INDIA

Government to ramp up spending ahead of vote

India's government on Wednesday unveiled one of its biggest jumps in capital spending in the past decade and said the fiscal deficit would fall next year, as it tries to create jobs while maintaining financial discipline. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government faces elections in key states this year and a national vote in 2024, it has been under pressure to create jobs in the country of 1.4 billion where many have struggled to get employment. The spending rise to about $122.3 billion in the next fiscal year starting on April 1 will be the biggest such jump after an increase of more than 37 percent between 2020-21 and 2021-22. The Finance Ministry's annual Economic Survey, released on Tuesday, forecast the economy could grow 6 percent to 6.8 percent in the next fiscal year, down from 7 percent projected for the current year, while warning about the impact of cooling global demand on exports.

UNITED KINGDOM

Half a million strike in largest walkout in years

Half a million workers went on strike in Britain on Wednesday, calling for higher wages in the largest such walkout in over a decade, closing schools and severely disrupting transport. Britain's umbrella labor organization the Trades Union Congress, or TUC, called it the "biggest day of strike action since 2011". Teachers and train drivers were among the latest groups to act, as well as border force workers at UK air and seaports. Britain has witnessed months of strikes by tens of thousands of workers — including postal staff, lawyers, nurses and employees in the retail sector — as UK inflation raced above 11 percent, the highest level in more than 40 years.