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The Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that the salaries of his staff are to be cut by 10%. Moscow economist Oleg Buklemishev tells us it's a symbolic move which won't make much of a difference to public spending whilst Moscow bureau chief of the Economist Arkady Ostrovsky says Putin is using the war in Ukraine as a distraction from Russia's own ongoing economic problems. After a video purportedly from Islamic State showing the destruction of ancient statues in Iraq, we ask Christopher Ratté from the University of Michigan about how IS have sold other artefacts to fund their campaigns. Also many Indians are hoping for tax changes as finance minister Arun Jaitley prepares to unveil the Modi government's first full budget - the Â鶹Éç's Sameer Hashmi in Mumbai tells us more - and we have our review of the week's news in business.