i would make one comment on alawi and maliki. very different personalities. but they both campaigned on a platform of iraqi nationalism. and i think that is what has resonated with voters throughout the country. and it's an important development. >> well, expand on that, mr. hilterman so, what was the election in the end, based on these results, what was it about? was it about particular issues or personalities or sectarianism? >> it was about how iraqi leaders projected themselves. that what ambassador crocker is saying as well. both alawi and maliki were projecting themselves as leaders of iraq, as a nation, as a country. and not as sectarian leaders. and i think again that maliki may have stumbled in the days before the elections by showing his true self, and may have lost votes that way. but for a long time maliki has projected this image, for the last two years to be a national leader who rises above sectarian and ethic divisions, and had been quite successful in that. alawi has a long history of being nonsectarian. but in past elections was not able to

for night maliki was very keen on basra, basra development. i think in iraq, they have a strong sense that they can be a very strong country, economically. but, obviously, it required as you have rightly said, the push of some of our investors, and, particularly, michael waring to get it moving forward so we had to hold investment conferences, i held two meetings at downing street with potential investors, and i met business leaders, as i said to sir martin gilbert in basra to talk about how they could move it forward. >> and we were doing this, at a time when our civilian staff that had to be evacuated from the city, had -- out to the airport, how much did our ability to promote economic initiatives, how much was it impeded by the fact that the form office and the dfid staff were actually holed up in the cob at the airport? >> well, i think over time, this was the right strategy, of course, that -- >> we had to do it for the reasons of austerity -- >> but over time it was the right strategy, we let the iraqis have more control and i think the

most back in nouri all maliki -- nouri al maliki. the country is more stable, according to this man. the days of sectarian violence have gone. the american eyes in the sky are watching baghdad, knowing their withdrawal plans depend on how the result is received. andrew north, bbc news, baghdad. >> at least 40 people were killed just before the election results were announced when two bombs exploded north of baghdad. between bombing happened outside a restaurant, wounding a further 60 people. -- the twin of bombing happened outside a restaurant. israel says it will not change its policy of building homes in east jerusalem. mr netanyahu said the policy had been missing for 42 years and would not change. 300 have marched on kuala lumpur protesting. the demonstration after friday prayers represents a protest against a controversial cartoon in newspaper earlier this month. a chinese student who murdered his remain because of excessive snoring has been given a suspended death sentence. he confessed to slopping his roommate to death in nove

. >> earlier on in the process, nouri al maliki said that he was happy with how things are going. making these demands on the commission as the race had looked much tighter. many iraqis were impressed and surprised by in many cases in the way that the election commission stood up to all of these demands. but there are still a lot of fears of renewed violence after the results finally come out. particularly now that we are expecting negotiations to form a new government. whatever happens, if it is nouri al maliki or his main challenger that when the seats, neither will have the majority, so they will have to engage in coalition talks, which is where we might see problems. the big tests of things stabilizing are still to come. >> desperate to hang on to power, he is even reaching out to former enemies like the radical shiite cleric. >> that is right, it has been interesting to see. it certainly looks that is that despite many setbacks, the trend seems to be that he is doing well and that he will be in a pivotal position in forming a new government. i have to say, many people will be

maliki's not going down without a fight, however. he promised to challenge the outcome in court. his supporters took to the streets of baghdad today. they are demanding a recount. this, of course, is also a big election year here in the united states and in one key race, senator john mccain is facing a primary challenge from the right. so today he called in a favorite of the right to help. ben tracy tells us it was mccain and palin together again on the campaign trail. >> sarah palin and united states senator john mccain! >> reporter: this is what political payback looks like. john mccain made sarah palin a household name. now he needs her to vouch for him. >> he's leading the loyal opposition in congress, standing up and speaking out against the obama/pelosi/reid agenda and what they are doing to this country! >> reporter: mccain is in the toughest fight of his 24-year senate career, trying to fend off a republican challenger. >> here's the difference between john mccain and me. >> reporter: radio talk show host and former congressman jade hayworth is billing himself as the cons

not only did allawi beat the prime minister al maliki but it could set an entirely new tone for iraqiis secular. he represents sunnieies. he is pro american. it is very, very good news for the u.s. it could change the flavor of the government right now. if maliki had won he probably would have formed a different kind of government, one that was allied with other shiite and kurdish parties and there was a risk according to many analysts that violence could have started again on a very large scale. >> with the things you've told us about allawi we expect the reaction from u.s. officials to be positive. >> absolutely expect it to be positive. they'll be cautious in the beginning because u.s. officials won't want to seem like they're influencing this process. they won't want to seem like they're pushing it from the -- from washington but u.s. official ness the green zone, in the embassy, are dancing right now. this is very good news. >> richard, i started with this that people were killed with two bombs going off. does that have anything to do with this? >> it's just the violence that exi

