It was modern art and motorcars on display in the Car Culture exhibit at the LENTOS Kunstmuseum in Linz, Austria. We say “was” because we missed the exhibit, which was last year, but we’ve been tipped to a video of some of its offerings, and we wish we had gone.
The image above is two Porsche Cayennes in wood in the midst of a head-on collision – and it gets far more modern artsy from there, such as with the Volkswagen Beetle with the upside down tortoise shell glued to its roof. The exhibit also showed off the pedal-powered aluminum foil Porsche 911 and the similarly powered Fahrradi Farfalla FXX. There are videos below of selections from the piece and the world premiere of the Farhrradi, enjoy.
Luxembourg says it will exchange information with the rest of Europe to help fight tax evasion.
The initiative, which is to start in 2015, follows international pressure on Luxembourg to end its policy of banking secrecy that critics say has helped people hide money from tax authorities.
Luxembourg, a tiny country of half a million people, boasts a huge financial industry with more than 3 trillion euros ($4 trillion) in assets.
The government said Wednesday it will set up an automatic exchange of information about interest payments made to European Union citizens with bank accounts in Luxembourg “so as to ensure taxation according to the laws” of the customer’s home country.
The move is likely to increase pressure on Austria, the EU‘s other holdout on providing tax information.
Austrian authorities have charged a defrocked priest with sexually abusing 15 children as head of a Catholic boarding school.
They say Alfons August Mandorfer is also accused of torturing and neglecting young boys under his care between 1973 and 1993, when he was director of the school run by a monastery in the Upper Austrian town of Kremsmuenster.
But spokesman Andreas Pechatschek of the regional public prosecutor’s office says most of the charges against the 79-year old are based on suspicion of “numerous crimes of a sexual nature.”
Mandorfer was dismissed as a priest after several former pupils accused him several years ago of abuse.
Hundreds of alleged sexual victims of Catholic clergy in Austria have come forward in recent years as part of pedophilia accusations rocking the church internationally.
Nordion to Host European-Based Educational and Scientific
Meetings for Liver Cancer Specialists
Meetings designed to support TheraSphere® treatment growth and expansion in Europe
OTTAWA, Ontario–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Nordion Inc. (TSX: NDN) (NYS: NDZ) , a leading provider of products and services for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, will host two upcoming educational and scientific meetings to support the growth and expansion of TheraSphere® treatment in Europe. On April 11 – 12, Nordion will host its 3rd European TheraSphere User Group Meeting in Vienna, Austria and on April 18, Nordion will offer a Satellite Symposium at the 3rd Interdisciplinary Treatment of Liver Tumors (ITLT) Meeting in Essen, Germany.
“These meetings provide physicians with an opportunity for interactive, real-time discussions on industry best practices and trends in radioembolization and liver cancer therapy,” said Steve West, Nordion CEO and Chief Operating Officer, Targeted Therapies. “With the objective of expanding the adoption of TheraSphere in Europe and further developing our clinical program, these events help us share the latest developments in radioembolization to a broad physician base from various liver cancer disciplines.”
The 3rd European TheraSphere User Group Meeting will cover a variety of topics over two days with a focus on current and future trends in radioembolization presented by speakers from Italy, Germany, France and the United States.
The ITLT Satellite Symposium titled “Clearly Targeted! Looking Beyond Systemic Therapies for the Treatment of Liver Cancer” is intended to provide attendees with the latest data on radioembolization from Nordion’s three European TheraSphere Centres of Excellence. The symposium’s Chairman, Professor Stefan Pluntke, a medical oncologist from Essen Mitte hospital, will moderate the following three sessions from key presenters:
Targeted Liver Cancer Therapy in the Windy City. The Chicago Experience with TheraSphere®, Dr. Riad Salem, Interventional Oncologist, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
The Future is Clear. The Milan Experience with TheraSphere®, Professor Vincenzo Mazzaferro, Liver Transplant Surgeon, Istituto Tumori, Milan, Italy
The Lesson from Essen. Latest Insights on the Use of TheraSphere®, Professor Jörg Schlaak, Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist, Essen University Hospital, Essen, Germany
Austria‘s government has paid its respects to the first passengers shipped by train from Vienna to the Dachau concentration camp by the Nazis 75 years ago.
