AnewZ Morning Brief - 16 September, 2025
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 16th of September, covering the latest developments you need t...
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that talks on the future of Cyprus had made progress for the first time in years, with both sides agreeing a series of initiatives including the opening of crossing points.
"Discussions were held in a constructive atmosphere with both sides showing clear commitment to making progress and continuing dialogue," Guterres told reporters at the end of a two-day meeting in Geneva.
The island was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 after a brief Greek-inspired coup, following years of sporadic violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots almost immediately after independence from Britain in 1960. The island is a key source of disagreement between NATO allies Greece and Turkey, fiercely defensive of their respective kin on the island.
As part of new confidence-building measures the two sides agreed to open four crossing points, demining, establish a youth affairs committee, and launch environmental and solar energy projects.
"Today there was meaningful progress," Guterres said, hailing a "new atmosphere" in the multi-year talks which have been deadlocked since 2017.
The two sides agreed to another meeting at the end of July and to a new UN special envoy, he added.
Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar told reporters he was "satisfied" with the discussions held with his Greek Cypriot counterpart and representatives from Greece, Turkey and Britain.
"We are faced with two options either we continue the way we are with all the repercussions, or build the future of the island together," Tatar said.
"It's a first, positive step towards restarting talks," said Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides. "That's the goal. We aren't there yet, but it's an important first step."
Despite agreeing to confidence building measures, the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides are still at odds over how any settlement will work.
Greek Cypriots want a federation, a model prescribed by U.N. resolutions, while Turkish Cypriots advocate for a two-state solution, arguing that decades of failed negotiations have proven a federal model unworkable.
Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis underscored the importance of ongoing dialogue, despite differences.
"The only solution is the reunification of the island," he said.
AnewZ has learned that India has once again blocked Azerbaijan’s application for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, while Pakistan’s recent decision to consider diplomatic relations with Armenia has been coordinated with Baku as part of Azerbaijan’s peace agenda.
A day of mourning has been declared in Portugal to pay respect to victims who lost their lives in the Lisbon Funicular crash which happened on Wednesday evening.
A Polish Air Force pilot was killed on Thursday when an F-16 fighter jet crashed during a training flight ahead of the 2025 Radom International Air Show.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
On 15 September, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received Salim bin Mohammed AlMalik, Director-General of ICESCO, in Shusha.
Iran has accused a U.S. delegation in Vienna of threatening the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of cutting off financial support if a draft resolution tabled by Tehran is passed. This resolution condemns the military attacks on nuclear sites in June.
On September 14, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited the Hadrut settlement in the Khojavend district. The head of state was briefed on the developments in the settlement.
On September 14, 2025, Karen Albertovich Avanesyan, an Armenian-born resident of Khankendi, born in 1967, went from his residence to a forest area near the city, where he had previously hidden an AK-47 assault rifle, four magazines filled with ammunition, and five hand grenades.
The inaugural Assembly of the Turkic World Insurance Union has officially begun today in Shusha, Azerbaijan.
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