>> tensions in yemen and move towards the outskirts of aden. >> you're watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up, a united in grief, leaders from germany and spain arrive at a crash on tuesday killing 150 people. mudslides hit the peruvian highlands, hundreds of homes damaged. and growth industry, picture

climate on their side. myanmar's wine makers look to branch out. >> houthi rebels close in on yemen's president in the southern city of aden. there are reports of gunfire on the outskirts of the city, and it's airports have been closed due to security concerns. yemen's four ministers echo the call in asking arab countries to help fight the rebels. but the president's wear abouts at the moment are unknown. they're matching troops on the board of yemen. the foreign minister saying they'll take measures to protect yemen's security. we have more on the fight for yemen. >> it shocked many people but houthies have advanced this far south. yemen's third largest city.

especially the locals. every day this week they have taken a stand chanting for the rebels to leave. >> we swear that we'll drive out all houthies in taiz and teach them a lesson they'll never forget. >> houthi fighters replied with gunfire and tear gas, several people were killed. many more injured. paramedics say some of the shoot shooters wore police uniforms. other reports say that the internal security officers themselves, the ones meant to be keeping the peace to join the houthies. these forces are said to be loyal to yemen's long time ruler ali abdullah saleh who now' pearce to be backing the houthies. the people here are no longer sure who they can trust.

the houthi unit has morphed from a smaller unit fighting for government jobs, and in september it took over the capital of sanaa. alabd rabbuh mansur hadi escaped to the south and it's in the south where most of the fighting is taking place and the tribes hearsay they're protecting their region against the rebels. saudi arabia has sent soldiers to protect its border with yemen. the saudi foreign minister had this to stay. >> we hope that this can be won peacefully. if it is not won peacefully we will protect the region from their aggression. >> right now the houthies are fanning out across the country. they insist they're fighting for

a fair distribution of wealth for everyone, not just shias or their own community. some people in the south don't believe them and aren't taking any chances. these volunteers are grouping in large numbers to take on the houthies with guns, tanks and ammunition. al jazeera. >> well, just a line coming in from the white house calling on houthi militia forces to stop the instability in yemen. really, a repeat of the condemnation that we've heard in the past. but nevertheless the white house saying that the houthi militia need to effectively back down. let's get some analysis on the situation in yemen with the journalist who has spent a great deal of time in yemen. and this call by the white house is nothing new. i suppose you could say mounting international pressure on the houthies, not just from the u.s.

and u.n. but also from the gcc. is it likely to have much of an affect effect on what's going on inside the country? >> no, the houthies are not going to pay any attention to that. they might feel more pressure from the regional power certainly. but anything that comes to the white house it means nothing to them. and obviously as we've seen in the last 4 hours they're pushing on, taking further territory, and they're not going to be worried about anything that the white house is saying. >> they've been taking further territory. how important is the air base. why if significant in the battle for control of aden. >> well, geographically it lies between taiz and aden. it's an important base and it would be necessary to dependent aden with radar equipment and things like that. the american forces were there since friday.

they evacuated, left the country, and it was under the command of a a saleh loyalist at the time and then it was taken over and hadi had control of it, but now it seems to be back in the hands of the saleh/houthi supporters. >> i think they have complained about that looting saying that there are weapons missing that can't be accounted for. >> sure. the houthis have a habit of taking territory and going to military bases and taking heavy weaponry taking tanks. that's kind of no surprise. at this point this morning it appeared to have been local people who have been there. it's not clear and there are sketchy reports. certainly the americans have left equipment behind from the training they were doing.

so the air base in the hands of the houthis right now. how close are they, then, to securing control of aiden? >> i think they're going to have a fight on their hands for aiden. hadi has managed to pull together a lot of popular committees, and also there are people within the south, within aden who would be fighting purely because they see the houthis as a cover for ali abdullah saleh. so their loyalty would be to themselves in fighting that battle but there are been people who have heard fighting on the edge of thecy of the edge ofcity it seems imminent that that battle is going to take place. >> thank you. >> the leaders of france, germany, and spain are speaking

in france after visiting the french alps close to where a passenger plane crashed on tuesday. all 150 people on board were killed. these are the latest developments. the recorder from the airbus has been recovered. the box is now in paris. investigators say they managed to recover all useable data from the box but the investigators warn it's still too early to draw conclusions from those recordings. the other black box, it's flight data recorder is still missing but they found the device's casing. jacky rowland is in the french alps. >> reporter: brought together by tragedy, the leaders of france, germany, and spain arrive at this small town in the alps. they've come to pay their respects to the victims of the plane crash and to get the latest on the investigation. their presence here underlines

the international dimension of this disaster. >> we also need to understand what happened. we must do so. we owe this to the families. we owe this to the countries who are concerned by this trauma. >> all day long helicopters have been ferrying search teams to and from the mountainside. it's a massive operation involving hundreds of police and other emergency workers. the wreckage is scattered over an area of about four hectares. chards of twisted metal. nothing that could be recognized as a plane. it may take up to a week for investigators to investigate the whole of the crash site. >> because they crashed the french alps, france had jurisdiction. there was international

