IRAQ SUSPENDS KURDISH INDEPENDENCE VOTE

Iraq’s top court on Monday temporarily suspended the northern Kurdish region’s referendum on independence that’s due next week, a decision that put further pressure on the Iraqi Kurds to call off the controversial vote.

The move is the latest in a number of rulings from Iraq’s central government attempting to stop the vote. Last Tuesday, Iraq’s parliament voted to reject the controversial referendum, and on Thursday, the lawmakers voted to dismiss the ethnically mixed Kirkuk province’s Kurdish governor who supports the referendum.

Despite strong opposition from Baghdad, regional leaders and the United States, Kurdish officials have continued to pledge the vote will be held.