>> back together, emotional reunions for the families of americans released by iran, and new details on how the deal almost came to pass. >> tough talks, donald trump ramps up his attacks on cruz, and cruz responds in kind. >> also ahead, another rock

legend falls silent. a look back at the career of glenn frey, co-founder of one of the greatest rock bands of all time. >> welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. i'm rosemary church. >> i'm errol barnett. thanks for joining us as we roll through our second hour of "cnn newsroom."á,y >> the first of five americans now back in his hometown of boston. he had gone to tehran as a student but was arrested and held for 40 days. >> his release was not part of the prisoner swap. one of that group chose to stay in iran. the other three are recovering at a u.s. military hospital in germany. jim sciutto as their stories.

>> after a flight from tehran to geneva, these were the first moments of freedom and first family reunions. jason rezaian freed after a year and a half. amir hekmati. syaeed abedini. just before takeoff. iranian authorities tried to block jason's mother and wife from joining him. i spoke with his brother. >> they threw up a roadblock at that point. what happened? >> the iranians, as they have done all along, continued to manipulate and tried to mess with them and prevented them from leaving. but thanks to the swiss and americans, she came with them as well. >> they all three are undergoing physical and psychological

medical checks in a u.s. military hospital. a congressman who long advocated for a release joined the reunion. >> i carry it with me. i wear this button that says free amir. i guess i can flip it around and just have it say amir, free. >> reporter: the surprise announcement came on the same day as u.s. and iran announced the completion of the nuclear agreement which brought an end to all economic sanctions against iran for its nuclear activiti activities. earlier, john kerry denied that it depended on sanction release. >> no one plooefs it's a coincidence that finally the americans are released from iran. >> as i say, it became convenient. it was not linked. >> reporter: events this weekend bring a change not just to relations between iran and the u.s. but in iran's relationship

with the world. iran now has access to the u.s. treasury estimates, $50 billion in frozen assets. it can sell it oil and gas freely on world markets, and western companies, including american firms can now do otime in years.ran for the first >> there are still two americans held by iran, an iranian american businessman, and also the former fbi employee who disappeared in 20007. i spoke with his family. they said it's nonsense that iran does not know his w whereabouts or condition. >> our fred pleitgen is outside the military hospital where three of the americans are being treated. he joins us now live. fred, how much longer will the three released americans need to undergo the psychological and medical checks before they can get home to the united states

and what is the latest on how they're feeling and what they may have been through while in iran? >> reporter: it's not clear how long this process is still going to have to go on. we have to keep in mind, this is a voluntary process. however, there's a protocol that's followed that could take anywhere from a couple of days to even longer. there are cases in the past where a process like that has taken weeks. many people find encouraging over the past 12 hours you've seen pictures emerge of these three former prisoners meeting together with their families for the first time. you saw the picture of jason rezaian, and amir hekmati. many believe that's a good sign, that they're in good spirits and are in good health. jason rezaian told "the washington post" that he does feel as though he is in good health. nevertheless, the tests as to how they're doing is something

that is going to be t$ongoing. at the same time, we saw throughout the day that we were here yesterday, that the physicians here at the region cal medical center want to make this process not too fast so as not to overwhelm the men. there are a lot of friends and family who have come here, a lot of supporters. there's american politicians and other people who have kept their cases in the public spotlight as these three men were in det detenti detention, and many have come to welcome them back and to show their joy that they've finally been released n. it's unclear how long this process is going to take. however, it appears from those that we've been speaking to, we both to both amir and jason. both of them appear to be in good health. the tests will be ongoing for a little while longer. >> still yet to learn what they all went through while in iran,

for sure. frederick pleitgen joining us live in germany. many thanks to you. donald trump is pumping up his push for the evangelical vote. the republican front runner has a healthy lead inçifnew hampshi where he campaigned on monday. the race against cruz is tighter in iowa. >> with voting there two weeks ago, he's looking to chip away at kruz cruz's support. dana bash has more. >> we're going to have some fun. >> reporter: appearing at virginia's liberty university is a right of passage for gop presidential candidates, even donald trump who drew a big crowd beyond students required to attend. >> i want a general where we knock the hell out of them. he stumbled a bit quoting