A delegation led by Transport Minister Doris Bures placed a wreath Monday at Vienna’s Westbahnhof, the railway station where the first trainload of Jews and political prisoners departed for Dachau on April 1, 1938.
Germany‘s annexation of Austria in 1938 was welcomed by the overwhelming majority of its population and many Austrians quickly became Hitler’s henchmen. Since the late 1970s, Austria‘s governments have slowly moved from depicting the country as Hitler’s first victim to readily acknowledging its share of the guilt in Nazi atrocities and atoning for them.
The Nazis killed nearly 42,000 of the more than 200,000 inmates in Dachau, northwest of Munich.
It’s been 10 years since I joined Kexi and thus the KDE community. I think writing down some history and summary makes sense.
2003-03-28: first touch on Kexi sources for porting
It all started at a technology fair in Warsaw, 2003. I wasn’t too keen to go but got free tickets and free time. I met a founder of OpenOffice Polska LLC (later renamed to OpenOffice Software) from Warsaw presenting its adaptation of deeply localized, nicely prebuilt office suite based on OpenOffice.org. The office suite has been open sourced StartOffice over two years before by SUN and then localizations or user handbooks basically did not exist. During the meeting among other topics we also discussed apparent missing bit in the OpenOffice.org suite: a rival of MS Access. I proposed to perform some research on how the app can be added. I got hired and engaged full-time from March 2003.
Join the big guys
The business model was largely similar to what is known from server Linux tools or support subscriptions: offer the tools for free, with the source code, and build products and services (such as support) on top. I was already confident that my adventures with open source would start soon, I just wasn’t sure what project to join.
My initial attempt should have been obvious: say hello to OpenOffice.org to start a MS Access clone project within it. That was nice theory but has never worked since OpenOffice.org project wasn’t even semi-openly governed. Talking to OO.org meant talking to SUN Microsystems. A small company is rarely a part in such relations.
So another solution was to start from scratch or join existing open source project that shares our goals.
By that time a great smart guy Lucijan Busch from Austria already started his work on Kexi which he launched as a summer project in 2002. (a hint for all of you who think you’re too young to start doing some KDE Junior Job, you are wrong, Lucijan was only 16 years old when he started Kexi!)
Lucijan in 2004 or so
MS Windows, positive side effects
Based on the business model of OpenOffice Polska, Kexi had to run natively on Windows to integrate well with to OS. So a side effect of my project was the KDE on Windows initiative that resulted in another general-purpose target for KDE software which is now a subproject on its own. Initial selection of features (such as larger parts of KDElibs) was closely related to needs of Kexi Windows port. I owe a big credit to my employer that it allowed me to contribute in a sane way instead of just accepting code forks.
Naturally, for some time I was the only hacker using MSVC for actual KDE code. Having the Linux KDE Desktop around all the time but about first three …read more
The final step of Nazi control in Austria was registration and confiscation of guns. (Fairly Civil)
It’s not a surprise. Gun Registration often leads to confiscation.
Now this… Harry Reid is pushing a gun control bill that will likely lead to a national gun registry.
The Foundry reported:
As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) must know, Americans who own firearms have a special sensitivity to a “Big Brother” federal government that wants to keep centralized records on who owns what guns and where in America. Loose language in his gun control bill (S. 649) could start America down that slippery slope.
Since the Second Amendment guarantees to the people the right to keep and bear arms, many Americans look askance at efforts to create centralized records that might some day, in some distant future neither wanted nor expected, facilitate a despotic government’s efforts to disarm the populace or ensure that its supporters but not its opponents possess arms. Some Americans look at history and view that concern as far-fetched; others look at history and see careful attention to that concern as essential to maintaining freedom…
The final step of Nazi control in Austria was registration and confiscation of guns. (Fairly Civil)
It’s not a surprise. Gun Registration often leads to confiscation.
