UN-hosted Cyprus Talks Uncertain as One Side Says it Wasn't Invited

FILE PHOTO: Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, walk during a visit to the CMP Anthropological Laboratory in the buffer zone of Nicosia airport, Cyprus, July 28, 2023. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, walk during a visit to the CMP Anthropological Laboratory in the buffer zone of Nicosia airport, Cyprus, July 28, 2023. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou/File Photo
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UN-hosted Cyprus Talks Uncertain as One Side Says it Wasn't Invited

FILE PHOTO: Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, walk during a visit to the CMP Anthropological Laboratory in the buffer zone of Nicosia airport, Cyprus, July 28, 2023. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, walk during a visit to the CMP Anthropological Laboratory in the buffer zone of Nicosia airport, Cyprus, July 28, 2023. REUTERS/Yiannis Kourtoglou/File Photo

Tentative UN plans to convene the leaders of Cyprus's divided communities for talks as early as next week were uncertain on Monday as one side said it had not received an invitation.
The United Nations has been trying to find common ground for the resumption of long-stalled talks between rival Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities in a conflict spanning decades, a major source of tension between Greece and Türkiye, Reuters said.
Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides told an audience late Saturday that he had been "sounded out" for talks hosted by the United Nations in New York on Aug. 13 with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar.
"My response was positive and I hope - we haven't been informed yet - for the same response from the Turkish side and the meeting to lead to positive results," Christodoulides said.
Tatar said he had not received an invitation and accused Christodoulides of trying to muddy the waters with his comment.
"There is no invitation from the UN Secretary-General ... for a tripartite meeting. In any case, under the current conditions, we would not approve a tripartite meeting. There is no basis for such a meeting," he said in a statement.
Christodoulides said any possible refusal from Tatar to meet would be a "disservice" to Turkish Cypriots.
A UN spokesperson in Cyprus referred queries to UN headquarters in New York, where there was no immediate response to a Reuters request for comment.
Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 after a brief Greek-inspired coup. The seeds of division were sown earlier when a power-sharing administration crumbled and violence prompted the dispatch of a peacekeeping force.
Peace talks have been on hold since 2017. The Turkish Cypriot side, which administers a breakaway state in the north of Cyprus recognized only by Ankara, now says a resumption of talks can only occur if its equal sovereignty with the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government is accepted.



Beijing Warns of Geological Disasters as Storms Lash Baoding Again

 Pedestrians are reflected in rainwater as they cross the street after the downpour subside in Beijing, China, Friday, July 25, 2025. (AP)
Pedestrians are reflected in rainwater as they cross the street after the downpour subside in Beijing, China, Friday, July 25, 2025. (AP)
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Beijing Warns of Geological Disasters as Storms Lash Baoding Again

 Pedestrians are reflected in rainwater as they cross the street after the downpour subside in Beijing, China, Friday, July 25, 2025. (AP)
Pedestrians are reflected in rainwater as they cross the street after the downpour subside in Beijing, China, Friday, July 25, 2025. (AP)

Beijing issued on Saturday a warning for geological disasters including landslides and mudslides after intense rainfall the day before, with storms circulating China's north unleashing for a second time a year's rain on nearby Baoding.

The Beijing meteorological agency's alert for 10 of the city's 16 districts came as local authorities also warned of flash floods in mountainous areas.

In neighboring Hebei, extreme overnight rains in Fuping, a part of the industrial city of Baoding, saw records broken at a local weather station with 145 mm (5.7 inches) per hour of precipitation, state broadcaster CCTV said.

The Xizhuang station recorded a maximum rainfall of 540 mm over an eight-hour period, superseding Baoding's average annual rainfall of about 500 mm.

Just a day ago, storms dumped similar amounts of precipitation on Yi, another part of Baoding.

The rain held destructive power, CCTV said, affecting more than 46,000 people and forcing 4,655 of them to evacuate.

Northern China has witnessed record-breaking precipitation in recent years, exposing densely populated cities including Beijing to flood risks. Some scientists link the higher rainfall in China's usually arid north to global warming.

China's Water Resources Ministry has issued targeted warnings to 11 provinces and regions, including Beijing and Hebei, for floods arising from small and medium-sized rivers and gushing torrents from mountains.

The alert also sought to ensure that reservoirs and silt dams are safe during floods.

Across the country, heavy rainfall has caused 13 rivers scattered through seven provinces to swell past their flood warning levels by as much as 1.4 m (4.6 feet), CCTV reported, citing the ministry's findings on Saturday morning.

Among them, one tributary of Inner Mongolia's Dahei River and another of Shaanxi's Yanhe River recorded their biggest floods since records began.

The storms are part of the broader pattern of extreme weather across China due to the East Asian monsoon, which has caused disruptions in the world's second-largest economy.

In a separate bulletin, CCTV also said two small reservoirs in northeastern Jilin province were operating above the flood limit, as rivers continue to swell. Local authorities have begun activating five large reservoirs to help with flood water discharge.

Extreme rainfall and severe flooding are highly monitored by Chinese authorities as they challenge the country's ageing flood defenses, threaten to displace millions, and wreak havoc on a $2.8 trillion agricultural sector.