that's it for us tonight. see you back here tomorrow night. our coverage continues now with john vause and zain asher at the cnn center in atlanta. >> hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world in the united states. i'm zain asher. >> and i'm not john vause, but i'm errol barnett. coming up, the u.s. president goes to congress asking for approval for the war on isis. >> three muslim students are murdered in the united states. the father of one of the victims calls it a hate crime. and an argument over a bag of nuts leads to a major court case. now a former top korean airlines

executive will soon learn her fates. we want to begin this hour with u.s. president barack obama, now saying that isis is on the defensive, and he's formally asking congress to use military force against isis. this would be the first war vote in congress in 13 years. >> the president authorized air strikes against isis months ago under the same authorization used for the invasion of iraq. but his new request calls for a mission lasting no more than three years. so very different from what happened in afghanistan and in iraq. >> that's the point. it also does not call for the deployment of u.s. combat troops to iraq or syria. however, mr. obama says he'll only send troops when it's absolutely necessary for national security. >> congress will be debate thing request and approval could take self-requests, but the president is confident that isis could be

defeated. >> our coalition is strong. our cause is just. and our mission will succeed. and long after the terrorists we face today are destroyed and forgotten, america will continue to stand free and tall and strong. >> meanwhile, as the political story line continues, we have new details to bring you about the latest american killed in isis captivity. >> while kayla mueller's friends and family mourn her death, officials are talking about what she may have gone through in her years of captivity. here's our pamela brown. >> reporter: intelligence suggests 26-year-old kayla mueller was given to a male isis fighter, possibly as a bride, after she was kidnapped in syria in 2013 according to u.s. government officials. officials say there are also indications mueller converted to islam. >> these hostages are under severe duress for a very long time and threatened with death and so forth. for them to say that we're going to convert to the religion of

our hostage takers suggests that maybe they can curry favor that way. >> reporter: cnn learned that pictures sent privately to mueller's family from isis helped confirm her death. pictures included mueller wearing muslim garb and a picture of her wrapped in a burial shroud, a stark contrast from the brutal beheadings of other male hostages. it's clear isis treated mueller differently. >> because she was remarkably decent human being and because she was a woman, that it wouldn't be surprising to treat her with more respect in life and death. if they covered her in death, that shows they respected her. >> reporter: the u.s. military says there is no evidence showing she was killed in a jordanian air strike. there were several foiled rescue attempts to save mueller, and one attempt, a man claimed to be

her husband from prescott, arizona and demanded her release but turned away after mueller denied being anyone's wife. >> she said she wasn't married and she didn't lie to her captors. so it foiled that plan. >> reporter: we learned from a family spokesperson that the man who thosed as her husband at that terrorist training camp was her boyfriend who she was kidnapped with in the city of aleppo. apparently he was released but risked his life to go back to rescue her. pamela brown, cnn, washington. >> it's a heartbreaking story, adapting to life in captivity? that's something that most of us will never have to do, but reuters reported that david rhode has been there. >> he spoke with anderson cooper about how kayla mueller may have coped with the horrors of her captivity. take a listen. >> she talks about prayer and there was a bit in the report about her maybe converting to

islam. i think it's impossible and sort of irrelevant. there's no one anyone can freely convert to any faith when you're under duress. jim foley talked about he was kidnapped twice. he was in libya first, then in syria. between those two kidnappings, he talked about how he prayed as a muslim to create camaraderie, but he was sort of praying as a christian to jesus. >> now to get you to news out of the u.s. state of north carolina. 46-year-old man there facing three murder charges after what investigators believe was likely an argument over a parking space. however, police are not dismissing the possibility that this was a hate crime. many believe that's exactly what it was. [ singing in foreign language ] ♪

>> he's saying, those killed are rejoicing in our grace and bounty. mourners gathered in chapel hill, north carolina wednesday night to pay their respects to three victims. all three of them were muslim. >> they were all shot execution style tuesday night. you see them here. >> i want to show you a picture of the suspect, craig steven hicks. on his facebook page he referred to himself as an atheist and made derogatory comments about several religions. cnn cannot confirm the authenticity of the posts or his facebook page, but as jason carroll reports, the father of

the two women says that hicks had scared them in the past. >> i don't think there's a word to describe the pain. if it wasn't for honoring my children and wanting to tell the world their story, i would not be talking. >> reporter: muhammad says he's numb, still in shock over the loss of his two daughters and his son-in-law. >> no matter how much i grieve, i cannot grieve like my wife does. i don't think we can feel it now until we see the bodies and have the burial. we're in shock. two children of ours and our son-in-law. >> reporter: all three shot execution style, a bullet to the head. a frantic 911 call tuesday night of shots fired at the apartment complex near the university of north carolina's chapel hill campus where they lived. >> i just heard gunshots.

i don't know what building it came from, but i heard kids screaming. >> how long ago did you hear snit >> how long? >> uh-huh. >> probably 30 seconds ago. >> how many shots did you hear? >> multiple. at least five and ten i would say. >> reporter: later that night, the victim's neighbor, 46-year-old craig hicks, turned himself in to police, they charged him with three counts of first degree murder. all three victims were muslim. the women's father called the attack a hate crime, saying his daughters and son-in-law were targeted because of their faith. >> my daughter, honest to god, told us on more than two occasions that this man came knocking on their door and fighting about everything with a gun on his belt more than twice. she told us, daddy, i think he

hates us for who we are and how we look. >> reporter: investigators say the shooting was the result of a long-standing dispute between neighbors. >> i wanted to make sure that folks knew that based on all the information that our office and that law enforcement has at this time, that the events of yesterday are not part of a targeted campaign against muslims in north carolina or anything other than an individual event. >> reporter: hicks' wife expressed her condolences, also saying her husband's motive for the murder had nothing to do with religion. >> i can say with my absolute belief that this incident had nothing to do with religion or the victim's faith. but in fact was related to the long-standing parking disputes that my husband had with the neighbors. >> reporter: he was a second year dental student. his wife set to begin her studies at the same school. her sister was also a student in

raleigh. he was raising money to provide dental care to syrian refugees. mohammed called them the kind of children parents wish for, now gone. >> they leave a scent of flowers and a breeze and a light in our lives. they will be missed. i don't think i can feel my sadness yet. it will come when i'm by myself. when i'm overcome at night. it will come when i see their faces and the blood and the stitches. >> reporter: jason carroll, cnn, chapel hill, north carolina. >> and how do you possibly make sense of something that is absolutely senseless? immediately after these killings took place, the story trended, didn't it? it's been talked about well beyond u.s. boarders. >> for example, chapel hill shooting has been tweeted from

almost every corner of the globe more than a million times. that number is climbing fast. another hash tag, muslim lives matter is also spreading on social media like wildfire. breaking news to report to you from belarus. reuters is reporting that the leaders of ukraine, russia, france, and germany are preparing to sign a document following all-night talks on the crisis in ukraine. we know that the ukrainian president petro poroshenko, russian president vladamir putin quickly shook hands before the meeting. at this issue is withdrawal of heavy weapons, the creation of a demilitarized zone, and the status of the area surrounding donetsk, those are the key areas being debated. no word yet on the specifics of the document.

fighting in the region has intensified recently. and by the way, so far more than 5,000 people have been killed in this fighting. errol? >> zain, it's with a heavy heart we report this news. cbs announced the death of one of its own on wednesday. >> we have some sad news tonight from within our cbs news family. our "60 minutes" colleague bob simon was killed this evening. it was a car accident in new york city. >> bob simon earned countless awards for his work on "60 minutes," including 27 emmys. police say simon was a passenger in the back of a town car when it collided with another vehicle at a red light and then hit a traffic divider. police are still investigating this accident. it only happened a few hours ago. simon leaves behind his wife and daughter. he was 73 years old. something was noticeably absent from wednesday's

broadcast of nbc's "nightly news." brian williams' name was cut from the graphics on the first edition of the news cast since williams' six-month suspension was announced tuesday. lester holt had this to say. >> brian is a member of our family, but so are you, our viewers. we'll work every night to be worthy of your trust. >> now, many in the industry are wondering if brian williams will ever be able to return to the anchor chair. but according to sources close to williams, he's determined to earn back public trust. zain? >> coming up next on cnn, certainly an emotional day in court as the widow in the so-called "american sniper" trial is called to testify. also ahead, the captain of the costa concordia learns his punishment after 32 cruise passengers were killed on his watch. stay with us. why do we do it? why do we spend every waking moment, thinking about people?