Now this… Harry Reid is pushing a gun control bill that will likely lead to a national gun registry.
The Foundry reported:
As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) must know, Americans who own firearms have a special sensitivity to a “Big Brother” federal government that wants to keep centralized records on who owns what guns and where in America. Loose language in his gun control bill (S. 649) could start America down that slippery slope.
Since the Second Amendment guarantees to the people the right to keep and bear arms, many Americans look askance at efforts to create centralized records that might some day, in some distant future neither wanted nor expected, facilitate a despotic government’s efforts to disarm the populace or ensure that its supporters but not its opponents possess arms. Some Americans look at history and view that concern as far-fetched; others look at history and see careful attention to that concern as essential to maintaining freedom…
A top European Union official says he’s worried by a widening gap between the continent’s financially troubled countries — mostly in the south — and the more prosperous ones to the north as a result of the debt crisis.
Jose Manuel Barroso, the Portuguese head of the EU‘s executive Commission, said during a visit to Austria on Thursday that countries that are doing well “should show solidarity to the others.”
Bailing out the 17-nation eurozone’s strugglers hasn’t been popular in richer countries such as Austria. Meanwhile, many in southern Europe resent the tough conditions imposed in exchange for aid.
Barroso said that “there is a widening gap between what we usually call the north and the south because of the crisis.”
pSivida Announces Tech Evaluation Agreement With Leading Global Pharmaceutical Company
WATERTOWN, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– pSivida Corp. (NASDAQ:PSDV; ASX:PVA), a specialty pharmaceutical company that is a leader in the development of sustained release ophthalmic drug treatments, today announced that it has signed a funded technology evaluation agreement with a leading global pharmaceutical company. The agreement will evaluate pSivida’s proprietary Durasert™ and Tethadur™ technologies for this pharmaceutical company’s select products in ophthalmology. The Durasert technology system delivers specific quantities of drugs directly to a target site in the body at controlled rates for predetermined periods of time ranging from weeks to months. Tethadur is pSivida’s proprietary technology for the delivery of proteins, peptides and antibodies.
“We are extremely pleased to be working with another global pharmaceutical company to apply our unique technologies to develop transformational products in ophthalmology,” said Dr. Paul Ashton, pSivida president and CEO.
pSivida has developed three of the four sustained release devices for retinal diseases that have been approved in either the US or Europe, the most recent being ILUVIEN®, partnered with Alimera and approved in multiple EU countries. Independently, pSivida is developing an injectable, sustained release product to treat uveitis affecting the back of the eye (posterior uveitis) and an injectable, bioerodible product to treat glaucoma and ocular hypertension in collaboration with Pfizer.
About pSivida Corp.
pSivida Corp., headquartered in Watertown, MA, develops tiny, sustained release, drug delivery products designed to deliver drugs at a controlled and steady rate for months or years. pSivida is currently focused on treatment of chronic diseases of the back of the eye utilizing its core technology systems, Durasert™ and BioSilicon™. The injectable, sustained release micro-insert ILUVIEN® for the treatment of chronic Diabetic Macula Edema (DME), licensed to Alimera Sciences, Inc., has received marketing authorization in Austria, France, Germany, Portugal, the U.K. and Spain and is awaiting authorization in Italy. ILUVIEN® for DME has not been approved in the US. pSivida plans to institute pivotal Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of posterior uveitis with the same micro-insert as ILUVIEN® for DME. An investigator-sponsored clinical trial is ongoing for an injectable, bioerodible micro-insert to treat glaucoma and ocular hypertension. pSivida’s two FDA-approved products, Retisert® and Vitrasert®, are implants that provide long-term, sustained drug delivery to treat two other chronic diseases of the retina.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENTS UNDER THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995: Various statements made in this release are forward-looking, and are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and potentially inaccurate assumptions. All statements that address activities, events or developments that we intend, …read more
By Tim Worstall, Contributor You may or may not recall back in January when there was a flurry of stories about the Turkish Cultural Community of Austria and their complaints about a Lego kit based on Star Wars. Their complaint boiled down to the idea that Jabba the Hut’s palace looked like Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. And that this was therefore a slur upon all Muslims. …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
For retirees hoping to live long and prosper in their golden years, the U.S. is only the 19th best place to be, according to a new index by the NGAM Durable Portfolio Research Center.
