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US government denies statements of Iranian TV about prisoner swap agreement

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The United States on Sunday denied a report by Iran’s state television that the arch-foes had reached a prisoner swap deal in exchange for the release of $7 billion frozen Iranian oil funds under U.S. sanctions in other countries.

Iranian state television said on Sunday that Tehran would free four Americans accused of spying in exchange for four Iranians held in the United States and the release of the frozen Iranian funds.

The U.S. government denied that an agreement has been reached.

The state TV, quoting an unidentified Iranian official, also said British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe would be released once Britain had paid off a debt on military equipment owed to Tehran.

A British Foreign Office official played down that report.

Iran and world powers are holding talks to revive the 2015 nuclear accord that Washington abandoned three years ago and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.

Iranian officials told Reuters last month that an interim deal could be a way to gain time for a lasting settlement that involved unfreezing Iranian funds blocked under U.S. sanctions.

“Informed source says Biden administration has agreed to release four Iranian prisoners jailed for bypassing U.S. sanctions in exchange for four American ‘spies’,” the Iranian state TV report said on Sunday.

“Release of Nazanin Zaghari in exchange for UK’s payment of its 400 million pound debt to Iran has also been finalized. The source also said the Biden administration has agreed to pay Iran $7 billion,” it said.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price said, “Reports that a prisoner swap deal has been reached are not true.”

Ron Klain, White House chief of staff, also denied the report. “Unfortunately, that report is untrue. There is no agreement to release these four Americans,” Klain said on CBS “Face the Nation.”

U.S. officials regularly raise the issue of detained Americans with Iran, Klain said.

Tehran and the powers have been meeting in Vienna since early April to work on steps that must be taken, touching on U.S. sanctions and Iran’s alleged breaches of the 2015 deal, to bring Tehran and Washington back into full compliance with the accord.

Iran says $20 billion of its oil revenue has been frozen in countries like South Korea, Iraq and China under the U.S. sanctions since 2018.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday no deal had been reached with Iran in Vienna.

“There is still a fair distance to travel to close the remaining gaps,” he said on ABC’s “This Week” program. “And those gaps are over what sanctions the United States and other countries will roll back. They are over what nuclear restrictions Iran will accept on its program to ensure that they can never get a nuclear weapon.”

ZAGHARI-RATCLIFFE

On the Zaghari-Ratcliffe case, British foreign minister Dominic Raab told Times Radio earlier, “We recognise the IMS debt should be repaid and we’re looking at arrangements for securing that.”

A Foreign Office official later played down the speculation on her release.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation charity, was freed from house arrest in March at the end of a sentence for seeking to overthrow Iran’s government.

An Iranian court sentenced her last month to another year in jail, weeks after she finished the prior five-year sentence, a decision Britain called inhumane.

She was arrested at Tehran airport in April 2016 and later convicted of plotting to overthrow the clerical establishment.

Her family and the foundation, a charity that operates independently of media firm Thomson Reuters and its news subsidiary Reuters, deny all charges against her and say she was only visiting relatives in Iran.

Read alsoIndian healthcare toppling – 300,000 daily cases for 10 days consecutively

Serbian man wanted for Vienna murder arrested in S Hungary

Police Arrest Sexual Predator 2

Hungarian police have arrested a Serbian national wanted by the Austrian authorities for an alleged robbery and the murder of a jeweller in Vienna, at the Tompa border crossing with Serbia, police said on their website on Friday.

The 21-year-old man, identified as Haris G, is suspected of having

killed the jeweller and robbed his shop in October 2020.

The man who was on his way from Serbia sought entry to Hungary with documents showing him with a new identity on Thursday. He was arrested within an hour after an information exchange between the Austrian and the Serbian authorities.

Haris G has been placed in pre-trial detention awaiting a decision about his extradition by a Hungarian court, police said.

As we reported before, Hungarian police arrested a couple of days ago a Hungarian sexual predator targeting underaged girls, raping victims. Unfortunately, it seems that the cases of non-consensual sexual intercourse have grown quite significantly in Hungary as in recent months, the police have closed quite a huge number of investigations, forwarding the documents to the prosecutor’s office.

Compared to the news stories of recent years, the number of crimes in which the perpetrator raped its victims seems to be unusually high.

And to make matters worse, on many occasions, those victims were underaged. Just within two months, this has been the fourth criminal case involving rape that Daily News Hungary has reported.

Back in February, a family father in Sárkeresztúr tried to rape his own 7-year-old daughter, Valentina, on the child’s name day (Valentine’s day), while two of his other children were in bed beside them. He even threatened his own children to not talk about the incident.

In March, the victim of another rapist was a pregnant woman.

The attacker raped the pregnant woman in a field and was attempting to have intercourse with the victim for a second time when the pregnant woman was able to run away.

