Austria's far-right Identitarian Movement received cash from the man charged with killing 50 people in mass shootings at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, the country's chancellor said on Wednesday.
"We can now confirm that there was financial support and so a link between the New Zealand attacker and the Identitarian Movement in Austria," Sebastian Kurz said.
A spokesman for prosecutors in Graz said the head of the movement, Martin Sellner, received €1,500 (Dh6,200) in early 2018 from a donor with the same name as the man charged over the March 15 Christchurch attacks.
Mr Sellner published two videos on YouTube in which he said he had received a donation involving an email address that matched the name of the Australian.
In one of the videos, he said: "I'm not a member of a terrorist organisation. I have nothing to do with this man, other than that I passively received a donation from him."
Mr Sellner said the donation was from early 2018 and that he would give it to a charitable foundation.
He said police had raided his house over the possible links to the attacker.
The Identitarians, who say they want to preserve Europe's identity, are a relatively new, far-right movement that uses the internet to promote their action on the streets.
They imitate the tactics of more established activist groups such as Greenpeace.
In 2017 they helped to charter a ship as part of what they said was a campaign to defend Europe, and they have tried to stop migrants crossing the Mediterranean from Libya.
Hansjoerg Bacher, a spokesman for the Graz prosecutors, said an investigation was under way as to whether there were links between Mr Sellner and the mosque attacker.
The Austrian Interior Ministry declined to comment. Mr Kurz said Austria was looking at dissolving the Identitarian Movement.
"Our position on this is very clear," he said. "No kind of extremism whatsoever has any place in our society."
On Tuesday, Mr Kurz said on Twitter that any connection between the Christchurch attacker and members of the Identitarian Movement in Austria needed to be fully clarified.
Austrian Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, of the far-right Freedom Party, said his political group had nothing to do with the Identitarian Movement.
New Zealand has announced a royal commission into the attack on two mosques in Christchurch.
A white supremacist has been charged with one count of murder over the Christchurch shootings and will next appear in court on April 5.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said the man was not on any watch lists in New Zealand or Australia.
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- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
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Torque: 350 and 360Nm
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
US tops drug cost charts
The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.
Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.
In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.
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1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 3:20:24
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 1s
3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 5s
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1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 25:38:16
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3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 48s
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
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Transmission: 10-speed auto
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Favourite music: classical Arabic music such as Um Khalthoum and Abdul Wahab,
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