Graz’s clock tower will glow pink at night through October 9 as a sign of solidarity with people affected by breast cancer, ORF Steiermark reported. The lighting is part of October’s breast cancer awareness campaign, which promotes prevention, early detection, research and treatment. The campaign…

Petrol in Vorarlberg is close to two euros a litre, yet its inflation-adjusted price is lower than in 1985. Diesel has become more expensive in real terms, ORF reports in a review of decades of debate over fuel costs. A 1999 street survey by the broadcaster captured drivers’ frustration with smal…

Flood protection work has begun around Hintersee, near Mittersill, with a new retention basin set to hold about 700,000 cubic metres of water, more than three times the current capacity, ORF Salzburg reported. The project on the Felber Ache stream includes a 70-metre earth dam and a 10-metre conc…

A new travelling exhibition at Burgenland University is drawing attention to energy poverty as part of a project examining the social impact of the transition to cleaner heating, ORF reports. About 13 percent of households in Austria are affected by energy poverty, meaning residents cannot keep t…

A man's body was found on Wednesday on the banks of the Inn in Buch in Tirol during a search, ORF reported. Police said there was initially no indication of foul play. The search began after a walker reported a car with an open window in Jenbach, in the Schwaz district, on Tuesday. The car had be…

Wiener Neustadt will host four days of equestrian competition and a horse trade fair through Sunday, ORF reports. The event, “Apropos Pferd”, has brought international riders to Arena Nova, which has been converted into a riding hall. About 220 horses are expected to compete in the tournament, or…

The Lower Austrian Economic Chamber (WKNÖ) is supporting legal action against a new tax on parcel deliveries by large online retailers, saying it will also affect local businesses, ORF reported. The tax took effect on Thursday and requires large online retailers to pay 2.40 euros for each parcel …

Pinkafeld’s council elected Adrian Kubat of the SPÖ as mayor on Thursday evening, ORF reported. He won 14 votes, defeating Carina Laschober-Luif of the ÖVP, who received 11. The result keeps the municipality in SPÖ hands following the resignation of long-serving mayor Kurt Maczek. The SPÖ and ÖVP…

Some asylum appeals have remained pending at Switzerland’s Federal Administrative Court for more than four years. The court has now explained the backlog after the Federal Supreme Court asked it to show how it plans to clear older cases, SRF reports. The court says the backlog stems mainly from a…

A nitric acid leak at a business in Wallern prompted a major emergency response on Thursday, ORF reported. Workers diluted the acid before firefighters arrived, preventing a threat to people or the environment. The leak occurred in the afternoon inside a technical hall at a newly built greenhouse…

Innsbruck is lighting the Golden Roof and Bergisel landmarks pink to promote breast cancer screening and show solidarity with those affected, ORF reported. The Golden Roof will be illuminated from September 30 to October 12, while Bergisel will be lit from September 30 to October 4. The campaign …

A toddler childcare centre in Lustenau paid a Muslim employee 3,500 euros after its manager exposed herself in front of her, ORF reported. The Equal Treatment Ombud’s Office in Innsbruck identified possible discrimination on grounds of religion, ethnic origin and gender, as well as sexual harassm…

Vienna has covered sections of two streets where asbestos was found, while the scale and cost of the work remain unclear, ORF reports. The city’s road administration, MA 28, said areas of Rosenhügelstraße and Anton-Freunschlag-Gasse had been covered with an additional layer of asphalt. The seal i…

Swiss voters will decide on a proposed 0.4-percentage-point increase in value-added tax to fund a 13th state pension payment on Nov. 29, while politicians debate further increases for the army and rail projects, SRF reports. Parliament is also considering a 0.2-percentage-point VAT rise for the a…

ORF-musikprotokoll will explore connections between the microcosm and macrocosm through contemporary and experimental music in Graz from October 3 to 11, ORF reports. The 59th edition of the festival, held as part of steirischer herbst, is themed “Supernova” and focuses on the search for origins.…

Upper Austria’s state parliament has approved the state’s purchase of the city of Linz’s 50 percent stake in Linz Airport, ORF reported Thursday. The ÖVP, FPÖ and SPÖ supported the deal, while the Greens, MFG and NEOS opposed it, citing concerns about the risks of running the airport profitably. …