scripture. >> two corinthians, 3 -17ñ&. that's the whole ball game. where the spirit of the lord, right? where the spirit of the lord 'v, iberty.s y, >> reporter: it's second corinthia corinthians, not two. a moment showing contrast with cruz who comfortably weaves bible verses into speeches. >> how can you know i'll follow through on those promises in office and every day after? as the scripture has said, you shall know them we their fruits. >> reporter: but so far polls show they like trump. a big part of the cruz trump escalating war is a personality and character contest. >> he's a nasty guy. nobody in congress likes him. nobody likes him anywhere once they get to know him. he's a very -- he has an edge that's not good.

>> reporter: today cruz responded to being called nasty with a cruz pop culture reference. ♪ nasty boy, note need a bring ♪ . >> reporter: he's now questioning trump's conservative credentials. >> ronald reagan was a voice of consistency, and i'm pretty sure that ronald reagan didn't support democratic politicians. >> and his super pac released this ad played trump in his own words, craving ,srecruz. >> reporter: his campaign knowso they have some image softening to do. going on new hampshire radio with his daughter. >> when i was a young girl, my father, donald trump, always told me that i could do anything i set my mind to if i coupled

vision with determination and hard work. >> reporter: donald trump also went after cruz in a twitter tirade for taking money from wall street and much more. that was all over the weekend. come monday, here in new hampshire and earlier in virginia, not one word about cruz. perhaps because trump has been getting blowback from conservative talk radio hosts with a lot of influence warning him not to go too far in ali alienating cruzv+#b voters. >> who do people in iowa think? they will be casting votes in less than two weeks. a columnist for the des moines register joins us to discuss their views. kyle, in 2012, only 20% of registered republican voters took part in the iowa caucus. it seems it's really about who has the most enthusiastic base or better ground game.

how do the candidates stack up in that regard? >> well, i think right now the conventional wisdom is that cruz has the most consistent enthusiastic ground game. ?÷events, getting people out to his bus tour events. trump is flying in for larger scale events and has more on the calendar. he's trying to pump up his base in that way. rubio has been out here pretty consistently. i spent a day in the trail with rubio in the morning in one town and cruz in another at the end. but cruz, especially, has seemed to by number of events and small towns, some conservative enclaves around iowa, he's been out there frequently. >> that probably explains why donald trump has been trying to figure out how to attack cruz while not annoying his supporters. last time around, though, rick

santorum and mikñ romney walked away with 26% support each. romney was the nominee but he lost in the general election. in the end, what is an iowa win really worth? >> the road to the white house still goes through iowa, but it's true, especially on the gop side. the candidates coming out of iowa, the top winner has been more of a conservative right candidate. you mentioned the bromance is over between cruz and trump. they've been sparring and they're really duking it out now in these final weeks for that top place finish in iowa. now cruz has an expectation because he has the evangelical vote, pretty firmly in his coroner a lot of ways, there is this expectation because of the recent track record in iowa that he should win. i think it's pretty much agreed that if trump came out of iowa with a win, that would be perceived as a pretty big win for him.

>> the uk parliament debated a ban on donald trump because of hate speech. the vote went nowhere. but the petition not more than half a million votes. what do people in iowa make of that? >> yeah. i think in somemzi> ways for th most conservative voters, that would almost be a badge of honor. i would say on the right in the gop ranks on the right, especially to have conservative voters who are, you know, maybe do buy into this philosophy of making america great again, it's not about pleasing another country or another constituency outside of america, and so if that just makes the candidate like trump look all the tougher. >> i know you and i, we'll be watching this closely along with everyone else. we'll see what happens. karl, thank you for your time. >> thank you very much. all right. let's take a short break here. still to come, two hollywood a

listers are planning on being no shows at the academy awards after black actors get snubbed on 2016 oscar nominations. >> and later this hour, fans and friends pay tribute after the death of eagles to founder, glenn frey.

