>> i've o'had people go do the indian accent. you can't just dot indian accent. you have to physically become the indian accent. like, i'm talking to you like this, but if i had to change, suddenly my body has changed. my hands, eyes, everything is different. we have to morph. and that's really what it's about. you know? crashes it. the u.s. capital on edge as white nationalists prepare to rally. we'll look back at the display in virginia and ask what if anything has changed since then. and, just minutes ago. >> two, one, zero. liftoff of the mighty delta four heavy rocket. >> so cool to watch. nasa launches a probe on a

mission to high five the sun. >> so we say, high five nasa. >> totally. >> bam. >> welcome to our viewers in the u.s. and around the world. we're live in atlanta. i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george howell. "newsroom" starts right now. the man who stole an empty commuter plane from the seattle airport and then died in a crash about an hour later has been identified as this man here, richard russell. >> they say russell worked for about three years on the ground crew which included baggage handling and moving aircraft. he also had clearance to be in secure areas at the airport. a spokesman for his family offered this statement. >> may seem difficult for those watching at home to believe, but bibo was a warm compassionate man if the was impossible to

encompass who he was in a press release. he was a faithful husband, a loving son, and a good friend. this sa i complete shock to us. we are devastate the by these events and jesus is truly the only one holding this family together right now. as the voice recordings show, his intent was not to harm anyone. he was right in saying that there are so many people who have loved him. >> russell entered the cockpit of the twin engine turbo prop and made an unauthorized flight. >> he entered dangerous aerial stunts several times like the one you just saw there running low on fuel. the plane crashed on key reason to island just about an hour later. >> it may take months before investigators piece together just how this happened. we get more from dan simon outside of seattle.

>> reporter: a law enforcement source tells us that he has been identified as rich russell. russell is somebody who kept a very active online presence. he recorded youtube videos talking about his job. he also had an online blog where he talked about he and his wife operated a bakery somewhere in oregon. he did work ground support in seattle. we know that he load and unloaded luggage. he would also tidy up aircraft tanlsd involved riding a tractor or driving a tractor would he would put the plane in the right place for takeoff, getting in the sock pointe, firing up the engines and having a successful takeoff. that's very difficult do because of the protocols in place. listen now to the ceo of hor rye son airlines? >> norm you'll you would request permission from ground control.

you'd then speak with ground control all the way out to the r runway. they would turn you out to the tower and they would clear you for takeoff. i know did he communicate on the ground frequency and all of the communications for the entire flight were conducted on that frequency. you're right, there were some maneuvers that were done that were incredible maneuvers with the aircraft. to our knowledge, he didn't have a pilot's license. so to be honest with you, i mean, commercial aircraft are complex machines, they're not as easy to fly as, say, a cessna 150, so i don't know how he achieved the experience that he did. >> now i smoke poke to a former coworker who worked with him. he said he was shocked, he said he had a good sense of humor but

he wasn't shocked that he gained the knowledge of how to fly the aircraft. being on the tow team you learn things that other employees might not know how do. >> when you heard the conversation that he was going through air traffic control what went through your mind? >> i recognized the voice first and it was before i could put a face to it. and then i saw some people posting rest in peace richard russell. and then i figured out that it was him and i listened to his voice more carefully during the audio after that and it was heartbreaking. you could tell he was in pain, seemed a little delusional and i was just shocked to see that someone who was no nice and helpful and caring actually, he cared about his job, do such a thing. and, you know, and end his life. so it was a little bad. >> as far as what is happening now, i can tell you that over at

the island where the crash occurred there are dozens of investigators there. they're trying to retrieve those black boxes, the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. but what evidence those boxes might yield we don't know. we already of course have say ton of evidence becau-- have a conversation. >> he is a former safety analyst and former inspector. thanks for being with us. we've had a little over one day to digest this unfortunate feat. it still seems somewhat surreal, doesn't it? but it was very real. do you have anymore insight now in to how he pulled this off? >> there's a lot of processes that were overlooked and did not happen that should have happened. i've looked at the seed to seattle processes and procedures for security and there's no possible way that that guy should have been out there by

