this is al jazeera. hello, and welcome to the news hour. hiem in doha with the top stories on al jazeera. football's governing body is realing from a double-blow. six top fifa officials arrested on bribery charges and a criminal investigation has been opened into the next two world cups. the world cups 2018 and 2022 will be played in russia and qatar. also ahead, the iraqi army continues its offense you have to retake the anbar province

and isil suicide attack kills 17 soldiers. over 1,000 people have died in a severe heat wave in india. i'm at london royal festival where the conductor is unveiling his reinvention of the piano. hello. high-ranking officials of football's world governing body have been arrested as part of at least two investigations which have been launched. so here's what we know so far. a search warrant has been executed at the miamie meeami headquarters. earlier a zurich hotel was raided and seven high-ranking fifa officials were arrested. up to 14 could be indicted in the u.s. to face corruption charges. the swiss federal office of justice says it's opened a

criminal case in connection with the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 football world cups. here's what fifa had to say just a few moments ago. let's listen. >> to us first and foremost fifa initiated this process on november 18 last year. fifa fifa lodged a legal complaint with the federal attorney and as you all know it had to do with the ab bugs of the world cups 2018 and 2022. on this basis relies the attorney general of switzerland for their current investigation. the second point important to me in this and i wish to underscore is that fifa and the timing may not be obviously the best but

definitely fifa welcomes this process and fifa cooperates fully with the attorney general of switzerland and the federal office of justice. it corresponds to all requests for information. the third point is a very important one. this was also underscored by the attorney general in their press release. this was underscored explicitly and i wish to repeat this. that this in this case fifa is the damaged party. in this context fifa is the damaged party and this leads to the fact that there were no searches within the offices of fifa fifa the people of the federal attorney are here. we cooperate with them and we provide all the information requested by them and this for

our own interests. because it is of our highest interest that all open questions can be answered all questions opened in the light of these -- this complaint we have lodged. that's on 18 november. now, i saw tweets and i saw media releases and comments and speculations. let me say that they are -- the general secretary and the president are not involved in this procedure. as to the names that were published in the media this morning, i am unable to comment responsible and this is also obvious in the press release of the general attorney. then you would have to address

to the general attorney. you have his data to get in touch with him, or if you have questions to the federal office of justice, you have the person to get in touch with. now, you certainly have questions whether it comes to the questions and the answers, there's hardly anything we can say as to the current procedure. i can only say nothing more and nothing less than that that has been said and written by the federal attorney's office about an hour ago. and let me tell you that in spite of it we are very happy about what is happening right now. it is once again unfortunately fifa suffering under these circumstances. it is certainly a difficult moment for us.

you know we have the congress about to start. we have lots of questions. will the congress take place or not take place? of course, congress will take place. one thing has nothing whatsoever to do with the other. there may be dissenting views on that but from our side this congress definitely will be carried out but taking into account this current procedure. this is not related to congress. now, i hope i have been perfectly clear, and i thank you for being here. now, i'm giving you this information right now at 11:26 minutes. we are, of course in very close contact with the attorney general, and it is quite possible that perhaps later during the day or more into tomorrow, we will be able to give you an update on the situation at least concerning us concerning fifa.

so take this information status at 11:26. we know nothing more right now. we only know what we have been informed through this press release and perhaps my colleagues with the microphone could gather the questions. martin ziegler perhaps. >> thanks. martin ziegler from the press association. you said congress will go ahead as planned. will the election take place as planned? there has been some suggestion that mr. blatter is looking to have the election postponed. >> well then you know more than i do because there was never an idea to postpone the congress nor the election.

