a threat anymore. u.s. counterterrorism official says the explosive device is similar to the one that was used by the so-called underwear bomber back on christmas day of 2009. only this time, more sophisticated and harder to detect. barbara starr is live at the pentagon this morning. what do we know about the bomb itself and about how this all unfolded? >> well, very little detail being made public at this point, ashleigh because officials say operations intelligence operations are still ongoing. clearly, pointing to the fact they still feel there are elements of whatever this organization is that was behind this throughout. and they believe it is al qaeda in yemen known as aqap. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. as for the bomb itself, all the indications are that it was very similar. as you said, to devices used by aqap in both the christmas day underwear bomber and another plot after that to put bombs inside printer cartridges and put them on aircraft bound for the united states using material called petn, white powdery substances, a detonator. very difficult to detect by conventional x-ray machines. so they are looking -- the fbi has the device, they say. they are looking at all of it trying to do the technical, the forensic analysis on it. very tantalizing detail. the person who would have used the bomb no longer a threat. nobody in the government is saying whether that person is dead or in custody. ashleigh? >> we went through this last week. we went through the anniversary. we heard from the government there was no credible threat and now we're hearing all of this. what do we know about this guy? dead, alive, in custody? >> as i said, we don't know if whether he's dead or in custody, but he would have perhaps just been the front man for all of this. the real person they are looking for is a man named ibrahim al asiri, part of al qaeda in the, a rabbian peninsula in yemen. a very key if not senior operative for al qaeda there and a master bombmaker by all accounts. said to really be the brains behind these previous incidents using these types of bombs. he's the guy they want to get, and the financing, the networking and the organization that goes with him because this now would be at least the third time we know of where he and his organization have basically been able to reach out and touch potentially in the united states. and that makes al qaeda in yemen probably right now the most serious al qaeda direct threat to the united states, according to officials, ashleigh. >> barbara starr, thanks for checking that out for us. secretary of state hillary clinton is wrapping up her visit to india this morning. she's also weighing in on this foiled al qaeda plot to blow up a u.s.-bound passenger jet. >> the plot itself indicates that the terrorists keep trying. they keep trying to devise more and more perverse and terrible ways to kill innocent people. and it's a reminder as to why we have to remain vigilant. >> jill do herty is travel with the secretary of state and joins us live from new delhi, india. it's my assumption she was probably not caught off guard like we all were by this. >> no, she wasn't. although i have to say it came -- boek just at the end of her trip and she, of course, has been in china, in bangladesh and in india. and at all of those stops, this subject of terrorism has come up, so she was ready, and she said it's a threat to everyone. >> terrorists in pakistan have killed more than 30,000 pakistanis. so it's very much about the people of pakistan and their right to go to a market or go to a mosque to live their lives. and we need stronger, more concerted efforts on behalf of governments and societies against the scourge of terrorism. >> right. so hillary clinton, as you mentioned, wrapping up her trip. she should be leaving for the states. and we managed at the last minute to get good interview with her and we'll be showing that a little bit later on cnn. >> but what did she say and was she referring much to yemen and its efforts to perhaps help us to track down this latest plot? >> no, not really. that was not the focus of our interview. i really wanted to get into that subject of china, mr. chen. remember, he is still in a hospital. he is supposed to be coming to the united states. and the big question is, will the chinese actually let him go. will they fulfill their part of the bargain. so we talked about that. careful but detailed answer from the secretary. also some things on iran and oil sanctions. and then also a very funny sound at the end. i asked her about this hillary au naturel which is bouncing around the blogosphere about not wearing makeup and wearing glasses which we saw on this trip. she said at my point in life, if i don't want to wear glasses, i'm not going to wear glasses. if i don't want to wear makeup, i'm not going to wear makeup. >> lucky her she doesn't have to wear those glasses. look forward to getting some of that interview cut. we'll be running some of that sound just a little later on in the program. good work, jill. jill dougherty for us live in india this morning. two police officers in california face criminal charges this morning for the beating death of a homeless man. it was all captured on video. i have a warning for you. some of the pictures you are about to see are very disturbing. at a preliminary hearing yesterday in fullerton, california, spectators gasped when they saw photos of 37-year-old kelly thomas after he had been beaten by the officers last july. the mentally ill homeless man died five days after the incident. the officers, ten-year veteran manuel ramos and jay cicinelli face charges from second-degree murder to felony use of excessive force. here's video from the night of the beating. >> get on the ground! get on the ground! >> i'm sorry, dude. i'm sorry. please. >> roll over! [ bleep ]. >> both officers have pleaded not guilty. the orange