(Reuters) -The rival leaders of ethnically split Cyprus said they were ready to meet the United Nations Secretary-General to discuss the potential for relaunching long-stalled peace talks, the U.N. mission on the island said on Thursday.

Greek Cypriot leader Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman met on Thursday, in their first encounter since Erhurman, a centre-left moderate, won by a landslide in an October presidential election in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state, pledging to work to revive stalled U.N. talks on reunifying Cyprus.

When Liberia's government signed an agreement with a little-known Dubai company run by a royal sheikh in 2023, the "carbon credit" deal promised to protect vast tracts of forests and offset big polluters' emissions.

It was one of a flurry of deals UAE-based Blue Carbon signed that year covering millions of hectares of forests across Africa from Liberia to Zimbabwe -– in one case amounting to a fifth of a country's landmass.

(Reuters) -Israel’s expulsion of tens of thousands of Palestinians from three West Bank refugee camps in early 2025 amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday, calling for urgent international measures to hold Israeli officials accountable and stop further abuses.

By Matt Spetalnick, Patricia Zengerle and Simon Lewis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -When President Donald Trump defended Saudi Arabia's crown prince this week over the 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, he did more than just stir renewed accusations from critics of an affinity toward strongmen.

Trump's remarks, which contradicted U.S. intelligence findings, threw into stark relief just how far his administration has shifted away from the traditional U.S. support for human rights globally.

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia has agreed to allow Turkey to host next year's COP31 climate summit, but Canberra will lead the conference's negotiations among governments, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday.

"So what we've come up with is a big win for both Australia and Turkey," Albanese told ABC Radio.

Both Australia and Turkey had submitted bids in 2022 to host the annual COP, or Conference of the Parties, the world's main forum for driving climate action.

(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Leslie Adler)

BELEM, Brazil/CANBERRA (Reuters) -Turkey would host next year’s UN climate summit while Australia would lead the conference’s negotiations among governments, under a compromise deal that three sources familiar with the matter said was taking shape in talks on Thursday.

Australia and Turkey both submitted bids in 2022 to host the annual COP, or Conference of the Parties, the world's main forum for driving climate action.

The two nations have been in a protracted struggle to host, with neither willing to back down.

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The world's 20 largest economies will grow by just 2.9% in 2030 amid headwinds from protectionism and policy uncertainty, their weakest medium-term outlook since the global financial crisis of 2009, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.

In a report to the Group of 20, the global lender mapped out a series of challenges facing the global economy, including widening excessive balances and stretched public coffers, as well as aging populations in advanced economies.

Saudi Arabia has lifted a travel ban on a US citizen who criticized the kingdom on social media, his family said Wednesday, as President Donald Trump welcomed the crown prince.

Saad Ibrahim Almadi, a US citizen of Saudi origin, had been arrested during a visit to his native country in 2021 after tweets that mentioned corruption and the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident writer strangled and dismembered in a Saudi consulate.

By Mike Stone

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The F-35 fighter jets the U.S. plans to sell Saudi Arabia will be less advanced than those operated by Israel, in line with a U.S. law that guarantees Israel’s military edge in the region, U.S. officials and defense experts said on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump announced the sale this week, but officials said the Saudi aircraft will lack superior features of Israel’s fleet that include advanced weapons systems and electronic warfare equipment.

US President Donald Trump vowed Wednesday to end Sudan's grinding civil war at the request of Saudi Arabia's crown prince, condemning "tremendous atrocities" in a conflict he has previously overlooked.

Trump admitted that the devastating war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) was "not on my charts" before Prince Mohammed bin Salman pushed him to get involved.