as i said before one thing has nothing to do with the other. so we go on with the agenda that you know and the election will take place as it was planned. >> reporter: thanks walter. walter do we then assume that both these investigations stroke probes call them what you like are just coincidence in terms of the timing? thank you. >> well i give you the answer from the general attorney and he said it. you can ask him as well. the fact that all people all the people that are interested in -- to talk to they are here for the congress. so for them it's easier to talk

to them once they're all here instead of going and trying to talk to them in these different countries. this is something that you can double-check with the general attorney, but this is the answer we received. brian. >> reporter: good morning, walter. brian swanson, sky sports news hq. can you confirm how many serving members of the fifa's executive committee have been arrested in connection with the investigation? and is there any doubt now world cups in 2018 and 2022? will fifa reconsider a revote? >> two nos for you. no no. so i cannot confirm, as i said. i cannot confirm the names. i cannot confirm how many people have been arrested how many

people are investigated and so on. i can say what i said and what the predz president said in the past press conference. the world cup 2018 and 2022 will be played in russia and qatar. >> so that was the press conference that was held just a a short while ago from zurich from the fifa headquarters. one of the last things that walter was saying that he cannot confirm the names of those people that have been arrested but certainly there are names now that have been floating around. what are you hearing about who those people are? can we take a step back and talk about what these allegations are linked to and how all these arrests came about? >> in terms of the names, there's sill some confusion in terms of numbers, but as you say there are certainly names we hear again and again. two current fifa vice presidents

among those charged in a 47-count indictment by the u.s. justice department. that includes the former and current heads of concacaf. they run football in north america and the care bienibbean and they're very involved in the investigation. two former heads of south american football and the man that ran the brazil world cup just last year and various other members of the fifa executive committee. once is jeffrey webb the current head of concacaf. he's regarded as a reformer who joined the foo fa fifa executive committee recently. he's strong in the fight against racism. he said the garcia reports should be fully published, so many people are surprised today he's a person arrested. some names that are surprised his predecessor is jack warner notorious name. someone who had to step down from all his posts. he was a former fifa vice

president because of allegations of corruption back in 2011. >> and you know during the press conference walter de gregorio stressed several times that sepp blatter wasn't involved in any of this. any question of him stepping down or how this reflects on him as well as the election that's meant to take place on friday for the presidency? >> let me read you a statement de gregorio said. the president is not involved. how can you say he has to step down? if he's re-elected he's the president for the next four years. he repeated many times that friday's vote the vote for the fifa presidential elections will go ahead as planned. the gentlemen arrested won't be able to take part because they're in police custody. the rest of the 209 fifa members can vote. extraordinarily sepp blatter looks like he will probably win that vote. he's running against prince ali

of jordan. there were a fume rurps he was lobbying to have it postponed and it will go ahead. he probably will still be elected for another term. whether or not he does that full term i think that's very much up in the air. these investigations are ongoing. >> at the same time a criminal investigation now opens into the next two world cups. so meaning the 2018 and the 2022. what was said about that? >> actually those investigations were opened back on november 18th last year. fifa authorizing the investigations to happen. they say they are certain that elements of those bids need to be looked at but the overall bids are fine and they're happy with russia in 2018 and qatar in 2022. >> we'll leave it there. thank you for giving us all that informing. we move on to other news. three suspected isil suicide bombers have killed at least 55 people in iraq. the attack which targeted a

military convoy took place northeast of fallujah. 17 iraqi troops were killed in the incident. at least 17 which came hours after the government announced the start of a wide scale operation to recapture areas under isil control in anbar province. crossing over to imron khan from baghdad. we'll talk about the bigger operation to retake anbar in a moment. first, your updates on what you hear about that attack by isil. >> reporter: well military sources told us the death toll is up to 55 iraqi soldiers. they say there was a large convoy moving just southeast -- i'm sorry. northeast of fallujah when it came under attack by car bombs, and that there are a number of others injured. they're expecting the death toll to rise as the day goes on. now, these car bombs are being

increasingly used by isil to a devastating effect. they used them in ramadi when they took over that town a week ago. they sent in six heavily armed bombs which allowed them to enter the town itself. it's a very real concern for the iraqi security forces. the military says there's a large amount of troop movement in anbar province as they get people into plates to take ramadi city. therefore, they are vulnerable when they moouch in that large number. >> how confident are they that they will be able to retake ramadi and are they giving a time frame? >> reporter: there's no time frame given but they're very very confident. i was down by one of the main military bases on the road to anbar. he says it may take a while, bhut we're making sure our troops are supplied and we have the reinforcements and have a better strategy than before.