himself towing that aircraft for a number of reasons. one is because they need to have somebody in the aircraft with their feet on the brake ready to stop the aircraft in case anything happens. but that's just one level and there are two or three other levels that people that should have noticed he was out there by himself. >> is this not a gap in just typical airport security, was this more specific to this airline? >> it is. the airline's responsible for that tarmac for a bad area where the aircraft is. and the fact that all their employees are trained, everybody knows that you don't go out there on the tarmac by yourself, this should not have happened. each if you look at baggage handlers, if uyou look at every time there's somebody driving a bag gauge cart, there's two people with them. no one should be by themselves. tere's two things that need to be looked at on that airport and the airline. >> you don't see this as a systemic issue with the industry? >> i really don't. i think that the system, the safety system that's in place has proven by the fact this doesn't happen very often.

but i think the safety system's in place, but the fact is, there were people at three different levels that didn't do the right thing. so we first look at performance of the safety mechanisms and if the performance isn't done properly, then you go back and look at the individual. but systemic as you had mentioned, i don't see a systemic problem here. but if is it isn't an individual, if it was something that could have easily been overlooked, then at that point the system needs to be looked at as well. >> that's very interesting. i want to get your insights into the work of the air traffic control to try to get this young noon land that airplane. let's listen to a bit of that conversation. >> i got a lot of people that care about me and it's going to disappoint them to hear that i did this. i would like to apologize to each and every one of them. just a broken guy, got a few

screws loose, i guess, never really knew it till now. you think about landing this successfully, they've they'll give me a job as a pilot? >> i think they will give you a job doing anything if you could pull this off. >> yeah, right. hey, guy, could can this thing to do a back flip you think? think i could do a barrel role and if that goes good i'll just go nose down and call it a night? >> let's try to land that airplane safely and not hurt anybody on the ground. >> all right. damn it, i don't know, man, i don't know. i don't want to. i was kind of hoping that was going to be it, you know. >> it's chilling to listen to, but the controller states what they're training to do say rogue pilot part of training? what's your assessment of how they handled the situation? >> it was amazing how they kept their cool during the whole

time. they didn't get emotional billion it, they didn't evabout it. you can tell the training they've had paid off in this case. >> fighter jets were mobilized, they were flanking him, but he flew for one hour. one analyst said at cnn had he wanted to crash the plane into downtown seattle, the jets weren't going to be able to stop him. why not? what is their role? >> well, there's some protocol there. so the air -- the national air command is what it's called, the national air command will se send -- they'll scramble their jets and they got out there amazingly quickly. but as far as what happened, the first protocol is to guide. they're guiding the aircraft making sure it isn't going into a populated area. the second thing is if he's headed towards a populated area, then the next step is to move in front of the aircraft and deploy

flares. and that would divert the aircraft. and then step three is if it is heading that way, that aircraft can be destroyed in the middle of the air and whoever said that it couldn't be is incorrect. that -- any aircraft can be stopped with those two fighter jets that be up there. they're well equipped and luckily they didn't have to go to those extreme measures. >> absolutely. thank you for your information. thank you, david. >> thank you, natalie. now to another major story that we are monitoring on the anniversary of the racist rally in charlottesville, virginia, white national lists are planning a rally in the nation's capital in the coming hours right outside the white house. the u.s. president weighed in on this posting this tweet on saturday, mr. trump saying he condemns all types of racism and acts of violence. >> critics say he should go further and call out white

nationalist groups specifically. in charlottesville saturday, hundred of students and left wing activists pay tribute to heather heyer. she was killed when a crowd plowed into counterprotesters one year ago. we were with the crowds on saturday. >> reporter: for about three hours on saturday we saw members from the university of virginia if the was an eruption of the anger and outrage that so many of them feel because of the failure they perceive by the institutions that they believe should have supported them a year ago, namely the university of virginia, and law enforcement. now this weekend there is a heavy law enforcement presence. you can see an example of that behind me. some of these people protesting telling me they don't feel any safer this weekend than they did a year ago. they feel this increased presence, this preparation is essentially an overreaction, a recognition of the failures last

