hello, everybody. you're watching breaking news from cnn. i'm john vause. >> and i'm zain asher. it's 8:00 in the morning in yemen where saudi led strikes have been going after rebel targets right now. >> more on that in a moment. but we begin with our other breaking news. a new development in the crash of flight 9525. data from the cockpit voice recorder shows one of the pilots was locked out of the cockpit before the crash according to a report in "the new york times." >> the paper reports that you can hear he is trying to smash down the door. we don't know why one of the guys went out, but the other

pilot is alone and does not open the door. we are learning a little bit more about the nationalities of many of the victims of flight 9525. the list is still not complete, but germanwings ceo says they come from at least 18 countries. most were from germany, which had at least 72 people on board, and spain which had 49. there were also passengers from argentina, australia, belgium, denmark, iran, israel, japan, mexico, the netherlands, the united kingdom, the united states, and also venezuela. the information could change as authorities begin to identify the remaining victims. >> an entire town in germany is struggling with the loss of sons and daughters, killed on their way home from a school trip. >> reporter: overwhelmed by pain and sorrow, many coming to the makeshift memorial are in tears, mourning the loss of 16 students

and two teachers. they were close to the victims. >> i knew all of them. they were all in my grade, and two of them i was very close. yeah, there was one good friend of me also, and we already planned things for the future, what we're going to do when they return from their trip. >> reporter: the school has identified the students and teachers who were killed, publish thing death notice on their website, and leaving of the town's young people fighting the agony. >> i think it's very important to be together with them, so everyone could support each other and say that everything is going to be fine somehow, although nobody thinks so. >> reporter: people here say they were devastated when they heard that flight 9525 had crashed and saw the images of the impact site in southern

france. emergency psychological counselors are here all the time, providing help to those that need it. as the town continues to mourn and grieve and more and more people come here to the sea of flowers and candles, people here are also demanding answers. they want to know how it can be that so many of their friends and loved ones were taken from them so violently as they were returning from their school trip. but for now, officials are asking for patience, as the investigation continues. city hall has been turned into a crisis center. the mayor running the operation clearly moved by the events. >> ummm, i am here and i can talk with people and -- with the parents and the brothers and sisters. the only thing that i can do is to be here. >> reporter: back at the school, that help is appreciated, but

clearly it will take more time of the people of this town to overcome the disaster that has hit their community. >> search crews have recovered the first human remains from the crash site. helicopters airlifted those remains out of the area. erin mclaughlin has more for us now. erin, they recovered the cockpit voice recorder. we know that because of word from "the new york times." they're still searching for the flight data recorder. are they concerned it may have been destroyed? >> reporter: hi, john. i think that is a concern. we know they found the casing for the recorder, but the record e itself is still missing. the ceo of lufthansa says there's a high probability that they will eventually find the recorder. the question, of course, what condition it will be in when and

if they do. it can take months to analyze data from such a recorder, but that's being seen as a key piece of the puzzle right now, especially a time when there are more questions than answers in all of this, in light of media reports, citing sources close to the investigation that the cockpit voice recorder indicated that one of the pilots was locked out of the cockpit prior to the crash. a source is saying that you can hear the pilot trying to smash down the door. it was unclear why he left the cockpit. also unclear why the remaining pilot wasn't opening the door. so far, publicly, investigators have been saying that they're in the process of analyzing the cockpit voice recorder information, listening to the noises and sounds and voices on that recorder, and they have not publicly divulged any conclusions. john? >> erin, can you explain the process here? the terrain is so treacherous,

helicopters can't even land. once they get down there, they begin the gathering of the debris and the bodies. this is a slow and methodical process. >> reporter: it's a slow and pain staking process where the crash happened. it's in an extremely remote area, accessible only by air. they're having to drop emergency workers onto the crash site. the terrain is so steep, that the workers are tethered together as they try and map the area, which is what we understand they have been trying to do, trying to assess how the plane made its impact where the important parts of the plane are. so far, they're not removing wreckage from this site, but we understand from french media reports that they have been in the process of removing some of the bodies, very important identification process. it's so important to the families. john? >> what plans are they making for the relatives on board that

are expected to travel to the region? >> reporter: we know that today several flights have been organized via lufthansa, which is the parent company of germanwings. they're going to be flying in relatives, as well as friends of the victims from barcelona and dusseldorf to marseille. from marseilles, they're expecting around 400 people to be bussed into this area. they're planning on eventually taking them as close to the crash site as possible so that they can see where their loved ones perished. and there are plenty of preparations in the area, as well. they're setting up several centers. local residents have offered up their homes. so really there is a sense of camaraderie here, and the french president yesterday assuring that they're going to do everything that they can to not only solve this mystery, but