it is an issue with regard to prime minister maliki's staff.whatever recommendation he may have and he is a better recommendation than some of the people underneath him, to certainly been felt by some of the people underneath them with regard to how they are being pitted up in different provinces and so forth and as kathleen said, the whole existence of the khaddam list is as a reaction to corruption in the kurdistan regional government specifically kurdistan, although as kathleen also said, it is an open question about whether if the good dumb is able to get in power whether it will be less corrupt than their predecessors were. we tend to focus a great deal on terrorism and terrorism inside iraq, terrorism is of course a huge issue but it affects a limited number of people. the difference with corruption is corruption affects people across the board in iraqi society whether it is in the health care system in iraq, whether it it is an everyday goods and services, whether it is ordinary people dealing with the police in the street. i do wish tha

is it the alawi slate, the al maliki slate. >> that's a great question. maliki being the incumbent still has quite a lot of support but alawi needed to get that vote out. also we have to remember there are a lot of smaller candidates. there were 6,000 candidates on the ballots. although most of them we'll never hear their names again they obviously also had an interest in getting their votes out as well. >> ifill: we also hear there was a return at least rhetorically of mack tad a al-sadr the anti-american claire i can who encouraged his follower to vote. what was the effect of that. >> even though he has not been seen for a long time, he still has immense loyalty. probably the sadrists are among the best at getting that vote out. certainly any time he says something that does have an effect. when i was in sadr city just a few days before the elections i did talk to some people who said they wouldn't bother to go out to vote. once sadr indicates that he wants you to go out and vote, then that probably really did have an effect.ó- s it did with one of the

prime minister al maliki is leading in seven provinces.have been coming out and charging electoral fraud and vote margins as the margins between the different candidates has narrowed. you have the president of iraq coming out and asking for a recount. this is going to prolong the process more. the high electoral commission is checking into this. they are trying to decide how to respond to this request. if the top political leader of iraq is requesting a recount and he is in the lead and you can only imagine that more and more candidates and parties will be requesting a recount. this could prolong this already long process even more. >> explain the best you can, i know it is complicated, how they settle how many seats and who is in power and one vote doesn't ne necessarily mean you are going to get one seat. why would it be so important that the guy in the lead wants a recount? explain what could be possibly his motive? >> reporter: well, t.j., as you've mentioned, you know, the math here for the election it is difficult at best to try to e

they show nuri al maliki and former prime minister allawi are dead even.claiming victory. both sides say they won. both control newspapers and television stations or have favorable television stations. each of their media mouth pieces are also claiming victory. there's quite a bit of tension on the streets. for the last 48 hours or so we've been seeing people in baghdad. i just got off the phone in baghdad now stocking up on food, some shops closing early. the interior minister who himself is a candidate, had asked for these results not to be announced today because of fears they could be disputed and lead to increased tension on the streets. >> could lead to extreme violence. >> not extreme but could be violent. this is a very volatile period for iraq. if there is this political deadlock, that leads to a political vacuum. no one is in charge. that ultimately is very bad news for american troops, because the americans need a stable, strong government in place soon so that the withdrawal timetable with continue on schedule. >> we know the situation now with

al-maliki is a top political leader.alling for a recount there's no telling how much longer this will take. they expect to issue a statement later on today and respond to this. at this point this just gets messier and messier. >> one more thing if you can quickly, if the results were declared today, no one has so much of a majority that it's clear who is going to govern. >> reporter: that's right. when they get to 100%, none of the parties, none of the coalitions are going to have enough seats in order to try to form a government on their own. all of this is a prelude to when the real bargaining going on. yoil see all the different parties going into prolonged pain staking negotiations to try to form a functioning government here in iraq. it's really going to take a lot longer. >> we've been waiting. going to have to wait more. our next hour of "cnn sunday mornrning" starts right now. >>> hello to you all. i'm t.j. holmes. glad you can be with us here on this "cnn sunday morning." and i'm abbie boudreau. thanks for being