dimension to the investigation and they're asking that the airline provide detailed information about the maintenance of the plane and also the conditions of this flight. it's still unclear what caused flight 9525 to plunge from the sky, but this shattered black box may hold some clues. it's the voice recorder from the plane's cockpit. >> there has been some difficulty reading the data, but it is great we have found this. we've been able to extract some information from it, but it's early to say what happened. >> 150 people were on board the aircraft at the time of the crash. no one survived. retrieveing and identifying their bodies is a grim and pain-staking task. >> the identification of the victims is essential, and we have to start with that because we owe that to the families of the victims. but it won't be done in five

minutes. it will take weeks and i believe that everyone should be aware that this will take a long time. >> after the visit of the three european leaders the community is now preparing to receive families of the victims this will be a grim pilgrimage, but some may need to find it necessary to understand better how it came to lose their loved one. >> we can go live now to jackie. jacky, it's too early to draw any conclusions at this point but how significant is it that investigators are in possession of sound recordings from the cockpit? >> very important. because they've indicated that for them really the crucial moments of the last minute before air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane the moment, if you like, which the plane fell silent, they'll want to know the last words that the pilots exchanged. they'll want to know if there

was any sound in the cockpit that can give them some indication as to what happened. they said it may take days to extract the mining of what these sounds and words might mean, but the very fact that they were able to get data, that it wasn't destroyed when the black box and the rest of the plane hit the ground has to be hopeful as they preys together the republicans why this accident happened. >> you mentioned in your report that jacky the grim task of identifying the bodies. this is something that is going to be very painful few weeks months possibly for the families and the passengers. have they started arriving on the scene? >> we haven't seen any sign of them yet. we're told apparently families are expected. we've also been told that some local people have even offered to host families who may wish to come to the site. but it will take a very long

time because you saw in my report the state of the plane the plane really torn to shreds. there is nothing that could be recognized as a plane. if you bear in mind what happened to the plane you can imagine what happened to the bodies of the people inside. we'll be looking at medical experts dna experts. forensic experts to try to put a name on each of the passengers. there was the flight manifest, families to have closure. they'll want to know and be able to bury the remains of their loved ones. >> of course, thank you very much, jacky rowland for us. still ahead libya's government has been pressured to peace. also, cuffed in front of the cameras, why two high ranking ukrainian officials were arrested during a televised cabinet meeting.

>> the stream, >> your digital community >> you pick the hot topics and express your thoughts the stream it's your chance to join the conversation only on al jazeera america >> welcome back. let's take you through the top stories at this hour. houthi rebels take over the city of aden. president hadi's exact whereabouts are unknown. the leaders of spain germany and france meet where the jet passenger crashed killing 150 people. they were able to recover the voice recorder and said they

were able to extract information from it. the other black box casing that records the flight data has been found but not the device itself. people have been killed in a large explosion in afghanistan's capital. it happened just 24 hours after the u.s. announced a slowdown in its troop withdrawal from the country. jennifer glasse is in kabul. >> reporter: the explosion happened in the very center of kabul not far from the presidential palace near the ministry of finance and just outside of a major police station, police strict number 2. the dead and injured were mainly civilians heading home from work. the blast happen just before sunset during the evening rush hour here. i saw two very damaged vehicles being taken away by police, it comes just a day after ashraf

ghani met with president barack obama, and grayed that the forces will remain in afghanistan, 10,000 forces will remain in afghanistan threw the end of this year. that's a slowdown in the u.s. withdraw. the united states was expected to pull out 5,000 of its forces at the and end of 2015. but ashraf ghani convinced them that they could use the help through the end of this year. what will happen in 2016 still remains to be seen. but in the face of what president ghani expects to be a very difficult fighting season, he said his forces could get all the help they can get. >> nigeria will close its sea borders from midnight wednesday to midnight sunday. it will allow for peaceful elections. nigerians have been praising for possible sectarian violence during the polls this

weekend. president good goodluck jonathan will face stiff opposition, we go to the city of jofs. >> some dance on the streets of jos,. behind every step here there is a serious message. the rejection of violence this weekend. >> this is done peacefully. no killing of anybody. >> this city known for ethnic and sectarian violence. >> jos is made up of different ethnic groups. deadly clashes have erupted here since 2001. the conflicts rooted in disputes over access to land, power and

jobs almost always take a religious turn. yet the city was once known for its peaceful coexistence between muslims and christians. here a muslim is married to a christian woman for the last 45 years. he blames politicians for the conflict. >> if you have nothing to give your followers morally educationally, health wise, an empty-head politician. tension has been high ahead of the elections. these other men are trying to diffuse these tensions. the leaders of the two men in jos.

