german police searching for clues, raiding the home of the co-pilot who's believed to have crashed the germanwings plane deliberately. plus, details about what happened inside the cockpit in those final moments. then, lufthansa's ceo speaks exclusively with cnn about whether or not the co-pilot was fit to fly. hello and welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm george howell. >> and i'm natalie allen.

this is "cnn newsroom." and again, we begin with the investigation of germanwings flight 9525. the co-pilot accused of crashing the plane on purpose. that's him there. killing all 150 people on board. his name andreas lubitz. he was just 27. >> and according to flight transponder date a&e reprogrammed the plane's autopilot and changed the altitude from 38,000 feet to just 100 feet. the jet then crashed into a mountain about ten minutes later. >> in the french alps search crews have yet to find the plane's flight data recorder. they are battling steep terrain and swirling winds as they try to recover human remains. very few have been recovered. >> the big question for investigators and really everyone looking at this case, trying to figure out a clear

picture of exactly who andreas lubitz was. they just recently searched his apartment in dusseldorf on thursday. >> they are also looking for clues in his parents' home in the town he used to hang out we're told when he was a bit younger at a gliding club. diana mag nay has more for us. >> reporter: the house where andreas lubitz's parents live in the german town of montabaur shuttered and guarded by police. investigators the only ones granted access. we were told the grandparents lived in this nearby house, but they're unwilling to speak about the man french prosecutors say may have deliberately crashed flight 9525. i ask if they're relatives. "no, thank god we're not," they say, getting into a police car. "we're just trying to get away." but gliding was clearly a passion for the young lubitz. between the ages of 12 and 14 lubitz was a regular fixture at this gliding club on the outskirts of montabaur, where a

senior member described him as a regular kind of teenager, one that was committed to following his dream. >> translator: a very normal young person full of energy. what can i say? he had a bright future. he made his hobby into his job. what more can you hope to achieve? >> reporter: germanwings said lubitz had 630 hours of flight time behind him, that he'd trained at the lufthansa academy in bremen. but lufthansa's ceo told journalists there had clearly been some kind of a break. >> translator: there was an interruption with regard to the training, and after then the candidate managed to go through he continued his training. he then also passed all medical tests, all flights examinations, and all checks. >> reporter: whether that break holds the key to this horror we

don't know. the clues from the black box as to lubitz's psychological state as the plane went down simply that he was silent but breathing. as the pilot knocked desperately on the cockpit door. diana magnay, cnn, montabaur, germany. >> this hour cnn is covering all angles of this story. our complete team coverage with rosie tompkins, who is live in the co-pilot's hometown. erin mclaughlin is at the crash site in the french alps. and our meteorologist derek van dam is standing by with how high winds may have hampered the recovery. >> so first let's go to rosie tompkins. she is in montabaur, germany, where investigators are searching for answers and i'm certain this town must be overwhelmed by what it is now going through. rosie. >> reporter: hi. yes. another town in germany now in shock that this young man, this 27-year-old man accused of deliberately crashing this plane. they are of course alarmed by this news.

local people, neighbors, residents have described the family as a good family, an upright family. the family home is behind me here where we believe lubitz grew up with his parents and we believe a brother. we understand his grandparents also lived here. so this was a family engaged in the local community. and you know, what people have been saying here is we mustn't forget in all of this to think of lubitz's parents as well. they are dealing with the grief and shock of the loss of their son and they like other families victims set off yesterday thinking they were going to france to grieve the loss of their son only to discover on arrival it was their son who was heard in that cockpit breething eerily silent when the plane crashed and now accused of killing all these people. people have spoken about him here as a polite young man, a normal young man. he was known by people at the local flying club when he was a teenager. let's listen to what one of the people there had to say about him. >> translator: andreas was a very nice young man who got his training here and was a member of the club. he was a lot of fun.

