>> the fight for yemen moves to the potter city of aden. it's airport becomes the new battleground. this is al jazeera live from london. also coming up. the u.s. joins iraq's defensive and venezuelans are restricted to one day of food shopping a week.

>> hello houthi rebels are inching closer to the city of aden request gunfire on the outskirts of the city. a spokesman for has told al jazeera that they would intervene. and saudi arabia has started to amass troops on the border. >> it shocked many people that houthies have advanced this far shout, ties yemen's third largest city, especially the locals. every day this week they chant for the rebels to leave. >> we swear that we'll drive out all houthies ateach them a lesson they'll never forget. >> houthi fighters reply 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 those who are meant to be keeping the peace joined the houthies. these forces are said to be loyal to yemen's long-time ruler ali abdullah saleh who was hosted during the up rising and now backs the houthies. people here are no longer sure who they can trust. the houthies started as a small unit fighting for autonomy into a larger force. in september it took over the capital sanaa. president abd rabbuh mansur hadi escaped to aden in the south and it's in the south that most of the fighting is taking place right now.

the tribe here says they're protecting their region against the rebels. >> right now the houthies are fanning out across the country. they insist that 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 houthis with guns tanks, and

ammunition. al jazeera. >> tell me we've had reports that the airport was taken by the houthies, then it was recaptured by forces loyal to president hadi. how come it has gone on so quickly. >> the form deposed dictator saleh is propagating a war of misinformation. if in the news the whereabouts of the minister of defense, it's obvious now that we're getting news that they're still fighting there. so there have been those left by the former head of the special security forces. they were left in airport, in aden airport. the fighting was there so some of them tried to stage the taking of the airport and were

beaten now. and the same thing happened of the air base, and it's back in the hands of the president's group. >> this seems to be fast-moving. >> we can't understand how there would be in aden on the front line how is it still in the forces. >> what about saudi arabia. they've begun to amass troops on the border, and nevada' asked--the yemenis have asked for the--thank you the former head of the saudi intelligence

he has mentioned, and he was also at the british parliament, he said that it would prove that the gcc have got to intervene. this was a week ago. it seemed that things were going that way but i think they are a little bit late. with the president stage as comeback, especially it was the houthi's lines towards the saudi arabia where they could be around that corner between saudi and yemen. >> thank you for your thoughts on the subject. thank you. >> iraqi forces have restarted to take the city of tikrit from the islamic state in iraq and the levant. this time with the help of

airstrikes. iraq asked u.s. air support for its stalled operation to recapture saddam hussein's hometown. iraqi forces and shia fighters backed by iran have been trying to push isil out of tikrit for the past three weeks. >> let's get more now from tom ackerman. tell us more about the scale of this operation. >> well, u.s. officials have been very sparse in their description of the scope of the operation saying that american air support for both in terms of both surveillance for advise and assist operations and operations themselves, there are reports from the field that they have been heard from the city of tikrit, and heavy explosions have also been heard over the

past few hours and the administration here does not give an indication of how long these will continue. all they did say was that these are targeted strongholds of isil with the purpose of supporting the iraqi forces who are trying to end this three-week-old operation to capture the city. so far as you said it's been stalled for the last week. they stressed this was at the behest of iraqi prime minister al abadi, who made a statement similar to that on iraqi television earlier. >> tell me, you mentioned that the operation had been stalled. was there a delay in getting the americans to join in on this operation or was it a logistics thing where they would carry out the reconnaissance? >> as we understand it, until very, very recently the iraqis had resisted asking for that kind of help.

and of course, they've acknowledged that they're getting help from iranian elements, particularly to the point of having been spotted the head of the force. and the americans are stressing all of these operations are done with no coordination whatsoever with iran. this is a very unanswer balance between the coalition forces which are trying to say that this is not a joint operation in any degree whereas the iraqi government, the central government is saying that they had not been emphasizing the iranian participation and in fact we're hearing quotes from the shia militias who are fighting for the government force who is are explicitly saying they do not want support or help from the americans.

