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 accidentally

ships live anthrax across the country and to a military base overseas. ♪ this is al jazeera america live from new york city. i'm randall pinkston. a top official in international socker is breaking his silence one day after some of his key deputies were arrested on corruption charges. sepp blatter is vowing to cooperate after a u.s.-lead investigation. he says the arrests and allegations have brought shame and humiliation on his organization but blames a small minority of people for doing it. >> i know many people hold me ultimately responsible for the actions and reputation of the global football community, whether it's a destination for the hosting of the world cup, or

a corruption scandal. we or i, cannot monitor everyone all of the time. if people want to do wrong, they will also try to hide it. >> sepp blatter was hoping to win a fifth term for president. but this week's arrest could threaten to end his time in charge. jonathan betz has more. >> reporter: the charges go almost to the top, but not quite. fifa president sepp blatter long under scrutiny but not indicted. >> i am still the president until friday let's say 6:00 in the afternoon. >> reporter: 17 years of winning his first election blatter is only days away from another vote on an unprecedented fifth term at the helm of the world's most popular sport.

the election now overshadowed. the european football union called for the stroet be postponed and threatened a boycott. but the embattled fifa president has no plans to pull out of the race. >> he is the president, and in two days there will be election. >> reporter: the tenure has been racked with controversy, critics say he has failed to reform the organization's murky past. blatter rejected recommendations for change. among fifa's most controversial moves, awarding the 2018 world cup to russia a nation without a strong soccer tradition who's fans have been sited for racism so severe that some observers have warned that black players would boycott the world cup.

and qatar got the 2022 games. the looming question now is what will happen to those tournaments if blater is forced out? >> if the they won those competitions on a corrupt process, that process should be rerun, and it calls into question the authority of sepp blatter and whether he should be allowed to be a candidate for the fifa presidency. >> reporter: his only challenger is jordan's prince. >> we should have nothing to hide. it's the world's most popular sport and belongs to the world as a whole. >> reporter: critics hope the shake up this week will shake blatter from the top. >> he is probably the most despicable man in world spot and they seem to be trying to pretend that none of this is really happening. key sponsors are putting pressure on fifa to clean up its act. one major company is threatening to pull its money out of the up

coming world cup. >> fifa brings in about $400 million in sponsorship money each year. the big sponsors have made it clear they want to see changes quickly. the most serious threat comes from visa, it says coca-cola has been a sponsor since 1950. and nike is believed to the u.s. sporting company implicated in the indictment scheme. despite the bad pr some markets experts say it is unlikely sponsors will pull out all together soon. adidas last year sold more than $2.5 billion in soccer gear thanks to the world cup. more flooding is threatening parts of texas about oklahoma already battered by deadly

storms that have killed at least 21 people. the threat of the rising colorado river has texans leaving their houses southwest of houston, but they are trying to prepare their homes for possible on slot of water. a boys body was found in the blanco river. houston is also cleaning up from flooding. the city suffers some of its worst flooding in decades and many neighborhoods are still underwater. now hundreds of people are returning home to assess the damage. water is so horrific because it's not what you just visually see it's how it leaches into the properties of the sheetrock, it's how it leaches into the wood. we're taking all of the

furniture out and have to let it dry so we can see what happened with it. >> reporter: houston firefighters say they have responded to more than 500 calls. river banks are also being breached in oklahoma. a firefighter drowned in a rescue effort. >> we have been to this property several times. so it was more routine. they were probably walking in five or six inches of water. then he -- he -- the area that he fell into was not visible because of the high water. it was four to five-foot, probably drop down a bank and we're talking had he walked six inches further one direction or another, he would probably still be with us today. and as we look forward, you

know we're going to try to do what we can to prevent similar things from happening, and, you know some of the discussions are marking those locations, and identifying those locations, but it's not uncommon what -- what -- where he was at is not uncommon. that's the scary part. >> the voice of the fire chief. he says cities need to work to update their water infrastructure as storms become increasingly severe. the start of the hurricane season is just four days away. today president obama is visiting the national hurricane center in miami to assess how to prepare gulf and east coast states. government forecasters say there could be six to 11 major storms this summer with half of them developing into hurricanes. there are big questions today about how the military handles anthrax. the pentagon admits it mistakenly sent live samples to labs in nine states and an

american military base in south korea. john henry smith reports. >> reporter: exposure to anthrax can be quite fatal. the centers for disease control estimates that exposure leads to death in 85% of cases. that's why authorities aren't taking any chances with the people who came in contact with this inadvertently dangerous cargo. pentagon officials say a frightening mistake was made at dougway proving ground in utah. anthrax samples were supposed to be rendered inactive but a test of the samples that remained in utah revealed some of them to be live. but by that time a sample had already been sent to a military research lab in maryland and the maryland lab in turn sent parts of that sample to labs in eight other states as well as to a u.s. air force base in south korea. >> certainly no members of the public have been reportedly

