Vienna  - The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will not be allowed to investigate additional alleged nuclear sites in Syria which are military installations, Syria's top nuclear official Ibrahim Othman said in Vienna on Friday.

IAEA inspectors visited the al-Kibar site in June, and released a report on the visit Wednesday that said uranium particles were found there, and that images of the site which was bombed by Israel last year resembled a nuclear reactor.

Asked whether Syria would allow further visits, possibly to sites other than al-Kibar, Othman said: "It think to follow up, there should be a good reason to say that there is something there, and in our opinion, this file should be closed."

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.

Vienna - Flughafen Wien AG, Vienna's international airport, reported Thursday that its net profit rose by 5.1 per cent to 34.3 million euros (43.3 million dollars) in the third quarter, while passenger traffic growth slowed down.

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) amounted to 42.9 million euros, up 5.4 per cent from the same quarter last year.

At 145.3 million euros, the airport's revenues grew by 5.3 per cent.

Vienna - The price for crude oil prod