Vienna - A prestigious museum and the public in Vienna were duped Tuesday by a double of US pop singer Beyonce, who was hired as a prank by a local radio station.

While the real star was taking a walk in the historic city centre ahead of a concert in Vienna, the radio station also sent the double shopping and arranged an exclusive tour of the Albertina art museum, the broadcaster confirmed.

Austrian media had speculated at first that Beyonce herself had hired the lookalike who was followed around by deceived fans.

A woman claiming to be the Beyonce's manager called the museum, asking for a tour within half an hour.

Vienna - Mexican star tenor Rolando Villazon has again cancelled performances for a period of several months, as his management said Wednesday he will have to undergo vocal chord surgery. The opera singer is not expected to perform until 2010, according to the press release.

The Vienna State Opera said it would have to replace Villazon for his title role in Jules Massenet's Werther in May.

The tenor has been troubled by health problems since 2006, which have forced him to pause in past years. He currently suffers from a cyst on his vocal chords.

Vienna - Hungary's Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai expressed hope on Tuesday that his austerity package would help bolster faith in his country, as the new head of government was in Vienna for his first foreign visit. The recent measures would stabilize the economy even in case of a 6-per-cent downturn, he said at his meeting with Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann, according to Austrian press agency APA.

Vienna - Austrian leaders called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to use his country's influence to stabilize the wider Middle East region on Tuesday, the second day of his visit to Austria. At the outset of a bilateral business forum, Austrian President Heinz Fischer called on Syria to use its influence on Iran.

The aim was to get Tehran to react constructively to proposals from the international community for resolving the nuclear stand-off and resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, Fischer told the forum.

Vienna - An Austrian hospital put a woman in quarantine Tuesday on suspicion that she was the country's first patient with swine flu, a spokeswoman of the hospital in Steyr said. A laboratory in Vienna was running additional tests after initial results showed no infection with the virus.

The 28-year-old woman recently returned from Mexico, the centre of the outbreak.

When she was admitted to the hospital in the town of Steyr with flu-like symptoms on Tuesday, she set into motion an emergency plan, spokeswoman Christine Doerfel said.

Vienna - A total of five candidates have put themselves foward to succeed Mohamed ElBaradei as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it was announced Monday, as the deadline for nominations drew to a close. With a deadline of midnight on Monday, diplomats said there was little likelihood of a last-minute sixth candidate coming forward.

The five come from Belgium, Spain, Slovenia, Japan and South Africa.