They were backed by affirmrmored units. Militiamen overran the capital. Last week rebel aircraft attacked the president s palace in aden reportedly forcing him to flee again. The rebel forces have offered a reward of about 100,000 for anyone who captures hadi. The Yemeni Government has asked the arab league for military support. Saudi arabia had earlier massed military forces along the border with yemen. U. S. Forces are now backing up iraqi troops in the key city of tikrit. Their warplanes began launching air strikes against Islamic State positions. A white house spokesperson says they remained on the sidelines until now, waiting to be asked for assistance. In response to a specific request from Iraqi Security forces the United States has been providing isr support to the Ongoing Mission in tikrit. So isr stands for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. A coalition of shiite militia, Iraqi Security forces and Iranian Military advisers have been struggling to retake the city. Pentagon spokesperson steve warren indicated iraq was initially optimistic about their campaign in tikrit. He said u. S. Led Coalition Military support is indispensable in defeating Islamic State militants. Searchers have been scouring the steep slopes of the french alps where a german passenger jet crashed. Theyve found the planes voice recorder but not the flight data recorder, which only deepens the mystery behind the cause of the crash. The head of frances air Investigation Agency revealed the cockpit voice recorder is damaged but not beyond use. We just succeeded in getting ingting an audio file which contains usable sounds and voices. The airbus a320 was operated by lufthansas budget carrier germanwings. It was en route to dusseldorf from barcelona. There were 150 people on board. The head of the Investigation Agency said the debris at the crash site is not characteristic of a plane that exploded in flight. He said the debris is scattered in a relatively small area suggesting the plane hit the ground and broke apart. French president francois hollande, german chancellor Angela Merkel and spanish Prime Minister marian a e rajoy, gathered near the crash site. They offered encouragement to police and fire officers taking part in the search operation. They also met family members and relatives of the people who were on board the jetliner. Translator france will do all it can within its power. The investigation is making progress progress. Reporter investigators are trying to find out why the aircraft unexpectedly lost altitude about 30 minutes after takeoff. The plane was flying at 38,000 feet. It descended for eight minutes and lost contact with the control tower after reaching an altitude of 6,000 feet. Search workers suspect the plane may have crashed into the mountainside at high speed. They say the fuselage and other parts are broken into small pieces and are scattered over a wide area. Authorities plan to resume the operation as soon as daylight returns. Japanese government Officials Say two of their citizens were on the flight. Both are men who live in dusseldorf. One is believed to be g. H. Sato. He works for a tokyobased trading firm. A spokesperson from his office says sato was heading back to dusseldorf as a business trip in spain. Translator hes a polite determined and gentle person. Everybody in the office trusts him. He says the company is sending staff to france to gather information. A group of 16 German High School students was also on the flight. They were returning from a weeklong Exchange Program near barcelona. Classmates and parents gathered at the school. Translator the town is stunned into silence. Everyone is shocked. Translator this is a small town and people know each other. I cannot believe the news. They lit candles and said prayers. Its time now for the latest in Business News. Securing Stable Energy supplies has been a top priority for japan since the Nuclear Accident in 2011. People here are now looking at other sources of energy. Ai uchida joins us now from our business desk with all the details. Good morning ai. Good morning, catherine. Since the disaster as you know all Nuclear Power plants in japan have been offline and the country has become more and more dependent on thermal power. That relies on supplies of crude oil. Many people want to make japans energy mix more diverse and they think natural gas holds a lot of promise. Trading firm Sumitomo Corporation and tokyo gas have tied up with a u. S. Energy firm to jointly work on a plan to produce liquefied natural gas. Workers have started building a plant in the u. S. State of maryland to export lng to japan. Japanese and u. S. Company officials attended a groundbreaking ceremony in maryland for the plant. Its expected to cost more than 3. 3 billion. The aim is to export 2. 3 million tons of gas a year starting from the end of 2017. Tokyo gas and the Kansai ElectricPower Company are expected to purchase the natural gas produced at the plant to use it as fuel. Translator japan will increasingly rely on liquefied natural gas. Most of it now comes from the middle east. This project means that japan will be able to secure a stable supply from the United States. The plan is to export 17 million tons of natural gas a year. Thats about 20 of japans annual consumption. Now lets check in on markets. We saw further losses on wall street. Investors were disappointed by worse than expected durable goods orders. So they sold off key sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial average falling 1. 