moqtada al-sadr speaks in their language. he is one of them. he is a populist.e any other ordinary citizen during his media appearances, and peoe like that, espeally in eastern baghdad in the area that is loyal to him. also the fact that he won so manyeats goes back to the fact that the rest of the iraqis who do not follow him do not bother going to vote because it does not make a difference. iraqis will still be killed, and the next government will still fail to protect them and enable their unnecessary deaths that started a long way back in 1991. it is important also to note that in his speech that you just aired, the tone that he speaks in, it is threatening. imagine someo whose fst speech, who speaks in this tone in his first speech. juan: these elections only came about because of an unusual protest, mass protest movement that developed. some of the supporters of the protest did gain a few seats. do you think overall that it was advisable for these elections to occur because now we see th results? nabil: well, the elections have more to do with making this

al-sadr was able to align himself with other political groups in the new parliament.y might be able to impose their choice of the prime minister. in this election, there are other winners. the former prime minister al -malaki made a comeback. he was able to secure around 37 seats. this is big news. there is big news out of the iranian coalition. lauren: tunisians president has unveiled a new government three months after he dismissed the previous administration and seized additional powers. the new cabinet will announce to -- reply to him. >> tunisia has spent the last 11 weeks without a government. until now. tunisia's first prime minister has sworn in her cabinet, including 23 ministers, nine of whom are women. >> the state departments require an assessment, analysis and reconstruction. we aim to regain trust and hope. the objectives of the cabinet team are based on the following points. first, to regain trust. >> the president suspended parliament and sack the minister. in september, he began to rule by decree while announcing plans to amend the constitution. >> th

at the same time, moqtada al-sadr said in a speech that "only the state can wield force."hese words clearly directed at the paramilitaries that are represented by the fatah coalition. this is highly hypocritical, coming from moqtada al-sadr, who himself controls an armed wing which runs parallel to his political operation. it points to the possibility of significant discord between the very many shiite factions and conflict as well. we have seen sectarian conflict in iraq in the 2010's between the sunni and shiite, but we have not seen inter-shiite conflict before and people are concerned it could lead to that. at the moment it could just be saber-rattling between groups, but in a country with so many weapons and so many military groups there is always the possibility of escalation, so it will bworth observing to see how these disputes will be resolved as they attempt to form a coalitiogovernment. monte: that is our correspondent in baghdad, jack houston. french president emmanuel macron has unveiled a hugely ambitious plan that he says will transform the french economy. t

once a foe of the american military, al-sadr is now one of iraq's most powerful leaders.reet protests demanding a complete overhaul of iraq's political order resulted in this vote, but protesters now fear the election will be neither free nor fair, and some are calling for a boycott. newshour weekend special correspondent simona foltyn reports from iraq. >> reporter: in central baghdad, protesters gather to commemorate the second anniversary of iraq's so-called october revolution, a large-scale protest that began in october 2019. it called for the toppling of the political system put in place by the u.s. after its 2003 invasion of iraq that overthrew saddam hussein. security forces and armed groups, some of whom are linked to incumbent political parties, killed more than 600 people, the faces of the victims imprinted on the flags and posters the protesters carry as they vow to stay the course. alaa al sattar is an engineering graduate and a key organizer. >> ( translated ): today we remember the martyrs who fell in this uprising and we remember the bloodshed that happened

early results from sunday's election in iraq show a coalition led by sheer cleric moqtada al-sadr 1,29 seats. but some political parties have rejected the results. our reporter reports from an opposition stronghold in the south of the country. reporter: for the first time in 20 years, the people of necessary have a voice in iraq's parliament. he is one of four candidates elected to represent the antigovernment movement known as "october," a referen to the nationwide mass protests that began in october of 2019. he and the four others are among 19 candidates elected to represent the southern province and its capital, nasiriya. we met him before the election, when he told us about his decision to fight the election. early results suggest his party has won the second most seats in the province, after moqtada al-sadr's coalition. >> [speaking in arabic] >> we will join forces with independent candidates to form a considerable bloc in parliament. accountability and combating corruption are at the top of our agenda. also all laws related to our human rights and human dignity must be verifie

now, however, al sadr transformed himself into a political player that works within the iraqi system. his rise to power can force him to disband some of his own militias and support the state more strongly. there are signs he will do just that. interestingly, sadr succeeded in this election through old-fashioned organizing, grassroots efforts and start forward-looking communication strategy. his party used new election laws effectively and actually created an app that told its supporters where and when to vote, that officially distributed votes to gain maximum representation. muqtada al sadr has come a long ways since his violent days as a violent revolutionary and casually assuming a role as a candid party boss. and despite iran religious, political influence in iraq, pro-iranian parties did not fare well. that same iraqi official said whatever someone might say about al sadr, he's clearly a iraqi nationalist who does not like foreign interference from any side in the country. i asked him what explains iraq's relative success, and he's the first to acknowledge it is relative and tent