“The message is clear: You will be called on to finance more of your retirement,” John Hailer, NGAM‘s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
“Citizens of other industrialized nations can rely on strong social safety nets in old age, at least for now. In the U.S., we encourage workers to plan, save and invest, and promote policies that help them meet their future needs.”
The U.S. was also overshadowed by its neighbor to the North, Canada (No. 13), Japan (No. 15), and came in just one spot ahead of the United Kingdom (No. 20).
Here’s where the U.S. falls behind:
A costly health care system. Although the U.S. spends more on health care per capita than any other country in the world, consumers are still left to cover a big portion of those costs on their own. For retirees, those costs only increase with age. On average, a 65-year-old couple will shell out more than $250,000 for out-of-pocket health care spending needs, according to U.S. News and World Report. Nearly all the high-ranking countries in the NGAM index have universal health care systems in place.
Aging boomers. Americans are living longer than ever, but federally-sponsored social programs that so many older consumers rely on today may not be able to sustain future retirees. According to NGAM, the number of people aged 65 or older is on track to triple by 2050. There’s no telling how long Social Security will last as a viable income option, and as it stands, more than half of married couples and 74 percent of unmarried persons receive 50 percent or more of their income from Social Security. It’s more vital than ever for consumers to re-estimate how much they’ll need to support themselves in retirement.
Retirement savings deficit. It should come as no surprise that more consumers are relying on social programs to supplement their income in old age. The Great Recession played its roll in pummeling nest eggs for millions of workers, but U.S. workers aren’t exactly known for their savvy savings strategy to begin with. More than 53 percent of American workers 30 and older are on a path that will leave them unprepared for retirement, according to a recent U.S. Senate Report. And as it stands, only one-third of eligible workers …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By John JohnsonYou know when you bring your monkey to Germany and forget the paperwork? Yeah, Justin Bieber made that mistake, too, last week. Customs officials in Munich confiscated the animal and put it in quarantine, reports AP . Biebs is now on his way to Austria, but it’s not clear whether his… …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
Digital River Expands Its Global Online Payments Portfolio with Prepaid Payment Solution, paysafecard
MINNEAPOLIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Digital River, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRIV), the revenue growth expert in global cloud commerce, announced it has expanded its online payments portfolio with paysafecard, a solution of paysafecard.com Wertkarten AG. Online merchants using Digital River‘s enterprise commerce platform will be able to accept the prepaid electronic payment method at checkout. Through its global e-commerce solutions, Digital River offers online merchants more than 40 international and local payment options, and over 170 transaction and display currencies. In addition, the company expects to handle more than $20 billion in online transactions in 2013.
paysafecard enables consumers to make secure online purchases without requiring access to a credit card or bank account and can be purchased with cash or credit at one of 450,000 brick-and-mortar retail outlets. A leader in Europe, paysafecard is gaining popularity in the gaming, social media and online communities, and music, film and entertainment industries. It is used in 33 countries across Europe, North America and South America.
“Digital River is committed to continuing to expand our e-payments portfolio with solutions that are global and secure, and that help our customers expand their addressable markets and increase conversions,” said Souheil Badran, senior vice president and general manager for Digital River World Payments. “paysafecard makes online purchasing possible for consumers who either don’t have bank accounts or credit cards or are reluctant to use credit cards online.”
