Vienna - The price for oil produced

Vienna  - Austrian police have started to contact Chechen exiles whose names appear on an alleged death list published on the internet, following the murder of a Chechen refugee last week, an interior ministry spokesman said Thursday.

In another sign that police are increasing security for Chechens, around 100 officers and a police helicopter were deployed Thursday in Vienna for the funeral of Umar Israilov, 27, who was shot by two unknown men near his Vienna home on January 13.

Vienna  - After Austrian legislators on Thursday found their seats drenched by a leak in the parliament's roof, representatives criticized delaying the renovation of the plenary hall because of the

Vienna  - Vienna theatre artist Hubsi Kramar has been getting police protection after far-right politicians and tabloid media blasted his planned play about the incest case of Josef Fritzl.

Kramar, 59, defended himself in a press conference on Thursday, saying that his production about the man who imprisoned and raped his own daughter for 24 years would not be a comedy, but would satirize the "hypocritical" media coverage of the case.

"The play describes a certain process in Austria's mental state," Kramar said.

Vienna - Austrian far-right parliamentarian Susanne Winter was convicted Thursday of incitement because of her anti-Muslim statements, including the claim that Islam's prophet Mohammed was a paedophile.

A court in Winter's home town of Graz also found the 51-year-old politician guilty of humiliating a religion. She was sentenced to a fine of
24,000 euros (31,000 dollars) euros and a suspended prison term of three months, Austrian news agency APA reported.

The politician, who took a seat in parliament last fall for the Freedom Party (FPOe), made the anti-Islamic remarks in January 2008.

Vienna - Passenger numbers at troubled carrier Austrian Airlines declined by 1.1 per cent in 2008, as business caved in amid the global economic crisis in the third quarter, the company said Thursday.

Lufthansa is set to take over the Austrian flag carrier, pending approval from the European Commission.

The airline's long-distance flights were hit the hardest, with passenger numbers dropping 9.4 per cent year-on-year. In December, numbers fell by 13.1 per cent from the same month in 2007.

Bucking the trend, 6.2 per cent more seats were filled on flights to Eastern Europe and the Middle East.