Antonio Guterres

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his "deep condolences" over the victims of the killer wildfires that have so far claimed the lives of 82 people in a coastal town east of Athens on Monday, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said during a briefing on Wednesday.

UN special envoy Jane Holl Lute is reportedly on the move, with sources learning that she is expected to meet with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiasdes on July 23 during her tour to Nicosia, Athens, and Ankara.

Turkey has reportedly approved the appointment of Jane Holl Lute as the United Nations' new special adviser in the Cyprus reunification talks, the Cyprus News Agency has reported.

Barring unforeseen circumstances will be assuming her new post next week after being formally appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the CNA said.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he heard "unimaginable" accounts of atrocities during a visit Monday to vast camps in Bangladesh that are home to a million Rohingya refugees who fled violence in Myanmar.

Final preparations were under way in Athens and Skopje on Friday for the signing of a historic agreement settling a decades old name dispute between the two Balkan neighbors.

Sunday continued to appear as the most likely day for the signing ceremony, which will take place on the northern shore of Big Prespa Lake, on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's side of the border.

Turkey, the United States, France, Britain and 34 other countries asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on June 14 to raise the case of jailed film director Oleg Sentsov and dozens of other Ukrainian prisoners during his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week.    

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the agreement between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to end their longstanding dispute over the latter's name as "a demonstration of leadership to the wider region and beyond."

Negotiations for a solution of the Cyprus problem will not resume before the Turkish elections, which are scheduled for June 24, Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Kotzias has said.

Kotzias was speaking after a meeting in New York with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, which focused on the Cyprus issue and negotiations between Greece and Skopje regarding the name dispute.

The foreign ministers of Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Nikos Kotzias and Nicola Dimitrov, resume negotiations over the name dispute on Thursday in New York under the aegis of United Nations mediator Matthew Nimetz.

The broadening of strategic cooperation between Greece and the United States and other issues of shared geopolitical concern were on the agenda during a meeting between Greek Foreign Nikos Kotzias and Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton at the White House.