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Annoyed’: Austria’s National Lockdown Dampens Holiday Mood

Published

4 years ago

November 24, 2021

Editor

After indulging in one last night out, Austrians awoke groggily Monday to their fourth national lockdown of this pandemic, cutting short a Christmas season of shared merriment to fight rising coronavirus infections.

In the capital, Vienna, people headed to work, brought children to school or exercised outdoors, more or less normally. This was not the draconian lockdown of the pandemic’s dawn in 2020, when movements were strictly monitored. Police cars circulated Monday, in keeping with government promises to step up controls, but no spot checks were being made.

“I am particularly annoyed by the lockdown,” said Georg Huber, a lawyer on his way to the office. “One should have implemented a mandatory vaccination in the summer, when it turned out it would not be enough to hope that people get there without any coercion. I think the government just overslept.”

Austria has one of the lowest vaccination rates in western Europe, about 66% of its population of 8.9 million people, with a vocal minority who refuse to be inoculated.

The government announced a 10-day nationwide lockdown on Friday as the average daily COVID-19 deaths tripled in recent weeks and hospitals in hard-hit states warned that intensive care units were hitting capacity. It also pledged to be the first European country to mandate vaccines beginning Feb. 1.

Under the lockdown, people can leave their homes only for specific reasons, including buying groceries, going to the doctor or exercising. Day care centers and schools remained open for those who need them, but parents were asked to keep children at home if possible.

The restrictions are likely to be extended, for a total of 20 days, after which the government has indicated plans to open up so many Austrians can celebrate Christmas as normal. Restrictions, however, are expected to remain for the unvaccinated.

At Vienna’s largest vaccine center, the government’s actions were apparently pushing more people to get vaccinated. The daily numbers of vaccinations has grown from 1,000 a day two weeks ago to 12,000 a day this week, with at least 20% coming for their first jab.

“There are some who waited to see how it was going with the vaccinations, which is a deeply human problem,″ said Dr. Susanne Drapalik, the chief physician for Samaritans Federation, which is running the center. Others were getting vaccinated so they can work, such as truck drivers who drive to countries where a health pass is required, or getting jabs ahead of the Feb. 1 mandate.

“Compulsory vaccinations are a hotly debated topic,″ Drapalik said. ”The argument that every citizen has a responsibility to himself and to others did not work.”

Barbara Kier, a singer and voice-over actor, was there for her booster shot, but said her 57-year-old mother was still unpersuaded to get her first.

“I can only give her my opinion. She must decide for herself,″ she said ”She said she won’t go yet, not that she will never go. I don’t know what she is waiting for!”

Health Minister Wolfgang Mueckstein said the lockdown was needed to bring down the number of new daily infections, which have spiked to as many as 15,000 a day, and to reduce the number of virus patients in intensive care. But most of all, he said, it was needed to bring relief “to the people who work in this sector, the nurses and doctors who cannot take it anymore.”

“It is a situation where we have to react now. The only way is with a lockdown, a relatively hard method, to lower the numbers with a wooden hammer,” Mueckstein told national broadcaster ORF.

Political analysts say the Austrian government did not effectively communicate the importance of vaccines early enough, and that many Austrians did not take the vaccination campaign seriously after former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz declared the pandemic “over” last summer. Kurz was forced out in a corruption scandal last month, replaced by his foreign minister, Alexander Schallenberg, who within a week expanded the controversial lockdown on Austria’s unvaccinated people to a lockdown for everyone.

Schallenberg also has pledged to make vaccinations mandatory by Feb. 1, with details still to be hammered out. Experts have speculated that it could be limited to certain age groups or even tied to employment, as Italy has done. In Italy, health passes are required to enter workplaces, and can be obtained with a negative test as well.

On the eve of Austria’s latest lockdown, people flocked to Christmas markets for one last night of public socializing and in-person holiday shopping. The Austrian Trade Association said sales were up 15% on Saturday, compared with the same day in 2019, before the pandemic.

Still, many business owners feared the pre-lockdown boost would not be enough to salvage their holiday season.

Boutiques in Vienna’s main shopping district adjusted to the lockdown by putting up signs advising customers they could order online for pickup. Sales people remained on the job behind locked doors to fill orders.

Sophie Souffle, who sells jewelry at markets all year round, makes most of her money over the six-week Christmas market period. Any promised help from the government will be enough to get by, she said, “but it won’t be enough to invest for future business.”

She looked around Sunday as people strolled among the market stands, window shopping more than buying, and socialized in small groups, sensing more desperation than holiday spirit.

(AP)

Headline

Prosecutors Seek 11-year Sentence For Diddy, Citing ‘Lack Of Remorse’

Published

55 minutes ago

October 3, 2025

Editor

Prosecutors urged a federal judge Friday to sentence Sean “Diddy” Combs to more than a decade behind bars for his conviction on two prostitution-related counts, saying the music mogul had shown a lack of remorse.