even though he was perhaps sometimes a bit quiet. he was just another boy like so many others here. he was well integrated, and i think he had a lot of fun here. >> reporter: just another boy like so many others. again, apparently normal. no clues there. and the police desperately searching to clues to give us? information as to why lubitz would have wanted to do such a thing. >> are they saying, rosie, how long they plan to be there and be in the family's home? it must be very difficult for them. >> reporter: yes, i mean, the police will be searching for anything they can find. they were seen leaving the family home and the apartment in dusseldorf yesterday with bags and with boxes hoping that there are clues there as to what went on here. the ceo of lufthansa reiterated yesterday that they're so proud of their record for checking the state of their pilots, that he

was mentally 100% -- he was 100% fit to fly, and that they had no reason to suspect that there were any problems there. mystery all around, and the police desperately searching for clues. >> rosie tompkins there for us in montabaur, germany. thank you so much. now to george. >> to the crash site we go. our erin mclaughlin is there live. erin, what more do we know about exactly what happened on that plane? >> reporter: hi, george. well, shocking developments in the investigation. yesterday the prosecutor in marseille gave a press conference in which he revealed that based on analysis of the cockpit flight recorder investigators now believe that 27-year-old andreas lubitz, the co-pilot, deliberately locked the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately crashed flight 9525. let me just go through a timeline of the events as we know them. at 10:01 a.m. on tuesday the plane is believed to have taken off from barcelona en route to

dusseldorf, germany. at 10:27, that is when they believe the plane reached a cruising altitude of some 38,000 feet. at that point it is thought that the captain got up to go to the bathroom leaving lubitz in control of the plane. the captain was somehow locked out of the cockpit on the cockpit flight recorder. you can hear the captain trying to smash down the door. you can hear the desperate screams of passengers in the final moments of that flight. now, it is believed that around 10:31 a.m. lubitz manually reset the autopilot and the plane began its descent and then by 10:40 the plane lost contact with radar at around 6,175 feet. and as we all know, the flight crashed into the french alps not far from here. george? >> erin, and just looking at your background, certainly

uneasy terrain there for those recovery crews. talk to us about how the recovery is going there. >> reporter: the recovery process is still under way. just a short while ago the first choppers of the day landed in a staging area just behind me. they typically have a morning meeting before heading out to the crash site to begin the work, and there's much left to be done. the plane was absolutely obliterated on impact. the wreckage strewn over a wide area. all the pieces very small, none bigger, some locals describing it than the size of a small car. and the priority right now is to get the human remains off of the crash site, to continue with the all-important body identification process. investigators say that the bodies will not be returned to the families until the dna analysis has been completed and that process could take weeks. an agonizing wait ahead for those families, george.

>> and the families at this time as close to the crash site as they are being allowed to be. but as you point out, the wait could be a long wait. a difficult wait for those families. erin mclaughlin live in france for us. thank you so much for the reporting. >> and erin talking about the helicopters taking off and they're going to be facing some challenging weather as they go about their work. >> that's right. our meteorologist derek van dam with what they will be facing. >> you can see from the live shot just a second ago that skies clear. it's not rain we're concerned about. it's the wind starting to pick up across that region. wane can do some pretty havoc things across the mountains of southeastern france, especially when you consider all the ravines that it has to travel through. picking up, slowing down, creating treacherous flying conditions for the helicopters flying in and out of this very narrow, narrow area. here's a look at the weather conditions as of yesterday. and you saw a moment ago that

the clear skies continue across the region but it's these winds we focus on because it is important. they are starting to pick up. and this will impact the recovery efforts. specifically with the helicopters as they fly the crews in and out of that narrow ravine, which by the way is about 250 meters wide. very little room for error. anytime we get winds above 30 kilometers per hour in this mountainous terrain we get what is called turbulent eddies. these are circulation wind patterns, fluctuating winds, for instance. let's use an analogy here. think about a river of flowing water, that being the air. as it gets dammed up behind mountain ranges, it eventually has to pour over the front of the mountainside, and it will accelerate and decelerate depending on the ravines and the mountaintops it's going over. so you can imagine what kind of treacherous flying conditions that creates, especially for those hurricane -- or excuse me, the pilots there in the helicopters. by the way, as they hover into