muqtada al sadr has come a long ways since his violent days as a revolutionary and casually assuming a role as a candid party boss. and despite iran religious, political influence in iraq, pro-irani parties did not fare well. that same iraqi official said whatever munn my say about al sadr, he's clearly a iraqi nationalist who does not like foreign interference from any side in the country. i asked him what explains iraq's relative success and he's the first toing acknowledge it is relative and tentative. he pointed to two large factors. first after the fiascos of america's early policies in iraq, strenuous efforts were made to incorporate all political groups into the system. he said one of the un-heralded successes of the surge, led by that great odd couple david petraeus and ray odierno were to bring sunni militias back into the fold. that political outreach was in contrast to the palestinian, which from the start ruled out any involvement in the political system. the second he said was the battle against isis. that struggle really brought the country together, he said. iraq has a

we congratulate the iraqi people on the victory of the reform project, led by the leader muqtada al-sadry, we feel that iraq has been liberated. we haven't had this feeling since 2003. today, iraq is truly liberatedfr orom cioru >> woodruff: the various factions now have to form a coalition government, and that could take months. back in this country, a former u.s. navy engineer and his wife appeared in federal court, accused of selling nuclear submarine secrets, in an f.b.i. sting. diana and jonathan toebbe allegedly thought they were dealing with an unnamed foreign power. the toebbes hechthars are inge martinsburg, west virginia, but entered no pleas. the judge ordered them to remain in custody. and on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average lost 117 points to close at 34,378. the nasdaq fell 20 points, the s&p 500 slipped 10. still to come on the newshour: the north korean leader shows off his country's missile technology, some that can reach the united states. house intelligence chairman adam schiff weighs in on the tenuous state of america's democracy. one judge's decade

preliminary results from sunday's elections in iraq put populist cleric moqtada al-sadr in the leaderg a blow to sheer militants back by iran. and it is called

shia muslim majority are expected to dominate the election with populist shi'ite cleric, moqtada al-sadr'sxpected to emerge as parliament's largest faction. today's vote was marked by a boycott from activists who took part in the 2019 protests and there were widespread reports of low voter turnout. final results are expected over the next two days. retired general raymond odierno, who commanded u.s and coalition forces at the height of the war in iraq, has died. general odierno played a major role in the iraq war. referred to as "the big o," the 6'5" four star general urged then president george w. bush to rapidly deploy nearly 20,000 additional american troops to iraq in an effort to combat a growing insurgency. in 2011, general odierno was named the army's chief of staff, where he oversaw the final withdrawal of us forces from iraq. retired general raymond odierno was 67 years old. for more national and international news, visit pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: representatives of the u.s. and afghanistan's ruling taliban government are restarting talks in doha, qatar, this weekend. issu

there is some predictions that al sadr, leader of one of the major shiite factions that is opposed toran, might do best of the lot. but he's up against others, other shiite blocs with their own militias that are very, very close to iran. then of course, because of the sectarian nature of iraqi politics, sunnis and kurds who are similarly divided. the predictions are for a messy outcome to this election and none of the sort of reform energy, reformist energy, those protesters were demanding and that this early election is supposed to deliver, paula. >> yeah, since you use the term, there's complicated, then there's iraqi politics. i know you'll continue to follow it for us, appreciate it. >>> german chancellor angela merkel is in jerusalem meeting with israeli officials as her tenure winds down. she has a full day ahead, including a planned trip to the holocaust museum. for the latest, han that is gold is in jerusalem. she could have stayed in germany to sit out her days, she chose to go to israel, why is this important? >> reporter: it goes to show you the importance of the relationsh

the bloc led by shiite populist cleric muqtada al-sadr held a solid early lead. the election was held months ahead of schedule to appease anti-government protesters calling for change. but many were still disappointed with the outcome. >> ( translated ): we are about to have the same members of parliament, the same bloc in control, the same sectarianism, and the same approach, so that is why the new government will not deliver anything new. >> woodruff: there was no immediate word when the final results would be announced. iraq's prime minister announced today that his country's security forces captured one of the islamic state's top leaders in a cross border operation. sami jaseem oversaw the group's finances, and served as the deputy leader of isis under abu bakr al-baghdadi, who was killed in a u.s.-led raid in 2019. three u.s. based economists will share this year's nobel prize for economics. canadian david card of the university of california- berkeley was honored for his research into how the minimum wage, immigration, and education impact the labor market.