county coroner lists thomas' death as a homicide. three states are holding primaries today. but with the republican nomination all but decided at this point. and there's a ballot initiative in north carolina and a six-term senator from indiana are getting the most attention. the voters head to the polls in indiana, west virginia and north carolina. mitt romney needing just more than 300 more delegates to officially clinch the nomination. funny because we all sort of forgot about the math. just gave up on it. there's 300 left. in north carolina, it seems all the talk is about amendment one. that's a measure that's going to change the state's constitution to read marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized, and that is if that amendment passes. evangelist billy graham has taken out pull-page ads in 14 north carolina newspapers reporting this amendment. however, former president bill clinton recorded a robo call denouncing it. and also in indian athe senate's longest serving republican may not actually survive a primary challenge. six-term senator dick lugar trailing the tea party-backed state treasurer and trailing by double digits in the polls. at 8:00 eastern time on "starting point," dick lugar will join soledad o'brien to talk about his career and that major battle that he is facing today. one month after dropping out of the race, rick santorum is finally getting behind mitt romney for president. after meeting with romney in pittsburgh last week, santorum just released an e-mail to his supporters saying he now has a better understanding of where his former rival stands on conservative issues. here's the key passage in that e-mail. quote, above all else, we both agree that president obama must be defeated. the task will not be easy. it will require all hands on deck if our nominee is to be victorious. governor romney will be that nominee and he has my endorsement and support to win this, the most critical election of our lifetime. we go to another just in piece of news for you this morning. it's one you'll probably appreciate. the national average for gasoline, $3.76 a gallon. and that's down about a cent and a half over the past 24 hours. if you are doing the math, five times going now. five times in a row. aaa just posting it on their website. demand for gas has been easing as we're seeing soft innocence the u.s. and european economies. so there you go. news you can use as you head to the pumps this morning. >> maybe i'll go back to premium gas because i've been cheating. >> really? >> i know the car is -- this next story is going to have you yelling at the tv. a knife attack caught on tape. would you handle the situation the way the mother here did? >> what? >> what happens to her 4-year-old daughter. stay with us for that. >> holy moly. and then there's this. a hero who is not even deterred by a vat of acid. no kidding. it's a rescue you've got to see to believe. you're watching "early start." ♪ you are my sunshine, my only sunshine ♪ ♪ you make me happy [ female announcer ] choose the same brand your mom trusted for you. children's tylenol, the #1 brand of pain and fever relief recommended by pediatricians and used by moms decade after decade. 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(spoken in mandarin) i've still got hours of battery life. it's an ultrabook. you bring great shame upon this coffee hut. with a long-lasting ultrabook, everything else seems old fashioned. ultrabook. inspired by intel. 14 minutes past the hour. let's get you up to date. here's christine romans. >> good morning. new details about how the cia stopped an al qaeda plot to blow up a passenger jet bound for the u.s. a senior administration official telling cnn the intended user of the bomb is, quote, not a threat anymore. but would not elaborate on whether the person is dead or in custody. the fbi now studying a sophisticated metal-free device that may have been undetectible at airports. police in springfield, massachusetts, releasing surveillance video that shows a man walking up to a mother and her 4-year-old daughter with a knife demanding the woman's purse. but check this out. the woman runs away leaving the little girl. luckily she gets away, too. police say the man stabbed the woman in the collarbone as she tried to get into the store. she's okay. the attacker, though, got away. >> a former illinois comptroller pleading not guilty to charges she stole more than $53 million to fund her lavish lifestyle. prosecutors allege 58-year-old rita crudwell diverted taxpayer money from the city of dixon, illinois, into a secret account going back to 1990. they claim she used this cash to create one of the nation's leading horse breeding operations. she faces up to 20 years in prison. and a set of rare prints from marilyn monroe's last photo shoot will be up for auction today in new york city. monroe posed topless for these pictures. they were taken by photographer bert stern for "vogue" in 1962 just six weeks before marilyn monroe's death. if you are tleefg house right now, watch us on your desktop, on your mobile phone. go to cnn.com/tv. ladies? >> was that real video of that mom walking away, running away from the 4-year-old? >> you wonder if a guy is coming after you with a knife what your reaction would be. it looked like she was caught there trying to get in the store and he actually stabbed her and the little girl was standing there. she also then ran away, too. >> you see look here. it looks like he's grabbing the little girl. >> we can't hear. we don't know what she's saying. if she's telling the little girl to run. we can't hear the audio, but -- >> it's tough. a lot of people are judging that woman so she was stabbed. you never know what the initial reaction was. she probably is calling for her daughter to run also. >> and we don't know about the whereabouts of the perpetrator. >> he got away. hopefully people are