April 20th s/s Jaegermord, an Austrian freighter bound for Tientsin with a cargo of premium Hungarian hams, is stopped by a Bharat Warship BNS Poona in South China Sea and crews of SS Mont-Blanc, SS Djenné and SS Colombie handed over. 

The s/s Jaegermord is released.

The s/s Jaegermord has no wireless, and being severely overcrowded, it sets for the nearest friendly port - the DKB controlled Hai Fong, which it reaches on the 22nd. There the local port and naval authorities are notified, as well as the Habsurg and French consulates.
The weary but generally healthy French seamen are examined by doctors and attended to by French Consulate staff.

Vienna itself notifies Paris of this development on the 24th (adjusting for time zones, this is almost immediatelly).
The news is relased to the pubic on the 25th.

The attitide of the papers is mixed - from "chivalrous, custom of the sea abiding Indians" through "Lentil-eaters not up to Ham!" to "we have put the fear of the White Man into them!".

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Ham.

Summer 1916 - general news
The Habsburg Kaiser-und-Koenigreich announced that, in light of the Treaty of Calcuta, all troops of the Monarchy will leave the once French territory.
The 2nd AFL will continue its move to Burma for refitting. However, some hardest hit formations, which will need several months to regain combat worthiness, will proceed to Goa.
The movement of refugees from Bengal to Parana will continue.

In related news, it appears that the despatch of 1st AFL formations from Parana to Bengal has slowed down.

Summer 1916 - Thessaloniki - traveler's account

" ... losing its Oriental character. The minarets are empty, as calling the faithful for prayers was forbidden by Habsburg occupation authorities. Apparently a reciprocate move to the ban on church bells in Ottoman lands. So yes, instead of the muzzeins' cries, church bells ring out instead. After a hiatus of half a thousand years. I was told that the bells were supplied by the Austrians, but I have yet to find confirmation of this tale. A large Catholic church is under construction in the city centre, the Austrians wishing to make their mark on this ancient city.

Speaking of Austrians, the Habsburg troops here seem to be mostly Hungarians. Freshly moved in, as a replacement for the Austrian Foreign Legion which was sent to another of Austria's ceaseless little wars - in French Bengal of all places, imagine!

The city is lively, with the entrepot role for Habsburg hinterlands replacing the commercial ties with the rest of the Ottoman Empre which had been severed three years ago. The port is bustling, and there are rumours of the KKK building a base there.
At the moment the major economic news is the upcoming ribbon cutting ceremony for the BME - Balkan Military Railway in German. This is a two-and-a-half foot gauge line from Thessalonika to the Ionian Sea, ending at some port in Albania - Flores I think it was called. One of the engineers from this project, on leave here, told me dead-faced that they pay 10 sheep for the ears of the tribesmen from the mountains north of Yaninna who harassed the workers. But who'd believe that the Austrians would do such a thing? They're civilised Europeans, are they not?"

Apperantly the traveler only went to the turist spots. No mention of Thessalonika's very large and very unhappy Jewish population.

The local Jewish community is delighted to be ruled by the Habsburgs!
:-*

Just make sure that you keep on dodging those eggs and rotten tomatoes the delighted Jews are throwing at you. :D

Summer 1916
In a brief communique, the Habsburg Foreign Office congratulated Gra Colombia on the peaceful aquisition of the Kongo.

...and Gran Colombia thanked the Hapsburg Foreign Office, while noting that the acquisition would not be concluded until the end of the year.

Wait? WHAT?!?!?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Kyi0WNg40

Sorry, this is what I thought of when I read Foxy's post.

And I swear I won't post any more youtube links at least until tomorrow :)

Evidently the New Zionite Foreign Office hasn't been checking their mailbox lately.

C'mon Rocky, now people won't think I was in the dark for this deal.

Summer 1916
Vienna
Near the highest levels of power

.... "So the Eytees can't get to decide who gets the throne, eh?"
- chuckle - "yup, the Welsche are their quarrelsome selves."
- "Hmm, maybe there could be an opening to break them up. Or at least set somebody up in Naples. Maybe the Iberians would be interested in restoration?"
- "I'm invited by a cousin of mine to Ericeira, not far from Lisbon - I should meet some Iberian worthies there and sound them out. Although Alfonso is no youngling, you know ... "
- "Meh, a ripe 75! Men marry at that age, you know! But he could always step down in favour of Ferdinand Pius - he's just 46."

Summer 1916
Puri, French Bengal

The skipper eyed the refugees boarding the ship with suspicion.
- "Are you sure that this lot is Christian?" - he asked the WO from the AFL, head of a platoon from the XIth Brigade. Such detachments were responsible for leading and protecting this and similar ragged bands towards ports and Habsburg chartered ships.
The Faehnrich shrugged and spat overboard.
- "Bunch of heathens, if you ask me." - he replied in curiously accented German. For an AFL man this still was surprisingly close to perfect German.
Waving a thumbless hand over the deck, he added, using expressions picked during an involuntary stay in a Catholic country:
- "They wouldn't know the Holy Virgin from the donkey that carried Her to Egypt. But my orders were to bring them aboard." 
- "Ja, befehl ist befehl" - noded the skipper. - "I'll get a priest from the hospital to splash them with Holy Water, at least ... "