exposed. this was contained on the air base which is away from the city center. >> reporter: the maryland lab onlying discovered the samples were live after they had already been shipped. the pentagon said that despite the mistake the public was never in danger but it also confirmed that four workers in maryland and 22 at the base in south korea are being treated for possible exposure. the pentagon says the live samples have been destroyed and that investigators are visiting every lab that received anthrax samples originating from dougway. meanwhile the cdc investigators in utah are trying to figure out what went wrong. it is worth noting while these type of anthrax samples are routinely sent via commercial carriers, the pentagon points to a more likely culprit in this case less stringent protocol.

well weighing in on an international dispute, the defense secretary urges china to stop building islands in the south china sea. plus another day, another candidate, a former new york governor joins the republican field trying to become the next president of the united states. ♪

♪ isil says it has killed 110 iraqi soldiers and shia militia fighters in the past 24 hours. the group says at least 70 were killed in ann going fighting and also targeted soldiers in suicide attacks in fallujah and anbar province. iraq's government enlisted more sunni fighters this week but despite this many sunni iraqis say their government has ignored them, and they are demanding the operation in anbar be sunni lead not the responsibility of

shia militias. >> reporter: sunni fighters take an oath in anbar province. they are officially joining the fight against isil after criticism for deploying shia militias, the government is trying to recruit more sunni groups. they have long been suspicious of the shia-lead government. they say it was sunni fighting forces which won the battle seven years ago to get rid of al-qaeda in iraq a predecessor to isil. but after that victory, they say the government reneged on its promise to bring them into the national army and abandoned them. >> 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 from this puppet government at all, and the battle for anbar won't be over any time soon. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: tribes are suspicious of shia militias because of anbar's politics. shia militias have been blamed for revenge attacks in sunni areas. if that happens in anbar, tribal leaders say they won't be able to stop their people from joining isil. shia militia leaders deny carrying out revenge attacks. all over baghdad, you will see posters like this they are promoting the iraqi army and the popular mobilization forces otherwise known as the shia militia. some would 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 just a few meters away political parties linked to shia

militias have put up their own posters highlighting the involvement of iran and promote sectarian language. it's this kind of imagery that has iraq's sunni population worried and angry. defense secretary ash carter issuing his sharpest warning yet to china. patricia sabga is here. we have seen a steady escalation of rhetoric in the past couple of days with secretary carter. what is it all about? this >> we have. . at a ceremony in hawaii he dlifed his most pointed and forceful comments yet about beijing's efforts to lay claim to most of the south china sea. they have been turning tiny reefs into artificial islands. and carter said that must stop immediately. >> china is out of step with both international norms that

underscore the asia pacific security architecture and the regional consensus in favor of a non-coercive approach to this and other long-standing disputes and their increasing demand for american engagement in the asia pacific, and we'll meet it. we will remain the principal security power in the asia-pacific for decades to come. now carter's comments come on the heels of a paper published by beijing earlier this week signalling a major expense of china's defense perimeter. the reason this is so controversial is six countries have overlapping territory claims in the south china sea, one of those countries is the philippines. that's a key u.s. ally so if an arm conflict breaks out, the u.s. could get drawn in.

>> so give inthat some of these reclamation projects are thousands of miles from territorial china, does secretary carter have a point? >> basically -- china is basically building up these islands to reinforce its claim to these disputed waters. and these waters have huge economic importance. they are a huge source of fisheries, and also a lot of shipping traffic moves through the islands as well so this is an area of huge economic importance. >> and china is going to insist on its right those islands. >> it has definitely been fluxing its muscle lately. >> thank you, patricia. former new york governor george pa taky is running for the 2016 presidential campaign. >> it is to preserve and protect

that freedom that this morning i announce i'm a candidate for the republican nomination for president of the united states. >> reporter: he released a video today. he served as new york's government for three terms but as david shuster explains he has been out of site for almost a decade. >> he was the government of new york when september 11, 2001, two planes slammed into the new york trade center. a city and nation left reeling from a violent attack. >> everything that can be done to save every single life is being done and we will continue to make sure that that is a priority. >> reporter: in the days and months that followed the governor was tasked with trying to help manhattan build. he developed the corporation aimed at revitalizeing the financial district. >> when our work is done the history of lower manhattan will have been written, not by the

terrorists who attacked our city but by the millions of new yorkers who stood up to defend it and who worked so hard to rebuild it. >> reporter: as new yorkers began the pain-staking process of trying to heal thoughts turned to ground zero. it turned into a political struggle and a design night mare. 9/11 families were infuriated when he refused to consider a plan to rebuild the iconic twin towers and make them stronger taller and safer, instead he supported the freedom tower backed on some of his biggest political financial supporters. the problems at ground zero and the time it took to rebuild could haunt his egg legacy as he seeks the presidency that's not how, however, how he views his political fate. >> i have learned early on that you can't worry about what you can't control. you can control your ideas, vision and how hard you work and that's all i'm worried about.

