into a part of the graveyard where you can actually see the destruction from the fighting that took place in 2004 there's r.p.g. holes in the walls some of these graves are completely destroyed a member speaking to iraqis at the time who simply couldn't believe that things had to tarry to such an extent that this one of the most holy and sacred sites in all of iraq had turned into a battleground between the mighty army and the americans. hundreds of monte finds as dined in the battle. in a new section of the cemetery built for sanders followers killed in the uprisings and sectarian violence that the u.s. led occupation provoked. families comes on to their daily. lives. sometimes. no one knows how many iraqis have been killed since the invasion. of them it's range from more than 150002 over a 1000000. for years the u.s.

claims not to keep a body count. but there are some 6000 graves in this cemetery learn where the grief seems impossible to bury. early shock a saddam's mother died during the violence in 2004 his brother is buried here in the section reserved for those killed by u.s. forces. beautiful. little 12 from the front of other people for. a jewel and you look in your heart a lot of be. able. to look at that i. thought and i don't know how to i thought it out that. these were the people the u.s. military expected to welcome them. but they soon made enemies of people like allie in his family. one can.

but then. if i thought i should. let you know job it i could be here in america they think this is over. here. who. think they'd get a groom tell you to do. is follow his listens to him deliver some of his most incendiary sentiments against the occupation here in his base in the nearby city of coup for. now santa spends much of his time in iran and on this friday he isn't here but the message is political populist and doesn't shy away from criticizing the government and bank and. well there is any yeah it was yeah

here was yeah it was you know you're here where here you are here for here are the sermon addresses the deepening conflict between iraqi prime minister nouri al maliki's party and the opposition blocs to his virtually paralyzed parliament for months was an area that a sheet where he was over the years sadder has cultivated the image of an independent champion of the dispossessed shia who make up his base. i mean he's transformed himself from a leader of a militia into the leader of a political party an important one on which maliki reliance to maintain power. for years saddam hussein had banned public celebrations of shia festivals and limits of the flow of iranian pilgrims to night jack. now the pilgrims and tourists

are back prompting a boom in trade in hotel developments. and there are unconfirmed reports that iran is planning to spend a $1000000000.00 to refurbish the showing off the decades of being victims the shia majority in iraq have emerged the victim is. a shia who now holds the top post of prime minister and commander in chief and government positions are distributed according to ethnic and sectarian quotas. i i i. the new balance of power in iraq has raised fears that iran's influence is growing both in baghdad and here in the jafo. ayatollah ali al sistani is the top spiritual guide for iraqi shia and the leader of the school of clerics that government is trying to. keep ation he demanded the us organize direct elections while opposing iranian style theocratic governance. system is 81 years old and

there are reports that iran is campaigning to have one of their ayatollah succeed him. in iraq these days regional ambitions run like undercurrents reshaping the country. but over the past 9 years political violence has literally refashioned the landscape. i haven't been back to back that in about 5 years my only just entering the city but immediately the 1st thing that strikes you as you drive in is one thing that's really changed schools. baghdad is battle scarred and sectioned off by blast walls that were raised 1st around government ministries and military bases then around hotels filled with foreigners and then the sectarian attacks escalated around neighborhoods. the city was reconfigured is iraqis fled mixed areas for the relative safety of

religious and ethnic lee homogenously enclaves. harboring the wounds and stories of the bloodshed the occupation unleashed many remain there protected by concrete walls checkpoints and each other. more than 1300000 people across iraq still displaced. and in baghdad almost half a 1000000 remain in camps like this one on the edge of the shia neighborhood of cademy . so that's one another. abu said john's family was living in town near a sunni neighborhood north of bank that where resistance to the occupation was famous . al qaeda also found a home there as it. all that a lot when you know what they need to know that well. it was somewhat together. they should know when the family fled they left everything behind in school to.

tell you. and although they live in constant fear of eviction they say they can't return to tommy cold virus and that is out yet and that is that he had to step out a i don't i saw but nasa budgeted us up but then i had a look at that and that as an adult and what about what you must know about. that and fucked it up like i did with us. in the sunni neighborhood of gaza live where they came to escape threats from the mahdi army in 2695 and a mother in law a struggling to can for their household including his 2 kids. like almost one in 10 women in iraq they all widows. and his husband hussein was killed by u.s. forces during a raid on the markets in 2005 she had just learned she was pregnant with their 2nd child and don't. want to bang on the cell.

