10 things you need to know today: March 26, 2015

1. Germanwings co-pilot intentionally downed plane, prosecutor says

The co-pilot of the Germanwings airliner that crashed in the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board, seemed to have taken control of the plane and deliberately started its doomed descent, a French prosecutor said Thursday. The other pilot left the cockpit before the plane began descending and got locked out, according to investigators who reviewed the plane's damaged cockpit voice recorder on Wednesday. The pilot knocks lightly when he tries to get back in, but "there is no answer" from the lone pilot left inside, the investigator said. "And then he hits the door stronger and no answer. There is never an answer."

The New York Times

2. Former POW Bowe Bergdahl to be charged with desertion

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured by the Taliban in 2009 after leaving his post in Afghanistan, was charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy on Wednesday. Bergdahl, who could face life in prison, was held by the Haqqani insurgent network, then freed in May 2014 in a controversial exchange for five Taliban officials then being held at Guantanamo Bay. Some members of Bergdahl's platoon complained about the deal, saying other soldiers had lost their lives searching for him.

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The Washington Post CNN

3. American warplanes join the fight against ISIS in Tikrit

The U.S. began bombing Islamic State targets in the Iraqi city of Tikrit for the first time on Wednesday at the request of the Iraqi government, which has been unable to eliminate pockets of resistance after retaking much of the city from militants. Iraqi government forces have been supported in the offensive by Shiite militias and Iranian military advisors, factors that have made the U.S. hesitate to get involved actively in the attempt to drive ISIS out of the strategically important, predominantly Sunni Muslim city.

Los Angeles Times

4. Three U.S. citizens were among passengers on crashed Germanwings jet

Three Americans were among the 150 people killed in the Germanwings airliner crash in the French Alps, State Department officials said Wednesday. Two of the Americans were Yvonne Selke and her daughter Emily, of Virginia. Also on Wednesday, investigators, already retrieving clues about what happened from the cockpit voice recorder, found the housing for the plane's other black box, the flight data recorder.

Reuters The Washington Post

5. Saudi Arabia launches military operations against Yemen rebels

Saudi Arabia and Gulf region allies launched airstrikes against rebels in Yemen to "protect the legitimate government," the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. announced Wednesday. Shiite Houthi rebels took parts of the port city of Aden hours earlier. Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi fled the country by boat as rebels closed in. U.S. officials said rebels capturing government installations had taken secret documents with information on counter-terrorism operations.

CNN The Associated Press

6. Deadly tornado hits Oklahoma

A tornado deemed "extremely dangerous" by authorities swept through parts of eastern Oklahoma Wednesday evening, killing one person and leaving another in critical condition. Both victims were at a mobile home park where the twister destroyed 25 to 30 mobile homes in the Sand Springs suburb west of Tulsa. Sixty people inside a gymnastics building in Sand Springs managed to flee before the building was destroyed. A smaller tornado overturned cars and injured three people in the town of Moore.

USA Today TIME

7. Jesse Jackson Jr. to leave prison for halfway house

Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. is expected to leave an Alabama prison on Thursday and enter a halfway house, his friend, former congressman Patrick Kennedy said. Jackson, 50, has served a year and a half of a two and a half year sentence for illegally spending $750,000 in campaign funds on luxury items and vacations. Jackson's wife, Sandra, will start a one-year sentence for related crimes after he completes his sentence.

The Associated Press

8. California attorney general tries to block anti-gay initiative

California Attorney General Kamala Harris on Wednesday asked a judge to halt an "utterly reprehensible" proposed anti-gay ballot initiative calling for executing gays with "bullets to the head." Harris said if the court did not step in she would be obligated to officially name and summarize the ballot and start the clock for gathering signatures. The measure, proposed by a Huntington Beach attorney, "not only threatens public safety, it is patently unconstitutional... and has no place in a civil society," Harris said.

Los Angeles Times

9. Arizona passes anti-abortion measure

Arizona lawmakers on Wednesday approved a bill that would bar women from buying health care plans covering abortion through the federal marketplace. The legislation also would require abortion providers to tell women who have started the process of drug-induced abortions that they can reverse the process if they seek help promptly after taking the first of two drugs in the process. Critics say there is no science backing up that claim. Pro-life Gov. Doug Ducey (R) has not said whether he will sign the bill.

The Associated Press

10. Sam Taylor-Johnson will not return to direct 50 Shades sequel

50 Shades of Grey director Sam Taylor-Johnson announced Wednesday that she would not return to direct two sequels. She said the making the hit movie, which stars Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, was "an intense and incredible journey for which I am hugely grateful." The sadomasochistic love story has made $558.6 million worldwide, but Taylor-Johnson has clashed with the book's author EL James over creative control. Screenwriter Kelly Marcel is not expected to return, either, to write the next film.

The Hollywood Reporter