Brigitte Bierlein, the former head of Austria’s Constitutional Court who became the country’s first female chancellor in an interim government in 2019, has died.

Prosecutors say Austria’s former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has been charged with making false statements to a parliamentary inquiry into alleged corruption in his first government, which collapsed in a scandal in 2019.

Karl Nehammer has been sworn in as Austria’s third chancellor in two months.

Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg has announced he is stepping down just two months after taking over from predecessor Sebastian Kurz.

Austrian news agency APA has reported that former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has been sworn as a member of parliament after resigning last week amid corruption allegations.

Austria has a new chancellor, two days after former leader Sebastian Kurz resigned amid corruption allegations.

Austria’s president has welcomed Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s resignation and demanded that the country’s politicians work hard to restore voters’ trust after a several-day drama that brought the government to the brink of collapse.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz says he plans to step down in an effort to defuse a government crisis triggered by prosecutors’ announcement that he is a target of a corruption investigation.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is denying wrongdoing and making clear he doesn't plan to step down despite being under investigation in a bribery probe.

Austria’s conservative People’s Party has voted overwhelmingly to reelect Chancellor Sebastian Kurz as its leader at a party gathering.

A Vienna court has convicted a former Austrian vice chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache of corruption for trying to change laws to favor a private hospital in exchange for donations to his party.

Austria’s far-right Freedom Party has nominated Herbert Kickl, the country’s combative former interior minister, as its new leader.

The spread of more contagious virus variants has pushed hospitals in some EU countries to their limit. That, combined with the lack of vaccines available in Europe, has pushed several EU nations to impose strict lockdown measures over the Easter holidays. An EU source said while the bloc had allowed 21 million vaccine doses to be exported to the U.K. since Dec. 1, while none had come to the EU from Britain. Overall, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU had allowed exports totaling 77 million vaccine doses, proof that the bloc should not be accused of vaccine nationalism. Based on the EU's contracts with manufacturers, the commission expressed confidence that 360 million vaccine doses will be delivered during the second quarter of the year.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke University issued a quarantine order for all of its undergraduates effective Saturday night due to a coronavirus outbreak caused by students who attended recruitment parties, the school said. The university said in a statement that all undergraduate students will be forced to stay-in-place until at least March 21. Suspension or dismissal from the school are potential punishments for “flagrant or repeat violators.”Over the past week, the school has reported more than 180 positive coronavirus cases among students. AdItaly has now tallied some 3.2 million cases in the pandemic. The COVAX alliance aims to share COVID-19 vaccines with more than 90 lower and middle-income nations.

WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials are warning health professionals about the risk of false positive results with a widely used laboratory test for COVID-19 and flu. The Iowa Department of Public Health said Friday that Iowa has administered 1.03 million doses. The state health department sent a notice Thursday to the hospitals, pharmacies, clinics and other community providers of the coronavirus vaccine detailing the state’s expectations. AdBrazil has already secured contracts for 200 million vaccine doses, half made by AstraZeneca and half by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac. It could use those mechanisms as well to expand eligibility___PRAGUE — The health authorities in the Czech Republic have administered over 1 million coronavirus vaccine shots.

Frederiksen and Kurz are on a short visit to Israel for to pursue the possibilities for closer cooperation on COVID-19 and vaccines. (Avigail Uzi/Pool via AP)TEL AVIV – Israel, Denmark and Austria agreed on Thursday to join forces in the fight against COVID-19 with an investment in research and roll-out of vaccines to protect people against new surges and mutations of the coronavirus. That's expected to change next week with Israel providing vaccines to some 100,000 Palestinian laborers who work in Israel or its West Bank settlements. “Vaccination nation,” as he calls Israel, would become “vaccination nations,” to include Denmark and Austria, he said, adding the group would welcome more international partners. While Israel does not produce vaccines, the prime minister has moved aggressively to secure enough vaccines for Israel’s 9.3 million people in deals with Pfizer and Moderna.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz walks at the federal chancellery in Vienna, Austria, Tuesday, March 2, 2021. Austrian pharmaceutical companies and scientists meet Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for vaccine research and production in Austria. Tyrol province's Schwaz district, east of the provincial capital of Innsbruck and home to about 84,000 people, has been a source of concern for weeks. The plan “is our opportunity to eliminate the variant in the Schwaz district,” Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said. The Schwaz vaccination plan is to be part of a research project into vaccinations and the South African variant.