>> we want to update you on a developing story right now in northwest pakistan. local officials say at least ten people are dead after a blast near a security check point. you're looking at picturestúca coming into it from the area. all of this is just west of pesharwar. some people are in krit sal conditi -- critical condition. we'll gather more information to you and bring it to you when we have it. we have another story. black lash over lack of diversity among this year's oscar nominees is having a big impact.

the president of the academy says the group will recruit some diverse new members. that came after jada pinkett smith and spike lee announced they're boycotting the awards show this year. and this is part of smith's video message on facebook. >> begging for acknowledgment, or even asking diminishes dignity. and it diminishes power. and we are a dignified people. we are powerful. let's not forget it. no. let's let the academy do them with all grace and love. and let's do us differently. >> joining me now to talk more about the lack of diverse theit the nominations is holland reed. thank you for being with us.

jada pinkett smith says they won't be attending the oscars. spike lee and his wife sayt÷7 t won't be going either. why do you think this problem of lack of diversity persists in the oscar nominations and will a boycott make any difference? >> when you have -- thanks for having me on. when you have a group or a membership committee that is only made up of one specific demographic, we're talking over 75% of all -- mostly white males over the age of 60, that's a problem when it comes to relatability, i think, and also choosing projects that really represent a diverse group, not just ethnicity but sexuality. gender as well. the group has been all white actors two years in a row. that says something about the representation of other groups behind closed doors. i think boycotting the awards is

just the start. >> and it's interesting. that problem has been recognized by the academy president. she put out a statement late monday, and i'll just quote this directly. i am both heart broken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion. the it's time for big changes. she goes onto say we need to do more and better, and more quickly. and she talks about the implemented changes to try to diversify committee membership but adds the changes aren't going fast enough. how significant is it that she's issued this statement, and why can't the changes happen faster? >> well, definitely huge, a big deal she issued the statement. i was so happy to read it. i was glad she put her foot down and made that statement. i don't think the changes have happened because of the powers that be. the people that are, again, behind the closed doors, making the votes, and making the recommendations for nomination,

are the people in charge. these are the good old boys club that have been around for a really long time. they're the powers that be. people like jada pinkett smith, the new powers that be in a different way are taking that power and hopefully using it to start making changes that happen immediately and more impactful. >> and ironically, median and actor chris rock will host the oscars this year. how do you expect him to respond to this lack of diversity in nominations? >> i absolutely cannot wait to hear what he has to say about we know that he tweeted out, he said that oh, look, the oscars are just the white bet awards, so we know he's probably already penning the jokes to shine a light on this problem. nobody wants to take away from these artists and projects that are deserving of this award. that's the fine line that a lot of these actors and celebrities kind of straddle.

you would never want anybody to be recognized for their work for any other reason other than it being their artartistry, but yo have to recognize there's a major problem with the film diversity, especially during awards season. >> and perhaps sometime in the future it won't be necessary. we will see. and many thanks to holland reed for joining us via skype. >> thank you. some analysts have suggested it's going to take more actors zding they're not going to attend for anything to happen at the academy. >> this online push has now resonated with big name actors, andm-óç a lot of minority actor get other awards at other ceremonies but not the oscars. it does have an impact. china's economy is growing but at its weakest rate in 25 years.

gdp for 2015 came in at 6.9%. in the asia pacific market. the nikkei finished up half a percent. the shanghai composite gained more than 3%. australia added nearly 1 % there. >> let's bring in andrea stevens live in hong kong for us. china's economic numbers today matched almost perfectly what was predicted. there's always a bit of suspicious surrounding from china says about its economy, but the regional market reaction is all in the green. why is that? >> i think that's the point. it's in the green. >> reporter: watch what the market does and not what people say. investors have taken these numbers from china. you point out it's the slowest growth for 25 years. they're taking it as a positive. it's all relative. you don't have to go too far

when the word was waiting to see what the numbers were, fearing the worst, fearing that china would have been on the edge of an abyss because there was an unusual devaluation of the currency. the stock market was doing crazy the government was doing heavy-handed interversion and people were asking what was going on in china. these are the official numbers. whether they're accurate or not, it's being seen as a vote of confidence. that is their response. interestingly, today i spoke to china's richest man. he's the head of a group. he's obviously very close to what's going on in the economy, and i asked him whether he thought there was a danger that china's economy would have a hard landing. this is what he had to say. >> translator: absolutely not.

