Latest news with #Austria
Fox News
7 hours ago
- General
- Fox News
Explosive new intelligence report reveals Iran's nuclear weapons program still active
FIRST ON FOX — A new intelligence report claims Iran is continuing with its active nuclear weapons program, which it says can be used to launch missiles over long distances. The startling intelligence gathering of Austrian officials contradicts the assessment of the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told a Senate Intelligence Committee in March that the American intelligence community "continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003." Austria's version of the FBI — the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution — wrote Monday in an intelligence report, "In order to assert and enforce its regional political power ambitions, the Islamic Republic of Iran is striving for comprehensive rearmament, with nuclear weapons to make the regime immune to attack and to expand and consolidate its dominance in the Middle East and beyond." The Austrian domestic intelligence agency report added, "The Iranian nuclear weapons development program is well advanced, and Iran possesses a growing arsenal of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads over long distances." According to an intelligence document obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital, "Iran has developed sophisticated sanctions-evasion networks, which has benefited Russia." The Austrian intelligence findings could be an unwanted wrench in President Trump's negotiation process to resolve the atomic crisis with Iran's rulers because the data outlined in the report suggests the regime will not abandon its drive to secure a nuclear weapon. In response to the Austrian intelligence, a White House official told Fox News Digital, "President Trump is committed to Iran never obtaining a nuclear weapon or the capacity to build one." The danger of the Islamic Republic of Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism (and its illegal atomic weapons program) was cited 99 times in the 211-page report that covers pressing threats to Austria's democracy. "Vienna is home to one of the largest embassies of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Europe, which disguises intelligence officers with diplomatic," the Austrian intelligence report noted. "Iranian intelligence services are familiar with developing and implementing circumvention strategies for the procurement of military equipment, proliferation-sensitive technologies, and materials for weapons of mass destruction," the Austrian intelligence agency said. In 2021, a Belgium court convicted Asadollah Asadi, a former Iranian diplomat based in Vienna, for planning to blow up a 2018 opposition meeting of tens of thousands of Iranian dissidents held outside Paris. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who served as President Trump's personal lawyer at the time, attended the event in France. When asked about the differences in conclusions between the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Austrian intelligence report, David Albright, a physicist and founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital, "The ODNI report is stuck in the past, a remnant of the fallacious unclassified 2007 NIE [National Intelligence Estimate]. "The Austrian report in general is similar to German and British assessments. Both governments, by the way, made clear to (the) U.S. IC [intelligence community] in 2007 that they thought the U.S. assessment was wrong that the Iranian nuclear weapons program ended in 2003. "The German assessment is from BND [Germany's Federal Intelligence Service] station chief in D.C. at that time. The British info is from a senior British non-proliferation official I was having dinner with the day the 2007 NIE was made public. The German said the U.S. was misinterpreting data they all possessed." The Austrian intelligence findings that Tehran is working on an active atomic weapons program "seems clear enough," said Albright. In 2023, Fox News Digital revealed a fresh batch of European intelligence reports showed that Iran sought to bypass U.S. and EU sanctions to secure technology for its nuclear weapons program with a view toward testing an atomic bomb. European intelligence agencies have documented prior to 2015 and after the Iran nuclear deal( JCPOA) was agreed upon that Tehran continued efforts to illegally secure technology for its atomic, biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction programs. The Austrian intelligence report noted that Iran provides weapons to the U.S.-designated terrorist movements Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as to Syrian militias. A spokesperson for ODNI declined to comment. The U.S. State Department and U.S. National Security Council did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital press queries.
BBC News
11 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
Sprangler signs two-year contract extension
Sven Sprangler says "Perth is like home" after the Austrian midfielder signed a two-year contract extension to stay at St Johnstone until summer 30-year-old, who joined in 2023, made 38 appearances last season as Saints were relegated from the top flight."I am absolutely delighted to be staying here for the next two seasons. Perth is like home for me," said Sprangler."I am grateful to the gaffer and the club for this opportunity. Like every game, I will give everything for this club."I am looking forward to the new season and hopefully it is a successful campaign for us. It is a new challenge. We need to try and create a winning culture."
