A United Nations envoy says Cyprus' rival Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders will relaunch stalled talks aimed at reunifying the ethnically divided island on May 15, according to AP. Espen Barthe Eide announced the date after hosting a dinner for Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and new Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, who met for the first time. Hopes for a breakthrough got a boost after Akinci, a left-wing moderate, soundly defeated the hard-line incumbent in an election last month. Cyprus was split into a breakaway, Turkish Cypriot north and an internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Monday's dinner was at a hotel inside the U.N.-controlled buffer zone that cuts across the capital, Nicosia.