also provide closure for the victim's families and friends. >> erin, thank you. we're about an hour away from first light where you are, an hour away when that search resumes. erin mclaughlin live for us. >> and fortunately the weather is getting a little better, but there will be winds later on in the day. now to breaking news in the middle east, where saudi arabia has launched military operations against houthi rebels in yemen. as the country teeters on the brink of civil war. >> the use of force is always the last resort, and it is with great reluctance we took this step along with our partners in the gcc countries. we have a coalition of over ten countries that will participate in these operations to prevent yemen from falling at the hands of the houthi. >> the saudi owned tv report

reports that egypt, jordan, morocco, pakistan have declared they want to help in this campaign. and saudi arabia will contribute 100 planes and 150,000 soldiers to the operation. the houthis have opened fire on saudi jet fighters near the capital. >> and there are conflicting reports about just where yemen's president might be. some believe he has left the country. but a saudi source speaking to cnn maintains as of wednesday, he remains in yemen. earlier i spoke with a journalist who is in the yemen capital. >> a massive explosion shook all the houses. each person who heard the explosion -- so the same explosion happened in other areas.

yemenis are worried if this is a short term thing and where should they go? >> what are the options here for the houthi rebels who control most of yemen's military, do they have the capability to strike back? is there any way they can take action against the saudis which are carrying out these air strikes? >> they threatened they would invade saudi arabia if they were attacked. by the end of this week, we'll see houthi forces to invade saudi arabia on the land. they will proceed in some areas. [ inaudible ] so it's going to be a long week. we hope that it's not bloody.

>> the saudis are taking this action now because the houthi rebels have taken over the vast majority of the country and we believe the president may have fled, even though that's yet to be confirmed one way or the other. >> right now, the president has fled, but what's going on right now is whether hadi is there or not. right now, there's a risk of families losing loved ones. you hear the explosions in the streets and outside. [ inaudible ] >> hakim was this, and we could hear the explosions in the background because these air strikes have been continuing around the clock for the last few hours. hakim is a reporter there. he believes that he saw and his sources were telling him that

the yemen president had left the country. so we are being told by saudi sources he is still in the country, but no one has seen him. >> the big question is, what is being done by the saudis or the united states, if they get involved later on to protect him from those rebels. when we come back, a major breakthrough in the crash of germanwings flight 9525. we'll speak with an analyst about what the cockpit voice recorder has reportedly revealed.

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welcome back, everyone. we are following two major developments in the crash of germanwings flight 9525 in the french alps. "the new york times" reports that one of the pilots was locked out of the cockpit before the crash. the newspaper sites a senior military official familiar with what's on the cockpit voice recorder. >> also, search teams have recovered the first human remains from the crash site. helicopter crews have airlifted the remains out of the area where the plane went down. lufthansa, which owns germanwings, says it's looking into that report by "the new york times." the ceo says tuesday's crash represents the darkest hours in the company's history. >> we cannot understand how an

airplane, which was in perfect technical condition, with two experienced and trained lufthansa pilots, was involved in such a terrible accident. >> for more now, let's turn to scott hamilton. he joins us live now slowa skype from seattle, washington. we heard this report that apparently one of the pilots was locked out of the cockpit minutes before the crash. i want to get your reaction to that. >> well, the fact that the pilot goes out of the cockpit, probably went to the bathroom, that's pretty standard. what is really puzzling here is why there may not have been a flight attendant that went into the cockpit after he left. that's standard procedure here in the united states. and i don't know what lufthansa's policy is, butted a a flight attendant gone in, she could have let him back in. >> obviously we don't know what

happened in that cockpit. we don't know if it was either the pilot suddenly felt ill or if it was something more sinister than that. but in terms of security, what can be done to make that situation of pilots leaving the cockpit and one other pilot trying to come back into the cockpit, what could be done to make that safer? >> well, the pilot who was outside the cockpit does have the ability to enter a code to come back into the cockpit. now, that ordinarily would work, but if there's what's called an override thrown, basically a double lock, he can't get back in. as i understand, the airbus also has a further safety feature to prevent what is interpreted by sensors to be a forced entry. so if the pilot was pounding on the door, the system may have decided this was an attempted intrusion and locked him out that way, too.