phone to have time. to yesod mom will talk to her mother to us and i got a live interview. with diane of the 5th on how to take the bad suck out of what i want to but i don't want to are going to have to be home by saturday i'm on cyber that you have your money. 2 years later as monday is 2nd son nuri was killed in a militia attack. the family lost another breadwinner and bureaucracy has made it difficult for them to get the support payment the government extends to widows or so they say. there are no hung up damayan not shown on the show must have been something someone how cool modern moment is that young my parents want to hear nothing i don't yet have your mom and i believe now begun to notice you know not just like a suburb chatham of the day. that was. but soon to tell another that was that is that neither of us said that. said what

they will that's a little song but i want to turn on the hand yeah i know some parts men know what i mean model no artifacts are necessary home on my head going to tell us something about that national it's all going i mean. then homeless. and then would you have a career and then you must do it for clooney just like when i wanted to. be a common name i had to only. shout. about how to we could help and i saw. maybe last spent 7 months seen us custody at abu ghraib prison and more than a year and a half in the u.s. run detention camps. he has testified to u.s. military investigators that abu ghraib he was stripped and paraded naked with a sack over his head dressed in women's underwear cuffed and hung from

a window frame for hours when he asked to pray and beaten into unconsciousness. and given another herman. i had. the. money he says it was part of u.s. interrogators strategy is they trying to quell resistance that the u.s. timed terrorism or detaining people across the country especially those from sunni areas. as much. over the past year human rights groups have reported that iraqi government security forces have conducted sweeps preemptively arresting hundreds of people detaining and sometimes torturing them in secret prisons inside the international zone. some

of the same people who were detained by the americans and were accused of being terrorists then many live in sunni areas in and around baghdad from where armed groups still orchestrate attacks. the government says there are no secret prisons i could say that there is no secret detention so we will come now he will not arise for amnesty organization and united nation organization to come and check and to find out whether there is a secret detention center and. the no no no no no no no but the arrests have fueled the perception in communities like this one that the government is targeting them much like u.s. forces used to follow we've come for friday prayer and i'm in. a sunni neighborhood that for many years was an important center of anti occupation resistance. getting here hasn't been easy and it is not recurring being stopped

from getting access to the main mosque anatomy or a police checkpoint further down the street our soldiers through our security guards currently negotiating with them to get approval for something we already have approval to do. and when prayers are over no one here is willing to speak to us. people here are definitely scared to speak on camera they're saying that if they talk to us they think they'll be arrested down the line and we've now been told that we're not allowed to film anywhere outside the compound around that the main mosque the guards have taken down the details of our security guards and said that if we go outside that gates and stop filming we'll be arrested. i kind of many people the deputy prime minister salah almost like tells us that the fear we felt in and amir is warranted he receives frequent reports that those arrested face extortion by security forces when that again to go to the trial they have to pay him money in order to work through that otherwise then right no they would like

with their will is they're brought out of that they need. the sunni deputy prime minister temporarily suspended shortly after u.s. troops withdrew in december and off that he called prime minister maliki a dictator. by 111. especially when it was a sectarianism but there were many political parties that exist there were elections held here there are ministries controlled by different ministers and this isn't a dictatorship who is that i am i going to minister over the fence or is that i think of a minister of interior. intelligence who is a. part of this country or its. next destination is the only city in iraq where victory celebrations were held as the last u.s. soldier left the country. protested the u.s. military presence in their city from the beginning of the occupation. and when the

mutilated bodies of 4 american contractors was strung on this bridge across the euphrates in 2004. fate was sealed. what followed were 2 of the largest assaults of the entire war with u.s. marines using devastating firepower to bomb the city into submission. the bloody campaigns had a profound effect on the residents of fallujah. today only i should at. least be you know. i don't like. being told that these graves are actually for people who are still dying as a result of the fighting that happened back in 2004 these are the graves of babies who died having birth defects and other diseases. 9 year old cannot speak eat on his own. his 2 younger siblings are buried

in what's called martyrs cemetery i'm going to. let. you know what it. i said with the show. what if you are there. when he was born just months after the u.s. led invasion seemed healthy. but after the siege of 2004 doctors diagnosed him with brain atrophy. there's no question in his father's mind as to the cause. was out of. the wire. and within a while. how many parents dread the future that lies ahead for him here in fallujah.

we have a newsgathering team here that is 2nd to their all over the world and they do a fantastic job when information is coming in very quickly all at once you've got to be able to react to all the changes. we adapt to that. my job is is to break it all down and we help give you understand and make sense of it. capturing a moment in time. snapshots of other lives. other stories. provided glimpse into someone else's work. inspiring documentaries from impassioned filmmakers and the front lines i feel that i know it i have the data to prove. witness on al-jazeera. we understand the differences

and the similarities of cultures across the world. so no matter where you call home al-jazeera will bring in the news and current affairs that matter to. al-jazeera. i really want to get down to the nitty gritty of the reality where on line we have a male chauvinist and that is in france with in our global federation it is really hard to get a piece of that or if you join that sunset. they can speak up their mind this is a dialogue everyone has a voice talk to us in our live you tube chat and you too can be in the street join the colobus conversation on al-jazeera. when a military coup overthrew chile's marxist president one stadium's became prisms and the hunters sole objective was absolute control. publicly refuse to accept

dictatorship episode 4 of football rebels expose the life of carlos. the footballer whose personal stories swayed of votes that altered the history of his country carlos caselli and the demise of a year and a on al-jazeera. hello i'm maryam namazie and on then a quick look at the headlines it's the final half hour of voting in the european parliamentary elections over 400000000 people are eligible to take part across 28 nations and what is the world's 2nd largest democratic vote there are $751.00 seats in the european parliament up for grabs and the makeup of that chamber will shape the future of the. well according to official estimates the center right european

people's party will remain the largest bloc but they are down from 5 years ago the liberals and greens have significantly increased their seats whilst the parliament's 2 populist blocks have made slight gains barbara starr has more from brussels but i suppose what we're really looking at is whether the 2 blocs in parliament the main ones the center right in the center left s n d are able to get there or to have an overall majority if they don't then they would both be looking around for another coalition partner that would effectively be the kingmaker and i think not really a surprise but certainly something that we have seen today is the proper breakthrough of the green party all the green parties across europe have done well some very well like in germany and so potentially they could become king makers iraq has vowed to stand with iran as tensions escalate between tehran and

washington but out of meeting with his iranian counterpart in baghdad the iraqi foreign minister says his government is willing to mediate between iran and the u.s. meanwhile iraq's military says at least 5 people have died after a car bomb exploded at a busy market it happened in a village within the town of robbia near the syrian border victims who were out shopping before breaking never ramadan fast to form algerian prime ministers as well as 54 big cabinet ministers are among a dozen high ranking figures facing corruption charges the country's new state prosecutor has referred cases to the supremes court they all served in the government of former president i believe these beautiful eco. at least 20 people have reportedly been killed in an ambush on a military convoy in northeastern nigeria it happened while the army was trying to relocate refugees from a camp in dumbo region in borno state no one has claimed responsibility but known to be active in the area those headlines will have the news hour in 25 minutes time

of course we'll bring you all the latest on those european election results. in the neonatal ward of general hospital dr samir a lonnie has grown used to seeing babies born with cancers and congenital malformation but has no one thing gets lost when the missing. same jasim is 24 days old during the siege in 2004 a mother said he was living in a village on flute his outskirts. of his los angeles have. more serious cases like many residents of fallujah dr allen he fled the worst of the fighting in 2004. when she returned she and her colleagues were immersed in treating the injuries and trauma in its wake then they started seeing a new crisis and the exodus of but they think not as a way to to see before. we are facing this effects nearly they. now

she documents every case she sees. she has hundreds of pictures and video clips saved on her laptop of newborns with cleft palates ready deforms limbs cancer has been launched and atrophied brains are going to have this is the top of the list of a lot defects. have many many cases of. that since the misshapen hearts are harder to detect and those babies are often miscarried stillborn or die shortly after birth. in a year long survey lonny conducted at the hospital she found $147.00 incidents of congenital malformation per $1000.00 births. about 5 times the international norm. and in another study she and her colleagues found higher than normal levels of enriched uranium and mercury in the hair of parents of children born with

congenital malformation and comes. how do you explain that something happened. as you know you're in it was not it isn't in a kid's toy toys and snorts. we didn't buy it by the from the shops that something happened and the city where everybody knows what happened in this if you don't or actually we need more investigations we need our d.n.a. has to be examined our chromosomes have to be examined you know what happened in japan after hiroshima and nagasaki. you heard about what happened here is after that study by study lonnie is trying to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt what people in fallujah convinced is true that there's a causal link between the weapons used by us forces in 2004 the amounts are very mixed uranium in their bodies. and the alarming rise in numbers of sick and

malformed children here my personal experience although i don't want to talk about it it is so harmful. but one of my brothers have lost 2 kids because of i know he's. here after 82012011. death. after the us assault on fallujah many of the foreign fighters fled north and set up camp in the city of mosul. or used to live there until al kind of linked groups moved in. while the violence has dropped significantly from its peak in 2006 civilian casualty rates across iraq are on the rise again. since i left in 2004 mosul has been under siege from car bombings and assassinations of government officials. gov i feel all new j.

fuse predecessor was killed in one of those attacks people killed while he blames the americans for moses plight and he says it's taking on new dimensions for american met sellable mystic in the uk. not just to what i call it done to fight here but also in. here how paul govern iraq. leave iraq but they give iraq to iran. and iraq like this. if not the americans here knew jeff he says his forces have made great strides to rid his city of al-qaeda i thought the now. and then and he. and he. said in the. well that the men knew how would and yes show and mahalo of. a with a high def it was a one a what up and no nation on earth. but with armed police a scolding us to our next destination it's clear that fear still remains most all

streets are air really quiet and this is a sense that the violence for which the city is notorious is never far away. the family i'm about to meet protected me from that violence and this is the 1st time out of seamen since their youngest son and the reuters photographer whose work is on exhibit here was killed by u.s. soldiers. he said i want to hear. what you feel when you hear that well i mean it's still. very sad still here that's. pows in doha. so we saw the story. ok on the reuters wire. so i called you i think at that time and i asked you to call not be able because i couldn't get through to i think it was in syria. maybe behind. me is older brother now below was in charge of the reuters

operation in mosul we used to be a team the 3 of us traveled around together reporting on the growing insurgency timing mosen streets into a bloodbath. 2003 dozen farm it's good yeah look like there now and nothing like in there 2000 something very difficult to believe that most of them just went. starting to have it yeah exactly what do you save me here. is the situation deteriorated to me and was moved from mosul but he continued to document life under occupation and the violence it had unleashed much more sort of that he was stuck behind the me and. the. unjust. when. i saw what john has in the.

modern world. one of. us. just came. for a sword in the me and that's about that and the one. within 3 years to me and was killed by u.s. forces in baghdad. his death captured forever on video shot by the us military and eventually leaked to the public by wiki leaks. and then still alive and started running. the file you could find.

more than. 10 years ago in. america. chad. had. less than an hour's drive the notion of ever. because one fabric is now all but disintegrated and the prospect of kurdish autonomy has been a fault line cutting across the north since iraq's borders were drawn but when i was based here it still at least looked like the same country now it looks like a different planet and that seems to be the master plan of the kind of. massive foreign investments and regeneration and infrastructure projects transforming the way the cities look. kurdish leaders establish their own regional governments when

a u.s. sponsored no fly zone was set up after the 1st gulf war. and they welcomed u.s. forces during the 2003 invasion. in the years that followed washington lavished political and financial support on kurdish leaders building the region as tomorrow's iraq today an example of how a liberated iraq could log. so if there's one place where the u.s. can be proud of its legacy in iraq it should be here. and on the surface at least the future seems brighter than ever. it's a bit surreal to see the architecture transformed and major international chains selling goods at western prices and it doesn't entirely make sense most iraqi kurds own only around $400.00 a month these malls are full of people but it seems like those actually doing the shopping on kurds from this region it's iraq our bank the rest of the country and it's forest coming from turkey leaving iran. so while the rainy an influence may be

expanding in the south turkey's footprint here is growing by the day thursday iraq has become turkey's 2nd largest trading partner most of that trade is with the kurdish region. after years of animosity economic potential seems to have won out over turkey's antagonism toward iraqi kurds and their dream of independence and the kurds appear to have found a new patron. from constructing the roads to rebuilding the souk signs of the deepening ties are everywhere. the turkish company building on this site has some of the biggest contracts with the municipal authorities. but 90 percent of the workers here are from turkey. so not everyone is feeling the benefits of those boom . i'm not sick yeah we're going to. find out i'm

on the bucket. i would go in for a thought that i can look at. the moment the past is gone it's not then it must govern also but you know the saying out of the muslim argument out of it shouldn't . i mean let's not get. jani how she got me. is that. now it's not that. the kurds have always been strong supporters of their own political leaders in the struggle for self the time a nation that they have represented. when i was here 5 years ago i never used to hear the levels of frustration with the kind of leadership that we're hearing now. and as we travel from bill to so many of discontent becomes even louder was told.

the families who've been living in this building have been told they have to leave the government is making a move to the city limits so that this area can be redeveloped. they say they don't have the means to build homes that. had on them and it was you. know she was i must. not be russian but. i might not want to come out you want to go. along with the sound and you know. there's a growing perception that the money flowing into the region is ending up in the pockets of a small business class all of them politicians and party men. a year and a half ago frustration here in so many a boiled over. it was february 2011 and inspired by peoples uprisings in tunisia and egypt kurdish activists took to the streets against government

corruption and repression launching a protest of thousands the last 63 days. to do. that. i mean that. that's a. really good question that on the 1st day government security forces opened fire on demonstrators who had surrounded political party offices and were throwing stones dozens were wounded one man was shot dead over the next 2 months government forces killed at least 9 more protesters as a among them zahir mahmoud a man's 14 year old son so cute. he could be a cuban and pac and you could be. many could generate. their. shade wound critical. but the kurds have other worries

tensions with the central government are escalating kurdish leaders have been signing development contracts with foreign oil companies asserting it's their right to do what they please with resources in their territory. baghdad says that's just not true the k r g this is a kiddish regional government. feel that they have the right to negotiate and decide on the oil that has. located in the region they feel they have the right to sign his contracts and this is what their real disagreement lies with a u.s. ally is gone iraqi kurds are feeling less secure than when thousands to. through the streets a year and a half ago demanding democratic reforms. shut it you. know

you. want to your door when you get. there i will leave that moment on the set i'm going to tell you this was you know i was that year you know was that yeah make a bid a major good you know we're up to is here now. as kurdish leaders defy baghdad and brokered deals for oil pipelines with turkey. it seems they're betting that this new alliance will protect them even if it cost them the promise of an independent kurdistan. and they had a milan kartika could you know it. when you saw me shift or heard me talking of course this time pakistan you know that we could toss them to 30 with a little quicker than to have. been. limited to this and then if there's one man who appeared surmises claims that iraq is in danger of sliding back into office or tearing rule it's fugitive vice president

tyrant can hashimi. the day after u.s. troops left the country in december prime minister maliki issued an arrest warrant for iraq's most senior sunni politician accused of financing death squads targeting shia he fled to the kurdish north to escape arrest cities. we caught up with him shortly before he left the country for turkey my kids his straightforward sectarian politically motivated and no way it could. be engaged. in any sort of violence hashimi says that his security guards have been detained and tortured into making false confessions against them members of his entourage show us photos they say or of one who died in custody his body appears to show signs of torture and this is by their religion a process has to be respected and if. believes he is

innocent he should go to the court and prove that in a sense he cannot fled the country or said somewhat and the start of trying to politicize the issue of. the drama is the most visible manifestation of a political crisis that threatens further fragmentation. and iraq's read a sentence of violent conflict. that we don't have the real democracy in this country. as a fake and is moving towards a very dangerous situation as again till we had a carrot. and a sectarian way. throughout our journey across the country from bands wrote to arbil financial after baghdad and mosul. post occupation landscapes have buried. every city unique. every stretch of road

another distinct piece of iraq. but in each place the people we've met have voiced similar things impatience at the lack of basic services and jobs. anger political corruption. distrust of the regional powers that seem to have more influence over their destinies the naidu. the lingering bitterness about what invasion and 9 years of u.s. presence here has created. that legacy for nearly everyone that we've met can be summed up in a single word. fear of the prime minister and his grip on power. the fear of government security forces in the armed groups of sectarian politics and regional power struggles fear that the ghosts of the past will never stop until the present and defrock of the crew going to continue in that way is going to be

divided and there will be a war of before a very divided and after the arrival of. iraq after the americans a powerful and moving film which is made yet more poignant by the fact that the terrible events following the rise of iso had yet to happen we're going to talk about those issues now with sound as there is middle east correspondent mark callan just back from baghdad himself maybe you can just give us a rundown of well those last 5 years basically since the end of that film and i still comes along well that's i think to really explain it that we have to go back 220-0678 when iraq was a breaking point it was a new civil war between the sunnis and the shias and also there was in iraq at the time now al qaida in iraq were able to form because a lot of anger towards the shia led government within baghdad itself but it was really the precursor to everything that we've seen since then now al qaeda in iraq

were defeated by sunni tribal militias the 2nd was the awakening councils supported by the americans now when the sunni tribal militias got rid of al qaida in iraq and they were promised all sorts of things by the shia led government in baghdad and you fast forward out 2012 and the americans leaving. in iraq have been defeated there was a a a group coming up at the time called the islamic state in iraq again another threat to iraq and what happened was the shia led government in baghdad really completely ignored the concerns of the sunnis particularly any province and for years the sunnis protested saying they were promised all. sorts of things jobs within the military civil service things like that for defeating al qaeda in the things they were given things are getting better i mean that sounds like a very bleak picture but things are getting there because prime minister howard other body is pushing forward with with reforms but these reforms are being met with with stiff resistance from those people who have entrenched positions and well

let's just pause for a 2nd because i want to bring someone else into our conversation to talk a little bit more about the human cost of these last few years joining us from beirut all right general who is amnesty international's advocacy director for the middle east and north africa it's nice to have you with this right in runs give us a really good rundown of how the politics of change i guess in the last 5 years in bringing eisel in our film talked about 1300000 displaced people half a 1000000 lived in just one camp how is those numbers and situations changed the numbers are much water snow amnesty international can confirm the number of i.d.p.'s in iraq is over 3000000 now there aki government has unfortunately been a part of the problem many of these internally displaced people who are displaced because of the actions of the iraqi government and militias affiliated with the iraqi government and their conditions. be bad

because of the actions of the iraqi government many of the internally displaced people are taken through screening procedures would families are separated many of them are addressed to under suspicion of collaborating or walking for isis there are tens of thousands of iraqis who have been addressed the last few years with no due process with no access to any. mostly based on a tip from an informant or other suspicions so there are for government is definitely a part of. the problem in many cases it is the reason behind the problem and the reconstruction effort that was promised has not even started in many cases tell me about outside influence and i'll also ask you about this after we hear from right i'm specifically talking about iran amnesty has not commented

on the politics of what's going on in iraq this in 3 to 4 months or a mandate i mean i can say from from a person and point of view that many of iraq's neighbors have been interfering in iraq's domestic politics and different. iran for example has a lot of love and water all over iraq you put it that iraq you militias some of the militias seem to be. there after the or even controlled the by iran so it's one of the countries that has been involved very heavy in iraq's domestic issues i do think the iranian influence is absolutely key also turkey you know and we're looking you know saudi arabia as well they're opening an embassy again which they haven't done since 1901 so these are all people that have

something to play for within iraq and the influence is all but what ride was saying is very very important what you saying earlier about the sunnis and about the people who for feisal or not as the case may be being separated from their families that will lead to a lot of anger why i'm very concerned about the future of iraq is those people who are absolutely angry at this government won't again be given what they were promised they'll go back to their homes they'll be abandoned and that's what led to ice and coming into existence in iraq in the 1st place that some need anger so the next fight may. it will come from the very people wright was just mentioning. in beirut thank you so much for your time and your thoughts on iran khan as well with us here in studio i thank you and that is it from us to join us again the next weekend check out the rewind page at al-jazeera dot com for more films from the series i'm come out santa maria thanks for joining us see you again sir.

after decades of being programmed with instructions data angry computers can only on their own identifying patterns and predicting human behavior. official intelligence can monitor ombudsman. and decide on a future big picture decodes the world according to ai and exposes the bias inside the machine coming soon on al-jazeera.

hello again it's good to have you back we are seeing a lot of rain here across much of southeastern australia over the next few days as a fairly substantial storm system pushes through now that's going to be a lot of rain and in the overnight hours in the higher elevations it's going to mean some snow in some locations here in tasmania though it's going to be very hard and will many locations to get above single digits in the region over the next few days from melbourne rain few at 12 degrees but still quite nice in brisbane a 27 here on monday and there is that rain to the south but to the north things are looking quite nice brisbane you do come down a little bit chillier with attempt to there of 21 degrees well for the south island of new zealand plenty of rain plenty of clouds and winds over the next few days that's a system coming across the tasman sea will bring a lot of that activity over the next few days we don't really see a break probably till we get to mid to end week over here towards auckland you will also see winds coming out of the north not too bad in terms of temperature but on tuesday that does mean you're going to see more rain as well and then here across

japan we've seen a lot of heat across the region where temperatures are into the low thirty's so here on tokyo on monday we're going to be seeing still $33.00 degrees there but the rain is going to be pushing through and that will drop the temperature with rain in the forecast on tuesday with a temperate there of 29 degrees. 0 . hello i'm maryam namazie this is the news hour live from london coming up in the next 60 minutes the battle for europe road and the e.u. forces compete for control of the european parliament as final polls close in the

elections iran and iraq present a united front over an escalating crisis with the united states. donald trump digs into some sushi with the japanese prime minister but it looks like a trade deal isn't on the menu. i'm done with in doha with all you sports lewis hamilton who wins in monaco and dedicates the victory to mickey lauder. what polls have just closed in italy the last country to vote in elections that will decide the balance of power across the continent it's europe's most important election in decades where rising populists a vow to grab support from the traditional parties 751 seats in the european parliament up for grabs and the makeup of that chamber will shape the future of the

e.u. so here is a quick snapshot of voting estimates as they stand right now the center right european peoples party has 177 seats followed by the progressive alliance of socialists and democrats with 147 seats the alliance of european liberals and democrats a 101 seats a populist bloc which calls itself a europe of nations and freedom have $57.00 seats and the europe of freedom and direct democracy which include germany's a.f.d. party has $56.00 seats with the greens on. 70 seats. a european parliament in brussels and joins us now and just looking at that breakdown barbara the 2 mainstream blogs have clearly retained their lead positions or it looks like they they may well do but they have seen the results suggest an erosion in nest support. absolutely at the end of the day

this is a numbers game isn't it and even though the e.p. and the s. and the so the center right and center left coalitions are still the biggest coalitions in the european parliament the truth is that between them they do not have an overall majority so they're going to have to be looking out for some kind of partner assuming that they still continue to form a coalition together they would be looking for another partner so that they can achieve an overall majority so let's look at who else has done quite well will the greens have done quite well certainly in germany there was a real surge there but in many other european countries and potentially they're looking at about $69.00 seats in parliament let me just remind you that obviously is the provisional figures but they are a pretty clear indication right now so the greens and we are also awaiting the results from italy will be telling in this vote we're also waiting to see exactly how many seats this potential new far right group led by

a vini deputy prime minister how many seats they will achieve right now the projection is 57 not as many as they were expected to get so what have we seen well we've certainly seen the erosion of the mainstream parties we could see that reflected in the german results or even though i'm dealing merkel and her party has held strong her socialist coalition partners have suffered greatly in these elections and also in france perhaps not a surprising result because the opinion polls did forecast it or suggest it but certainly is still an interesting sight to see marine le pen all. the national rally overtaking president emmanuelle mccrone by a few percentage points she is already of course calling from across the call another election to reflect the reality of this vote all of these so far projected their votes and based on exit polls speaking of politicians calling for elections alexis see press of greece just calling a snap election in the fall in the past

a few minutes after a series ahead of disappointing result at 25 percent whereas new democracy was at 33 percent so we can really see the dynamics here in effect we have seen 28 different national elections all with different priorities and different national policies but the reality is that they're all going to send their members of the european parliament here to try to hammer out some kind of coalition and really shape the future of europe indeed barbara and for those of our viewers that might not be so familiar with european politics explain to us why these elections are important why they matter because of course there will be negotiations now to fill some top positions in the e.u. and presumably the outcome of this vote could shake that. absolutely so there's quite a lot of the european institutions are european council which was

a role where all the heads of government get together the european commission which is effectively the executive body of the european union but the parliament is exactly what it sounds like a parliament and it's also the only time that european citizens can vote directly for their representatives because as we've just been discussing it's european citizens they vote directly for the members of the european parliament and the parliament here so what power does the parliament have well it helps approve of the e.u. budget which is about billions and billions of euros and also approved e.u. laws and it plays up. part in appointing the president of the commission a sort of european president if there ever could be as such a figure that they can direct the european union so that's the importance of the parliament and it's interesting one of the comments that you will hear in most european countries for people that are angry at the you is that they all say well it doesn't really represent me those of represent my views it's a bunch of an elected people in brussels in the deep irony was that people felt

