The Latest: Greek, Turkish Cypriot leaders to meet

UNITED NATIONS – The latest on the high-level U.N. General Assembly meetings (all times local):

1 p.m.

Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci says he expects a meeting Sunday with his Greek Cypriot counterpart and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to provide a road map for reunification of the ethnically split Mediterranean island.

Cyprus was split into a breakaway Turkish-speaking north and an internationally recognized Greek-speaking south in 1974 when Turkey invaded in the wake of a coup aimed at unifying the island nation with Greece.

Akinci and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades have said they have made progress on many issues, including on how to share power in a possible federation. But more work needs to be done.

"Hopefully tomorrow's meeting ... will indicate the way which will carry us to the long-awaited final conclusion," Akinci told reporters at the United Nations on Saturday.

Ban will not act as an arbitrator but will address concerns if discussions appear to favor one side over the other.

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12 p.m.

Syria's foreign minister says his country's belief in military victory is greater now because the army "is making great strides in its war against terrorism" with support from Russia, Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters.

Walid al-Moallem told the U.N. General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting on Saturday that Syria is more determined than ever to eliminate "terrorism" from the country.

He said the President Bashar Assad's government remains committed to political negotiations under U.N. auspices but stressed that any solution must follow two parallel tracks: intensified counter-terrorism efforts and an intra-Syrian dialogue that allows Syrians to determine their future.

He called the "moderate armed opposition" supported by Western and Arab nations "terrorists" who have committed crimes against Syrians "that are no less barbaric" than those of the extremist Islamic State group and al-Qaida.