6 to 17,718. The techheavy nasdaq suffering its biggest decline in nearly a year. Dropping more than 2. 3 . To see how markets here are starting the day lets go to ramin mellegard. Hes at the tokyo stock exchange. What happened on the u. S. Markets and what should we be looking out for here today . Quite a lot for investors to take in there, ai. Apart from the fuel in durable goods orders you that just mentioned to 1. 4 in february there was also a selloff in the biotechnology sector also in the chiprelated sector which pushed the nasdaq down 2. 37 , and also we did see a loss in the transport sector after crude oil prices actually rose which weighed on a lot of transport sector shares. But lets have a look at how the nikkei and the topix are reacting to all of that and its pretty negative start. I can tell you for this thursday march 26th. The nikkei down 3 4 of a percent. The nikkei on wednesday yeah on wednesday actually added. 2 , close to 15year highs, but of course were still shief that 20,000 level we started approaching on monday. But since then of course Global Equity markets have taken a bit of a step back since recent record gains. Were going to keep track of shares in related sectors that move heavily in the u. S. That i just mentioned but also of note here in japan a lot of investors are looking to lock in some of the shares which may go which will go ex dividend tomorrow meaning if they dont buy them now theyre not going to get any of their dividend payouts and a lot of Japanese Companies have tried to sweeten the pot so to speak by raising dividend payouts for the fiscal year which ends in march. A lot of activity in that sector as well domestically. Ai. And ramin, going back to the weaker durable goods orders, we also saw a weaker dollar helping u. S. Exporters, of course but not the ones here in japan. Exactly. The weaker dollar of course helping exporters in the u. S. But weighing oengs porters here. 119. 4750. Right now dollaryen. And with a recent soft yes tone taken by the Federal Reserve as well as weaker data, analysts say it may lay the ground for a delay perhaps in raising irpt rates in the u. S. Thats a big focus as well for a lot of investors. Ai. And that seems to be clear from moves in bond yields as well. What can you tell us about that . Exactly. We did see that in relation to the tenyear treasury note. The yields initially fell. It rose a little bit later on the impact of slower demand for the fiveyear treasury note. And interestingly, some fed officials such as chicago fed chief Charles Evans has even come out and said inflation remains too low to justify a raise in rates this year even. Now, were going to keep track of oil and energyrelated shares, which may rise on the back of that rising crude benchmark. But as i said on the flip side transport sector shares may be hit. Also here in asia well see if the shanghai composite can regain that positive momentum after breaking a tenday winning streak it had hit sevenyear highs before it traded lower yesterday. Well see how it trades today. Thats all for me. Back to you. Thanks a lot for that update. People in japan are spending more and eating better when they go out for a meal. Sales at major restaurant and fast food chains rose in february for the first time in three months. Officials at the Japan Food Service association say revenues were up 0. 9 from a year earlier. Sales at fast food chains fell 5. 7 . Mcdonalds japan saw business drop after a series of foreign objects were discovered in its meals. But Family Restaurants and other chains saw their sales rise, and they say individual customers spent more. Thats all for now in business. Ill leave i with a check on markets. Every morning investors turn their attention to asia. The tokyo market leads the way. And markets around the world follow. From the decisions that could change the course of an economy. To the companies at the forefront of change. Uptotheminute market reports. And analysis by specialists from around the world. Get all the latest Business News and insight every day here on newsline. Its a season of transition for japanese students. The school year changes between march and april. But many of them are facing more changes than usual. As their schools close for good. Nhk worlds emmy yonezu reports. Reporter students at seika elementary in nara gather to sing their school song one last time. Seika has a history of more than 140 years. But authorities have decided to shut it down because there arent enough children in the area. Next month the pupils will have to travel four kilometers to get to class. Translator i have many memories. I dont want to leave this school. Translator i want to say thank you to our school. Reporter its the same story for this high schoolita on kyushu island. Many former students attended