Vienna - The price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting

Vienna  - The United States' ambassador at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Friday in Vienna that the alleged Syrian nuclear reactor that Israel bombed in 2007 seems not to have been intended for peaceful purposes.

The suspect al-Kibar site in Syria's eastern desert was not configured for energy production, was located in a remote area and was ill-suited for research purposes, Ambassador Gregory Schulte told the 35 countries represented on the IAEA's governing board.

Vienna  - Austrian-based construction group Strabag SE reported Friday that its net profit rose by 23.9 per cent to 127 million euros (164 million dollars) in the third quarter and said that its order backlog stood at a record 13.97 billion euros.

The company's earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased by 18 per cent to 177 million euros in the quarter ending in September, compared with the same period last year.

At 3.54 billion euros, revenue was up by 25.7 per cent.

Vienna - The price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rose by 1.91 dollars Thursday, ahead of the cartel's meeting in Cairo on Saturday where possible further production cuts will be discussed.

One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC crude stood at 47.38 dollars Thursday, up from 45.47 dollars on the previous day, the Vienna-based organization said Friday.

Vienna - Scenarios in which Iran would use its uranium enrichment programme to resume alleged weapons work are "plausible," the United States' representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Thursday in Vienna.

As Iran had a history of lack of cooperation with the IAEA, member states should worry about the possibility that the country would either one day kick out agency inspectors and use its enrichment facility to make fuel for a bomb, rather than for its nuclear reactor, Ambassador Gregory Schulte told the IAEA board.

Alternatively, it might do the same at a secret facility, he added.

According to US intelligence estimates, Iran stopped military nuclear projects in 2004, but stands ready to resume them.

Vienna  - Hartmut S., the Austrian-born man who kept his 8- year-old son prisoner in South Africa's biggest city Johannesburg for 4 years, died Wednesday, Austria's Foreign Ministry confirmed Thursday.

The boy was discovered alone at home on November 17, when he managed to ask employees from a business across the road to get him something to eat.

His father, a 68-year-old former airline pilot, had collapsed five days earlier and was taken to hospital.