The most recent case was closed this April when the stepfather of a Hungarian girl was arrested for raping his daughter for 5 years. The victim was so scarred that she could only tell the story four years after the incident. The most recent criminal case was luckily uncovered much sooner, and it seems that the perpetrator could only hurt one victim before his intentions were found out.

According to the Police, the crime was reported by one of the psychologists of the child welfare service in Pest county, back in March.

The report was about a 23-year-old man who have raped an underaged girl and was suspected of contacting more young girls.

The police were able to identify the man and arranged his arrest on the 19th of April.

The investigation later found out that the man can be considered a sexual predator and was in touch with several underaged girls via an online application. He met his rape victim online as well and the perpetrator gradually got close to the unsuspecting girl. They exchanged nude photos and the predator used this to gain leverage on his victim. The man told the girl that if she does not have sex with him, then he will show her parents the nude images of her. The girl got so scared that she agreed the perpetrator and met him in an abandoned forest near Gyál on the 14th of March.

“Then the 23-year-old man – despite the continuous protest of girl – raped her”.

When the man was arrested, the authorities have found several contacts of other underaged girls on his phone as well as nude photos of other girls. According to the sexual predator, he did not meet with the other girls, but the investigation has not been fully concluded yet.

Featured image: illustration

From Budapest to Warsaw in 5.5 hours: plans for high-speed railway revealed – Video

vonat train high speed railway budapest warsaw

If built, it will decrease traffic on the M1 highway and the existing railway lines in western Hungary, link Budapest to a number of European cities, and help meet climate goals by reducing CO2 emissions.

According to Telex, excerpts from the feasibility study concerning the new railway line were recently published by the National Infrastructure Development Corporation (NIF). As we wrote before, Hungary has applied for financial support from the Connecting Europe Facility, an EU program, to fund the construction of the Hungarian section of the tracks. Results are expected this summer, and if the support is granted, works are scheduled to begin in the early 2030s, except for the stretch between Kelenföld and Törökbálint, where the existing tracks could be refurbished earlier.

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The planned route of the high-speed railway. Still from a video. Source: Youtube – NIF Zrt.

The trains are expected to operate at the speed of 320 km/h, except in urban areas.

Once completed, this new line would connect Budapest to the high-speed railway network of western Europe, making trains the quickest way to get to a number of cities, even faster than flying. Some projected journey times are:

  • Budapest to Vienna or Bratislava: less than 2 hours
  • Budapest to Prague: 3 and a half hours
  • Budapest to Warsaw: 5 and a half hours.

According to NIF, those more interested in travelling within the country would also benefit from the railway, as there is also a planned branch going towards Székesfehérvár that InterCity trains could use as well, which would make visiting Lake Velence or Lake Balaton much simpler.

The building of the high-speed railway would put an end to the never-ending traffic jams on the M1 highway and take some weight off the metaphorical shoulders of railway line number 1, which is currently being pushed to its limits by the 70 freight and 400 passenger trains passing through it every day.

In their video about the results of the feasibility study, NIF also highlighted the magnitude of CO2 emissions (400,000 tonnes) that could be prevented if we could decrease the number of trucks on Hungarian roads by freeing up capacity on the freight train network. However, as the Urban and Suburban Transit Association (VEKE) pointed out in their Facebook post, to achieve that,

it is not this line that we should build but V0.

V0 is the name of a freight railway line that would cross the Danube to the south of Budapest. As magyarepitok.hu writes, a government decision was made in late 2020 to begin preparations for its construction; however, not even its feasibility study is expected to be completed before 2023. That could be problematic, noted VEKE, since the EU climate goals include cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 55% and doubling the amount of goods transported by train by 2030.

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Read alsoMinister: climate goals can be achieved only with nuclear energy

Budapest-Warsaw 320 kph fast rail line to branch off to Vienna, Székesfehérvár

Plans are for a high-speed railway line linking the capitals of the Visegrád Group countries to also branch off to Vienna and Székesfehérvár, in central Hungary, the Ministry of Innovation and Technology (ITM) said on Wednesday.

Trains on the planned rail line to be built over the next decade will be able to travel at speeds of up to 320kph, the ministry said in a statement. The line will also be used by domestic InterCity trains, it added.

The project is expected to

shorten travel times between Budapest and Vienna and Budapest and Bratislava to less than two hours,

the statement quoted Innovation and Technology Minister Laszlo Palkovics as saying. Meanwhile, the journey from Budapest to Prague would take about three-and-a-half hours and the full Budapest-Warsaw trip would be five-and-a-half hours, he said.

The rail line will be situated along Hungary’s busiest traffic corridor, running from Budapest to the north-west, the ministry said, noting that a large chunk of the traffic there consists of international transit traffic. Plans are to have the line branch off towards Vienna at the Hegyeshalom border crossing, while the route to Bratislava would go through Rajka, the statement said.

