrested a 73-year-old man who they say kept his daughter locked in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her.
Germany Breaks With Its Clubby Business Past
From the Siemens bribery investigation to the prosecution of illicit conduct at Volkswagen, the German business world is undergoing a painful national cleansing process.
An Immigrant Girl’s Plea Draws Austria’s Attention
 The case of a 15-year-old girl from Kosovo has raised questions about asylum seekers in Europe and about the human cost of Austria’s strict immigration policies.
In Austria, Pope Emphasizes Protection of the Environment
Pope Benedict XVI briefly expanded on the Vatican’s increasing focus on the environment at the end of a three-day visit to Austria.
Pope Lauds Austria Catholics for Faith in a Secular Society
On Saturday, the pope told a crowd of 40,000 in Austria that Europe still needs the truth, and that truth is Catholicism.
Pope Vigorously Defends Catholicism in Austria and Raises Concerns on Europe’s Future
 Pope Benedict XVI warned that Europe may extinguish itself if it embraces abortion and rejects Christianity.
Muted Expectations as Benedict Heads to Austria
 The three-day visit to Austria highlights a central and difficult question of Benedict’s papacy: Which believers, exactly, does this pope talk to?
NYT > Austria
World news about Austria, including breaking news and archival articles published in The New York Times.
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