why are we so committed to keeping you connected? why combine performance with a conscience? i why do any of it? why do all of it? because if it matters to you, it's everything to us. the xc60 crossover. from volvo. lease the well-equipped volvo xc60 today. visit your local volvo showroom for details. you aren't treated like a priority.

we do things differently. we'll take care of it. we put members first. join the nation. thank you. ♪ nationwide is on your side as many as 300 migrants are feared dead after trying to cross the mediterranean sea from libya to italy. the italian coast guard rescued more than 110 people from three rubber dinghies. the passengers say there was also a fourth dinghy, which is still missing. many of those who died suffered from hypothermia. survivors say they left saturday night without any food or water. of course, rough seas have

complicated efforts. also in italy, the captain of the "costa concordian" has been sentenced to 16 years in prison. a panel of judges found him guilty wednesday of manslaughter and abandoning ship. 32 people were killed when the cruise ship crashed into the rocks back in 2012. before the verdict, he said he died along with them that day, metaphorically speaking, of course. his lawyers argued he didn't abandon ship, but slipped and fell into a lifeboat. errol? in the u.s., there were some tearful system from chris kyle's widow on the first day of the so-called american sniper murder trial. eddie ray roth is accused of killing the two at a gun range in 2013. our martin savidge has more on this gripping testimony.

>> reporter: like the blockbuster movie about his life, the trial over how american sniper chris kyle died is also packing them in. the line to get into the small town courtroom in stevenville, texas began forming before the sun came up. >> how does the defendant plead? >> not guilty, your honor. >> reporter: there is no debate over this -- 27-year-old former marine eddie roth killed kyle and littlefield in 2013. the legal question is why. the district attorney said he knew what he was doing when he shot both men multiple times in the back and head. he used two different guns. even taking the time to reload before fleeing in kyle's pickup truck. the same truck he was driving when he was arrested after a police chase.

>> he intentionally caused the death of these two men, and when he did so, did he know what he was doing was wrong? >> reporter: the defense argues that he's innocent by reason of insanity. >> not only is he suffering from a severe disease andmental defect, not only did he not know his conduct was wrong, he thought he had to take their lives because he was in danger. >> reporter: then the defense delivered a bombshell. chris kyle's own words in the form of a text, at the time they were in the front seat of the truck on the hour and a half

drive to the gun range that deadly day. >> he says, this dude is straight up nuts. this dude is straight up nuts. >> reporter: moments later. >> and chad littlefield texted chris kyle back, right behind me. watch my six. >> reporter: "watch my six" is military speak for watch my back. a short time later kyle and littlefield would be dead. and the messages they shared could be a defense to the man who killed them. the first witness was chris kyle's widow. even without words, it was emotional. as the mother of two choked up and wiped her eyes as the courtroom was shown pictures of her husband. chris kyle is known as a hero, who watched over his troops in iraq as a sniper. ands a civilian reached out to

those who struggled with the after lath of war. a life so remarkable, it would become a hollywood hit. "american sniper" has broken box office records. >> i just want to get the bad guys, brother. >> reporter: and continues to play just three miles from the courtroom why a jury must decide if kyle's killer is a villain or victim. martin savidge, cnn, stevenville, texas. >> okay, everyone. still to come on cnn, after a couple of aborted attempts, a space x rocket finally lifts off. >> we'll talk to an expert about its mission after this short break. stay with cnn. t-mobile's network puts data where you need it most. it's a network designed data strong.

four space x -- for space x, the third time was a charm. as the falcon nine rocket blasted off from cape canaveral, florida at sunset on wednesday. >> one, zero. and liftoff. the falcon takes flight. >> just takes your breath away. the rocket carried a research satellite on its way to deep space where it send back images of earth and advanced warnings of solar storms. but there was rough seas that forced space x to scrub its attempt to land a booster stage of the rocket on a barge at sea.