year. now, these protesters seeing those failures as law enforcement's lack of ability to control the violence and protect them. some going so far as to say they believe law enforcement protected the white supremacists that walked into that town in the march through the middle of the streets in charlottesville but it began on the university of virginia's campus. but these students say the university gave them very strict security measures that they were supposed to abide by. they did not want to abide by those confines. again, by an institution that they feel has failed them. we're unsure where this leads next as the march conlewd clude they tried to get near emancipation park. they said we'll be back tomorrow. >> thank you for the reporting. now stevenerling joi earlin us. thank you for the time today,

steven. we're not talking about right and left here. as a journalist you don't take a side. we're talking about right and wrong and nazis who were defeated, the world did he feeted them years ago they were wrong. but they feel unapologetic as the world rallies today. what's your view of this? >> well, my view is we have a very divided country that we know. we have a republican party that is entrald with a president that plays on division. that's how he won the election and that's how he's ruling. he is performing for his base. thing youier pa the uglier part of some of his supporters you'll see marching today. some of the people who were energized about the way he's running the country you saw marching yesterday and again today probably in

charlottesville. charlottesville is one of those horrible moments where i think the president didn't say what he should have said. he's tried to say oh, there are -- you know, good people on both sides. but as you said, george, sometimes that's not enough. there may be good people all over the place, but not on this question. and not in this march, at least that's the way many americans feel. >> the issue of race in america, steven, it is messy, it can be ugly, but the diversity of people, it say key part of the formula that both unites and divides. and we now know according to a republican representative tom gerrit, tom who is a member of the homeland security and foreign affairs committee, that russia used race to so division during events in charlottesville last year. let's listen. >> i sat in a closed session briefing probably two months ago about charlottesville with the

director of the fbi amongst others and asked if russian intermeddling had to do with fomenting the flames of what happened in charlottesville. i was told, yes, it did. i asked is this information classified? they said no, it's not. i've waited until today. >> this is a major headline with significant implications, steven. >> well, we know russia was -- has been touching on points of division in american society. it's also doing it in british society and slovoc society, it is pushing on democratic sore points. during the campaign it was creating fake campaigns and news that got people very excited and lng ang debris. but they touch on thing that are there. they may have enhanced what happened in charlottesville a

bit. but what happened in charlottesville a year ago is in us, it's part of the united states, it's not the prettiest part. but you don't need russia to pull it out of us. >> the u.s. president weighed in on twitter saying that he condemns all types of racism and acts of violence. that tweet posted most recently. but you'll remember, as you pointed out, that news conference last year he also added the phrase on many sides, suggest something false equivalence between protesters and nazis who are yelling blood and soil, who are yelling in the ovens. we know what that reference is to, disgusting reference. did this vent tweet go far enou -- recent tweet go far enough or did it leave room for this silliness? >> it's the sort of tweet you expect to come out of the white house. but, you know, he's also been tweeting about lebron james and

he's been tweeting about nfl players protesting. most of those people protesting are black. he is playing on racial issues and he is playing to his base before the november elections. and it's not very pretty, i have to say. it crosses a line most presidents haven't crossed. and to say he's against all sorts of racism, well that's good. one would like to hear that more often. >> steven live for us in brussels. thank you for the perspective today. >> thank, george. >> it would be nice if he said it not just tweeted it perhaps. maybe we'll get there as well. but he'll be covering that rally. coming up, firefighters are taking on a massive fire in california. you know the state. and it is still on fire. we'll have their progress ahead here. plus, world elephant day is

a reminder the clock is ticking to protect this magnificent creature. a little later we'll speak with an activist about the dangers that elephants face every day. stay with us. about medicare. there's also a lot to know. the most important thing? medicare doesn't pay for everything. yep...you're on the hook for the rest. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. a plan like this helps pay some of what medicare doesn't. so you could end up paying less. and these are the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. selected for meeting their high standards of quality and service. call unitedhealthcare insurance company now to request this free decision guide, and learn more. like, medicare supplement plan, give you the freedom to go with any doctor who accepts medicare patients. it's nice to have a choice. and your coverage goes with you, anywhere you travel in the country. we have grandkids out of state.

they love our long visits. not sure about their parents, though. call unitedhealthcare and ask for your free decision guide today. call unitedhealthcare take prilosec otc and take control of heartburn. so you don't have to stash antacids here... here...

