Austria

The elderly patient's right leg was removed instead of his left, with the mistake only discovered two days later.

On Wednesday, the court in Linz found the 43-year-old guilty of gross negligence and fined her €2,700 (£2,296).

The widow of the patient, who died before the case came to court, was also awarded €5,000 in damages.

The patient attended the clinic in Freistadt last May to have his leg amputated but the surgeon marked the wrong limb for amputation, AFP news agency reports.

From midnight, Austrians have been asked to work from home and non-essential shops have closed.

New restrictions have sparked protests throughout Europe. People clashed with police in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Infection rates have risen sharply on the continent, prompting warnings from the World Health Organization (WHO).

On Saturday WHO regional director Dr Hans Kluge told the BBC that unless measures were tightened across Europe - such as on vaccines, wearing masks and with Covid passes for venues - half a million more deaths could be recorded by next spring.

"We are not taking this step lightly but it is necessary," Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said.

Unvaccinated people will only be able to leave home for a limited number of reasons, like working or buying food.

About 65% of Austria's population is fully vaccinated, one of the lowest rates in western Europe.

Meanwhile the seven-day infection rate is more than 800 cases per 100,000 people, one of the highest in Europe.

The search for a fourth person, declared as missing, had to be halted due to the ongoing avalanche risk.

The group came from southern Germany and were reported missing by one of their wives on Saturday night.

In France, two employees at the Morillon ski resort died when the avalanche-control charges they were trying to set accidentally went off.

The accident took place at an altitude of 1,800m (6,000ft) as the two men were preparing the pistes ahead of their opening with an avalanche prevention programme, mountain rescuers said.

Five rescue helicopters were sent to the scene, 2,900m (9.500ft) above sea level in the Zillertal Alps.

The climbers were roped together when one of them slipped, pulling the rest of the group with him, police said.

They fell 200m (650ft) down a slope before landing in a crevasse. Only one survived, and was flown to hospital in Salzburg, about 80km (50 miles) away.

Officials say the climbers were below the Mannlkarscharte pass near Krimml, in an area where a heightened risk of rockslides made recovery of the bodies more difficult.

The 25-year-old man reportedly calls himself Harald Hitler.

The man, sporting a side parting and a trademark moustache, had been seen having his photograph taken outside the house in Braunau am Inn in which Adolf Hitler was born.

The lookalike had recently moved to the town on the German border, police spokesman David Furtner told the BBC.

Mr Furtner said this was not a joke or a piece of performance art.

"The young man knows exactly what he is doing," the police spokesman said.

He said the man had also been spotted in Vienna and Graz.

It is also considering a more general ban on state employees wearing the headscarf and other religious symbols.

The measures are seen as an attempt to counter the rise of the far-right Freedom Party, whose candidate narrowly lost last month's presidential vote.

The centrist coalition nearly collapsed last week amid crisis negotiations over the government's future direction.

'Symbolic' step

Detailing the package of reforms, the coalition devoted just two lines to the planned ban on the Islamic niqab and burqa.

In a battle of the two top ranked teams in Group D, Wales led twice thanks to a Joe Allen stunner and a Kevin Wimmer own-goal but Arnautovic scored two well-taken equalisers.

The result leaves four teams all on four points in the group after both Republic of Ireland and Serbia won their respective matches. 

Austria came into the clash on a 10-game winning streak in European Championship and World Cup qualifiers and had not lost a competitive home fixture since Germany beat them in 2012.

"Every Viennese cafe, every sausage stand pays more tax in Austria than a multinational corporation," Mr Kern told Der Standard.

"That goes for Starbucks, Amazon and other companies," he said.

He added that EU countries with low corporate taxes were undermining the structure of the union itself.

"What Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg or Malta are doing here lacks solidarity towards the rest of the European economy," he said.

Mr Hofer is aiming to win a rerun of the presidential election on 2 October after his Freedom Party won a court challenge over voting irregularities.

After UK voters backed Brexit, he said Austria might also hold a referendum.

However, he has now made clear he thinks leaving would be a "mistake".