Vienna - An international institute to work on the improvement of global nuclear security practices was launched in Vienna Monday, funded by the Unites States and the Nuclear Threat Initiative organization.

The World Institute for Nuclear Security will provide a forum for experts, industry and government officials to discuss standards for protecting nuclear materials from criminals or terrorists.

"The world can't afford to wait for a security Chernobyl before we act," said former US Senator Sam Nunn, who chairs the Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative together with CNN founder Ted Turner.

Vienna - Austrian-based construction group Strabag SE announced Monday it has put on hold a planned joint venture with a Russian cement group in order to stay flexible in the current financial crisis.

Strabag had planned a deal worth 500 million euros (717 million euros) to combine its Hungarian cement factory with Basel Cement's four cement production sites in Russia and Kazakhstan, Strabag spokeswoman Diana Klein said.

Basel Cement is owned by aluminium king Oleg Deripaska's investment group Basic Element, which also holds a 30-per-cent share in Strabag.

The Austrian construction group is among the five largest in Europe.

Vienna - International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed Elbaradei warned Monday in Vienna that the agency's ability to carry out its core work was at risk unless funding was increased. 

As member states of the Vienna-based agency have hardly raised its budget since the early 1980s, some areas of work, such as the prevention of nuclear terrorism, are being funded through special contributions by individual countries. 

Vienna - Austria's resurgent far-right Freedom Party was the most popular choice among young voters in Sunday's parliamentary election, winning above-average support among those aged 30 or below, exit polls found.

Immigration and law-and-order were the most important election issues for supporters of the Freedom Party and the Alliance for the Future of Austria, which together won some 29 per cent of the vote.

While Austria lowered the voting age to 16 from 18 for the election, polls about the sentiment of the youngest voters were not immediately available.

Vienna - Early official results of Austria's parliamentary elections on Sunday showed Austria's Social Democratic Party in the lead, but the real winners were two far-right parties which together won 29 per cent of the vote.

Social Democratic Party (SPOe) leader Werner Faymann was set to take over the chancellorship by winning 29.7 per cent, six per cent less than in the last elections in 2006.

In contrast to the governing parties' record low results, the far- right Freedom Party (FPOe) and Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZOe) won 18 per cent and 11 per cent of the ballots, respectively.

Vienna - Austria's far right parties got a massive boost in Sunday's parliamentary elections because voters were frustrated with the centrist coalition parties and not because of the rightists' anti-immigration rhetoric, experts said.

Heinz Christian Strache's Freedom Party (FPOe) won 18 per cent of the votes, up seven per cent from the last elections in 2006, according to projections based on 99 per cent of counted ballots.

Joerg Haider's Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZOe) more than doubled its votes to 11 per cent, from 4 per cent in 2006.

Together, the two parties are just one per cent behind the Social Democratic Party (SPOe), the winner of Sunday's early elections.