i do not only say not, absolutely not. the main reason is there's vast amounts of the service industry in china. >> okay. so you see there, there is a big demand, according to to him, from service sector, not the manufacturing and the exports which have been weakening as part of this transition. let's not take his word as gospel. certainly for the moment, the fear that has subsided about the state of china's economy. it will continue to weaken. the question is by how much, and most analysts, the imf says look for growth this year of around 6.5%. >> andrew stevens live for us from hong kong.xx andrew, thanks. let's take a look now at the markets in europe. they're just getting going and warming up this morning. and it's replicating what we're

seeing in asia. markets up 2% there. we'll continue to watch this. a good day for markets. an international chef in the philippines has just been named asia's best female chef of 2016. she's known for her mastery of italian food. she's the woman behind several restaurants. >> she has a great story. she wasn't always in the cull can nar industry. she began as an accountant and worked in the fashion world. >> the interest in the italian stuff, more with the food, i would cook the for my friend and night, and just get together as an excuse to be able to make pasta for people. when i started 30 years ago, you couldn't get a good tomato in the philippines. now we have wonderful farmers

doing exciting things, and now question have tomatoes that come close to the ones in italy. >> we'll show you a portion. we get too hungry. you can watch the full interview with her on our website. head to cnn.com and look for the lifestyle section. >> still to come, the world's number one in tennis weighs in on explosive new allegations of max fixing.

a warm welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world.

i'm rosemary church. >> i'm errol barnett. the it's your last half hour with us. >> one of the americans released from iran this past weekend is now home. he arrived back in boston monday after being held 40 days in iran. he's the first of the americans back on u.s. soil. his jé prisoner exchange which freed four other americans. glenn frey, co-founder of the eagles has died at the age of 67. he helped define the band's classic sound. the eagles topped the charts throughout the 70s. the world number one in men's tennis is responding to the match fixing allegations overshadowing the year's first major. >> djokovic says he was indirectly offered $200,000 to throw a match, but he doesn't

believe there's a match fixing problem at the top of the sport. >> reports have been reflected in even stronger terms. a lot to cover here. djokovic says he was approached to throw a match in 2007 but doesn't think it's a big problem at the top level of the tennis. what are other players saying about this and the allegation? >> reporter: well, andy murray was speaking about this after his first round victory. one thing he was calling for was more transparency. i found it interesting he said that some of the stuff in the report he knew about. other stuff, he didn't know about. he felt the it was imperative for younger players coming up to be educated. they'll know in the future when placed in the situations,;ut exactly what to do. that's something that murray called for. and it has been a distraction for the players who have been asked about this issue on day

one, and for most of day two. >> and we have to go to action on the court. a big upset at the open, involving in a dal. what happened? >> reporter: well, nadal last year was in mostly a slump mode. he didn't win a grand slam. his ranking almost fell out of the top ten. he finished strong. came into the australian open. had a tough draw. nadal lost in five sets. if you look at what's happened on monday, talking about match fixing, more match fixing today. and the loss of na tdal, one of the biggest sporting stars in

the world. >> pretty dramatic day. thank you. >> reporter: fifa president is banned from world soccer. according to reuters, he's still getting paid. they suspended him in october and banned him from the game for eight years over ethics violation. >> a fifa official says the bonuses have stopped but based on his contract, it will continue receiving his salary until a new president is elected next month. >> an avalanche in the french alps has killed five soldiers. four others were injured and two are being treated for hypothermia. >> the soldiers were doing military training at the time. monday's accident happen just four days after another avalanche in the alps killed four people. >> for more on this, we'll bring in pedram javaheri who is at the international weather center. pedram, multiple avalanches, apparently happened in this

specific location. you can explain how all that happens. >> this is the highest density. the snow pack as far as the alps are concerned. this region having the most snow on the ground. we have prime ingredients in place. generally for an avalanche to occur, most of the type it's 20 degree to 50 degree slopes. that was the case, and the temperatures have been a little mild. perspective. when you take a look at the amount of snow across this region, come pairiparing the mu locations. there's the one last week, the five fatalities were about 100 kilometers to the east to this location, a heavy snow area in the last couple of weeks. i want to show you how this transpired. the temperatures in the afternoon hours across some of these ski resorts have been mild. the snow pack is tremendous.