the narrow ravines, winching the recovery crews into this mountainous terrain, they have to stay still for several minutes as they do so. and you can imagine that the fluctuating wind conditions makes it very difficult for those pilots to keep the helicopter steady and in control. here's our wind forecast going forward. we're expecting wind gusts in excess of 70 kilometers per hour at times today, especially in those narrow ravines. you can see just how much wind we're expecting going forward o over the next 12 to 24 hours. fortunately there is some silver lining in this forecast and that is the fact that we do not have rain and snow in the forecast, perhaps just some cloud covering settling in saturday and sunday toned the weekend. the winds will start to subside by the end of the weekend but no major weather systems settling in. again, it's just going to be the strong gusty winds that will be a concern for the helicopter pilots. >> but as you point out thank

goodness no wind -- >> no rain. >> no rain, rather, or snow. >> it's the wind that's the concern. >> derek, thank you. despite some major developments so many questions remain in the investigation of this flight. just ahead cnn's miles o'brien standing by to help us understand what may have happened. [ male announcer ] you wouldn't leave your car unprotected. but a lot of us leave our identities unprotected. nearly half a million cars were stolen in 2012. but for every car stolen, 34 people had their identities stolen. identity thieves can steal your money, damage your credit, and wreak havoc on your life. why risk it when you can help protect yourself from identity theft with one call to lifelock, a leader in identity theft protection? lifelock actively patrols your sensitive, personal information, helping to guard your social security number, your bank accounts and credit, even the equity in your home. your valuable personal assets! look, your credit card company may alert you to suspicious activity on the accounts you have with them, but that still may leave you vulnerable to big losses

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candlelight vigil after candlelight vigil. too many people dying in these inexplicable crashes we've seen in the past year. >> it's painful and touching to see. >> yes, right. while family and friends mourn loved ones killed in the crash of flight 9525 investigators focus on what happened here in the plane's cockpit. photographed just days earlier. >> prosecutors say co-pilot andreas lubitz is responsible. they accuse him of lock the pilot out of the cockpit, then plunging the aircraft into the french alps, killing all 150 people on that flight. >> and this latest revelation only raises more questions. cnn aviation analyst miles o'brien joins us once again to sort this out. thanks again, miles, for staying with us. i want to point out in case people weren't joining us the past hour you that said with 100

hours experience on this particular airplane, he was 27 years old, two years of experience with lufthansa, that he was basically an infant when it comes to experience and he was left, allowed to be left alone in that cockpit. >> i can tell you, natalie, i'm a pilot with about 2,500 hours of experience. as i think back to my days of having 500 or 600 hours, the idea of me being set loose alone with an airbus a-320 is a frightening thought to me. that's not enough qualification time and experience to handle -- yes, it's okay to sit there and watch the plane fly itself. but what if something happened? things happen quickly in aviation, bad things, and it's an unforgiving endeavor. so taking aside the psychological components of all of this, the idea of having such a low time pilot there responsible for the lives of passengers alone is just on the face of it a bad idea.

>> and we know that european airliners that allow one pilot in the cockpit are already starting to change that process. you know, we have the voice recorder, which has revealed what the investigator has already said, what doomed this plane, believing the co-pilot did that. is there any other data, miles, that could be coming in if they find the flight data recorders or anything else that could help us get more information about the why and the how? >> you know, a couple things. first of all, the flight data recorder will be helpful because it will just corroborate, underscore what investigators have seen so plainly from the cockpit voice recorder. clearly of the two black boxes that was the more crucial one to get in this particular accident, but just to confirm what control

inputs were happening or were not happening in the course of that eight minutes will be important as they seal up the investigation. but the rest of the answers are inside the head of the person who was on that flight in that -- at those controls. and unfortunately, there's no black box for human beings and for the human brain. >> yeah. >> and so this will be in a different realm entirely, outside of my expertise in aviation for sure. >> yeah, i understand. and we were just seeing the graphic there of the plane making that descent. it's a horror no matter what, miles, but we've seen just a few instances of pilot suicide, and they take that plane down quickly. and this was kind of a eerie, creepy eight minute descent. >> well, there might be a technical reason for it,

