Vienna -

Vienna -

Vienna - The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) scheduled a special meeting in November, as the cartel's crude price remained below 80 dollars for the second day in a row on Thursday.

One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC crude stood at 78.25 dollars Thursday, rising 0.87 dollars from 77.38 dollars on the previous day, according to figures released by the cartel on Friday.

Vienna  - North Korea has banned inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from all facilities at its nuclear complex in Yongbyon, the agency said Thursday.

According to an IAEA document sent to member states, Pyongyang told inspectors on Thursday that "since it is preparing to restart the facilities, Agency monitoring of the shut down and sealing of these facilities ... is no longer appropriate."

Vienna - The price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) fell below 80 dollars for the first time since October 2007 on Wednesday, according to data released by OPEC on Thursday.

One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC crude stood at 77.38 dollars Wednesday, a decrease of 2.66 dollars from 80.04 dollars on the previous day.

Vienna - The Austrian government decided Wednesday to provide unlimited protection for private savings and to guarantee bank liquidity, according to Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and Vice Chancellor and Finance Minister Wilhelm Molterer.

By doing away with the 20,000-euro (27,100-dollar) limit on savings guarantees, Austria was following the lead of Germany, which announced Sunday it would introduce unlimited protection.