Iraqi PM says will lift ban on international flights to Kurdistan

Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi said in a decree Tuesday he would lift a ban on international air traffic to the Kurdistan Region and flights could resume within one week. International flights to and from the semi-autonomous region's two main airports in Erbil and Sulaimaniyah were halted in September as part of sanctions imposed on the Kurds after they held an independence referendum four days earlier in defiance of Baghdad and voted overwhelmingly in favour of separation. Kurdish authorities have agreed that the airports should come under federal control and report to Baghdad's interior ministry, the decree said. <br/>