natalie. the airbus is -- you know, it's a flying computer server. and the human being is just a part of the decision making process on that aircraft. and there are all kinds of ways that the machine can overrule the human being and say you're pointing the nose down too far, i'm not going to let you do that, or you're pointing up too high, you're going too fast, too slow. so if you were trying to do something like this, you might not want to exceed those parameters which would, number one, perhaps alert the other crew member who's on the other side of that cockpit door sooner. and number two, might cause the plane to reject your input. so a gradual descent actually would be more effective. >> i see. if only there had been a way for that pilot to get back in that cockpit. perhaps co-have saved it? thanks so much. we always appreciate your analysis. i'm sure we'll see you between. miles o'brien for us live from

tok tokyo. >> for coverage on this story anywhere around the world you can always follow the latest developments on this investigation of flight 9525 on our website just by going to cnn.com/germanwings. saudi arabia and its allies press on with air strikes against houthi rebels in yemen. ahead, the role the u.s. is playing in this conflict. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare? that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call today to request a free decision guide. with these types of plans, you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed.

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well, all eyes have been

focused on iraq and syria. well, now add yemen to the mix. saudi arabia says it will continue its military campaign against shiite houthi in yemen and the rebels are threatening a deadly response. the saudi-led coalition of ten nations launched more air strikes in and around the capital, sanaa, thursday. >> and they are trying to stop the houthi rebels who are backed by iran to in turn prevent iran from increasing its influence in the region with hopes to restore yemen's government. the saudi adviser says his country could deploy 150,000 troops if needed. the houthi leader warns that yemen will become a, quote, grave for any invaders. the u.s. is lending its support to the coalition but not in the form of air strikes. cnn's pentagon correspondent barbara starr with the latest on the u.s. involvement. >> reporter: in yemen's capital devastating air strikes from saudi arabia.

a new offensive to drive out iranian-backed rebels who seized control of the capital and key military sites. officials say the saudi campaign was quickly planned, catching top u.s. military commanders off guard. >> general, when were you told by the saudis that they were going to take military action in yemen? >> sir, i had a conversation with achad right before they took action. so it was shortly before. >> right before they took action. >> yes, sir. >> that's very interesting. >> reporter: the white house has already committed significant assistance. the u.s. military is helping the saudis plan bombing missions over yemen, providing targeting intelligence from satellites overhead and making awac surveillance planes and aerial refueling aircraft available as well. the general says he doesn't know if it will all work. >> i don't currently know the specific goals and objectives of the saudi campaign.

and i'd have to know that to be able to assess the likelihood of success. >> reporter: the u.s. military involvement, as sensitive as it gets. saudi arabia is backing beleaguered yemeni president hadi, who has fled his country. the rebels are backed by iran. the u.s. worries terror groups will exploit the chaos. >> there's a lot at stake here, particularly with al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and isis both active in yemen. but let's face the facts. the u.s. is involved now in a proxy war between the saudis and the iranians. >> reporter: iran condemning the intervention. >> a very dangerous situation. and we advise against any escalation because we believe that any interference in yemen will simply lead to further loss of human life. >> reporter: barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. egypt is one of the allies helping saudi arabia fight against the houthi rebels.

the egyptian state news agency on thursday said egypt would also provide ground forces if asked. cnn correspondent ian lee joins us live now in cairo with the latest. so we understand that egypt could send ground troops, and we're hearing the same thing, ian, we're hearing the same thing from saudi arabia. so what do you see staging? what do you see happening there in yemen? >> reporter: well, george, this is unprecedented. we haven't seen this sort of large-scale arab coalition in decades, and last night we saw a continuation of air strikes, 15 in total, targeting different sites including weapons depots. we know on the streets of aden that there's chaos as militants both pro and anti-houthi continue to fight. all the while egypt has pledged to mobilize a large force to respond to saudi arabia's call.