An 88-year-old man in Vienna’s Döbling district lost jewellery and gold coins worth a six-figure sum to a fraudster posing as a police officer on Wednesday, ORF reported. The caller told the pensioner that there were new developments in a complaint he had filed some time earlier. He claimed a gro…

Swiss Post will raise prices for B-Post bulk mail by 75% from 2027, increasing the cost of sending prepaid voting envelopes and potentially reducing voter turnout, SRF reports. Some cantons and municipalities cover the postage on voting envelopes, so voters can return them without paying. The hig…

DNA from six goats found dead in the Pitztal valley points to a golden jackal, not a wolf, as the likely predator, ORF reports. A wolf was shot nearby the following night, and authorities are now reviewing whether the killing was lawful. The goats were found near a residential area in Arzl in the…

Four people were injured, some seriously, in a crash in Wohlen, Aargau, and passers-by pulled them from the burning car, SRF reports. The car failed to negotiate a right-hand bend and hit a tree head-on, Aargau cantonal police told Keystone-SDA. By the time emergency services arrived, the car was…

New rules barring e-mopeds from cycle paths and requiring registration and liability insurance have left many owners unable to register their vehicles, ORF reports. The ÖAMTC is criticising the short transition period and wants a simplified registration option. The motoring organisation estimates…

Switzerland’s National Council has approved federal support of up to 200 million francs for the 2038 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, SRF reports. It rejected a proposal to make the funding decision subject to a nationwide referendum. The bill now goes to the Council of States. The vote was 137 t…

Experts from several disciplines discussed new developments in wound management at the Wound Day conference at Klinikum Villach, a hospital, ORF reported. Modern treatments and new dressings were among the main topics. Wound care is much more complex than it used to be, said Melanie Eder-Failla, …

Economiesuisse director Monika Rühl says Switzerland would not simply keep the status quo if voters reject new agreements with the EU. In an interview with SRF, she argued that the existing free trade agreement is more than 50 years old and no longer reflects today’s economic reality. The Council…

A planned gravel pit near the Steinfelden settlement in Pettenbach, in the Kirchdorf district, has drawn criticism from residents concerned about noise, dust and traffic. ORF reports that the operator of a gravel works bought a nearby field for extraction, which is expected to start next year. Re…

Residents of Basel’s Rosental neighborhood say rubbish is left for weeks and the authorities are not doing enough to clear it, SRF reports. The city rejects claims that it is neglecting the neighborhood. In a letter to SRF signed by 10 residents, they describe the rubbish as a “shameful state” an…

Upper Austria’s state parliament has approved a financial framework of up to 17 million euros for the future of the Kasberg ski area in Grünau im Almtal, in the Gmunden district, ORF reported on Thursday. The funding is intended to support a planned takeover, ongoing operations and other obligati…

Vontobel and Cembra are leaving the city of Zurich, while Zimmer Biomet and Burckhardt Compression are cutting jobs in the region. The developments have raised questions about Zurich’s appeal to businesses, SRF reports. SRF business editor Charlotte Jacquemart says the cases have different causes…

Four men have been arrested over a suspected series of 49 burglaries at businesses in Lower Austria, Vienna and Upper Austria, ORF reported. Police are searching for a fifth suspect. The burglaries caused an estimated €104,000 in damage, according to police. Pharmacies, restaurants and various sp…

Switzerland’s Council of States has backed continued stable relations with the European Union but raised the hurdles for approving a new treaty package, SRF reported. It decided the deal should require a double majority of voters and cantons in a referendum, against the Federal Council’s position…

Legionella bacteria were found in a care bath at the Kallham nursing home in Grieskirchen district, ORF Upper Austria reported. The bath was immediately closed and disinfected, according to the Grieskirchen-Eferding Social Welfare Association. The association said the facility was not in regular …

Switzerland’s Council of States, the upper house of parliament, has completed its debate on the EU treaty package and voted to put it to the people and cantons, SRF reports. The package still needs to be considered by the National Council, and the electricity agreement will be debated by the uppe…

NEOS has called for Linz Deputy Mayor Martin Hajart to resign after the city’s budget dispute escalated at a budget meeting on Thursday, ORF reported. The party says the ÖVP was the only group not to assess 180 proposed savings measures prepared by consulting firm BDO. SPÖ, FPÖ and the Greens sub…