it is a blow to nuri al maliki.rime minister allawi's coalition edged out the prime minister to become iraq's next prime minister by just two parliamentary seats. that gives allawi a chance to try to build a ruling coalition. al maliki is calling for a recount, but there's no evidence of widespread or serious fraud. >>> police in mexico are searching for 40 inmates who escaped from a prison just minutes from the texas border. it's unclear exactly how they escape, but the mexican attorney general's office says it's looking for two guards who are also missing. authorities say most of the prisoners were being held at the state-run jail for federal crimes. >>> actor dennis hopper has the newest star on hollywood's walk of fame. surrounded there by friends and family. the visibly frail actor attended the unveiling ceremony at the recommendation of his doctor. he's undergoing treatment for advanced prostate cancer. documents filed this week in his divorce case say that he's dying and that he's too weak and too ill to be q

maliki's followers led in two southern provinces-- in a blow to hard-line religious shi-ites.llawi's secular shi-ite group was ahead in two provinces in the north with the backing of sunnis. at the same time, allawi's coalition charged widespread fraud in the vote. afghan president hamid karzai said today he does not want any proxy wars fought on his soil between the u.s. and iran, or anyone else. this week, u.s. defense secretary defense robert gates accused iran of backing the taliban, while it seeks closer ties with the afghan government. today, in abu dhabi, gates said again iran is "playing a double game." but he also said it is not a serious threat, yet. >> at this point, the level of their effort is not a major problem for us. level of support for taliban so far as best we can tell has been pretty limited. just trying to express hope it wouldn't get any worse than that. >> sreenivasan: iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad has rejected gates' criticism. he accuses the u.s. of playing both sides. a series of powerful aftershocks shook chile again as the new president seb

it is an issue with regard to prime minister maliki's staff. whatever recommendation he may have and he is a better recommendation than some of the people underneath him, to certainly been felt by some of the people underneath them with regard to how they are being pitted up in different provinces and so forth and as kathleen said, the whole existence of the khaddam list is as a reaction to corruption in the kurdistan regional government specifically kurdistan, although as kathleen also said, it is an open question about whether if the good dumb is able to get in power whether it will be less corrupt than their predecessors were. we tend to focus a great deal on terrorism and terrorism inside iraq, terrorism is of course a huge issue but it affects a limited number of people. the difference with corruption is corruption affects people across the board in iraqi society whether it is in the health care system in iraq, whether it it is an everyday goods and services, whether it is ordinary people dealing with the police in the street. i do wish th

al maliki may have to share power with some of the rivals. >>> good morning, it is st.ck's day. i just want to remind you of that. i'm robin meade and it's 30 minutes past the hour. >>> people say what was a nightmare flight from l.a. to new york are going to get their money back. that trip ended up taking 16 hours. here's some tape from it. >> after the 30-minute point the pilot will make the decision for all the safety onboard whether we will divert or hold on a little longer. >> the guy that you saw, david martin, on virgin america flight over the weekend that had to land about 90 miles from jfk because of weather problems and they were eventually bussed but some of the passengers say they were rationed just a few potato chips per person. here's what mark told hln's mike galanos on prime news. >> passengers did eventually get off the plane after, you know, we had to go through a lot of arguments with the supervisor. >> how long did that take before they let you off? >> several hours. the first flight passengers got off and then they wouldn't let any more off and then

he narrowly beat nuri al maliki by just two seats.a chicago cab driver has been charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. federal prosecutors say he tried to provide money to al qaeda for explosives. federal agents seized evidence from his home bring. according to authorities, kahn talked with a man about a possible bomb at an american stadium this summer. kahn is a naturalized u.s. set zen. >>> in iceland, a volcano continues to put on quite a show. the eruption began six days ago after laying dormant for 189 years. these pictures taken friday show the lava pouring out and sending plumes of smoke as much as mile sig high. so far no threat of glacier ice melting that could trigger widespread flooding and no reported injuries. >>> it's about seven after the hour. time for another check of the weather with lonnie. good morning, lonnie. >>> that was some crazy footage there, the helicopter flying right by the lava. got a great crowd out here today. i got to tell you, i want to talk about thi

former prime minister ayad allawi winning 91 seats, edging out the current prime minister nouri al maliki whose party won 89 seats. al maliki says he plans to challenge those results. >>> president obama today announced that he has reached an agreement with his russian counterpart. both leaders have agreed to make deep cuts in their atomic arsenals. the deal decreases the possibility of nuclear war. it also demonstrates a higher level of cooperation between the two nations. steve handelsman on capitol hill now with more on this. >> reporter: good evening. this treaty needs to be ratified by the u.s. senate. that takes a two-thirds vote. so far senate skeptics seem to be satisfied. >> we turned the words into action. >> reporter: trumpeting his new strategic arms reduction treaty starts at the white house. president obama said he finalized it on the phone this morning with russian president medvedev who he had seen in septber, showing they can work together. >> we made progress that is clear and concrete. we demonstrated the importance of american leadership and american partnership on beh

