Vienna  - The Austrian government protested Sunday Bratislava's decision to reopen the Bohunice nuclear power plant complex, which was prompted by the Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute that has left Slovakia without energy reserves.

"Recommissioning the unsafe Bohunice reactor cannot be accepted," Environment Minister Nikolaus Berlakovich said of the decision to power up the reactor that had been closed at the end of last year.

"Contracts must hold within a community. Shutting off the plant was one of the fundamental conditions for (Slovakia's) entry (into the European Union) , and it cannot simply be cancelled now," Berlakovich said in a statement.

Bad Mitterndorf, Austria  - Gregor Schlierenzauer soared a hill record on Saturday to win the first ski-flying event of the World Cup season in front of a delighted Austrian home crowd.

Schlierenzauer, who turned 19 on Wednesday, added the record 215.5 metres to a first jump of 199.5m for a winning total of 398.0 points. He could barely stand after the massive leap which gave him a third season win and 13th overall.

Oberhof, Germany - Austria clinched the men's 4 x 7.5-kilometre relay in the biathlon World Cup ahead of Russia and Germany in Oberhof on Thursday.

The Austrian team of Daniel Mesotitsch, Friedrich Pinter, Dominik Landertinger and Christoph Sumann posted 1 hour 19 minutes 36.6 seconds to beat the Russian team by
8.7 seconds, with Germany 19.2 seconds behind.

Russian biathlete Ivan Cherezov was earlier suspended for an excessive haemoglobin level in his blood.

Vienna - Austria's government and the country's automotive industry on Thursday agreed on measures to alleviate the effects of the crisis gripping the global car industry.

The measures include prolonging the time that short-time work is subsidised with public funds, as well as funding for innovative research, Chancellor Werner Faymann and Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Josef Proell said after the government's meeting with industry leaders.

Vienna- Austria's automotive industry on Thursday called on the government to help alleviate the effects of the current crisis which has gripped the global car industry.

"The crisis has fully hit us. More than 7,500 are already working short time," said Dietmar Schaefer, head of the car component suppliers' goup within the Austrian chamber of commerce.

A meeting between the Austrian government and industry representatives got underway on Thursday to discuss measures such as prolonging the time that short-time work would be subsidised with public funds.

Vienna - More than 35,000 mail items will never reach their Austrian destinations after they were destroyed in a burning postal lorry on Thursday, Austria's postal service confirmed.

The driver was transporting mail on Thursday morning near the village of Pruggern in the Styria province, when he noticed that his vehicle was on fire.

The man managed to escape the flames unhurt, but more than 50 firefighters were unable to prevent the lorry and 30,000 letters, 250 packages and 5,000 periodicals from burning up.