Nicosia / AFP Cypriot leaders will meet UN chief Ban Ki-moon later this month, his envoy said on Wednesday, as they push for a deal on reunifying the Mediterranean island this year. Espen Barth Eide said that Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci would meet Ban in New York on September 25 to try ...

  Almaty / AFP Uzbekistan’s acting President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has carried out his first reshuffle, the authorities said Wednesday, in a sign of his growing authority following the death of long-reigning strongman Islam Karimov. Mirziyoyev was boosted from prime minister to acting leader of the Central Asian nation last week after Karimov died aged 78, following 27 years of ruthless ...

  Colombo / AFP Sri Lanka on Wednesday announced it was planning to relocate farmers living on the edges of forests inhabited by elephants to reduce the numbers killed on both sides. Wildlife minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera said the island’s elephant population had dropped to 6,000, from 7,379 counted five years ago, as deadly encounters between animals and humans increase. ...