.

nrchts u.s. state of california, people there are in the middle of a dng russ and out of could be patrol wildfire season. 15 fires burning up and down that state, but some progress to report for you. firefighters are gaping grouini after days of battle the holy fire near los angeles. in just one day it's containment has jumped to 36%. some of the 21,000 residents forced to leave their homes, well they can now return. this was just the scene a few days ago. look at that. you see flames coming dangerously close to mohomes whe a man tries to hold them off with a garden hose, doing his best there. >> oh my god. oh my god. oh my god. okay. oh, god, please, lord. >> oh my goodness, how terrifying.

and the firefighters just standing there doing their thing. that homeowner watching in fear as you can hear flames inch so close to her home. more than 1,000 firefighters are working this one. in many cases they're using planes and fire retardant as a last line of defense. it has consumed nearly 9,000 hectares. and that isn't even california's largest wildfires. smoke has stretched now across the united states all the way to new york city. >> that's amazing. weather of course plays a big deal in all of this. ivan cabrera is here on deck. >> did you see those flames coming out of the pool there? just indicative of the winds whipping up and that's spreading the fire. containment has tripled since we were here last night. let's talk about that. we now have reports of 36% containment on that and the

weather has cooperated a bit, right in the relative humidity has gone up. the temperatures remain quite high. upwards of 22,000 acres. we've gone up as far as how many acres we've burned additionally but the containment support. containment doesn't necessarily mean the fire will be completely out even at 100%, that just means that they're getting a hold of it so that it doesn't spread further. we're talking temps in the mid-90s, locally strong wind gusts on sunday. improving humidity, that's been the case throughout the last couple days. notice here there's where the fire is. at night of course the humidity does come up. but that marine layer penn traited through the afternoon. 35, 40%, that's better than 10 to 15 which is where we've been. and this blob of moisture, we'll talk about that in a second. but the problem is we're going to get back to a drier pattern heading into next week. we've had a nice pattern and hopefully we'll take advantage of that because the temperatures

will be quite hot once again near the fire temps and that's where we've been. overnight lows in the 60s and that's when you get the humidity going up but we'll stay in the 90s the next few days. vaeg gas today, look at the thunderstorm activity that rolls through, just this big complex of severe storms. in fact, they contain frequent lightning, torrential downpours, and wind gusts. look at the air force base, 70 miles per hour wind gusts in the is what it looked like on the ground before it started raining. the wind gusts coming from the thunderstorms created a huge dust storm there and those winds at one point were responsible for knocking out power to a good 60,000 plus folks in vegas. so the storm's now over but it was quite an event. this will be quite an event as well. we just had liftoff from our rocket at cape canaveral. this is the meteor shower, this is the big one. this will be sunday night.

europe and north america, you will have the best window to this. it will peak tonight unless you have cloud cover and then that's a problem over your sky. but the midwest and northwest will be looking good for about 60 to 70 meteors. >> a lot going on up in space today. >> yes. ivan, thank you. >> a rocket too. speaking of that rocket, take a look at this. >> three, two, one, zero, liftoff of the mighty delta 4 heavy rocket with nasa -- >> nasa making history once again launching its first unmanned spacecraft to the sun. we'll have details ahead. stay with us. can be relentless. tremfya® is for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i'm ready. with tremfya®, you can get clearer. and stay clearer. in fact, most patients who saw 90% clearer skin at 28 weeks stayed clearer through 48 weeks.

tremfya® works better than humira® at providing clearer skin, and more patients were symptom free with tremfya®. tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or have symptoms such as: fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. before starting tremfya® tell your doctor if you plan to or have recently received a vaccine. ask your doctor about tremfya®. tremfya®. because you deserve to stay clearer. janssen wants to help you explore cost support options. let's see. if these packs have the same number of bladder leak pads, i bet you think bigger is better. actually, it's bulkier. always discreet doesn't need all that bulk to protect.

