>> hello there i'm felicity barr. this is the news hour live from london. coming up seven top officials of fifa are arrested for bribely charges and investigations into russia and qatar and their world cups. arrests made where fifa president is now fighting for

his future. >> also ahead after iraq launches an offensive to take back isil, suicide bombs kill 55 soldiers. the e.u. urges its member states to take in 40,000 asylum seekers over the next two years. and piling pressure on the president, demanding dill ma rue self's impeachment. >> charges have been brought by the u.s. against fee from a executives l not seth blatter. seven were arrested on wednesday. they include eugenio giueredo.

and jeffrey webb. the suspects are accused of receiving bribes worth $100 million dating back to the 1990s. separately switzerland has begun it's own criminal investigation into mismanagement and money laundering specifically relating to the rewarding of the world cup tournaments to russia and qatar for 2018 and 2022. >> after the warning and initial shock there is little surprise. allegations have been swirling around fifa for years. >> they were expected to up hold the rules to keep soccer honest and protect the integrity of the game. instead they corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to enrich themselves. >> the alleged crimes stretch back more than two decades. >> this really is the world cup

of fraud. today we're issuing fifa a red card. >> the u.s. will investigate anything criminal touching the u.s. if will investigate commercial deals, 14 people have been indicted among them jeffrey webb head of north america football con con can cup. and the chief of million eugenio figueredo. itfifa insists the arrests were a good thing. >> we welcome what is happening now. once again it is fifa who is suffering. it is a difficult moment. >> developments registered more

anger than shock. >> it's absurd. absurd. people want loads of money loads of cash. meantime we have lots of brazilians struggling to survive. >> it is not a surprise. they garnered money during the world cup. they built stadiums and left brazil and now the country is even worse. >> fbi agency raided concacaf headquarters, this comes in the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 world cup. the tournaments in russia and qatar are still planned to go ahead, but they'll be watching developments closely. no actions have been taken against fee at fifa president seth blatter. hehe said his term as president was unparalleled and he's expected to win. >> in switzerland attending

fifa's annual congress, andy richardson is there and he joins us live from zurich. seth blatter also at that congress. not arrested, but up for re-election at the end of this week. many are asking how on earth can he continue? >> yes, it's an interesting one. it's all about containment. they came out as in allen's piece, the eugenio figueredo did war arrested, and they distanced seth blatter. he spoke and said he knows how disappointed the fans are but he said this is good for football and the investigation by swiss prosecutors into the 2018 and 2022 world cups and how that bidding process un

unfolded is down to the fact that fifa themselves gave information to those swiss prosecutors. he is, if you like, saying this has got nothing to do with me. i'm doing everything i can to help and over the long term we'll get rid of any wrongdoing in football. how long can a ceo of a company which is basically what blatt er is distance himself from what is happening in his own company is interesting. but in fifa he remains popular. we have an election coming up with the one candidate standing up against him has some support in asia and has the backing of most countries in europe, but beyond that blatt er remains popular.

he has made sur that the impoverished nations were given development grants and infrastructure which means they love blatter. if he still has the stomach to go ahead for friday's elections despite calls from uefa, then blatter is expected to win. >> there will be a lot of worried people in fifa. >> it's very interesting. so far crucially for fifa, seth blatter, while he has been

investigated, he has not been charged with anything. as far as they're concerned they're trying the best to separate the president from the actions of those within fifa and saying he's ready and able to carry on and get a fifth term as speaker president. >> reporting live from zurich. thank you. well, a number of the officials arrested are from latin american football associations. we have more from buenos aires. >> with so many named in the investigation the focus would inevitably be shift to the south american football association. and to here, the headquarters of the argentine association. three argentines have been named so far not arrested. theythey were involved in the promotion of sports and tv rights.

