A prominent Muslim group in Austria called Wednesday on Saudi Arabia to allow a church to be built there, arguing that Riyadh supported mosques in Catholic countries.

"The liberal Muslims hereby request the construction of a church in Saudi Arabia," the group said in a letter to Saudi ambassador Mohammed al-Salloum, asking him to pass this demand on to the "appropriate authorities" in Riyadh.

Storms wreaked havoc in Austria and northern Italy over the weekend, causing landslides that killed two people, authorities said Sunday.

An 84-year-old woman was killed when a landslide hit a farm in Afens, on the Italian side of the border with Austria.

The prestigious Vienna State Opera has been told by the Austrian government to find savings of 10 million euros ($12.3 million), its flabbergasted musical director was quoted as saying Friday.

Franz Welser-Moest said that Finance Minister Maria Fekter had told him -- on holiday -- "to save 10 million euros if possible, which it isn't," he said in a television interview to be broadcast on Sunday.

A man claiming to be the fugitive nephew of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has requested asylum in Austria after being picked by police in a routine identity check, media reported Friday.

Police spotted the 42-year-old man in the company of two other Iraqi men Thursday at the train station in Traiskirchen, some 10 kilometers (six miles) south of Vienna, Austrian broadcaster ORF reported.

Moody's on Wednesday cut its debt rating on Austria's three biggest banks -- Erste Bank, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) and Bank Austria, an offshoot of Italy's UniCredit group.

The move was largely due to their exposure to the financial crisis in eastern Europe.

Austria's Defense Minister Norbert Darabos has launched an attack on Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, describing him as "unbearable" in an interview due to appear on Sunday.

Darabos told the Sunday edition of Die Presse newspaper that Lieberman was "unbearable as a member of the Israeli government", adding that he believed the threat of Israeli military strikes against Iran was "superfluous".

Former Libyan oil minister Shukri Ghanem died by drowning but there was no sign of another party being involved "so far", Vienna police said Monday, a day after Ghanem was found dead in the Danube.

"The death was by drowning... no signs of involvement by another party have been detected so far," police spokesman Roman Hahslinger told journalists, citing preliminary autopsy results.

The body of Libya's former oil minister Shukri Ghanem, who had defected from Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, was found Sunday in the Danube, Austrian police said in a statement.

No trace of violence was found on the body, police spokesman Roman Hahslinger said, adding that "it is possible that he felt unwell and fell into the water."

Germany and Austria said Saturday they are sending some 700 more troops to Kosovo to help prevent unrest in the north of the breakaway province ahead of elections in neighboring Serbia on May 6.

Germany's defense ministry said 550 soldiers would be deployed at the request of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force, while Austria's defense ministry said 150 troops would join the Kosovo Operational Reserve Force.

In a heist that could fill the mother of all bottomless cups, thieves in Austria have made off with 2 tons of coffee.

Police say the culprits broke into a wholesaler and coffee-roaster's warehouse east of Vienna, loaded a stolen van with the goods and then drove off.