According to preliminary estimates, the rail line would serve over

20 million domestic and international passengers a year.

Citing the feasibility study, the ministry said the roughly 1,000 billion forint project would recoup its costs through its favourable impacts on traffic, the environment, the economy and tourism.

Given that the project is in line with the European Union’s goal to double high-speed rail traffic within the bloc by 2030 and to triple it by 2050, the investment is likely to be eligible for EU funding, the ministry said. Decisions on the financing of the parts of the project related to environmental protection may be made during the summer, it added.

Vienna to loosen its coronavirus lockdown next week

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Vienna will cautiously loosen its coronavirus lockdown next week a month after it was introduced, its left-wing mayor said on Tuesday, criticising the conservative-led government’s plans for a broad easing of restrictions nationally next month.

Austria has had three national lockdowns, the last of which eased in February. Vienna, however, reintroduced a full lockdown on April 1 to help hospitals facing rising cases, particularly of the more dangerous so-called British variant.

Infections nationally have eased this month but remain stubbornly high at more than 1,500 a day. Despite that, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz last week said restaurants, hotels and theatres will reopen nationally on May 19, though provinces can have stricter rules locally if needed.

“The situation is improving but must still be taken very seriously,” Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig of the Social Democrats told a news conference announcing that non-essential shops would reopen on Monday, May 3.

The opposition Social Democrats have increasingly criticised what they say are hasty loosening steps by Kurz’s ruling coalition with the Greens.

Kurz’s conservatives still have a commanding lead in opinion polls but recent surveys show their support eroding.

“Regarding May 19 and the government’s announcement that a lot will be opened at the same time, personally I believe one should act very carefully here,” Ludwig said.

“I think such a general opening is very difficult and here I agree with the vast majority of experts,” he said, adding that nobody can give a reliable forecast for the situation more than 10 days ahead.

Kurz has said easing restrictions will drive up infections but vaccinating risk groups should limit hospitalisations, and other factors like jobs are also important.

“With all sympathy for the economic challenges, for example, people’s health will always come first for me,” Ludwig said.

Austria will only use Sputnik V vaccine after EMA approval, Kurz says

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Austria will only use Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine once the European Medicines Agency has approved it, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Monday, amid growing public frustration with the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations.

As we wrote before, Austria has been in talks with Russia to buy a million doses of the vaccine, and Kurz said on March 31 the order would probably be placed the following week. However, that order has yet to be announced.

Kurz had recently avoided saying whether his country would await EMA approval of the vaccine, which has been used in the European Union only by Hungary so far. EMA has launched a rolling review of Sputnik V.

“We hope it will quickly be approved by EMA as every extra vaccine dose helps us save lives,”

Kurz said in a statement, adding that his conservatives and their coalition partner, the Greens, had agreed to make the order. A Kurz spokesman confirmed that meant it would only be used after EMA’s approval.

The efficacy of the two-shot Sputnik V vaccine was initially greeted with scepticism by some Western scientists after Russia approved it in August last year without waiting for the results of full clinical trials.

However, scientists said it was almost 92% effective in fighting COVID-19, based on peer-reviewed late-stage trial results published in The Lancet medical journal in February.

Many European officials still have concerns about Russia’s intentions in exporting it to dozens of countries when it has yet to vaccinate most of its own population.

Only two other EU countries, Hungary and Slovakia, have ordered Sputnik V and only Hungary has used it. The issue is so controversial in Slovakia that it sparked a political crisis that prompted Prime Minister Igor Matovic to resign last month.

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Read alsoWhat if the Austro-Hungarian Empire reunited today? – VIDEO

Hungary to host UEFA football games but not the 2032 Olympics?

Orbán

Hungary has been working towards becoming a popular sports destination. Sadly, the country still needs some alterations to organise the biggest sporting event out there, the Summer Olympic Games.

One thing is for sure, though, Budapest will be among those 12 cities which are to host certain games of this year’s UEFA European Championship. The tournament was postponed last year due to the pandemic but got the green light

to be organised this summer, between June 11 and July 11.

The Hungarian capital’s participation can be considered a solid fact, even though Aleksander Ceferin, the President of UEFA, recently said that

only those cities can be organisers which can guarantee a certain number of fans in the stadiums.

As Gergely Gulyás, the Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, said back in March, only those vaccinated can enter the stadiums and attend games. Since the vaccination program in Hungary is going very well, with over 2.5 million jabs administered, very soon, all those wishing to attend a game will be able to do so. According to government plans, by the end of May, everyone who registered for the vaccine will be able to receive it, added the Minister.