the safety would be that flight attendant in the cockpit who could open the door in the event that the remaining pilot decided he didn't want to do that. >> as investigators listen to the information on the flight data recorder, we know apparently from this "new york times" report at least one of the pilots was banging on the door trying to get in. but if indeed it was silent for the last eight minutes inside that cockpit, how do investigators then begin to piece together what may have happened? >> they would have to piece it together in terms of what happened as that first captain exited. you might hear some switches thrown that would activate that override. this is why the location of that flight data recorder becomes so important, because that will tell the investigators what controls were manipulated, what

the settings were for that flight control system. so they would want to sync that up with what they hear in the cockpit voice recorder. if by chance the co-pilot had a medical seizure of some kind, maybe they would hear him groan or slump over. so that's why the voice analysis becomes so important. >> of course, so many questions, especially because there was no distress signal. and also the plane descended in a very controlled manner. so a lot for the investigators to dig through. scott hamilton, live for us there in seattle, washington. thank you. explosions are rattling the yemeni capital, as saudi arabia launches a military operation. why the saudi government says it's time to act. a u.s. soldier accused of abandoning his unit on the battlefield is now charged.

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saudi jet fighters. >> the saudi ambassador to the u.s. says a ten-nation coalition is supporting this operation, and the saudis will contribute 100 planes and 150,000 ground troops to the operation. >> meantime, there are conflicting reports, however, about the whereabouts of yemen's president. a saudi source speaking to cnn senior international correspondent nic robertson maintains that he's still in yemen. >> u.s. coalition planes are helping iraqi forces take back the city of tikrit from isis. iraq's prime minister announced on state tv, we have opened the last page of the operations. >> he ordered iraqi forces to take back tikrit earlier this month. they've been working with iranian backed militia, but their efforts have stalled recently. analysts say retaking tikrit could provide momentum to taking

back mosul. >> u.s. army target and former taliban p.o.w. bowe bergdahl has been charged with desertion. >> he disappeared from the battlefield in afghanistan in 2009 and spent five years in captivity. now he could spend the rest of his life in prison. here's our barbara starr with more. >> reporter: sergeant bowe bergdahl released by the taliban after being held captive for five years, could face imprisonment at home. the army now charging him with desertion, and "misbehavior before the enemy. two of the most serious counts in the military justice system. bergdahl will now face a so-called article 32 proceeding. the military equivalent of a grand jury. the next step could be a full trial. >> possible confinement for life. >> reporter: but securing a desertion conviction could be tough.

desertion requires evidence he never intended to return. >> desertion would imply that he would actually be working with the enemy and that he had a preconceived plan to go and join enemy forces. so that's going to be a lot more difficult to prove. >> reporter: especially difficult, given what national security adviser susan rice said after bergdahl was traded for five senior taliban prisoners who were held at guantanamo bay. >> he served the united states with honor and distinction, and we'll have the opportunity to learn what has transpired. >> i miss them, and i'm afraid that i might never see them again. >> reporter: just hours after u.s. commandos got bergdahl back in exchange for the so-called taliban five, president obama appeared in the rose garden with bergdahl's parents. >> he wasn't forgotten by his country, because the united

states of america does not ever leave our men and women in uniform behind. >> reporter: but bergdahl's former team leader saw a very different soldier. >> he did talk about how he did not agree with the war effort in afghanistan. >> reporter: some of his former teammates could be called to testify at a trial. some believe several soldiers lost their lives looking for bergdahl. >> i believe the fact of the matter is, when those soldiers were killed, they would not have been where they were at if bergdahl had not left. >> reporter: barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. now to oklahoma where one person has died and an untold number have been hurt, and parts of the state reduced to rubble. >> this after violent weather spawning several apparent tornadoes struck on wednesday. derek vandam joins us live now with details. derek, we have some video that's just frightening of these tornadoes. >> you would not want to see

that barreling at you anywhere. unfortunately, it was ground zero across central portions of oklahoma. look as we zoom into the region the line of thunderstorms that fired up. you can see moore, oklahoma, and tulsa, seven tornado reports. there are severe thunderstorm watch boxes in arkansas and southeast oklahoma. the severe weather threat is slowly starting to diminish. we are monitoring these storms closely, but we have had a very quiet tornadic season so far across the united states. normally, we would receive about 80 tornados through this time of the year. we've only received about seven from this latest round of storms. unfortunately, moore, oklahoma also received quite a bit of damage from this storm. if you recall, they have had

three very destructive tornadoes within the past 15 years. so a bit of unfortunate luck for those guys. >> okay, derek, thank you. search crews are waiting for day light to requme their work in the french alps. plus, remembering the victims from all walks of life. people all around the world will have their stories coming up. stay with us. i bring the gift of the name your price tool to help you find a price that fits your budget. uh-oh. the name your price tool. she's not to be trusted. kill her. flo: it will save you money! the name your price tool isn't witchcraft! and i didn't turn your daughter into a rooster. she just looks like that. burn the witch! the name your price tool, a dangerously progressive idea.