but inevitably the shadow of the former head of the association will be cast over the investigation. he governed like it was his own personal system for 30 years. he was a good friend of the president seth blatter. he died last year but he was named in a countless number of corruption investigations. none of which start with those investigations. the other focus will shift to the american cub south american football competition kicking off in chile on the 11th june. i suspect in that case there will be more cameras pointed to the executive boxes as the actual football. >> let's speak to the economy of

football. thank you for your time. so much allegations have been named against fifa. there was a sense that this was an organization that was untouchable. >> absolutely. i think as commented on earlier, while these investigations are in some respects not surprising, there is a sense of palpable shock former house speaker least amongst within fifa itself that this really--the corruption, financial improper prity has been swirling around fifa for the best part of two decades if not longer. this investigation has certainly come out with a blow with what it will uncover and who it will

indict. >> seth blatter significantly has not been arrested. he's due for re-election at the end of the week. all the indications are that he's going to win this election. he has been in charge for the last 17 years. people outside of the world of football might find it extraordinary that he remains so popular. can you explain that? >> it is absolutely astonishing. it's difficult to marriage a politician or indeed, a ceo to be in this same position that blatter finds himself in. this is somebody who has been in office for the best part of 17 years. he looks a shoe shoo-in to be re-elected despite all the problems surrounding his leadership and fifa itself as an organization. blatter has been very strategic

during his tenure as president. he has gained an awful lot of allies particularly amongst emergeing football continents and regions. he has promised--,indeed, he has delivered a large-scale investment. he has brought the world cup which was previously outside--which was previously an european concern outside of that. he delivered it to asia, he's expanded football that way. and in doing so he has built up powerful and influential allies despite the criticism sand flack

that blatter receives, it leaves blatter with an extraordinarily strong hand going forward. >> thank you for joining us. >> to other news now 55 iraqi soldiers have been killed in a wave of suicide-bombings by the islamic state in iraq and the levant. among the attacks the military convoy during a sandstorm in anbar province. it's not clear how many bombers there were but the military says they were attacked from multiple sides. it happened a day after iraq announced a major offensive to try to retake anbar from isil. we have the latest from baghdad. >> mounting an assault on isil fighters north of ramadi. there has been sporadic fighting since tuesday as both sides prepare to battle for ramadi. iraqi's security forces are trying to take control of roads into towns and villages controlled by isil.

they're also using shellling to target isil fighters and cut off their main supply lines. once secured the push to ramadi will begin. >> our aim is to meet our forces other fronts. operations of ex-could yousive shelling and going towards isil hide outside. >> however the iraqi army tactics against isil are failing because they can't prevent suicide car bombings. >> the iraqi security forces lack the intelligence and the reconnaissance to prevent the attacks before they happen. and also the vehicles that isil use are heavily armored. the weapons the army use can sometimes be ineffective. >> despite that the operation goes on. this is the major supply line to anbar province for iraq security forces. it's used by military and civilian contractors. military operations can come to

a standstill if they close this highway. >> surrounding baghdad you see these. they're called defense lines. in many ways it's an atm title because it's the last line of defense before the capital itself. after here you have the headquarters of the 24th brigade. they're in charge of reinforcements and logistics. now keeping the road open between here and anbar province and keeping the military supply is crucial. >> but equally crucial is how to deal with the car bombs isil is increasingly using. adapting to new threats is an important part of warfare but it appears that that is something that the iraqi security forces have yet to learn. >> isil fighters reportedly killed 20 men in front of a crowd in the city of palmyra. the men were accused of fighting for the syrian regime were shot dead. it's nearly a week since isil seized palmyra, which is an

unesco world heritage site. the conflict in yemen has killed up to 2,000 people including entire families. saudi-led coalition forces have been carrying out sustained airstrikes in the capital of sanaa. at least 36 commandos were killed at a police camp by forces loyal to ali abdullah saleh. elsewhere yemeni felt forces say coalition forces almost entirely destroyed the naval base. around 20 houthi fighters were injured in that raid. well a resident has experienced the daily airstrikes and she said that the capital has become a terrifying place to live. >> yesterday it was relatively calm. there was nothing going on until 10:00 in the morning.