early i spoke with dave brody about the successful liftoff. here he is. >> third time was a charm and it was a beautiful launch for spacex's rocket. this time delivering a science satellite. it's normally going to the space station with supplies and cargo. but today went really well. >> and the falcon rocket is carrying the discover satellite. how does it work? >> it detects earth climate change and the climate of the solar system. this satellite sits about a million miles out from earth, but as we go around the sun, this satellite always has the satellite at its back looking

down at earth. it will monitor vegetation cover, dust in the air. but it will also look at the sun and when the sun sends a blast of energy, a solar flare in our direction, it will give us some warning time before that charge of energy intersects with earth's magnetic field, which causes beautiful nor lights in the northern and southern latitudes, but can cause electrical problems to lodge telephone lines, power grids, pipelines, railroads, that sort of thing. >> and the journey is about a million miles long, about 110 days. so they decided not to attempt to drone ship landing today. how bad were the weather conditions for that? >> bad enough so that barge it lands on a barge out in the ocean, was pitching up and down in waves that were 25 feet high and more. those are just not conditions where you would want to be on the barge. so they didn't want their rocket on it, either.

they did complete a soft landing on the surface of the ocean within ten meters of their intended target at a speed that would have been comfortable to land on the large had it been nonstormy weather. >> the last time we saw that explosion. so this company is trying to develop technology to allow it to reuse its rockets potentially reducing launch costs. how does that work? >> so if you get the hardware back, you don't have to rebuild it. and if you get the hardware back when it hasn't had a bath of saltwater, it's in better condition. so this is going towards turning rockets into airplane-like operaability. if you threw the airplane away every time you flew from new york to london, imagine what air travel cost. so the idea is to make every single part reusable and to scale the rocket up. spacex really wants to go to mars.

>> we appreciate your interview subject there, dave brody with the models and displays. >> enthusiastic. >> weather prevented this from happening the first few times. >> it prevented the drone ship landing. >> the waves were so choppy just off of jacksonville, florida. but we should be happy that this took off, because this satellite is now 1 million miles above earth, looking for storms and the potential to knock out g.p.s. communications across the world. so very important device on falcon nine rocket. you can see that conditions were picture perfect in cape canaveral, florida. not a cloud in the sky for that particular launch. visibility was a major factor in seoul, korea. some of the people on the ground experiencing this 100 car pileup

said that visibilities were reduced to ten meters at times, just causing such a chaotic scene. you can just see how thick that actual fog was as it piled up over this bridge near seoul. we head back to the graphics. you can see why this took place. seoul just on the west side of south korea. the bridge was located near the airport, which is on an island. so a lot of times we get this temperature differential between the ocean water and the land, creating a fog that drifts over places like bridges and the coastal areas, creating the reduced visibilities. starting to clear up in seoul at the moment, but we've had another area where visibility was a concern. this is in the middle east, the gaza strip and into jerusalem. we have had reduced visibility, but because of a sand storm. this is all thanks to sand that was actually picked up from the western sahara in northern

africa, blown in across parts of egypt and making its way into jerusalem as well as gaza city. reducing visibilities there, and creating a health concern, as well. you can imagine sand, just inhaling that. >> and it just chokes a city when those things roll in. >> absolutely. >> interesting that the rocket launch is going to help us learn so much more about climate change. >> we need that stuff. >> thank you. we are getting word from reuters that possibly there's been a diplomatic solution reached for the crisis in ukraine. we'll chase that for you this hour. still no letup in fighting in eastern parts of the country. we'll get you a report from the scene, next. and new details on the attempts that were made to save kayla mueller. the latest american that was killed in isis captivity. stay with us. nose. [coughs] better take something. theraflu severe cold won't treat your runny nose. really?