Reuters
15 hours ago
- General
- Reuters
Any US-Iran deal should include 'robust' IAEA inspections, Grossi says
VIENNA, May 28 (Reuters) - Any deal between Iran and the U.S. that would impose fresh nuclear curbs on Iran should include "very robust" inspections by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday. The two countries are holding talks meant to rein in Iranian nuclear activities that have rapidly accelerated since President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of a 2015 deal between Iran and major powers that strictly limited those activities. As that deal has unravelled, Iran has increased the purity to which it is enriching uranium to up to 60%, close to the roughly 90% of nuclear arms-grade, from 3.67% under the deal. It has also scrapped extra IAEA oversight imposed by the 2015 pact. "My impression is that if you have that type of agreement, a solid, very robust inspection by the IAEA ... should be a prerequisite, and I'm sure it will be, because it would imply a very, very serious commitment on the part of Iran, which must be verified," Grossi told reporters. He stopped short, however, of saying Iran should resume implementation of the Additional Protocol, an agreement between the IAEA and member states that broadens the range of IAEA oversight to include snap inspections of undeclared sites. Iran implemented it under the 2015 deal, until the U.S. exit in 2018. Asked if he meant the protocol should be applied, Grossi said "I'm very practical," adding that this was not a subject in the talks. While the IAEA is not part of the talks, he said he was in touch with both sides, including U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. "I don't think they are discussing it in these terms. I don't see the discussion as being a discussion on legal norms to be applied or not. I tend to see this as more of an ad hoc approach," said Grossi. While the talks have appeared to be at an impasse, with the U.S. repeatedly saying Iran should not be allowed to refine uranium at all and Tehran saying that is a red line since enrichment is its inalienable right, Grossi said that gap was not impossible to bridge. "I think there's always a way," he said. "It's not impossible to reconcile the two points of view."
New York Times
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
What I Learned From Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, a Sublime Voice
One September morning in 2009, I glanced at my watch over and over, nerves fluttering in my chest. I was sitting in the front row of a packed concert hall in Schwarzenberg, Austria, surrounded by other vocal students. At precisely 10:30 a.m., the baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau stepped onto the stage. It was the first day of his master class at the Schubertiade, and it was the moment I would meet the artist who had shaped my musical life. I was just 12, growing up in Bavaria, Germany, when I first heard Fischer-Dieskau. Leonard Bernstein had called him 'the greatest singer of the 20th century,' and few would disagree. When my music teacher played us a recording of his interpretation of Schubert's 'Winterreise,' something stirred within me. This voice was different. Immediate. Truthful. Over the years, I listened to dozens of Fischer-Dieskau's recordings, studied them, grew with them, and was continually astonished by them. Now I stood before him. The old video footage of that master class still shows how nervous I was: my vibrato wavering, my breath shallow, my stance unsure. What I did not realize at the time was how open and attentive he was with me. At the end of the course, he offered to work with me privately. For the next three years, I had the privilege of studying with him regularly at his homes in Berlin and Bavaria. Those hours remain among the greatest gifts of my life. In the months leading up to his centennial on Wednesday, I was granted access to his personal archive: letters, diaries, programs, photo albums. It was a journey to find out more about the man behind the name, affectionately known to his friends as FiDi. And it was an immersive experience that helped me to shape my new album 'For Dieter: The Past and the Future.' This recording features songs that defined his artistic path; songs that shaped the singer who would became one of the most revered vocalists of his time, including works from his family circle; songs by Brahms, Schubert and Wolf; as well as compositions written