one of the primary ingredients when it comes to avenue lachlks are the bond between snow layers. when you have mild temperatures, you allow the surface to melt. it creates an icy glaze. this weighs down on this initial pack at the surface and desti l destabilizes it. it can collapse then. when it comes to getting heavy snowfall, coming on the surface, that's been melting in the morning hours. it's not cold enough in creating the destabilized surface leading to the avalanches. >> thank you, pedram. >> thank you. iran says now that sanctions have been lifted, it plans to boost oil production. we'll see what that could mean for prices and the world's financial market. back in a moment.

>> iran's the department oil minister says his country plans to increase the oil production by about 500,000 payrolls a day now that sanctions have been lifted. the increased supply is likely to send oil prices even lower. you see the current price ofc4u brent crude just over $29. >> they say if they don't do it, other countries will take it share of the market. >> they are expected to dominate discussions over the next few days. and that isjá where we find nin. outline some of the conversations around the dropping price of oil that's been hovering around $30 a barrel, but goldman sachs reported it could be as low as $20 a barrel this year. what impact might that have? barrel if believe the other

analysts. yes, the it's a rather chilly morning here. about 16 degrees. a wind blowing from the east. economically speaking, i'm talking about figures to china. pointing out there was the blowest since 1990. only a smidge below expectations, at least according to the official figures. the real concern here is nobody really knows what the to believe when it comes to the official figures in china. there's skepticism about what pace it will be growing at. whether it's lower than the statistics suggest. china is in the middle of a transition phase. it's one of the biggest consumers of energy. there's a lot of concerns that as the iranian oil comes onto the market, further exacerbating

the glut of this commodity, we could see demand start to wane from china. oil and china, you're right, likely to dominate the debate, and let's have a look at how the it's dominating the stock market. it's volatility, not just the growth pattern of china. if we look at things like the brent crude price, as you just pointed out, that's ticking up a little bit higher in today's session. slightly divorced from reality some say because it's heading up when it should be going down because there's more oil coming onto the markets, but the financial markets heading up despite the concerns. and one market i want to point out that's still up 1.6% is the ftse 100.

despite unilever's warnings. >> she's there. nina, thanks a lot. >> all right. back now to the warming relations between washington and tehran. and the worries from opponents of the nuclear deal. >> of particular concern to some is that iran's regional rivals may pursue nuclear weapons themselves in the face of an emboldened tehran. wolf blitzer sat down with the u.s. secretary of state and had a conversation with him about thasf(t&háhp &hc% saudis have not been ruling out the possibility given their concern about this nuclear deal with iran, they could go forward and buy, maybe buy a nuclear bomb maybe from pakistan. you've heard those concerns. >> sure, but you can't just buy a bomb.

>> why not? they have a lot of money. >> there's all kinds of consequenc consequences. i 9strmean, there are huge implications with that. and saudi arabia knows, i believe, that that's not going to make them safer. for is it going to be easy. the things iran went through, they would be subject to with respect to inspection and so forth. >> bob levinson, the former fbi agent, contractor for the cia tis disappeared during a business trip to iran. is he still alive? >> bob levinson is very much a part of our negotiation, very much part of every conversation we have had with the iranians. he is, in fact, in the agreement itself, specifically, by name, and process going forward. the iranians have agreed to continue# find us try to the where abouts, whatever mayj or may not have happened to bob levinson. we're going to continue that

effort. i feel horrible for the family. >> do you think iranians -- >> we do not have evidence at this point as to where he is. we have been clear about that. we are tracing every lead of -- >> but you believe he's alive? >> we are trying to find out where he is and what the circumstances are. we are proceeding as if he is. we want him to be. we hope he is. we don't have capacity at this point to draw any kinds of conclusions, but we are working on it, and the iranians are cooperating. there are efforts that we've made to actually trace leads and i know it's very, very difficult for his family to see these other folks come back and not have answers. we will not stop. we are continuing in every respect to try to follow up to get the answers with respect to bob levinson. >> two other americans are being held by the iranians.