prime minister maliki also asked-- after august 19 called for the u.n. to come out and take a look into its own assessment and we were supportive of prime minister maliki's request to have someone from the outside look at the august 19 attack. >> the fellow behind you has the mic and then you are next. he has got the other one, sorry. >> thank you very much. on iran, my name is mohammed from iran. the rapprochement. >> don't go any further. [laughter] come over here. as long as you have.and as far. >> what a wonderful opportunity. this question is for elliott and jeff feltman. approaching iran, negotiating with iran, i hope you gentlemen and the policymakers have come to understand that this regime is the mother of all time deception, to assimilation and i hope you have come to realize that you will not get anywhere. president obama, whoever gave him the advice to reach the regime and extend a hand to the clenched fist which is full of iranian led and it is even let here now after the june election, or so called election, full of raw jewel and-- i hope i

maliki is not going down without a fight, however. he promised to challenge the outcome in court. >> a state department spokesman called for all candidates and parties to accept the results. >>> in politics here at home, one-time republican power couple john mccain and sarah palin reunited for the first time since 2008. back then, he made her a household name. well today she returned the favor, trying to use her star power to help him get reelected. >> she downplayed his many years in washington, but insisted that he will fight the fight that this very tea party-oriented crowd wants to fight against big spending and taxes. >> he is leading the loyal opposition in congress, standing up and speaking out against the obama-pelosi -- reid agenda. >> his challenger in the gop primary, a former congressman who is now a popular talk radio host is casting the senator as an out-of-touch insider, not conservative enough on the big issues. so mccain has enlisted the help of the conservative superstar he helped create. >> i think this go-around wh

. >>> prime minister nuri al maliki's party is trailing with 95% of the vote counted. there have been charges of fraud, but international voters who said the vote and the count were fair. the final vote count is expected by friday. >>> and in afghanistan, more talks of reconciling with enemy fighters. a delegation linked with the taliban met with president hamid karzai to discuss a peace deal. it comes ahead of karzai's national peace conference next month. >>> and north dakota, fargo's mayor says the champagne corks will be popping to celebrate the successful fight against red river flooding. the city has managed to escape major damage thanks in part to lessons learned from last year's record floods. barbara pinto reports. >> reporter: at fargo's first assembly church of god has a celebration. >> we need to give god thanks. we've been spared. >> reporter: neighbors thanked god and each other for keeping the swollen river at bay. >> it started looking like the flood was getting here earlier area than expected. >> reporter: thousands of volunteers helped save the family

actually i think the fact that maliki's coalition is higher actually is quite significant. and, again, the question will be, you know, the parties don't have to stay with their coalition. they can join other coalitions, and that is going to be the interesting dynamic that plays out. >> one final question about the elections. the iranians were involved, at least in the sense of supporting financially some of the parties. what is your -- what influence do you think they'll have, given what we know, preliminarily? >> well, i think iran in the past has had influence when it comes to deal brokering and they are not alone in that influence in those, certainly. other actors in the region, will have some degree of influence, as well. and i'm sure that they will continue to try to exercise that. the fact, however, that they were not able to succeed in getting all of the shia major parties to run as one coalition, was quite significant. that was a goal of theirs. the fact that in the january 2009 elections, the parties most associated with them did not do all that well, was significa

we heard from nuri al maliki saying he's sure there will be complaints and he's sure people will lodgedon't know who will win this and it's still complex and a lot more remains to be seen. >> it's unclear who the prime minister will be, whether it's the current prime minister, nuri al maliki, or ayad allawi, all we know is they are both in the running. they're both in contention at the moment. >> reporter: absolutely, ali. right now everything is up for grabs in iraq. it's still very much a surprised, a lot of people are surprised that at the end of the day that former minister "ayad allowey, picked up the votes and won the election, but it's still up in the air. >> thank you, mohammed, joining us now from baghdad. >>> all right, when we come back, we'll carry on the health insurance coverage explanations. we're going to introduce you to accouple of avatars, we'll explained you might have in common with them when it comes to health care reform and insurance. [ male announcer ] parents magazine and edmunds.com called it "one of the best family cars of 2009." the insurance institute for

