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Straits Times
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Erdogan tells Sharaa Turkey welcomes lifting of Syria sanctions
Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, alongside Turkish and Syrian officials, in Istanbul, Turkey, May 24, 2025. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/PPO/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Istanbul, Turkey, May 24, 2025. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/PPO/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES ISTANBUL - President Tayyip Erdogan told Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa during talks in Istanbul on Saturday that Turkey welcomed the U.S. and EU decisions to lift sanctions on Syria, the Turkish leader's office said. Sharaa's unscheduled visit came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration issued orders effectively lifting sanctions on Syria after its 14-year civil war. EU foreign ministers also agreed this week to lift sanctions on Syria. "Our President told Sharaa ... that Turkey welcomed the lifting of sanctions," his office said in a statement on X. Ankara has become one of the main foreign allies of Sharaa's government since rebels - some of them backed for years by Turkey - ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last year to end his five-decade rule. Earlier, Turkish broadcasters showed Erdogan shaking hands with Sharaa as he emerged from his car at the Dolmabahce Palace on the shores of the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey's largest city. Turkey's foreign and defence ministers attended the talks, along with the head of the Turkish MIT intelligence agency, the statement said. Their Syrian counterparts also attended, Syrian state news agency SANA said. Amid the moves to lift sanctions, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said on Friday he had assumed the role of special envoy to Syria. Reuters reported earlier this week the U.S. planned to appoint him as special envoy. The move suggests U.S. acknowledgement that Turkey has emerged with key regional influence on Damascus. MIT chief Ibrahim Kalin and Sharaa held talks earlier this week on the Syrian Kurdish YPG militant group laying down its weapons and integrating into Syrian security forces, a Turkish security source said previously. Turkey, which still controls swathes of territory in Syria's north after cross-border operations against the YPG militia, has repeatedly demanded that the YPG disarm and disband. The YPG spearheads the U.S.-allied SDF forces in Syria, but Turkey regards its as a terrorist group, affiliated with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought an 40-year insurgency against Turkey. The PKK announced this month that it had decided to end its armed struggle and disband. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Erdogan, Syria's Sharaa hold talks in Istanbul
Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, alongside Turkish and Syrian officials, in Istanbul, Turkey, May 24, 2025. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/PPO/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Istanbul, Turkey, May 24, 2025. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/PPO/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES ISTANBUL - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was holding talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Istanbul on Saturday, news channel CNN Turk and state media said, broadcasting video of the two leaders greeting each other. The visit comes the day after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration issued orders that it said would effectively lift sanctions on Syria. Trump had pledged to unwind the measures to help the country rebuild after its devastating civil war. Video footage on Turkish television showed Erdogan shaking hands with Sharaa as he emerged from his car at the Dolmabahce Palace on the shores of the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey's largest city. The two countries' foreign ministers also attended the talks, as well as Turkey's defence minister and the head of the Turkish MIT intelligence agency, according to Turkey's state-owned Anadolu news agency. The Syrian delegation also included Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra, according to Syrian state news agency SANA. MIT chief Ibrahim Kalin and Sharaa this week held talks in Syria on the Syrian Kurdish YPG militant group laying down its weapons and integrating into Syrian security forces, a Turkish security source said previously. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Mint
23-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
EPFO rules 2025: Here are 4 key changes every EPF member should be aware of
The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) introduced several reforms in 2025 to simplify and digitise the process. Here are the five most significant changes made by EPFO this year. EPFO has digitised the joint declaration process from 16 January 2025 onwards. By linking the Universal Account Number (UAN) to Aadhaar, EPF members can finish the joint declaration online. However, if the UAN is not linked to Aadhaar, it becomes essential to submit the joint declaration physically. A joint declaration is mandatory for employees to request changes to their profile details, which are verified by the employer. Hence, digitising the joint declaration helps with updating profile details such as name, date of birth, gender, nationality, parents' names, marital status, spouse's name, and other details online without any additional documents. However, in certain cases for UANs created before 1 October 2017, members may need the approval of their employers. Earlier, transferring the provident fund when changing jobs required the approval of the employer. From 15 January 2025 onwards, the approval of the old or new employer is not necessary to transfer the provident fund. EPFO implemented the Centralised Pension Payment System (CPPS) from 1 January 2025 onwards. This system allows pensioners to access their pensions from any bank nationwide, streamlining the process by removing physical verifications and decreasing the necessity for Pension Payment Order (PPO) transfers. Previously, PPOs were shifted from one regional office to another for pension payment. Additionally, PPO is now compulsorily linked to UAN. According to EPFO provisional payroll data for March 2025, there has been a net addition of 14.58 lakh members, a 1.15 per cent surge compared to March 2024. EPFO enrolled nearly 7.54 lakh new subscribers in March 2025, a 2.03 per cent increase from February 2025.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bananas Could Be Wrecking Your Smoothie's Superpowers, Study Suggests
