
-
Rat earns world record for sniffing landmines in Cambodia
-
Elton John says new album 'freshest' since 1970s
-
EU announces 'new era' in relations with Central Asia
-
Greece nixes Acropolis shoot for 'Poor Things' director
-
'Historic moment': South Koreans react to Yoon's dismissal
-
Israel kills Hamas commander in Lebanon strike
-
Trump unveils first $5 million 'gold card' visa
-
Crashes, fires as Piastri fastest in chaotic second Japan GP practice
-
India and Bangladesh leaders meet for first time since revolution
-
Israel expands ground offensive in Gaza
-
Families of Duterte drug war victims demand probe into online threats
-
Stocks extend global rout after Trump's shock tariff blitz
-
Kolkata's Iyer more bothered about impact than price tag
-
BP chairman to step down after energy strategy reset
-
Indian patriotic movie 'icon' Manoj Kumar dies aged 87
-
China floats battle barges in Taiwan invasion plans
-
McLaren's Piastri fastest in chaotic second Japanese GP practice
-
South Korea seize two tons of cocaine in largest-ever drug bust
-
Pacific nations perplexed, worried by Trump tariffs
-
The race to save the Amazon's bushy-bearded monkeys
-
TikTok must find non-Chinese owner by Saturday to avert US ban
-
Trump tariffs to test resiliency of US consumers
-
Clamping down on 'forever chemicals'
-
Prominent US academic facing royal insult charge in Thailand
-
Yana, a 130,000-year-old baby mammoth, goes under the scalpel
-
'Don't want to die': Lesotho HIV patients look to traditional medicine
-
Curry scores 37 as Warriors outgun LeBron's Lakers
-
Crops under threat as surprise March heatwave hits Central Asia: study
-
Japan PM says Trump tariffs a 'national crisis'
-
Security 'breakdown' allows armed men into Melbourne's MCG
-
Norris fastest in Japan GP first practice, Tsunoda sixth on Red Bull debut
-
Albon says Thailand taking bid for F1 race 'very seriously'
-
'It's gone': conservation science in Thailand's burning forest
-
Protest as quake-hit Myanmar junta chief joins Bangkok summit
-
EU leaders push for influence at Central Asia summit
-
Asian stocks extend global rout after Trump's shock tariff blitz
-
Lewandowski, Mbappe duel fuelling tight La Liga title race
-
South Korea court upholds President Yoon's impeachment, strips him of office
-
Liverpool march towards title as Man City face Man Utd
-
Finland's colossal bomb shelters a model for jittery Europe
-
Athletes frustrated as France mulls Muslim headscarf ban in sport
-
Korda downs Kupcho to stay alive at LPGA Match Play
-
German industry grapples with AI at trade fair
-
Irish school trains thatchers to save iconic roofs
-
'Frightening': US restaurants, producers face tariff whiplash
-
Cuba looks to sun to solve its energy crisis
-
Experts warn 'AI-written' paper is latest spin on climate change denial
-
PSG eye becoming France's first 'Invincibles'
-
Late birdie burst lifts Ryder to Texas Open lead
-
Five potential Grand National fairytale endings

Turkey halts four-month streak of rate cuts
Turkey's central bank on Thursday bowed to market pressure and halted a four-month streak of interest rate cuts that saw inflation soar and the currency collapse.
The bank left its policy rate at 14 percent two days after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- a fervent opponent of high interest rates -- said future reductions could come "gradually and without any rush".
Erdogan has been waging a "war of economic independence" designed to break Turkey's dependence on foreign currency inflows by boosting cheap lending and revving up exports.
But the policies have seen the emerging country's economy spin dangerously out of control.
Turkey's annual inflation rate has shot to a 19-year high of 36 percent and is expected to keep climbing.
The lira lost 44 percent of its value against the dollar and became the world's worst-performing emerging market currency last year.
And the central bank's net reserves -- a gauge of both Turkey's economic health and ability to withstand a potential banking crisis -- have dropped from $21.1 billion (18.6 billion euros) in mid-December to $7.9 billion on January 7.
"The sharp falls in the lira risk entrenching inflation at very high levels," Jason Tuvey of Capital Economics said in a note to clients.
"And the weak lira could cause vulnerabilities in the banking sector to crystallise."
- 'Bad policy for longer' -
Erdogan has cited Islamic rules against usury to justify his belief that high interest rates cause inflation. Economists almost universally agree that the opposite is true.
Central banks hike rates in order to raise the cost of doing business when the economy is growing too fast. This helps bring down prices by reducing demand.
High rates also help support currencies by raising the return on local bank deposits and investments.
But Erdogan says Turkey has developed a "new economic model" for achieving sustainable growth.
The central bank attributed the spike in inflation from 21.3 percent in November to 36.2 percent last month to "distorted pricing behaviour (caused by) unhealthy price formations in the foreign exchange market".
It also blamed outside factors such as high commodity prices and global supply chain bottlenecks caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The lira edged up slightly after the announcement to around 13.3 to the dollar.
Economists believe the bank would need to hike its policy rate substantially in order to solve Turkey's accumulating problems.
"No change (means) bad policy for longer," emerging markets economist Timothy Ash of BlueBay Asset Management remarked after the rate decision.
- 'Lira is our money'
Turks had been converting their liras into gold and dollars in order to shield themselves from price increases and an erosion of their purchasing power.
The government has tried to stem this tide by creating new bank deposits that effectively tie the value of the lira to the dollar.
Erdogan says the new scheme has attracted 163 billion liras ($12.2 billion).
He has also appealed on Turks' sense of patriotism while urging them to hold on to their liras.
"The Turkish lira is our money," he said in a traditional New Year's Eve address. "That is how we move forward -- not with this or that currency."
Yet fresh data released on Thursday showed that 62.2 percent of all Turks' deposits were still held in dollars.
The figure was down by just 1.4 percentage points on the week.
Economists believe that the mechanism is having only a marginal effect because it forces individuals and businesses to hold liras in the new deposits for at least three months.
Exporters are also unhappy with a new requirement to sell a quarter of their hard currency proceeds to the central bank.
P.A.Mendoza--AT