we want more air strikes on the u.s. and need more help from all of the forces in iraq itself. they're very confident they can take it back. what they're doing at the moment is they're taking the roads into towns sp villages shelling those homes and visages that have isil fighters inside hem. once they secure them they use them as staging posts to get to ramadi. none of this will happen overnight. it will take a little while, but nobody is giving a time frame. >> ron, thank you very much for that update. he speaks to us from baghdad. crossing over to a senior member of the sierra national alliance coalition and he's also a former national security adviser joining us via skype. thank you very much for speaking to us. this latest attack that took place in iraq how big a blow back is this for the iraqi forces and the paramilitary

forces fighting to take back anbar anbar? doctor? i do apologize for that. we're having some technical difficulties with him. we'll try to get him back later on in the news hour. a fire that swept through a home for the elderly in central china killed 38 people is raising concerns over lax safety standards. adrian brown reports from where the cause of the disaster is being investigated. as the authorities investigate the cause of the fire the care home is now a crime scene. 12 staff are being investigated. you can just make out the statue in the courtyard, and the banner behind with the words, "with our love make old people safe." they weren't safe.

most of the dead were very frail and needed assistance to move. a relative of one of the dead told us she was waiting for compensation before being dragged away by a family member. fees in the privately run home were around $200 a month, beyond the reach of many waiting outside including a 61 dwrerld on a pension of $10 a month. >> translator: of course i worry, but you can't expect the communist party to solve all your problems. >> reporter: this investigation will focus on safety and why it failed here but there's another looming problem. the shortage of care homes for a rapidly aging population. traditionally in china aging parents were looked after by their children but changing life sometimestyles and the consequences of china's one-child policy change that. increasingly that only child is unable or unwilling to care for their parents.

china's confronting a rich country's problem, but on a huge scale. the government says 450 million chinese people will be over 65 by 2015. with supply unable to meet demand, the government is turning to the private sector. away from the big cities such homes are often poorly regulated and in this case plain unsafe. adrian brown, al jazeera, central china. in malaysia forensic experts are elm humaning bodies of suspected victims of human smuggling from mass graves on the border with thailand. the government says there are more than 130 graves hidden in abandoned camps in a jungle where migrants were held for ransom. they are expected to release a statement soon. let's get the full story from both sides of the border. we have scott hide ler. scott joins us from thailand and rob mcbride is in malaysia.

to rob first to tell us whether that statement has been released by the government and what they've been saying rob. >> reporter: that's right. this is a grim task that has been carried on throughout today up on the hills around the border area between malaysia and thailand. not helped by citiedary torrential rain throughout the day, making conditions on these steep hillside thick jungle very difficult indeed. we are close to what's been identified as possibly one of the main trafficking sites. it was a site that journalists were taken to by police yesterday. forensic teams are back there today. 40 graves possibly might be located there. we understand that one forensic team did come back with two bags thought to be containing human remains. now, it's -- to give you a sense how grim the task is it's not known how many bodies they may represent. these are remains that may be fairly recently but also may

have been there for quite some years. they have been taken for forensic examination. one of the questions obviously that people want to have asked and answered here is what ethnic origins are some of these people from? are they indeed as suspected from the community and also possibly bangladeshis. the questions have continued here just about how much of this trade was known about here in this area by officials or also the local community. going around here talking to villages it seems to be an open secret that traffickers were trafficking groups through here. some talked about seeing groups of migrant workers on the roadside waiting to be picked up by agents. it's something the malaysian authorities are getting to grips with promises today anyone found in collusion with the traffickers will be brought to justice. >> that's rob mcbride. crossing over to scott on the thai side of the border to tell