>> thank you very much, indeed. >> air crash investigators say they still don't have a slightest crew of what caused the plane crash in the french alps on tuesday, but they've been able to extract useable audio from one of the flight recorders. leaders from germany and spain were flown in to show their support. 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 need to understand what happened. we must do so. we owe this to the families of the victims and the countries involved in 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 the area of equivalent of eight football fields. shards of twisted metal. nothing that can be recognized as a plane. it may take weeks for investigators to investigate the whole of the crash site. it's still unclear to determine what caused the plane to plunge from the sky. but this black box may hold some clues. it's the voice recorder from the plane's cockpit. >> there have been some difficulty reading the data, but it is great we have found this. we have been able to extract some information from it, but it is a little bit early to say what happened. >> reporter: 150 people were on board the aircraft at the time of the crash. no one survived. retrieveing and identifying the bodies is a grim and painstaking 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. >> darkness has descended on day two of this search operation during which the casing of the flight's data recorder was found but still no closer to answering answering that crucial question, why a well-maintained plane with experienced pilots in good weather would crash into these mountains killing all on board. al jazeera. >> still to come this half hour, heinze will buyout kraft. what it means for the world's best known food brands. and with permanent climate on their side, myanmar's wine makers look to branch out. >> sunday. you know his music

but what about the man? >> i was given a gift. >> up close and personal. behind the scenes of the biggest hits... >> she was a troubled girl. >> brightest stars... >> kids don't want to "own", they just want to "play". >> and the future of music. >> the record business is in trouble. >> every sunday night, >> i lived that character. >> go one on one with america's movers and shakers. >> we will be able to see change. >> gripping. inspiring. entertaining. talk to al jazeera. sunday, 6:30 eastern. only on

>> houthi rebels appear to be closing in on yemen's president in the yemen's southern city aden. the houthies have now captured its airport. that is how been retaken though, by other fighters loyal to the president. leaders of spain germany and france travel to the french alps where the germanwings plane crashed on tuesday killing 150 people.

>> over the board isil fighters are said to be among rebel forces pushing assad troops from the world heritage site. the battle has been raging for days. they have listed it as an endangered site since 2013. >> the two governments battling it out for control of libya have resumed peace talks in the morocco capital rabat. it after so many years of upheaval and fighting libyans hope that peace may finally be within their grasp. but there is little trust between the factions still struggling for power. >> yet more casualties of war. people of misrata continue to bury their men.

two brothers, and their cousin, these men died fighting groups affiliated with the islamic state in iraq and the levant. but libya has another war front one where libyans are killing each other. misrata is part of the libyan dawn coalition which believes their rivals are linked with muammar qaddafi's regime. >> we are still facing groups from the old regime, and also we're fighting groups and we are still insisting that we'll finish out but we are offering our hand in negotiation. >> the future of libya is at stake. these university students grew up under a dictatorship. they fought for freedom but after that libyans failed to unite. >> we want security. we want our country to be like any other. we have been dieing in the thousands. every day we lose someone because of the war.

>> people here are hopeful the rifle factions will be able to reconcile and agree to a deal at u.n.-brokered talks in morocco but they also say that bringing peace on the grouped may be the real challenge. >> if there is an agreement in morocco against libyan dawn and operation dignity the question is can it be implemented? this is because these groups have been at war. we don't trust each other. not one group can control everything. >> clearly there is a mistrust and deep divisions that have allowed groups like isil to gain ground. >> reporter: peace and security is what libyans want. a lot of blood has already been spilled. libya has been at war with each other since the fall of the regime of muammar qaddafi. there is a dangerous power struggle in this country. none of the factions have been able to rule this country alone. now they're asked to share power an end the conflict that has caused so much pain and suffering. al jazeera.

>> talks between world powers and iran every its nuclear program will resume on thursday. negotiations are deadlocked last week and there are only days left before the deadline. >> reporter: lausanne in switzerland, the place where iranian and u.s. diplomats hope there will be a breakthrough in the long-running negotiations. seven different delegations will again be gathering in this venerable lake resort town. john kerry spent all week here, secretary kerry knows critics in the u.s. congress are circling, and that his window of opportunity to get a deal may be closing. mr. zarif also has critical voices at home, hard liners who oppose any deal. analysts say the stakes are high. >> the domestic political pressure that both sides are feeling have not receded in

anyway, shape or form. as they continue to reach closer to that march 31st deadline, the pressure has only increased. i think you're only going to see a sense of urgency that perhaps we haven't seen before. an perhaps some greater flexibility that we haven't seen before. like any soccer or football match the craziest things have the propensity to happen as you approach the 90s minute. behind closed doors the talks have made some progress, building on months of earlier negotiations. one of the main sticking points is sanctions, iran wants them all lifted as soon as possible. but the current array of e.u. u.s. and u.n. sanctions took many years to put in place. the u.s. is pressing for what it calls snap back provisions, a way that sanctions could be quickly reinstated if iran violates the terms of any deal. among the international delegations negotiating are iran, france is known to be the

most hawkish almost certainly because of this, israel's newly re-elected prime minister benjamin netanyahu sent a delegation to paris earlier this week. he's strongly opposed to the sort of deal currently under discussion. here in lausanne they know that's a view also shared by republicans in congress, the ratio gulf arab gulf nations. john kerry addressed this in his speech during the talks. >> a viable, realistic alternative on the table, i have yet to see anybody do that. >> when secretary kerry and foreign minister zarif meet again they will be well aware there will be a coalition of interest that all want to destroy the agreement they're working so hard to try to reach. james bays, al jazeera,