The administration is invoking the Defense Production Act, a wartime measure that gives the federal government authority to direct private companies to meet the needs of the national defense, to equip two Merck facilities to produce the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. AdBiden said Johnson & Johnson will operate 24/7 to produce the vaccine. Tom Wolf said Tuesday that teachers will receive doses of the newly approved one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, under a plan his administration will release. AdHe gave few details, but said he and a bipartisan legislative task force agreed that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be set aside for teachers and then other workers considered to be essential, but who are not included in the first vaccination phase. States are receiving 2.8 million doses of the newly approved Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week.

Some 293 cases of the more contagious variant have been confirmed in Tyrol. More than 120 of those cases are currently active, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said. Concentrated in the Schwaz district, east of Innsbruck, they represent the biggest known current outbreak of the variant in the European Union, authorities said. He also called for Tyrol to act to ensure the variant doesn’t spread further within the province. The measure won't apply to East Tyrol, a part of the province that is separated from Tyrol proper by a sliver of another Austrian province and Italian territory and is relatively unaffected, Kurz said.

(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)PERTH, AustraIia — The city of Perth has been locked down for five days after Western Australia state’s first case of local COVID-19 infection in almost 10 months. With hospitalizations and confirmed cases falling, health officials are optimistic that the worst of the latest surge is over. The businesses can reopen, following a 25% capacity limit, given the improvement in the number of COVID-19 cases and in the city’s positivity rate. Authorities had warned that riots in the Netherlands over coronavirus restrictions could spark similar protests in neighboring Belgium. He said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases in nursing homes has declined by 66% in the last three weeks.

European Council President Charles Michel, top, and European leaders are shown on screen during a EU summit video conference at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021. Though worried that another surge of deaths across the EU was imminent, they could not immediately agree on whether or not to halt non-essential travel. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen insisted on the importance of keeping borders open to ensure that goods continue to move smoothly while introducing measures “that keep us all safe." Among the measures the ECDC recommends is a ban on nonessential travel and a speeding up of vaccinations. The EU Commission said several EU nations are testing under 1% of samples.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz with a face mask walks at the federal chancellery in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)BERLIN – The Austrian government is extending the country's lockdown until Feb. 7 in a drive to push down still-high infection figures as officials worry about the possible impact of new coronavirus variants. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Sunday that some measures will also be tightened as a result of the more infectious variants that were first detected in Britain and South Africa. Kurz said Austria needs to get as close as it can to, and preferably below, an infection level of 50 new cases per 100,000 residents over 7 days. Austria, a nation of 8.9 million, has confirmed nearly 390,000 cases and seen 6,964 deaths related to COVID-19.

(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovakia is launching a project to test almost all citizens for the coronavirus in nine days. Brazil currently has 6 million doses of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine ready to distribute in the next few days, and is awaiting the arrival of another 2 million doses of the vaccine made by AstraZeneca and partner Oxford University. Friends and family described their deep connection and said they had been planning to get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible. That dilemma faces nations in southeastern Europe, where coronavirus vaccination campaigns are off to a slow start — overshadowed by heated political debates and conspiracy theories. ___BEIJING — China on Sunday reported 109 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, two-thirds of them in a northern province that abuts Beijing, and no deaths.

(AP Photo/Ronald Zak)VIENNA – Austria will allow skiing to start on Dec. 24, but will limit the capacity of ski lifts and keep restaurants, bars and hotels largely closed until early January, officials said Wednesday. It also will require many people entering the country over the Christmas period to go into quarantine. Kurz said that progress over recent weeks, and the expectation of more before Christmas, allows “cautious” reopening steps. That will effectively mean that, over the holiday season, skiing is possible in most cases only on day trips for those Austrian residents who live fairly close to the Alps. Austria also plans tougher border controls and quarantine rules in an effort to dissuade people from traveling abroad over the Christmas period.

Officials announced the severe move Wednesday after a cluster of new coronavirus cases grew to 22. Larry Hogan is imposing limits for operating hours and capacity of businesses amid a surge in coronavirus cases. The seven-day average number of new daily cases is above 1,400 for the first time since early August. The first-term Democrat said Tuesday that he hopes the limits will help curb soaring coronavirus cases in the state. Seven-day rolling averages of daily cases increased from 1,311 on Nov. 2 to 2,459 on Monday.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz makes an address behind a plexiglass shield, at the federal chancellery in Vienna, Austria, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020. The Austrian government has moved to restrict freedom of movement for people, in an effort to slow the onset of the COVID-19 coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)BERLIN – Austria announced Saturday that it is tightening its partial lockdown, including by closing non-essential stores and shifting schools to online teaching, amid galloping coronavirus infection rates in the Alpine nation. Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to meet senior officials Monday to discuss whether existing measures imposed for the month of November are sufficient. Police in the central city of Frankfurt used water cannons Saturday against both the participants of an anti-mask rally and counter-protesters.

The leaders of France, Germany, Austria and the EU are meeting Tuesday to discuss Europe's response to terrorism threats after a string of attacks. Macron and Kurz are meeting in person after both of their countries have lost lives to Islamic extremist attackers in recent weeks. The response to terrorism and radicalization must be “common, coordinated, rapid,” requiring “methodic” work before a meeting of European heads of state in December, Macron said. Extremist attacks have bloodied numerous EU countries over the years. As a result of the attacks, Macron last week proposed tighter controls on the EU’s external borders, more coordinated policing inside the bloc's visa-free zone and changes to EU migration policy.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz holds his a face mask behind plexiglass shields before a media conference as they commemorate the terror attack one week ago, at the federal chancellery in Vienna, Austria, Monday, Nov. 9, 2020. Several shots were fired shortly after 8 p.m. local time on Monday, Nov. 2, in a lively street in the city centre of Vienna. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

(AP Photo/Ronald Zak)VIENNA – Investigators in several Austrian regions carried out raids early Monday on people and organizations suspected of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas groups, prosecutors said. Authorities said there was no link between Monday's action against suspected Islamic radicals and the attack in Vienna a week ago in which an assailant — described by officials as a supporter of the Islamic State group — fatally shot four people before being shot and killed by police. But the shooting has strengthened calls in Austria for a crackdown on Islamic extremism. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, speaking later Monday after a meeting with European Union leader Charles Michel, said his country wants a coordinated, Europe-wide effort to tackle Islamic extremism in the wake of last week's attack. “Only if the European Union can decide who immigrates and who doesn't, only if we control who enters the European Union or not, will we be able to safeguard security," he said.

They demonstrated in Minsk’s central avenue chanting “Go away!” and “Your time is over!” to demand President Alexander Lukashenko’s resignation. The United States and the European Union have rejected the Belarusian vote as neither free nor fair and introduced sanctions against Belarusian officials accused of involvement in vote-rigging and the post-election crackdown. Lukashenko's main challenger in the vote, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, met Thursday in Vienna with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. Tsikhanouskaya, who moved to Lithuania after the vote under pressure from Belarusian authorities, has pushed for Lukashenko's resignation and a new election. “We want to see the country as it was before the election,” Lukashenko said at an award ceremony on Thursday.

The Austrian national flag waves of half-mast on a building downtown in Vienna, Austria, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020. Several shots were fired shortly after 8 p.m. local time on Monday, Nov. 2, in a lively street in the city center of Vienna. Kurz didn't detail his plans for changes, the APA news agency reported. Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler added that it was time for a “new start” and a “realignment” of the agency, known by the German acronym BVT. In the aftermath of the attack, Austrian authorities detained 14 people with alleged contacts with the suspect for questioning.

The suspect was identified as a 20-year-old Austrian-North Macedonian dual citizen with a previous terror conviction for attempting to join the Islamic State group in Syria. “Yesterday's attack was clearly an Islamist terror attack," Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said. The Islamic State group on Tuesday claimed credit for the Vienna attack, calling the perpetrator a “soldier of the Caliphate.” The claim of responsibility was published through the militant group’s media arm, Aamaq. In Switzerland, police in the city of Winterthur said an 18-year-old and a 24-year-old were arrested in consultation with Austrian authorities. Some of the circumstances of the Vienna shooting are reminiscent of the case of Usman Khan, who stabbed two people to death in 2019 in central London.

