dueling protests. demonstrators take to the streets on hong kong, one pushing for democracy, the other becoming police. a majority of house democrats now calling for impeachment inquiry of donald trump. also ahead, questions of leg legitima legitimacy, a new governor takes the oath in puerto rico, but his status in the role already facing some legal questions. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, we welcome our viewers here and around the world. i'm george howell. "cnn newsroom" starts right now.

we start in hong kong. 4:00 there. and you're seeing the pro democracy protest taking place. again, we have two very different demonstrations to tell you about. again the main protest has already started. thousands have come together in this district that is among the most crowded places in the world. in the meantime, supporters of the city's police are holding their own rally in victoria park. cnn of course live in hong kong where our correspondents are covering all sides of these protests. matt rivers is with the pro democracy group and ben wedeman following the pro police event. matt, let's start with you. again, there is always that difference between sanctioned and unthinks aed protests. and what we're seeing right there on this day, these are

sanctioned protests, correct? just so long as people stick to the agreed route. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, as compared to last weekend for example when there were protests that were not sanctioned by the police. what is happening behind me here is lawful assembly. they are now about to start a march that will go on for the next several hours. there are thousands of people here, many of them holding up sig signs and everyone here is unified around this pro democracy message. this kind of assembly, easily thousands of people here, make over 10,000 at this point. and what is happening is it is very peaceful. and this is what we've seen before. very peaceful to start. there will be a march, pro democracy lawmakers leading that march. the question becomes if it does

become violence, when will that happen. and what we've seen in the past is that peaceful march occurs, the vast majority go home. but the people ready for a fight, they stay. and at some point police say okay, this is no longer a legal assembly and then that is where the violence begins between protestors and police. we're not sure how it will play out today, but this is very indicative of the protests. a cross section of hong kong society here, putting out the message that centers directly on a pro democracy message, universal suffrage among a list of other demands. >> and perhaps timing will play into this. from what we've seen as it gets closer to evening there, police look to clear the streets, timing could play into this and also whether protestors stay along the degragreed route.

let's bring in ben wedeman. what are people saying to you? >> reporter: we're at victoria park which is about a 20 or 30 minute drive from where matt is. obviously this is the other side of the situation mehere in hong kong. this is a protest organized by people to support the hong kong police force. and what we're seeing here is an older cross section of the population. not too many young people here. and they are chanting -- let me show you one of the signs that they are using. excuse me, sir. give peace a chance. i think what they are really saying is give law and order a chance. this is very much as one man told me that they are part of

the silent majority. not so silent at the moment however. they certainly represent a vocal part of the population that is disturbed by the disruption to life in this territory. let's move a little further inside to ghich yive you an ide else there is to see he here. in t in the distance you can see a flag of the people's republic of china. many of these older people do originally come from main land china and therefore they in a sense do feel a certain connection to the government in beijing, keeping in mind of course that since 1997 and the end of british sovereignty, hong kong has been a special administrative area under what is called the one country two

system arrangement worked out with the british. whereas the older people feel an allegiance or connection to mainland china, many of their children don't have that historic connection and feel much closer to hong kong as a separate independent entity. >> ben wedeman live for us with the pro police protests. and speaking again of the one country two systems also speaks to a generational divide. ben, thank you for the reporting. matt as well. and of course there is a lot more that you can find out on this story at cnn.com. a new section there features maps, background and links to video. of course connect to cnn.com anytime and learn more about what is happening at hong kong. back in the united states, a 180 by the u.s. president on his

pick to replace dan coats as director of national intelligence. coats set to step down in just a couple week. the republican congressman john ratcliffe now won't be offered that job. mr. trump's plan fell flat when it was announced just days ago and it became clear that ratcliffe's lack of experience in the intelligence field would be hard to sell in the senate. but none of that figured into the president's explanation. listen. >> independent you wa said you h this or maybe do something else. i said it will be rough. i thought it is easier before we start, but i read things that were just unfair. >> it came down to a matter of vetting in fact. the president made that stunning and some might say disturbinged

a migsz that he said admission relies at least in part the news media to vet his choices rather than the government. >> i think the white house is a great vetting process. you vet for me. when i give a name, i give it out to the press and you vet for me. a lot of times you do a very good job. not always. i think that the -- [ inaudible question ] >> if you look at it, if you take a look at it, the vetting process for the white house is very good. but you are a part of the vetting process. i give out a name to the press and they vet for me. we save a lot of money that way. in the case of john, i really believe that he was being treated harshly and unfairly. >> the president trusting the press that he has called the enemy of the people. majority of the u.s. house of representatives 118 so far have come out in favor of a