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works. works! works? works. works. thanks for staying with us here on cnn, everyone. i'm errol barnett. >> and i'm zain asher. let's get straight to the headlines. >> reuters is citing a diplomatic source saying leaders from russia, france, germany and ukraine are prepared to sign a

document following all-night talks on the crisis in eastern ukraine. no specifics are available yet, but among the issues to resolve is the removal of heavy equipment. u.s. president barack obama has formally asked congress for the authorization of military force against isis. the request does not call for the deployment of u.s. combat troops to iraq or syria. congressional approval could take several months. greek and eurozone leaders will talk monday after they failed to reach a deal over greece's debt. the biggest disagreement is over whether greece should request a bailout extension. it expires at the end of this month. greece blames the bailout for the country's economic woes. now we have new details on the attempts to rescue american aid worker kayla mueller from isis. her family was told of her death in a private message this week from the islamic militants in

syria. >> some wonder whether enough had been done to save her life. but those who did try admit they failed. brian todd reports. >> reporter: kayla mueller was in captivity at an isis camp in syria. out of nowhere, a man appeared in the camp. he told her captors he was her husband and appealed for her release. it was a ruse mueller wasn't in on. >> she said she wasn't married and she didn't lie that she was mare yesterda married, so that foiled that plan. >> i think this was orchestrated from the folks she was soci associated with. people concerned for a young lady caught behind militant lines, so they wanted to get her home. >> reporter: he's had extensive contact with her parents since she was captured in 2013.

gosar was briefed on that attempted rescue and tonight, cnn is learning of exhaustive and daring efforts to win the release of kayla mueller. john mccain himself traveled to iraq, qatar, met with syrian rebel leaders to get mueller out. his own chief of staff ventured into a refugee camp to try to get information on mueller. it was an enormous risk. >> it was overrun with a number of terrorist soldiers. so from that standpoint, he was being watched very closely. >> reporter: the aide came up empty. the u.s. military took on a rescue mission to rescue kayla mueller. >> i deployed an entire operation at significant risk to rescue not only her but the other individuals that had been held and probably missed them by

a day or two. >> reporter: july 2014. navy s.e.a.l.s and commandos move in by helicopter to an abandoned oil refinery near raqqa, syria. they get to a build bring they think the hostages are being held. no one is there, but they find strands of hair believed to be mueller. a firefight ensues. former s.e.a.l. john mcgwire was not on that raid but knows how risky it was. >> intelligence, we do the best we can with what we have. the situations and the training are not exactly perfect. >> reporter: even with all the risks involved, they have told reporters they failed kayla mueller's family. because despite their efforts, she wasn't returned home safely. brian todd, cnn, washington. former cia operative and current cnn security analyst bob baer joins us to talk about this. kayla mueller possibly paired with an isis fighter while in

captivity. how unusual is that, considering these are jihadists on a so-called religious campaign? >> well, if it's true, it would be highly unusual. for instance, the doctors without boarders female employees were taken hostage were treated very civilly in the sense they were hostages. and i know for the first part of her captivity, she was treated quite well, considering she was a prisoner by the islamic state. they understood she had a syrian boyfriend. she wasn't tortured. she wasn't offered up as a wife. so if in fact she was paired with an isis member, it happened after may of last year. >> all right. now, separately, the campaign against isis continues. president obama now requesting the authorization for the use of force by congress, essentially saying there will be no ground

troops and he wants to limit this to just three years. but there's a mechanism in there for plenty of wiggle room. what do you make of this plan at this time to get the authorization? >> well, i mean, first of all, it's a bit disingenuous. there are american troops in kurdistan and iraq right now, delta force, which are bombarding isis positions. i think he just wants to -- wants some sort of legal backup for this. but what he's telling me is, this is an enduring conflict. we're talking about a 30 years war, a 100 years war. isis is part of a pandemic. it's all over the world. and no one knows when it's going to come to an end. will it sustain itself? i don't know. they keep saying there's thousands of fighters flowing into iraq and syria from central asia, from europe. where does this stop? will ground troops stop it?

will the air campaign stop it? it's difficult to tell. >> you get the sense that the u.s. is leading the way, but it needs to do something. you could argue that isis wouldn't exist if -- during the bush years, the u.s. didn't invade iraq. how responsible is the u.s. for the creation of isis? how much blame should the u.s. shoulder here? >> we should take about 90% of the blame. isis and the islamic state, al qaeda in iraq or syria, didn't exist before 2003, before the invasion. we are responsible for it, but that doesn't mean we can fix it. you look at yemen. it has an islamic state problem, al qaeda problem. and that place is about ready to blow up. this is really, truly a mess. i've spent 40 years in the middle east and i've never seen it come this close to being this bad. it's -- and i don't have an obvious solution for it. in three years of combat, of

special forces and bombardment isn't going to stop it either. >> you get these uncomfortable relationships, syrian president assad interviewed by the bbc recently and asked why there has not been any clashes between syrian and coalition air forces. the reporter posing the question, are you in communication with the u.s., and assad saying no, but they are in communication through third parties like iraq. what is happening there? >> errol, in effect, we are serving as the air force of iran and syria. we have taken sides in this conflict. you know, there may be no direct communication or military coordination, but the fact is, we are supporting the shia in iraq and the shia in syria, ie, bashar al assad. >> it is certainly a mess. bob baer, former cia operative, giving us insight. bob, thanks a lot. >> thank you.