because it's made differently. the super absorbent core quickly turns liquid to gel, for drier protection that's a lot less bulky. looks like good things really do come in small packages. always discreet. for bladder leaks.

i'm a small business, but i have... big dreams... and big plans. so how do i make the efforts of 8 employees... feel like 50? how can i share new plans virtually? how can i download an e-file? virtual tours? zip-file? really big files? in seconds, not minutes... just like that. like everything... the answer is simple. i'll do what i've always done... dream more, dream faster, and above all... now, i'll dream gig. now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network.

thanks for staying with us and welcome back to our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world. it's cnn "newsroom" from raent and i'm latny allen. >> and i'm george howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour. this was just incredible to watch. nasa just launched its first unmanned spacecraft, guess where? to the sun. the parker solar probe will get closer to earth arizona own star than any human made object until now. the first approach is set for november and it will send its first batch of data back to earth in december. >> it's not taking its time, it's getting to work. >> it's fast. >> we'll talk more about it in a moment. the man who stole an empty commuter plane friday has been identified as horizon air employee richard russell. he worked as a bag ath handler

and moved aircraft. russell executed several aerial stunts as military jets flew nearby. he ran low on fuel and crashed an hour later and crashed on a small zblield and the antirace six protests in charlottesville, virginia, they stayed peaceful on saturday one year after a far right rally turned deadly in that city if the there was no sign of white supremeists in attendance there but they are expected to march later in the nation's capital right in front of white house. we'll talk more about this now with john murray. john a television journalists and pop culture expert joining from washington, d.c. thank you so much for your time today. in the coming hours we are likely to see racists in full bloom outside the nation's capital protected by the first amendment to say whatever they want to say but seemingly re-energized, feeling freer to spout hate. how do you see it? >> you know, george, it's an unfortunate thing because just last sunday i actually had

brunch at a restaurant right across from the white house. and so today i won't be going into downtown d.c. because i want to avoid the madness that's taking place down there at all costs. and, you know, it's appropriate that these hate groups could be marching outside of the white house because there's a lot of hate in this country that originates right there at the white house. and so maybe donald trump and his administration will open the doors up for these people and they'll feel at home, because a lot of their counterparts work there in that very administration. >> i have a similar story. a couple months ago ways traveling from atlanta, georgia, to south alabama to visit my wife's great aunt. excited about it, had mother-in-law and son in the car but came to realize there was a white supremacist rally right in the middle of my route. so no stops for us. disappointing, sad, but that's kind of the way things are. >> but, george, when you think about how people from this

administration and on other networks, they call groups that avocate for civil rights and social justice like black lives matter a hate group, a gang, a mob, thugs. but these actual people who organize around hatred, around bigotry, around rewriting history and they're revisionist approach to what america was founded on, they get permits to march in the streets. they create violence. someone died in charlottesville last year and yet they're allowed to come back and do it all over again. it's amazing the double standards and the height of what pro prockcracy that we view and discuss here in the united states. >> but important to point out the first amendment allows for any speech, all speech in the united states creditor which is different than many countries around the world. on this anniversary of charlottesville, the violence that broke out between nazis and people protesting nazi, you remember that and then in the days later the u.s. president offered this perspective that seemed to have some people

scratching their heads. let's listen. >> they showed newspaper charlottesville. >> excuse me. you had some very bad people in that group. but you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. >> remembering some of the statements that were uttered that day in charlottesville, blood and soil, in the ovens, statements like that. so, again, those are the comments back then, got backlash when the u.s. president said them. he went to twitter most recently saying that he condemns all types of racism and acts of violence. that's the statement from the u.s. president now. but here's the question to you, does it go far enough given what he said last year? >> no, because it shouldn't take you 365 days to denounce ku klux klan members. and he regularly practices

