Six people were killed when an avalanche trapped them under eight feet of snow as they hiked in the Alps of Western Austria, according to authorities.

An avalanche buried an Austrian ski resort’s street under more than 12 feet of snow today.

Powerful storms hit central Europe today, killing at least eight people, media and officials said.

Security around Austrian crystal heiress Fiona Swarovski has been tightened after police thwarted an alleged plot by a Romanian gang to kidnap her for ransom.

A young brown bear that emerged from dense forests in the south-western Austrian province of Vorarlberg and attacked three sheep in a stall earlier this week has become the talk of the town in the region, where the species was last spotted in 1860.

IBEC has said it is seeking legal advice, with a view to lodging a formal complaint with the European Commission against Dublin City Council’s plan to ban heavy goods vehicles (HGV) from the city.

An instructor’s ski broke free of its binding and became a missile, striking and critically injuring a Dutch tourist in Austria’s Alps, authorities said today.

Continuing heavy snow fall in Austria’s Alpine regions raised the risk of avalanches today and prompted urgent safety warnings to hikers and skiers to avoid the areas deemed most prone to snow slides.

THE Government yesterday said an EU court ruling overturning a ban on so-called super trucks would have absolutely no repercussions for Ireland.

The Government could reportedly be forced to accept so-called "super trucks" on Irish roads as a result of a European Court of Justice ruling.

RESCUE workers airlifted residents from a half-submerged riverside district of the Swiss capital yesterday as large swathes of central and southern Europe remained underwater and the death toll from flooding rose to 42.

Rescue workers airlifted residents from a half-submerged riverside district of the Swiss capital today as large swathes of central and southern Europe remained underwater and the death toll from flooding rose to 42.

Rescue workers piled sandbags to hold back surging floodwaters today and evacuated hundreds of people from alpine valleys in Austria and southern Germany as heavy rains and landslides battered central and southern Europe.

The Austrian army evacuated 500 guests – half of them schoolchildren on a ski course – from an alpine village isolated by avalanches today.

Rescue workers today resumed their search for an American snowboarder missing after alpine avalanches in Austria killed at least three people, including a Canadian and a German seeking the dangerous thrill of skiing off-trail in virgin snow.

Avalanches killed a skier and seriously injured two others in the Austrian Alps today after experts warned that recent storms have created unstable conditions ripe for more snow slides.

Police in Austria closed a stretch of a key road linking Germany and Italy today as trucking companies staged a blockade in protest at high taxes and road fees.

An Austrian waitress is to go on on trial accused of negligence for allowing a drunken customer take part in a game that killed him.

A minor earthquake shook the alpine province of Tyrol today, the Austrian Earthquake Institute said.

A German family-of-four died when an avalanche smashed into their car on an Austrian road.

Four people have been killed as a 200-metre wide avalanche hit a road in the Austrian Tyrol.

The EU has appealed to consumers not to panic after evidence surfaced that mad cow disease may be more widespread than previously believed.