formal impeachment inquiry. no too long ago only a handful were making that argument. laura fox explains for you. #. >> reporter: majority of the democratic caucus is supporting moving forward with an impeachment inquiry into president trump and that is significant because nancy pelosi speaker of the house has been trying to hold her caucus back. she released a statement just a short time ago arguing the democrats should stay the course. and now is not necessarily the best time for impeachment. she wrote, quote, democrats in the congress continue to legislate, investigate and litigate. the president will be held accountable. and democrats in the caucus are back in the district for this rece recess, you can expect that they will be hearing from constituents who also might be making the calls to impeach the president. but some may be hearing a different message than those in safe democratic seats who might

be hearing from more liberal constituents. >> let's talk more about this with peter matthews. a professor of political science at cypress college in los angeles and author of "dollar democracy on steroids." joining us from our london bureau. good to have you with us. >> good to be here. >> so peter, a number of democrats want to make the case for impeachment, that number has grown now, a majority in the house. but still nowhere near the 218 needed to pass legislation through the house. the house speaker nancy pelosi is still pushing members to be patient, but with this growing pressure to impeach, can pelosi continue to hold that line do you think? >> it will be very difficult. she has over half the democrats and don't forget she allows the democrats to put her in as speaker every time and so this is a significant move that over half do want to begin a formal impeachment inquiry. and when that began under president nixon, then other people started changing their minds including republicans like

senator baker because when the evidence came out. the formal inquiry allows a much more in-depth investigation. and so it is a very important development. >> let's also talk about democrats of course if they do push ahead, if it doeses pa through the house, it won't pass through the senate. republicans won't let that happen. so what is the real impact on president trump if house democrats do move forward with impeachment? >> if they move forward and they actually do have the votes, if they have the votes to impeach, then president trump is sent to the senate to stand trial and the point is that the republicans have the majority in the senate so they probably will not vote to remove him. however, like i said before once the investigation in the house begins, more information could come out that could change a few republicans' minds as well. i'm not saying that it will happen, but there is a good possibility. so i think that the house should go forward as opposed to waiting to see what the is is that the will do.

one step at a time. >> let's also talk about the texas representative john ratcliffe who mr. trump announced that he would nominate to take over for dan coats as director of national int intelligen intelligence, now president trump changing course saying that scrutiny over his experience was overstated. clearly though the white house did not vet this candidate. the president pointing out that he relies on the press who he typically disparages to do the vetting for the white house. >> yes, i think that is very true that mr. ratcliffe, i think it had to do with his background and what he did regarding other things that were questionable. and the president should not rely on the press. while the press is very important to keep government accountability, he should have the government, his own investigators, find out what these candidates have in their background that could compromise them and rely on that, not the press. so that was a wrong move on his

part to say that the press is vetting and statement you do a good job, sometimes you don't. what about the times that the press doesn't do a good job. so that was disingenuous the way he put it. >> and ratcliffe, many have looked in to his past and pointed out many instances where his experience has been overstated. >> that is very true. and the point is that the director of national intelligence is an stwreemly important position because he coordinates all the other agency information as it comes in and summarizes it and makes reports to the president. and this person has to have experience, judgment, understand how intelligence gathering works, and that is why this republican from texas would not necessarily be qualified for this and that is why he decided to remove -- or withdraw the nomination in the end. very important to note those are some of the reasons i think.

>> and does this expose the fact that there aren't enough people around the president to look out for things like this, peter? >> once again? >> does this can aboexpose the possibility that president trump may not have enough people around him to be on the lookout for things like this? >> absolutely that seems to be the case and that is really unfortunate, wrong and dangerous because this kind of position is so extremely important for the united states security. and other positions as well where the president needs to have people around him who have experience in investigating people up for nomination, finding out what their weaknesses are and confirming to the president look, these people are ready to go, these are not. that is a very important function of top notch advisers who the president needs and doesn't seem to have unfortunately. >> peter matthews with perspective for us in london be. thank you for your time. >> my pleasure. a new governor takes the oath of office in puerto rico, but his term may be short lived. we'll have the latest on the controversial appointment there.

also, u.s. rapper is back home for now at least. details on his assault case as he makes his way back to the united states. stay with us. since my dvt blood clot i was thinking... could there be another around the corner? or could it turn out differently? i wanted to help protect myself. my doctor recommended eliquis. eliquis is proven to treat and help prevent another dvt or pe blood clot... almost 98 percent of patients on eliquis didn't experience another. ...and eliquis has significantly

