Vienna - Austria on Tuesday began celebrations in memory of composer Joseph Haydn who died 200 years ago and is known as the "father" of the classical symphony.

In Eisenstadt near the Hungarian border, where Haydn served as a composer and musician for the Esterhazy noble family, Austrian President Heinz Fischer opened a large Haydn exhibition.

Fischer said Haydn was "no shooting star" and had slowly but surely built his career.

Born in 1732, Haydn was the son of a wheelwright. From an early age, he received his musical training as a choir singer.

Vienna  - Stefan Matschiner, the former manager of disgraced Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl, was arrested Monday night following allegations by an Austrian triathlete that she had received illicit substances from him, the Kurier newspaper reported Tuesday.

Matschiner's arrest came after Lisa Huetthaler, the 2007 military triathlon world champion, told Kurier last week that he had supplied her with the blood booster EPO and the hormone testosterone.

Vienna  - Austria's leading oil and gas group OMV AG announced Monday it has ended its involvement with Hungarian counterpart MOL plc by selling its 21.2-per-cent stake to the Russian company Surgutneftegas OJSC.

The shares were sold for 1.4 billion euros (1.86 billion dollars), OMV said in a statement, calling the deal a "logical step" after the company ended its unsuccessful bid to take over MOL last August.

Vienna - Ski jump World

Vienna - Neither of the two candidates in the election to succeed International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohammed ElBaradei reached a decisive majority in the first rounds of the poll held Thursday, the agency has said.

The favoured candidate, Japanese diplomat and disarmament expert Yukiya Amano (61) however emerged in the lead, beating rival South African Abdul Samad Minty
(69) in the three voting rounds, without achieving the necessary 24 votes out of 35 members of the IAEA's board.