Munich Mayor Dominik Krause has withdrawn the Left Party council faction’s reserved table in an Oktoberfest beer tent for the rest of this year’s festival, BR reported. A woman seated with the faction is alleged to have slapped a city councillor from the Free Democratic Party after a debate about…

A cross-party committee has presented an initiative to end what it calls the tax disadvantage faced by married couples, SRF reported. The proposal would preserve joint tax returns for spouses, unlike the individual taxation system already approved by voters. The initiative would require married c…

The ski jumping hill in Ramsau has a new in-run track, a step the Upper Styrian venue hopes will strengthen its position as Austria’s Nordic centre and help keep a World Cup event in the region, ORF reported. Work to renew the track on the normal hill took four weeks. Ramsau undertook the upgrade…

Tirol’s education councillor has rejected a proposal to extend primary school to six years, as the state parliament debated the plan on Thursday. At least five trial locations are expected across Austria, but apparently none in Tirol, ORF reported. NEOS state spokeswoman and parliamentary group l…

A trial over a serious alcohol-related crash was postponed until November after the defendant failed to appear at Klagenfurt Regional Court, ORF reported. The Carinthian man is charged with causing bodily injury through negligence while intoxicated. According to the indictment, he was driving in …

A chlorine gas alarm was triggered Wednesday evening at St. Martins Therme & Lodge, a thermal spa resort in Frauenkirchen, in the Neusiedl am See district. No guests or employees were in danger, the resort said, according to ORF. Safety sensors detected a slightly elevated gas concentration i…

Sparks near a solid-fuel boiler caused a house fire in Hirnsdorf, in Styria’s Hartberg-Fürstenfeld district, and the property owner is to be reported after the investigation. Damage is estimated at several hundred thousand euros, ORF reported. Investigators said sparks from the boiler in the hous…

Unemployment rose 7.7% in Lower Austria in September, the sharpest increase in Austria, the Arbeitsmarktservice (AMS) said, according to ORF. Across Austria, 381,200 people were registered as unemployed or in training with the AMS, up 6,000, or 1.6%, from September 2025. In Lower Austria, 56,613 …

A 45-year-old construction worker died after falling from a fifth-floor terrace at a residential building in Vienna’s Landstraße district on Thursday, ORF reported. The man fell into the building’s courtyard at about 8 a.m. while carrying out sheet-metal work in Kleistgasse. The cause of the fall…

The city of Leoben is warning of fraudulent text messages seeking personal information in connection with a heating-cost subsidy, ORF reports. The messages ask recipients to provide and confirm personal details. The city says it did not send them and warns people not to click the links. It says i…

A nine-year-old girl is looking for two people who helped her after an umbrella pole pierced her abdomen at the MotoGP in Spielberg. ORF reported Thursday that she has recovered and wants to thank them in person. Vanessa, from Wörgl in Tyrol, was sitting in the stands after the race about two wee…

Josef Buchner, Steyregg’s former mayor and a pioneer of environmental protection in Upper Austria, died on Wednesday aged 84, ORF reported. He became Austria’s first Green mayor in 1997. Buchner, known as Sepp, was born in 1942 in Hagenberg im Mühlkreis. After school, he worked first at VÖEST and…

The person who left a large survival cache in the Karwendel mountains near Lenggries remains unknown after authorities received no useful tips, BR reports. A hunter found nine hidden barrels last summer in a steep, hard-to-reach part of a nature reserve. They contained food, some of it past its e…

The Silvretta High Alpine Road could reopen in 2029, a year earlier than previously planned, operator illwerke vkw said Thursday, according to ORF. The revised target follows a new assessment of the geological conditions along the route. With support from a university professor, the company has r…

The Munich Tatort team is filming its third case on the Oktoberfest grounds, under the working title Teufelsrad, BR reports. The shoot is taking place among real festivalgoers and operating rides, making quiet conditions hard to find. Carlo Ljubek, who plays chief inspector Nikola Buvak, said the…

Die Toten Hosen will perform at Nova Rock in 2027, and the festival will run for four days, ORF reported. The event in Nickelsdorf will take place from June 9 to 12, with the German band joining Die Ärzte on the bill, as both groups did in 2019. The announcement follows Die Toten Hosen’s Vienna c…

Rescue and patient transport services in Vienna face a risk of underfunding, unions warn, with no viable deal in sight after months of negotiations with the Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK), according to ORF. The unions Younion and vida said on Thursday that the ÖGK’s offer of a 1.5 per cent …