Iraqi Kurds Count Referendum Votes Amid Celebrations

Electoral officials in northern Iraq continued to count votes from the unilaterally-declared Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum, a day after polling stations closed on September 25. People in the city of Irbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region, celebrated the holding of the plebiscite, as some waved Kurdish national flags. The Baghdad government, neighboring countries, and major Western powers have criticized the poll taking place. (Reuters)