The report says the Venezuelan Army Corps of Engineers is now studying construction of a highway between Puerto Cabezas in the Northern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) and Rio Blanco in the central department of Matagalpa, also to be integrated into the network linking to the Dry Canal.

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Iraq's largely autonomous northern Kurdish region, which comprises three provinces, will hold its own local elections in September.

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Authorities in the semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland welcomed the French move.

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His visit comes at a time of growing tensions between the central government of Nuri al-Maliki and the Kurdistan Regional Government in the country's autonomous northern region.

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It accuses the PKK of launching attacks on Turkish targets from secret bases in the mountainous and semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.

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Ms. MARCUS: No, the Kurdish government in Northern Iraq, which runs the autonomous Kurdistan region, is very much opposed to the PKK's presence on its territory.

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