. -- by the maliki government. why isn't there more pressure on maliki to bring more sunnis in? if this is not done, there will be more civil war. guest: that is a very good summary of the situation. probably the biggest change in policy was in early 2007 when general david petraeus decided to put the insurgency on the american payroll. millions of dollars a month. it ended the war, because the militia did not want to be facing us on their own. what you see is some of the things we did to improve security in the short term created long-term problems. this is one of the things, but you may have another prime minister in there. a process of negotiation between local armed fighters in baghdad government came all over again. they would tell you, as soon as the americans are out the way, we're going after baghdad's government. so this x now president obama's remarks that it on the parliamentary alexian's in iraq. -- parliamentary elections in iraq. this lasts about five minutes. >> good afternoon, everybody. today, the people of iraq went to the polls to choose their leaders in the s

. >>> the race is so tight in the parliamentary election that nuri al-maliki is calling for a recount and said the country could return to violence if the demand isn't met. about 92 pirz of the counting is complete. new results show that allawi is about 8,000 votes head of nuri al-maliki. >>> a spokesperson for israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the premier will meet with president barack obama on tuesday. the white house has not confirmed that. nettia into will be in washington for a speech on monday night. this comes as a time of heightened tensions between the u.s. and israel after netanyahu said he would not restrict settles in [ female announcer ] olay regenerist is on a roll. new anti-aging eye roller. reduces puffiness immediately -- and also helps with lines and wrinkles. not surgery. this is our way to do your eyes. new regenerist anti-aging eye roller. we get dole miles on every purchase. so we earned a ski trip twice as fast. we get double miles every time we use our card. ( thuds ) i'll take this. ( crashing ) double miles add up quick. and all of those. so we

but because al maliki's group remains ahead in some of the largest provinces, he still holds a lead in the expected number of seats in parliament. about 80% of the volt votes han counted. >>> it's deja vu along the banks of the red river this morning as fargo, north dakota, and morehead, minnesota, prepare once again for flooding from the swollen waterway. it's already 11 feet over flood stage. it's expected to reach major flood stage today and peak later on in the week. national guardsmen and volunteers are racing to fill sandbags to keep the floodwaters at bay. a scene reminiscent of last year when the river hit a record flood level of over 40 feet. >>> melting snow and rain are the two big factors in the unfolding scenario on the red river. it's getting to be like a broken record. rob marciano in the weather center for the folks in fargo and elsewhere. >> yeah. wouldn't be so shocking if we weren't talking about last year's historic flood, which was supposed to be a one in 100-year flood. here we go again. so, 1% chance of getting it to happen again, they're seeing it this year. a l

nuri al maliki wants a manual recount.ity of the voting. >>> and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says his government will not stop building more jewish settlements in disputed east jerusalem. announcement of the move during a visit by joe biden has called a strain in u.s./israeli relations. the obama administration says additional settlements will undermine the palestinian peace process. those are your top stories on "state of the union." up next, john king, the man who used to sit in this very room, will be here for a preview of his new show. with 4g from sprint, i can download files up to 10x faster than 3g... outside. i can stream the movie "airplane" to my cell phone... at the airport. i can have a crystal-clear videoconference with my clients... ...muffin basket or something... ...while working offsite, or share five high-speed connections for online gaming... while enjoying the great outdoors. [ video game sound effects ] eat it, yoshi! what can you do with 4g? [ male announcer ] experience 4g from sprint.

prime minister nuri al maliki is requesting a manual recount of the tight race.essary to protect the democratic experience and preserve the integrity of the electoral process. initial results show his coalition is leading in 17 of the 18 provinces. up next, more of "fareed zakaria gps." he recommended citracal. it's different -- it's calcium citrate, so it can be absorbed with or without food. citracal. >>> now for our "what in the world" segment. what caught my attention is a new ranking of the world's top financial centers. first did you realize that london was number one until this year? but now it's tied with new york. what really got my attention was that the rest of the top five were not paris, frankfurt or boston, chicago. hong kong came in right behind the u.s. and uk financial capitals. and singapore and tokyo followed in quick succession. rounding out the asian cities in the top ten, shenzhen. ever heard of shenzhen? it's a still of more than 10 million people in the southeast of china. you ought to get familiar with it. it has its own stock exchange, r

his rival, current fprime minister nuri al maliki wants a recount. >>> and a new vehicle recall to tell you about. this one from general motors. gm is recalling 5,000 heavy-duty vans because of an engine fire risk. they include shchevrolet expres and gmc savana passenger and cargo vans made this year. if you have one they say stop driving it, park it away from buildings and other vehicles. the company is calling for a halt in production and sales until it finds a fix. >>> basketball star gill brert arenas has been sentenced to two years of probation in a gun case. the washington wizards guard will spend 30 days in a halfway house before serving 400 hours of community service. arenas pleaded not guilty in january to illegally bringing guns into the team's locker room. the judge said arenas showed genuine remorse and he believes arenas is a good and dekrentd man. >>> a single mother facing a desperate choice, care for her ailing daughter or go to work. >> now you can't work? >> i can't work, period. >> can't pay those bills. >> i can't pay those bills. >> how she found compassion and help

