' een found damaged but usable. it could hold vital clues as to why the german wings plane went down. both washington and paris seem to be ruling out a terrorist attack. 150 people were on board that flight, and many other families are now on their way to the crash site. three days of national mourning getting underway in spain and vigils are being held outside of the german school of the 16 exchange students and the teachers who lost their lives. genie: the search mission is

underway at the site where the plane went down in a remote part of the french alps tuesday morning, killing all 150 people on board. there was no distress call before that crash and no communication with air traffic control in a minute before the plane went down, leaving many questions still on just what happens. one of the black boxes, the cockpit voice recorder, has been found damaged, but apparently still usable. here is more from the french interior minister. french interior minister: this blackbox was found by investigators on tuesday afternoon and was immediately sent for analysis. the black box is damaged and it will have to be reconstructed in order to give us information on what happened in this tragedy. genie: that's the french interior minister. the area surrounding the crash site is located in a very rugged and remote part of the outs reachable only by foot.

more now on the difficulty facing the search teams there. reporter: pieces of the plane are strewn on the steep slopes in the ravine. where the plane crashed, located at a relatively high altitude of about 2000 meters. >> it is very hard to reach on foot, even for the military. the locals helped them reach the location. there is debris everywhere. you have very steep and rugged slopes. reporter: it took investigators hours to reach the crash site transported on the scene by helicopters and led by mountain guides. a widespread and tricky terrain to investigate. >> the wreckage is scattered over an area that i originally thought covered about two hectares, but which is actually close to four hectares on a very

unstable slope. it is similar to consolidated glacial debris. a 200 meet -- 200-meter height difference over 500 meters or 600 meters. reporter: specialized teams have been deployed to the site. despite all the manpower and technical expertise investigators face a long and difficult search and recovery operation as they maneuver in and around the rough environment. genie: the german foreign minister is already in the house. he-- the alps. he was flown over the crash site yesterday. german chancellor on jericho -- german chancellor angela merkel is going to the crash site today, along with some of the families of the victims. the plane was on its way to duesseldorf when it went down. reporter: the düsseldorf airport is fine to raising -- resume

business as usual. the crash from yesterday is still on everyone's mind. german chancellor angela merkel will travel to the site to pay her respects. a few dozen were waiting for the plane to arrive here yesterday at noon. it is thought around 50 were treated by grief counselors and specialists at the airport throughout the day. they stayed overnight in local hotels. they will no doubt receive more counseling today. the cause of the crash is still unknown. a german c -- german wings ceo said that he had hoped the cause would be discovered as the first part of the plane had been recovered. genie: that report from düsseldorf. one germantown in particular was touched by the crash, the town of haltern which is mourning the loss of 16 exchange students

who were killed in the flight along with their teacher. reporter: shock and grief in haltern, as the small germantown comes to terms with the loss of 18 of his residence in tuesday's put -- tragic plane crash. >> the relatives first heard the news in the media. when the plane didn't land and they were unable to make contact with their friends and classmates by phone, that's when they assumed the worst. reporter: among the victims, 16 high school students and two teachers. they were on their way back from an exchange program in spain. mourners gathered together outside the school tuesday evening, leaving flowers and lighting candles as a way to pay their respects. >> the town is totally silent. nothing is happening anymore in town. everyone is in total shock. i feel with them. i ache with them. reporter: haltern's mayor said a

team of counselors and psychologists had been dispatched to care for the victims' families. >> as you can imagine, people are in shock. i think many haven't really grasp what happened. -- grasped what happened. i think the grief will come back of it later for them. reporter: a town in greece and the nation in mourning. in total, 67 german citizens were aboard the germanwings airbus to be flight that crashed -- german wings'flight that crashed in the outs on tuesday. genie: in the southeastern french alps, ben what's the latest from there so far? ben: i spoke to the spokesman from the french interior ministry, who told me that the rescue operation had resumed at the break of day. as we have heard before, this --

the location of the crash is extremely remote. i am staying in a small resort in the alps. it is about 20 minutes by car then you have to walk three hours to five hours to get there. i spoke to one of the doctors who will probably go on location who told me it will be extremely difficult to identify any of the bodies. they will have to use dna analysis. body parts will be brought here. the families will have the opportunity to see what remains of the body, if they wish to do so. genie: ben, it is just such a horrific story on so many levels for those families. many of them are coming to the town where you are. what is being done by the people there to make this terrible trip as comfortable as possible for the families of these victims? ben: well, first and foremost,

