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Will it be possible for the Turkish Cypriot president to produce a map showing his territorial offers for a settlement on Cyprus while not even an inch of progress has been achieved on replacing the "red" section regarding power sharing with a "black" one? If he does walk such a road, will it be possible for him to return to northern Cyprus still claiming that compromises were made but that the

Greece wants to ramp up the pressure on Turkey to be more constructive in the bid for a settlement to the Cyprus dispute by trying to enlist the support of its European Union partners.

Some are tired of hearing it, while some don't even want to hear it. Yet, in terms of the leadership on the divided island of Cyprus, there is the right alignment of stars. Both Turkish leader Mustafa Akıncı and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades genuinely want to find a lasting solution and have succeeded in narrowing the gap on the most sensitive issues.

As the leaders of divided Cyprus settled down for a week of intense talks on Jan. 9, seeking to reach the outline of a peace deal to end decades of separation, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has vowed that Ankara would never withdraw from its guarantor position on the island.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his government is ready to negotiate on "everything" in proposed peace talks in Kazakhstan but it was not yet clear who would represent the opposition and no date had been set. 

The leaders of both sides of ethically divided Cyprus have sought to temper hopes of a swift breakthrough in unification talks that started on Monday, initially focusing on how to handle property disputes stretching back more than 40 years.

This is a crucial week for the Cyprus issue. Both the Turkish and Greek sides seem to think that the talks in Geneva are "a last window of opportunity for a solution," but each party is still putting forward terms that the other side obviously cannot accept. Nevertheless, for some time now there has been strong optimism that this "last chance" will bring a solution.

The truth is the least important matter in politics. It is widely believed that "the truth is the first casualty of war," but it is also true in peacetime. 

Sir James Mancham, the first President of the Seychelles, passed away at his residence on Sunday morning, a family member has said.

"Doctors had confirmed the death" of the former head of state, Seychelles News Agency quotes Mancham's nephew Dereck Pothin as saying.

The two leaders of the eastern Mediterranean island Cyprus will resume United Nations-brokered peace talks in Geneva on Jan. 9 amid suggestions by the new U.N. chief the meeting represents a "historic opportunity" to end a decades-long conflict on the island even though the outcome is far from certain.