“This is not a person who has accepted responsibility,” prosecutor Christy Slavik told the New York court at Diddy’s sentencing hearing.

“His remorse was qualified. It’s as though he thinks the law doesn’t apply to him,” Slavik said in arguing for an 11-year prison sentence for the 55-year-old hip-hop innovator. ” “His respect for the law is just lip service.”

Combs’s lawyers have asked the judge for a 14-month sentence, which would effectively be time served.

Slavik said Combs had booked speaking engagements in Miami next week in anticipation of a light sentence, which she called “the height of hubris.”

Judge Arun Subramanian for his part said federal sentencing guidelines suggested a prison term of between six and seven years although he has the latitude to impose more or less.

The judge also noted an apparent lack of remorse, saying Combs has “challenged his factual guilt full-throatedly.”

Combs was expected to address the court at the sentencing hearing after submitting a letter to the judge on Thursday pleading for mercy and saying he had “lost my way.”

Following two months of often searing testimony, jurors in July rejected the most serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering against Combs, sparing him the prospect of life in prison.

Combs’s mother and six of his children were in court on Friday and have submitted letters to the judge in his support.

In his plea to the judge, Combs apologised for his conduct, saying he was “scared to death” to be away from his family and vowing he “will never commit a crime again.”

“I lost my way,” he wrote. “I got lost in my journey. Lost in the drugs and the excess.”

Combs’s former girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, asked the judge in a letter of her own to consider “the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control.”

– ‘Humbled and broken’ –

Ventura, the 39-year-old singer known as Cassie, testified for days while heavily pregnant.

She described in wrenching detail physical, emotional and sexual abuse she suffered while in a more than decade-long relationship with Combs.

Ventura and another woman, identified as Jane, said they were coerced into performing so-called “freak-offs”: sexual marathons with hired men that Combs directed and sometimes filmed.

“The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating me as I tried to run away from a freak off in 2016,” Ventura wrote.

“People watched this footage dozens of times, seeing my body thrown to the ground, my hands over my head, curled into a fetal position to shield me from the worst blows,” she said, noting she has nightmares and flashbacks “on a regular, everyday basis.”

Ventura said she and her family had left the New York area for fear of “retribution” from Combs if he is released.

The defense didn’t deny Combs’s sexual activity but insisted it was consensual.

They also didn’t deny Combs’s years of violence against both romantic partners as well as employees — but they said it didn’t meet the legal threshold for the grave charges he faced.

Jurors took their side.

The conviction on lesser if still serious counts stemmed from a federal statute that makes it illegal to transport people across state lines for prostitution.

Combs has been incarcerated in Brooklyn for more than a year.

He said his time in prison has left him “reborn.”

“I have been humbled and broken to my core,” Combs wrote.
AFP

Headline

Madagascar’s President Denounces ‘Coup Attempt’ As Gen Z Protests Escalate

Published

56 minutes ago

October 3, 2025

Editor

Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina condemned on Friday what he said was an attempt to topple his government as fresh protests flared against the political elite and years of misrule.

The poverty-stricken Indian Ocean island has been rocked by near-daily demonstrations called on social media by a movement called “Gen Z”, to which security forces have responded with arrests, tear gas, and bullets.

The protests forced Rajoelina to sack his government on Monday and invite dialogue to restore order.

But that was not enough to placate the anger, and demonstrators have demanded the president’s resignation over his failure to deliver basic services, including water and electricity.

“They have been exploited to provoke a coup,” the 51-year-old said in an online video on Friday in reference to the mostly young protesters.

“What I want to tell you is that some people want to destroy our country,” he said, without naming who he alleged was behind the move.

“Countries and agencies paid for this movement to get me out, not through elections, but for profit to take power like other African countries,” Rajoelina continued in a live video on his Facebook page.

“That’s why I tell you to be very careful,” he said.

He also blamed a “cyberattack” for “mass manipulation”.

– ‘Contempt’ –

The Gen Z movement rejected Rajoelina’s speech as “senseless”, deploring his “contempt” for young people.

“We represent an angry people who can no longer be manipulated,” they said in statements on social media.

They demanded to be “consulted and heard” in the choice of a new premier, and called for an investigation into the police crackdown.

The group, which announced its spokespeople and outlined its motivations the day before, vowed to take “all necessary measures” if the president did not “respond favourably” within 24 hours.

At least 22 people have been killed and hundreds injured since the protests started, according to the United Nations, a toll the government has denied as based on rumours or misinformation.

Protesters mobilised again on Friday in several neighbourhoods of the capital Antananarivo after a 24-hour “strategic” pause.

But the city centre remained under strict gridlock and a heavy security presence.

Police pickups sped through the city centre, AFP journalists saw, and security forces fired tear gas sporadically while shops stayed shut along the capital’s main Independence Avenue.

Students who were demonstrating in the northern coastal city of Mahajanga were also dispersed, according to local media.