this is not a large ski resort. we are talking about a small village in the alps. people are trying to make way for them. we have been evacuated from the area to create a proper headquarters for the rescue operation and to set up a location for the families of the victims that will be coming here , that will probably be brought here by bus, although that is not confirmed yet, in order to make sure they are not harassed or annoyed by locals or even by journalists. the families are -- there is a whole unit of psychologists to help them, to make sure they can grief as easily as possible. -- can grieve as easily as possible. there is a church where members of families will be able to get together. we are still expecting the visit of francois hollande, german chancellor angela merkel and

mariano rajoy. genie: thank you for that report, not far from the site of the crash with 150 people on board. you are watching "france 24." let's look at some other stories. close to 500 women and children have reportedly been kidnapped in northeastern nigeria. residents of the town say that boko haram militants came back after it was freed by international troops from niger and troops. they say around 50 people were killed and hundreds more taken away. in yemen, antigovernment forces have captured a major airbase near the residence of the president, just days after u.s. military personnel were evacuated from there. yemen's president is asking the un security council to pass a resolution that would allow international military action against the houthi's.

they are continuing to the town of aden where hadi and his government have fled. reporter: down to protect their president, -- vowing to protect their president, dozens arise. -- arrive. there is chaos. >> we came to aden to carry out our duties. under the orders of the president hadi. reporter: on tuesday, dozens were injured. protesters oppose the weekend takeover of the town a strategic victory for the houthi as they move farther south. as yemen edges ever closer to civil war, the embattled president called on the u.n.

in a letter tuesday, he asked the security council to pass a resolution to authorize regional allies to fight the iran-backed shiite rebels together. arab states have said they are ready to take action. >> we hope that this can be done peacefully. if it is not done peacefully, we will take action to protect the region from the aggression. reporter: saudi arabia is becoming -- it is building up forces along its border with yemen, raising fears the conflict in the impoverished country could spiral into a proxy war between iran and saudi arabia. genie: now in the united states, the planned troop withdrawal from afghanistan will be slowed down. president barack obama is hosting the afghan president in washington now. ashraf gunny is due to aggress

-- ashraf ghani is due to address congress. the original plan was to cut the number by around half. also on tuesday, barack obama commented on his differences with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu over the israeli-palestinian conflict. president obama said it is not personal, but based on fundamental policy differences. president obama: we continue to believe that a two-state solution is the only way toward a long-term security of israel, if it wants to stay both the jewish state and democratic. i indicated that, given his statements prior to the election, it is going to be hard to find a path where people are seriously believing the negotiations are possible.

we take him at his word when he said that it wouldn't happen during his prime ministership. that's why we've got to evaluate what other options are available. genie: meanwhile, in israel itself, benjamin netanyahu is expected to be forming the next coalition government as official results of the march 17 vote are published. they will be delivered to the president, who will give the member of parliament selected to form the next government an indication to do so. prime minister -- the prime minister's party won 30 out of 120 parliamentary seats. and in singapore, people openly wept in the streets and lined up to pay tribute to founding leader lee kuan yu. his body is now lying -- lee kuan yew. his body is now lying in state.

he died after half a century in government. singapore was turned into one of the world's richest societies. he was criticized for ruling the city state with and i am faced and for restricting free speech. i'm genie godula here in paris. reporter: there was nothing unusual for the congress. the president was reelected for a four-year term. he ran unopposed for his presidential rain -- reign. he posed the importance of a healthy and strong relationship between them. >> do not believe everything you hear. we europeans want a strong fifa, a fifa that is respectable and respected. fifa will always be the sport's

ultimate governing body. certain people have tried to turn us against each other trying to divide and isolate the supposedly arrogant and selfish europeans. again, do not believe everything you hear. we know we are in a privileged position. we know we make mistakes, not necessarily better than anyone else. however, you should know that we are willing to work with you hand-in-hand for the good of the 209 national associations worldwide and for the good of fifa. reporter: the three candidates opposing sepp blatter in the fifa presidential election. the brazilians have landed in paris ahead of their thursday evening. the five-time world champions have right of six consecutive victories -- have racked up six consecutive victories. the midfielder is dreaming of

perfection. >> for me, it is a dream come true. i get the same feeling each and every time i represent my country. in brazil, all the kids would love to be in my shoes. on top of that, we are playing against france, who are great opponents. there is a special rivalry between us. we have only played against them once and we lost 1-0 in 2011. reporter: remembering the 3-0 defeat in the 1998 world cup final in the same stadium, even though he was just a young boy at the time. >> all i can remember was being very sad. i was seven years old. i followed the games played by brazil. the french team was a great one. they deserved to win on that day.