watching that video and maybe it will trigger something and people will call crimestoppers or their local police. >> christine, thank you. want to check on the day's weather story. rob marciano always doing the job. good morning. >> got a little bit of rainfall slowly pushing into the eastern third of the country. with that higher levels of humidity and warmer temperatures. all the moisture slicing around a cold front or, i should say, shadowing it back through the ohio river valley. boston, rainfall. back through cleveland. pittsburgh as well. some of this has been heavy across the ohio river valleys and down across the south also, kind of a dull light system. texas getting more much-needed rain but with that is some flood warnings. last night still swollen rivers. one to two inches of rainfall quickly across parts of western west virginia. and that could cause flash flooding there. this front is moving really slow. the first part of it will get through maybe tonight into tomorrow morning and then the bottom part through tomorrow afternoon into tomorrow night. and behind this is some drier, somewhat cooler air. we'll start to shake up what has been very -- more like a late june type of weather pattern and then above normal temperatures across the pacific northwest. daytime highs, 73 kansas city. 69 in chicago. and 67, a little muggy out there. most of the rain is north of new york. guys, back up to you. >> we'll take muggy. thank you, rob. it is 18 minutes past the hour. time for our early reads. and from the record in new jersey we start here. a roofer rescued after falling 40 feet into a vat of acid. thanks to a co-worker who jumped in after him, fire officials say the man fell through the roof of a metal tube making factory -- this was in new jersey. a co-worker jumped into the waist-deep tank of acid, pulled him out with the help of three other workers. apparently steam from the acid had eaten away at the roof. the victim was airlifted to the hospital. the hero also suffered severe burns to his waist and abdomen. >> good luck to him. this one will really get you going. two dolphins killed in a drug overdose at an amusement park in switzerland. it's one of those headlines you just cannot believe. "the daily mail" is reporting this one. the dolphins were at this zoo park and there was a weekend long rave party that was booked at this park. don't ask me why. it's insane. this happened in november. and some of the experts first thought these dolphins died because of all the loud music and the thumbing and the high levels of noise would damage their immune system. others believe that something else was going on with these dolphins. maybe they were given antibiotics. but now they've got the solution. they've got the answer. toxicology reports say the animals died from a heroin substitute. opiats dangerous to them because they stop breathing. they have to decide to go get a breath and when they have these opiates they can't do that. the officials say that apparently these dolphins died a very slow and painful death. now there could be a lawsuit. but it is an ugly story no matter how you slice it. and again, how do you have a party at a zoo like this where something like this could happen? >> i'm sure it will never happen again. for the vets, those animals are like their children so to watch them die like that. >> just horrible. the bloomberg view published internal e-mails from tom lehman brothers executives sent right before the firm's collapse. it suggests executives ignored signed the company was headed for trouble. one e-mail reveals executives rejected an injection of capital from chinese investment bank civic group. capital lehman desperately needed. the cfo goldfarb rights, this will signal a major sign, which obviously isn't true, and put us in the category of those who needed an infusion to help them out of this market mess. how do you spell tupd in chinese? he replied, i agree. we need some help but brothers always wins. lehman went belly-up in 2008. and yahoo!'s ceo caught exaggerating his resume. he's not the first to fudge it. a lesson we can all learn from. don't let this happen to you. >> you know you can google that and yahoo! that. >> christine romans is all over that. you're watching "early start." a party? 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[ male announcer ] solutionism. the new optimism. it's 24 minutes past 5:00 on the east coast. we're minding your business. a choppy day -- trading day to start off the week. the u.s. markets managing to recover losses from earlier in the day. and christine romans was right. >> the dow still closed lower, losing about 0.25%. the nasdaq and s&p 500 closing flat. >> and yahoo!'s ceo making big news in serious hot water after allegedly padding his resume. christine romans is here. this stuff follows you on yahoo!. >> it really does. absolutely. he's new. he got a $26 million potential pay package to come over and take over yahoo!. and now everything that he's trying to do to turn this company around has been overshadowed by the fact that on his resume it says he has a computer science degree and he does not. he has an accounting degree. there's an activist shareholder who has been trying to push this subject, and he is now apologizing. the yahoo! c can eo caught padding his resume and is apologizing. he's telling people in a memo, i want you to know how deeply i regret how this issue has affected the company and all of you. we have all been working very hard to move the company forward and this has had the opposite effect. for that i take full responsibility and want to apologize. mark zuckerberg with no college degree. he's rung this amazing company that everyone is talking about and then the guy at yahoo! trying to defend some inadvertent error as it's been called on his resume from maybe years back. it's followed him a long time. a lot of people talking abou