us about what's happening on the ground there. scott, what do you see? >> reporter: we're standing in front of the police station, and that's because this is where the headquarter for the thai operations on the border here. here on the malaysia side they're not looking more bodies. their focused here on the investigation on the people behind these networks. those leading tie land's operation against the human traffickers don't think there are any more migrant camps to discover and they have their key suspect in custody. for them the top priority is making sure that their borders stay sealed so that any remaining human traffickers have no place to hide and no space to restart the channels. >> this is not a destination. if you make them very difficult and make them not comfortable to

pass into the country, they will not come. >> reporter: we went with the thai army up to a jungle outpost set up to block the traffickers. this barbed wire marks the border between thailand and malaysia. it was put here four weeks ago and a contingent of thai soldiers. the fovt started the clamp sdwroun on human trafficking networks. because this clampdown malaysian officials believe the carps were abandoned in the last few weeks. thailand is digging into how the networks operated. now their channels are cut off. >> the investigations are not moving forward very well. we have in the thai side a focus primarily on local politicians, local police some police up to the provincial level, which is a good first step. there's a lot more to be done. we expect higher level people involved in this. >> reporter: he's a rubber farmer on the road that leads up

to the jungle crossing. he used to see dozens of people packed into pickup trucks pass by every week. >> translator: i don't think the traffickers will dare to come back here. it was up haing because the government never took this seriously. now the situation has changed. the traffickers are afraid to come back. >> reporter: they might be afraid to come back here, but the challenge for thailand is finding those that helped the traffickers and make sure the networks won't restart somewhere else. in india a severe heat wave killed more than 1,000 people. most of the deaths have been reported in the southern states. a red alert has been issued in the states. temperatures have climbed to near 50 degrees celsius in some areas, but there is relief in sight as the monsoon rains might hit india in the next few days. let's find out if that will happen and bring in richard. any signs of a letup in the heat wave richard, across the

country? >> for most parts of india, the monsoon is still a long way away. in fact on this graph here the green area is where the monsoon should have reached come the 1st of june. if i put on here this dash line that's where it is at the moment. it has a long way to go. we run the satellite imagery and the cloud is a long way off down to the south. for many parts of india affected about i the heat wave you have to wait for quite some time yet. no great relief. it's easy to stand here and say we found record temperatures and a defined temperature of 47 degrees. what it comes down to it's hard to say this heat wave standing at the pure meteorological sense from any others. this happens every year ahead of the monsoon rain. i thought we'd have a look at summerlike hydroban where we see temperatures in excess of 40 degrees. that's bad, but then many here this this newsroom experience temperatures on a daily basis at 40 degrees.

we have the advantage of air-conditioning. many people there may not. the other thing to bear in mind is nighttime temps are really really high. can you imagine sleeping in temperatures of 30 degrees celsius without access to air-conditioning? it's unpleasant conditions. we have a combination of heat and humidity where the conditions are particularly nasty. >> all right, richard. thank you very much for that update. we'll bring in dr. malik in the studio in doha. he's a professor of medicine at the well cornell medical college here in catqatar. thank you for being here. we have reports that the latest death toll is more than 1,000. what do you make of the heat wave, and tell us what the primary reason for those deaths are? >> okay. so this is actually not a first-time event. it occurs pretty much every year. this time the death toll has,

obviously, gone in excessive 1,000. previously it's 500 to 600. this is actually a normal phenomenon. it's when the body is not able to cool down adequately when the temperatures rise particularly when you've got high humidity. so it's not particular with india, actually. in the u.s. it can occur as well. so the major manifestations are that the person will become dehydrated and develop something called heatstroke. that's a little bit of a misdefinition also because stroke immediately people think of as something where you have a blocked vessel and you have damage to the brain. in the sense or in terms of heatstroke, this is essentially when body temperatures rise above 40 degrees. the consequence of that is that the normal systems, enzyme

systems in all cells, particularly the cells of the most active organ, which is the brain, the heart, the lungs and the kidneys start to fail. >> right. before people get to dehydration and what you refer to as heatstroke are there any early warning signs or symptoms that people should watch out for? >> sure. so particularly the elderly who are already on medications that may exacerbate things. people have diabetes people with blood pressure. all these people will have a natural response which is so what happens when you get hypothermia? the body responds trying to cool down, and it cools down by two major mechanisms which is sweating and actually what we call vasodilations where the blood vessels in the core of the body open up and you get dissipation of heat.