racism on a daily basis. his attack of nfl players who are advocating for inequality and social rights. his attack of lebron james who's building a school to empower inner city kids, maxine waters, and others are black congressional members, he's attacking everybody. let's start with the berther campaign. that was centered in racism and he used that campaign to shake america at its core. so every wanna be ku klux klan, neo-nazi, every bigot who wanted to join bigots are us were able to come out and galvanize and support this man because they had someone who allowed them to take off their hoods, who allowed them to put their racism and bigotry on front street and celebrate these things that they had only talked about in their private quarters for so long. it is the environment that is in hour country, donald trump has

defiles the core tenants of our democracy and humanity. these are things that i heard my mother and others talk about, recording artists who couldn't go through hotel and restaurants, they had to go through the back. i had would hear the stories of their plight and thought we would never go through of this. but to be a single black man in america and see the same things happening because of who's in the white house, it's frightening. >> it say display of mixing of different ideas and perspectives that can only happen really in the united states like this. john, thank you so much for your time and perspective. you're watching "newsroom." we'll be right back after the break. what do harvard graduates

know about cognitive performance? as you'd probably guess, a lot. that's why a new brain health supplement called forebrain from the harvard-educated experts at force factor is flying off the shelves at gnc. forebrain's key ingredients have been clinically shown to help enhance sharpness and clarity, improve memory, and promote learning ability. and now every man and woman in america can claim a complimentary bottle. just use your smartphone to text the keyword on the screen to 20-20-20. scientific research on cognigrape, a sicilian red wine extract in forebrain's memorysafe blend, suggests not only sharper recall, but also improved executive function and faster information processing. your opportunity to get into harvard may be gone, but it's not too late to experience a brain boost formulated by some of their brightest minds. just text the keyword on the screen to 20-20-20

with your smartphone to claim your complimentary bottle of forebrain. do it now - before you forget. that's the keyword on the screen to 20-20-20.

nasa is going no -- place where no spacecraft has gone before. take a look at this. >> three, two, one, zero.

liftoff of the might've delta 4 heavy rocket. >> it's headed to the sun after a 24-hour delay nasa as launched its first unmanned probe to the sun. >> she wished she would have been there with all the thousands of people watching. the parkerer solar probe is carrying a sense sore that will extend beyond the heat shield to get samples of our sun's atmosphere. the first data is respected back to earth in early december after reaching its first close approach to the sun in november. it's booking it to the sun. retired astronaut joins us now from hong kong. we always enjoy talking to but this cool stuff. thank you for joining us. first of all, what an impressive sight. it was a delta 4 heavy rocket, and it sure looked heavy taking off. >> absolutely, delta 4 heavy is one of the biggest rockets we have in the arsenal here and

having launched a probe like this is certainly an exciting event. >> and they had to scrub it yesterday, but off it went today. it's remarkable that it's going to get there and start sending back data so soon. and i was reading that even though it will be some 3 million miles still away from the sun, it will be 2,500 degrees fahrenheit where this space probe will be. how are they doing that? how are they keeping this intact with all that heat? >> right. well, we're pretty good at building heat shields so that will protect the sensitive electronics inside the vehicle as well as the other components. but the sensors outsired going to be looking at the atmosphere of the sun and make something unprecedented direct measurements of the solar wind, that's the charged particles streaming away from the sun at supersonic speeds which was first pos you too lated by dr. parker all those years ago and he was eventually proved right.

it's neat to see that this probe which is named after dr. parker who's still alive at the age of 91, exciting to see us learn more about our star which is about 4 billion years old and about halfway through its life. >> and wonderful that he gets to see this happen. lee ray, leroy, a question for you. how fast is this thing going? >> it's the fastest spacecraft that we've ever launched. and i believe it's somewhere in the 450 -- gosh, 450 million miles -- thousand miles an hour, something like that. >> we'll believe you. yes. and when it gets there, it will be the fastest moving manmade object ever going 430,000 miles per hour. i mean, we're talking -- >> i was close. >> pretty fast. >> what would big picture things can we learn about star formation? what will they be looking at? this is going to last several years too of data. >> right. well, we're going to be looking