Nevertheless, if the virus causes unforeseen complications in the upcoming days or weeks, host cities have until 28 April to modify their plans and models on how to organise the matches safely, writes Origo.hu. For now, all host cities’ plans were considered positive and were accepted. However, UEFA did not make it public with how big of an audience the cities counted. Martin Kallen, the Operational Chief of UEFA, only said that there were great differences in the size of the audience planned by the cities.

According to plans, Puskás Stadium would give place to three matches at the group stage (two of Hungary and one between France and Portugal) and to one in the round of 16.

When it comes to the 2032 Summer Olympics, for the organisation of which Hungary was a candidate, unfortunately, the country has to give up its hopes this time.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that it considers Brisbane the perfect place to organise a complex event of such magnitude.

Until now, all cities had 7 years to prepare for the games and the “winner” used to be announced after a 2-year-long period of application during which contestants had to fulfil certain criteria related to the organisational process. This time, the Committee decided to take a different path and, already back in February, Brisbane was named the most likely candidate, then in March, the Committee announced that the city complied with all criteria.

The organiser city has never been revealed this early. The IOC argued that this way, the rest of the contestants will save time and money spent on the preparation of the plans.

Germany has already announced that in the case that Brisbane is the 2032 Olympic Games’ organiser, the country will automatically prepare as a candidate for the next games 4 years later. According to a source of Népszava.hu,

the Hungarian Olympic Committee might consider doing the same, concentrating on the 2036 Olympic Games.

However, the toughest part when it comes to Hungary organising an international event of such magnitude is not to agree on all details and criteria with the IOC but to convince the vast majority of Hungarians that this event would very much be beneficial for the whole country.  

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Read alsoN.Korea to skip Olympic Games over Covid-19 fears

Western Hungary shook by an earthquake – people’s accounts

Map Earthquake Földrengés Térkép Ausztria Austria EMSC

Several people reported that they have felt an earthquake in the evening on the 30th of March around half past six. According to several sources, the epicentre of the earthquake was originating from Eastern Austria.

Index received several accounts of an earthquake with a magnitude of 3 to 4 from Sopron and some of the surrounding areas in the North-western border of Hungary. According to the accounts, the earthquake lasted around 30 to 40 seconds. Luckily, there was no damages or injuries reported that was connected to the natural phenomenon which is quite rare in the area.

One of Index’s readers said the following: “I was sitting at the kitchen table when from under my feet I felt like a football game was going on next door. But we live in the 2nd floor apartment of a quiet house. The hanging chandelier swung very slightly. The roar lasted a few seconds. I have really never experienced this before.”

The Hungarian disaster management shared on their Facebook page the measurement and announcement of the ELKH CSFK GGI Kövesligethy Radó Seismological Observatory, that

on the 30th of March, at 18:25, there was an earthquake in Austria near Wien, only 30 kilometres away from the Hungarian border at an approximate depth of eight kilometres. The magnitude of the earthquake was 4.3 on the Richter scale

and was felt in several places in Hungary, but there were no reports of any damage.

Map Earthquake Földrengés Térkép Ausztria Austria
Source: Erdbebennews.de

Several websites dealing with geology have also shared their information and confirmed the Hungarian measurements with some slight differences. Most sources put the magnitude of the earthquake between 4.2 and 4.6 on the Richter scale with a maximum possible magnitude of 6.1 in the epicentre. Erdbebennews says that the epicentre was originating from a depth of 10 kilometres next to Neunkirchen, approximately five kilometres away from Wiener Neustadt and around 30 kilometres from the Hungarian border.

The earthquake could be felt in the entire Burgenland region and although this magnitude of the earthquake could damage buildings, there were only reports of small cracks, but no major damage in the vicinity of the epicentre and no damages farther away from it.

https://twitter.com/OE_Markus/status/1376939401243209729

“I watched TV and the sofa started to move side to side below me. It was not very strong, but it was definitely noticeable. I looked up at the lamp on the ceiling, it was moving, even though it is fixed to the ceiling. The motion was not very strong, but it could definitely be felt,” – said another Hungarian account.

Read alsoCroatian bishop thanks Hungary for aid to earthquake victims

Featured image: European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC)

Austria in talks to buy a million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine

Austria is in talks with Russia to buy a million doses of its Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, which has yet to be approved by the European Medicines Agency, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s office said on Tuesday.

Conservative leader Kurz is under fire from opposition parties because his government did not buy as many coronavirus vaccines as it could have under the European Union’s collective purchasing scheme.

“There must be no geopolitical blinkers regarding vaccines,” Kurz said in a statement issued by his office, adding that Austria is in talks with Russia and Moscow has offered to sell it a million doses as of April. “The only thing that must count is whether the vaccine is effective and safe.”

The statement noted that EMA has launched a rolling review of Sputnik V, but it did not repeat Kurz’s previous comments that Austria would only use the vaccine if it is cleared by the regulator for the 27-nation EU.