Police officers stay in position at stairs named 'Theodor Herzl Stiege' near a synagogue after gunshots were heard, in Vienna, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020. Austrian police say several people have been injured and officers are out in force following gunfire in the capital Vienna. Initial reports that a synagogue was the target of an attack couldn't immediately be confirmed. “We are victims of a despicable terror attack in the federal capital that is still ongoing,” Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said hours after the gunfire erupted. Oskar Deutsch, the head of the Jewish community in Vienna, said it was not clear whether the main synagogue had been targeted.

The state reported 103 infections that day, the largest single day increase in cases. France’s government has shut down all nonessential businesses and ordered people to stay indoors for the next month to slow accelerating virus infections, hospitalizations and deaths. The Geneva canton, or region, said the University Hospitals of Geneva on Sunday counted 474 people hospitalized with coronavirus infections, including 56 in intensive care. Iran has reported more than 620,000 confirmed virus cases in all. Montenegro recently has seen a surge in virus cases.

___CARSON CITY, Nev. — Nevada topped 100,000 total coronavirus cases on Saturday. There’s been more than 15,000 cases and 81 confirmed deaths, according to the state Department of Health and Social Services. ___ATHENS, Greece — Greece surpassed 2,000 coronavirus cases for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The total confirmed coronavirus cases reached 39,251 and 626 deaths. Germany’s total cases since the pandemic started has increased to 518,753 and its death toll to 10,452.

(AP Photo/Anupam Nath)LONDON — Ireland’s government is putting the country at its highest level of coronavirus restrictions for six weeks in a bid to combat a rise in infections. The board members hail from top California top universities and medical providers, along with state and local public health officials. ___AUSTIN, Texas -- Health officials in Texas have reported 4,319 COVID-19 hospital patients, the most since Aug. 28. Khan’s remarks come amid a slight increase in COVID-19 cases and deaths in recent weeks. Pakistan also reported 440 new confirmed cases, raising its total cases to 323,452 since February when Pakistan reported its first case.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, left, greets Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, right, with an elbow bump during a round table meeting at an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. European Union leaders are meeting in person for a two-day summit amid the worsening coronavirus pandemic to discuss topics ranging from Brexit to climate and relations with Africa. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen left the summit venue in Brussels shortly after the meeting began because one of her close staffers tested positive for COVID-19. Since the pandemic first surfaced in Europe in February, EU leaders have held several summits via videoconference. Parliament President David Sassoli said the virus has already infected a number of EU lawmakers, staffers and their associates.

(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)PERTH, Australia — Authorities are concerned by a COVID-19 outbreak aboard a cargo ship off Australia's northwest coast that has infected most of the crew. The Bluegrass State had nearly 5,000 coronavirus cases last week — the most in a single week since the pandemic began, Gov. In recent weeks, Kentucky has repeatedly set record highs for weekly virus cases. New York has reported just over 11,500 new coronavirus infections over the past two weeks. Italy added 1,494 coronavirus infections and 16 deaths to its confirmed COVID toll Monday, in line with its daily increase for the past few weeks.

The outbreak in Ischgl, a popular resort in western Austria, is considered one of Europe's earliest "super-spreader" events of the pandemic. About 80% of them tested positive for the virus after returning from Ischgl and at least 32 people from the resort cluster have died. He accused authorities of being beholden to the interests of the local tourism industry in the Paznaun Valley, where Ischgl is located. Two other plaintiffs are still suffering from the effects of their illnesses, while a fourth had only a mild case. Kolba said the plaintiffs are seeking damages of up to 100,000 euros ($118,000) each from Austrian federal authorities, who hold ultimate responsibility for enforcing health regulations.

Conservative People's Party (VP) leader Kurz, who at 33 is one of the world's youngest leaders, was the first Austrian Chancellor since World War II to be defeated by a motion of no confidence. The vote was triggered after Kurz's government became embroiled in a political crisis over an undercover recording. Strache resigned after the tape was revealed by Germany's Der Spiegel news magazine and Sddeutsche Zeitung daily newspaper. Kurz's conservative People's Party (VP) was quick to distance itself from its coalition partners. Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen appointed a caretaker government led by constitutional lawyer Brigitte Bierlein after Kurz's government lost the no-confidence vote on May 27.