Vienna - A major Austrian-Italian tunnel project was thrown into doubt Friday, after an Austrian finance minister was quoted in local media saying his country would not commit funds until Italy and Germany pledged their financing.

The rail tunnel beneath the Brenner mountain pass on the Austrian-Italian border is planned to improve the connection on the important route between Italy and Germany through the Austrian Alps.

Vienna - The Austrian Defence Ministry admitted Friday that its smoke grenades could have been the cause of a car pile-up in which a Czech woman burned to death in January.

The accident occurred on January 22 on a motorway near Vienna. Six vehicles crashed in dense fog near an army training site where five smoke grenades had just been fired.

Vienna- The wife of incest and murder suspect Josef Fritzl on Thursday won two lawsuits against Austrian media which had published articles detailing her private life.

A Vienna court awarded Rosemarie Fritzl 11,000 euros (14,175 dollars) in damages, ruling that the weekly magazine News and the monthly Woman had breached her privacy with stories "that only satisfied readers' craving for sensation."

The lawyer of News said he would appeal, Austrian press agency APA reported.

Vienna - Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said he has doubts about Austria's proposal for an EU-sponsored package to rescue banks in Central and Eastern Europe, according to an interview with Austrian weekly News published Wednesday.

Austria's government last week called on CEE countries, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to expand current measures in order to prevent a credit crunch in the region.

Vienna - Austrian energy drink producer Red Bull reported Wednesday that its 2008 sales reached 3.32 billion euros (4.28 billion dollars), up 7.9 per cent, less than half the previous year's 16.6 per cent rise.

At 79 per cent, sales growth was especially strong in the Far East, with the Middle East (31 per cent) and South America (26 per cent) also boosting revenue, Austrian press agency APA reported Wednesday.

Red Bull founder and co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz said last week that the growth rate in the United States had slowed down since October, falling to single digits.