Vienna  - Martin Graf says he "respected" the political views of an Austrian neo-Nazi leader. In a televised interview, he declines to say explicitly that Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

An Austrian lawmaker for a total of 10 years, Graf is now seeking one of the nation's top political posts after dramatic election gains made his Freedom Party the third-strongest force in parliament.

Surging support for the party once led to prominence by far-right firebrand Joerg Haider has focussed attention on its current leaders - and its right to name one of two deputy parliament presidents.

Vienna - Economists further lowered their growth forecasts for Austria for this year and 2009 on Thursday, saying weakening growth in the Unites States, high oil prices and the strong dollar would affect the economic climate.

The independent institutes WIFO and IHS lowered their growth rate projections for 2009 to 0.9 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively, down from earlier estimates of 1.4 per cent and 1.9 per cent.

Both institutes set this year's growth projection at 2.0 per cent, a downward revision from WIFO's 2.3 per cent and the IHS projection of 2.2 per cent made in June.

In 2007, the Austrian economy had grown by 3.1 per cent.

Vienna - Austria on Thursday extradited a former Croatian general for trial on embezzlement charges in his homeland, news reports said.

Vladimir Zagorec, 44, a weapons buyer for Croatian forces during the Balkan nation's 1991-95 war of independence from Yugoslavia, was handed over to Croatia after the Austrian constitutional court threw out his appeal against extradition, Austria's APA news agency said.

Considered one of Croatia's richest men, Zagorec was arrested in Vienna on September 26 after authorities considered him a flight risk. He was placed on a plane to the capital Zagreb on Thursday, Croatia's HINA news agency reported.

Vienna - After Austria's far-right parties won 27 additional parliamentary seats in Sunday's elections, a new batch of legislators known for their extremist views and affiliations is set to step onto the national political stage.

Heinz-Christian Strache's Freedom Party and Joerg Haider's smaller Alliance for the Future of Austria were known for their anti- immigration and anti-Islamic sentiments before Sunday.

But as the parties collected 29 per cent of the vote (18 per cent for the Freedom Party and 11 per cent for the Alliance), politicians who were used to spreading their views without attracting media attention are about to enter the spotlight.

Vienna - Austrian-based construction group Strabag SE announced Monday it has put on hold a planned joint venture with a Russian cement group in order to stay flexible in the current financial crisis.

Strabag had planned a deal worth 500 million euros (717 million euros) to combine its Hungarian cement factory with Basel Cement's four cement production sites in Russia and Kazakhstan, Strabag spokeswoman Diana Klein said.

Basel Cement is owned by aluminium king Oleg Deripaska's investment group Basic Element, which also holds a 30-per-cent share in Strabag.

The Austrian construction group is among the five largest in Europe.

Vienna - Austria's resurgent far-right Freedom Party was the most popular choice among young voters in Sunday's parliamentary election, winning above-average support among those aged 30 or below, exit polls found.

Immigration and law-and-order were the most important election issues for supporters of the Freedom Party and the Alliance for the Future of Austria, which together won some 29 per cent of the vote.

While Austria lowered the voting age to 16 from 18 for the election, polls about the sentiment of the youngest voters were not immediately available.