Austria’s President Heinz Fischer will travel to Lebanon end of April, the first visit of an Austrian head of state to Lebanon, European diplomatic sources said.

The sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper published Saturday that Norway’s ambassador to Beirut has informed Lebanese political parties that Fischer was willing to meet with different Lebanese factions during his visit on April 26-27.

Vienna is in favor of further sanctions against the regime of Syria's Bashar Assad, Austrian Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said in a radio interview Saturday.

"We cannot accept what Bashar Assad is doing to his countrymen at the moment -- shooting at protestors, hunting the opposition," Spindelegger told Oe1 radio, adding that "U.N.-led" sanctions should be reinforced and should target specific people.

Austrian police said Friday they have arrested a serial thief accused of some 850 robberies over the past four years, with a particular interest appearing to be women's knickers and bras.

The 36-year-old admitted pilfering around 15,000 Euros ($21,000) in 270 thefts in the past 18 months, mostly from pubs, crimes which due to his "professionalism" often went unnoticed, police in Linz in northern Austria said.

A landscape by painter Gustav Klimt that was stolen by the Nazis then returned this year to the family of the Jewish owner sold for a huge $40.4 million on Wednesday at Sotheby's in New York.

The painting, "Litzlberg am Attersee (Litzlberg on the Attersee)," easily topped its pre-sale high estimate of $25 million at the impressionist and modern sale.

A German man drove around 15 kilometers (nine miles) on the wrong side of a motorway in Austria early on Sunday morning, miraculously causing no accidents, police said.

The man, 36, who was found to be over the legal limit for alcohol, was stopped near Salzburg at around 5.45 am (0345 GMT), telling police he had "turned around on the motorway after noticing his mistake."

German league leaders Bayern Munich are waiting on the fitness of striker Mario Gomez and defender Daniel van Buyten for Sunday's match at Schalke 04.

Gomez, who has scored seven goals in his last two Bundesliga games, came off with a groin strain at halftime of Bayern's 2-0 win at Villarreal in the Champions League on Wednesday in Group A.

Inflation in the 17 euro countries remained steady at 2.5 percent in August, adding to expectations the European Central Bank will hold off from raising interest rates — and may even consider cutting them — as economic growth slows.

Wednesday's figure is still above the ECB's target of just below 2 percent, but underlines that prices in the eurozone are not rising as quickly as earlier in the year. In June, inflation was 2.7 percent.

Austria will send 160 peacekeeping troops to Lebanon as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon starting in November, the defense ministry announced Monday.

The troops were due to help with supply logistics for the UNIFIL mission.

A debate over which eurozone countries can demand collateral from Greece in exchange for loan guarantees threatens to derail the quick approval of Athens' second bailout program, experts warn.

"Finland has said right from the beginning that it would not back any loans without collateral, and if this arrangement is no longer acceptable to other nations, then it takes us back to square one," Teija Tiilikainen, head of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, told Agence France Presse.

It seemed too good to be true — a slot-machine jackpot of almost 43 million euros. And maybe it was.

Austrian state broadcaster ORF reports that Behar Merlaku is going to court over the refusal of the Bregenz casino to give him what he considers his win on March 26.