1 S&P cuts Brazil to ‘junk’ status (BBC) Brazil
has lost its investment-grade credit rating following a downgrade by Standard
& Poor's to "junk" status. The US rating agency said mounting
political turmoil and the difficulties faced by President Dilma Rousseff's
government in tackling growing debt was behind the decision.
Brazil was awarded an investment-grade rating by
S&P in April 2008, when the country's economy was on the rise. However,
sliding commodity prices and austerity have created a recession. Ms Rousseff's
left-wing government had imposed austerity measures in a bid to avoid such a
downgrade.
S&P downgraded Brazil - Latin America's largest
economy - sooner than had been expected. S&P cut Brazil's rating from
BBB-minus to BB-plus, which denotes substantial credit risk. The outlook on the
new rating remains negative, which means further downgrades could soon follow.
2 India Muslim clerics call IS ‘un-Islamic’ (Dawn) More
than 1,000 Muslim clerics in India have ratified a religious ruling condemning
the self-styled Islamic State, calling the extremist group's actions
"un-Islamic."
Religious leaders from hundreds of mosques,
education institutions and civic groups across India have signed the edict, or
fatwa, saying the actions of the Islamic State group went against the basic
tenets of Islam. The edict was issued by a leading Mumbai-based cleric,
Mohammed Manzar Hasan Ashrafi Misbahi, and has been signed by the leaders of
all the main mosques in India.
"The acts of the Islamic State are inhuman and
un-Islamic," said Abdul Rehman Anjaria, a Muslim leader. India's 172
million Muslims mostly follow a moderate version of the religion and have
opposed the extreme practices of IS and Al Qaeda.
3 Women’s prospects limited by law in 155 countries
(Liz Ford & Mark Anderson in The Guardian) About 155 countries have at
least one law that limits women’s economic opportunities, while 100 states put
restrictions on the types of jobs women can do and 18 allow husbands to dictate
whether their wives can work at all, according to a World Bank report that
paints a stark picture of the enduring obstacles women face in achieving
economic empowerment.
Of the 173 countries studied for the report,
entitled Women, Business and the Law 2016: Getting to Equal, 32 require women
to get permission from their husbands to apply for a passport and 22 do not
allow married mothers to confer citizenship on their children. Thirty states
have legislation that designates men household heads, while women in 19
countries are legally obliged to obey their husbands.
More positively, over the past two years, 65
countries – the majority developing states – have made 94 reforms to their
statute books to improve gender parity. There has also been progress in
tackling violence against women: 127 countries now have laws on domestic
violence, compared with just seven 25 years ago.
Countries including Canada, Peru and Namibia, were
among 18 found to have no legal restrictions on women in the seven areas
studied. The report coincides with the 20th anniversary this month of the
landmark Beijing platform for action, which committed 189 countries to address
gender disparities in 12 critical areas. The Beijing declaration in 1995
promised a world where women could earn equal pay for equal work, live free
from violence, have access to decent healthcare and education, and have a say
in decision-making.
Countries in the Middle East and north Africa had
the most discriminatory laws, particularly around women’s ability to work or
move freely. But south Asian countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh and
Pakistan, were also found wanting, having made the fewest reforms over the past
two years.
In countries that restrict a woman’s ability to make
economic decisions, girls are less likely to finish secondary school and their
prospects of running or managing a business are diminished, which is bad
economics, says the World Bank. If a woman does manage to get a job, she is
likely to earn less than a man.
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