in short when these mechanisms still continue to work but that you are overwhelmed by the heat outside in the environment. so the core body temperature is 40 degrees. so the person themselves initially will feel they're sweating a lot. they may well be what we call tacky card tachycardia where the pulse races. there are actually warning signs. the patient will be flushed. why? because the blood pressures are opened up and they're trying to lose the heat. >> thank you very much for that clarification. dr. malik joins us here in the studio in doehadoha. still to come cleveland police will monitor to curb violent encounters. how the new york rangers managed to stay alive in the nhl playoff series. all the details are coming up a little later. later.

temperatures have climbed to near 50 degrees celsius in some areas. more on fifa now. the founing partner for reputation management is joining us from zurich where the fifa officials were arrested earlier. seeing that the company is called reputation management i need to ask you what this does to fifa's rep pew taking the allegations of corruption. at least six people that we know of now arrested. >> well the fifa reputation has been tarnished over many many years due to allegations and scandals and corruption which were apparent to everybody. what i'm surprised is more the reaction of fifa today. the president seems to be very

relaxed. the world is saying this is a dramatic day, it's a terrible day for football. so we're seeing two completely different perceptions. the world is split between fifa and the rest of the world criticizing what's going on. the reputation is not only tarnished of fifa but also switzerland as a domicile to fifa. while it has a negative impact on the whole country. >> sepp blatter himself said in the past he wants to clean up fifa, but how big of an embarrassment is this for him? >> well any other leader in the corporate world would step down immediately after such a crisis ongoing crisis and due to the pressure of the stakeholder activists, shareholder activists, but there's no sufficient strong pressure on

fifa and blatter to make him stem down and do this step. certainly that's an embarrassment, but he doesn't seem to care. he's really concerned about staying in power and getting his new presidency which is certainly -- we're quite certain he'll be elected on the friday night of may, this coming friday. >> how will all of this affect fifa and blatter, though bernard? can it continue to operate in the manner it has been up until now? >> well he's playing with fire apparently. he established the ethical commission, and he's allegedly trying to implement what the results are. he's going after governors and going after transparency. the world is doubting that he's -- the organization itself is concerned about doing this and clearing this up. my personal opinion is the problem is going far, far deeper and it's concerning the whole football. football is run by associations and not by governments like

companies who are really controlled by a supervisory board. the control is coming from inside, and this makes it very very hard to find out what's going on in this organization. >> a lot of people wondering and you said yourself a few moments ago there were allegations of corruption against fifa for many years. many wonder why it took place at this particular time and why it took so long. >> i think this is certainly not coincidence of timing. i think there's some interest groups based in the u.s. based in switzerland who want mr. blatter to be removed. they thought this would be such a strong blow to him and maybe make him take a decision to step down. when we listened to the press conference, this is business as usual. they're quite relaxed and know they have this power, and there's no other power in the world to make -- to remove

mr. blatter. so it took some time. it can take even longer time but time is on the side of fifa. >> we'll leave it there. thank you very much for joinings us. >> yes. thank you. the european union is set to unveil the plan to deal with the growing migrant crisis. the document says the proposal includes relocating 40,000 migrants in greece and italy to other eu countries. members say it will have to agree to that proposal. record numbers of migrants make that dangerous journey across the mediterranean to find a new life in europe. the italian government says it will house some migrants in abandoned buildings. some italians say the buildings should be used to help italy's homeless. we have more from rome. >> reporter: they keep on arriving in italy on a daily basis. my grants that dream of a new life in europe and for themselves for families back home. to reach this point they have

put their life in risk. he went from sudan to libya where he was detained for several months. >> translator: it was dangerous. my parents sold everything for me to be free and come here. they transferred the money, and then i was taken to a beach and we left. it was raining. water was coming in from everywhere. we were about to drown. we were saved by the germans. i was so happy to see them >> reporter: his rescue fgs part of operation try tan, a joint mission shaped last year in the patrolling area in the sea. for most migrants italy is another transit point on their way to northern europe where they think there are more job opportunities. many here in italy fear under the current atmosphere across europe and with the tightening of the borders, holding centers like this one could just become permanent homes.

italy has so far borne the brunt of the influx ofmy gran mymy myigrantsmigrants. authorities have to relocate them across the country wherever there's an comblt building. they confiscated this one and it will open doors to newcomers. an abandoned school is also being refurbished. it's in a neighborhood on the outskirts of rome. people living here fear the sudden arrival of a large number of migrants. >> translator: this area is isolated. there are few public services. there are no shops, pharmacies telephones. there's nothing. these are people who are still in the process of being identified. we don't know who they are. it is something that scares us. this is a private area. it could become a ghetto. >> reporter: a group of homeless people set up shop in front of the school. they say italians in need should

come first. >> translator: there is nothing for us nothing. we can't ask for anything. we have nothing left and then we see these situations. the migrants get housing and help. then what? i have nothing against them but we are the ones becoming foreigners in our own country. >> reporter: while those who made it this far are relieved to have fled war-torn libya, many here in italy and other european countries worry about the future identity of their hometowns. al jazeera, rome. an indian court has allowed environment group greenpeace india temporary relief in a case against the government. it can now access two domestic accounts after they were blocked by the government for allegedly breaking rules of foreign funding. greenpeace india is challenging the government's decision to cancel its registration for six months. there's an increasing crackdown on ngos by the government. registrations of almost 9,000

ngos have been canceled for failing to file annual returns. the economic impact of last month's earthquake is felt all across nepal and the flood of goods from china has slowed to a trickle hitting roadside businesses that depend on the trade. harry fossett traveled from kathmandu up to the border with tibet to see how communities are coping. >> reporter: the scholars of nepal's deadliest sdasest lie along the highway. there's another piece of evidence less immediately obvious. this is the main trade route to the chinese border and it's all but employment of traffic. we find one team dealing with roadside repairs. they have a bigger problem than a loose wheel mat. a landslide ripped through the cab while the driver was outside, but the damage to their business is just as severe. >> translator: it has had a big

impact. we had to stop our trucks and we ned to pay bank loans. with the trucks want earning more than it's hard to survive. >> reporter: as they move off towards kathmandu, we head further north towards the chinese border. more destroyed vehicles. one reason few drivers want to deprive this route for the loosened, overhanging cliffs. the route ends here. beyond is tibet. dozens of trucks abandoned after china closed the route. economic lifeblood dammed up behind the border. the businesses that line the streets are shattered. some being supported by the same boulders that smashed into them. this sherpa is back from temporary exile in kathmandu to check on his property. he was in the basement carrying out repairs when a huge rock

barrelled in. his income came from tenant businesses, and now it's gone. >> translator: i'm very sad. this is all i have. it's heart-breaking to see. fate has dealt us a hard blow. if people like me are having problems, you can imagine what the poorest are going through. >> reporter: just a few weeks ago this was a bustling border bazaar town full of shops and restaurants serving a steady flow of trucks coming across the chinese border. it's a ghost town and a powerful illustration what this earthquake has done to the nepally government. back towards the valley is the local market. here abandoned trucks have become homes. this family who run a roadside store say the town's economy has just stopped. they plan to stay but they have no idea how they will earn a living. for now, though they're not thinking that far ahead.

their preoccupation is worrying about the next earthquake and what else might be taken from there. harry fossett, al jazeera in nepal. coming up on the news hour could wednesday's arrests in zurich impact on the upcoming fifa elections? way you look at the world. talking about big subjects. telling human stories. >> there's a tidal wave. >> we all have a problem. >> could you have seen that coming?