welcome back, everyone. you're watching cnn. i'm zain asher. >> and i'm john vause. let's take a look at our breaking news right now. the saudi news reports say the country is committing 100

warplanes and 150,000 troops to a coalition fighting houthi rebels in yemen, including pakistan, sudan and egypt. >> the objective is limited to defending and protecting the legitimate government of yemen and preventing its collapse to the houthis. and we hope that the wisdom will prevail among the houthis and that they will become part of the political process rather than continue their radical approach to try to take over yemen and destroy it. >> meantime, there remains confusion about the location of yemen's president. saudi sources told cnn as of wednesday night, he was still in yemen. other reports say he had in fact fled the country. let's give you more now on the other top story.

the crash of germanwings flight 9525. "the new york times" reports that one of the pilots was locked out of the cockpit when the plane went down. they cite a senior military official who was familiar with the information on the cockpit voice recorder. earlier, i spoke with richard quest. listen. >> we don't know the whole story of this, and it's all hinging in some sense on "the new york times" report, and this military official that's leaked the details, supposedly, from the cockpit voice recorder. it also depends, zain, on the procedures. not only by airbus and the equipment on the plane, but of germanwings. i ole give you an example. first of all, was the door locked because it was part of the normal procedure or was it locked because when the other pilot came out, the one remaining wanted to lock it? secondly, why didn't a flight

attendant go into the cockpit as many airlines do? and thirdly, post mh-370, there was this view that a pilot should never be alone in the cockpit for the simple reason either they could have a heart attack or drop dead, or b, for the nefarious option. so as it's been portrayed so far, you have a situation where there's a pilot out of the cockpit and for whatever reason, he can't use the emergency code to get back in again, and the pilot inside has locked him out. >> just quickly, if they do get their hands on the flight data recorder, what does that change? we know one of the pilots was presumably locked out. what does the flight data recorder change? >> it shows how the descent was initiated. it shows what inputs were made. was it straightforward, it gives you a lot more information. but the cockpit voice recorder frankly will tell us a huge

amount. for instance, why didn't the captain or whichever pilot was inside, why didn't they respond? was it because they didn't want to or because they couldn't? >> so many questions. we'll have to leave it there. richard quest, thank you so much. >> and search crews have recovered the first human remains from the crash zone. helicopters have airlifted those remains out of the site. >> nic robertson is at the staging area in the french alps and as he reports, the search process is slow and it certainly is difficult. >> reporter: ropes, harnesses, recovery teams and equipment. this no straightforward crash recovery. high in the frechnch alps, only helicopters can only get to the

site to drop in investigators by rope. this lady lives here, heard the crash, knows the mountains as well. >> in fact, it's behind here. you see? it's a very small valley, very close. >> reporter: helicopters in the air all day. priority recovery of bodies. slow, as none can be moved, until remains are documented. [ indiscernible ] >> reporter: each helicopter one step closer to recovering the bodies of the victims from the mountainside. this now a race against time. concerns are that the weather is closing in. that rain, even snow could be coming, hampering investigators, as well. air accident and criminal investigators taken into the mountains, too.

not just the cause of the crash in question, but responsibility for the deaths. the french president led the german chancellor and the spanish prime minister to inspect the results so far. merkel, whose nation lost at least 72 citizens aboard flight 9525, and the spanish prime minister, who lost 49 nationals. slow, somber, and respectful as they met the recovery teams. it's unprecedented that these free leaders should come here together to review the recovery and come here so quickly. it speaks volumes to the international grief that's being felt. in coming days, it will be families of victims who will be arriving here, searching for solace. it may take time. these mountains in no hurry to offer up their secrets.

nic robertson, cnn, france. >> if all, there were 150 crash victims, and they're being mourned now across europe and beyond. >> tay came from all walks of life. a total of 18 different countries. here's our anderson cooper with some of their stories. >> a moment of silence for the opera singers in barcelona where they had performed in a classic german opera. both singers were returning home to dusseldorf. 34-year-old maria was born there. and on the plane with her husband and 18-month-old baby. oleg, 54 years old, was part of a german opera company based in the city. they both are internationally known singers. the opera world mourning the loss of the performers, professionally and personally.