Sputnik V has been approved for use in 58 countries, most recently Mali, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which promotes the vaccine abroad, said on Tuesday.

Kurz has blamed an Austrian official on the EU’s vaccination steering board, where extra doses not bought up by member states are then redistributed, for deciding on purchases without consulting Vienna, and says he only recently learned of how the steering board system worked. The official has been replaced.

Kurz has also complained that vaccines are distributed unevenly within the EU because of that system.

After a fitful start to the EU’s vaccination campaign which has left the bloc lagging other countries such as Britain, some member states and regions have already bought or are considering buying Russian or Chinese shots.

Two EU countries, Hungary and Slovakia, have purchased Sputnik V doses, although only Hungary has started using them. In Slovakia the issue is so controversial that it sparked a political crisis.

The Italian region of Campania has signed an agreement to buy the vaccine but only after EMA approval.

The two-shot Sputnik V vaccine’s efficacy was initially greeted with scepticism by some Western scientists after Russia approved it in August last year without waiting for the results of full clinical trials.

However, scientists said it was almost 92% effective in fighting COVID-19, based on peer-reviewed late-stage trial results published in The Lancet medical journal in February.

Kurz has long sought to maintain good relations with Russia, saying he wants to serve as a bridge between east and west.

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Read alsoWhat if the Austro-Hungarian Empire reunited today? – VIDEO

Vienna plans to extend Easter lockdown until following weekend

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Vienna plans to extend an Easter coronavirus lockdown by five days until the following Sunday, Austria’s health minister said on Monday, while two nearby provinces introducing the same restrictions are still undecided on prolonging them.

The eastern provinces of Lower Austria, which surrounds Vienna, Burgenland, which borders Hungary, and the capital itself last week announced a lockdown from Thursday, April 1 to Tuesday, April 6, closing non-essential shops and replacing a nighttime curfew with all-day restrictions on movement.

The three provinces have high levels of the British variant of the coronavirus, which has been causing severe illness faster and in more of those infected. With national infections rising, eastern hospitals are nearing their intensive-care capacity.

Scientific experts, however, say a lockdown of less than a week will do little to relieve the pressure on hospitals.

“I am pleased that Mayor Michael Ludwig and the City of Vienna have decided that they want to implement an extension of the Easter quiet period until April 11,”

Health Minister Rudolf Anschober said in a statement after a video conference with the three provinces’ governors.

Vienna is the only city to also be one of Austria’s nine provinces, and the mayor is also its governor. Lockdown decisions now usually involve the national government and the influential governors.

“Because of the alarming situation, further provinces will have to follow the City of Vienna on this path,” Anschober added without saying which provinces.

Separately, people leaving the western province of Tyrol will have to show a recent negative coronavirus test result as of Wednesday because of more than 200 cases there are of a mutation of the British variant known as E484K, which is believed to weaken the body’s immune response to the virus.

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Read alsoWhat if the Austro-Hungarian Empire reunited today? – VIDEO

What if the Austro-Hungarian Empire reunited today? – VIDEO

austria-hungary

2018 marked the 100th anniversary of the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Austria-Hungary). Despite the fact that a lot of time has passed since the event, new analyses and explanations come to light from time to time about how different the world would be if the territories were reunited today. Below we bring you a fresh video.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire, or Austria-Hungary, was a special dualism, more precisely a confederation that existed from 1867 until 1918 in Central Europe. It was made up of the Kingdom of Hungary and the Habsburg Empire, which was mostly a unity of independent states united by a joined ruler, joined foreign affairs, military affairs and financial background.

By 1918, the end of the lost World War I, the internal cohesion of the Monarchy and its two components had completely disappeared, and eventually the Monarchy had not simply disintegrated into two components, but a series of new states had emerged in its territory.

The “what if” scenarios always move people’s imaginations, which is probably also the reason behind the video below.

Just to highlight a few aspects, the reunited territory would be the 4th/6th most populated in Europe, while the change would affect the territories of 14 countries. Find out more from the video!

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Read alsoWhat if the Austro-Hungarian Empire reunited today? – VIDEO

Vienna and nearby regions to reinstate coronavirus lockdown over Easter

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Vienna and two other provinces in eastern Austria will go back into lockdown for several days over Easter in a bid to ease the growing strain on intensive care wards from rising coronavirus infections, Austria’s health minister said on Wednesday.

The three provinces – Vienna and the province surrounding it, Lower Austria, as well as Burgenland, which borders Hungary – have been working on tighter restrictions with the Health Ministry after the conservative-led government decided on Monday the rest of the country’s curbs would remain unchanged.

Of Austria’s nine provinces, those three are among the hardest-hit and have high levels of the more contagious British variant of the coronavirus, which has been causing severe cases faster and in greater numbers.

“We want to introduce restrictions on movement as was the case in Austria before and after Christmas, from midnight until midnight,”

Health Minister Rudolf Anschober told a news conference with the governors of the three provinces, referring to curbs during Austria’s second and third national lockdowns.

Anschober has spoken of a “looming collapse” in eastern Austria‘s intensive-care wards and said recent projections by experts were so alarming that such strong action was necessary.

The lockdown will last from Thursday, April 1, until the following Tuesday. Non-essential shops, which reopened when Austria’s third lockdown was eased last month, will close over the same period.

In a normal year virtually all shops are closed on Easter Sunday and Monday.

Face masks of the FFP2 standard, which are already required on public transport and in shops, will also be compulsory in crowded outdoor spaces,

Anschober said, adding that a negative coronavirus test result would then be required to enter non-essential shops at of April 7.

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Read alsoAustria delays reopening restaurants as COVID-19 cases rise

Austria delays reopening restaurants as COVID-19 cases rise

Austrian flag

Austria has postponed the reopening of cafe, restaurant and bar terraces planned for March 27 due to rising coronavirus cases and is preparing for regions to adapt restrictions locally, the government said on Monday.

Infections have been increasing steadily since Austria loosened its third lockdown on Feb. 8 by letting non-essential shops reopen despite stubbornly high COVID-19 cases. A night-time curfew replaced all-day restrictions on movement.

The number of new infections reported rose above 3,500 on Friday, the highest level since early December, when cases were falling during the second national lockdown.

The government met with the governors of its nine provinces on Monday to review its plan to let terraces reopen next weekend in all but one of them, after the small Alpine province of Vorarlberg got a head start earlier this month.

“The experts have advised us not to carry out any more loosening of restrictions here, unfortunately,” Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said of most provinces.

Last week the hardest-hit provinces were Vienna and the province surrounding it, Lower Austria, as well as Burgenland, which borders Hungary. The latest government data https://covid19-dashboard.ages.at/dashboard.html now shows other provinces have joined them at the top of the table in terms of infection rates and intensive care bed use.

Kurz said the three eastern provinces had “a problem” because of the high level of more contagious coronavirus variants and their proximity to eastern European countries with high infection rates.

“The provinces in the east proposed that they work on measures here to counter this and flatten this trend that we have in intensive care units,” Kurz said.

A government source said loosening restrictions could happen in some regions after Easter, which is at the start of April, if the intensive care figures are stable.

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Read alsoVienna’s hospitals straining, non-urgent operations postponed

Vienna’s hospitals straining, non-urgent operations postponed

KURZ, Sebastian;

Vienna’s hospitals are close to the level of strain from COVID-19 reached last autumn that forced a lockdown to be imposed, Austria’s health minister said on Friday, days before a decision on whether to let restaurants open outdoors.

Infections have been steadily increasing since Austria loosened its third lockdown on Feb. 8 by letting non-essential shops reopen despite stubbornly high COVID-19 cases at the time. A nighttime curfew replaced all-day restrictions on movement.

Austria has recorded 504,581 cases of the disease so far, including 8,982 deaths.

The number of new infections reported rose above 3,500 on Friday, the highest level since early December, when cases were falling during the second national lockdown. The government plans to let restaurant, cafe and bar terraces reopen on March 27, a decision it will review on Monday.

“In some regions we have a situation that I think is really alarming as far as the situation in intensive care wards is concerned,” Health Minister Rudolf Anschober told a news conference.

Of Austria’s nine provinces, the strain is greatest in Vienna and the province surrounding it, Lower Austria, as well as Burgenland, wedged between Lower Austria and Hungary, Anschober said.

“We are no longer far away from the capacity utilisation situation that we had in the autumn,” Anschober said of those provinces.

Public health agency AGES’s coronavirus dashboard shows the utilisation rate of intensive care beds is highest in Burgenland at 79%, followed by Lower Austria with 50% and Vienna on 48%.

The leader of the opposition Social Democrats has called for restrictions to be tightened again, and Anschober said there may be regional adjustments.

“We must react to these regional increases and we will of course do our duty as a government, namely conduct a precise analysis over the weekend and reach a joint decision on Monday on what steps must be taken concretely,” he said.

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Read alsoIreland and others join Austria in temporarily suspending AstraZeneca vaccines

Six EU countries raise concerns over COVID jabs distribution

Koronavírus Coronavirus Vaccine Vakcina Hand Needle Tű Kéz

Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Slovenia raised concerns over COVID-19 vaccine distribution in a call with the head of the European Council on Wednesday, a European Union official said.

European Council President Charles Michel, who chairs EU summits, discussed the matter with leaders from the six countries on Wednesday. The bloc’s 27 EU ambassadors will address this later in the day, the official said.

