Iraq: Vote opens in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk Iraqi Kurds vote in an independence referendum in defiance of Baghdad which has warned of "measures" to defend Iraq's unity and threatened to deprive their region of lifeline oil revenues. Polling stations are scattered across the three northern provinces of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan -- Arbil, Sulaimaniyah and Dohuk -- as well as in disputed bordering zones such as the oil-rich province of Kirkuk. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES