this is due to leaders like the polls have closed in iraq after the country's first parliamentary elections since the government declared victory over the islamic states and the message group despite this security and sectarian tensions have been big issues take you live to baghdad for the latest also on the program. it's really might finally be about to get a new government after months of deadlock the leaders of the five star movement on

the northern league that had a deadline for a deal to be done. and europe gears up for its annual festival of kitsch. the euro vision song contest takes place in the portuguese capital lisbon time nights guide you through the fight. i'm still going to welcome to the program the polls have just closed in iraq which has been holding its first parliamentary election since the government declared victory over these nomic states that militant group on the eve of today's polling at least a four people were shot dead in a suspected i asked attack in northern iraq but today's vote proceeded without any major incidents. iraqis have gone to the polls i cited strict security

controls and border fencing insite though a high priority for the voting public and the candidates in the ballot the influence of neighboring iran. several mean runners have close ties with turan wins from them in gains from shia muslim candidates iran's dominant faith could bolster support for the regime the fight for power is mainly split between the pro western incumbent prime minister had a body and had a midi from the iranian backed militia popular mobilization forces seen as having led the fight against islamic state. armory is close to the people because he forced what others were sitting on chairs and got money therefore i believe is best for the people. of the north that. we shall. x. prime minister nuri al maliki also closer ron is also back on the political scene

but any hopes of a triumphant return have been diet spec irruption allegations and major losses to the islamic state great back in twenty fourteen also in the running as muntasser the former journalist is best known for throwing two shoes at then u.s. president george w. bush during a press conference in two thousand and eight. fifteen years since the fall of saddam hussein the oil rich country still struggles to provide parents and why and authorities estimate the country needs close to ninety billion dollars to rebuild infrastructure badly needed informers law mixtape strongholds like mosul repeating local life here though is another matter. they are not a shannon and it means nothing to me they have done nothing and nothing has changed we are living like the homeless we have no clue just north or new electricity look at this things are still the same they come and give us a kilo of rice or lentils and say vote for. the next prime minister will face

several other challenges smoothing the sun a shiite rift which is deepened during about his tenure some sunnis even planned an election boycott while authorities were on high alert to quash any lingering islamic state support. of the w correspondent kareen is covering these elections from baghdad in cooperation with iraqi channel al rashid the t.v. welcome to the prime minister partially a security curfew to encourage more people to vote or did this work yes well according to my impression of what i saw today it didn't work because on our way to a voting station you saw a lot of people walking and some of them complained because they had to walk for on four to five kilometers to reach the voting stations but after that after the curfew were set out then it didn't change too because we were on our way back and

it was the same amount of people who were in the streets and not even more i'm talking to the people they have a big question about the whole election today and what's going on here let's talk about that very do people expect their usas election to change anything. i talk to people in baghdad i talk to people in the north and north of iraq in mosul i talk to the people in their bill and according to my impression you know they don't believe there's going to be any change because they say how could change happen if the government according to what they say is corrupted how could change happen if daily you have daily terror attacks how could change happen if the politicians are not even listening to us and talking to us they have their own way of life they have to own way of of style and that's why they don't represent us and they are questioning the credibility of today's election is being really questioned and according to what i saw today and to people i talked to observers that i talked

even they did the participation in the election isn't so high till now we don't have any official numbers but if you talk to the people and observers they tell you that some voting stations like a school here in new in new iraq and also in another school in the south end of of baghdad maybe twenty to twenty five percent came to this station so all in all the participation wasn't so high the people question the whole election today and the credibility of today's elections but we do know that a number of the candidates do have close ties to iran including al i marry a scene of hide around about is my right challenger so what kind of influence does iran have on iraqi politics. iran has an effect on iraqi policy and not only miri but also if you talk about noor and maliki what we saw in the report you just you just showed but when i talk to the people and today it

should be election for the people for the iraqi people they're fed up of any influence coming from outside from any interference from outside from iran from saudi arabia from the u.s. they tell me we want to be a free country one the one who decides who want we want to present our own politics and not politics from outside foreign policy taking control in our own homeland and there is another gap you can see what the politicians are doing and what really iraqi people want iraq iraqi people want an independent politics whereas if you look at the politicians they are supported different politicians and i am very solid body they are supported from foreign countries and that's what the people here in iraq say it's enough we don't want and this is exactly another very practical example to show that they think nothing is going to change because they are not represented through the politicians but their politicians doing their

own things without going back to the people and representing the voice of the people tell us more about how to al about is the main challenger. it's main challengers you have concerning hi there but it is the coalition of congruent which is maliki and also the other guy. your own which is led by mark that a southerner with a coalition with the communists but looked at us other is not. somehow critical of . iran whereas and maliki and our body are supported by iran but till now until today there is nothing clear well a very me make it to another to another four years or will he have an alternative when you talk to the people there are times of confused they say we don't have an alternative but we also question what are bad it did the last four years especially when it comes to corruption and especially when he says and he repeats always and

always again we defeated yes and i guess it's not any more in in in iraq but if you if you talk to the people they're afraid of the daily terror acts done by as and that's why another contradiction that they question this elections and even i don't know but ok abdul karim in baghdad thank you you're welcome. let's take a look now at some of the other stories making news around the world syrian human rights observers say at least ninety at least nineteen iranians are amongst more than forty killed in israel strikes on syria this week israel's army says it struck iranian military targets south of damascus following a rocket attack on israeli controlled golan heights which israel believes was carried out by iran. the castle on parliament is set to vote in a new leader pro independence parties in the region are backing kim torah who should promise to continue the fight against madrid catalonia has been without

a government since late last year when madrid sacked collis push to mons cavernous . thousands of people have been marching through the polish capital. demonstrators angry about reforms to the country's the courts made by the ruling law and justice party the opposition says the changes threaten judges independence the government says the changes are necessary to combat corruption and inefficiency. u.s. president donald trump has declared a major disaster as a volcano continues to erupt on hawaii's big island scientists are warning of new eruptions and more destructive lava flows dozens of homes have been destroyed since a volcano erupted more than a week ago. italy could soon have a new prime minister two months after the country's election resulted in political deadlock talks in row between the populist the five star movement and the nationalist league party appear finally to be making progress the two party leaders

hope to propose a new prime minister by sunday. they could be the end of the waiting game material salvini head of the far right northern league made his way through a throng of journalists but gave very little away after weeks of stalemate it was up to luigi to mile sell of ynys potential partner from the populist five star movement to reveal what's in the works. for you as a first of all we are very proud we have arrived at this point yesterday evening we finally laid the foundations for an agreement with the league launching our project for a government of change this afternoon our deputies plus experts will start working on a coalition agreement that remains our most important focus so people there look at ways that. just last monday the talian president sergio declare that negotiations to build a new government had failed for weeks he had been pressuring the two biggest

parties to come to an agreement threatening to call fresh elections if they failed to do so. now it seems increasingly unlikely that italian voters will have to go to the polls again the end of the political impasse is largely down to one man silvio berlusconi. the former prime minister has allowed the northern league to form an agreement with five stars he's traditionally been allied with the league but he's let them make a deal even though that means he's likely to go into opposition the two parties are looking to form a government this weekend on sunday they hope to be able to name their new head of government they'll present their candidate to the president who have final say. the former wall and reigning champion lewis hamilton will start in pole position in the spanish graw prix after a blistering qualifying session in barcelona the brit tops the driver standings and looks determined to stay there he clocked one minute sixteen point one seven three

seconds to finish ahead of me save his teammate valtteri valtteri bottas there ferrari duo sebastian fattal and human right will make up the second row of the grid in sunday's race europe is gearing up for its annual camp pop extravaganza the euro vision song contest entries from twenty six countries will compete in saturday evenings grand finale in the portuguese capital lisbon is a look at some of the favorites. eurovision is as much about the spectacle as the song and as far as that goes estonia's elina will be hard to beat. you but your official is also sometimes used for political or social messages and this year france is in the running with a song about the refugee crisis. one

of the hot tips to win is israel's neta barcella who's also chosen to address a current topic with her song talk. of. the song has a strong message of me too and i thought about something funky that can sound. like a cycle of. abuse. which like. like the fans so i write a song for you a message of a different kind as offered by the two thousand and nine winner norway's alexander everything he's back this year with a song explaining just how to write a song. is. what you claim. it. was. but the current favorite among the bookmakers is cyprus represented by amy fura with the song for a go no political message just

a classic sexy dance track. cut. the competition is also known for surprise upsets though and with people from so many different countries voting it can be difficult to project who will come out the winner on saturday night. that's it you update i'll have more at the top of the hour in the meantime of course as always the websites of the w dot com. we make up about three quarters of us in the end of the tubes we are all of the civil service and. they want to shape the continent's future. card and join dumpsters as they share their stories their dreams and their challenges to the seventy seven percent platform for africa chart.