Special Reports

ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Measures under consideration in the Turkish government deal with discrimination and human rights for the Kurdish minority community, the interior minister said.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The United Nations remains committed to monitoring the security situation along the southern border with Lebanon, top peacekeepers said.

CANBERRA, Australia, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The Australian government is committed to tackling the broad security challenges presented by the multiple threats in Central Asia, s defense minister said.

BANGKOK, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Thai and Cambodian military leaders will meet next week amid growing tensions over Phnom Penh's appointment of a fugitive former Thai premier as an adviser.

DAMASCUS, Syria, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The border between Turkey and Syria is a bond that ties the two neighboring countries together, the Turkish speaker of Parliament said in Damascus.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Political stability in Iraq is not a necessary factor for U.S. efforts to move forward with the responsible withdrawal of its combat forces, scholars say.

KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The government of Pakistan is expected to hand the alleged perpetrators of an October bombing in southern Iran over to Tehran, Iranian leaders said.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Tackling lingering issues over corruption in the Afghan government will not happen overnight, said U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

BASRA, Iraq, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Iraqis in the southern province of Basra demonstrated in front of governmental buildings Friday in protest of a decision to veto the election law.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- CIA Director Leon Panetta arrived in Pakistan Friday to discuss the issue of the location of the leadership of the Taliban with security officials.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Lebanese lawmakers cited the issue of Hezbollah weapons as complicating the drafting of a policy statement expected from the new government Sunday.

BUENOS AIRES, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Israel is seeking to check Iranian diplomatic and trade advances in South America, a region where it has enjoyed sympathy and support since its founding, but a fuller picture of shifting alliances must also take into account recent advances by China and Russia, analysts said Thursday.

BERLIN, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Experts criticize that two political nobodies got the EU's top posts.

ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Washington backs Turkish efforts to control Kurdish guerrillas as part of a broader counter-terrorism effort, the U.S. Embassy in Ankara said.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- The Iraqi Parliament should act swiftly to adopt reforms to a national election law so the vote can proceed in January, the U.N. secretary-general said.