especially for him by Britten and Barber. Through my access to his archive, I was also able to accompany the album with a book that offers a deeply personal portrait of a multifaceted, fascinating man. Born in 1925 in Berlin-Zehlendorf, the third son of Albert and Theodora Fischer, Fischer-Dieskau grew up in an educated and cultured household. His musical gifts were evident early on, and his father, a school principal and avid composer, nurtured them. A shy, anxious child, he did not fit the image of the ideal Nazi soldier. Still, he reluctantly joined the Hitler Youth and was drafted into the army in 1943, serving on the Eastern Front before being taken prisoner in Italy. One of the deepest traumas of his childhood was the loss of his brother Martin, who suffered from epilepsy and was taken from the family's home under the Nazi 'euthanasia' program. He was murdered just weeks later. This experience, Fischer-Dieskau later said, left an indelible mark on his soul. It fueled his deep mistrust of totalitarian ideologies — and his quiet, profound humanism. It was in an American prisoner of war camp near Pisa, Italy, that Fischer-Dieskau's talent was discovered. He began by singing a cappella for fellow prisoners, later accompanied by a piano that was strapped to a truck and transported from camp to camp. In captivity, he began learning much of the song repertoire that would later define him. His first years of apprenticeship began behind barbed wire. Upon returning home in 1947, his rise was meteoric. Fischer-Dieskau became a leading figure in the cultural rebirth of postwar Germany. With him, the lied, or art song, was reborn: Brahms's 'Vier Ernste Gesänge,' lesser-known songs by Schubert and Schumann that were rediscovered, Mahler's 'Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen' and 'Kindertotenlieder' heard anew. Critics spoke of his power to breathe new life into long-forgotten repertoire. Fischer-Dieskau's tone was warm, resonant, intelligently shaped. He interpreted from the text, painted with sound and infused every phrase with meaning. The song recital itself was reimagined under his influence — no longer a miscellany of works, but a carefully curated, thematically cohesive experience. What struck me most in our work together was his uncompromising dedication: Nothing was taken for granted. Every detail was questioned, explored and rediscovered. His tireless pursuit of deeper understanding in text and music, his desire to uncover hidden structures and harmonies, was magnetic. FiDi was not an artist who merely 'delivered'; he sought to recreate, anew, each time. His presence — intense, demanding, inescapable — filled the room with an atmosphere that is difficult to describe but left a lasting imprint. All of these qualities are vividly present in his recordings. Take, for example, the aria 'Mache dich, mein Herze, rein' from Bach's 'St. Matthew Passion.' His voice possesses an almost transcendental serenity, enveloped in a gentle aura of peace. Each phrase is shaped with the precision of an instrumental line, every note adorned with a perfectly even vibrato. The clarity and expressiveness of his consonants reveal his deep connection to the text, using language as his primary vehicle of communication — yet always within the most seamless legato. Even when the text repeats, he finds fresh nuances and colors. There is something disarmingly direct about his voice, but his artistry is never self-serving; the music is always placed above the performer. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he trusted technology. Early on, he recognized the power of recorded media to bring his art to wider audiences. His relationship with the microphone — often jokingly described as his 'longest marriage' — was profound. He treated the LP not only as documentation, but as a stand-alone artistic medium. According to one source, his discography contains over 1,000 releases, in addition to a wealth of radio and television performances. So legendary was his presence in classical music that in the 1999 adaptation of 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' — though set in the 1950s — Tom Ripley is shown traveling with some of Fischer-Dieskau's Schubert recordings. Despite his fame, he was plagued by self-doubt throughout his life. Concert days brought intense anxiety, psychosomatic symptoms and exacting standards — for himself and others. He was not always easy to be around, but perhaps it