>> america tonight. tuesday through friday 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america. the growing scandal surrounding world football. fifa's president says he welcomes the investigation in to corruption. ♪ ♪ you are watching al jazerra live from our headquarters in doha: also coming up, saudi-led air strikes kill over 100 people in yemen. in one of the deadliest days of bombing since the start of the war. the pentagon 722 people may have been exposed to an that lack after a batch of the deadly bacteria was accidentally shipped to south korea.

plus. >> reporter: i am florence looi in western myanmar where the government's plan to cancel temporary i.d. cards threatens to leave hundreds of thousands of people in limbo. ♪ ♪ the president of football's governing god i sepp blatter is expect today to deliver a speech in hour following a dramatic 24 hours for fifa. seven top officials were arrested in zurich, among 14 indicted by the u.s. accused of corruption. criminal proceedings have also been opened relating to the awarding of the world cup tournaments to russia and qatar in 2018 and 2022. well blatter who has not been named in either investigation has said such misconduct has no plays in football. the european body uefa will meet later on thursday to decide whether to boycott the fifa presidential vote which is widely expected to grant sepp

blatter a fifth term. key sponsors have expressed serious concern over the scandal. coca-cola saying the investigation has quote tarnished the reputation of the world cup. crossing over to lawrence lee joining us from zurich. is there confirmation, lawrence, that sepp blatter is going to speak over the next hour. if he does, what is he expected to say? >> reporter: well, it sounds like the plot is thicken to go a bit to be honest of the last lastest information sounds like he's not go he go to speak at this medical conference as he was supposed to. clearly he said have you ever nullvirtually nothing yesterday apart from his spokesman suggesting all the extraordinary things that happened yesterday were a bad day for football but a good day for fifa. everybody else thought it was a very good day for football and a very bad day for fifa. sepp blatter and everybody else has now had the night to reflect on what it all means.

there are reports now saying he will not give the speech this morning separately it's been reported that the swiss police investigating the allegations of corruption around the 2018 and 222 world cup have his asked blatter not to sleeve switzerland which means they want to speak to him as well. it either suggests he's gone off to have conversation with perhaps pima like uefa before their meeting this morning to try to see what their mood is and whether they can reach some sort of a come indication about about whether or not they are to boycott the opening ceremony or no. or implies he's considering his only position, he's not the kind of man that would not turn up up at event like this. and brave it out. that's what he does, it seems like he's not going to turn up at this event. >> and speaking of boycotting, lawrence uefa, is meant to meet on thursday to decide whether they will boycott the fifa presidential vote meant to be held on friday.

what do we know about that and what would be the implications if they do boycott? >> reporter: well, i mean, it would be a huge humiliation obviously. european mood is venomously anti-blatter now. they absolutely want him gone. they clearly want the election for the next head of fifa's postponed by six months and they are actively say that they are lobbying for the jordanian replacement to blatter. they have said that they would boycott the whiz bang opening ceremony tonight and by extension they could clearly end up if they wanted to, boycotting the actual election that's supposed to be held over the weekend. equal lurk the asian football federation says it still supports blat are. there are enormous fault lines opening up inside fifa. and, again given blatter's continued silence, you have to say that that silence doesn't do anything to resolve any of these issues. >> lawrence, since i have you

with us, let me ask you about the criminal proceedings that the swiss opened up. you mentioned it a few minutes ago on the award of the 2018 and 2222022 world cups where do they stands with that. >> reporter: they said they would question a half a dozen or more people involved in giving the 2018 and 222 world cups, the country that his lost out are demanding it's open again england, spain portugal, australia, and the u.s.a. all saying if a lot of these allegations or any of these allegations says are true, the whole process should open up again. that's a most extraordinarily difficult thing. even if you only consider 2018 for example if it turned out that russia had the world cup stripped the book makers say that the replacement that their

favorite replace for him that would be england. now, the idea that they would have the world taken away and given to england as well, given the difficult states of political relationships between russia and the u.k., that sort is not a sports story anymore it's potentially a diplomatic incident. >> thank you for that update, lawrence lee reporting from zurich. wednesday was one of the deadliest days since the war in yemen began two months ago. multiple saudi-led air strikes killed more than 100 people. the u.n. is again urging all sides to seek a diplomatic solution despite the postponement of peace talks in geneva. >> reporter: coalition war planes bomb paout utah houthi positions in the capital sanaa. one of their targets was a car believed to be carrying houthi rebel leaders. >> translator: sometime in the afternoon a plane targeted a car that was traveling on this street near some homes.

the houses were destroyed. and the residents were injured. >> reporter: despite the air strikes. the houthis don't control large parts of yemen including the capital. people living near the site of this latest attack are angry they have been caught up in the fighting. >> translator: this is working men being not target, not military bases they must distinguish between the two. this is an attack on the whole nation what for there are women and children inside the homes. >> reporter: another air strike targeted houthi rebels as they picked up weapons from a warehouse and coalition jets hit a houthi base and arms depot in a mountain area of the capital. peace talks meant to start on thursday in geneva have been delayed. but a spokesman from u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon says the postponement is not indefinite. >> we are seeing the fighting continue the yemeni people continue to suffer. a lot of people have different

stakes in this conflict. we are asking them to put first and foremost on their mind the welfare of the yemeni people who are continue to go suffer. >> reporter: pro-government forces are backed by the saudi-led campaign to restore yemen's president in exiled hadi to power. but as they battle the houthis for control of sanaa and other cities yemenis are increasingly suffering. victoria gatenby, al jazerra. in syria the head of al qaeda's affiliate al-nusra front has told al jazerra it will not rest until it topples the assad regime. a propaganda war has been raging for almost as long as the actual fighting. rebel groups and the government don't spread their message on the air waves and social media. mohamed reports. >> reporter: as fighting intensifies in the yarmouk camp south of damascus, isil fighters scream their rallies cries.

showcasing to the world how they are closer than ever to syria's seat of power. on syrian state television, though the message couldn't be more contradictory. a bombastic montage and message whether by lands air or sea the country's armed forces are as strong as ever. in syria the propaganda war has raged almost as long as the actual war. listen to president bashar al-assad and he vow to his advantage wish the enemies of syria. >> translator: in order for us to have our victory we must have faith in our troops and we surely do. >> reporter: listen to opposition fighters and they swear the same. nothing less than total victory. one rebel alliance claims it's consolidating positions in i object lid and moving forward.

they say their recent advances guns syrian forces have only made them more confident and they'll fight on. >> translator: we are not murderers, we are not criminals. we fight those who fight us. we are standing against tyranny. the battle doesn't end at the heartland of the birth place of the assad plan we will continue our plan and topple the regime and i assure you assad's fall wasn't fake a long time. >> reporter: here is the leader of al-nusra, saying much the same. >> translator: we are preparing to storm the village and expel these gangs god willing, we will declare the city south of idlib within a few days it will be a free and liberated city. >> reporter: then there is isil promising to take over far more than just one country in their quest to establish a caliphate. truth and clarity have been two of the most obvious casualties. but here is what is known.

isil is now in control of large parts of territory stretching far, as well as recently captured palmyra. while government forces have be about pushed back, they still hold parts after help owe and areas east of homs. they seem to be moving further south of idlib. as the syrian conflict enters its fifth year, the only thing certain is how much civilians have suffererred. with more than 300,000 people killed the country's humanitarian crisis grinds on in the cruelest possible fashion. despite all of the boasting, it seems clearer than ever, that in this war, there are no bragging rights. al jazerra. u.s. military commanders are trying to find out how samples of an that rack bacteria were accidentally sent to south korea and nine u.s. states.

the pentagon says there is no risk to public health. 22 people may have been exposed in south korea. four staff are being treated as a precaution as a laboratory in utah dispatched samples, it was used in now abandoned u.s. bio weapons program. alex jensen is a journalist in south korea and says the anthrax scare is causing no alarm. >> in members of the public have been expose the. exposed. it has been contained at the air base away from the city center. you are talking about hundreds of thousands of residents in the vicinity. it could have been worse in terms of a populated zone, though, because seoul 64-kilometers away, has somewhere in the legion of about 10 million in the immediate met poll tan area. nevertheless it seems as though the anthrax sports have been destroyed and i would say both the situation and the panic levels are under control.

still to come on al jazerra why native americans are angry with the pope's decision to grant st. hood too an 18th century priest. and influencing world opinion about palestine using a literary festival.

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♪ ♪ held going the top stories on al jazerra. the president of football's governing body sepp blatter will not attend a medical conference in zurich. it comes after seven top fifa officials were arrested in switzerland. among 14 indicted by the u.s.

accused of corruptions. multiple saudi-led air strikes have killed more than 100 people on wednesday. it was one of the deadliest days since the war in yemen began two months ago. u.s. military commanders are trying to find out how samples of anthrax bacteria were accidentally sent to south korea and nine u.s. states, 22 people may have been exposed in south korea. well malaysian authorities believe 139 people may be buried in grave sites on the thai border. 28 abandoned camps were found in a remote jungle at the weekend where forensic experts have been exhuming the bodies. malaysia's investigating 12 police officers who were arrested last year with suspected links to the mass graves. a senior malaysian government official meanwhile has visited the site of the may have graves and that is where robnik bride is joining us from to tell us what you have learned from his

visits rob. >> reporter: that's right. a visits today just a couple of hours ago by deputy minister here to the main police unit that is conducting the investigation to the main, what's thought to be the main trafficking camp close to the border with thailand. we know that there have been four bodies so far ex-assumed from this one site. with many more graves still to be examined. and looked in to. more importantly is the nature of the graves and how these people were buried. the police were thinking at one point that they were going to be finding mass graves in these areas, because of large areas of disturbed ground. it now seems that what we are dealing with are individual graves, one body the remains of one person and individual graves, so what we think we have here is an almost makeshift cemetery. maybe made by the migrants themselves. with the bodies being buried with respect and also with full

islamic ritual, wrapped in white cloth and so on. it seems although the nature of how they died say mist had i are mystery. that still has to be determined. if seems as if they were buried with a certain amount of respect probably by other migrant workers. the minister faced some very tough questioning when it came to dealing with the traffickers themselves. you remember this ministry denied the existence of these camps even as their counterparts on the thai side of the border said there were camps there were they say for their part these camps are in very remote areas. more easily action accept to believe from the thai side of the border. despite warnings that these camps have existed for years. >> right so how are police -- [speaking at the same time] >> speak of the investigation.

how are the police taking it forward? >> reporter: various speculation about numbers of arrests here and who was complicit because it was -- it's assumed that an operation like this could not take place unless there was the collusion of law enforcement. even at a local level. with a number of people being investigates. the minister, once again gave the reassurance that everybody would be investigated. that no branch of law enforcement services would be immune, so far we know of two police officers who have been arrested for people trafficking that could be related to this one case. but that's still under investigation. >> all right rob, thank you. rob mcbride reporting from perlis state. meanwhile in myanmar rohingyas face more uncertainty there. by the end of this month their temporary registration cards are due to expire, they are not recognized ed by the government and with no legal status, many are wondering if they have a future at all. florence looi reports from western myanmar.

>> reporter: myanmar is the only country she has ever known. but she has seen her status go from being a citizen to a noncitizen. she has had to vendor her temporary registration card to immigration officials. >> translator: i have already given it up. i don't know what will happen now. >> reporter: she used to hold a citizenship card. but in the late 1980s the government took this back from the rohingya ethnic minority, to which she belongings. the government sees them as illegal migrants from neighborhood be lang ba dish, even though many have been here for generations. they were promised citizenship documents. but were, instead issued temporary registration cards. they still had some rights, including the right to vote. but now, that is gone. this is one of the offices set up to collect temporary i.d. cards it's in a formal school building in a camp for displaced

rohingya because still not allowed it travel there to town. they live segregated from the ethnic buddhist community. three years ago there was religious fighting between the two sides. in parts of rah kind state. it was partly this animosity that caused the government to revoke the temporary cards. also known as white cards. with elections scheduled for november and a possible referendum on constitutional reform before that. human rights activists accuse the government to pantser to go a buddhist he will be tour at. >> the motivation is to strip these last remaining rights, the right to vote from the rohingya and disenfranchises hundreds of other thousands of people eligible for citizenship. it's really this anti-rohingya drive motivating it. >> reporter: the government says there is nothing sinister he behind its decisions. >> translator: we will accept white cards until may 31st. after that those who gave up their white cards can start applying for national identity

cards. >> reporter: many rehundred ga doubt they will be granted citizenship. they say the government has let them down in the past. influencer l.o. off. rah kind state myanmar. a devastating effect on the economy. >> reporter: more than a month after the earthquake in the hydroelectric plant is out of competition awaiting repair. it could take months more for get back online.

>> translator: it's been severely damaged. the bridge was damaged. the hydro was damaged. >> reporter: but there are other things to the safety of these facilities. what's interesting about the damage you can see here, much of it wasn't caused in the earthquake, it was caused by flooding after a landslide which happened last year. it's a sign that the very geology that gives nepal such phone shall for hydroelectric power also threatens it. further upstream the chinese company building this project stopped work on the day of the quake. but the government is telling would-be investors this is just the time after the big seismic event so long predict today put their money in to nepal. >> there's what i tell the developers we haven't had a big one for the last 80 nears, we have had one now looking back at history every 70, 80 years there is an earthquake so now hopefully they can be confident.

>> reporter: a deal signed with india last year points the way. indian will build a 900 mega want plat and nepal would receiver electricity from india in the short testimony and export it back in the long-term. it's it's long been the subject of political wrestling. not just the concerns about what it will do to the natural environment but over fears that a sovereign resource would be sold down the river to a big brother. hydroelectric engineer and former water minister says india would get regularized water flow free and electricity on the cheap. >> if you export electricity the factories are going to be set up there, not here. and our guys won't get jobs in their country they'll have to go to qatar and saudi arabia and malaysia right now grinding their bones off they'll have do that in india in 50-degree receiptheatnow. >> reporter: nepal uses 50% of its hydroelectric potential.

there is broad agreement that it powerful resource needs to be better harnessed as part of the post quake recovery. how it will will be remains a divisive issue. calls to immaterial reach the president are again being hate in bra dill. sill ma rousseff suffering from record-low approval ratings as critics correct her to a multi billion dollars fraud scandal. virginia lopez reports. >> reporter: these members of the free brazil movement walked for close to a month from sao paulo to brazil's capital brasilia. to hand deliver a petition demanding president dilma rousseff be impeached. they are as certain of their demands as they were of their 1,000-kilometer journey. >> translator: we consider the mounting pressure coming from the people will sooner or later lead to an impeachment. the indignation of the general population is so evidence that this government is no longer sustainable. we believe that even if it doesn't happen now, it will

happen in the near future. the legal framework is there. the population wants it. and all we need is the opposition to listen. >> reporter: though small today's protest is the third time that brazilians have taken to the streets demanding their president be tried for corruption. a similar protest in sao paulo last month was attended by half a million people. what might have once seemed look an out landish request is to many here slowly gaining momentum among brazil's more radical groups. >> translator: this is yet another proof that people are dissatisfied with the way politics are being conductedded by these terrorists and by a government that is increasingly resembling a dictatorship. >> reporter: the free brazil movement believes change must come through impeachment. not everyone agrees dilma rousseff must leave government but they want to see a change in the way politics is being done in brazil. political reform is currently being discussed in congress

under consideration is the elimination of campaign funding by private firms. as well as the question of compulsory voting. but change is slow to come in a country that has been under the same party rule for more than a decade. no evidence linking dilma rousseff to any wrongdoing in relation some the scandal has been presented. to many, though, the rampant corruption inside the state-run oil giant has shed light on how disconnected this country's political elite have become from the people who elected them to power. virginia lopez, al jazerra brasilia brazil. well the daily struggle for palestinians living under israeli occupation is a major topic at the palestine literature festival. the event being held across the palestinian territories. >> reporter: it was standing room only at the opening of the palestine literature festival. the event was held in the city

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 active activists and travel to hebron and to hive a a seaside city in israel to see how palestinians live under the israeli state. >> the people who come in are people who are influential in fields of culture. so when they have the experience of having this festival in palestine. they become part of the pressure of public international opinion. >> reporter: before this event in east jerusalem writers were taken on a tour of sheet and the mosque and the western wall an important place of worship for jews and where signs of israel

occupation seem to be everywhere. writers from all over the world will also see first hand how palestinians live under israeli occupation. from military checkpoints to illegal settlements and segregated motor way. a writer and poet from london, this is her first visit to israel and the west bank, she tells me seeing israel's occupation of palestinian lands is unlike anything she had imagined. >> i don't know, i just feel really sad. and i feel helpless. you know, and also i don't think i will be the same again from this visit. >> reporter: in past years events were also held across the gaza strip. enableing writers from arab countries and the palestinian to enter the blockaded territory. but israel, which controls entry

along its borders has refuse today grant the festival or its participants access. so writers there decided to organize their own workshops and readings like this one. they say nothing will stop them from sharing their stories. >> al jazerra in occupied east jerusalem. >> i'm jacksonville. "on target"ali velshi."on target" tonight. blowing the vifl on which is which whistle on worldwide soccer corruption. what took so long. sure fire way to ignite a debate about freedom.