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01. 05. 12. - 10:00

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01. 05. 12. - 10:00

Snow Joke

Michael Leidig

Austria continued experiencing a heatwave this week but temperatures that included the hottest on record in the capital Vienna failed to make an impact on snowfields where workers were struggling to clear high Alpine roads. On Austria's most famous mountaintop route – the 'High Alpine Road' which crosses over the country's tallest mountain – the 3,798m Grossglockner - road clearer's were working overtime to dig up to 8m of snow out of the way. Manager Dr. Johannes Horl said: "We even had to bring one of our retired vintage ploughs back in to help tackle the snow. Our Wallack rotary plough is over 60 years old but it really is still unbeatable when it comes to the really deep snow." Plans to build the High Alpine Road were ridiculed when it was first suggested in 1924 when they were less than 150,000 vehicles in the whole of Austria, Germany and Italy. But in the end it went ahead and provided jobs to local people and from the first year of being open was a fantastic success with tens of thousands of tourists flocking to enjoy the panoramic views - that includes the Pasterze Glacier and of course the country's highest mountain itself. Heavy snowfalls mean that the Grossglockner High Alpine Road is normally closed for the winter and only opens from the beginning of May to the end of October- an opening that this year was under threat because of the massive amounts of snow that fell over the winter. However managers have now confirmed that the two snowploughs working from either side have met over the weekend and traffic will be able to flow over the May Day bank holiday – providing they are not put off by the huge amounts of snow towering either side of the road. In the Austrian capital Vienna the city notched up the hottest April on record as temperatures reached 29.4°C. The previous hottest day in Vienna had been in 1968 on 24 April when the thermometer measured 28.8°C. The hottest place in the country was Waidhofen an der Ybbs in Lower Austria which notched up a temperature of 32°C.

Tragic Ski Girl Dies
A 10-year-old British schoolgirl has died after skiing into a tree at high speed during a family holiday tragedy in the Austrian Alps.

Peak Performance
Police chiefs in Hamburg, Germany, are celebrating after new crime figures showed there wasn't a single bank robbery in the city last year.

Chinese Fakeaway
Chinese property developers who've been thwarted in a bid to buy up an entire Austrian village have settled on the next best thing - an entire life-sized replica.

Austrian children help Romanian kids
A charity project run by the middle school in Hippach has been recognised with an award for its social work by officials in Tyrol.

Mother kills disabled daughter because she couldnt take care of her any longer
A Romanian woman killed her 8 year-old disabled daughter on Wednesday (yesterday)because she couldn't pay for her care, Libertatea newspaper reports.

Policeman accused of sex with the son of his girlfriend
A Policeman from Vulcan, Western Romania is currently being investigated for having sex with a minor, the son of his girlfriend, Cancan newspaper informs today (Thurs).

Serial killer survivor walks away alive after fall
An 85 year-old woman who survived the most cruel and notorious serial killer in Romania some 40 years ago, recently fell from the first floor of her apartment building and she walked away safe and sound, Cancan newspaper reports today (Thurs).

The son of Qatar Airlines BA beaten up in Romania
The son of the Board of Administration of Qatar Airlines Akbar Al Baker, was beaten up over the weekend at the launching party of a posh club in Mamaia, at the Romanian Black Sea shore, Cancan newspaper reports.

Majority starts president’s suspension procedures
A day after the Social Liberal Union (USL) legislators dismissed with a large majority of votes the two Speakers of the Parliament, the Union started today the procedures for the suspension and possible impeachment of President Traian Basescu. This is the second time when the Parliament asks for Basescu’s suspension.

Some 177 Roma repatriated by French authorities to Romania
Some 177 Romanian citizens of Roma origin were repatriated on Tuesday night from Lille, France, Romania TV news channel informs today (Weds).