the vote count in zurich. >> reporter: blatter a few days ago would have expected a majoty in the first round. >> if there is a sense that [ inaudible ] away from sepp blatter people might start to get on that case perhaps put my weight behind the challenger at this stage, or does it not -- does that not follow? >> reporter: yeah i don't know -- i don't know if it would be floating voters so much? i mean these aren't individuals who can necessarily change their mind on a whim. they are accept senting the football organization of their country. so you would like to believe they have come in with the support of their organization

with a vote. if you look at the way the toward is divided up there are six continental confederations and blatter does have traditionally a lot of support in at least five of those confederations. so while you had europe on thursday saying we're not going to vote for you mr. blatter, even in europe he does have some support, the likes of russia and spain, will vote for blatter. but in the other five or six confederations, he does have a lot of support. you have countries like the united states the head of their soccer federation saying they would be supporting prince ali. canada australia, palestine, all supporting prince ali as a reformer. in terms of the block votes, they do tend to go blatter's

way. >> andy richardson thanks much indeed. alan fisher is in washington, d.c. alan remind her viewers why there has been an element of scandal surrounding this particular vote not that it's linked to the vote, but it came up at the time of the vote how will that wrapped into the second round there? >> i think it will be interesting to see how this develops. of course it was a 47-point indictment that was lodged on wednesday by the u.s. justice department and people around the world were delighted that the u.s. was taking action to clean up football. late on thursday the brazilian delegation left and headed back to rio de janeiro, the suggestion was that he had personal business to deal with.

he is the successor to one of the men who was named in that u.s. indictment but he was named at all, the new brazilian fa president, he wasn't mentioned anywhere in the indictment but he left huredly and that brazil has no extradition treaty with the u.s. although switzerland does. the two may be totally unrelated, but it does show the concern that is spreading through delegates. the u.s. took the position that it was going to join in voting against sepp blatter. but they only arrived at that position after the u.s. decided to take the action that it did. there has been some criticism most notably from the russian president that the u.s. us was perhaps moving beyond its own jurisdiction in getting to this department.

but the justice department made it clear that if you are involved with corruption or bribery, and you use a u.s. bank or a u.s. service provider then that gives them grounds to investigate, and i think most people in world football are actually glad that season has stepped up after all of the years of speculation, to actually investigate and push this investigation on. and remember it's an ongoing inve investigation. there is the real possible that the indictment may be extended if they find more wrongdoing particularly after interviewing with those arrested on wednesday and others connected to this scandal. >> alan fisher thank you very much indeed. let's bring back in andy richardson. you mentioned there are a bunch of people in suits going into booths to vote. remind us what happens to

ordinary football fans around the world. >> ultimately fifa is in charge of the world cup. so the president has the responsibility of delivering that tournament. i'm just going to give you the exact figures as to what happened in that first round. 209 member associations there were 206 valid votes, of which 73 went to prince ali, and blatter 133. he needed two-thirds to win it in the first round. that is over 140, so a second round is needed and on that occasion a simple majority of more than half is what is required. >> okay. andy thanks very much indeed. we'll come back to you later on. thanks very much indeed.

now isil forces have been making gains in libya as well. the group's local affiliate has taken control of a civilian air base after militia fighters withdrew from the site. the rest of the city is already mostly under isil control. islamic state of iraq and the levant is claiming responsibility for a bombing outside of a shia mosque in saudi arabia. the bomb went off during friday prayers killing four people and wounding four others. a man wear women's clothes is said to have blown himself up at the mosque's great. last friday a suicide bomber killed at least 21 people. to syria now where rebels from the al-qaeda alfill lated al-nusra front are reported to have killed 31 fighters loyal to president assad. it borders turkey and provides

access to assads hometown and the coast. >> reporter: another gain for syrian rebels in northern idlib province. this is a coalition of fighters which includesal -- al-nusra front fighters. >> translator: thanks god we liberated the town in just few hours. i swear they run like rats. >> reporter: after days of ongoing battles regime soldiers have level. the state's news agency says government forces have pulled out to the outskirts to regroup. but families are fleeing. >> translator: some people are scared that the regime will destroy the town using barrel bombs. >> reporter: rebels have also moved on to the village in the

western countryside, killing a number of government soldiers. days earlier, rebels captured another town last month they took control of idlib city the province capitol. the next major battle for these fighters would be president bashar al-assad's strong hold on the coast. and syria's a palmyra, the islamic state of iraq and the levant is widening its control. these photos show a glimpse of one offer is -- syrias notorious prisons. further south, a war of attrition is taking place. fighting between the two sides is not over in the mountain range. hezbollah has announced it made big gains in the area on the border with lebanon two weeks ago, but with the fighters kraring out hit and run attacks