. >> translator: it was an obligation to answer the call of president hadi. egypt will join the coalition through air, naval forces and land if the matter calls for it. this is to uphold the historical egyptian responsibility toward protecting regional arab security. >> reporter: and george, egypt also has a vested interest in this as well. yemen is at the entrance to the red sea, which leads to the suez canal, a very vital causeway for egypt where they see billions of dollars in revenue. egypt doesn't want that disrupted as well. and they said that if needed they are willing to send in their ground troops along with saudi arabia, george. >> as these countries come together. ian lee live in cairo. ian, thank you so much for your reporting there. new developments in the crash of germanwings flight

9525. we have an exclusive interview with the ceo of the airline's parent company, lufthansa. what he told our fredric pleitgen right after this. when it comes to vaping, vuse has changed the game. vuse digital vapor cigarettes designed and assembled in the usa. our smart micro-processor controls heat and power up to 2,000 times a second for superior vapor. and our v-liquid is blended by our experts at r.j. reynolds for great taste satisfaction. vuse. for a perfect puff. first time. every time.

welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. this is "cnn newsroom." i'm george howell. >> and i'm natalie allen. let's check the top stories. a french prosecutor says the co-pilot of germanwings flight

9525 deliberately crashed the plane, killing all 150 people on board. investigators say 27-year-old andreas lubitz locked the pilot out of the cockpit and reprogrammed the autopilot to descend 100 feet. north korea has released the names of two men they say were spying for south korea. they're accused of committing crimes of terrorism and money forgery. south korea says the claims against the men are "completely groundless." the italian supreme court hears defense arguments today in the case of american amanda knox. the court will decide whether or not to uphold her second conviction in the 2007 murder of her roommate. knox has consistently denied the charge. she's in the united states and says she will not return willingly to italy. more now on our top story. the french government has asked the fbi to help in its investigation of the crash of germanwings flight 9525.

>> search crews still looking for the plane's flight data recorder. right now they're working with information retrieved from the cockpit voice recorder, which was damaged in the crash. senior international correspondent jim bittermann joins us now live from paris with more. and my goodness, jim. imagine if they hadn't found the cockpit voice recorder. what kind of mystery they'd have on their hands. >> reporter: exactly. we would have been faced with that. but i think the mystery is at least a little bit clearer this morning than it was yesterday morning before that prosecutor in marseille held his news conference. one of the things we're waiting for, by the way, is something he mentioned in that news conference. and that is that he's reflecting on the idea of changing his investigation from one of involuntary manslaughter to voluntary manslaughter. that is to say, a homicide. and that would be an interesting change in the investigation and give him more powers.

one of the things that is being talked about a great deal here this morning is to what extent -- what the mental health was of andreas lubitz when he drove this plane straight into a mountain, exactly what was going on in his mind and how much was known about that in advance. so i think one of the things that will change with the investigation will be the prosecutor will have access to the various medical records at lufthansa and elsewhere that might reflect on his mental health and there will be an inquiry no doubt about what lufthansa knew and when it knew it. that's one of the focuses. that's the focus of a separate investigation. we have two investigations going on. the judicial investigation, which is what the prosecutor is involved in. and then we also have the accident investigation going on. the b.e.a., which is the french accident investigating authority. they are totally independent.

they do share their findings. they shared the contents of the black box with the prosecutor. but they're also conducting their own investigation. something that could drag on for many years. and that of course will also be one that will look into the state of andreas lubitz's mental health when he took off two days ago. natalie? >> yes, interesting that the prosecutor has already revealed so much that they've learned and that they believe happened to this airplane. so at this point what interest is the flight data recorders? how much more could that information, if it's found, reveal? >> well, i think one of the things would be to what extent there were positive steps taken, deliberate steps taken to keep the senior pilot out of the cabin. that would be something that might turn up in the data recorder. if it's a modern data recorder

it records thousands of parameters and including switch positions in the cockpit and that sort of thing. it would give a clearer picture. it probably will not change things too much. i suppose if there's any lingering doubt about the possibility that andreas lubitz was incapacitated in any way, it might shed some light on that. but i think we know pretty much according to the prosecutor's explanation of things how it happened. it should be said that these two investigations are coming from different angles. the prosecutor, it's his job to look for responsibility, to look for who might be responsible. whereas the accident investigating authority wants to take a look at all the minutia involved, what all the factors that led up to the plane taking off, the crash and all the rest, and they're going to be concerned about the safety of aviation. so we may see some directives from the accident investigative agency at the end of this.