>> i broke the news to the ensemble. i summoned everyone to the stage, and i told them the tragic news and they were stunned. people started crying. so we just couldn't go on with the rehearsal. >> three americans were also on board the flight. two of them mother and daughter. emily, a recent college graduate, was traveling with her mother, yvonne. emily recently worked for a company that provides office spaces. emily's distraught father said the two loved traveling together. the family called them two wonderful, caring, amazing people who meant so much to so many. another pair of family members traveling together, carol and

her son greg from australia. they were on holiday together in europe. 29-year-old greg wanted to find a job teaching english in france. carol just celebrated her 68th birthday on monday, the day before the crash. the family of carol and greg said they were in deep disbelief and crippled with sadness. >> they will forever be us in our hearts, memories and dreams. >> maria was on her way home to the uk. she was traveling with her 7-month-old baby, julian. marina bought their airline tickets last minute. she just wanted to get home as soon as possible. paul andrew bram bli spent a few days in barcelona with friends and was on his way home to the uk. he was about to start an internship next week. his parents said he was a kind, karg, and loving son.

he was the best son, his mother said. he was my world. also on board the plane, 16 students and two teachers from the same high school in germany, returning home after a week in spain for a spanish language exchange program. the headmaster said he first hoped the students missed their flight, but then received the news all were on board. the community left stunned. not to be focusing, again, on my moderate my goal was to finally get in shape. to severe chronic plaque psoriasis. so i finally made a decision to talk to my dermatologist about humira.

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urinary tract infection, and headache. take charge by talking to your doctor about your oab symptoms and myrbetriq. find out if you can get your first prescription at no cost by visiting myrbetriq.com saudi arabia is committing 100 war means and 150,000 soldiers to fight rebels in yemen. this has been going on for a number of hours now. >> the saudis are leading a association of roughly around ten countries, including several gulf nations, to take back parts of yemen in the control of houthi rebels like these. u.s. officials say the united states can help with intelligence and logistics, as well. >> want to bring you the latest video. you can hear the saudi offense in the capital. listen to this.

[ gunfire ] [ explosions ] >> this is coming to us from the saudi owned television. you can hear the shots being fired, the rapid succession of gunshots are anti-aircraft firing at saudi jets. you can also hear what appears or what sounds like automatic weapons fire, as well. and also the sound of explosions in the distance too. we know that the capital has been rocked by a number of strikes over the past few hours. saudi arabia's military has already struck military targets in yemen under houthi control. earlier, i spoke with lieutenant colonel rick francona. >> this was a very well orchestrated and executed

campaign. they hit multiple targets in multiple cities. they even named the campaign resolute storm. the targets they hit are good, military targets all over the area, and the air base where the american special forces were. i have to say, john, i don't think that the saudis have the capability to develop these targets on their own. so i assume there's a lot of intelligence cooperation going on between saudi arabia and the united states. >> colonel, what happens next? that's the big question, the houthis are backed by iran. do they strike back, do they have the capability of a ground incursion into saudi arabia? >> well, they do, but it would take away from what they're doing now. they've devoted all their force structure down to the south, so i don't think they ear going to try any ground incursions against the saudis. i think the saudi air strikes are going to continue.

we know that they went after good targets but we don't know how effective they are. we won't know that until daylight. >> when you look at what's happening right now, is this going to be a couple days, a couple weeks? >> i'm saying at least a week. that's just a guess. i have no real information on that. but the fact that they've given it a name and said they're going to do whatever they can to restore the legitimate government, that's not going to happen in one night. >> can this military action help isis and al qaeda in yes, ma'me? >> that's a very good point. >> colonel francona there, we appreciate his thoughts. we'll continue to follow this breaking news and bring you the latest developments. zain? more now on the other top stories. lufthansa says it's looking into

a report in the new york times that one of the pilots was locked out of the cockpit when flight 9525 went down. the sun is slowly coming up over the french alps this morning where crews will resume their difficult and dangerous work. crews recovered the first human remains from that crash site on wednesday. >> this is going to take some time, because of the weather and the difficult terrain there. derek van dam has been looking at the challenges. >> we have a narrow window of time, about 24 hours, before another weather system moves in from the united kingdom. you can see a cold front dropping south. again, this is the southeastern portions of france where the crash site occurred. one thing's for sure, the crews on the ground and the crews in the air are risking their lives as they move forward with this recovery effort for many reasons. they are not only flying into a ravine, that's a marrow 250 meters wide, they're also traversing landscape that looks

