JERUSALEM ECCO Irving Tie 511504-02001 Black , Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Former Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who was fired and rebuked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lashed out at Netanyahu on Wednesday, saying Netanyahu was "out of touch."


In a press briefing held in Tel Aviv Wednesday evening, Lapid said the Prime Minister "is out of touch and self-involved. No one else but him is interested in going to elections."


"Prime minister," Lapid said, "you have no idea what the elections would do to the citizens, because you haven't known them and what's on their mind for a long while. You just told the public that you'd rather shut down the economy and spend billions of shekels."


Experts estimate the early elections set to take place on March 17 will cost about two billion shekels (half a billion U.S. dollars), and will paralyze the country as no budget has been passed by the Knesset (parliament) for 2015.


He added that the prime minister is wrong by assuming he will keep his position following the upcoming elections. "The prime minister has made a mistake and will not establish the next government," Lapid said.


Responding directly to accusations by Netanyahu that he and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who Netanyahu also fired, were undermining his leadership from within the government, he called the press appearance by Netanyahu on Tuesday "haunted and terrified" and said Netanyahu was the one who tried to make political deals and overthrow Lapid's party from the government.


"You closed a deal with the ultra-Orthodox, you made them promises and then you complain there was a coup d'茅tat against you which never took place. It's not just out of touch, it's living in fantasy land," he added.


The minister also slammed Netanyahu for hurting Israel's relationship with United States, which some experts say is at an all-time low, and for not giving peace efforts with the Palestinians a standing chance.


On Tuesday, Netanyahu said the center-left ministers were undermining his authority and the government and said he is no longer able to lead the country and supports early elections, two years after the previous ones took place.


Knesset members voted in favor of dispersing the Knesset on Wednesday in an initial round of votes with 84 members voting for it and no one voting against it. The final rounds of voting are set to take place on Monday.


The problems in the coalition stem from harsh disagreements between the hardline right and the center-left factions on matters of nationalist legislation, the handling of the escalating security situation, the collapse of the peace talks with the Palestinians and Israel's diplomatic isolation across the world, as well as the 2015 budget.


Netanyahu's critics say he had chosen to "break to the right" in order to get the support of hardline members of his party in the upcoming internal elections and keep his position as the chairman.


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JERUSALEM, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Amid talks of possible new elections over coalition strife, support of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decreased, according to a poll published on Sunday by the Ha'aretz daily.


While the support rate of the prime minister stood at 50 percent of the respondents late August, at the height of the two-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, only 38 percent of the respondents said they are satisfied with Netanyahu's performance.Full Story


Israeli PM fires top ministers, pledges support for early elections


JERUSALEM, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his support for dispersing the Knesset (parliament) and conducting early elections amid a coalition crisis.


During a press conference at his Jerusalem office, Netanyahu also said he has ordered to fire Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who he said plotted against him by outspokenly criticizing his policies.


"I cannot lead the country within this current government," Netanyahu told reporters Tuesday evening. "From the get-go, this government was oppositional, it had frictions and opposite directions and it was run under threats and ultimatums," he added, saying Livni and Lapid have planned a coup d'茅tat.


BEIJING, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- China will strive to keep its economic growth steady in 2015, sticking to a proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy, says a statement issued Thursday after the Central Economic Work Conference.


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Xinhua Insight: Five-year-low CPI heralds more easing, price reform


BEIJING, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's consumer prices grew by their slowest pace in five years in November, which may result in more easing measures by the policymakers, official data showed on Wednesday.


The consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, rose by 1.4 percent year on year, the slowest increase since November 2009, when it rose 0.6 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).Full story


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BEIJING, Dec. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Facing slower economic growth, the Chinese government is trying to find new engines for its economic development.Full story


Xinhua Insight: Policy easing eyed as economic activity remains sluggish


BEIJING, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- A raft of weaker-than-expected economic indicators released Thursday highlighted downward pressures for China's economy and prompted analysts to eye further easing policies in the near term.


The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement that China's industrial output grew 7.7 percent year on year in October, down from an 8-percent increase in September.Full story


European analysts project healthy growth of Chinese economy


BRUSSELS, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- The current Chinese

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