more than 40 hezbollah fighters have said to have been killed since fighting starter earlier month. this is where both sides get we will -- weapons and reinforcements. fighting continues to intensify, too many warring factions with different agendas are battle themselves and government forces. it is not clear who will win the final battle. still ahead on the program, iraq's army battles to retake ramadi from fighters in anbar province. we'll take a closer look at why the city is so strategically important. and the u.n. stopped short of listing the great barrier reef as being in danger but raises concerns about its future. ♪

hello again, a reminder of the top stories here on al jazeera. there's no out right winner at the first voting of the president of fifa. a second round will now be held. the armed group isil has claimed responsibility for a bombing outside of a shia mosque in saudi arabia. the blast went off during friday prayers, killing four people and founding four others. fighters from syria's al-qaeda affiliate nusra front have captured the last government-held town in idlib province, and provides access to

bashar al-assad's hometown. around 85,000 people have fled ramadi since it fell to isil forces on the 17th. the united nations says iraqi forces are preventing many of the displaced from reaching safety. while the number of rebel fighters in the area is increasing. >> reporter: for ramadi the scene was frighteningly reminiscent the black flags raised last week an eerie echo of the ones raised a decade ago. >> ramadi feeds into this notion that isis is on the march, and it's march is inevitable. it's a sunni majority city in a sunni majority province. it's one step closer to baghdad. >> reporter: for the capitol of anbar province this type of threat is nothing new. between 2003 and 2007 the

strategic city became a base until sunni tribes supported by the u.s. turned their weapons on insurgents and largely drove them out. this year however, it was iraqi security forces being driven out. with the fall of ramadi isil now controls a vital and seemingly open supply route for its fighters and weapons one that spans all the way from strong holds in syria through mosul, to within 130 kilometers from baghdad. analysts say it's no surprise iraqi army soldiers were ill equipped to fight. and point to the policy of [ inaudible ] following the fall of saddam hussein as one of the primary reasons. >> there was a large purge of the professional army corps. there were subsequent purges by the mollky government.

so a lot of their best talent has been pushed out of the armed services and sort of into the private sector some of those people have actually gone and joined isis. >> reporter: experts say repression of sunni decent between 2011 and 1013 was for many a breaking point. >> all of the calls for unified government goes to the anbar demonstration two years ago when anbar asked for their rights and their -- their -- their calls to be part of the unified government. >> reporter: during that time aggrieved sunnis accused the former prime minister of depriving and marginallizing him because of his sectarian policies. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: protesters were killed as government forces fired at them. since then anger and animosity has only grown.

now the situation is even worse. as the united nations and iraq engage in a war of words about who is to blame for failing to stop isil both also wage war on the streets against their common enemy, one still very much on the march. nigeria's new president has vowed to eradicate the armed group boko haram and rescue hundreds of kidnapped women and children. he made the pledge at his inauguration which sees him return to power three decades after his leadership as military director. >> reporter: he was sworn in as president of nigeria by the chief justice at eagle square in the capitol abuja. it was an historic occasion because it was the first transfer of power from one democratic leader to the other since the end of military rule in 1999. heads of states from across

africa -- >> some breaking news now. we understand that prince ali has withdrawn from the race to be the fifa leader. let's listen in. >> translator: sepp blatter is elected president. [ applause ] >> so there -- >> translator: please bring in mr. blatter. >> the surprise announcement of the withdraw of the challenging to sepp blatter. which means that sepp blatter has now become the -- his taken on his fifth term in charge of the world football. let's listen in. we understand that sepp blatter is now going to step up to the podium and say a few words. in the last few days sepp blatter has been talking about the wave of arrest and

corruption allegations, but he called in the run up to this election for unity and team spirit and it was surprising in some people's view that it went to a second round. so we're not sure what prompted ali hussein to drop out after the first stage. sepp blatter didn't initially get the two-thirds required for the first vote to be conclusive. but now with prince ali conceding, sepp blatter has been elected as president. there were 209 delegates, and it's quite a long and complicated arrangement, where they spent about two hours queueing up to vote in two different booths but this election has clearly been overshadowed by serious allegations of corruption made by u.s. prosecutors, and a

number of people have called for sepp blatter to pull out of the race. that has not happened. and he has now been elected and president. let's have a listen to his speech. [ cheers and applause ] >> translator: you have before you the president of fifa reelected and give him a big hand. [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you. but first of all, i would like

to give compliments and express my gratitude to his royal high necessary, prince ali. [ applause ] >> because prince ali was a competitor a challenger and he has obtained a very result and he in such a situation easily could have said no let's go further, perhaps i would receive more votes. on the other hand ladies and

gentlemen, i thank you. i thank you that you accepted me; that for the next four years, i will be in command of this boat called fifa and we will bring it back -- we will bring it back offshore and we bring it back to the beach. we will bring it back where finally football can be played beach soccer we can play everywhere, but we have to work on that. we have to work on that. we have also to work on other things that we have to do for fifa in the future. remember four years ago, i had a lot of problems to solve and i gave it to you, and you -- i challenged you at that time. i am not going to challenge you, but we have also to make some organizational problems inside the fifa inside the executive

