Austrian anthem changed to honour women, too

14 July 2011 Last updated at 13:12 GMT Austria's national anthem has not kept up with progress in women's rights Austria plans to recognise its "great daughters" in the national anthem, alongside its "great sons".

The main parties in the Austrian parliament have agreed that part of the anthem's text will be changed. The new version may be ready by January.

The phrase "Home of great sons, you are" is likely to be changed to "Home of great daughters, great sons".

Women politicians from the three main parties said experts would be consulted to settle on a final version.

The anthem's text dates back to 1947. The drive to change it suddenly gained momentum last Friday, when a former women's affairs minister, Maria Rauch-Kallat of the Austrian People's Party (OeVP), put forward a motion to amend the text.

Austrian media say it took several days for male politicians in the conservative OeVP to back Ms Rauch-Kallat's motion.

At a joint news conference on Wednesday the spokeswomen of the OeVP, the Social Democrats (SPOe) and the Greens announced that the change would go ahead.

The move is expected to get the official green light in a parliamentary vote in the autumn.

"Of course there are more important women's issues for us to tackle," said Greens spokeswoman Judith Schwentner. "But this concerns a great symbol - our federal anthem."

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Austrian permit shows man wearing pasta strainer

13 July 2011 Last updated at 14:42 GMT Having received his driving licence, Niko Alm now wants to get pastafarianism officially recognised An Austrian atheist has won the right to be shown on his driving-licence photo wearing a pasta strainer as "religious headgear".

Niko Alm first applied for the licence three years ago after reading that headgear was allowed in official pictures only for confessional reasons.

Mr Alm said the sieve was a requirement of his religion, pastafarianism.

The Austrian authorities required him to obtain a doctor's certificate that he was "psychologically fit" to drive.

The idea came into Mr Alm's noodle three years ago as a way of making a serious, if ironic, point.

A self-confessed atheist, Mr Alm says he belongs to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a light-hearted faith whose members call themselves pastafarians.

A medical interview established the self-styled 'pastafarian' was mentally fit to drive

The group's website states that "the only dogma allowed in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the rejection of dogma".

In response to pressure for American schools to teach the Christian theory known as intelligent design, as an alternative to natural selection, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster wrote to the Kansas School Board asking for the pastafarian version of intelligent design to be taught to schoolchildren, as an alternative to the Christian theory.

Straining credulity

In the same spirit, Mr Alm's pastafarian-style application for a driving licence was a response to the Austrian recognition of confessional headgear in official photographs.

The licence took three years to come through and, according to Mr Alm, he was asked to submit to a medical interview to check on his mental fitness to drive but - straining credulity - his efforts have finally paid off.

It is the police who issue driving licences in Austria, and they have duly issued a laminated card showing Mr Alm in his unorthodox item of religious headgear.

The next step, Mr Alm told the Austrian news agency APA, is to apply to the Austrian authorities for pastafarianism to become an officially recognised faith.

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