policemen and women in the u.s. city of cleveland are to be overseen by an independent monitor. it's hoped that strict rules on the use of force will reduce violent encounters on the

streets and deaths in police custody. we have the report. >> reporter: the department of justice says this agreement has national implications. >> we have signed in this our filing this 105-page comprehensive consent decree will serve as a road map for reform in cleveland but as a national model for any police department that is ready to escort a great city to the forefront of the 21st century. >> reporter: it's required they report each use of force to superiors, including each time they draw their guns. there will be an emphasis on community policing and several new watch dogs including a civilian board to oversee police conduct. following the killing of tanisha who was bipolar in october. it was cleveland's routine use

of force against the mentally ill. the department oversight has a patchy record. los angeles is often held up as a great success. however, in oakland, seattle, albuquerque and new orleans, it was far more complicated as police departments simply refused to obey the doj's instructions. there are other loopholes. >> wloefr is selected to monitor the cleveland police department's reform will be relying on data from the police department. so this same department that has a history of not reporting unjustified force is now going to have to suddenly start reporting it's known use of force. that's not likely. >> reporter: cleveland's mayor hopes residents of the city will be satisfied reform is eye way, particularly ahead of decisions on whether to charge officers for the deaths of tanisha aa anderson and tamir rice. >> we still have the anderson and rice cases before us.

decisions will come in the near future. this agreement will serve as a catalyst for us to do those things necessary to ensure that we would not have to do these kind of things again. >> reporter: protests have been held in cleveland since the clearing of an officer involved in firing 137 shots at an unarmed african-american man and woman parked in their car. he was the only officer of scores involved to be tried. it's a case that spotlights the high bar for conviction even if oversight means more police officers are held accountable in a court of law. let's get an update on all the sports stories. i'm sure you'll talk to us about the development out of zurich. >> one massive sports story today. nine fifa officials have been indicted over corruption allegations. several high-ranking fifa members were arrested as a

zurich motel in the early hours. richard parr reports. >> reporter: fifa say it will still go ahead planned from now. >> what do you expect for us? we start to speculation maybe russia or qatar and we have to redo the voting? russia and qatar will be played. s in a fact today, and i don't go into speculation what will happen tomorrow and after tomorrow and so on. >> it comes after a dawn raid at a luxury hotel in zurich. swiss police at the request of the united states department of justice arresting officials from the world governing body. they're suspected the bribery of more than $100 million and face extradition to the u.s. it's linked to commercial deals dating back to the 1990s for major tournaments in the states and latin america. >> for us and for fifa this is good. this is good what happened.

it confirms that we're on the right track. it hurts but the only way to go. >> reporter: the arrest men include fifa vice president jeffrey webb his predecessor and former fifa executive jack warner former south american football head gino and the chief of brazilian football who oversaw last year's world cup in brazil. officials are in switzerland for friday's fifa presidential election. when sepp blatter is looking to win a fifth term the prince of jordan is trying to unseat him. fifa says blatter is not connected to the arrest. >> the president is not involved. he's the head of fifa but he's not involved in it. how can you say, okay he has to whoever step down? he's the president. he's the president, and in two days there are elections.

if the 209 members re-elect him, then he's the president for the next four years. >> reporter: despite these arrests, the expected re-election of blatter and the vote will still go ahead. richard parr al jazeera. >> joining us now to shed more light is someone who works within fifa itself chris eaton, who was formerly the governing body head of security. thank you. you worked for fifa dealing with corruption in football matches itself. did you see evidence of corruption within the organization during your time? >> the incidents with these arrests occurred in 2010 and 2011. at least the announcement of them. clearly, i'm aware of them yes. >> fifa's director of communications we heard from him earlier. he said at that today's events are partly as a result of foo fa's own fight against corruption.