directives about, for example, the two-crew rule and other sorts of recommendations about perhaps psychological testing. natalie? >> yeah, absolutely. we've already seen some airlines changing their policy on the two-crew rule. and it will be interesting to see if there's any other information that will bring to light that he was definitely conscious as this plane came down. jim bittermann there for us live from paris. thank you, jim. the ceo of lufthansa airlines says the thought that the co-pilot crashed the plane on purpose leaves him speechless. he spoke exclusively with our senior international correspondent, fred pleitgen. >> that something of this kind would ever happen to us is uncomprehendible, and i think we just need to understand this is a single case which every safety system in the world cannot completely rule out. i think that's what we take as an explanation if you want to call it that. >> but might there have been

signs? could there have been indications that this person might have been mentally unstable? >> no. the pilot has passed all his tests, all his medical exams. we have at lufthansa the reporting system where crew can report without being punished their own problems or they can report about problems of others without any kind of punishment. that hasn't been used either in this case. so all the safety nets, all the safety nets we are so proud of here have not worked in this case. >> the opportunity to crash the plane came when the captain left the cockpit. authorities believe the co-pilot then seized that moment and locked the captain out. our kyung lah shows us why investigators are saying this was not by accident. >> reporter: he cannot imagine why a pilot would do this. >> terrain, terrain. >> reporter: but bugs forsythe knows how. a retired military commercial pilot, forsythe says he's flown thousands of hours in the a-320 cockpit, one of the safest

high-tech passenger jets used around the world. >> normal, lock, and unlock. >> reporter: he like all pilots has used the switch hundreds of times. >> the unlock you have to pull up and hold it. a light comes on, says the door's open. but if i release it it goes back to normal position. >> reporter: norm means that it's locked. >> norm is locked. that's correct. >> reporter: according to an airbus operations video, there's a keypad entry on the outside that allows entry if you know the code. but if the person inside the cockpit switches it to lock, the keypad won't work for five minutes. and there's another override that goes beyond five minutes. >> i can also override the keypad and hold it in the locked position, and now he cannot use the keypad or enter the door at all. it is locked. >> reporter: no one can get in? >> no one can get in. >> reporter: so to keep your co-pilot out what do you have to do? >> to keep him out if he knew the keypad number to get in i just hold the lock. he cannot get in. >> reporter: can you manually fly this and hold the lock

button? >> oh, yes. easy. >> reporter: then that's a very purposeful act. >> very much so. >> pull up. >> reporter: again and again, we fly through the scenarios, in autopilot and manual. both manage to crash the plane. and both had to be deliberately programmed or flown into the ground. what does that suggest to you as far as his determination? >> that he was very determined. yeah. that was his goal. he had a mission or a goal to kill himself and everybody on board. we deal with terrorists and people that aren't supposed to be in the cockpit. this person's supposed to be in the cockpit. that's what's scary. >> reporter: 150 people lost in this air disaster. the who, the how we now know. the why, far from known. kyung lah, cnn, las vegas. >> we want to turn now to other stories that we continue to follow. and of course the middle east. the united states has joined in on the fight to recapture the iraqi city of tikrit from isis militants. the u.s. and its allies carrying

out 17 strikes thursday targeting isis checkpoints, staging areas and a command facility. >> it is all in support of a major iraqi offensive that recently stalled after isis insurgents repositioned themselves in and around the city. cnn correspondent jamana karache joins us live from baghdad with the very latest. good day to you. it seems, though, that as the u.s. steps in we are seeing shiite militiamen step out and a great deal of mistrust with american involvement. >> reporter: well, george, let's look at what's been going on. this offensive has been going on for more than three weeks now. and what we saw was that the iraqi forces, these are joint forces that are made up mostly of shia militiamen and volunteers all working under one umbrella group known as the popular mobilization units. these groups are supported by iran. they have iranian advisers on the ground. and there are about 20,000 of them. and they have been the ones doing most of the fighting. they did advance.