like this, extremely difficult and very steep terrain. this also gives the possibility of rock slides. of course, this is the spring season in this part of the world. so we have fluctuating temperatures. that means expansion and contraction of the rocks, making those rocks very compromised and destabilize. this would be a difficult recovery effort in dry weather, let alone the possibility of rain and snow. it won't be nearly as strong as what they experienced 24 hours ago, but one thing they are concerned about is the strong winds that will move across this mountain range. regardless of where the prevailing winds come from, in mountain ranges, it creates little rotations. that will make flying into this narrow ravine very dangerous for the helicopters to stay the least. here's the forecast. you can see the cold front

dropping south friday morning. but it's really the winds i'm concerned about. right now this narrow gap of time, about 24 hours, the winds remain light. but friday, wind gusts could exceed 50, 70 kilometers per hour. john, zain? >> they still have those strong winds to contend with. we have more now on the search for clues in the crash of flight 9525. >> and also a look at what lessons history may hold. >> reporter: the mystery of germanwings flight 9525 still unfolding. investigators hoping the plane's cockpit voice recorder, damaged but found, yields significant clues into the plane's final moments. >> you have acoustic experts that you can hear every click, you can hear the sound of the autopilot going off. you can hear them moving in the

chairs. you can hear any sounds of crashing, cracks, decompression would be a very loud sound. and if they had smoke or fire in the cockpit, they will say so on the recording. >> reporter: in 1996, black boxes also helping investigators piece together twa flight 800. >> the jet liner that went off of long island -- >> reporter: the plane's pieces gathered and put together, helping investigators determine an electrical short circuit caused the blast. >> i think the national transportation safety board got it right. >> we continue to bring you the latest. >> they found nothing. every lead proved false. >> reporter: then there are the planes that just disappear, like flight 370. not one single piece of debris

found. >> mh-370 remains the only one out there missing, and the only one that there's just no way at this point to officially solve it. but in small planes, in private planes and general aviation, person on-demand aviation, planes going missing every year. >> reporter: just like a boeing 727 which vanished in may of 2003 after taking off from angola heading to west africa. at least one person on board, the jet's lights off, the transponder not working and the plane's whereabouts still a history. going even further back to 1945, when five navy bombers blue into the bermuda triangle and never came out. adding to that mystery, there's no trace of the rescue planes sent to find the missing bombers, either. and then the fate of amelia earhart.

78 years and endless number of searches and theories later, her whereabouts are still unknown. alina machado, cnn, miami. >> one of the reasons why air travel is so safe these days is despite the mysteries, the vast majority they work out what went wrong and learn from that and put those changes into place, which is why air travel, despite what it may seem to be, is incredibly safe. >> after 9/11, we began to see reinforced cockpits. but that might prove to be a problem in this case. >> take a short break. we'll be right back.

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and they'll even call your old provider. it's easy. even she could do it. whatever, janet. for all the confidence you need td ameritrade. you got this. welcome back, everybody. before we go, "the new york times" reporting one of the pilots on germanwings flight 9525 was locked out of the cockpit when the plane crashed. citing a senior military official, the cockpit voice recorder indicates the pilot left the cockpit son after reaching cruising altitude. when he tried to get back in, there was no response from the other pilot. germanwings parent company lufthansa says there's no information on "the new york times" report. but they're looking into it. saudi arabia says it's backed by a ten nation coalition in its campaign against houthi rebels in yemen. saudi owned tv says the saudis plan to use 100 planes and

150,000 soldiers. the operation began wednesday as rebels captured the port city of aden and the air base evacuated by u.s. special forces. there are conflicting reports about the whereabouts of yemen's president, but a senior source says as of wednesday night, he's still inside yemen. okay, everyone. that does it for us. we'll have live reports on these unfolding stories in the coming hours. >> our coverage will continue with rosemary church and errol barnett after a short break. you're watching cnn newsroom. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com we're reinventing inhow we do business, so businesses can reinvent the world. from pharmaceuticals to 3d prototyping, biotech to clean energy. whether your business is moving, expanding or just getting started... only new york offers you zero taxes for 10 years with startup ny, business incubators that partner companies with universities,

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