mostly at the corona because that's about as close as we can get without melting the spacecraft. and so interestingly the corona is about 300 times hotter than what is defined as the surface of the sun. and so it's kind of a mysterious area, generally the farther you get away from an object the cooler it's going o be. and so hopefully it will be able to pick up some clues as to what it is about the corona that makes it hotter than the defined surface of the sun. so that solar wind, it's going to be making those direct measurements, very exciting stuff, and i'm sure there will be a lot of scientific discov s discoveries that come out of it that we hadn't thought of. >> the impact of solar winds on the united states, on many countries around the world, important equipment. >> right. absolutely. so solar wind is charged -- they're charged particles streaming away from the sun at supersonic speeds and, of course, they impact all the

planets in our solar system to varying degrees depending on how far they are away. in our case we have the magnetic field lines, we have the van allen belts and those fields capture most of the charged particle radiation coming from the sun which is why life and our atmosphere is able to flourish on the earth. so very important stuff and, you know, it's very exciting that this probe is going to teach us a lot more about those solar particles. >> it's very, very cool and it's very, you know, go nasa. it's so impressive. and mr. parker was there and he was interviewed afterward for the launch. >> very cool. >> leroy, thanks so much for kou coming on and taking with us the. we have this now on our little planet of earth. we're going to take you to kenya where the prison system there is working to reform people's lives and helping people have an

impact with when they're in prison and change their lives by focusing on education. >> one man even became a lawyer from behind bars. here's the report. >> reporter: all around the world prisons make foreign policy grim headlines and the question what are prisons for, punishment or rehabilitation dominates social debates. for the past 16 years prisons in kenya have been trying a different approach. kenya still has the death penalty, and that man was on death row for murder. >> before i was arrested i was an ann tier yor designer i was doing my own business and then ways charged for murder which is punishable by death. i was accused of killing my spouse. >> 20 years ago he was sent to this maximum security prison. he's returning for the first time since his release thanks to a presidential pardon. he says prison for criminals was a very different place then to

what it is now. >> the prison model was based on the old colonial system which was focussed on punishing inmates. there was a lot of torture and human rights abuses. but from 2003 things change and the prisons department had a shift from punishment to correction and rehabilitation. >> he worries what is seen as a prison reform. he thinks the justice system, though, is still unbalanced. >> there are many, they're ordinary people, stealing a chicken because they are hungry. they are easily sent to jail. the people who are corrupt, they are never in jail. there is the system is weighted against the small person and the big people they get away with it. >> now kenya's prisons are more like schools where the focus is on education. the ngo africa prisons project have taken rehabilitation a step further by assisting prisoners

to learn the law. >> the bottom line all of us has one common denominator and that's hunger for justice because all of us want to get justice in court. >> the incredible thing that in kenya institutions like this which were originally meant for correction have been turned almost overnight into institutions of learning. >> for him, the first kenyan to earn law degree with the africans prison project, the future is about leaving no one behind bars. >> or if it's the criminal justice system that got them behind bars wrongly like in my case and many other case, they don't have to fight it, they'll fight it legally and then they' they're hopeful for tomorrow. >> reporter: cnn, kenya. (man) managing my type 2 diabetes wasn't my top priority.

until i held her. i found my tresiba® reason. now i'm doing more to lower my a1c. i take tresiba® once a day. tresiba® controls blood sugar for 24 hours for powerful a1c reduction. (woman) we'd been counting down to his retirement. it was our tresiba® reason. he needs insulin to control his high blood sugar and, at his age, he's at greater risk for low blood sugar. tresiba® releases slow and steady and works all day and night like the body's insulin. (vo) tresiba® is a long-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. institutions of learning. fight it legally and then ng epf low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients.

don't share needles or insulin pens. don't reuse needles. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, sweating, confusion, and headache. check your blood sugar. low blood sugar can be serious and may be life-threatening. injection site reactions may occur. tell your prescriber about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. taking tzds with insulins like tresiba® may cause serious side effects like heart failure. your insulin dose shouldn't be changed without asking your prescriber. get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing, fast heartbeat, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue or throat, dizziness or confusion. (man) i found my tresiba® reason. find yours. (vo) ask your health care provider about tresiba®. covered by most commercial health insurance and medicare part d plans. they have businesses to run. they have passions to pursue. how to they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters. ship packages.