the closing ceremony. Translator we are very proud of our school. All of you graduates have built traditions before us. Reporter japans declining birth rate is taking a toll on schools. Government statistics indicate that over the last 30 years more than 5,800 Public Schools have closed. And nurseries are no exception either. Mama. Reporter this one in the city of suwa in nagano is the heart of the community. People came to take a group photo. Translator i will miss them greatly. Reporter residents see the closures as symbolic of their shrinking communities. But they hope the future of these children will be bright. Emi yonezu, nhk world. Officials with the maritime selfdefense force have added a new piece of equipment to their arsenal. Theyve taken deliver yif japans largest ever destroyer. Nhk worlds mitsiko mishikawa has the story. Reporter sdf commanders held a ceremony to mark the delivery of the new ship called the qismo. It arrived at the pier in yokohama. The ismo is about 250 meters long and has a displacement of nearly 20,000 tons. Its deck is as long as an aircraft carriers and can accommodate five helicopters landing and taking off at the same time. It cost about 1 billion to build. The ship is comparable in size to the aircraft carriers of the u. S. And other countries. Translator the izumo will allow us to deal with multiple concerns. And that will allow us to be able to make a greater contribution to both International Peacekeeping and Disaster Relief operations. Reporter japans defense policy prohibits the sdf from operating socalled aggressive warships. Officials stress that the izumo is different from similar vessels in the navies of other countries. They say, for example, it will not be used to launch fighter jets. The sdf already has two destroyers in the same class as the izumo. Commanders have been conducting drills on those ships with helicopters and osprey transport aircraft. The izumo will be stations south of tokyo. It will be deployed for patrol duty after a halfyear training period. Mitsuko nishikawa, nhk world, tokyo. A search and rescue operation is under way to find the missing crew members of an Indian Navy Surveillance aircraft that crashed into the sea. The aircraft crashed into the sea off the Western State of goa on tuesday after take off from goa on a routine training flight. One crew member was rescued but two others are missing. It is the latest in a series of accidents for the indian navy. In august 2013 18 sailors were killed when a submarine caught fire at a dockside in mumbai. In another accident two crew members died when smoke swept through a submarine off the mumbai coast in february last year. The navy chief at the time resigned to take responsibility. The causes of these two accidents have not been identified. But local media blame them on the navys lack of Operational Capability and its aging submarines. The Indian Government plans to reinforce its navy as china increases its presence in the navy. Some of the best fishing in the world can be found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean around japan. These waters account for about a quarter of the global fishing industry. The fish are there but japan lacks enough people to bring them in. In the past 60 years the number of japanese fishermen has plunged by 75 . Nhk worlds yo sachltsuke tokoda reports on whats being done to lure young people to the sea. Translator not good. Translator the catch is about a third of last yearing. Reporter the city of hagi is accompanied to good catches but this year the abalone has been disappointing. On the half the usual amount. One possible reason is fewer people are fishing sea urchins. With no one to bring the sea urchins in their population builds up. That means more hungry sea urchins to consume seaweed. As a result abalone and turban shells have lost much of their food source. Translator the old fishermen are retiring and no one is taking their place. Reporter an expert discusses the problem this causes. Translator the elderly fishermen were the ones who caught sea urchins. But most of them have stopped working. That has set off a negative chain reaction. With less seaweed available, the catch of luxury resources such as abalone and turban shell become smaller. Reporter fishing associations around the country are struggling to stay afloat. 18 of them went out of business during the ten years leading up to 2012. The coop in zushi near yokahama means to avoid that fate. It has been taking out advertisements to appeal to potential newcomers. Translator before children of fishermen would become fishermen. It was rare that anyone else would join. We cant rely on that anymore. We need to make our case through advertising. Reporter ayakaku joined up after responding to an ad. Shes 35 but has no experience in the industry. A Training Session sponsored by the coop took her through the basics. Translator i learned how to make a net, remove fish from it, and how to cast it. For me, the Training Session was essential to being able to start doing the job. The town is another place in need of new recruits. It depends on critical mussel personnel. Traditionally each fisherman