was precisely this extreme commitment that made his art so singular. Fischer-Dieskau was far more than a German singer. His openness to foreign-language repertoire, shaped by his time as a prisoner of war, made him a symbol of reconciliation. In New York, London and Tel Aviv, audiences flocked to hear him — some in search of a different Germany, others hoping to reconnect with the cultural depth of the homeland they had fled. His voice held something healing, almost redemptive. In the Netherlands, he was honored with a laurel wreath bearing the inscription 'To the beloved enemy.' He was the first German artist to perform in Israel after the Holocaust, with Daniel Barenboim, and was met with rapturous acclaim. The United States embraced him. He toured the country 17 times. In a letter from 1971, he wrote with delight about the 'enormous fun' he was having. He felt that nowhere else had he encountered such an open, fresh, curious audience. 'How dull and unspontaneous old Europe feels by comparison,' he wrote. His first wife, Irmgard Poppen, recorded her impressions in a travel journal from 1958: 'There is an audience here that longs for the old European culture — rare to find in Europe itself nowadays. You can feel how alive the musical spirit still is here.' Privately, his life was marked by tragedy and inner turmoil. The early death of his beloved Irmel, as he called his first wife, plunged him into a deep crisis in 1963. Alone with three young children, consumed by guilt, he stood on the brink of collapse. Later marriages provided only temporary solace. In a 1972 letter to his half brother Achim, he wrote with disarming honesty: 'I haven't had much luck with women. I know my life and circumstances are difficult — I'm nervous and awkward — but still, despite everything, the yearning for a peaceful haven is strong.' It wasn't until his marriage to the soprano Julia Varady, in 1977, that he found the enduring partnership he had so long desired. Yet he remained a seeker — intellectually, artistically, existentially. He sang, conducted, taught, wrote, painted over 5,000 artworks and, for decades, smoked at least a pack of cigarettes a day. Fashion, too, was a secret passion. In letters, he detailed his shopping sprees across Europe, describing fabrics and cuts of the latest suits and women's clothing. Despite all his rigor, he retained a great sense of humor into old age. Of all our shared hours, I most vividly remember the moments when, unnoticed by the world, he let his mischievous spirit shine through — dancing through the living room, laughing. One day, as I arrived at his home, he met me at the door and said seriously: 'Julia and I were talking over breakfast. We both think the name Benjamin Appl is too complicated for an international career. From now on, you should call yourself Ben Appl.' I paused, and though I said nothing, what ran through my mind was: 'Yes, Herr Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.' What moved me most was his emotional state in the final weeks of his life. He had devoted himself to music, to art, with almost complete surrender — relentlessly, unflinchingly and at great personal cost. He spoke openly about not having been the ideal father or friend. That honesty still echoes in me today. Our last meeting, just weeks before his death in 2012, was cloaked in a quiet stillness. As I entered his home near Munich, a space he had largely designed and furnished himself, bearing his unmistakable touch, I sensed the atmosphere had shifted. We worked on Schubert's 'Harfner Songs' — music about solitude, transience and death. He often wept, asking the great questions of life, wondering whether his career had meant anything, or if he was already forgotten. Then suddenly, through tears, he fixed his gaze on me and said with a trembling voice: 'Forgive me, I always tried to sing these songs truthfully, but I never succeeded.' It was a devastating moment. I knew it would be our last. A few weeks later, he passed away — quietly, peacefully, as if one of his songs had simply faded into silence. Fischer-Dieskau set standards like few others in the 20th century. And yet time marches on. To many in younger generations, his name no longer resonates. But this new project of mine, with its accompanying book, is my homage to his legacy. An attempt to keep it alive. A gesture of gratitude. A confession. And perhaps a quiet message to him: 'You gave us so much. And we have not forgotten you.'
