Special Reports

LONDON, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- A counterinsurgency strategy from the British Ministry of Defense warns against deadlines for Afghanistan while the prime minister looks for an exit plan.

ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Turkey transferred five prisoners to the detention facility on Imrali Island housing Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party.

ERBIL, Iraq, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Iraqi residents in the Kurdish provinces will boycott the January parliamentary elections unless the allocation of seats is amended, Kurdish leaders said.

BRUSSELS, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- An Iranian opposition group exiled in Europe claims Tehran is making massive covert changes to its security service in a bid to consolidate power and crush the anti-regime movement in the Islamic Republic.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- The Pakistani military may have scored impressive victories in its offensive against terror groups hiding in South Waziristan, but it is the insurgents who have been grabbing the headlines with their relentless, strike-at-will wave of violence, sparing none, not even civilians.

LONDON, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Britain's Defense Ministry is investigating claims of prisoner abuse by British troops in Iraq in a scandal that could turn into a second Abu Ghraib.

BAGHDAD, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Iraqi security forces and their U.S. advisers arrested more than 20 terrorist suspects as the death toll mounts from a weekend assault in Abu Ghraib.

ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- High-ranking members of Kurdish separatist groups in Iraq are expected to surrender to Turkish authorities in the coming days as part of a reconciliation plan.

BAGHDAD, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- The three-member presidential council in Iraq threatened to veto an election law over disputes regarding the representation of minorities and refugees.

SINGAPORE, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- The United States and Russia remain on track to sign a nuclear arms reduction treaty by the end of the year, the presidents of both countries have said.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- A three-member U.N. council called for broader international political cooperation to tackle the threat posed by al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

TEHRAN, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Fundamentalist Iranian cleric Ahmad Jannati blasted Saudi Arabia for its involvement in the Yemeni conflict with Shiite al-Houthi rebels.

BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- The failed West African state of Guinea-Bissau, the world's fifth-poorest nation, is in the grip of Colombian drug cartels and others funneling cocaine to Europe.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri met with his ministers Monday to begin work on a draft policy statement for his newly appointed government.

LONDON, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Tehran appointed a 12-member team of police and other security officials to monitor the Internet for information opposing the principles of the republic.