Vienna  - Survivors and relatives of victims of the Kaprun cable car fire in 2000 want to restart legal proceedings and are seeking 2 million euros (2.5 million dollars) of compensation per victim, their lawyer Gerhard Podovsovnik confirmed Wednesday.

In 2005, an appeal court in Linz found 16 defendants not guilty of having caused the accident in November 2000, when a cable car at the Kitzsteinhorn glacier in the state of Salzburg caught fire in a tunnel, leading to the death of 155 skiers from eight countries.

Vienna - Austrian telecommunications provider Telekom Austria AG said Wednesday its third-quarter net profits had dropped by 6.2 per cent to 163 million euros
(207 million dollars), mainly due to higher interest expenses after it acquired Velcom last year.

Operating income rose to 262 million euros, increasing by 1.5 per cent from the third quarter of 2007.

The takeover of Belarus mobile phone operator Velcom dampened profits, but also boosted Telekom Austria's revenues, which grew by 4 per cent to 1.33 billion euros.

Vienna - Wienerberger AG, one of the world's largest brickmakers, said Monday that a plan to shut down 27 of around 250 factories this year was under way, as the company's net income fell by 44 per cent to 133 million euros (169 million dollars) in the first three quarters.

With the construction sector declining in Western Europe and a sharp drop in housing starts in the United States, the Austrian company said it had already shut 16 of the 27 plants this summer in order to ensure liquidity and to protect its financial base.

Vienna - The price fo

Vienna - Bank Austria, part of the Italian UniCredit group, said Wednesday its profits fell by 1.2 per cent to 1.74 billion euros (2.21 billion dollars) in the first three quarters of 2008, due to growth in Central and Eastern Europe and relaxed accounting rules.

Vienna - Feeding mice with genetically engineered maize developed by the US-based Monsanto corporation led to lower fertility and body weight, according to a study conducted by the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna presented Tuesday.

In the study, mice fed with the NK603 x MON810 sweetcorn variety over a period of 20 weeks showed a smaller litter size and lighter offspring than mice fed with non-engineered maize.