unrepresented and then turnout was very low the one time when they could vote directly but we've seen a change in that it does seem that now where looking at an overall e.u. turnout of about 51 percent which may not sound like much by national election standards week when you consider that some turnouts in 2014 in some countries were as low as 13 percent then 51 percent turnout across the union is certainly something to celebrate for the people that want to move toward the europeans a few more engaged with the european union thank you very much bob or sara in brussels of course barbara mentioned italy there and all eyes are on the battle between the 2 ruling parties that have been some exit poll results just released putting a far right league party in the lead so let's go live now to osama bin jo vade who is in rome for us and someone we've been reporting that marine le pen's party has

finished in 1st place in the e.u. elections in france and it looks as though the far right league party in italy is also in pole position. absolutely that is all indicators that we've seen let me read the polls that have just come in to us right now the league party led by metamucil vini is somewhere between 27 to 31 percent according to the latest exit polls according to the media here in italy the democratic party which were the leaders last time around are between 21 to 25 percent and the 5 star movement seems to be trailing between 18 to 22 percent of the ward these are obviously exit polls that have just come out as polls have just closed in italy and we've seen that battle play out between various parties and it seems to be a very divided electorate all the way from the north to the south we've been traveling in the last few days to various cities and we are hearing voters what their concerns are what is driving them and so far what we've seen people are out

a polling station in rome in the capital and the turnout there at that particular polling station was about 46 percent about 12 percentage points less than the average turnout here in italy so it gives you an idea that there are a lot of voters here in italy who are just not interested in coming out they don't see any of the candidates representing them more than half of them so far in this particular polling station that we were asked but we were we were actually speaking to voters who were coming out to vote and many of them were disillusioned they were saying that this is not an you vote but a vote on who is supposed to lead it. right so clearly some very strong feelings and sentiments being expressed that what do we know about turnout and sama . well the turnout so far we're still waiting for official results the turnout traditionally has been somewhere between 50 to 60

percent 58 percent in 2014 as i told you that in that particular polling station in a very mixed neighborhood here in rome the turnout was very low it has been raining all day and people told us that there is a there's a local much here which is very popular so people preferred rather than coming out to vote but we are still waiting for official results on the on the turnout is yet we don't know exactly how many people turned out overall but from what we've seen so far the projections of told us that the turnout in the south with the word of the capital has been law and in the north is higher which traditionally supports the league party which was in the north previous elections. we've been hearing from the league officials who are all gathered in milan waiting for the results to come out waiting to hear back from their parliament and we've been seeing them very very jubilant going into the election saying that they expect more than 30 percent off the vote here in italy which would give them a boost not just in their numbers from italy in the european parliament but also

a boost because mr salvini is the ding this far right alliance of e.s.p.n. into the european elections this time around where he is not just himself going into the european parliament with the mandate saying that he will change the way the european parliament functions but also taking allies with him all the way from germany to hungary. and we are seeing some gains for the last nationalist euro skeptic parties that will be interesting to see what the final results confirm but for now thank you very much as i'm a binge of 8 and run well the results of the elections could give a boost to austria's in battle chancellor sebastian kurtz is facing a no confidence vote over corruption allegations according to exit polls as people's party looks on track to get around 34 percent of the vote losing just one seat. it's was forced to pull the plug on his administration last weekend following the release of a video secretly filmed 2 years ago it showed kurtz's deputy chancellor and the

leader of the freedom party discussing trade trading government contracts the campaign supports with a woman posing as the niece of a russian on account we'll bring you more on the european elections a bit later but we're also following some other stories from around the world in iraq the military there has said at least 5 people have died after a car bomb exploded in a busy market west of mosul now this happened in a village within the town of robbia near the syrian border that victims are out shopping before breaking that ramadan fast meanwhile iraq has spoken out over the escalating dispute between the u.s. and iran saying it stands with its neighbor but in the same breath the iraqi foreign minister told his iranian counterpart that he's willing to mediate rob matheson reports. if mama job at city for came to to clarify where iraq style isn't the only growing tension between the u.s. and iran iraq's foreign minister seems.