Vienna - Austria on Monday nationalized a troubled bank for the first time since the global financial crisis hit, paying a token 2 euros (2.55 dollars) to rescue the nation's eighth-largest lender.
Kommunalkredit Austria, which expanded into Central and Eastern Europe in recent years, was sold to the Austrian government by Austrian financial company Oesterreichische Volksbank AG and French-Belgian group Dexia, the banks said in statements.
Algiers/Paris - Libyan strongman Moamer Gaddafi paid a ransom to free two Austrians kidnapped by Islamic militants in Tunisia, the Algerian daily Liberte reported on Monday.
According to the report, Gaddafi paid between 3 million and 5 million euros (3.85 million - 6.41 million dollars) to members of the terrorist group al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, who were holding the hostages, Wolfgang Ebner and Andrea Kloibner, in northern Mali.