Yahoo! Inc. and Google Inc. will delay their online advertising partnership until U.S. regulators finish their investigation on the deal, Bloomberg reported Friday.

The U.S. Justice Department and Google came to an agreement today, but no official announcement has been made, according to a “person with knowledge of the decision,” Bloomberg reported.

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The proposed Google and Yahoo! advertising partnership is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice and a European Commission, and now 11 U.S. states are doing their own investigations. Meanwhile, the deal has most recently been attacked by the Association of National Advertisers, CNBC reported Tuesday.

All parties are concerned the ad agreement, which would allow Yahoo! to run ads supplied by Google next to Yahoo! search results, violates competition laws, as it would funnel millions of dollars worth of revenue to Yahoo!, all while strengthening Google's hold on the search ad market.

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The World Association of Newspapers has asked competition authorities in Europe and North America to block an advertising agreement between Google and Yahoo on anti-competitive grounds, saying the deal would have a negative impact on the advertising revenues that the search giants provide to newspaper and other Web sites, and on the cost of paid search advertising.

The European Union's Competition Commission announced Monday it is studying the proposed advertising deal between Google and Yahoo!. Currently, the deal is limited to the United States and Canada. A deal in Europe could violate E.U. price fixing rules, as well as rules about sharing sensitive business information, Jonathan Todd, competition commission spokesman told The Los Angeles Times. The U.S. Department of Justice is also examining the deal.

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Austria daily Österreich is famous for its giveaways to new subscribers, such as iPods, coffee machines, free highway vouchers. The latest offer is a cash refund, according to Newspaper Innovation.

New subscribers for at least one-year subscription will receive €100, either in cash or on their bank account.

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Google has said it will back Project Kangaroo, which plans to launch an ad-supported Web site that will give users access to current programmes on UK television stations ITV and Channel 4, as well as all BBC programmes a week after their original air date, the Times Online reported.

The Competition Commission is investigating Kangaroo, but Google has said the online media market is already very competitive.

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Northern European newspaper group Mecom is seeing a 63 percent plunge in operating profits, due mostly to Denmark's highly competitive newspaper market, the Times Online reported Wednesday.

The group's income in the first half of the year dropped by £5 million (€6.33 million) to £3 million (€3.8 million), on advertising down 13 percent.

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Investors are interested in media companies in India because they continue to trade at high premiums, target under-advertised and geographically diversified audiences and serve audiences willing to pay for media, Salil Pitale, head of media and telecom at Enam Securities, told the Future of News event in New Delhi Friday, afaqs! reported.

Criteria for investing in Indian media falls into four major categories: predictability, sustainability, profitability and derisking, he said.

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Paid circulation in Germany has dropped from 25 million to 20 million between 1998 and 2008, making the country highly attractive to free newspapers, Newspaper Innovation reported Friday.

However, even though Germany seems to be a blank slate in regard to freesheets, plans by Metro, Schibsted and Dagsbrun have not worked, as German publisher Springer “is said to have a 'war fund' of €300 million ready and could launch competitor Gratissimo ‘within days’ while WAZ – the second German publisher – also wants to fight a free daily at any cost,” Newspaper Innovation stated.

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MySpace will relaunch its classified-listing section on Monday through a partnership with Oodle, CNET reported Monday.

Though it's no Craigslist, MySpace said its existing classifieds section attracts a million visitors per month. With the improved technology from Oodle, the social networking site can better search, filter, and tweak listings, which can draw in more users, CNET reported.

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Mid-Day Infomedia is looking to branch out to Pune next, as it focuses on new media and the top metro areas in India, afaqs! reported Monday.

Mid-Day aims to launch editions in the top 10 metro areas in India, with limited print runs.

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Fairfax Media is looking to expand into South Australia, less than a month after launching WAtoday.co.au, based in Western Australia, The Age, owned by Fairfax, reported last week.

Fairfax launched the Perth-based site June 10, and last week bought the rights to AdelaideToday.com.au and SAtoday.com.au.

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The BBC's plan that would have 65 Web sites across the United Kingdom provide on-demand news and sports video puts local press in danger, and will have a negative effect on commercial competition, announced The Newspaper Society, which represents local UK media companies, Media Guardian reported Tuesday.

The BBC plans to spend £68 million on the sites, which will give the corporation “free rein to trample over commercial rivals,” who are already providing local online content, the Newspaper Society stated.

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The Wentworth Courier's 15 year hold on real estate advertising in Sydney's eastern suburbs is over, after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on Thursday revoked the paper's exclusive dealing notification it has held since 1993, The Sydney Morning Herald reported Friday

The complaint that the deal was anti-competitive was placed by Fairfax Media, which reported the deal gave the Courier “immunity from court action.”

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Telegraph Media Group’s editor-in-chief told the Google Zeitgeist conference that the arrival of multimedia reporting means he now sees CNN and the BBC as the Telegraph's main competition, Journalism.co.uk reported Friday.

Will Lewis, who spoke at the event last week, told delegates that when it comes to online, the Telegraph is looking past traditional competition on Fleet Street and concentrating on consumers’ needs.

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The new free Dutch business daily, De Financiële Pers, was a two-day test run, an editorial in Friday's edition stated, Newspaper Innovation reported Friday,

De Financiële Pers is a business spin-off of free daily De Pers, which De Pers launched in a joint venture with business platform IEX.nl.

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