When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
InterNations
India

Will India Be The First “Fallen Angel” of the BRIC countries?

Worldcrunch

THE TIMES OF INDIA, OUTLOOK (India)

MUMBAI – Citing slowed growth and stalled reforms, Standard & Poors has warned India that it risks losing its investment-grade rating, and being downgraded to junk category, reports the Times of India.

S&P assigned much of the blame to politicians, notably Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "It would be ironic if a government under the economist who spurred much of the liberalization of India's economy and helped unleash such gains were to preside over their potential erosion."

The recent sharp drop in India's quarterly GDP growth numbers (a nine-year low of 5.3% for the three months ending in March) and the falling value of the rupee has led S&P to wonder if India will be the "first ‘fallen angel" of the BRIC nations." BRIC refers to the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

India's S&P rating is presently BBB-, the lowest investment rating. The agency took aim at the divided leadership between Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi and her party ally the "unelected" Singh. S&P had upgraded India to investment grade BBB rating in January 2007, after four years of above nine per cent growth.

Outlook magazine noted that: "The report comes at a time when some commentators are wondering if the "I" in BRIC now stands for Indonesia."

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

Iran's War On Abortion Rights, A Toxic Mix Of Theocracy And Demographic Panic

Ending a pregnancy has become a major complication, and a crime, for Iranian women who cannot or will not have children in a country wracked by socio-economic woes and a leadership.

photo of a young child surrounded by women in chadors

Iran's government wants to boost the birth rate at all costs

Office of Supreme Leader/ZUMA
Firoozeh Nordstrom

Keen to boost the population, Iran's Islamic regime has reversed its half-hearted family planning policies of earlier years and is curbing birth control with measures that include banning abortion.

Its (2021) Law to Support the Family and Rejuvenate the Population (Qanun-e hemayat az khanevadeh va javani-e jam'iyat) threatens to fine the women who want to abort, and fine, imprison, and dismiss the performing physician, if the pregnancy is not deemed to be life-threatening. The law also bans contraceptives.

For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.

The measures are in line with the dictates of Iran's Supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. He was already denouncing birth control policies by 2018-19, though conservative elements among Iran's rulers have always dismissed birth control as a piece of Western corruption.

Today, measures to boost families include land and credit incentives for young couples, but it is difficult to say how far they will counter a marked reluctance among Iranians to marry and procreate. Kayhan-London had an online conversation with individuals affected by the new rules in Iran.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest