we or i, cannot monitor everyone all of the time. >> sepp blatter says he can't be held responsible for the corruption scandal as fifa's congress kicks off. ♪ hello there, this is al jazeera, live from london. also coming up. yemeni civilians killed as fighting spreads to a busy shopping street in ta'izz. and the heat wave continues to kill in india, doctor's leave is canceled.

plus -- >> i'm florence looi in western myanmar where the go's plan to cancel temporary id cards threatens to leave hundreds of thousands of people in limbo. and britain prime minister's embarks on a whistle stop tour of england to sell his ideas on changing the e.u. hello, fifa boss sepp blatter is refusing to resign despite the growing crisis. he has told the opening of fifa's congress that he intends to restore trust in world football. the head of uefa says he asked blatter to step down because of the corruption scandal swirling around the game. blatter has held an emergency meeting of football chiefs a day after seven fifa officials were arrested on u.s. corruption

charges. a vote on friday will decide if blatter gets a fifth turn at fifa's president. something uefa wants to stop. the majority of its members are expected to back blatter's only rival. but the russian president has defended blatter. criticizing the u.s. for medaling in fifa affairs. lawrence lee has this report from zurich. ♪ >> reporter: if you have been on the moon since tuesday night you have probably assumed the opening ceremony of fifa was nothing but happy. the governing body its president looking as relaxed as relaxed can be. but not even sepp blatter could admit that everything was fine. >> actions of individuals if proven bring shame and

humiliation on football and demand action and change from us all. we or i, cannot monitor everyone all of the time. if people want to do wrong, they will also try to hide it. >> reporter: blatter's refusal to step down comes in the face of unprecedented criticism from many many quarters. this was the uefa delegation from europe arriving for an emergency meeting which demanded that blatter go. they prefer the prince of jordan will stand in opposition though it's not at all clear if he could get enough votes against the loyal support blatter enjoys in places like africa and asia. >> i know what is his strategy. his strategy is to bring all of the congresses to have some speakers in the room to convince the people you know as usual, to

convince them to vote for him, and then he will say look at the democracy of the most number if they say i have to stay then i will stay. i think he had already lost with us. >> reporter: with separate investigation under this process sought directly to link the alleged krup shup of fifa with a lack of right for workers in qatar which has come under heavy scrutiny. >> fifa is too corrupt to care. they have given the world cup to a country which has random slavery. >> reporter: still you have to think if the events since wednesday aren't enough then perhaps nothing will. it is really difficult to see how fifa can now escape from all of this with any kind of united

global voice. assume that sepp blatter is reelected again as president, that would be met with absolute derision in the united states much of europe countries like australia, and yet in other parts of the world, russia asia, and africa his reputation seems absolutely undiminished. a nuclear option is for countries like germany, france england, and others perhaps to break away. that would signal the end not only of fifa but of the world cup too. in the end many would argue that fifa would have no one to blame but themselves. live now to al jazeera's andy richardson in zurich. batter says he is not going anywhere. but critics will say he must have known something of what was going on in his organization. >> reporter: yeah i think most observers would think at that and think we're not expects sepp

blatter to individually monitor everyone's actions himself, what they would expect is a million billion dollars industry should have the necessary checks and balances in place to make sure it is properly run. if you are the ceo of a company and there is massive corruption taking place in the ranking beneath you, then normally you are held responsible. but that is not the case with fifa. the shareholders remain happy, if it was a different company and there was these accusations and these headlines and the share price started falling, then there would be calls for the president to resign. as it is the money keeps rolling in and therefore, the member associations stay happy. perhaps what would change things if sponsors started pulling out. we have had some statements from sponsors saying they want to see

things change. but if the statements were more along the line if blatter doesn't believe, -- leave, then we leave. >> uefa says it will not be supporting blatter in friday's presidential vote. is there a danger possibility, that uefa might break away eventually from fifa? >> reporter: he was asked that question directly the uefa president, he kind of road back from suggesting that might happen. the champion's league final is a week on saturday in berlin and there will be a meeting of many members of the uefa family as possible. and he said if sepp blatter is still the fifa president then it will be discussed and the possibility of withdrawing from fifa is one option. the implications are massive.

it would mean that european countries wouldn't be able to compete in the world cup in its current format, and the problem uefa has is that while they have made it clear they will be supporting blatter's rival, the prince of jordan they only have just over 50 votes in their pocket. there are 209 votes up for grabs, and at the moment sepp blatter looks to have a comfortable majority still. >> andy richardson live for us there in zurich. there is plenty of opposition of course to sepp blatter, but he does have the support of one leader, russia's president has backed blatter and criticized the u.s. investigation. >> translator: this is yet another blatant at tent to extend its juridictions.

>> south african organization has denied that it gave a bribe to host the 2010 world cup. he also said world cup funds had been cleanly audited. >> no such amount was paid by the department of sport and recreation and the government of south africa to any individual our financial records and books for the 2010 and 11 years, and those before and after the period of the world cup have been audited by the auditor general of south africa, and no such amount has been found on our books. ♪

to iraq now where government forces backed by shia fighters are battling to retake the country's biggest oil refinery from the islamic state of iraq and the levant. control of the refinery has been hotly contested for months. iraqi government forces captured it in november before losing control of it again. meanwhile isil says it has killed at least 110 iraqi troops and shia allies in 24 hours. but is in the battle for the sunni dominated anbar province. iraq enlisted more sunni fighters to join the battle there. but many are still suspicious and angry. they say the government has ignored them and the fight to retake anbar province should be a sunni run operation and not by

the shia militias. >> reporter: these men are officially joining the fight against isil. after criticizing for deploying shia militias the government is trying to recruit more sunni troops. they have long been suspicious of the government which is accused of pursuing sectarian and diskrim nary processes. this sunni tribal leader says iraqi government policies are going to make the fight with isil difficult. >> translator: the current government is deliberately not helping the sunni community to retake their province. they are biased and deal in sectarian methods. the only solution is to arm the sunnis and ask for international help. there is no hope for this

government at all, and the battle for anbar won't be over any time soon. >> reporter: tribes are suspicious of shia militias because of anbar's tribal politics. tribal leaders say they won't be able to stop their infuriated people from joining isil if shia militias carry out revenge attacks. shia militias deny revenge attacks. all over baghdad you will see posters like this promoting the iraqi army and the popular mobilization forces otherwise known as the shia militia. they are brought to you by the government. some say they are propaganda. the government says they are about information they are promoting the idea that the fight against silz a fight for all iraqis. but political parties linked to shia militias have put up their

own posters, promoting sectarian language. it's this kind of imagery that has iraq's sunni population worried and angry. hospitals in yemen are under increasing pressure as the humanitarian crisis escalates. forces loyal to yemen's president in exile they say are pushing houthi fighters back across several fronts. but losses are mounting on both sides as kim vinnell reports. >> reporter: blood stains the streets in what was a busy shopping district in ta'izz. yemen's warring sides blame each other for what happened here. civilians are among the wounded and the dead. amateur video from another part of the city shows the rubble of what is said to be a military commanders home. activists say it was once the headquarters for houthi fighters

from outside ta'izz. further inland forces loyal to the president in exile are advancing under the cover of coalition air strikes. they say they are moving forward, but are still engaged in battle. the saudi-lead bombing campaign is now in its tenth week. in the houthi controlled capitol, residents call for an end to the war. >> translator: this is shrapnel that hit working men, not targets or military bases. we must establish between the two. we must maintain our good senses. this was an attack on everything. an attack on the whole nation. [ inaudible ] for the women and children inside the homes. >> reporter: the united nations says it is listening to those calls, and is trying to reschedule peace talks. as the war rhetoric increases, so too does the number of dead.

kim vinnell, al jazeera. still to come on the program, south africa's president is told he won't have to repay money spent on expensive upgrades to his private home. and reaching crisis points animal activists oppose plans that could lead to a cull of koalas in one australian colony. [beeping] ooo come on everybody, i think this is my grandson. [lip syncing] ♪little girl you look so lonesome oh my goodness. ♪i see you are feeling blue ♪come on over to my place ♪hey girl ♪we're having a party

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♪ hello, again, a reminder of the top stories on al jazeera. sepp blatter said he intends to help restore trust in world

football. he was speaking for the first time since seven officials were arrested on corruption charges. the head of uefa says he asked blatter to step down. he said the majority of uefa members are expected to vote for jordan's prince ali to replace blatter as president in many a vote on friday. and iraqi government forces backed by shia fighters are lat ling to retake iraq's biggest oil refinery from the islamic state of iraq and the levant. isil fighters hold large sections of the beiji complex in iraq's north. all right. let's stay with our top story, that is of course the fifa corruption scandal. major international sponsors have threatened to pull their support from the organization. jonah hull has more details. ♪ >> reporter: fifa may be learning to its cost but in the billion dollars world of big

brand advertising, bad publicity can be the most expensive. the current corruption schedule theretoening to rub off on world cup sponsors and they are not happy. this lengthy controversy has tan initialled the mission and ideals of the fifa world cup, says coca-cola. mcdonald's says it takes matters of ethics and corruption very seriously. saying: visa expressed disappointment and concern saying: >> the tipping point might be the negativity becomes so large that fifa becomes a toxic brand. it might be that the companies

think ethically they can't afford to pursue this kind of relationship. it might be they feel they have their own legal liabilities. so there are a whole host of things that might make the companies think again. >> reporter: for the big brands fifa is big business. last year's world cup in brazil broke viewing records in key territories, the final alone was watched by more than a billion fans worldwide, while official content is followed by social media users in the hundreds of millions this may explain why many companies have stomached the hints of scandal before but perhaps not anymore. >> it is only the sponsors that fifa are going to listen to. there are politicians, government athletes fans associations who have said we want reform sepp blatter and his cronies have refused to engage and listen so the only people that have the power to make this happen are the

sponsors. ♪ >> reporter: some names have already dropped out. last december second tier sponsors opted not to renew their deals for the 2018 world cup in russia. but it is the top-tier names that fifa will worry about most. without all of them there may be no more of this. jonah hull al jazeera. more than 1400 people have now been killed in a severe heat wave across india. the southern states are the worst affects with temperatures close to 50 degrees celsius. >> reporter: funerals have been taking place across the southern indian states nearly 1400 people have died there because of heat-related illnesses. >> translator: this woman died because of sunstroke. most of the people who have died

here, are daily wage workers. they do small jobs and have no financial security. the government needs to help them. >> reporter: this area has been hardest hit with the heat waive with a death toll of more than 1,000. temperatures have risen quickly and unexpectedly, catching residents in the region's hottest areas by surprise. people are doing what they can to keep cool ngo's and local governments are trying to raise awareness about illnesses like heat stroke. but in some areas there are fears that these public service announcements are a little too late. in other parts of india, hundreds of millions are also struggling in sweltering conditions. >> translator: i have to cover up well when i'm travelling by rickshaw it's easier for some people with air conditioning in cars these days. i also try to go out in the morning or evening.

>> translator: the heat is great for my business. people are buying a lot more and drinking cold drinks to stay hydrated. >> reporter: here in the capitol, temperatures have consistently risen over 45 degrees celsius, frequent [ inaudible ] have come pounded the misery and lead to criticism of the country's infrastructure. the first rains of the monsoon season aren't expected to hit until next week and it will be at least a month before the forecast improves. the malaysian government says 139 people are buried in graves found in abandoned detention camps over the weekend. each grave site appears to continue the remains of one person not multiple bodies as previous i will feared. the camps are located in a remote part of the jungle on the thai border. two policemen have been detained in connection with the discovery. and the dalai lama have

urged the icon to speak out on behalf of the country's persecuted rohingya. he said the pair have discussed the issue on multiple occasions. so far he has remained silent. some analysts say she is worried about alienating voters. but the engineer of the month the rohingya will face even more persecution. they are not recognized by the government and many are wondering what future think have. flur -- florence looi reports. >> reporter: myanmar is the only country this woman hooz ever known. but he has seen her status go from being a citizen to a non-citizen. she has had to surrender 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 those back from the rohingya ethnic minority to which she belongs. the government sees them as illegal migrants from neighboring bangladesh. 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 but now that is gone. this is one of the offices set up to collect temporary id cards. it's in a former school building in camp for displaced rohingya. they live segregated from the ethnic buddhist community. three years ago there was religious fighting between the two sides in parts of the 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 possible referendum on constitutional reform before that human rights activists accuse the government of pandering to a buddhist electorate. >> the motivation is to strip the last remaining rights from the rohingya and they are also disen franchising hundreds of thousands of other people of citizenship. >> reporter: but the government says there is nothing sinister behind his decision. >> 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 rohingya doubt they will be granted citizenship. they say the government has let them down in the past. for now they remain a minority unrecognized and unwanted.

south africa's president will not have to repay the millions of dollars of taxpayer money he spent renovating his private home. $20 million of upgrades including a swimming pool and animal encloserers were legitimate features. there have been reports of russia amassing military ui ukrainian border. nato has said that pro-russian rebels are using a lull in the fighting to stock up their forces ahead of a possible new offensive. the kremlin has repeatedly denied that russian forces fighting in ukraine, saying any russians fighting are there as volunteers. the u.k.'s controversial referendum on whether it will

remain in the e.u. is a top subject this week. cameron is under pressure to cut immigration from the e.u. and stop migrants claiming welfare payments. cameron has promised to hold the referendum by the end of 2017. >> we will be talking about european reform the need to focus on growth and jobs the need to make sure we compete as a single market the need to make sure that as you put it where necessary, but [ inaudible ]. 22 personnel have been given precautionary treatment for anthrax after a u.s. army test facility accidentally sent live samples to labs. nine laboratories in the u.s. also sent the samples.

it is confirmed at least one was live. animal welfare lob beests are fighting back against a possible koala cull in australia. an overcrowded colony is being assessed for ill health this week. there are concerns many are under nourished as the population outgrows it supply of food. they are a protected species in australia with around 43,000 left. >> you see dead koalas in the base of trees, and just dies the whole area smells of dead koalas. >> what we're observing on then ground is about three to four as a minimum and up to about 20. ancient remnants of prehistoric man have been accidentally set alight at a israeli burning manifest value.

the site wasn't marked and organizers have apologized for the damage caused. much more on our stories on our website, the address is aljazeera.com. aljazeera.com for all of your international and breaking news. these are unprecedented and difficult times for fifa. >> fifa's president breaks his silence over corruption charges against some of soccers top leaders, but will he keep his job? texas prepares for more rain after historic flooding. the search for the missing as rivers continue to rise and an investigation after the u.s. military