>> reporter: he began his political career as mayor. in 1994 he ran for governor against mare yoko mow. defeating him in a stunning electoral upset. he himself went on to serve three consecutive terms as governor of new york state. since then he has been a businessman, attorney and has championed conservative causes as chairman of a group called revere america. in 2010 he traveled around the country campaigning against the affordable care act. he has toyed with the idea of running for president before in 2008 and 2012. >> you know, i kid when i go around new hampshire and this is my eighth trip that every four years there's the olympics the world cup, and i show up thinking about running for president. and that seems to be true. but in all seriousness, peter, this time things are different.

i look at what is happening in the world, and i have never seen the world as in flames as silt today. >> reporter: but this time around he is serious. there is even a super pac to support the presidential bid. as a relative moderate he has a record of an environmentalist and has supported a woman's right to choose. and his supporters believe his moderation on socialish queues could help him stand out in a crowded republican field. david shuster, al jazeera. the fbi is now reportedly investigating a medical device that may spread cancer in women. it is used to remove fine roied tissues. the fda issued a warning in 2014. the wall street journal reports investigators are looking into what one of the manufacturers knew before taking the device off of the market. the environmental protection agency is out with new plans for

saving honey bees. it is proposting pesticide free plans for certain plants. at one point last year the bee population declined by 40%. straight ahead on al jazeera america, texas banned deep-fried foods in their school cafeterias why one top official is fighting to put them back. ♪

♪ new numbers show the u.s. spends about $190 billion a year treating obesity, that's 21% of all medical spending. according to surveys, the rate of obesity nationwide has jumped since 2008. hawaii is the only state with fewer than one in five overweight residences. idaho and south dakota both rose into the top ten in 2013. but many of the highest diabetes rates were centered in the south for the second year in a row, mississippi was at the top.

more than 35% of its population is obese. in texas one in six high school students are obese, but the agricultural commissioner says he is going to fix that. he is reintroducing deep-fried foods to school cafeterias. >> reporter: and this middle school in dallas texas, lunch is served just one way, healthy. the blockly is steamed. the oranges are fresh, and the salads are in abundance. but this wasn't always the case about ten years ago, texas recognized that a growing number of its children were both overweight and suffering from diabetes. so state officials decided to take action and ban things like deep friars and soda machines from school cafeterias. in schools like this the ban

encouraged healthy alternatives officials say. >> for years we have been working in that direction, and more recently we have even developed stronger nutrition standards. >> reporter: and yet it's not clear that it worked. one in six texas high school kids are considered obese, that's up from one in seven just ten years ago. enter sid miller the former state texas representative and rodeo rider was elected back in november as the state's newal cultural commissioner and he has made childhood obesity a top priority. >> what we have been doing for ten years hasn't worked so we're going to try something different. >> reporter: miller's idea is to allow school cafeterias to bring back those deep friar-- fryers. he says giving local school districts the ability to decide

what kinds of foods as they kids eat is better. >> we believe in freedom and liberty. >> the idea of sodas and deep-fried food is about as unhealthy as you can get. >> uh-huh. >> don't you think allowing schools to put those in place would create the possibility of more unhealthy kids? >> okay. keep -- keep in mind if they bring back the soda machines which we're allowing them to do whatever goes in that machine has to meet the federal guidelines. sugary sodas do not meet the guidelines. >> but you can put diet -- >> you can put diet and fruit juices and flavored water as well. >> but the deep fried aspect that makes you shake your heads? >> no it has to meet the guidelines. >> obese adults spending roughly

$1,400 more each year on medical bills, and while some parents in texas support miller asserting that their kids skip lunch because they won't eat healthier meals, nutrition experts argue his plan is not the answer. the human family tree is more complicated than originally thought. research discovered jawbones and teeth dating back nearly 3.5 million years. the individuals had both ape and human like features. the name translates into a close relative. that's it for us. thanks for joining us. i'm randall pinkston. the news incontinues next live from london and remember for the latest headlines you can go to our website at aljazeera.com. ♪

♪ ♪ . >> all of the tile. >> he says he can't be held responsible for the corruption scandal at fifa's congress kicks off. >> hello there. and this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up. iraqi forces battle isil to take back the oil refinery. meet the bangladesh she people that pay add high price to search of a better life