would go out on his own boat. These days, five ride together. This reduces the burden on the older ones while cutting fewer expenses. Translator for me, this was a good change because im getting up in years. Reporter the projects also gives young people an opportunity to learn from experienced hands. The policy of working together attracted six newcomers to the coop. Most are in their 30s and 40s. Translator if i had been on my own, i dont think i would have been able to do it. The older fishermen teach me a lot, and i have a lot of fun. Every day is fulfilling. Reporter thats the kind of catch that the Industry Needs if its to make the most of what the ocean has to offer. Ryosuke tokuda, nhk world. As weve been reporting, search crews have been scouring the french alps where a german passenger jet crashed. The crews have been proceeding while dealing with unsettled weather. Meteorologist robert speta joins us with the latest. We are seeing at least for now some improvement in the conditions out here i know the past 24 hours, weve been seeing the storm system. You can see it on the satellite imagery. Its swirling just toward the east of the crash site, so what you have been reporting is some widespread showers, definitely in the Higher Elevations there has been some snow out here. Rain is still a threat. Thats also contributing to the threat of avalanche, even rockslides. But the good news is it will clear up the next 24 hours. The lows pushing toward the east. Unfortunately, what we are seeing is not so much of a weakening with the storm system, so were still looking at a High Pressure gradient, so even though the showers are going to be tapering off, youll see some in the Early Morning hours on thursday but for the most part friday and saturday partly cloudy skies, but the winds will be picking up. Any helicopter support getting into the mountains out here you may have to deal with some turbulence. Outside of that, though, definitely much better conditions than what we were seeing on wednesday. Now, as far as that storm system, as i mentioned, its not over yet. Its still tracking toward the east so, parts of italy, even over toward the balkan peninsula, youre going to be seeing the threat of Severe Weather. Even some heavy rainfall which has already been reported toward the south. Large hail and even some tornadoes very well possible. Especially the ones close to shore. This is still an ongoing weather situation. Talking about the heavy rains, i do want to take you to the southern hemisphere. Were in the height of rainy season in brazil, by the way. What we have been seeing over the last week or so, is actually some very heavy rainfall. This is the past seven days of total precipitation. Based on satellite imagery, 300 to 400 millimeters has been reported in some areas out here. That has been causing some fairly significant flooding, not only for parts of brazil where we have been seeing some fairly incredible images coming out of but even over toward the west in chile, northern chill yeerks you have been seeing some flooding. In peru a very dangerous landslide took place. This is something were going to talk about actually a little bit later on more so because of the heavy rain taking place. Back to the north in the americas, Severe Weather kicking up, actually on tuesday, look at this storm system, brought some large hail with it. Now on wednesday, to the afternoon and the evening hours, were seeing another convective cell really flaring up here. A few supercells embedded within that. And what we have actually is one report of a tornado, several tornado warnings currently in place, severe thunderstorm watches under way, and the big issue with this the reason why we have all this weather as i mentioned, its spring its transition season. So you have the cold air off toward the north, but the warm air, that wants to get in. So you get this battle zone that sets up and that brings the threat of Severe Weather but as this tracks toward the northeast its also going to bring the thunderstorms off to the northeastern states but behind it that cold air spilling in and theres a reason why we call this a cold front. The longer you have those thunderstorms but its the front end of a cold air mass. Take a look at that in nosh. 13 down to 5 by saturday. Buffalo new york below freezing. And washington, d. C. A major change in the forecast there for you by saturday. Only 6 for your high. Well below average. Lets see whats going on in east asia. Im going to have more on this later on. The coming weekend is absolutely going to be looking beautiful in northeast asia. Temperatures are on the rise. Beijing with a high of 20 there. By your thursday. And tokyo, youre going to be into the mid 20s heading into your saturday. Ill leave you now with your extended outlook. And that wraps up this edition of newsline. Im Catherine Kobayashi in tokyo. Thanks for joining us. Today asian voices comes to you from lahore pakistan. An activist trying to protect the rights of many. Hina jilani is fighting to improve human rights in pakistan for more than 30 years. It was here in pakistan that Malala Yousafzai who shared last years nobel peace prize