JERUSALEM Michael Lang Switzerland Jersey , Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli court on Thursday sentenced to jail five Israeli Arabs for their role in the killing of a Jewish soldier that went on a shooting spree against Arabs eight years ago, in a decision that ignited rage among the Arab community.
In 2005, Israeli soldier Eden Natan-Zada opened fire with an army-issued rifle in a bus that was heading to the northern Arab town of Shefaram. He killed four people and wounded 12 others before the passengers disarmed and cuffed him. Video footage showed that after he was cuffed he was beaten by a mob until he died.
Natan-Zada, who was a supporter of the far-right extremist Kahanist movement and a resident of settlement Tapuah in the occupied West Bank, allegedly acted in opposition to the Israeli government's disengagement plan from Gaza that took place two weeks later.
On Thursday, the Haifa District Court sentenced three of the defendants to two years in prison for attempted manslaughter Marwin Hitz Switzerland Jersey , and other two to prison terms of between 18 and 20 months.
Hundreds of Shefaram residents and other Israeli Arabs rallied outside the court during the reading of the sentence.
Jamil Safuri, who is with the Shefaram Popular Committee, told Xinhua that the sentence illustrates the severe discrimination against the Arab minority in Israel, which constitute 20 percent of the country's population.
"Jewish terrorists who kill Arabs get light penalties, sometimes even only probations," he said. "Instead of prosecuting us Johan Djourou Switzerland Jersey , the police should have defended the people of Shefaram from cases like this," Safuri added.
VIENNA, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The Austrian economy is on track for steady growth of an average 1.7 percent each year until 2021, a leading research institute said on Wednesday.
In its latest medium-term prognosis for the domestic economy, the Vienna-based Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) said after many years of weak growth, the positive start to 2017 will be maintained going forward Haris Seferovic Switzerland Jersey , albeit at a slightly lesser rate.
The anticipated growth rate will put Austria on par with growth expectations for the remainder of the eurozone, and be about one percent higher than average growth seen between 2012 and 2016.
The improved situation is largely expected to come from a strong increase in private consumption, as well as an increase in demand for exports on the back of an improvement in global trade.
The present trend toward an improved situation on the job market is also expected to continue, including an improvement in new jobs available as well as a continued drop in unemployment.
The latter will however still remain at a relatively high eight percent as per Austria's domestic calculation method by 2021, IHS noted.
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BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- China's exports saw the fastest growth in 19 months, expanding by 15.3 percent from a year ago to 213.7 billion U.S. dollars in September, customs data showed on Monday.
The September growth rate was the highest monthly export reading since March 2013.
Imports increased 7 percent year on year to 182.7 billion U.S. dollars in the month, and total foreign trade volume rose 11.3 percent to 396.4 billion U.S. dollars, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.
September's growth rate in imports also marked the best monthly reading since December 2013 Gelson Fernandes Switzerland Jersey , according to GAC.
Trade surplus in September more than doubled from last year to 31 billion U.S. dollars, compared with 49.8 billion U.S. dollars seen in August.
Zheng Yuesheng, GAC spokesman, said China's foreign trade was gaining traction quarter by quarter despite a complex world economy.
The spokesman attributed September's strong growth to a string of government measures adopted in May to stabilize foreign trade, as well as rebounding global demand.
"We hope the strong momentum to continue in the fourth quarter," Zheng said Francois Moubandje Switzerland Jersey , adding export pressure will lift in the fourth quarter.
The export leading index improved by 1.4 percentage points from August to reach 43.3 percent in September, indicating exporters are more optimistic about coming months, according to GAC.
For the January-September period, China's foreign trade added 3.3 percent year on year to reach 3.16 trillion U.S. dollars, with exports up 5.1 percent at 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars, imports up 1.3 percent at 1.46 trillion U.S. dollars.
Trade surplus in the first nine months expanded by 37.8 percent from previous year to 231.6 billion U.S. dollars.
The European Union (EU) remained China's biggest trading partner Fabian Schar Switzerland Jersey , with two-way trade totaling 2.81 trillion yuan (457 billion U.S. dollars) in the Jan-Sept period, up 10.2 percent from a year earlier.
China's trade with the United States, its second largest trade partner, rose 5.2 percent year on year to 2.48 trillion yuan from January to September, while China-ASEAN trade went up 6 percent to 2.13 trillion yuan.
Trade between China's mainland and Hong Kong fell 13 percent to 1.61 trillion yuan in the first nine months.
In contrast to the official optimism, Lu Zhengwei Fabian Frei Switzerland Jersey , chief economist of Industrial Bank, was less upbeat while commenting on the trade outlook.
"The rejoice [over exports] will be short-lived and sadness will return soon," Lu warned, predicting a sharp slowdown in exports in the fourth quarter based on the past experience on trade flu. Joao Mario Portugal Jersey Lucas Digne France Jersey Jordan Henderson England Jersey Lovre Kalinic Croatia Jersey Guillermo Celis Colombia Jersey Pele Brazil Jersey Nacer Chadli Belgium Jersey Lionel Messi Argentina Jersey Gaston Silva Uruguay Jersey Shani Tarashaj Switzerland Jersey