Vienna  - United States officials who drafted policies on harsh interrogation tactics for terrorism suspects should be prosecuted as accomplices in torture, the United Nation's monitor on torture Manfred Nowak said Friday in Vienna.

Nowak was reacting to the announcement by US President Barack Obama on Tuesday that he would let Attorney General Eric Holder, the chief of the the US Justice Department, decide whether to investigate those who drafted the legal memos during the Bush administration.

Vienna - The price of oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) gai

Vienna - The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said Thursday there were encouraging signs that Moldova's opposition is getting ready to join the political process, after anti-government protests shook the country earlier in April.

Moldovan opposition politicians with dual citizenships from countries like Romania and Russia had previously protested a law requiring them to give up foreign passports before taking a seat in parliament.

Vienna - Western governments should help their banks operating in Eastern Europe to deal with the economic and financial crisis, the head of the Banking Association for Central and Eastern Europe, Istvan Lengyel. said Thursday.

The current problems with liquidity and non-performing loans had "cascaded" down from Western banks which control some 95 per cent of the region's banking system, Lengyel told reporters at a conference of Eastern European bankers in Vienna.

Vienna- The steep drop in the price of oil produced by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Count

Vienna  - Plants grow better and absorb more carbon dioxide under hazy skies, a team of European researchers said Wednesday, presenting a study in Vienna that may affect strategies against climate change.

It has been known for some time that man-made particles in the air slow down the heating of the atmosphere by reflecting the sun's heat.

But the new findings, published in this week's edition of Nature magazine, show that diffused light also reaches more of a plant's surface, leading to an increased absorption of carbon dioxide.