Austria

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Police Quiz Ex-Tenants of Fritzl House

Former lodger recalls missing food, high utility bills

(Newser) - A former tenant who lived just above the basement where Josef Fritzl imprisoned his daughter recalled wondering why his electricity bills were so high and why food disappeared from his kitchen, AFP reports. Police are tracking down the 100 or so lodgers who lived at the Fritzl house in the...

Fritzl Told Victims He'd Gas Them

Sister-in-law says he'd 'spend whole nights down there'

(Newser) - Josef Fritzl threatened to gas his captive daughter and their children if they tried to escape, the Guardian reports, claiming he had rigged a toxic-gas system in the basement. Meanwhile, the possibility of an accomplice arose for the first time today, when a 12-year lodger at the house said he...

Dungeon Kids Adjusting to Sunlit World

Fritzl children finding fresh air, cows, cell phones fascinating

(Newser) - Stefan and Felix Fritzl were awestruck by the moon, nudging each other, pointing, giggling with joy, the Guardian reports of the boys' first days outside the windowless Austrian cellar they grew up in. The pair, aged 18 and 5, had only seen the sky on television. Now, they’re adjusting...

Austrian Father Veered From Loving to Brutal

Fritzl beat dungeon children, then bought them gifts

(Newser) - Barbaric grandfather Josef Fritzl spent hours like a "normal" dad watching car racing on TV with the three dungeon children he fathered with his sex-slave daughter, reports the Times of London. But he also severely beat the children and his daughter, Elisabeth, who was raped repeatedly in a padded...

Austrian Dad May Be Linked to Old Murder

Police take new look at killing of teenage girl 20 years ago

(Newser) - The 73-year-old Austrian man who has confessed to fathering seven children by his imprisoned daughter is being investigated in connection with a 20-year-old murder case. Police say that a teenager assaulted and killed in 1986—near property owned by Fritzl's wife—bore an "incredible" resemblance to his daughter, reports...

Dungeon Takes Physical Toll on Austrian Kids

Stooped children hurt by lack of sun and health care, immunity weakened

(Newser) - Doctors have begun to tally the physical toll of a lifetime of imprisonment on the three Austrian children locked in a cellar by their grandfather/father Josef Fritzl. The children all have defective immune systems, are anemic and suffer from a vitamin D deficiency from their time in a 650-square-foot cellar....

Austrian Father Hid Dungeon Expertly

Police couldn't find it; hidden concrete door has electronic lock

(Newser) - Austria's Josef Fritzl hid his underground dungeon—in which he imprisoned his daughter and three of their children—so well that police couldn't find it without his hands-on help. The BBC pieces together a look at the 650-square-foot area in his cellar that Fritzl used to hide his secret family....

Incest Family Members Meet for 1st Time

Austria reunion goes smoothly; prosecutors weigh murder charge

(Newser) - Members of the family in the Austrian incest case have met for the first time and interacted with "astonishing" ease, an official at the clinic where they're being treated told the AP. Although the children who were imprisoned with their mother had never met their other siblings or grandmother,...

Austrian Man Held Daughter Captive 24 Years

Locked up at 18, she gave birth to 7 babies in underground cellar

(Newser) - A 42-year-old Austrian woman missing since 1984 has been found—in her father’s cellar, where she says he kept her prisoner for 24 years. Elisabeth F. told police her father, Josef F., began sexually abusing her at age 11, and locked her in the cellar when she turned 18,...

Vienna's Baby Panda Says Hello
Vienna's Baby Panda Says Hello
Jan 31, 2008 9:03 AM CST

Vienna's Baby Panda Says Hello

5-month-old Fu Long greets the crowds at last

(Newser) - Vienna's newest celebrity made his debut yesterday as the 5-month-old panda Fu Long met the public for the first time. The Austrian capital's Schönbrunn Zoo had to issue a statement to anxious panda fans that the cloistered cub was healthy and growing strong. Only yesterday afternoon did Fu Long...

Chimp Not a Person, Court Rules
Chimp Not
a Person,
Court Rules
Jan 15, 2008 4:24 PM CST

Chimp Not a Person, Court Rules

Austrian animal-rights group vows to continue fighting on simian's behalf

(Newser) - Matthew Hiasl Pan, a 26-year-old chimp, is not legally a person, the Austrian Supreme Court has ruled. The animal shelter where he lives has declared bankruptcy, and human donors have volunteered to support him. But under Austrian law, only people can receive personal gifts, reports the AP, so the court...

Euro 2008 Draw Unveiled
Euro 2008 Draw Unveiled
Dec 2, 2007 7:57 PM CST

Euro 2008 Draw Unveiled

Italy, France and Holland end up in "Group of Death"

(Newser) - World Cup finalists Italy and France will meet again: this time in Group C, the "Group of Death" of the Euro 2008 soccer championship. For Romania, it could be called "unluck of the draw" as it was selected for that group today along with another powerful squad, Holland,...

Jazz Giant Zawinul Dead at 75
Jazz Giant Zawinul Dead at 75
Sep 11, 2007 7:28 PM CDT

Jazz Giant Zawinul Dead at 75

Keyboardist defended 'electric jazz' against purists

(Newser) - Joe Zawinul, the keyboardist who plugged America into "Electric Jazz" in the 1970s, has died at age 75. Best known for playing jazz-rock fusion with Miles Davis and starting up Weather Report with Wayne Shorter, Zawinul defended his electric sound against jazz purists. "There is no difference between...

Pope Blasts Wasted Weekends
Pope Blasts Wasted Weekends
Sep 10, 2007 8:25 AM CDT

Pope Blasts Wasted Weekends

Sundays are time to reflect on dangers posed by humanity, he says

(Newser) - Pope Benedict has urged Catholics to  keep Sunday special amid the  "mad rush" of the modern world. He encouraged people to set the day aside for reflection on faith and the dangers humans pose to the world, including destruction of "God's creation," an apparent reference to environmental...

Pope Honors Holocaust Victims
Pope Honors Holocaust Victims
Sep 7, 2007 5:05 PM CDT

Pope Honors Holocaust Victims

Pontiff expresses "sadness, repentance, and friendship" at lives lost to Nazis

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute today to the 65,000 Austrian victims of the Holocaust at the start of his three-day visit to Austria, BBC reports. Alongside Jewish leaders, the pontiff expressed “sadness, repentance, and friendship” at a monument honoring those killed by the Nazis. Benedict tomorrow leads a...

Panda Fever Takes Vienna
Panda Fever Takes Vienna
Aug 24, 2007 5:58 AM CDT

Panda Fever Takes Vienna

Celebration after surprise birth of cuddly endangered species

(Newser) - After Berlin's paroxysms over the polar cub Knut, now it's Vienna's turn: the giant panda Yang Yang has given birth to a 3.5-ounce cub, the first born in Europe in 25 years. The birth was a complete surprise; Yang Yang had shown no signs of pregnancy during a recent...

Ex-UN Head Waldheim Dead at 88
Ex-UN Head Waldheim
Dead at 88
Jun 15, 2007 6:50 AM CDT

Ex-UN Head Waldheim Dead at 88

Military service under Nazis shadowed Austrian president

(Newser) - Haunted by his World War II German army service to the end, former UN secretary-general Kurt Waldheim died yesterday at 88. Reports that he served in a German army unit that committed atrocities during the war emerged in 1985, during his successful campaign for the Austrian presidency; at his death,...

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