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02. 02. 10. - 14:00

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02. 02. 10. - 14:00

Handy skills

Little Xiao Tao has become a dab hand at snap, even though he has to use his feet to play.

The five-year-old lad, from Hangzhou, eastern China, baffled medics when he was born with tightly clenched hands and feet.

Now surgeons at the Tong De Hospital are restoring the damaged digits through a series of operations.

Tao has already learned to use his feet to play, eat with chopsticks, and comb his hair and now doctors say his hands will recover too.

"He is a clever boy and learning to use his new skills fast," said proud mum Xiao Wu, 26.

Austrian Times

Expert warns of high avalanche danger
The danger of avalanches is very high and off-piste winter skiers should take extra care, an avalanche expert warned yesterday (Weds).

Vernal equinox on Saturday
The vernal equinox - the day on which the sun crosses the equator and is as long as the night - will take place this Saturday, 20 March, says Vienna’s Central Agency for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG).

WWII bombs call AC/DC's Wels concert into question
A concert by Australian rock legends AC/DC at an Austrian airport could be cancelled because of unexploded WWII bombs.

Truck driver endangered life
A truck carrying 23 tonnes of unsecured concrete rods was stopped by police on the western motorway (A1) near Eugendorf in Salzburg’s Flachgau region yesterday (Weds).

Fischer and IAEA DG discuss nuclear proliferation
President Heinz Fischer met the new director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, yesterday (Weds) where the two discussed nuclear proliferation and disarmament.

Alma cheese gets clean bill of health
Cheese suspected of being contaminated with deadly listeria bacteria has been given a clean bill of health, it was announced today (Thurs).

BA net profit down 10 per cent
Bosses at Bank Austria (BA) reported yesterday (Weds) that the bank had suffered a decline of 10 per cent in net profit year on year to 1.152 billion Euros in 2009.

People who defrauded Erste's BCR face trial
Romanian anti-corruption prosecutors have sent to trial 175 defendants accused of having defrauded Austrian Erste Group's subsidiary Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) of three million Euros by obtaining credit using fake documents.

Strache calls for drug addicts' centres in suburbs
New ideas on the Viennese drug scene problem by Freedom Party (FPÖ) boss Heinz-Christian Strache is set to cause controversy.

Direktanlage.at looks back on year of growth
Austrian discount broker Direktanlage.at said it managed to grow on all areas "despite the crisis".