Vienna - Disgraced Austrian cross-country ski coach Walter Mayer has been arrested on doping charges, the Austrian Press Agency APA reported on Monday.

Citing prosecutors, APA said that Mayer is under investigation for buying the blood booster EPO at a Vienna pharmacist and distributing it to athletes.

The pharmacist is suspected of having sold doping substances to Mayer and an Austrian cyclist. The pharmacist and cyclist, who have not been identified, have also been arrested over the affair.

Vienna - The price for OPEC-produced oil was inching toward the 50-dollar mark Monday, reaching 48.77 dollars for one barrel (159 litres) of OPEC crude, the group announced Tuesday.

The price had been 47.39 dollars for a barrel a day earlier.

Energy consultant JBC attributed the rising price to cutbacks in OPEC production and lingering concerns about the state of global financial markets. Overall, oil prices rose by about 10 per cent worldwide in the last week.

Vienna - A member of an autistic persons' self-help group shot a woman member dead and then turned the gun on himself in a Viennese self-help centre, police said Saturday.

A spokeswoman said the shooting happened at a weekly meeting of the five-strong group late Friday, when the man suddenly produced the gun and shot the woman without any warning or obvious reason.

As other group members scattered to safety, the gunman killed himself.

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Shillong, Mar 16 : To commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Austria, the Vienna chamber orchestra performed jointly with Shillong chamber choir here and enthralled the audience.

"Northeast is making a way to a lot of western orchestras. I think it is a very good sign. We have a lot of fusion music happening nowadays and the doors are opening for fusion music also," said Jit Chalia, a patron.

The artists of the Vienna chamber applauded the performance of the Shillong choir.

"We are all enjoying it and it is a wonderful experience with the choir from Shillong. They are just amazing," said Oliver, an artist.

Vienna  - The decline in prices of crude oil during the worldwide recession will have consequences for the medium- and long- term for the international oil industry, said the current President of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Sunday.

Speaking at the start of the 152nd conference of OPEC oil ministers in Vienna, Jose Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos warned that the organization already had to to stop long-term investment due to low oil prices.

Botelho, who is Angola's oil minister, also spoke of job losses worldwide in the industry.