lausanne. >> the u.s. soldier held by the taliban forify for five years has been charged for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. he was captured in 2009 and released last year during a prisoner swap. he could face life in prison if convicted. two food giants, heinze and contract foodsand kraft foods will merge to come the fifth largest food and beverage company. the deal was organized by heinze owners it will see heinze shareholders own 51% of the new company, and kraft will have a 49% stake. let's speak now to economists

who join me from washington, d.c. tell me, when these big merger happen, people say it will be bad for consumers. do you think it will be bad in this case? >> well, it could be good news for the consumers. it's certainly good news for these two companies because they're going to help each other. heinze will use products from kraft, and kraft will take advantage of the international exposure that heinze has that kraft doesn't have because it sells mostly in the united states. talking about the consumers my guess is they're going to try to reduce the cost but not in every product. the pre-package, the processed foods that most people don't want any more because there is a perception that they're unhealthy, these are the kinds of food prices that will, you know go down, be lowered. hour, if they come--however, if

they look more organic, look healthier, those products, i think, are going to be more expensive. it is still a lot to say and a lot to talk about this, but i think they're going to be as in any acquisition losers and winners. >> when they talk about cost savings, that could mean job losses, couldn't it. >> yes generally, and you're right, in mergers this is an opportunity to get rid of a percentage of your staff without having to deal with employment loss. because generally you cannot fire that amount of people without having to respond to this kind of loss. but in a merger you're perfectly okay of that capacity to say that the company just certain areas of the company or relocation geographically, you don't need so many employees any more and that's an opportunity

to keep the ones you want to keep and get rid of the ones you're not so happy with or the ones not needed any more. lows are the losers. >> do you think they'll go ahead? because sometimes these mergers are scrutinized aren't they. >> sometimes the united states will look into the antitrust laws. they want to make sure that the antitrust laws--they don't protect the individual competitors, but they protect the competition laws. they want to make sure that this new company is not going to have this market power that will reduce production, increase prices and have too much control in this kind of production. so maybe. i don't think this is an issue because they don't have competing products but instead products that compliment each other, but yes i'm sure the u.s. is going to look into that. >> thank you very much, indeed,

for talking with us. >> you're welcome. >> supermarkets in venezuela introducing sweeping new measures to reduce food shortages. >> we have reports from caracas. >> they have introduced a new system to try to curb food shortages and the hours-long queues that effect the country. venezuela can limit their shop to go one day according to their i.d. for example, on a monday, people who's i.d. ends with one or two would be allowed to buy the items that have gone scarce, milk sugar or even flour. they will also introduce fingerprint scanners. these fingerprint scanners will control what they call speculative shopping or hording. the idea is to basically stop what has become a rampant

contraband problem with people shipping out close to 40% of what the country imports across the borders to brazil and columbia and even by water to the caribbean. those with i.d.s ending two and three have hit the jackpot. they have come to the supermarket to discover two of the items that have gone missing from most shelves, soap and fabric softener. >> nigeria will close its borders ahead of presidential elections. they have clospresidential opposition has accused of not finishing secondary education. boko haram took children and teachers and used them as human shields when fighters were forced to retreat. myanmar is not widely known for

its wine. that's something that vineyard owners want to change. florence lee reports on a growing industry. >> up in the slopes in central myanmar is a land shape rarely associated with subtropical countries. harvest time is over and workers have pruned the plants for the next season. care must be taken. once the rainy season starts 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 most important part for high quality of red wine, and for white wine there is another issue important issue that means the cold nights, which we have here in the mountain. >> but the lack of a winter season means the plants here produce two crops a year. so labor is needed all year

around. the cost of labor is cheap but does not mean that produceing wine is inexpensive. they have to import raw materials which drives the cost of production. that could be double what it costs in europe. machinery and right down to glass bottles and corks are imported. but wine makers still believe in the industry's potential. it's consumption is on the rise. growing disposal income means a change in drinking habits and there has been a surge in numbers. >> businessmen will come in, as well as visitors, our volume have doubled and the wine consumption, the beer consumption has also doubled. >> a quick survey reveals an appreciation for the wine.

>> this wine magnificent. >> this wine surprise me because of 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. one of the most violent areas in the country. this is el diamante ranch - it is here where the remains of 31 people were found a month ago. the bodies were dumped in a mass grave just below this house. those who were killed are believed to have been held here after they were kidnapped. only a few of the bodies have been identified. kidnappings have increased dramatically in mexico over the