Vienna- Michael Spindelegger is set to become foreign minister in Austria's new coalition cabinet, his conservative People's Party said Monday, after incumbent Ursula Plassnik stepped down Sunday over a dispute on European Union referenda.

The People's Party, which on Sunday agreed to govern as a junior partner with the Social Democratic Party, announced the names of its ministers Monday.

Vienna - Austria's anti-doping agency NADA on Monday banned Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl for two years after he was found to have used blood doping in this year's Tour de France.

The verdict was "disappointing," Austrian news agency APA quoted the 26-year-old as saying.

The NADA hearing came after Kohl was heard by the body earlier in the day. Kohl said he hoped his full disclosure would make him get away with a one-year ban instead of the normal two years.

Vienna- This weekend's sudden winter onslaught has sharply increased the danger of avalanches in the Austrian alps, reported the APA news service Monday.

The peaks and slopes of western Austria's Upper Styria region are especially hard hit, reported the agency. The Salzkammergut region around Salzburg reported 1.5 metres of new snowfall in the last few days. In parts of the federal states of Salzburg and Voralberg the avalanche warning system was set to Level 3, or high danger.

Vienna - The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) might consider a further rate cut at its next meeting on December 4, Ewald Nowotny, Austria's central bank chief and member of the ECB council, said Friday in Vienna.

The expected substantial slowdown of inflation in the eurozone "provides room for further interest rate movements," Nowotny was quoted by Austrian news agency APA as saying.

The Governor of the Austrian National Bank did not say by how much rates might be cut, but stated that the ECB was open for discussions.

Vienna - Stefan Petzner, successor to the late Austrian rightist leader Joerg Haider, said Thursday in Klagenfurt he would give up his post to work on upcoming elections, but media said his emotional mourning of Haider had become a liability to his party.

One day after Joerg Haider died in a car accident on November 11, 27-year-old Petzner was promoted from executive secretary to interim head of the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZOe) until a party congress next year.