“By adding paysafecard to Digital River‘s e-payments portfolio, we can help them service an untapped demographic of consumers while increasing our exposure among games and software companies – core verticals where Digital River has established market leadership,” said Michael Mueller, CEO, paysafecard. “In 2012, paysafecard processed more than 55 million transactions. In 2013, one of our key goals is to increase that number by strengthening our footprint in the U.S., deepening our coverage in industries where we already have a presence, and expanding into new markets.”
About paysafecard
paysafecard.com Wertkarten AG, founded in 2000 in Austria and Germany, has established itself as Europe‘s leading provider for prepaid payment solutions. The paysafecard product is available in 33 countries worldwide and available at more than 450,000 outlets across Europe and America. In 2012, the company won the Paybefore Award for being the ‘Best Digital Currency’ and the Paybefore Award Europe for being the ‘Most Innovative Prepaid Solution.’ For more information, visit www.paysafecardgroup.com
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down after Cyprus secured a bailout over the weekend by agreeing downsize the country’s financial sector and penalize depositors with more than 100,000 euros in their accounts. As of 1:20 p.m. EDT, the Dow is down 108 points, or 0.74%, to 14,404. The S&P 500 is down 0.6% to 1,548.
There were no U.S. economic releases today. Early this morning Cyprus agreed to a deal with the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund wherein the three institutions would would give Cyprus a $10 billion euro bailout. In return, Cyprus agreed to restructure the country’s two largest banks and downsize the financial sector to a level in line with the EU average. The banks’ equity holders, bondholders, and bank accounts holding more than $100,000 euros will all take large hits. Deposits in Cypriot banks are insured to 100,000 euros, so bank accounts with less than 100,000 euros will not be hit.
Now investors are worrying about a spread of fear across the EU banking markets as people with large accounts in weak banks realize they could lose a significant amount of money if their banks ever went bankrupt. For more on the situation in Cyprus, Fool contributor John Maxfield took a look at “Why Cyprus Matters.”
Today’s Dow leaders Today’s Dow leader is UnitedHealth , up 0.7%. This morning Arizona’s Medicaid system announced that it would award acute-care contracts to UnitedHealth and Health Net. The big loser in this was Vanguard Health Systems, whose stock is down 7% on the news. The Arizona contract accounted for 13% of Vanguard Health‘s revenue. While not a massive mover for UnitedHealth, the Arizona win strengthens the company’s position in Arizona and generally shows the strength of the company’s operations and offerings.
Second on the Dow today is Cisco , up 0.6%. This morning Cisco announced it would acquire Austria-based SolveDirect, a provider of cloud-delivered services management. While the terms of the deal were not announced, Cisco is a serial acquirer, and this fits in with Cisco’s strategy of pursuing multiple small acquisitions to keep the company at the forefront of the IT world.
Once a highflying tech darling, Cisco is now on the radar of value-oriented dividend-lovers. Get the low down on the routing juggernaut in The Motley Fool’s premium report. Click here now to get started.
A mysterious parasitoid wasp was found in the Böhmerwald (Northeast Austria) and reared in the garden of the amateur entomologist Ewald Altenhofer of Gross Gerungs municipality, Austria. The parasitoid was identified by Kees van Achterberg, senior researcher at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, the Netherlands, as the rare Seleucus cuneiformis. It is the first time that a tip of its biology was discovered. The study was published in the open access journal Journal of Hymenoptera Research. …read more Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
1545 –German Parliament opens in Worms 1792 – Benjamin West (US) becomes president of Royal Academy of London 1944 – 811 British bombers attack Berlin 1973 – Professional track debut of Kip Keino defeating Jim Ryun in the mile 1996 –MTA raises NYC bridge tolls to $3.50 each way 2007 – The Australian Labor Party is reinstated after the New South Wales state elections.