all the amazing services of the post office, right on your computer. get a 4 week trial plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/now and never go to the post office again.

a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! sunday is world elephant day and activists around the world are warning this amazing creature is still not guaranteed. >> not at all. tens of thousands of elephants are still being killed just for their tusks. many others are losing their habitat or being mistreated under captivity. to talk more about this, peter knights is head here. good to see you and thanks for

being with us. i want to begin with us. elephants are beloved creatures yet tens of thousands stild killed every year just for ivory. there have been breakthroughs in this but first let's talk about the poaching of elephants and how cruel it is. can you share with us what an elephant family goes through when there is a loss? >> well, i don't think there's any animals next to human beings that are so closely linked to their families. you see all the females surround a baby if they feel threatened in any way. they're very, very protective. and, you know, experts are telling us that they mourn often for months, you know, the family will be in depression after a poaching incident they lose a family member. so there is an emotional and cultural impact beyond just the loss of the elephant per se. >> and your organization with this cutting edge video campaign made a major breakthrough back in december with china. just months ago the country finally got message and banned

all domestic ivory sales. how important is that for elephant survival? >> it's been massive. i think it was probably the sing the greatest thing that could have helped the elephants and i'm glad to say that hong kong and taiwan have followed suit. reseptember recently taiwan made its announcement. poaching has been reduced dramatically. there's an orphanage where they have the babies often from the poach, they haven't had any in for three years the poaching has gone down so much in kenya and it was down to around 60 last year from '0320 before. there's still problems in places, but the situation has gotten better on poaching. >> that's wonderful. i watched a documentary on that elephant rescue and cried my eyes out a few years ago. it's just unbelievable what people do. but there are countries, though, that still allow the sale of ivory, so where are you

targeting now? >> well, japan still allows the sale of ivory and you know, they use it for name stamps which they use for business and weddings and things like that. so we just started a campaign there with some japanese celebrities to try to persuade them. not stop the trade overnight but just to phase it out so we can lead to a world where there is no longer any demand for ivory and gift elephants breathing space. and after dealing frankly with the wheel long term issue which is space for elephants and conflict with human beings and agriculture, which is the long-term challenge as the human populations expand. where are the elephants going to live in the future? >> it was your video campaigns that made a tremendous impact from china. they ran all across the can't and they really changed people's attitudes, they woke people up to what this does to elephants. and now you have a new campaign, it's quite different. let's take a look. >> as the kung fu panda all i

need to defend myself is one awesome skadaas hrnlt. thousands of elephants are pochd every year just to make trinkets and statues. please tell your friends and relatives never to buy products made from my friends. master the kyung you too panda move of saying no way, because when the buying stops, the killing can too. it's up to us. >> all right. going for the children. i think you might be on to something here. >> well, you know, obviously the panda's much loved in china. in fact, with the thanks to dream works for helping us with this project and they've got manned der rin version, cant knees version, we even speak african languages in this campaign. so that's going all around the world. we found with previous cases with shark fin that children can be great influences on their parents, their relatives, grandparents in particular in how they behave.

and so po's a great spokesperson for this campaign to get people weaned off ivory so that elephants can have a safe future. >> thank you so much for what you do. peter knights of wild aid. thanks, peter. our top stories are just ahead. i'm natalie allen. >> and i'm george howell. cnn "newsroom" right back after the break.

i'm a small business, but i have... big dreams... and big plans. so how do i make the efforts of 8 employees... feel like 50? how can i share new plans virtually? how can i download an e-file? virtual tours? zip-file? really big files? in seconds, not minutes... just like that. like everything... the answer is simple. i'll do what i've always done... dream more, dream faster, and above all... now, i'll dream gig. now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. we now know who stole a commercial airliner and crashed it just outside seattle, washington. >> and later today, a city on edge. specifically the u.s. capital where white supremacists prepare to rally again this one year after the deadly violence in