“Leaders shared their concerns with (Michel) on possible gaps in the vaccine distribution between member states following the fact that one company has not respected its commitment,”

the official said, under condition of anonymity.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Tuesday he and allies from eastern Europe were pushing for the EU to adjust the way it distributes COVID-19 vaccines. The EU faces an acute squeeze of COVID-19 jabs due to reduced deliveries by AstraZeneca.

Latest numbers: Covid-19: Hungary daily deaths at record high – March 17, 2021

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Read alsoHungary offers to vaccinate foreign diplomats working in the country

Germany, Italy, France hit pause on AstraZeneca amid safety fears, disrupting EU shots

MERKEL, Angela

Germany, France and Italy said on Monday they would hit pause on AstraZeneca COVID-19 shots after several countries reported possible serious side-effects, throwing Europe’s already struggling vaccination campaign into disarray.

Denmark and Norway stopped giving the shot last week after reporting isolated cases of bleeding, blood clots and a low platelet count. Iceland and Bulgaria followed suit and Ireland and the Netherlands announced suspensions on Sunday.

The moves by some of Europe’s largest and most populous countries will deepen concerns about the slow rollout of vaccines in the region, which has been plagued by shortages due to problems producing vaccines, including AstraZeneca’s.

Germany warned last week it was facing a third wave of infections, Italy is intensifying lockdowns and hospitals in the Paris region are close to being overloaded.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said that although the risk of blood clots was low, it could not be ruled out.

“This is a professional decision, not a political one,” Spahn said adding he was following a recommendation of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, Germany’s vaccine regulator.

France said it was suspending the vaccine’s use pending an assessment by the EU medicine regulator due on Tuesday. Italy said its halt was a “precautionary and temporary measure” pending the regulator’s ruling.

Austria and Spain have stopped using particular batches and prosecutors in the northern Italian region of Piedmont earlier seized 393,600 doses following the death of a man hours after he was vaccinated. It was the second region to do so after Sicily, where two people had died shortly after having their shots.

The World Health Organization appealed to countries not to suspend vaccinations against a disease that has caused more than 2.7 million deaths worldwide.

“As of today, there is no evidence that the incidents are caused by the vaccine and it is important that vaccination campaigns continue so that we can save lives and stem severe disease from the virus,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said.

The United Kingdom said it had no concerns, while Poland said it thought the benefits outweighed any risks.

The EMA has said that as of March 10, a total of 30 cases of blood clotting had been reported among close to 5 million people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca shot in the European Economic Area, which links 30 European countries.

Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, said the decisions by France, Germany and others looked baffling.

“The data we have suggests that numbers of adverse events related to blood clots are the same (and possibly, in fact lower) in vaccinated groups compared to unvaccinated populations,” he said, adding that halting a vaccination programme had consequences.

“This results in delays in protecting people, and the potential for increased vaccine hesitancy, as a result of people who have seen the headlines and understandably become concerned. There are no signs yet of any data that really justify these decisions.”

“UNUSUAL” SYMPTOMS

AstraZeneca’s shot was among the first and cheapest to be developed and launched at volume since the coronavirus was first identified in central China at the end of 2019 and is set to be the mainstay of vaccination programmes in much of the developing world.

Thailand announced plans on Monday to go ahead with the Anglo-Swedish firm’s shot after suspending its use on Friday but Indonesia said it would wait for the WHO to report.

The WHO said its advisory panel was reviewing reports related to the shot and would release its findings as soon as possible. But it said it was unlikely to change its recommendations, issued last month, for widespread use, including in countries where the South African variant of the virus may reduce its efficacy.

The EMA has also said there was no indication the events were caused by the vaccination and that the number of reported blood clots was no higher than seen in the general population.

The handful of reported side-effects in Europe have upset vaccination programmes already under pressure over slow rollouts and vaccine scepticism in some countries.

The Netherlands said on Monday it had seen 10 cases of possible noteworthy adverse side-effects from the AstraZeneca vaccine, hours after the government put its vaccination programme on hold following reports of potential side-effects in other countries.

Denmark reported “highly unusual” symptoms in a 60-year-old citizen who died from a blood clot after receiving the vaccine, the same phrase used on Saturday by Norway about three people under the age of 50 it said were being treated in hospital.

“It was an unusual course of illness around the death that made the Danish Medicines Agency react,” the agency said in a statement late on Sunday.

One of the three health workers hospitalised in Norway after receiving the AstraZeneca shot had died, health authorities said on Monday, but there was no evidence that the vaccine was the cause.

AstraZeneca said earlier it had conducted a review covering more than 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union and the UK which had shown no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots.

Investigations into potential side-effects are complicated as the history of each case and circumstances surrounding a death or illness are examined.

Austrian authorities have said their review of the AstraZeneca batch will take about two weeks.