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welcome back to "cnn newsroom." u.s. territory of puerto rico has a new governor, pedro pierluisi. he took the oath friday replacing ricardo rossello who stepped down after weeks of protests against him there. opponents are now questioning the legitimacy of the appointment. that is because the senate has not yet weighed in on his nomination. leyla santiago is in san juan where people have been holding rallies. >> reporter: protests are continuing here in old san juan as the governor's mansion here says that pedro pierluisi will be the new governor of puerto rico after ricardo rossello stepped down. a lot of people here are saying that they are not happy with that selection. and more so they are questioning

the constitutionality of that decision. why is that. they say pierluisi was confirmed by the house but not confirmed by the senate in his appointment as secretary of state. and the senate says they won't consider the issue until next week. so it is far from over. and whether these protestors are questioning their constitutionality of this decision or they are just unhappy with the selection, they say that is enough for them to stay on the streets and not going home, continuing to call for an island that can get rid of corruption. very much a lot of uncertainty still on the island of puerto rico as they figure out what is next for the island. in san juan, leyla sanaeyla san cnn. a$ap rocky is back in the

united states after being in a swedish jail. this is after a judge in sweden allowed him to return home to a wait the verdict of his assault case. he and two others were accused of assaulting a man during a street brawl in stockholm. selma is following this. and what is the latest as we know that a$ap rocky is back in the u.s.? >> reporter: that's right, he landed in l.a. just a short time ago and this closes one of the chapters in this saga that has seen fan, celebrities and of course president donald trump himself get involved on behalf of the rapper. yesterday was an emotional day in court when the judge announced that he could go back to the united states. his supporters erupted in cheers and applause. his mother could be seen crying. take a listen to his lawyer at that moment. >> we had two goals. one goal was that my client was

going to be a free man today and that we have achieved. and then we are hoping for an acquittal in 14 days, but we have to wait and see. >> reporter: the 30-year-old rapper had spent about a month in jail. this of course after an altercation where a 19-year-old afghan man accused the rapper and miss friends of beating him and hitting him with a glass bottle. a$ap rocky denied using the glass bottle and said that he was acting in self-defense. this of course drew the attention of president donald trump who took to twirtter to petition for his release and at one point sending a special envoy for hostage affairs to intervene on a$ap rocky's behalf. he did attend the trial and at one point sent a letter to the swedish prosecution authority, and in that letter, said that there would be, quote, negative

consequences for the bilateral relationship between the two countries if the issue wasn't resolved. trump's critics have accused him of pander going to the country's black community during the election period. for a$ap rocky's part, he thanked his supporters and glad to be back home but that he will be nervous to a weights tait th verdict. >> and as he awaits that final verdict, is there any indication what prosecutors are seeking? >> reporter: it is difficult to speculate, but legal analysts will tell you that the fact that he has been released and allowed to go back to the u.s. is an indication potentially that he will either get a sentence that is shorter than the time that he has already served which again is about a month already in jail, or that he would be acquited. just to remind you, that serious assault allegation can hold a sentence of up to two years in sweden. the prosecutor in this specific case asked for six months of

jail time on behalf of the victim. the victim is also asking for monetary compensation. again, a$ap rocky has maintained his innocence, has said that this is self-defense. the case which took place last week, a lot of video, there was a document over 500 pages to go through. so for these next two week, it will be radio silence as we wait for this final verdict, george. >> selma bei, thank you. now to tell you about a tragic scene in california. three died when a cliff collapsed into the beach. it left debris next to the beach. five people were rescued. the argentina national soccer team will now be without their star player for three months. the south american football confederation has suspended

lionel messi for calling the organization corrupt. he made the remark last month after being ejected from a match. the superstar insists that he was referring to the referees. messi was also fined $50,000 and can appeal that ruling. he has not yet publicly reacted to the suspension. in sudan, people are celebrating a new political deal there. hundreds of people cheered and waved flags in the capital city on friday, this after a mediator announced a final constitutional declaration had been reached. it would pave the way for a transition al government. officials of the military counsel and opposition are meeting to work out details for the signing ceremony. sudan has been hit by protests, some violent, since the president al-bashir was ousted back in april. two months on and hong kong's political unrest is still

strong there. ahead, what government supporters think about the pro democracy movement. plus, one of the families of two american teens held in the stabbing death of an italian policeman is now speaking out. we'll have the latest on that from rome as "cnn newsroom" pushes ahead. moving is hard.