>> bob briefly mentioned it there, the united states, britain and france have closed their embassies in yemen, one of the many hot spots in the middle east. the u.s. embassy is shut down indefinitely, but u.s. special forces will stay behind to carry out counterterrorism operations as needed. demonstrators turned out carrying banners and chanting b anti-houthi slogans. four leaders are ready to sign a document on ukraine. although it's still unclear what it will say or whether or not it will stick, the presidents of ukraine, russia, and france, as well as germany's chancellor held all-night crisis talks to be decided the status of donetsk

and luhansk. the previous peace deal was signed in september, but that quickly fell apart. as the talks were under way, the fighting raged on. nick paton walsh is on the ground in eastern ukraine and has filed this report. take a listen. >> reporter: it couldn't have been more central or worse timed. the shell torched the bus driver, killed three others, right at rush hour on the morning peace was supposed to break out. blood is now common on donetsk streets. but not before in the very heart of separatist territory. yet separatists too are firing shells. these artillery pieces facing the besieged town. they clean and load, a busy day. rocking the farmland. this air defense system, more

evidence of the kind of modern firepower the separatists have got from somewhere. nearby, ukraine uses artillery, as well. on the other side, civilians who have nowhere to run to. when you cross through here, and down into this village, you are truly in no-man's land, between the two armies, a buffer zone where locals say the village here is shelled nearly every day. serge says they fired this morning. there is little to do here. they sit and wait for the shells. this man lost his windows to a blast and points to the north. from where he says they're always firing. her husband yefgeni was killed

in november here in his backyard. he said run, she says, get down in the basement. but he said up here and the shell hit. he lived for a moment, she adds, but died just here and it tore up everything. how can we live? alina shows us how she and her mother try to live in the basement. she sleeps on the table, her mother in the back. when the shelling starts, she says we pray and beg for peace. her mother seems shell shocked. she says, those who love give love to. come on, grandchildren, let's love.

everything will be okay. down the road is ukrainian army checkpoint. but the traffic is mostly this way. a ti nick paton walsh, eastern ukraine. now other stories we're following. u.s. president barack obama has about a week and a half to decide whether to veto a bill on construction of the keystone excel pipeline. >> the u.s. house passed a time version of the bill on wednesday. 278-152. 29 democrats voted with republicans. >> mr. obama has repeatedly said he will disallow this bill. environmentalists say it would create pollution and supporters say it would create jobs. >> the proposed pipeline would provide a more direct way to get oil from canada's oil sands to existing u.s. pipelines that

lead to the gulf of mexico. at least three workers are dead, another six are missing at this hour after an explosion in an oil and gas platform in brazil. >> ten people were taken by helicopter to hospitals. the company says no oil spilled. the company is mired in a that is save corruption scandal in brazil. last week, the ceo and other company leaders resigned. still to come for you on cnn, you could call it the grand finale, a verdict could be handed down soon in the so-called nut rage trial. and a former korean air executive could be headed to yale all for behaving badly over a bag of nuts. [engine revving] [engine revving] ♪ introducing the first-ever 306 horsepower lexus rc coupe