airstrikes hit about 10:00 and it hit a weapons depo. for six hours it was just confusions one after the other and shook the entire house the entire neighborhood. many were killed during the airstrike. people they're just afraid. it's an awful thing to be in right now. it has become a starting. >> israeli fighter jets have carried out airstrikes in the gaza strip. according to a military spokesman. there were four israeli

airstrikes but no casualties were reported. hamas is accused of committing war crimes last summer. it is said that they carried out abductions and torture. dozens were arrested and torture: not a single person has been held accountable suggest that the killings and arrests were encouraged by the hamas leadership. and the former prime minister tony blair will resign as envoy. the role was created in 2007 to support the move forwards palestinian statehood. but it struggled to deliver

dramatic changes. still to come on the news hour. protests continue in burundi. and he's its president has given the people one more reason to be angry. and power to the people. this female player is popular. but first killing a thousand people in india the heatwave has been had an alert issued issued. there is relief in sight as

forecastest say that the monsoon rains should hit india in the next few days. an investigation into mass graves discovered in people-smuggling camps. 130 graves have been found on the border with thailand. forensic experts are continuing to find bodies of suspected victims. they're expected to be rohingya migrants from myanmar and migrants from bangladesh. across thailand many camps have been abandoned but there are fears that corruption will allow people trafficking to resume. we have reports from the thai border where authorities are focusing on keeping that frontier sealed. >> those leading the 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 remain sealed. >> you make them difficult make it so they cannot pass the country, they will not come. >> we went with the thai army up to one of their youngel outposts set up to block traffickers. this marks the border between thailand and malaysia. it was put here four weeks ago as a contingent of thai soldiers. that's when the government start started this clamp down. this is the main artery between the two countries. because of this clamp down malaysian officials say that this camp recently kiss covered were abandoned in the last few weeks. thailand said that it's digging in to how the networks operate. now their channels are cut off. >> the investigations are not moving forward very well.

we have the focus primarily on local applications politicians. this is a good first step but there is a lot more to be done. we believe there are higher people involved in this. >> they used to see dozens of people packed into pickup trucks that pass by every week. >> i don't think that the traffickers would dare to come back here. it was happening because the government never took this seriously. but now the situation is changed. the traffickers are afraid to come back. >> they might be afraid to come back here. but the challenge for thailand is finding those who helped the traffickers and make sure that the networks won't restart somewhere else. >> the your wean union has asked its member states to take in 40,000 asylum seekers over the next two years.

there would be migrants from syria and eirtreia who landed in greece and italy. record numbers are making it across the mediterranean to try to start a new life in europe. jacky rowland has the latest from brussels. >> for the first time we've heard concrete figures exact numbers of migrants that they're asking individual states to accept. the key word here is asking. this is not quota. the u.k. has said they would not opt in to the scheme. and there are other countries who have said they will not accept, notably france and spain. we're talking about a figure of 40,000 migrants from syria and eiretrea which the e.u. is hope

to go redistribute across to member states as well. and they're offering refuge to 20,000 individuals who are outside of the e.u. but the united nations refugee agency has identified as in need of protection. we're looking at a total of 60,000 people. however, some aid agencies have said this is still a minuscule number when you bear in mind that the conflict in syria alone there have been millions of refugees who are particularly in neighboring countries like turkey and jordan and lebanon they think that the european union should be stepping up to the mark and taking on more responsibility. >> columbia's farc rebels say one of their peace negotiators were one of 27 killed by rebel forces last week. they were killed in an airstrike. farc say he was visiting troops to discuss progress at peace

talks when they were surprised by the air and ground assault. >> anti-government demonstrations are taking place again in brazil as public discontent grows against the country's president. del ma roussefdilma roussef is suffering from those who want impeachment. you have. >> tell what's is going on there at the moment. we've seen the arrivement of a group called free brazil movement. we've just seen them hand deliver their petition for the impeachment of dilma rousseff.

today's protesting was smaller where half a million protesters were indicated to come. but this is indicative of the feelings towards rousseff because of the recent problems with the economy. >> thank you so much. the political future of will be decided by the constitutional court. the president came to power in january of last year. it's critics say that they have not delivered on economic promises and have will implement reforms. queen elizabeth unveils david cameron's plans for the u.k. including referendum on the

membership of the e.u. they may be able to cure melanoma using a common virus. and we have more on the arrests that impact the upcoming fifa election. n.

>> on hard earned, down but not out, >> i'm in recovery i've been in recovery for 23 years... >> last shot at a better life... >> this is the one... this is the one... >> we haven't got it yet... >> it's all or nothing... >> i've told walgreen's i quit... >> hard earned pride... hard earned respect... hard earned future... a real look at the american dream hard earned only on al jazeera america >> part of our month long look at working in america.

"hard earned". ♪ >> welcome back to the news hour. a reminder of the top stories on al jazeera. there are calls for the head of fifa to resign after seven were arrested on corruption charges. the swiss police has opened it's own investigation into how fifa awarded the next two world cups. >> yemen's saudi-led coalition forces carried out more airstrikes in the capital of sanaa. 36 people were killed at a police commando camp.

now cresta referendum to be held by 2017 on whether the u.k. should stay in the e.u. or not. we have more from london's houses of parliament. pomp and ceremony by the bucket load. the monarch arrives to outline what the new government tends to accomplish during the new parliamentary term. and with the crushing of david cameron's conservative party and collapse of the party the e.u. has changed a great deal since 1975, a and it is time that the british people once again had their say. we have a strategy, a very clear strategy of renegotiation

reform and referendum. the bill in the queen's piano speech state that the republican dumb must take place by the end of 2017. >> access to healthcare or benefits may not be guaranteed. but they can't find a job quickly they may not be able to stay at all. >> it will make life a lot more uncomfortable for people who are here and secondly people will send messages back, they will be their own grave vines and networks and they'll be report to go friends and relatives that you'll have a tough time when you come to the u.k. and you might want to decide if you want to bother. >> they >> they say that criminals have more rights than upstanding citizens. rightly or wrongly many voters would agree. many would argue that things like this, reducing rights for

migrants repatriating laws for the u.k. would be far easier accomplish first degree the u.k. simply chose to leave the european union. that's why it will be the predominant topic of conversation here for the next two years. by and large business wants to stay in europe, and campaigningers are stepping up for a fight. >> we wouldn't be able to get to all of the rules they have to provide comply with 70% of the e.u. rules. >> they don't even have a new leader yet so the voice of staying in the e.u. is the scottish national party. it will have a referendum on whether the u.k. if it leaves the e.u.

britain's love-hate relationship with the e.u. will now be decided. >> thousands of homes have been damaged and more rain has been falling, threatening to complicate the cleanup. rescuers are looking for a dozen people in texas who have gone missing during the powerful storms. we go to gabriel elizondo who joins us live from houston. how are the cleanup efforts going gabe? >> well, it's a slow process. but the good news the cleanup efforts are under kay. there are massive efforts taking place. let me show you the houston chronicle. the main headline says washed out. highway nightmare disaster. i'm underneath an underpass and above me is some of the big highways in houston.

this was completely flooded with water a few hours ago. i'm going to go over to my left shoulder to give you a sense of it. it came so high that it reached the top of the retaining war that you're looking at right now. it gives you an idea of how high the water levels were here. seven people dead in the city of houston, but the good news is that they're cleaning up and expect to open up this highway in the next hour or so or sooner. this is all emblematic of houston, and emblem emblematic of wide-spread flooding in this region oklahoma and central texas. 19 people declared dead in the last couple of days from this flooding. we're just in an essential part of the state since yesterday. some of the rivers in the central part of the state have

not seen flooding like this for 50 years. they're expecting more rain and more flooding, houston was hit so badly they had highways that were flooded roads that were turned into rivers, and it was significant because houston population of 2 million people, is the fourth biggest city in the united states. they're bracing for what could be more rain in the coming days. >> live there from houston. thank you so much. burundi's president is campaigning in the rural countryside despite violent protests against him running a third term. he has asked burundians to help fund the june election. >> nina still can't believe her brother,ings he was shot and killed by police. he was protesting against the president running for a third

term in the june presidential election. >> my baby brother is dead: >> this broken family has to find a way to cope. >> it violates the constitution. international donors refuse to fund the controversial june elections. so they have asked to pay for the polls. >> look at the economic situation. people have no money. we have not been working because of the protests. maybe they can but we can't. >> ongoing protests have gone on for months.

>> until a solution is found, street protests seem the only option but they accuse the police of using unreasonable force. >> it's not true. sometimes the national police shoot in the air to displace the demonstrators, in particular when they're trying to kill someone. >> several people have died. al jazeera. >> nigeria's outgoing government has agreed to pay $800 million

to end the country's fuel crisis. for months motorrers have struggled to get petrol and hospitals and airlines all have been forced to scale back operations. they rely on diesel generators for power. we have the latest from the capital of abuja. lives and businesses have been disrupted. >> the alternative is to buy from a black market, while the

prices can be as high as four times the government price. the problem was power cuts. this is coming two days before a government comes in to office. >> a new treatment for patients with skin cancer has shown to secure untreatable cancer. there was a worldwide trial in the use of jeanette genetically engineered herpes virus. joining us live is dr. alan, professor of culture pew discuss

. how does this help in the fight against cancer? >> this is a new approach in the treatment of cancer. although it can cause damage to normal tissue, what has happened here this virus has been genetically modified to make it safer to normal tissue but also that it can specifically attack and replicate in cancer cells. the other thing that the virus can do in this instance is that it can stimulate it's own immune system that attack the cancer that would otherwise ignore. there is a two-pronged attack, so killing the cancer and stimulating your own immune system to attack as well. >> how viruses been used like this in the treatment of cancer? >> it's only been the last few

years as we understand much more about how viruses work and how they can activate the immune system that these new treatments have been developed. this is the first of many. >> is there any evidence that it may suggest with other forms of cancer? >> there is less evidence at this stage for viruses. but as i was mentioning. they are so-called therapy. with other types of immuno immunotherapy there is clear benefit not only in melanoma, but other cancer such as lung cancer and bladder cancer. there is no reason why a range of immunotherapy including

barres treatment could be a benefit for those with cancer. but it's early days. this is the first trial of its size and type and there is long waying to i would say. >> early days, but is there a thought that in the future that people would use this therapy instead of chemotherapy or will it be used along side each other other. >> the immunotherapy looks very promising, but we're not going to throw out what we know works. it's about combining new treatment with chemical therapy. there is promise to put these sorts of treatments together in combination, and that actually is where they have concluded.

>> really interesting stuff. thank you for your time. >> thank you very much. >> now the number of people going hungry around the world has fallen in the last 25 years despite wars and natural disasters. in this latest report of food insecurity 795 million don't have enough to eat. that is down from $1.1 billion in the 1990s. the most successful countries were those with economic growth where economic growth has been strong such as india and china. but hunger has been harder to combat where there have been national disasters and political instability. >> according to our latest estimates there are there are 18

countries in this world in these countries the prevalence of hunger is about close to double than in developing countries that don't have this kind of a problem. >> so ahead on the program, a wasp named after a harry potter character. and a frog with a spikey back. and could the sprinters chase down the leader at the gibbs iro d'italia giro d'italia. .

>> hello again. world wildlife fund has released 139 new species discovered in the mekong last year. >> first up he have the dementor wasp named after a character in the harry potter series. it injects venom into cockroach cockroaches which keep its prey alive a but in a zombie-like state and then drags it's prey home for dinner. the next is progresses frogs with skin like sand paper.

and this bat's larger teeth allowed it to prey on larger animals. and next is this snake that lives in trees and comes out at night. it's not venomous, and only one has been found--ever. the world wildlife fund said that a real commitment is needed by all those in the greater mekong area to protect them. >> time for all the sport now. >> well, thank you very much. it has been an eventful day in sport. the fifa president seth blatter said that he welcomes investigations by the u.s. and swiss authorities that resulted in the arresting seven high ranking officials in fifa saturday. the 79-year-old said that he will stand for re-election for a fifth term.

two vice presidents were arrested in the early morning of hours swiss time. the current former head of concacaf was arrested in zurich in a situate situation swiss investigatorszurich. in a separate investigation there is investigation into the the 2018 and 2022 world cups. also those arrested are jeffrey webb, the fifa vice

president and jack warner, an ex-fifa vice president and executive committee member. normal vice president of fifa and jose maria marin and former fifa executive member. and nicolas leoz, former president south american football federation. >> this is a very serious day for fifa and the leadership for fifa and we would vote for prince we're one who nominated to stand against blatter. and we would vote for him if the election goes ahead but i'm not sure that it goes ahead in this

situation. >> the you fay with uefa associations are meeting tomorrow. they'll decide on what further steps need to be taken to protect the game of football. in the meantime, the members of the executive committee are convinced there is a strong need and change to the leadership of this fifa and strongly believe that the fifa congress should be postponed with new fifa presidential elections to be organized within the next six months. >> and heavy involvement of concacaf the allegations made, there is a feeling in the united states that such a serious investigation has been needed for a long time. >> it took so long for someone to actually step forward and do

something about this, and now the american government and the swiss government have done so. i think maybe--maybe the questions around the next two world cups have led to an at months fear around fifa, especially coming off so many questions around the brazil world cup last year in terms of how that was procured and done, created an atmosphere that it was time to do something and especially with so many allegations of corruption in michael garcia's report never getting to see that publicly, there was just sort of a tipping point perhaps that led governing bodies that actually had the authority to do something about it to act. >> well, just an update on this story, especially from the view of concacaf, they have promised to cooperate completely with the investigation, and they say also as well as that they have spended 11 people as well clearly as all those involved in the concacaf federation. this investigation obviously will be continuing and it is up

in the air at the moment as to what will happen in zurich ahead of friday's fifa presidential election. we'll keep you updated on that news here on al jazeera. now, away from fifa, napoli has denied that it's press conference schedule for thursday has been announced about. the syria club had unexpected call, they could replace their comb. coach. >> this time a paris.

>> i've played a lot of tennis, and fortunately in the previous two tournaments there is--this is not a stage where you're trying to fix things or work on things. it's really about maintenance and recovery and getting ready for the next match. >> the number two seed recovered from a break down in the second set. alberto contadore remains in control. he's happy to sit back and protect his lead.

modolo claims his stage 17 victory. that's it in sports. >> thank you very much, indeed. now writers across the world are taking part of the literature contest. the aim is to talk about the daily struggles the palestinian. >> it was the opening of the palestine literature festival. the event was held in the occupied west bank. it was the first of several taking place in cities across historic palestine. throughout the week people here will visit ancient sites and meet palestinian writers and activists. they'll also travel to cities like hebron which have been divided by israeli settlements to show how palestinians live under the palestinian state. >> those who win will be

influential in the field of culture. when they have the experience of having a cultural invest in plain, then they become part of the pressure of public international opinion. >> before this event in occupied east jerusalem writers were taken on a tour of the old city and the alaqsa mosque. an important place of worship for jews and where signs of israel's occupation seem to be everywhere. writers from all over the world will see firsthand how palestinians live under israeli occupation. from military check points to settlements, and segregated motor ways. a writer and poet from london, this is her first visit to israel and the west bank. she says seeing the occupation is unlike anything she imagined.

>> i feel helpless? you know, and also i don't think i'll be the same again from this visit. >> in past years events from held across the gaza strip. enabling writers from april countries and the the dispra but israel has refused to grant the festival or it's participants access. them forced to organization their own readings and workshops like this one. they say that nothing will stop them from sharing their stories. >> there is much more over on our website. the address to kick on to is www.aljazeera.com. www.aljazeera.com. well that's it from this news hour. stay tune, we have more in a

couple of minutes. nutes.

>> today we're issuing fifa a red card. >> seven top fifa officials arrested on u.s. bribery charges. the swiss separately investigate the world cup bidding process. >> hello this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up, the iraqi security forces close in on ramadi but isil suicide bombers have killed dozens of soldiers. the e.u. asked mep states to take in 40,000 syrian asylum