Asia

LUCKNOW: Indian police on Tuesday formed a special investigative unit to probe the death of a girl who said she had been set on fire by a stalker whose marriage proposal she rejected, a case that has led to anger in a country where violence against women is rife. Hardline Hindu groups have called for death to the accused, a Muslim man who police said lived in the same locality as the victim, a Hindu, in the Dumka district of the eastern state of Jharkhand. Police said the man poured kerosene on the victim, named as Ankita, through her house window when she was asleep and set her on fire last Tuesday. She died in hospital of severe burn injuries on Sunday. Read Also Moscow says Baltic states' 'Russophobia' will further damage ties Qatar calls for de-escalation, resolution of differences through dialogue in Iraq Almost all Dutch trains halted by strike around Utrecht "Two senior officials have been deployed in the town and they will coordinate with the district police chief in the probe," said Amol V. Homkar, a spokesperson for Jharkhand police, adding that the accused and a co-accused had been arrested. Reuters could not immediately contact the family of the accused or their lawyer. The Vishva Hindu Parishad, or the World Hindu Council, said the majority Hindu community would hit the streets in protest if appropriate action was not taken. District authorities have restricted the movement of people to prevent any fallout from the incident. "After the cruelty meted out to Ankita, her death has made every Indian bow their heads in shame," Rahul Gandhi, a leader of the main opposition Congress party, said on Twitter. "Today, there is a dire need to create a safe environment for women in the country

Asia

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka unveiled fresh measures on Tuesday in an interim budget aimed at clinching a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund, talks for which, the president said, had reached the "final stage". The budget revised up the island nation's deficit projection for 2022 to 9.8% of the gross domestic product from 8.8% earlier, while outlining a slide in tax revenue and a sharp net increase in expenditure. Unveiling the measures in parliament, President Ranil Wickremesinghe added that the government would aim to rein in inflation and introduce legislation to bolster central bank independence. The country of 22 million is battling its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948. Wickremesinghe, who took over as president last month, is pushing to adopt fiscal consolidation measures agreed with the IMF. "The government has taken sufficient fiscal reforms, including the VAT hike in the interim budget as well as income tax raises ... which were pre-requisites from a fiscal angle to qualify for the staff-level agreement," said Udeeshan Jonas, chief strategist at Colombo-based investment firm CAL Group. Negotiations with the IMF, which has a team of officials visiting Sri Lanka, had made headway, said Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister. "It is imperative that we use this opportunity to correct past mistakes and implement long-term policies that will stabilise the economy and take us out of the challenges we currently face," he said in his budget speech. REVISED ESTIMATES Sri Lankan officials hope the budget will be followed by a preliminary, staff-level agreement with the IMF for a loan package worth between $2 billion and $3 billion. The revised budget estimates project revenues of 2 trillion Sri Lankan rupees ($5.6 billion) in 2022, down from an initial figure of 2.23 trillion. Total expenditure is set to rise to 4.4 trillion rupees, exceeding the earlier estimate of 3.9 trillion. The government's primary deficit, essentially borrowing requirements excluding interest payments, is expected to fall to 4% of GDP, however, versus 5.7% in 2021. "Given the policies outlined in the budget, especially around structural reforms and achieving a 2% primary surplus by 2025, groundwork is being set in place to put in reforms that the IMF is expecting," said Shehan Cooray, head of research for Acuity Stockbrokers. Sri Lanka's sovereign bonds jumped 1.9 cents on the dollar after Wickremesinghe's speech, although they were still below 33 cents, less than a third of their face value. MEDIUM-TERM RECOVERY Outlining a raft of other measures to stabilise the bruised economy, Wickremesinghe said he aimed to bring annual inflation down to mid single-digit levels from more than 66% now. Fresh taxes will be introduced in the next full-year budget but value-added tax will rise from Thursday to 15% from 12% now. "The VAT hike was expected, but with the government looking to reduce the deficit to 9.8%, it looks like the revenue collections may not be sufficient with a contracting economy," said Lakshini Fernando, macroeconomist for investment firm Asia Securities. In the medium term, Sri Lanka will aim to cut its ratio of debt to GDP below 100%, versus 120% now, along with economic growth of 5%, Wickremesinghe said. The economy is likely to contract 8% this year and growth is not likely until the second half of 2023, the central bank has said. COVID-19 disrupted Sri Lanka's tourism-reliant economy and slashed remittances from workers overseas. The damage was compounded by rising oil prices, populist tax cuts and a seven-month ban last year on imports of chemical fertilisers that devastated agriculture. That brought chronic shortages of basic goods, runaway inflation and mass protests that forced then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee, leaving his successor, Wickremesinghe, to tackle restructuring billions of dollars in debt to China and other countries

Europe

Russia condemned the destruction of Soviet war memorials in the three Baltic states and accused them on Tuesday of persecuting their Russian-speaking minorities. In a forcefully worded statement, Moscow said Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were guilty of xenophobia, saying they were treating their ethnic Russian minorities as "second-class people". It said Russian-language media, kindergartens and schools were being shut down. "What is happening now in the Baltic states is unacceptable for us and will certainly affect the state of bilateral relations with these countries, which are already in complete decline," the Foreign Ministry said. Read Also Qatar calls for de-escalation, resolution of differences through dialogue in Iraq UN issues flash appeal for $160 million to help Pakistan with floods Bournemouth sack manager Parker after Liverpool loss It complained of "Russophobic approaches" and "an unprecedented, in fact close to fascist, campaign by the authorities of the Baltic states to barbarically remove, en masse, memorials to the Soviet soldier-liberators". Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova had accused the Baltic states on Aug. 12 of a "neo-Nazi bacchanalia". The "neo-Nazi" charge is significant because President Vladimir Putin used the same accusation to justify his Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine and the West dismissed that as a false pretext for a war of conquest. The Baltic states were annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, then occupied by Nazi Germany before returning to Moscow's rule as part of the Soviet Communist bloc until they regained independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. All three are members of the European Union and NATO, and their relations with Moscow have worsened sharply since the start of the war. On Aug. 25, Latvian authorities demolished Riga's 80-metre high "Monument to the Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from the German Fascist Invaders". Latvia's parliament had approved the demolition in May, and cited Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a reason. Estonia announced on Aug. 16 that it would begin removing Soviet-era monuments, citing public order concerns