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BBC news 2017-10-18

BBC news with Fiona Macdonald.

Iraqi forces said they had taken control of roads and oil installations from Kurdish fighters near the disputed city of kirkuk. Iraq's joint operation's command which groups all pro-government forces said what it called a major operation to restore security in kirkuk was making progress. A spokesperson for the Kurdish president accused Iraqi forces of launching a war against the Kurds.

Electional officials in Venezuela said the socialist party of president Nicolás Maduro has won a crushing victory in polls to choose governors for the country's twenty three states. The National Election's Council said the Socialist had won seventeen governships while the opposite Democratic Unity Coalition took five. Opposition leaders have alleged fraud.

European Union foreign ministers are meeting today with an aim to agree on a package of new sanctions against North Korea. The measures will include reducing the amount of money that North Koreans working abroad will be able to send home. Much of the hard currency is thought to support Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

The leader of the Spanish region of Catalonia just took an hour to clarify to Madrid whehter or not it is to declare independence. Carles Puigdemont made a symbolic declaration six days ago only to suspend implementation seconds later and call for negotiations. The Spanish prime minister gave Mr Puigdemont the deadline of today to explain his statement.

Officials in Portugal and Northern Spain say at least eight people have been killed by wild fires. About six thousand firefighters and soldiers have been deployed to tackle blazes across Portugal and in the Spanish region of Galicia.

Aborigioinal wildlife rangers have made a rare sighting of one of Australia's most mysterious birds. The Night Parrot which is sacred to the country's indigenous peoples had long been thought to be extinct until one was spotted in 2013.

BBC news.