why with respect theren't they deal? >> as you know, this has been a secret negotiation for a long period of time. i know do you know that particularly. and we have kept everybody part of our discussions. there's nobody who is an american who has not beenv9] p of these discussions. i'm not free to go into details about what will happen, but there are people who came out, as you know, separately, from the airplane that brought jason and the others out, and we will make certain that every american is home, and we know pretty much where we're heading with respect to that process. >> donald trump, he keeps saying you're the worst negotiator ever. you want to respond? >> no. no. no need to, really. >> want to say anything? [ laughter ] ? >> no, i think i'll let the process take care of itself.

i'm not involved in politics. i'm not involved in the presidential race, and i really just prefer to keep focussed on my job and what i'm doing. >> 20 years from now how will history judge this deal? >> 20 years from now, iran won't have a nuclear weapon, and if they start to break out and do, the united states of america will have done something about it because we'll know about it. i think this deal will stand the test of time. >> thank you very much for joining us. >> we'll take a short break here. écome, glenn frey, co-founder of the eagles, has died at the age of 67. we'll look back on his life and the impact he had on rock music.

♪ >> just find a place to take your stand and take it easy ♪ >> glenn frey, one of the founding members of the eagles has died at 67. that was him singing one of the band's biggest hits, take it

easy. >> the eagles topped the charts with their trademark, laid back sound. sara sidner looks back at the life of a music icon. ♪ >> reporter: glenn frey gave us those laid back sing along lyrics weaving rock and country strains. born in detroit, frey would grow up to be part of a hit making machine, the eagles. his partner, don henley, and his harmony got stuck in heads. hotel california was certified platinum 16 types. they helped send the eagles to soaring heights commercially. ♪ ♪ i got a peaceful easy feeling.

i know do you won't let me down ♪ ♪ because i'm already dancing on the ground ♪ >> reporter: frey got his break as part of a backup band for linda rons the tad. >> we told her we wanted to start our own band. and she, more than anyone else, helped us put together the eagles. >> on the day frey died, she remembered her friend and his talent. >> i remember mostly in that way, in the days before he was well known, he was going on raw courage and nerve. andfully t and plenty of talent. >> the eagles were formed in 1971 and amassed greatest hits that became america's best-selling album of the 20th century selling more copies than

the baegteatles or michael jack. the everyone is paying tribute, henley who sent a statement saying he was funny, bull headed, generous, deeply talented and driven. he loved his wife and kids more than anything. >> frey and his band mates live a rock and roll lifestyle where excess was the norm for years. when it came to work, frey never missed a beat. >> he was a perfectionist. there was zero room for error with him. there was -- everything needed to be exactly where it should be. musically and technically really is where i'm speaking from, technically. everything had to be right on point. >>eric scott works as a sound

designer for cnn. for scott he meant more than music. >> reporter: you have a personal story? >> had it not been for glenn and the eagles, i would have never met my wife. she had done makeup for him on the rolling stones cover shoot, and then was hired on the spot by glenn. i had been working on the tour. and that's where we met. >> to the scotts and fans everywhere, losing frey was a shock. the one consolation, his music lives on. ♪ so very long ago, doesn't really seem so long ♪ >> brilliant music there. i'm rosemary church. >> i'm errol barnett. thanks for being with us. we'll see you tomorrow.

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with less than two weeks before voting begins, the 2016 presidential race candidates are pulling out all the stops. donald trump shifting the strategy. americans freed from iran. they are now meeting with their families sharing their stories of how they were treated in their years behind bars. and eagles legend glenn frey dead at the age of 67. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> and i'm john berman.