they did take a lot of territory around tikrit. but what happened was they faced a lot of resistance when they got close to the city center. for about two weeks now what we have seen is this what is being described by iraqi officials and fighters on the ground, george, as a tactical pause. they haven't been able to push forward because of resistance they have faced in the form of snipers there and improvised explosive devices that they say are in the hundreds on this road leading into tikrit. so what happened after that? we saw the iraqi government making a request they say to the coalition, to the united states, to get involved. now, the u.s. cannot carry out any air strikes in iraq without the request from the iraqi government. and the government tells us here the prime minister's office, they came one this request, they asked the u.s. to get involved because the iraqi air force does not have the same air power capabilities that the coalition has. they need more precision air strikes, more powerful air

strikes because as you mentioned of where isis is positioned within the city. they want to try to minimize gage and casualties by doing this. but of course the issue here is the reaction from the main fighting force. these shia groups on the ground. some of them are saying that now that the coalition is involved they do not want to fight anymore and they are not going to push forward into tikrit. and what we heard from the united states, general lloyd austin, the head of central command, yesterday in a senate hearing saying the only reason the u.s. got involved is there were preconditions, that the militias will not be involved in this fighting. some of these groups saying that they're going to hold on to their positions and not give up. but the feeling among these groups, george, is he this describe this as the u.s. trying to steal their victory now that it's in the final stages. >> but the u.s. was requested to become part apparently of this fight in tikrit. as things stalled there.

so we will have to continue to watch the impact and the response from people now that the u.s. is involved. jomana karacha live from baghdad. thank you for your reporting there. a major story out of new york city. fire crews still work right now in the middle of the night to extinguish pockets of flames at the scene of a huge building explosion in manhattan's bustling east village thursday afternoon. this video captured by one bloodied man -- of one bloodied man stumbling out of the smoldering building where the blast appeared to come from. >> and it was a live explosion a lot of people heard. a scary moment for folks there. the resulting fire caused two buildings to collapse. but officials say no one was trapped inside. at least 19 people are injured from this. four of them we understand are in critical condition. the cause is still under investigation, but new york city's mayor bill de blasio says it appears to be gas-related. well, it is a tv showdown

and a tight election race in the united kingdom, and the heat is on for two men who want to be prime minister. >> the point is people think you're just not tough enough. >> well, let me tell you. right? let me tell you. okay. >> let me tell you. we'll let him tell you right after this. what david cameron's opponent had to say about his ability to lead. >>mine stopped hurting faster! neosporin plus pain relief starts relieving pain faster and kills more types of infectious bacteria neosporin plus pain relief kills the germs. fights the pain. use with band-aid brand. to unlofiber-rich bran.ties of tomorrow......"lift tab." answered by the perfect quantity of sun sweetened raisins. tomorrow is waiting. ♪sun'll come out, tomorrow own it, with kellogg's® raisin bran see you at breakfast™. but a lot of us leave our identities unprotected. nearly half a million cars were stolen in 2012.

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minister of the united kingdom faced down tough questions in the first televised showdown ahead of the national election. >> yeah, labour party leader ed miliband was asked about his ability to lead. he had something to say about that. >> yes, he did. >> and prime minister david cameron was grilled over controversial so-called zero-hour contracts which exist in britain. they essentially offer no guarantee that an employee will get any working hours from day to day, only what the employer offers them. >> david cameron, do you know how many food banks there were in this country when you came to power? there are 700,000 people on zero-hours contracts. could you live on one? >> look, as i said -- >> could you live on one? >> i want to create a country where more people have the opportunity of the full-time work that they want. >> could you live on a zero-hours contract? >> that's not the question. the question is -- >> that's the question i'm asking. >> the point is some people choose a zero-hours contract.