committee, because we must have a better representation of the different confederations and the number of members of confederations shall have also their repercussion in the organization of the committee, and again, we need in this committee women, we need ladies. we have to do more. we have to do more in our competitions also and i already told you, i will not touch the [ inaudible ] up because the [ inaudible ] is too important in doing that. but for the other competitions especially mens and the 17 and the 20 also we stall give -- we shall give a second -- a second part. we shall have a little bit more respect to one of the

confederations that is respected by everyone it is oceana they have only one member on the executive committee. we have to do something for that. that is not good. in that is not good for the -- let's say for the solidarity in fifa. but don't touch the volta, i agree, don't touch the volta. but i have said it before i take the responsibility to take back fifa. we can do it. and i am convinced we can do it i was thinking in meditation i am a faithful man, and i said now, god, allah, or whoever is this extrordanaire -- whatever it is spirit in the world that we believe, we believe, maybe help us to bring back this fifa where it should be.

and i tell you, and i promise you in the end of my term i will give this fifa to my successor in a very very strong strong position a robust and a good fifa. we have to work together. you will ask me what -- what age? it is not an age. the age is not a problem, i have always told you. you have people they are 50 they look old. [ laughter ] [ applause ] >> sure. sorry. sorry. sorry, i didn't know that we have so many 50 years old people here. [ laughter ] >> no definitely not. but ladies and gentlemen, you know i told you at the beginning or when we started for this election i like you. i like my job. and i like to be with you. i am not perfect.

nobody is perfect. but we will do a good job together i'm sure. so i thank you so much. i thank you for the trust and confidence, trust and confidence together we go. let's go fifa. let's go fifa. thank you. thank you so much. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> you are watching the news conference there by sepp blatter who has been reelected as the fifa president. so it's the fifth term for him. he has got another four years in charge of the world football governing body. he -- this happened after prince ali bin hussein, his only challenger dropped out, even though the first round was not conclusive, because sepp blatter didn't win the two-thirds votes necessary. it went to a second round, but before the second round happened the prince pulled out, and sepp blatter has been thanking him for doing so and thanking all of his voters for backing him.

he promised he would make fifa stronger, and he insisted that age would not be a problem. as you know he is 79. let's bring in andy richardson in zurich now. andy do you think that prince ali just didn't think he had the numbers to go into a second round? what do you think happened there? >> reporter: i think it's not a normal ele general public. each voter is representing a member association, and they go in with the backing of a member association. so it was always going to be unlikely that there could be any change. so perhaps his decision to withdraw is not entirely surprising. what we do have is more than a third of world football against sepp blatter. after his speeches today he has spoken of the need for unity.

well he has a lot of work to do on that. elsewhere, you have seven of his top lieutenants being held by the swiss police. you have his own headquarters being raided by police and yet still this man has been in charge of fifa for 17 years, within the confines of fifa can still get the support he needs to stay in power. when you consider the background of the turmoil of the last couple of days it is quite amazing. four years ago we heard a similar speech from him which results in mohammed withdrawing, on that occasion we again heard blatter talking about in the next four years i will make fifa stronger more robust. we heard exactly the same a few minutes ago. >> yeah. you mentioned he has been in charge for 17 years, so i suppose the question will be

what he can change in the next four. he mentioned in that speech he'll have to deal with organization problems in fifa is that code for the unpleasant stuff and the corruption or just part of the general -- what he described as the same thing he said four years ago. >> reporter: i mean this morning he did a speech and he said he couldn't be held responsible for the actions of those who work beneath him. he said the member associations needed to be held responsible. and no one is expecting him to oversee the actions of every organization. it's a big organization but what you would expect from an organization that deals with billions of dollars, is to have sufficient checks and balances in place to make sure there isn't the -- these allegations of such large-scale corruption. he has promised before to do

this. he has promised before to route out corruption and still, here we are four years later seeing very much the same thing again. this time the charges against fifa are on a much much higher level. and this time it's not going to be fifa or an authority investigating them it is going to be the u.s. justice department. >> what is going to happen with the idea of a coordinated european boycott of the world cup in russia? is that likely to materialize now? or it isn't actually going to be the case. >> reporter: michel platini said he would have a meeting with his fellow european countries next week in berlin and the topic of whether or not uefa would withdraw from the world cup, from fifa as it currently sits would be on the table. it would be a huge step to say

they are not going to take -- >> andy sorry, i'll have to stop you there. thank you very much and we'll see you later on. and don't forget you can catch up with all of the latest on our website. the address for that, aljazeera.com. ♪ economic freeze a new report shows the brutal winter caused americans to slow their spending and prompted companies to cut back. a major step forward in the u.s. relationship with communist cuba. the nation has officially been removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. more rain has fallen ont dks and even the rescue workers now need some help. the forecast calls for more