do you think that fifa is the party that initiated all of this? >> i doubt that sincerely. the swits authorities cooperated and we saw a remarkable action today, of course. there's a lot more to go the american authorities tell us. keep your hand on. >> do you think sepp blatter is the right man to run world football? you worked closely with him. >> i didn't work that closely with sepp blatter. i met him twice in the two years i worked for fifa so that's not true. i worked with the general assembly and other members of fifa. i was the independent authority for fifa. fifa is not fit for purpose any longer. it's an organization that does not in its structural way exhibit the sort of commercial transparency and accountability and responsibility that it should. clearly, these charges emanate from a very poor oversight and a

very poor supervising mechanism. fifa needs to change without a doubt. >> your job was to look at the integrity of football matches themselves. is there a lack of integrity at the top of the game filtering down to the both bottom in your opinion? >> look the fact is that football has a shocking record now today in match-fixing around the world. it's endemic in many parts of the world. the fact is the whole of the football organization the structure from fifa down to the con fed rayings to the national federations needs to be cleaned up completely and transparent and needs to be open and needs to not be permissive of these sorts of behaviors that occur far too frequently in football. match-fixes occurs because the organization structure itself is a permissive fluid structure that turns a blind eye to it. >> i just want to ask you that first question again. did you see any specific

incidents of corruption within fifa in your time working there? >> well that's a question i can't answer of course because we are seeing judicial proceedings about to commence on these matters. let's let the judicial proceedings proceed in the right jurisdiction that's serious and will take action. >> you're want surprised that these allegations or that these investigations have come to pass and that we've seen these arrests today? >> i'm surprised they came now. i would have thought they would have come years ago, quite frankly. >> great to hear your thoughts. we have to leave it there for now. i'll have more a little later on. >> okay. thank you for that. well we all know what a piano sounds like but how about something that's perhaps a

little different? the pianist and conductor has unveiled a new type of piano to take to the stage worldwide as carly angela reports from london. >> reporter: the keys look like they have for hundreds of years, but the sound they produce is slightly different. pianist and composer has played on steinway pianos all his life but this is the first one with his name on it. it's inspired by the piano used by the 19th century hungarian composer. he tried it and wanted to combine the sounds with the power of a modern piano. from the outside it looks like a modern concert grand piano but inside is where the differences lie. you see how the strings run in straight line rather than an angle, that draets the much

warmer sound closer to what composers would have heard almost 200 years ago. daniel is considered the world's greatest all-around musician and as a conductor he's tried to build bridges through music with his orchestra of palestinian and israeli musicians. he's repeatedly condemned israel's occupation of gaza and the west bank. even when describing his new instrument he likens his role at pianist to solving a political problem. >> it's as if each note is there for yurgs. itself. as a pianist have to give them a feeling of solidarity. i feel very inspired about it. i'm happy with it. >> listening to him talk to the instrument's builder, chris main, it sounds like there's some tweaking to do. >> if the it goes there it will

make a difference. >> it will make a difference. >> that's another problem. >> reporter: so far this is one of only two in the world, a rare reinvention that will be kept under wraps until he runs his fingers over it later this week in london. al jazeera, london. a list of 139 new species discovered in the greater mekong has been released. among them are the dementor wasp named after a character in the harry potter series. there's a color-changing frog which has thorns on its back as well as a stick insect more than half a meter long found in vietnam. it's the world's second largest stick. coming up to the top of the hour on al jazeera, before we go a reminder of one of the top stories we've been covers for you. the swiss federal justice office has opened a criminal case in

connection with the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 football world cups. earlier swiss police raided a luxury hotel to arrest seven high-ranking officials of football's world governing body fifa. up to 14 fifa officials are expected to be named in that indictment among those are top ranking current and former officials. they include jeffrey webb who is the fifa vice president and executive committee member. there's jack warner an ex-fifa vice president and executive committee menning. the former fifa vice president and executive committee member as well. jose maria marin, current member of the fifa organizing committee for the olympic football tournament and there's also nicholas leos former fee at that committee member and ex-president of the football confederation. that's it for the news hour. more on that store and much more in just a moment.

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football's governing body is drill ing from a double blow. a criminal investigation has been opened into the next two world cups. >> the world cup 2018 and 2022 will be played in russia and qatar. ♪ >> you are watching al jazeera live from our headquarters in doha. also coming up: the iraqi army continues its offensive to retake anbar proventions. an isil suicide attack kills