VIENNA, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Strong demand for the special
steel used in tools and turbines helped drive up earnings at
Austria’s Voestalpine , which reiterated it should see
a healthy rise in full-year operating profit.

The Linz-based maker of alloys used in cars, railways and
pipelines said most sectors had shown robust demand as the
general economy improved, though it warned that the global
outlook was laced with risks.

VIENNA/MILAN, Aug 10 (Reuters) – The civil war in Libya shut
off oil supplies to Austrian energy group OMV and
Italian refiner Saras in the second quarter, taking a
toll on profit and clouding the outlook in the region.

OMV said the unrest in Libya would continue to halt its
production there for the rest of the year while Saras, which
swung to a net loss, said it had reduced runs at its atmospheric
distillation units due to the shortfall.

VIENNA (Reuters) – Europe’s main security and rights watchdog delivered one of its sharpest attacks on Belarus on Friday, saying that Minsk was systematically persecuting the opposition and civil society while gagging the media.

The Vienna-based Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has been a vocal critic of a crackdown on opposition protesters and journalists following Belarus’s disputed presidential election in December.

VIENNA (Reuters) – Drug traffickers faced with restrictions to transit routes through Asia and the Middle East are turning to eastern Africa, driving up instability and increasing substance abuse, a United Nations report said.

The U.N.’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said Africa’s emergence as an important heroin transport route in 2009 was of serious concern in a region ill-equipped to fight trafficking or care for people addicted to drugs.

VIENNA, July 29 (Reuters) – Austria’s Erste Group Bank AG
softened its full-year outlook on Friday as risk
provisions remained high in some markets and nervous consumers
failed to drive a hoped-for pick up in lending.

Emerging Europe’s number two lender by assets said it
expected to match last year’s second-half performance through
the rest of this year, a less positive outlook than it gave in
April when it said it was confident it would be able to raise
profitability significantly in 2011.

VIENNA (Reuters) – There was no sign of movement in the deadlock between Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog over Tehran’s atomic activities Tuesday despite an upbeat assessment by the Islamic state’s foreign minister.

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said he held “very fruitful” discussions with Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and they had agreed to explore ways to help resolve outstanding issues.

VIENNA (Reuters) – The U.N. atomic agency chief said on Friday he had broad support for his plan to strengthen international safety checks on nuclear power plants to help avoid any repeat of Japan’s Fukushima crisis.

Speaking after an unprecedented international meeting on nuclear safety, Yukiya Amano said there had been some differences among senior nuclear officials and regulators from the IAEA’s 151 member states at the week-long talks in Vienna.

VIENNA (Reuters) – The U.N. nuclear chief said on Friday he would consider accepting an invitation to visit Iran but stressed it would have to yield concrete results, urging Tehran to address suspicions of military-linked atom activity.

Yukiya Amano, director general of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said he had agreed in a meeting with Iran’s atomic energy head Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani this week that the two sides needed to talk.

PRAGUE/VIENNA (Reuters) – Challenged by cheaper rivals and lingering supply questions, the up-and-down Nabucco pipeline project may have a new lease on life following Germany’s decision to switch off nuclear power.

Nabucco’s backers in May said it would open two years later than planned and cost more than its target of 7.9 billion euros (7 billion pounds). The link aims to ease Europe’s reliance on Russian gas by delivering supplies through a new southern route.

VIENNA, June 20 (Reuters) – The U.N. nuclear chief proposed
international safety checks on reactors worldwide to help
prevent any repeat of Japan’s atomic crisis, a plan which may
face resistance from nations worried about outside involvement.

Yukiya Amano, opening a ministerial meeting on Monday aimed
at improving safety after the Fukushima emergency, also called
on countries to carry out risk assessments on their nuclear
power plants within 18 months.