In the south, protests were seen in Toliara and Fianarantsoa.

– Strike –

Customs personnel and prison staff unions announced a three-day strike on Friday afternoon, following previous calls for a general strike by several unions, including those representing national water and electricity workers.

In a rare show of unity, the political opposition has also thrown its support behind Gen Z.

The youth-led movement has adopted tactics seen in recent movements in Nepal, Indonesia, and the Philippines, including the use of the pirate skull symbol from the Japanese anime “One Piece”.

The protests, which started on 25 September, are the latest bout of unrest in Madagascar since independence from France in 1960, posing the most significant challenge yet to Rajoelina’s tenure since his 2023 re-election.

Rajoelina said earlier he had met Madagascan religious leaders in a bid to quell the crisis, after seeing diplomats and representatives from the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations.

The former mayor of Antananarivo first came to power in 2009 following a coup sparked by an uprising that ousted former president Marc Ravalomanana.

After not contesting the 2013 election under international pressure, he was voted back into office in 2018 and re-elected in 2023 in contested polls.

Despite its natural resources, Madagascar remains among the world’s poorest countries.

Nearly three-quarters of its population of 32 million were living below the poverty line in 2022, according to the World Bank.

Corruption is widespread, with the country ranking 140th out of 180 in Transparency International’s index.

AFP

Headline

White House Threatens Mass Firings Amid Stalled Shutdown Talks

Published

1 day ago

October 2, 2025

Editor

Efforts to swiftly end the US government shutdown collapsed Wednesday as Democrats in Congress went home without resolving a funding stand-off with President Donald Trump and the White House threatened public sector jobs.

Federal funding expired at midnight after Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, prompting agencies to wind down services, while the White House warned of “imminent” firings of public sector workers.

Senate Democrats — who are demanding extended health care subsidies for low-income families — refused to help the majority Republicans approve a House-passed bill that would have reopened the government for several weeks while negotiations continue.

Voting in the Senate is now adjourned until Friday, frustrating hopes for a quick resolution.

Around 750,000 federal employees are expected to be placed on furlough — a kind of enforced leave, with pay withheld until they return to work.

Essential workers, such as the military and border agents, may be forced to work without pay and some will likely miss their checks beginning next week. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association voiced fears for air safety as more than 2,300 members were sent home.

The crisis has higher stakes than previous shutdowns, with Trump racing to enact hard-right policies that include slashing government departments and threatening to turn many of the furloughs into mass firings.

Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters the administration was “working with agencies across the board to identify where cuts can be made… and we believe that layoffs are imminent.”

The Department of Energy announced plans to terminate clean energy projects, all in blue states, according to White House official Russell Vought, who said the slashed funding had been used to advance “the Left’s climate agenda”.

The Department of Transportation also froze nearly $18 billion in federal funding for major infrastructure projects in New York, which Governor Kathy Hochul called “political payback”.

– ‘Ridiculous’ –

Shutdowns are a periodic feature of gridlocked Washington, although this is the first since a record 35-day pause during Trump’s first term in 2019.

They are unpopular because services used by ordinary voters, from national parks to permit applications, become unavailable.

“I think our government needs to learn how to work together for the people and find a way to make things not happen like this,” said Terese Johnston, a 61-year-old retired tour guide visiting Washington from California as the government shut down.

“You compromise. You find ways. So everybody gives a little bit, everybody takes a little bit, and things work.”

Democrats — spurred by grassroots anger over the expiring health care subsidies and Trump’s dismantling of government agencies — have been withholding Senate votes to fund the government as leverage to try and force negotiations.

As the messaging war over the shutdown intensified, Vice President JD Vance took center stage at a White House briefing normally headed by Leavitt to upbraid Democrats over their demands.

“They said to us, ‘we will open the government, but only if you give billions of dollars of funding for health care for illegal aliens.’ That’s a ridiculous proposition,” Vance said in a rare appearance in the briefing room.

US law demands that anyone who presents at a publicly funded emergency room is treated, regardless of their ability to pay. But it bars undocumented immigrants from receiving the health care benefits Democrats are demanding, and the party has not called for a new act of Congress to change that.

– No compromise –

Republicans in the House of Representatives have already passed a stop-gap funding fix to keep federal functions running through late November while a longer-term plan is thrashed out.

But the 100-member Senate does not have the 60 votes required to send it to Trump’s desk, and Democrats say they won’t help unless Republicans compromise on their planned spending cuts — especially in health care.

Senate Republican leaders, who have just one rebel in their own ranks, need eight Democrats to join the majority and rubber-stamp the House-passed bill.

They got three moderates to cross the aisle in an initial vote Tuesday and were hoping to peel off five more as the shutdown chaos starts to bite. But Wednesday’s result went the same way.

Congress is not voting Thursday out of respect for the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday but the Senate returns to work on Friday and may be in session through the weekend.

The House is not due back until next week.

AFP