Qatar tribune Agencies President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated on Saturday the main priority of the government’s economic program to lower inflation as he said that there would be more interest rate cuts in 2025 after the central bank cut its key rate by 250 basis points to 47.5% earlier this week. The Turkish central bank trimmed the one-week repo rate on Thursday after an 18-month tightening effort to tackle elevated prices. “Priority in our economy program is to lower inflation ... We will hopefully reduce inflation to the required level by using other tools at our disposal in addition to the monetary policy,” Erdoğan told members of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in the northwestern city of Bursa. “We will definitely start lowering the interest rates; 2025 will be the landmark year for this,” he said.“Interest rates will decrease so that inflation will decrease. We will take this step. This is now indispensable for us.” The annual inflation rate dipped to 47.1% in November compared to around 75% in May, marking the lowest since mid-2023. Inflation is seen declining further to 45.2% in December, according to a recent Reuters poll which saw the annual rate falling to 26.5% by the end of 2025. The central bank earlier announced that it had reduced the number of scheduled policy meetings next year to eight from 12 in 2024. According to a Reuters poll’s median, the central bank is expected to ease rates to about 28.5% by the end of 2025, with forecasts ranging between 25% and 33%.“The main purpose of our ecnomic program is to compensate for the welfare loss, which our nation, our fixed-income citizens in particular, has been experiencing due to the imbalances in exchange rates and inflation, as soon as possible. To that end, we must, first of all, eliminate such matters as inflation used as an excuse for the high cost of living,” Erdoğan said at the congress of AK Party in Bursa. “The arbitrary pricing habits of greedy opportunists, which cannot be explained by inflation, exchange or interest rates, of course, do not make our job easier, they make it harder. There is a group that perceives the free market economy as disorder and exploits it to the fullest, but we will overcome them,” he added. “In fact, the most effective method in this regard is for our nation to boycott products and services that increase prices excessively,” he outlined. Furthermore, drawing attention to housing and rental prices, which he said play an important role in inflation rise and the perception of the cost of living, President Erdoğan stressed that they are in preparation for taking a step that will prevent this, and added: “As of the summer months, during which the construction activities in the earthquake zone will be completed to a great extent, we are planning to launch a social housing mobilization.” Like this, he noted that they will take steps aimed at enabling fixed-income citizens to own their own houses. Separately, at another event in Bursa on Saturday, the president also highlighted the confidence in the economic program as he pointed out to improvement in the economy, stating that the goals for 2024 have been achieved “to a large extent.” “We have full confidence and support for our economic program. We have achieved our goals for 2024 to a large extent despite the crises that resurfaced in our region and the elections. International capital inflow to our country has accelerated, our reserves have strengthened, foreign exchange volatility has decreased, and financing circumstances have improved,” said Erdoğan. “Our country’s credit risk premium has also fallen significantly. We are the only country whose rating has been increased twice by the three credit rating agencies,” he noted. “We have also taken realistic steps and a common future vision in the 2025 budget. This year, we have allocated TL 1.57 trillion (nearly $44.7 billion) for investments,” he added. “In addition to the reconstruction of the earthquake zone, we have given priority to investments in irrigation, investments that will connect organized industrial zones with ports by rail, and investments that will quickly complete the industrial infrastructure,” he said. Speaking at the Award Ceremony for Contributors to Economy, the president also highlighted the importance they attached to maintaining the competitive strength in the apparel, textile, leather and furniture sectors. Copy 30/12/2024 10The decisive victory of the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in the Maharashtra assembly elections is expected to speed up the redevelopment of Asia's largest slum Dharavi. The ambitious ₹20,000-crore urban renewal project , covering nearly 600 acres in the heart of Mumbai, was at stake as opposition parties had pledged to scrap or revise it if they won the elections. Assembly Election Results Live Updates Maharashtra Election Results Jharkhand Election Results Bypoll Election Results In November 2022, Adani Properties , the realty development company owned by Gautam Adani-led Adani Group , had emerged as the highest bidder to secure the rights to redevelop the slum. An Adani Group entity holds 80% stake in the Dharavi Redevelopment Project Pvt Ltd (DRPPL), while the Maharashtra government holds the balance 20%. The state holds this 20% stake in the project through DRP/Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA), which is a special body formed by the government. "This is a critical project for the government and we are on track to execute the project and deliver home for everyone in Dharavi," a DRP-SRA official told ET. 