the official tally had shiite prime minister nouri al-maliki and his coalition leading in seven of the 18 provinces. former prime minister iyad allawi was ahead in five provinces. the religious shiite alliance and the main kurdish coalition led in three provinces apiece. in afghanistan, a rocket attack killed one person at bagram air field, north of kabul. it was unclear if the victim was a soldier or civilian. over the weekend, taliban bombings killed 35 afghans in kandahar. the group said it was a warning of what's to come if nato begins an offensive there. the u.s. pressed israel today to drop plans for expanding jewish housing in east jerusalem. the israelis announced the plans last week while vice president biden was visiting. on friday, secretary of state hillary clinton condemned the move. today spokesman p.j. crowley said clinton is waiting for a formal israeli response. >> they involve not only specifics about the project in question that was announced last week, but really more so about the willingness of the parties to engage seriously in this process and jointly create cond

nuri al malik nuri al maliki wants a recount. those are your headlines. see you back here at 10:00 p.m. eastern. "larry king live" starts right now. ♪ ♪ i rock right now ♪ ♪ snoop dogg >> larry: tonight snoop dogg is back. ♪ ♪ snoop it i go hard baby, yes >> larry: and he's talking tiger. >> nobody's perfect, everyone makes mistakes. >> larry: his drug of choice. >> legalized. >> larry: and one of his favorite singers? >> what about susan boyle? >> she's a great artist. looking forward to going to the studio with her. >> larry: so get in -- >> whoa! >> larry: relax. >> oh-whee. >> larry: come along for the ride. >> i'm a "g" now, right? >> you're a double og. ♪ take them home ♪ west coast ♪ i'm kicking on these encinitas ♪ doing like dominoes and slam them on their back ♪ >> larry: next on "larry king live." ♪ snoop dogg ♪ i want to rock right now ♪ snoop dogg >> larry: snoop dogg in the house. he's a multimillion platinum hip-hop icon and entertainer. priority roertsds. his new album "more malice" released this week. a followup to "malice in wonderland."

the current prime minister al maliki is vowing to challenge the election results. >>> meanwhile, a party is a party like we talked about this morning happening in senate majority leader harry reid's hometown. not exactly expecting him at this party, though. the tea party movement rallying against senator reid and the health reform legislation. after today's rally the tea party is going to head out across the country for a rally that's going to happen april 15th in washington. sarah palin is going to be the keynote speaker today in searchlight. our jessica yellin tells us her appearance comes after a chummy reunion with john mccain in tucson. >> reporter: palin mania is back. in arizona the governor had this crowd under her spell, taking on president obama -- >> nobody gave us a teleprompter this go around so it's time to kick it old school again, resort to the old poor man's version of the teleprompter, write my notes on my hand again. >> the democratic agenda -- >> when it came to obama -- hey, by the way, i see today that fidel castro likes obama care but we don't like obama care. does

prime minister nuri al maliki's party is trailing with 95% of the vote counted.here have been charges of fraud but international observers say the vote and the count were fair. >>> tens of thousands of immigration rights advocates marched on washington to voice their frustration about the lack of action on reform. they are demanding new laws to help the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants live and work in the u.s. president obama has pledged action during his first year in office. but in a videotaped message the president reassured marchers he is committed to working with congress this year to fix what he calls a broken immigration system. >>> tiger woods is slowly venturing back in front of news cameras as he prepares to play in next month's masters tournament. in an interview with espn, woods acknowledges how much his serial adultery has hurt the people he loves most. he talks about how much his life has changed since last year's masters. >> a lot has transpired in my life. a lot of ugly things have happened. things that -- i've done some pretty bad things

current prime minister nuri al maliki wants a recount. the u.n.e election results ever credible. >>> hundreds of people turned out in los angeles today for what people say was a peaceful march and rally for immigration reform. organizers say they want the obama administration to make immigration reform its next priority. the president says he will seek bipartisan support for legislation that would create a pass for citizenship for some of the 11 million illegals in the united states. >>> we're just a little over an hour away from earth hour. earth hour. right here on the east coast. an hour of darkness, meant to enlighten the world about climate change. businesses, city, states, counties, and individuals, like you, will turn off the lights in solidarity. organizers say last year more than 1 billion people took part all over the world. city after city, landnarc after landmark went dark at 8:30 p.m. local. joining me now to explain more about earth hour, the president and ceo of the world wildlife fund. i should say cities and countries all over the