Bananas drastically reduce flavanol absorption in smoothies — by about 84% — due to their high levels of the enzyme polyphenol oxidase (PPO). Flavanols are important for healthy aging and mental health, with benefits seen especially in women, according to recent studies. To maximize flavanol intake, blend flavanol-rich fruits like berries with low-PPO ingredients such as pineapple, mango, oranges, or yogurt — and avoid bananas in the next time you go to make a smoothie, think long and hard about what you add to it. In May, SciTechDaily highlighted a study published in the journal Food and Function that examined how an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase (PPO) affects the absorption of flavan-3-ols, a subclass of flavanols, in the human body. This enzyme is critical as it causes fruits to turn brown, including bananas and apples. Flavanols are equally important for human health, as they help improve our overall well-being and can aid in aging gracefully. As Food & Wine recently explained, a 2025 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that individuals who consumed higher quantities of flavanols had a lower risk of frailty and a decreased risk of poor mental health as they age. The findings were more pronounced in women; however, men also experienced a net positive benefit. And because smoothies have long been a popular choice for health-conscious individuals seeking to consume a variety of fruits and vegetables, the researchers of the study aimed to test how different fruit combinations affect the absorption of key nutrients. Related: This Inexpensive Fruit Can Help Lower Your Blood Pressure Naturally, Study Suggests To investigate this, researchers recruited volunteers who were tasked with consuming smoothies with high PPO activity, including those containing bananas, and smoothies with low PPO fruits, such as mixed berries. Participants also took flavanol supplements in capsules to serve as a control. They then had their blood drawn to measure the difference. According to the findings, bananas may be doing more harm than good in that smoothie mix. The findings noted that drinking the banana smoothie drastically reduced the amount of flavonols the body absorbed, and not just by a little. It reduced absorption by about 84% compared to the groups that had the capsules or the berry smoothie. The reason, the team explained, is that PPO interacts with flavanols quickly, causing them to degrade and preventing them from entering your bloodstream. Perhaps most surprisingly, even when participants consumed flavanols separately from the banana smoothie (taking alternating sips of the berry smoothie) absorption was still negatively impacted. As for what you can take away from this study, it's that fruits like berries remain an excellent choice for your next blended drink. Perhaps you could simply enjoy that banana on its own as a snack later. Related: A Banana That Won't Brown So Fast? Scientists Just Made It Happen 'Smoothies are a popular way to pack fruit and vegetables into our morning routines. We know from previous studies that flavanols can be broken down by polyphenol oxidase. The extent of the effect from adding a single banana was still very surprising — it had enough polyphenol oxidase to destroy the vast majority of flavanols found in the berries," Gunter Kuhnle, a professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Reading and co-investigator of the study, said in a to punch up the flavanols even more? Kuhnle had the answer. 'If you want to boost your flavanol intake with a smoothie, you should combine flavanol-rich fruits like berries with foods that have a low polyphenol oxidase activity like pineapple, oranges, mango, or yogurt.' Read the original article on Food & Wine
Business Recorder
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Women lawmakers, civil society demand end to symbolic representation in politics
PESHAWAR: Women parliamentarians, civil society actors, and policy experts gathered at a high-level roundtable titled 'Raising Her Voice in Politics', jointly hosted by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and the Women's Parliamentary Caucus (WPC) comprising parliamentarians from National Assembly and Senate of Pakistan PPP, PML-N, PTI, JUI, and MQM-P to spotlight Pakistan's persistent gaps in women's political representation and to push for immediate party and legislative reforms. In her welcome remarks from Chairperson, Women Parliamentarians Caucus, MNA Shahida Rehmani, who lauded SDPI for organizing the forum. 'It's a shared goal to not only include women in political parties but empower them to shape their own futures,' she said. Dr Rehmani further stated, 'Despite the 5% quota requirement under the Elections Act 2017, compliance remains weak, these figures reflect not just underrepresentation but active gate keeping within party structures.' Dr Rehmani also emphasized that women face systemic challenges within political parties and called for urgent solutions to ensure gender parity. She underscored the need for a binding 33% representation in all new political formations and highlighted gender policy equality as the critical path forward. As per the SDPI research, Pakistan's demographic reality further underscores the urgency of reform. Women make up 49% of the country's population, with 59 million registered female voters as of 2024. However, only 42% of women cast their votes in the last general election a 5% decline from 2018. Despite this numerical strength, women's influence in political decision-making remains minimal. An SDPI analysis of the constitutions of 19 political parties represented in Parliament found that only five parties complied with the 5% women's general seat nomination requirement. Notably, the Balochistan National Party and Awami National Party included 9 and 10 women, respectively, in their Central Executive Committees; highlighting a few examples of positive practice, though far from the norm. To better understand the legal framework, SDPI reviewed the Political Parties Order (PPO) 2002 and the Elections Act 2017. While the 2013 amendment to PPO 2002 enabled the introduction of a 5% nomination quota for women on general seats, another provision; calling for 33% representation of women political workers in all elected and non-elected bodies of political parties, was sidelined during legislative discussions and remains unimplemented. In light of these findings, Qasim Shah, Deputy Executive Director SDPI, stated ' A set of recommendations for urgent legislative and institutional reform. First, Section 208 of the Elections Act 2017 should be amended to require political parties to ensure at least 33% representation of women as office bearers in both elected and non-elected bodies — proportionate to the female population. Second, Section 202 of the same Act, which mandates a minimum of 2,000 members for party registration, should be revised to include a mandatory requirement of 33% female membership, ensuring gender-inclusive party formation from the outset.' Parliamentarians and Senators present at the roundtable welcomed these recommendations and voiced their support for institutional reform, gender audits, and accountability within political parties. They emphasized the need for a shift away from tokenism toward meaningful inclusion. In his vote of thanks, Dr. Abid Qayyum Suleri, Executive Director, SDPI, said, 'It's not enough to offer symbolic seats or fulfill quotas on paper. For democracy to be inclusive, women must be empowered to lead from the front. Marginalization of women is a global issue. Even the United Nations has yet to elect a woman Secretary General,' he said, citing the 'One for Eight Billion' campaign. Dr. Suleri urged an amendment to the Election Commission Act 2019 to enforce women's inclusion in political processes. In her closing remarks, MNA Tahira Aurangzeb of PML-N praised SDPI's efforts and reaffirmed the Caucus's commitment to progressive reforms. 'Women should comprise 50% of all political parties,' she said. 'They not only bring inclusivity but also utilize development funds more effectively. Punjab's progress under female leadership is testament to that.' Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