Long-awaited results from AstraZeneca 30,000-person U.S. vaccine trial are currently being reviewed by independent monitors to determine whether the shot is safe and effective, a top U.S. official said on Monday.

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March 15th 1848, the beginning of the War of Independence

Today is the 173rd anniversary of one of the most important days in Hungarian history, March 15, 1848. On this day, the Revolution and War of Independence of 1848-49 began, with the aim of separation from the Habsburg Empire.

This war of independence was also significant because it later became part of Hungarian identity. There was a simultaneous effort to achieve individual freedom and national self-determination.

Before March 15, 1848

On March 11th, the Viennese student youth filed a petition against the Habsburg emperor. On March 12th, the 12-point petition, formulated by József Irinyi, was accepted at the Opposition Circle’s meeting in Budapest. An important focal point was the outbreak of the French Revolution in February 1848 and the outbreak of the Viennese Revolution on the 13th of March. As a result of the latter, the plan was developed according to which

they will meet in the Pilvax café on the morning of the 15th and announce the previously formulated 12 points throughout Budapest.

March 15, 1848

Sándor Petőfi met Mór Jókai and Gyula Bulyovszky, among others at 8 am. Jókai read the 12 points, while Petőfi read the poem of the National Song, which he wrote the previous evening. They then went to the University of Law, where a group of students were already waiting for them. At this location, Petőfi recited his poem, and Jókai repeats the 12 points. They also read them out at the Medical University and the Faculty of Engineering and Philosophy. At each station, many students and people from the street joined.

The first wish of the 12 points was to achieve freedom for the press. Therefore, around 10 am, the crowd marched to the Landerer and Heckenast book printing press. There,

the 12 points and the National Song could be printed without censorship.

In the afternoon, the crowd held a large rally in front of the National Museum. The 12 points and the National Song were also reclaimed here. They then went to the Council of Pest, where the members of the council accepted the demands. The same happened in Buda, where the Board of Governors also accepted the 12 points. Censorship was abolished and Mihály Táncsics, who was convicted of press offence, was released from prison.

In the evening, the revolution’s victory was celebrated at the National Theater by performing Bánk bán.

After the 15th of March

After the revolution, the Batthyány government was formed, where Lajos Batthyány became the first prime minister of Hungary. In December 1848, Ferdinand V, who accepted the Hungarian Revolution, resigned and was replaced by Ferenc József. Under his leadership, the Habsburg Empire counterattacked. The battles ended on August 13, 1849. The Prussians also supported the Habsburg Empire, so the Hungarians were oppressed by enormous military superiority.

2021. 03. 15.

This year, the traditional celebration on March 15 will be missed. Attending any meeting due to a coronavirus epidemic violates the law and endangers the lives of yourself and your relatives. The public media celebrated by screening Hungarian classics. Numerous Hungarian films, musical performances, conversations and programs await those interested. 

Government spokeswoman Alexandra Szentkirályi announced that the presentation of the usual Kossuth and Széchenyi awards is postponed, and the list of the winners will be made public.

March 15 is a public holiday in Hungary, so most of the stores are closed all day.

AstraZeneca showed no evidence of increased risk of blood disorders – company says

Covid Coronavirus Koronavírus Vakcina Vaccine Oltás AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca Plc said on Sunday a review of safety data of people vaccinated with its COVID-19 vaccine has shown no evidence of an increased risk of blood clots.

AstraZeneca’s review, which covered more than 17 million people vaccinated in the United Kingdom and European Union, comes after health authorities in some countries suspended the use of its vaccine over clotting issues.

“A careful review of all available safety data of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union and UK with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis or thrombocytopenia, in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country,” the company said.

Authorities in Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and the Netherlands have suspended the use of the vaccine over clotting issues, while Austria stopped using a batch of AstraZeneca shots last week while investigating a death from coagulation disorders.

“It is most regrettable that countries have stopped vaccination on such ‘precautionary’ grounds: it risks doing real harm to the goal of vaccinating enough people to slow the spread of the virus, and to end the pandemic,” Peter English, a retired British government consultant in communicable disease control, told Reuters.

European Medicines Agency has said there is no indication that the events were caused by the vaccination, a view that was echoed by the World Health Organisation on Friday.

The drugmaker said, 15 events of deep vein thrombosis and 22 events of pulmonary embolism have been reported so far, which is similar across other licensed COVID-19 vaccines.

The company said additional testing has and is being conducted by the company and the European health authorities and none of the re-tests have shown cause for concern. The monthly safety report will be made public on the EMA website in the following week, AstraZeneca said.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, developed in collaboration with Oxford University, has been authorised for use in the European Union and many countries but not yet by U.S. regulators.

The company is preparing to file for U.S. emergency use authorisation and is expecting data from its U.S. Phase III trial to be available in the coming weeks.