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welcome back to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching "cnn newsroom" live from atlanta. i'm george howell with the headlines we're following for you. the republican congressman john ratcliffe is no longer president trump's choice to become director of national intelligence. ratcliffe withdrew from consideration following news

that cast doubt on the truthfulness of his resume. it became clear to the white house in recent days that ratcliffe's senate confirmation would be an uphill battle. talk of impeachment is getting louder on capitol hill. take a look at this, a majority of democrats in the house of representatives, 118 so far, have come out in favor of opening a formal inquiry for impeachment. that is up significantly since the mueller report was released. it laid out numerous cases of possible obstruction of justice by the trump white house. it is the ninth straight weekend of major demonstrations in hong kong, this live image of the demonstrations right now at 4:30 p.m. in the city. thousands of people coming together in one of the city's most crowded sgriktsdistricts, people fighting for more democratic rights and less political influence from beijing. and there is a separate pro police rally happening in victoria park. let's talk more about what is happening in hong kong right

now with holding chow, the democratic alliance of betterment and progress for hong kong which is the largest pro beijing party. good to you have here on the show. thank you. >> thank you, george. >> so citing classes with police, citing disruptions in the different districts, your group has proposed taking a more aggressive approach at addressing these protests. tell us more about that. >> well, i think first of all it is sad to see the violence erupting in hong kong over the past few weekends. many people here have grave concerns. for example people worry that how the business could continue to operate, it will cause harm to the economy. it would also cause some harm to the daily lives of people. i think that we do respect peaceful commdemonstration beca

we have the right to have freedom of assembly. this guarantee under basic law. but people don't accept the violence. and as you smay see over the pat few weekends, violence erupted throughout the city and we don't want to see that carry on. and if that goes down, people decide to go down that path, i think that that will eventually ruin the entire city. so i think that we do first of all urge the people to step back and think and calm down and this is not the right way to carry on. i mean, for the violence. >> earlier in the week there was a warning from china's military which increased the worry that they could intervene in these protests. is that something that you would like to see? >> well, i don't think that t p.l.a. would come inwith the de violence in hong kong because we trust that the hong kong police

is able to deal with the entire situation. and of course under the one country two systems, we have our hong kong government and our hong kong police to deal with the situation. so i don't think that the p.l.a. will come in and deal with the situation here. but what i would say is of course right now we see the angry crowd and we have always been unlging trging the public back and think and calm down because even if you have a righteous motive, if you carry on with the violence, eventually it will ruin the entire city and of course it will cause tension between hong kong and central government to escalate and that is not a robust way to deal with the problem, is it. >> many pro democracy protestors

don't trust leadership, they are concerned with what leadership tells them. is there a way do you think that there could be a meeting in the middle here for people to feel that their voices are being heard despite the risks that they are seeing there in the streets? >> i can understand people are very angry and they have already expressed some demands. for example, they would demand a sort of investigation into the police conduct. but what i would assure you is right now we have a mechanism in hong kong to conduct a sort of a thorough investigation into police wrongdoing which is called the ibcc. this is a platform to carry out investigation in to police conduct which has already begun. so that is one thing. and the second thing is when the protestors call for another platform to deal with the investigation on police conduct,

the difficulties for the government is even if the government decide to make concession there, take on board their advice, because there are no leaders in this movement, so there is no negotiation, there is nobody could assure that even if the government take on that advice, would they be able to pacify the angry crowd. so the protests could actually carry on. so i think that that is the difficulty that the government is facing. there are no leaders in this movement. so there is nobody for the government to identify to engage and perhaps to establish a robust dialogue. >> there are some officials who have reportedly suggested that pro democracy protestors are strategically staging these demonstrations in difficults where people will be voting in upcoming elections. is there a concern monday your group that you could lose seats with people expressing their

discontent with what is happening and requewith the government's handling of it? >> i have no idea on the strategy presented by the protestors. but what i care is i think that for the time being everyone in hong kong, they have concern on how we are going to solve this problem. it is not about election, it is not about something happened at the end of this year which is the election. but people are very concerned about how to move on. how to deal with this problem. i think that people don't expect the government sitting on its hands. but at the same time, i think that one of the ways to deal with that is that we would urge the government to at least establish some dialogues with different people, at least to have the dialogue to sort of mend the rift within the society. so that is one thing that government could do.