Finextra
19 hours ago
- Business
- Finextra
EBAday 2025: Digital euro emerging as a transformative force
At EBAday 2025, two expert panels explored how the digital euro and real-time data can transform finance and beyond — shaping future digital money, guiding PSPs, and helping corporates and SMEs enhance liquidity through automation. 0 This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community. Reinventing money In the first panel, panellists discussed how the digital euro is emerging as a transformative force, raising key questions around future requirements and the broader benefits. Speakers Andrea Meier, DZ Bank; Bruno Mellado, BNP Paribas; Daniel McLean, European Central Bank; Nils Beier, Accenture, and Ville Sointu, Nordea Bank, were moderated by Petia Niederländer, Oesterreichische Nationalbank. Niederländer opened by asking Beier, whether European banks are prepared given developments in the past 12 months - such as tariff policies, stablecoins, tokenised deposits, and innovations such as digital wallets and AI. Beier identified three areas of change: digital assets, international payments, and European retail payments, noting that while banks are experimenting, 'what we see as missing is a joint public private vision strategy that lays the foundation for the industry to move on, supported by the public sector.' Following the importance of public private partnerships, Niederländer asked McLean for an update on the digital euro project. McLean outlined two phases: first, investigating the digital euro's purpose and use cases; the second, nearly completed stage, involves preparing the technology, infrastructure, and key players 'so when, and we hope the legislature, will give us a big thumbs up to go ahead with the digital Euro, we'll be ready to implement it now' explained McLean. Sointu commenting on banks' technology readiness for the digital euro, stressed the need for customer-facing solutions, 'if you look at the definition of a bank as an intermediary for digital euro, we have to take care of all customer facing responsibilities, including changes in every customer touch point, not accounting the different form factors being discussed in terms of distribution, including physical cards and all possible digital form factors.' Meier mentioned focusing on delivering solutions for corporate customers now, rather than waiting for international solutions. 'We need to deliver our customer needs now, we are not focusing on deliverables in three or four years. Therefore we see use cases for digital money for our corporate customers, but the use cases now are in delivering money and payment on DLT base.' Mellado added how there is a need to 'make these account ledgers from central banks, from banks, so they speak to each other in a much more efficient and atomic way. That's the key battle we have to fight.' Niederländer then posed a question around the biggest threat to European sovereignty in payments and financial transactions. Meier discussed the importance of international cooperation and the role of the digital euro in fostering private solutions, with Sointu emphasising the role of the digital euro in solving interoperability issues. The conversation then turned to the benefits of the digital euro, and the role of the project in supporting innovation. Meier outlined the ECB's efforts to facilitate innovation through workstreams with market participants, with McLean reiterating the ECB's commitment to facilitating innovation. Mellado mentioned the importance of addressing liquidity costs and the potential for the digital euro to improve international payments, with Beier highlighting the potential for B2B use cases. Concluding the panel, Niederländer emphasised the need for stronger European cooperation between public and private sectors to effectively advance innovation. Liquidity management and real-time payments The following panel, moderated by Joost Bergen, examined how real-time data and automation can enhance liquidity for corporates and SMEs, and what's needed to achieve real-time cashflow and Treasury as a Service. Speakers included: Alexandre Eclapier, J.P. Morgan; Gauthier Jonckheere, BNY; Ritu Sehgal, Natwest; Tarun Kishore Sonwalkar, Infosys Finacle, and Wim Grosemans, BNP Paribas. The moderator, Joost Bergen, opened by asking about the difference between real-time payments and real-time data. Sehgal explained the distinction, emphasising the complexity of the cash cycle, 'it's the whole of the cash cycle that means receiving payments and sending payments in real time. They're at quite different evolution stages, so the adoption level for one over the other depends on where the corporation is in the life cycle.' On the need for reliable and quality data, Grosemans commented 'real time, data on demand, is key but the question is, where does that have to come from? that's where we also see an important task from our customers, to work further on strategies to ensure consolidation.' Eclapier then summarised how real-time data and payments are seen as essential for better liquidity management and investment opportunities, focusing on three main pillars of liquidity management: 'visibility is about the data you can receive in real time. The control is where the payment fits in, how you move money from one account to another, which can happen on a real time basis. Once you have a combination of both, that's when you can optimise, focusing on the investment opportunities, reducing the boring costs.' Jonckheere mentioned the increasing demand for real-time data driven by regulatory requirements and data analytics. 'Real time data is a big focus for clients to enable their underlying corporate proposition, this is starting to translate into the benefits real time payment could bring into certain use cases', explained Jonckheere. The conversation then turned to the need for better data analytics and AI to support real-time decision-making. Sonwalkar noted 'It's still early days in terms of whether it will be a fully automated AI predictive Treasury as a service on Cloud, available for everybody. That's probably something that on the horizon we are all looking forward to as it reduces the total infrastructure cost and automates a lot of things. Today, what we see in the market is more modular, connected, and integrated.' The potential for Treasury as a Service to support better liquidity management and decision-making is acknowledged, with Bergen summarising the key points discussed, emphasising the importance of liquidity in payments.