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okay. so it's pretty hard to believe, but airline snacks like these are what caused an international uproar known as the nut rage

scandal. within the next couple of hours, we should know the verdict for the woman at the center of this infamous incident. the former vice president of korean air ordered a plane to go back to the gate at new york's jfk airport because her macadamia nuts were served in a bag instead of a plate. that on board tantrum could put heather cho mind bars for up to three years. she's pleaded not guilty, defending her actions saying they indicate devotion to her job. paula, just break down what the prosecutors are pushing for here. >> reporter: well, zain, what prosecutors want is to see heather cho serve thee years in prison. this is what they said a couple weeks ago. she's being charged with aviation security, violating

that with assault, with also changing flight plans, interference in a government official's duty. so it's not just what happened on board, but mrs. allegations that she had tried to interfere with the investigation after the event. she denied all the charges, though she did admit she assaulted the flight attendant who served her the nuts. that flight attendant told the court that she was shouted at, cursed at, and pushed before ms. cho allegedly through a galaxy tab at her. ms. cho did order the flight to go back to the gate so she could kick the chief flight attendant off and that chief flight attendant testified that they were treated like futile slaves, in his words. he said he's been on medical leave for much of the time since. ms. cho's father has apologized

in front of the media, the court, as well. but we will see in the next 15 minutes when this trial starts once again exactly what three judges decide her punishment should be. zain? >> i know that people in south korea there are hooked, fixated on this case. let me ask you, for viewers that don't know, tell us a bit more about heather cho and her background. she comes from a very wealthy and powerful family there in seoul. >> reporter: that's right. this trial is about so much more than just one woman's alleged crimes. this is a woman who is part of a very powerful family run business. korea air is owned and run by one family, the cho family. and this is the norm here in south korea. there are so many of these conglomerates that are run by family-owned conglomerates.

there's an increasing amount of resentiment in south korea that these families are allowed to act as badly as they want and get away with it. we've seen court cases with tax evasion, embezzlement, with the chiefs of some of these companies, when they have been convicted, they've had suspended prison sentences and then presidential pardons. so the resentment is growing. this is about so much more than one woman. zain? >> for our viewers watching around the world, a lot of people find it hard to believe that an airline executive could order a plane to go back to a gate because of how her macadamia nuts we are served. paula hancocks live for us there in seoul. and as soon as we get a verdict, we'll bring it to you live and reconnect with paula there. now to this. reports say dominic is fed up

with questions about his admittedly rough sexual practices. the former chief of the international monetary fund is on trial in france for allegedly supplying prostitutes for sex part yis. he denies knowing the women were prostitutes. his reportedly said he was not on trial for dooef yenlt acts. still to come, a polar bear is sporting a brand new collar around her neck. why scientists say it could change the way they study this endangered species. we live in a pick and choose world.

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collar. >> her handlers say she's been a good sport. scientists say it will help them track the bear like never before. here's our rosemary church. >> reporter: what to get a 14-year-old girl for valuen type's day. accessories are a good idea. and the collar given to this polar bear at the san diego zoo may be the greatest gift for the future of her species. >> what we're doing is calibrating data to be able to identify discrete behaviors for polar bears in the wild, how often they rest, how often they walk, how often they're swimming. >> reporter: the reason she's sporting the neckwear is scientists want to know all about her energy needs. charting her behavior will help them understand how and if polar

bears can adapt to climate change. inside the collar tracks her movements up and down, side to side and back to front. 16 times per second. >> a similar type of technology that athletes are using for quantifying how far they're walking, how many steps they're taking and what the calories are that they're burning. it's a very similar type of technology. they're just applying it in this case to polar bears. >> reporter: getting this kind of data in the wild is nearly impossible. and with the population down nearly 40%, this project is not only important but urgent. the collar is held together with zip ties, so the bear could easily get it off if she wanted to. but this proud bear chooses to wear it well. >> she's wearing this collar and she's a rock star pro. she teaches us things every day.

>> reporter: rosemary church, cnn. >> all right, everyone, thank you so much for being with us. i'm zain asher. >> and i'm errol barnett. more of the world's biggest stories after this. (melodic, calm music.) hi this is conor. sorry i missed you. i'm either away from my desk or on another call. please leave a message and i'll get back to you just as soon as i'm available. thank you for patience at this busy time. join princess cruises for stargazing with discovery at sea. enjoy cruises from $499 during our 50th anniversary sale. call your travel consultant or 1-800-princess. princess cruises. come back new. why do we do it? why do we spend every waking moment, thinking about people? why are we so committed to keeping you connected? why combine performance with a conscience? why innovate for a future without accidents? why do any of it? why do all of it? because if it matters to you, it's everything to us.

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