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 price for crude oil produced by the Organizati

Turin, Italy - At least five people died in a lightning strike, drowning, electrocution, high winds and the downing of a tree as storms struck northern Italy, Poland and Austria.

A 10-year-old boy died Friday in Turin, Italy, after being hit by lightning while a 37-year-old Italian man drowned off Genoa the same day when he was swamped by high waves in the Mediterranean.

A female German tourist, 27, was missing in the rough waters near Ventimiglia, west of Genoa, and other swimmers narrowly escaped drowning before being rescued nearby.

Vienna  - As the price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) dropped 2.35 dollars Friday, the cartel's oil price fell by

Canada-based technology giant Research in Motion (RIM) has made announcement about the launching of its new smartphone ‘Blackberry Bold’ in Austria with the intention to take on rival Apple’s iPhone 3G.

Targeting business segment, the newly launched 3G-enabled phone comes packed with a half-VGA LCD display with 480x320 resolution, full QWERTY keyboard, powerful 624 MHz processor and 1GB internal storage memory.