The Austrian government is disassociating itself from an article that appeared on its Defense Ministry's Web site, reports the Los Angeles Times. The piece, written by retired Col. Friedrich Korkisch, accuses Muslims of violent tendencies to overthrow Western culture. The article also urges for the deportation of Muslim immigrants who do not lie in accordance with the Austrian government's ideals. The Austrian Ministry claims the article reflects the opinions of the author and not of the government itself. (perma-link to this brief)

Via I Want Media: MarketWatch.com is teaming up with Thomson Financial to produce a news wire service covering financial markets in North America, Europe and Asia, reports CBS MarketWatch. The service will be built over the next six to nine months and will add nearly 40 additional journalists to the news team. The new news wire service will compete with the likes of Reuters, Bloomberg and Dow Jones. (perma-link to this brief)

Via I Want Media: Forbes.com is challenging the Wall Street Journal to an advertising duel, reports BtoB Online. The new campaign, "The Forbes.com Challenge," gurantees existing and potential Forbes advertisers that their ads will outperform ads placed with WSJ. To qualify for the challenge, advertisers must place a minimum of $150,000 worth of ads with both Forbes and WSJ. If the ads don't outperform those placed with WSJ, Forbes will refund the entire cost of the ad campaign. The challenge applies to both print and online media. (perma-link to this brief)

According to Human Rights Watch, China has sent a woman to a labor camp for posting comments on the Internet that accused the government of harrassing petitioners during March's annual National People's Congress in Beijing, reports Reuters. Ma Yalian posted several articles online in which she alleged goverment officials physically abused her and other petitioners. Shanghai's Re-education Through Labor Administrative Committee ruled that her accusations were false. In 2001, Ma was sent to a labor camp. At that time, police had broken her legs and she became disabled. Ma has petitioned officials for years regarding her removal from her home in Shanghai during the financial district's development. (perma-link to this brief)

Via CNN: Google will offer one gigabyte worth of free e-mail in the coming weeks, reports the AP. Gmail will allow users to search every e-mail they've sent or received. The company already dominates the search engine industry. It is said Google's technology is behind nearly four of every five Web searches. Currently, Yahoo is the e-mail leader with 52.6 million unique visitors every month while Hotmail has 45.4 million users and AOL has 40.2 million users, according to a survey by comMedia Matrix. Google will display advertising links related to the topics discussed within the e-mails to pay for the service. (perma-link to this brief)

From the Los Angeles Times: A host of Web sites is attempting to bring young people into the political process by making it interesting for them. These political Web sites, with a range of options like interactivity, accessibility and candidate ranking according to an individual's needs and views, offer users a creative way to follow the presidential race. According to the article, these sites are proving to be immensely popular with the younger generation, who say they "don't have time to listen to speeches or collect the newspapers." The field of interactive political sites includes Vision Tree Software, Select Smart and President Match.
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Reporters Without Borders has condemned Syria's blocking of two news Web sites in mid-March, according to the Turks. The Web sites, www.amude.com and www.qamislo.com are in the Kurdish language and carry pictures, video and news about the protests held by the country's minority. Further, in separate incidents, two Internet users were imprisoned for posting "offensive" material online. Kurdish journalism student Massud Hamid was arrested for uploading photos of a Syrian demonstration online and Abdel Rahman Shaguri, for e-mailing a banned Web site.   (perma-link to this brief)

U.S. Web users constitute the majority of Guardian Unlimited readership, reports dotJournalism. Around 39% visit the newspaper's Web site, although UK users still spend much more time on the site, according to the Guardian's quarterly geographic breakdown. The percentage of U.S. users increased after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the invasion of Iraq. But the Guardian does not view the increase as a likely way to lure advertisers from American media. "Although we're the biggest UK newspaper site, we're reasonably small on the U.S. landscape," says Simon Waldman, director of digital publishing at the Guardian. The quarterly readership breakdown, which will appear on the site for the first time next month, is meant to help provide targets for Guardian Unlimited advertisers and reinforce its global brand. Online traffic for the site was estimated at 7.5 million readers, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations in January 2004. 
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Readers of newspaper Web sites are more likely to shop online than other Internet users, reports Dow Jones Newswires (subscription required). According to a survey conducted by MORI Research for the Newspaper Association of America, 82% of newspaper site readers recently shopped online, versus 52% of all Web surfers. News site readers form an attractive demographic for advertisers as they tend to be younger, better educated and earn an average annual income of $70,000. Dow Jones reports that online news readers spend twice as much time online as the general Internet population and are nearly twice as likely to have high-speed Internet access. The survey's sponsor, the Newspaper Association of America, represents more than 2,000 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. (perma-link to this brief)

Music fans can add this experience to their regular reading -- a Canadian weekly online magazine called CBC Radio 3 blends streaming music, photography and writing, reports CyberJournalist. "Call it what you want to," say its editors, "Internet radio, a magazine, a program or a site. It's still music, stories, art and interaction." CyberJournalist compares the virtual experience to flipping through a glossy magazine while listening to music. CBC Radio-Canada is country's national public broadcaster.    (perma-link to this brief)