if you're a student, for instance, and you want to do some part-time work, a zero-hours contract can work for you. that's why we haven't outlined them altogether. what we've outlawed is exclusive zero-hours contract. no, i couldn't live on one of those. >> the point is people think you're just not tough enough. >> well, let me tell you. right? let me tell you. okay. let me tell you. what i'm not going to do is repeat the mistakes of the 2003 iraq war which happened when labour was in power, which is a rush to war without knowing what your strategy is and without being clear about what the consequences would be. i'm not a pacifist. so i did support action in libya. david cameron talked about how i supported action against isis. but am i tough enough? hell, yes, i'm tough enough. >> miliband. >> hell, yeah, he said. >> fighting for it. for more let's bring in cnn correspondent max foster. he is live from london. and it seems this debate has heated things up there in london. >> well, it's interesting, that

debate about whether or not ed miliband is tough because his challenge really is character. he's constantly -- the papers are constantly making fun of him being a geeky north londoner. and actually jeremy paxman, the interviewer there, asked him about that as well. this is the big challenge. can he lead the party properly, let alone the uk? so that's all about personality. and he's trying to show how he's tough. and actually, on that -- what he was talking about there was where he stood up to barack obama he says. there's a debate between cameron and obama about some action in syria and he stood up to them. so he's saying i can be tough, hell, yes, i can be tough. that's what his challenge was last night. many political commentators, i have to say, felt that he performed better than many had expected. but david cameron, who's a very sort of positive tv performer, what he was trying to get across was really just that the economy's incredibly strong and the economy often defines

elections, as you both know. and he really got that point across. >> that's important to say, that this debate really does kind of energize the push for the election coming up. >> it does. and it's all about who's going to win of course. but in this country in the past it was always a two-party system. so there you have a labour leader and a conservative leader and one of them would normally win outright. but since the last election and certainly going into this election, smaller parties are doing much better. so there isn't going to be one party with a big majority according to all of the polling. so it's which of those two leaders will get the most votes and therefore which party will they work with to come on board with them for a longer-term sort of agreement of some sort. and if you look at who did best out of that debate it was pretty neck and neck, but a "guardian" poll does show that david cameron was very closely ahead of ed miliband. but you know, this won't decide the election. and the other interesting point to make here was that the broadcasters wanted to have

debates with all the party leaders. david cameron wouldn't agree to that. he only did one. so what you had last night was two interviews back to back. it wasn't even a debate. so one winner everyone thinks coming out of this was jeremy paxman, the interviewer. he did a great job. >> we thought he did too. thank you so much for checking in with us. max foster, thanks. >> thank you. and still to come, remembering the victims of germanwings flight 9525. among them an opera singer and many more. we'll hear his works as well as pay tribute to all those on board. many wrinkle creams come with high hopes, but hope... doesn't work on wrinkles. clinically proven neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair with the fastest retinol formula available, it works on fine lines and even deep wrinkles. you'll see younger looking skin in just one week. stop hoping for results, and start seeing them. rapid wrinkle repair...

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we are following some breaking news here in the cnn newsroom in the crash of germanwings flight 9525. police in dusseldorf, germany say they've taken a number of objects including papers and other possible evidence from the home of co-pilot andreas lubitz. they say it may reveal more information on why he deliberately crashed the plane. a french prosecutor says lubitz locked the pilot out of the cockpit and set the autopilot on descend. all 150 people on that plane were killed. >> why he would make a decision to take down so many people with him. well, we are learning of the nationalities of many of the victims. the list is still not complete, but so far we know that the people on board that airplane came from 18 countries. >> wow. and among the passengers,

exchange students, opera singers, an architect, and a nurse. we take this moment to remember the lives tragically cut short. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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motive for murder. investigators trying to figure out why the co- pilot of germanwings 9525 deliberately crashed the plane killing himself and everyone else on board. the disturbing reality deepening the mystery and grief this morning. live team coverage starts right now. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. it is friday, march 27th. john berman this week is in washington, d.c. we answer new questions. we have new