maliki over the explosion in baghdad. that seems to me larger than i would have expected.ur feeling or how do you analyze that? >> we feel very deeply the pain of the iraqi ease have suffered through all of this terrorism and the countless lives of iraqi that have been lost. the violence in my back is a lot. it is much diminished from what it used to be dramatically diminished as use all when he came out to baghdad. but it is still a constant problem and a constant threat. reaction of prime minister maliki therefore anchor and the anxiousness to put an end to those kinds of car bomb attacks is entirely understandable, entirely understandable. however, we need to work together we, the united states and the iraqis who have the lead on this to take down the remaining networks that have come a long way. we have some way to go and we are working very hard, center. and this ury ends -- syrians by shutting down the network can help. >> this is a question i ask every ambassador, what do you do about freedom of the press and free of the internet and ambassador, what are the things

right behind him by just two seats, the current prime minister neuroly al maliki who says he plans to these results. it's important to note here the results do not guarantee al alawi will become the prime minister, only that his party has the power to try to form a coalition government. families are fighting back after police tried to evict them. our top story as we go around the world in 80 seconds. peru: authorities bull dozing houses in what is said to be an illegal settlement in a central region. residents there clashing with police trying to enforce the eviction. things got a little rough. the families had reportedly lived in these settlements for more than a decade and installed running water and electricity. china. sentencing day for a university student who was convicted of stabbing to death his own roommate because the guy snored too much. a judge handing down a suspended death sentence, which usually amounts to life in prison. the 24-year-old had reportedly posted video online of the man snoring. brazil. a soccer match getting out of hand in the north. it started when it ref

this time, out of iraq, prime minister nuri al maliki saying he will not accept his loss in that country's now disputed national election. results showing he was edged out by former prime minister, allawi, but the victory does not guarantee the top post for allawi, either, it gives him a shot at forming a coalition government. ha does it mean? more than you might think. we're fortunate to have our chief foreign correspondent, richard engel, in the building. ha does it mean? >> reporter: it potentially means a tidal shift in politics in iraq. this is the most significant development in iraq perhaps in several years. what we're seeing now is if it holds, allawi i emerging as the most powerful political figure in iraq, potentially the next prime minister. he is secular, pro-american, so that would be a change in direction for iraq. for the last several years you've seen a government in iraq that is iranian-leaning and religious. so having a government that's iranian-leaning and has a religious bent to it, moving to a secular, pro-american state that is a major difference and will have a major

friday show ayad allawi's bloc won the most seats in parliament but his rival current prime minister malikialleging voter fraud and is calling for a recount. allawi faces a tough challenge as he tries to put together a coalition government. >>> the british airways says so far so good despite a second consecutive strike by cabin crews. the airline says enough staff have crossed the picket lines and it's able to fly 75% of customers scheduled to travel during the strike. the airline and the union representing crew members have had a long dispute over pay and work practices. >>> well, on the road to the final four, by the end of tonight we will know two of the four teams in college basketball's final four. now, listen carefully. friday restored some sanity to march madness. just one upset. michigan state made its case with a win over northern iowa. tennessee scored the lone upset of the night by knocking off ohio state. tonight number one seed kentucky plays in the game against second seeded west virginia. >>> well, in the middle of a bad economy, it's easy to throw in the towel and give up ma

. >>> nuri al maliki is supporting calls for recount of the parliamentary election. his main competitor, iraq's president, has a slight lead in the march 7th elecon, which has led to numerous allegatio of widespread fraud. >>> the government is warning spring break travelers to pack their patience. beefed up security in response to that failed christmas day bombing attempt over detroit will mean more scanning, swabbing and patdowns. >>> berlin police today said they have arrested the suspected mastermind of that dramatic armed robbery at a poker tournament two weeks ago, the uncle of one of the other suspects. they've yet to track down the $300,000 taken in that heist. >>> for the third weekend in a row, "alice in wonderland" was tops at the box office, taking in $34.5 million, "diary of a wimpy kid" debuted in second place and "bounty hunter" starring january fer aniston was third. you're up-to-date. >>> basically looking at some wet weather here in the northeast. big low pressure area, spinning around, right around tennessee, bringing frozen precip, rain as well. i

i think it's important to look at president maliki's basra moment.sion was made as i understand -- and i'm not an iraq expert but as i understand largely without any u.s. knowledge ahead of the decision, that president maliki sent a significant force into basra. that indicated in many ways that you had a leader that was willing to craple with the hardest part of the problem and instill a certain amount of legitimacy among the iraqi people about their particular president. i think in many ways we're still awaiting a hamid karzai moment. we've not yet seen it and it might be a good inflection point should one occur. secondly and directly related to the surge it's not so much the number of troops that were sent but the decision taken by president bush. set aside the argument about whether or not going into iraq was the right decision or not. the fact was we were there. and against considerable opinion within the professional ranks of both our diplomats and our military, president bush took the hard decision to actually go the route of the surge. and tha