>> i worry a lot. so i pray. and then i try to engage in dialogue. like we have done before with the chief imam with the dialogue, the peace center. >> if we want to elect but no case of religious incite. >> for now they preach peace everywhere. they hope their call will be heeded and this time jos will ahead peace over conflict. >> egypt's president el-sisi addressed ethiopia's parliament. the two groups are trying to improve relations. on monday egypt ethiopia and sudan signed an agreement in the fair news of the nile water

between the three countries. two governments battling it out in libya both the legally installed government in tripoli and it's rival based in tibruk has welcomed an u.n. proposal. here are some of the details of what could be a landmark deal. the draft proposal calls for the formation of a national unity government. a presidential council will look over the implementation of the agreement during the transitional period. peace talks may be taking place outside of the country but inside libya fighting rages on. we spoke to the human rights director inside libya he said it's not just a human rights violation, but there is a humanitarian crisis on the rise. >> many of the abuses are associated with the fighting. there are several conflicts

taking place at the same time in various parts of libya with its associated abuses such as attacks on civilians people are abducted. sometimes simply because they belong to one side or the other. prisoners being for for sured. we want to appeal to these militias particularly to the commanders and political leaders who have influence on them as well as any countries outside of libya that has leverage on these groups. of course, my colleagues in morocco are negotiating to achieve a political agreement but also we need pressure for these abuses to stop. >> the trial of two al jazeera journalists in egypt has been adjourned until april 22nd. mohamed fahmy, baher mohammed have spent 400 days in jail with their colleague peter greste, now accused of aiding the banned

muslim brotherhood, charge that they and al jazeera deny. the decision was made after witnesses for the prosecution took a the stand in a hearing last week. two top ukrainian officials have been arrested during a televised government meeting. ukrainian police officers entered the meeting and handcuffed the emergency chief and his deputy. they are under suspicion of extorting bribes. a series of mudslides in the peru highlands. the region's highways are blocked. themariana sánchez has this report. >> panic in the town, people running every direction not knowing where to go. >> there is an alert right now. authorities are telling people they have to leave because there might be another mudslide coming this way. >> this woman and her children run for safety.

they're terrified. they can hardly catch their breath. >> they say the reservoir has collapsed and the water is heading this way. >> the police guide residents to go up the hill. >> we're telling people to go in that direction. >> but then calm returns. a police patrol rolls by saying it was a false alarm. residents here are on alert way into the night carrying shovels and picks as people begin to clean up debris. they are afraid some homes on the ravine left by a passing mudslide might collapse. >> look at the hole it's made. seven meters deep. power lines are down in other areas. >> a series of powerful mudslides destroyed dozens of homes and vehicles in the eastern region in central peru.

to save their lives people ran and climb on trucks as the water levels from the river rose. rescue teams are sending tents and blankets for the victims. in some areas drinking water is cut off. power lines are down, and several people are still missing missing. government authorities say the main food supply root for the capital will be blocked for at least five or six days. police and army units have been deployed in the region. dozens of trucks remain stranded throughout the night. they say the alarm is far from over. >> this has happened before, and with all the rumors we're hearing we are alarmed. >> many like him remain on alert alert. forecasters say that torrential rains will continue to fall during the week leaving this area especially vulnerable to more mudslides.

marianne sánchez. >> the world's fifth biggest food and beverage company. they're buying kraft foods. the $10 billion deal comes as kraft battles sluggish sales amid customer food taste changes. >> in central myanmar is a landscape rarely associated with subtropical countries. harvest time is over, and workers prune the plants for the next season. once the rainy season starters it will be hot and humid and

fungus could destroy crops. but there are other factors that make growing grapes here viable. >> there is plenty of sunshine, and this is the most important part for high quality of red wine, and for white wine there is another important issue that means the cold nights that we have here in the mountains. >> but lack of a winter season means the plants produce two crops a year. so labor is needed all year round. the cost of labor is cheap but that dos not does not mean producing ryan is inexpensive. they have to import materials which drive up the cost of production. that can come up to more than double of what it costs in europe. things like machinery right down to glass bottles and corks are imported. but wine makers still believe in the industry's potential. mainly because consumption is on the rise. change in income means a change

in habits, and it has brought a surge in numbers. >> it will bring in businessmen visitors our volume has doubled, and therefore the wine consumption, the beer consumption has also doubled. >> a quick survey around the restaurant those an appreciation for myanmar wine. >> very nice wine. >> this wine surprised me because the flower. >> the government has recently announced it will allow local companies to import wines. the prospect of competition does not worry wine makers here. they're more concerned with keeping up with growing demand. myanmar. >> and top british tv presenter geremi clarkson has been sacked from his role "top gear." the bbc found that clarkson

provoked an attack on a colleague. www.aljazeera.com is where you need to go: hi, i am lisa fletcher and you are in the stream. >> the first two years of community college free. >> the president goes social for his community college program plan. what's the pay off, though, for taxpayers footing the bill? plus, from government-funded tuition relief for a sugar daddy. a new way young women are paying for college raises some eyebrows. and this artificial intelligence goes where only the movies once did, dozens of prominent scientists and (accucapnt trial version) investigators warn that more