Cypriot leaders make progress in talks on federal government

06/01/2009

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat have made significant progress in their talks on the future federal government, UN Special Representative Taye-Brook Zerihoun said after the two leaders' meeting on Monday (January 5th). "They have reached full agreement on the issue of harmonisation and co-operation between the federal government and the constituent states," Zerihoun told reporters. He added Christofias and Talat are also "very close" to consensus on the issue of hierarchy of norms. Later, both Christofias and Talat agreed they had made progress. They meet next on January 12th.

In other news Monday, Cypriot police captured the country's most wanted criminal, Antonis Kitas, in a reported raid on a house in Paralimni. Kitas, also known as "Al Capone", escaped from a private hospital in Nicosia on December 12th. He was serving a life sentence for the brutal rape and murder of two foreigners in 1994. His escape prompted Justice Minister Kypros Chrysostomides to resign in mid-December. (CNA, Famagusta Gazette, Naftemporiki, Anadolu news agency, Hurriyet, Zaman, Xinhua - 05/01/09)