>> well, i think that there are some people who want to take prime minister maliki and make him look like a weak incumbent. and i think's a lot of speculation about these attacks. but one thing i think we need to. >> lehrer: you mean so weak he can't keep the country secure. >> he's named his coalition state of law and he wants to demonstrate that he's in control of the situation. >> couric: his political coalition. >> exactly. his political coalition is named for that reason and we've seen a substantial decline in violence in iraq compared to 2006. but what's missing, i think, has been political reconciliation. a lot of the factions that had major differences over how to share power in iraq still have those major differences and i think there's a lot of speculation about who's behind each individual attack. i suspect we won't see a return to the levels of violence that we saw in 2006, but i wouldn't be surprised to see more violence between the elections and then importantly in the postelection period, which i think is a very uncertain period for iraq. >> lehrer: sure. in general, w

we now have the outcome t's a very close margin between prime minister maliki and allawi and now thetion government. last time in 2005 it took a long time. it was marred by horrific violence. our hope is they can do this quickly and without the violence we saw last time. >> when americans see there are soon going to be more troops in afghanistan than iraq, from a big picture perspective how should americans view that? >> i think twofold. they should see it as a sign of the incredible progress that's been made in iraq since the surge was under way in february of 2007, a dramatic decline in violence, and a dramatic decline as you noted in the number of forces we have, just under 100,000 now. we are due to get down to 50,000 as per the president's directive, come september 1st, and then be completely out of iraq of course by 2012. simultaneously though we've obviously seen a downturn in the security situation in afghanistan. that's required the president to send an additional 30,000 u.s. forces. the coalition is sending another 10,000. we've got about one-third of the u.s. surge in ther

nouri al-maliki, to some surprise, came in second in terms of the number of seats in i al-balawi camefirst. -- in terms of the number of seats in parliament. i got balawi came in first. -- callawi came in first grade nouri al-maliki seems to be working the system so that he will be able to form a government. there are lots of talks going on among the parties. but i do think that the talk of renewed sectarian violence, or some even talking about a civil war -- i think the chances of that are extremely small. we have seen this month after month where it's sort of drags on while the iraqi politicians try to jockey for positions and put together a coalition government. it is possible, but i would not put money on that. host: benjamin is on the line for independence, upstate new york, syracuse. caller: there is just a couple of points i would like to make. number one, all these problems that we have all around the world caused simply by having a little box -when we go to vote. the lead as we have are the ones we have because we have -- the leaders we have, we have because we have no choice

and you see that maliki has won majorities i think in 1 out of 19 provinces.er case "d" -- taking hold. this is not upmonochel lowe, no atheenian democracy, but much better than what we had. >> i don't want to get too deep in the weeds, but you talk about iran, a lot of people concerned about this going the way of iran. but you have sistani, is sistani still the powerful player among the shia who basically said, we don't want to go iran's way? >> that's exactly right. and you talk about monochelo, i'm not saying sistani's jefferson, but if there were a father of new iraq, it would be sistani, right? >> that's right. and we have to see what happens to maliki, who gets a very bad rap, but let's see what happens. >> he's keeping it together. nobody expected that. it's a stunning story. >> it really is. i recommend it. and it's reported. it's not just -- we're not just sitting around popping off about it. >> it's not like "morning joe." you don't just say what comes off the top of your head. >> what happens if three or four months down the road they can't put a go

challenging election results showing iraq's former prime minister edging out the current leader nouri al malikias those historic resulting were being announced, twin bombs went off near a restaurant about 50 miles north of baghdad. police say at least 57 people have died, more than 70 others were injured from the car and roadside bombs. >>> the u.s. and russia have agreed to the first major nuclear arms treaty in nearly two decades. president obama and the russian president dmitry medvedev will reduce nuclear arsenals by nearly a third. the new agreement will replace the stark accord. the u.s. and russia have about 95% of the world's nuclear weapons. >>> hopes are faye fading for 46 south korean marines after an explosion sunk their military ship on friday. despite initial fears of an attack, there is no indication north korea is to blame. officials say it is still unclear what caused that explosion. >>> president obama's second choice for transportation security chief has pulled his name from consideration. retired army major general robert harding withdrew after questions over his background