Vienna - More than 35,000 mail items will never reach their Austrian destinations after they were destroyed in a burning postal lorry on Thursday, Austria's postal service confirmed.

The driver was transporting mail on Thursday morning near the village of Pruggern in the Styria province, when he noticed that his vehicle was on fire.

The man managed to escape the flames unhurt, but more than 50 firefighters were unable to prevent the lorry and 30,000 letters, 250 packages and 5,000 periodicals from burning up.

Vienna - The price for oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countri

Vienna  - The United States on Tuesday granted inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) greater access to its civilian nuclear programme and expressed hope that more countries would adopt the stricter monitoring regime.

The IAEA, the United States and other countries have been pushing Iran to implement the so-called Additional Protocol, as it would have given the IAEA greater powers in probing the country's alleged military nuclear projects.

Vienna - The organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on Monday called for banning Vienna's traditional horse carriages, following a recent accident in which a drunken coachman lost control of his horses.

The carriages are a popular tourist attraction. Visitors can book the coaches, many of which are over 100 years old, for guided tours through Vienna's historical centre.

"The seemingly romantic coach rides conceal a brutal industry that commits cruelty to animals," PETA's German branch said in a statement.

Vienna - The price for oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) jumped by more than 4 dollars at the end of last week, the Vienna-based cartel announced Monday.

One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC-produced crude stood at 39.95 dollars on Friday, up from 35.58 dollars on the previous Wednesday.

One of the factors behind the price hike was that OPEC members seem to be implementing production cuts that were decided in December, Vienna-based analysts JBC Energy said.

Vienna - Vienna-based Bank Medici AG is set to come under state control, as the bank was exposed to funds of the failed US investor Madoff, Austrian news agency APA reported Friday.

Financial authorities put together an order under which the small bank will be managed by a government commissioner, APA reported.

While the small bank said in December that it was exposed to 2.1 billion dollars through two of Madoff's funds, Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported a sum of at least
3.6 billion dollars.