'Blue Whale' claims life of 13-year-old boy in UP

News Network
August 28, 2017

Lucknow, Aug 28: A 13-year old child, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Hamirpur district, about 200 kilometres from here, became the first victim of the online killer game 'Blue Whale' in the state.

According to the police sources, Parth Singh, a student of seventh standard, was found hanging from the ceiling fan at his residence in Maudaha town on Sunday evening.

Parth's father Vikram Singh said that his son had been addicted to the fatal online game and was often seen playing the same. ''We had admonished him several times and asked him not to play the game but he did not heed our advice,'' a distraught Vikram said.

He said that on Sunday evening Parth, who was busy on the mobile phone, suddenly went into his room and locked the door from inside. 

His parents had to break the door after Parth did not open the door. They found their son hanging from the ceiling fan. He was rushed to the hospital but was declared brought dead by the doctors. ''I am sure Blue Whale game is behind the suicide,'' Vikram said.

Police officials said that the mobile phone would be sent to the experts for examination to ascertain if it had Blue Whale game. 

Parth, incidentally, is the first victim of the deadly online game. It has already claimed lives of several children in different parts of the country in the past few days. 

Alarmed by the suicides by the children, the centre had directed the social networking sites to remove all links to the game. The game has claimed many lives across the world.

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News Network
April 24,2020

Thane, Apr 24: A 34-year-old man was allegedly attacked on suspicion of being a COVID-19 patient and died after falling into a gutter during the assault in Kalyan town of Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Friday.

The incident took place on Wednesday morning, when Ganesh Gupta had stepped out of his home to purchase some essentials amid the COVID-19 lockdown, an official said.

On noticing some policemen manning the street, the victim took an alternate route, where a few passersby assaulted him after he coughed while walking, he said.

The men suspected him of being a COVID-19 patient and attacked him, causing him to fall into a gutter and die, the official said.

The deceased's body was sent for post-mortem and a case of accidental death has been registered as of now, the station house officer of the Khadakpada police station said.

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News Network
May 11,2020

May 11: Saudi Arabia will triple its value-added tax rate and suspend a cost of living allowance for state workers, it said on Monday, seeking to shield finances hit by low oil prices and a slump in demand for its lifeline export worsened by the new coronavirus.

Historic oil output cuts agreed by Riyadh and other major producers have given only limited support to prices after they sank on oversupply caused by a war for petroleum market share between the kingdom and its fellow oil titan Russia.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, is also being hit hard by measures to fight the new coronavirus, which are likely to curb the pace and scale of economic reforms launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"The cost of living allowance will be suspended as of June 1, and the value added tax will be increased to 15% from 5% as of July 1," Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said in a statement reported by the state news agency. "These measures are painful but necessary to maintain financial and economic stability over the medium to long term...and to overcome the unprecedented coronavirus crisis with the least damage possible."

The austerity measures come after the kingdom posted a $9 billion budget deficit in the first quarter.

The minister said non-oil revenues were affected by the suspension and decline in economic activity, while spending had risen due to unplanned strains on the healthcare sector and the initiatives taken to support the economy.

"All these challenges have cut state revenues, pressured public finances to a level that is hard to deal with going forward without affecting the overall economy in the medium to long term, which requires more spending cuts and measures to support non-oil revenues stability," he added.

The government has cancelled and put on hold some operating and capital expenditures for some government agencies, and cut allocations for some reform initiatives and projects worth a total 100 billion riyals ($26.6 billion), the statement said.

Central bank foreign reserves fell in March at their fastest rate in at least 20 years and to their lowest since 2011, while oil revenues in the first three months of the year fell 24% from a year earlier to $34 billion, pulling total revenues down 22%.

"The reforms are positive from a fiscal side as greater adjustment is essential. However, the tripling of VAT is unlikely to help that much in 2020 revenue wise with the expected fall in consumption," said Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

She said she kept unchanged her deficit forecast of 16.3% of GDP for this year, which already factors in a greater than previously announced spending cut.

About 1.5 million Saudis are employed in the government sector, according to official figures released in December.

In 2018, Saudi Arabia's King Salman ordered a monthly payment of 1,000 riyals ($267) to every state employee to compensate them for the rising living costs after the government hiked domestic gas prices and introduced value-added tax.

DIFFICULT TIMES

A committee has been formed to study all financial benefits paid to public sector employees and contractors, and will submit recommendations within 30 days, the statement said.

In late 2015, when oil prices fell from record highs, the kingdom slashed lavish bonuses, overtime payments and other benefits once considered routine perks in the public sector.

In a country without elections and with political legitimacy resting partly on distribution of oil revenue, the ability of citizens to adapt to such reforms is crucial for stability.

"Tripling the VAT will test the limits of the balance between revenues and consumption as the economy dives into a deep recession. The move will impact consumption and could also lower the expected revenues," said John Sfakianakis, a Gulf expert at the University of Cambridge.

"These are pro-austerity and pro-revenue moves rather than pro-growth ones," he said.

Hasnain Malik, head of equity strategy at Tellimer, said the VAT rise could bring about $24-$26.5 billion in additional non-oil fiscal revenue. The rise would hit consumer spending further but was a needed step towards fiscal sustainability, he said.

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News Network
February 5,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 5: City Crime Branch (CCB) of Bengaluru City have arrested two drug peddlers from Kerala and have seized banned products from their possession.

According to officials the arrested persons have been identified as Shinto Thomas (35) of Wayanad and Tajudden Talat (29) of Thiruvananthapuram.

"We have seized 4 kg 350 grams of Hashish oil, 21.5 kgs of Ganja, Rs. 9300 cash, two mobile phones, two ganja crushing tools, and 625 empty boxes and other articles from them", police said in a statement.

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