1703 – Jose F de Isla, [Francisco de Salazar], Spanish Jesuit/writer 1835 – Josef Stefan, Austria, physicist (Stefan-Boltzmann law) 1907 – Lydia Korneevna Chukovskaya, writer 1907 – Martin Kosleck, Germany, actor (Pursuit to Algiers) 1922 – Dorothy Irene Height, president (national council of negro women) 1982 – Nivea, American singer
1631 – Philipp Dulichius, composer, dies at 68 1773 – Philip Dormer Stanhope, English statesman (b. 1694) 1869 – Antoine-Henri Jomini, French general (b. 1779) 1881 – Friedrich Hecker, German revolutionary republic politician, dies at 69 1915 – Karol Olszewski, Polish scientist (b. 1846) 1975 – Muriel Hutchinson, actor (Another Thin Man), dies at 60
An Islamic extremist wanted by Germany for allegedly calling for terrorist attacks on Europe has been arrested in Turkey and Berlin is negotiating his extradition, an official said Friday.
Mohamed Mahmoud, 27, was picked up Tuesday in the southeastern province of Hatay near the Syrian border, a German security official with knowledge of the talks said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter. He said Germany has already begun preliminary proceedings to have Mahmoud extradited.
“We are very confident we will get him to Germany,” he said.
Mahmoud was jailed in his native Austria in 2007 for being a leader of the Global Islamic Media Front, which creates and distributes terrorist propaganda videos. Among the accusations, police said he threatened both Austria and Germany with attacks if they did not withdraw military personnel from Afghanistan.
Following his release in 2011, Mahmoud moved to Germany and became an imam with the ultraconservative Salafi movement, which has been growing rapidly in the country by attracting both Muslims and converts. They have been under close observation since 2010, but that was stepped up further last year after they clashed with police in Bonn last year at a rally of a far-right party.
His group, Millatu Ibrahim, was banned last June. Officials at the time said it taught followers to reject German law and follow Islamic Shariah law and that “the unbelievers are the enemy.” Mahmoud, who had already been expelled from Germany ahead of the ban, resurfaced in Egypt — where his father is from — and called on his followers to join him. German security officials say dozens of “jihad travelers” responded, traveling to Egypt and then going on to fight elsewhere — largely in Mali, Syria and Yemen.
While in Egypt, Mahmoud is also alleged to have produced online German-language videos for the Global Islamic Media Front calling for terrorist attacks in Europe.
It was not immediately clear when he left Egypt nor whether he was on his way to Syria when he was arrested in Turkey.
Police officials in Ankara and Hatay province said they did not have any information on the arrest. The Austrian Foreign Ministry said it was aware of the arrest but said the man’s identity had not yet been confirmed.
Austria‘s Roman Catholic church is forbidding a priest from preaching to his flock at Easter Mass because of his comments against homosexuals and Muslims.
The move comes after the priest, Karl Tropper, described homosexuality as “perverse,” in a recent newspaper interview. He has also described Islam as “pure racism.”
Spokesman Georg Plank of Austria‘s south eastern Graz-Seckau diocese said Friday that Tropper, 75, has repeatedly used an “unacceptably simplistic and inciting tone” about homosexuality and Islam.
He adds that this can no longer be explained away to the “obstinacy of old age.”
Plank also notes Tropper will be pensioned Aug. 31.
A security official says an Islamic extremist who has allegedly called for terrorist attacks on Europe has been arrested in Turkey and Germany will seek his extradition.
The German official said Friday Mohamed Mahmoud was picked up Tuesday in the southeastern province of Hatay near the Syrian border. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter on the record.
Mahmoud, who was jailed in his native Austria in 2007 for ties to al-Qaida, moved to Germany upon his release in 2011 and became an imam with the ultraconservative Salafi movement.
He was expelled from Germany in 2012 and resurfaced in Egypt where he is alleged to have produced online German-language videos for the Global Islamic Media Front calling for terrorist attacks in Europe.
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You know when you bring your monkey to 