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View Program ET Bureau With the outcome of the state assembly elections, the future of the project combining modern urban planning with social upliftment in Mumbai's heartland appears more secure. The recent indictment of Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani and other group officials in the US could potentially affect the group's fundraising efforts. However, the hardcore underlying asset of land associated with this project may cushion the impact. The election results ensure continuity in governance, reducing the risk of policy reversal or administrative delays that often stall large-scale projects. Opposition parties, including the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), had earlier expressed reservations about the project owing to land allotment and other issues. The project has seen the allocation of additional land in various parts of Mumbai by the government to support the massive rehabilitation and redevelopment efforts. Assembly Election Results Live Updates Maharashtra Poll Results Highlights 2024 Jharkhand Poll Results Highlights 2024 Nominations for ET MSME Awards are now open. The last day to apply is November 30, 2024. Click here to submit your entry for any one or more of the 22 categories and stand a chance to win a prestigious award. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )
US says terror designation doesn’t bar talks with Syrian rebel group
Wayne Rooney has encouraged I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! viewers to vote for his wife to do a Bushtucker Trial as he feels she would want to “put herself to the test”. The former England footballer, 39, said he was “proud” of how Coleen was doing in the Australian jungle in a post on social media on Saturday. The couple, who first met at school and began dating aged 16, share four sons – Kai Wayne, Klay Anthony, Kit Joseph and Cass Mac. Proud of on she’s doing great ❤️ Me and the boys would love to see her doing a trial and we know she’d want to put herself to the test. If you can download the app and let’s get voting! 🗳️🕷️🐍 — Wayne Rooney (@WayneRooney) “Proud of @ColeenRoo on @imacelebrity she’s doing great”, he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, alongside a collage of photos of her on the show. “Me and the boys would love to see her doing a trial and we know she’d want to put herself to the test. “If you can download the #ImACeleb and let’s get voting!” During the first task of the series, BBC Radio 1 presenter Dean McCullough chose to partner up with TV personality Coleen as he hailed her as “Wagatha Christie”. Rooney, 38, was given the nickname when she accused Rebekah Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, of leaking her private information to The Sun in a viral post on social media. In July 2022, a judge at the High Court found the post was “substantially true”. During Vardy’s stint on I’m A Celebrity, she became the third celebrity to leave, saying the series helped her become more tolerant. Earlier this week, Liverpool-born Coleen told her fellow campmate that going to court over her feud with Vardy was her “worst nightmare” as she felt she was “putting on a show for the whole world”. However, she said she was not scared about making the viral post which kicked off the dispute, saying: “I just didn’t think it would have the impact it did, because I was just that sick and tired of it, it was draining.” Later in the episode, Rooney became emotional over the loss of her sister Rosie, after boxing star Barry McGuigan spoke about the death of his daughter. I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! continues on ITV1 and ITVX.Aidan O'Connell threw two touchdown passes, Daniel Carlson kicked four field goals, Ameer Abdullah had the first 100-yard rushing game of his career and the visiting Las Vegas Raiders defeated the New Orleans Saints 25-10 on Sunday afternoon. Abdullah, playing in the 141st game of his 10-year career, finished with 115 yards on 20 carries. O'Connell completed 20 of 35 passes for 242 yards as the Raiders (4-12) won their second straight after a 10-game losing streak. Brock Bowers added seven receptions for 77 yards, giving him 1,144 receiving yards, which broke the NFL single-season record for a rookie tight end, set by Mike Ditka with 1,076 yards in 14 games in 1961. Rookie Spencer Rattler passed for 218 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions and fell to 0-5 as the starter for the Saints (5-11). Las Vegas's first possession of the third quarter resulted in Carlson's 54-yard field goal, which increased its lead to 16-10 at the end of the period. Carlson's 25-yard field goal pushed the lead to 19-10 on the third play of the fourth quarter. O'Connell added an 18-yard touchdown pass to Tre Tucker to complete the scoring. The Raiders received the opening kickoff and held the ball for 17 plays before stalling. Carlson kicked a 31-yard field goal and the 3-0 lead held up through the end of the first quarter. On the first play of the second quarter, Rattler threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to former Raiders tight end Foster Moreau and the Saints took a 7-3 lead with their first points in the first half in three games. The ensuing possession ended with Carlson kicking a 39-yard field goal that trimmed the lead to 7-6. O'Connell threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jakobi Meyers to give Las Vegas a 13-7 lead with 57 seconds left in the second quarter. Rattler completed 5 of 7 for 54 yards in driving New Orleans to Blake Grupe's 34-yard field goal as time expired that trimmed the lead to 13-10 at halftime. --Field Level MediaAdorable Peanuts Décor for a Holly Jolly Holiday DALLAS , Nov. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Spread cheer with Gemmy's charming Peanuts ® Christmas decorations, available at Lowe's. Life-Size Animated Snoopy For tons of festive fun, include the Life-Size Animated Snoopy in your setup. Dressed in a Santa suit, the fuzzy 3.6-ft Snoopy holds an antler-wearing Woodstock and dances to the iconic "Linus and Lucy" tune. Airblown ® Inflatables Make merry moments with Peanuts Airblown ® Inflatables: Yard Décor Enhance your display with adorable Snoopy yard decorations, including a Doghouse Tinsel Sculpture and Blow Mold ! Shop Gemmy's Peanuts collection at Lowe's. About Gemmy Industries Gemmy Industries is a leader in the seasonal décor market, bringing festive fun and holiday cheer to homes everywhere. Dedicated to innovation and creative design, Gemmy has elevated industry standards and established recognizable brands like Airblown ® Inflatable and LightShow ® Lighting. For more information on products and retailers, visit www.gemmy.com . Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook . About Peanuts The characters of Peanuts and related intellectual property are owned by Peanuts Worldwide, which is 41% owned by WildBrain Ltd., 39% owned by Sony Music Entertainment ( Japan ) Inc., and 20% owned by the family of Charles M. Schulz , who first introduced the world to Peanuts in 1950, when the comic strip debuted in seven newspapers. Since then, Charlie Brown , Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang have made an indelible mark on popular culture. In addition to enjoying beloved Peanuts shows and specials on Apple TV+, fans of all ages celebrate the Peanuts brand worldwide through thousands of consumer products, as well as amusement park attractions, cultural events, social media, and comic strips available in all formats, from traditional to digital. In 2018, Peanuts partnered with NASA on a multi-year Space Act Agreement designed to inspire a passion for space exploration and STEM among the next generation of students. 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BEIRUT (AP) — Syria's de facto leader said Sunday it could take up to four years to hold elections in Syria, and that he plans to dissolve his Islamist group that led the country's insurgency at an anticipated national dialogue summit for the country. Ahmad al-Sharaa, who leads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group leading the new authority in Syria, made the remarks in an interview with Saudi television network Al-Arabiyya. It comes almost a month after a lightning insurgency led by HTS overthrew President Bashar Assad's decades-long rule, ending the country's uprising-turned civil war that started back in 2011. Al-Sharaa said it would take time to hold elections because of the need for Syria's different forces to hold political dialogue and rewrite the country's constitution following five decades of the Assad dynasty's dictatorial rule. Also, the war-torn country's battered infrastructure needs to be reconstructed, he said. “The chance we have today doesn’t come every 5 or 10 years,” said al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani. “We want the constitution to last for the longest time possible.” Al-Sharaa is Syria's de facto leader until March 1, when Syria's different factions are set to hold a political dialogue to determine the country's political future and establish a transitional government that brings the divided country together. There, he said, HTS will dissolve after years of being the country's most dominant rebel group that held a strategic enclave in the country's northwest. Earlier, an Israeli airstrike in the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday killed 11 people, according to a war monitor, as Syrian weapons and military infrastructure even after the ouster of Assad. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrike targeted a weapons depot that belonged to Assad’s forces near the industrial town of Adra, northeast of the capital. The observatory said at least 11 people, mostly civilians, were killed. The Israeli military did not comment on the airstrike Sunday. Israel, which has launched hundreds of airstrikes over since the country's uprising turned-civil war broke out in 2011, rarely acknowledges them. It says its targets are Iran-backed groups that backed Assad. Unlike his criticism of key Assad ally Iran, al-Sharaa hoped to maintain “strategic relations” with Russia, whose air force played a critical role in keeping Assad in power for over a decade during the conflict. Moscow has a strategic airbase in Syria. The HTS leader also said negotiations are ongoing with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeastern Syria, and hopes that their armed forces will integrate with the Syrian security agencies. The Kurdish-led group is Washington’s key ally in Syria, where it is heavily involved in targeting sleeper cells belonging to the extremist Islamic State group. Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have been clashing with the SDF even after the insurgency, taking the key city of Manbij, as Ankara hopes to create a buffer zone near its border in northern Syria. The rebels attacked near the strategic northern border town of Kobani, while the SDF shared a video of a rocket attack that destroyed what it said was a radar system south of the city of Manbij. In other developments: — Syrian state-run media said a was found near the third largest city of Homs. SANA said civil defense workers were sent to to the site in al-Kabo, one of many suspected mass graves where tens of thousands of Syrians are believed to have been buried during a brutal crackdown under Assad and his network of security agencies. — An Egyptian activist wanted by Cairo on charges of incitement to violence and terrorism, Abdulrahman al-Qardawi, was detained by Lebanese security forces after crossing the porous border from Syria, according to two judicial and one security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to to talk to the press. Al-Qardawi is an Egyptian activist residing in Turkey and an outspoken critic of Egypt's government. He had reportedly visited Syria to join celebrations after Assad's downfall. His late father, was a top and controversial Egyptian cleric revered by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. He had lived in exile in Qatar for decades. — Lebanese security forces apprehended an armed group in the northern city of Tripoli that kidnapped a group of 26 Syrians who were recently smuggled into Lebanon, two Lebanese security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the information with the media. The Syrians included five women and seven children, and security officials are working to return them to Syria. Kareem Chehayeb, The Associated PressROSEVILLE, Minn. (AP) — Republicans will start the year with at least a temporary majority in the Minnesota House after a Democrat decided not to appeal a judge's decision that he failed to establish residency in the suburban district he was elected to represent. That means Republicans will have a slim 67-66 majority in the House when the Legislature begins Jan. 14. That may not last long because Gov. Tim Walz has already scheduled a Jan. 28 special election in the Democratic-leaning district that Curtis Johnson won by 30 points in November. “While I disagree with the conclusions reached by the District Court, I recognize that whatever the decision on appeal the ultimate decision belongs to the Legislature, where it appears there is no viable pathway for me being allowed to retain my seat,” Johnson said in his resignation letter Friday. “Rather than dragging this out further, I have decided to resign now, so that a special election can be held as soon as possible.” Ramsey County Judge Leonardo Castro ruled last week that Johnson didn’t live in the Roseville-area district for the required six months ahead of the election and is therefore ineligible to serve. Johnson's Republican challenger, Paul Wikstrom, presented surveillance video and photos in court to show Johnson did not reside in the apartment he claimed as his residence. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that the lack of utility hookups and regular activity at the apartment reinforced that conclusion. Republican Rep. Lisa Demuth, who is in line to become House speaker with the GOP in control, said she is pleased the judge's decision will stand. Previously, leaders of both parties had been working out a power-sharing agreement given that the chamber was expected to be divided equally 67-67. “This confirms that Republicans will have an organizational majority on day one, and we look forward to ensuring that a valid candidate represents District 40B in the upcoming legislative session,” Demuth said in a statement. Although Democrats argue that Republicans would need to have at least 68 seats to control the House. The Democrats' narrow one-vote control of the Senate — combined with Walz's veto power — will be able to stop Republicans from being able to pass laws, but the GOP could still push its agenda. Republicans will have working control of committees to advance bills to the floor, which could force Democrats from swing districts to face tough decisions on bills. And Republicans could try to launch investigations they have been seeking for a long time into the Walz administration and problems it has had limiting fraud. Demuth also questioned whether Walz has the power to set the special election so quickly even before the Legislature certifies the vacancy. If that argument prevails that would extend Republican control of the House longer, but the secretary of state's office told Minnesota Public Radio that Walz's order setting the special election is proper. Whenever the election happens, Democrats are confident they will win the seat, current House speaker Rep. Melissa Hortman said. “A prompt special election will allow the voters of District 40B to ensure that they will be represented in the Minnesota House for the bulk of the session,” Hortman said in a written statement. “We expect the district will again vote to elect a Democrat by overwhelming margins.” A pending court challenge in a different suburban district could also affect the balance of power in the House, but it appears Democrats will likely prevail in that dispute. Incumbent Democratic Rep. Brad Tabke, of Shakopee, was declared the winner by 14 votes over Republican Aaron Paul despite 20 missing ballots that were accepted but never counted and then apparently thrown away. At a hearing, his attorneys presented six of those affected voters who testified that they supported Tabke, which would be enough to preserve his win. A judge is expected to decide within the next few weeks how to proceed. The Associated Press