Divided regions

Cyprus's president has suspended talks on reunifying the ethnically divided island in response to Turkey's plans to search for oil and gas in waters where the Cypriot government has already licensed companies to drill.

Greek Cyprus has said peace talks for the ethnically divided island could suffer if Turkey kept on opposing attempts by Nicosia to explore for gas off its southern coast.

Cyprus said on Monday peace talks for the ethnically divided island could suffer if Turkey kept on opposing attempts by Nicosia to explore for gas off its southern coast.

The Cypriot government has licensed multinationals to explore for hydrocarbons in the area and Italy's ENI currently has a platform drill at one site.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades spoke on the phone on Monday in the wake of a move by Turkey to apparently stake a claim to Cyprus’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

Cypriot government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said the conversation took place “in light of recent developments.”

Greek police say they have arrested seven people, including an airline pilot and a ground crew staff member, on suspicion of participating in a ring smuggling migrants onto flights from Thessaloniki to other EU countries.

North Korea's top diplomat Ri Su Yong proposed a reunification under a confederation system in the first UNGA speech of a Pyongyang foreign minister in 15 years.

While addressing the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) late on Saturday, Ri stressed reunification was "the main goal" of his country and "the biggest desire of the whole nation", according to ITAR-TASS and DPA.

The president of the Spanish region of Catalonia, Artur Mas, signed a decree calling for a referendum on independence to be held on November 9.

The central Spanish government, however, is resisting the idea and Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy said he will block any referendum.

Talks between Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday focused on the prospects for a settlement to the Cyprus problem amid a new peace push, with Venizelos underlining the importance of “encouraging dialogue.”

Many people have lost faith in the Cyprus negotiations, considering that no substantial progress was achieved since they were “reincarnated” last February.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has called for a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem.

Speaking during a visit to the Turkish-occupied part of the Mediterranean island, the new premier repeated the call made by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's newly-elected President, early September. Erdogan's comments had irked officials in Athens and Nicosia.