The United Nations on Tuesday called a summit for January between leaders of ethnically split Cyprus to settle a decades-old conflict harming Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
A peace summit? Cheez, why didn't anyone think of that one before? Dude, you're a genius...
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon expressed optimism that Greek Cypriot leader Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu were on their way to resolving long-standing differences.
"Discussions have been positive, productive and vigorous," Ban told journalists, flanked by the two leaders at U.N. headquarters in New York.
"This has given me confidence that a comprehensive settlement can be achieved. Both leaders have assured me that they believe that they can finalize a deal," he said.
He said further efforts were needed over the next two months to move to the "end game" of negotiations.
Ban spoke after the United Nations hosted a meeting of Christofias and Eroglu on Sunday and Monday at a secluded estate in Long Island, New York.
The United Nations has been trying for years to reunite Cyprus, a Mediterranean island split between its Greek and Turkish Cypriot populations in 1974 after a brief Greek-inspired coup
Let's guess the outline of the agreement: both sides keep their quasi-independent states as part of a larger, uber-state that gets an international fig-leaf but doesn't have any power. But it does have a lot of ministries and thus jobs to offer...
The French weekly Charlie Hebdo has been rebaptised Sharia Hebdo for the occasion, and will feature on its cover a picture of Mohammed saying: "100 lashes if you don't die of laughter!" Promises to be a real barrel of laughs Continued on Page 47
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The French weekly Charlie Hebdo has been rebaptised Sharia Hebdo for the occasion, and will feature on its cover a picture of Mohammed saying: "100 lashes if you don't die of laughter!"
