Iraqis in two of the country's most troubled provinces will be permitted to register and vote on the day of elections, the head of Iraq's electoral commission said Saturday. Commission Chairman Abdul-Hussein Hendawi also said he expected a same-day preliminary vote count. Tallying final results from the Jan. 30 elections could take as long as 10 days. (AP)

In an apparent bid to head off car bombings on election day, Iraqi authorities will restrict the use of automobiles throughout the country and will place security cordons around polling stations, a Cabinet minister said Saturday. Provincial Affairs minister Waeil Abdel-Latif also pledged that the government of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi would provide adequate security for voters on Jan. 30, but he acknowledged that the security situation in four of the country's 18 provinces was unstable. (AP)

The top Islamic scholar of the highest Sunni institute called on Iraqis to participate in the Jan. 30 elections, a Saudi newspaper reported Saturday. The official al-Riyadh daily quoted Sheikh Mohammad Tantawi, the head of the Cairo-based al-Azhar, as saying all Iraqis should take part in the general elections in order to form a legitimate government and retrieve Iraqi sovereignty and independence. (UPI via Washington Times)

Iraq's impending elections threaten to create a Shiite axis that will bring Iranian extremism to Baghdad and endanger the Mideast. That's the warning of both Israelis and Jordan's King Abdullah, who recently tried and failed to convince the United States to postpone the Jan. 30 vote. (New York Post)