Austria’s former chancellor Sebastian Kurz will work for a prominent Donald Trump-backing investor in his first job since dramatically quitting politics.
Mr Kurz, 35, will enter the private sector with Thiel Capital, a US company founded by billionaire political donor and early Facebook backer Peter Thiel.
The former chancellor confirmed to Austrian newspapers that he would start as a global strategist in the first quarter of 2022.
Once the poster boy of the European centre-right, Mr Kurz has known the conservative-leaning Mr Thiel since at least 2017 when they met at a security conference in Munich.
Back then, Mr Kurz said they discussed how “digitalisation changes the world”. The German-born Mr Thiel is a co-founder of PayPal, whose other investments include tech companies such as SpaceX and LinkedIn.
Mr Thiel donated $1.25 million to Mr Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016, making him one of Silicon Valley's most prominent Trump backers.
He is a co-founder and director of Palantir, a data company that linked up with the Trump White House and UK health services during the pandemic, but has attracted controversy because of its use in US military software.
Mr Kurz was sometimes compared to Mr Trump after revamping his right-leaning party, putting a hard line on immigration at the heart of his political agenda and earning admiration from nationalists in other countries.
But they were at odds over other issues, with Mr Kurz criticising Mr Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement that was negotiated in the Austrian capital.
In January, Mr Kurz described the mob attack on the US Capitol egged on by Mr Trump as an “unacceptable assault on democracy”.
One of the world’s youngest elected leaders, having first taken office at 31, Mr Kurz was damaged by corruption allegations and resigned from the chancellery in October this year.
Mr Kurz was embroiled in claims that public funds were used to ensure positive coverage during his rise to the chancellorship. He denied all wrongdoing.
He initially remained party leader, prompting widespread speculation that he was biding his time for a comeback.
But he stunned Austria in early December by announcing his resignation from parliament and his departure from public life.
He described the ongoing scandal and the recent birth of his son as having dimmed his passion for politics. “I am neither a saint nor a criminal,” he said.
Read more about the coronavirus
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- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
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- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
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- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
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Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
Stormy seas
Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
Results:
Men's wheelchair 800m T34: 1. Walid Ktila (TUN) 1.44.79; 2. Mohammed Al Hammadi (UAE) 1.45.88; 3. Isaac Towers (GBR) 1.46.46.
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Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Price, base: from Dh571,000
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Jetour T1 specs
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Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