times have changed. we are about to play a great game and get the win this time around. reporter: he will be just behind the brazilian forwards. one of the strikers will be name are -- be neymar, who recently took over as team captain. >> it is logical that the leader -- i am now the leader of the team. i am lucky to have the opportunity to play alongside him. he always had that winning mentality. reporter: brazil and france have met on 15 previous occasions. today, they will be looking to restore the win on thursday night. tuesday was stage 2 of the pedal in northeastern spain.

tom was part of a fou-man -- four-man break away with the palatine -- pelaton a long way back. the real action was just about to get underway. just two kilometers later. the spaniard took on his teammate in a bunched sprint. he tipped rojas on the line and a polish rider retained the lead. the second leg of the euro cup quarterfinal. two points for the turkish host

wnet -- went to an 8-point lead in the first half. it was a topsy-turvy quarterfinal. 75-71, and they will play in the s emifinals. reporter: hello and welcome to the "web news." coming up on today's show, web users come out in support for angelina jolie. the latest viral fundraiser sweeping the u.s. and another round of amazing trick shots. web users have been posting under the #germanwings hashtag

sharing thoughts and feelings following the plane crash in southern france. dozens of politicians, like french prime minister manuel valls and his spanish counterpart manuel rajoy have taken to twitter to offer their condolences to the family and friends of those aboard the airbus operated by german wings. american actress angelina jolie has had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, a preventative measure about cancer. she shared her news of last week's operation in "the new york times." she had already undergone a double mastectomy two years ago to cut hurt chance of -- her chance of breast cancer. a lot of people have taken to social media with messages of support for angelina jolie. posts applauding her bravery, a

lot of web users saying she is an inspiration to women with cancer everywhere. angelina jolie has been praised for releasing her news in the media a move that will help raise global awareness about preventive surgeries for cancer, and ovarian cancer in general. and this was, in fact, why she published the article. she said she wanted women to find out more about the different types of cancer and the treatments, screening, and preventive measures available. the twitter challenge --

participants placed opposite ends of the twizzler in their mouths and re-created the scene from disney's "lady and the tramp." this new viral fundraiser is proving very popular in the states. well-known faces have followed suit like two of the stars from tv show "girls," lena dunham and allison williams. hundreds have shared their clips on twitter. some have added a comical twist like this man who puckered up with his pooch. they're hoping it will enjoy the same success as the ice bucket challenge, which raised funds

for progressive regenerative disease -- neurodegenerative disease. over $1 million were raised. if you've always wanted to visit india's taj mahal, you'd better get a move on. the famous white marble palace may well be closed to the public over the next five years because of pollution. this document looks at places to see before they are gone. take a closer look at dailyin fographic.com and learn how venice may well be underwater in less than 70 years or that the dead sea could disappear within 50 years. a 73-year-old russian woman has always loved french songs. in this video, she is singing.

the video racked up some 500,000 views on facebook and even reached the eyes and ears of the singer, who said he would like to meet her when he performs in the russian capital. he said he would reduce the price of concert tickets so more senior citizens could attend. here is the latest offering from the guys at the collective, pulling all manner of trick shots. backwards. see it on the dude perfect youtube channel. south african surgeons had to call in reinforcements to carry

out a very delicate procedure a teen's transplant -- a penis transplant. the patient, a young 21-year-old man is doing well. he can use his organ to urinate and even father children. >> the penis transferred -- transplantation was performed on a young man who had a bad complication. this happened at the age of 18. he is now 21 years old. reporter: the penis was taken from a donor who had passed away in a high-risk procedure that is illegal in france. >> technically a penis transplant would be quite simple to carry out. it is not legal in france for ethical reasons. the patients must undergo heavy forms of treatment.

it will lower his immune systems for the rest of his life and exposing to infections, even cancer -- and expose him to infections, even cancer. reporter: if penis transplants areq?q?q?q?q?