Vienna  - India's quest for foreign supplies for its nuclear power programme entered a new stage on Thursday, as nuclear-exporting countries gathered in Vienna to discuss an exemption from their rules to allow trade with India.

Several of the 45 members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which sets international export control standards, are expected to propose in their meeting that the group clearly define which conditions India has to meet if it wants to access to international nuclear materials and technology.

Under its 2005 nuclear agreement with India, the United States pledged to lobby NSG members for a trade exemption, while India made several non-proliferation commitments.

Vienna - The price for crud

Vienna - Austria's largest telecommunications provider Telekom Austria AG on Wednesday reported a 26.3-per-cent profit drop to 96.3 million euros (141.5 million dollars) in the second quarter, as interest costs and marketing expenses affected results.

Earnings before interest, taxes, amortization and depreciation (EBITDA) rose 0.6 per cent to 469.1 million euros, compared with the second quarter of last year.

Marketing costs for the Euro football championships in June dampened earnings, the company said in a statement.

Vienna - Car passengers sitting in a reclining position with their legs resting on the dashboard could be seriously injured by the airbag in a crash, the Austrian motoring organisation (OeAMTC) has warned.

In crash tests conducted by the organization, the airbag in the cubby hole pressed the legs and feet of a dummy onto the windscreen with full force and one of the feet went straight through the glass.

The airbag could not deflate fully as the legs were resting on the dashboard. Passengers stood no chance of pulling back their legs because the airbag is triggered in milliseconds, the organization warned.

Vienna  - The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) failed to green-light a military monitoring mission to Georgia Monday, a Finnish diplomat said, incidating that Russia does not want observers to be deployed immediately.

"We would like the deployment immediately of up to 100 monitors so that we can witness and observe the implementation of the ceasefire," said Ambassador Aleksi Harkonen, the envoy of the Finnish OSCE chairmanship.

Vienna - The price for crude oil produced by the Organizati