>> holden chow, we appreciate your time today. thank you. >> thank you. now to that killing of an italian police officer, the parents of one of two american suspects wants the prosecution to produce video evidence of the crime. the officer was stabbed 11 times during a drug bust that went wrong. let's go live to rome now and melissa bell, she's on the story. and these parents speaking out, they want to see exactly how all of this transpired. >> reporter: that's right. this is the exact spot, george, where a week ago on friday morning officer rega was stabbed to death. that we all know for sure. the rest is pretty much what is contained in the prosecution's case and ruling given by the investigating judge a few days ago. the defense for its part has not only not communicated much with the press or given its version of events, but simply not had

access to much of the evidence that has been collected. and we've heard frustration expressed from a source close to the defense of these two american teens. now that is part .ly because certain elements like the final autopsy report are simply not completed yet. the other crucial part of evidence will be the cctv footage. remember that it was crucial from the very beginning to this case, to the prosecution's case, since it was thanks to the cctv footage and we've seen the one of the boys running away after having allegedly stolen a backpack and before that confrontation happened here with the two italian police officers. but the cctv footage of this spot, that is where the defense really wants to get its hands on, it wants to see precisely what happened in the early hours of that friday morning when the two boys were confronted by the two italian police officers. for the time being they haven't had a chance to see it and it could take? more time since under italian law prosecutors and judges have many months up to even a year to

bring charges against these teens. and of course that will delay the time that it will take the defense to get its hands on precisely all the evidence. that has potentially just changed since the lawyer of the other teen involved, hjorth's attorney mass confihas confirme has launched an appeal on his client's behalf. so italian authorities have until monday to provide the defense with all of that evidence. so this is a crucial time in that story. >> all right. the latest on the case, but what when the community coming together for the death of the officer in. >> reporter: this is a killing that has shocked the country. it is a rare event here in italy that police officer should be slain in the line of duty. and there has been a great outpouring of grief, there has been a lot of mourning. you see here behind me the flowers -- the flag i'm sorry

that marks the exact spot where rega was killed. so there has been all that emotion. but there are also questions. and prosecutors' parallel investigation into exactly what went on that night. specifically why was this police officer confronting these american teens in the early hours of the morning when he was not carrying a weapon. the prosecutors are looking into who was on shift, who was on duty, why they were where they were. and why specifically mario rega was out that night without his fire weapon. >> certainly a lot of questions. melissa bell on the story. we'll stay in touch with you as we follow it. thank you. eric garner's family is speaking out five years after his arrest turned deadly. we'll hear what police plan to do about one of the officers who was there have there ththat day. stay with us. and now with each new line,

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in new york a police administrative judge is recommending an officer be fired for his role in the 2014 death of eric garner. eric garner died after being pulled to the ground during an arrest. nypd police commissioner james o'neal will decide whether to follow the recommendation. disturbing video captured the arrest and it went viral. garner can be heard pleading saying i can't breathe. that phrase became a national rallying cry for activists battling police brutality. new york city mayor bill de blasio praised the judge's decision. >> today we finally saw a step towards justice and accountabili accountability. we saw a process that was actually fair and impartial.

and i hope that this will now bring the garner family a sense of closure and beginning of some peace. >> and we heard from garner's children who spoke with brooke baldwin and had a message to the commissioner. listen. >> feel like he is being arrogant. >> i can never get my father back. do us a favor as a family and make this right. justice for eric garner would be firiing pantaleo. stand with the children and grandchildren of eric garner who have been suffering for the past five years. make the right decision and fire this officer. >> and garner's widow also saying that the officer should have been fired right on the spot. out of controlled wildfires are raging in siberia. they have a devastating impact on the environment there. we'll have the latest on

russia's battles to stop the growing ecological disaster.

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climate crisis russia is battling a climate emergency in the arctic right now. out of control wildfires have been raging in siberia since june and melting permafrost is releasing dangerousment as of carbon de ooxiddeoxide. fred pleitgen reports. >> reporter: fire in what should be one of the coldest places on earth is burning. firefighters we meet are struggling to keep the flames at bay. we have a lot of land that is hard to reach so we need heavy machinery. by the time we get there, they can spread very far. this year they have spread extremely far. fires are raging in almost all of eastern russia. by comparison, this would be the same area in the u.s. siberia's wildfires have gotten worse as our planet warms up.

and at the same time the greenhouse gases that they spew into the air contribute to further global warming. 50 mega tons of carbon dioxide blown into the atmosphere in june alone scientists say leaving scorched earth behind. so here you see one of the reasons why the fires are so dangerous and spreading so quickly. there is a lot of dead undergrowth and dead trees here in this area, that not only catch fire quickly, but that also store tons of carbon now being released into the atmosphere. towns have been under heavy smoke for months while their foundation is literally melting away as the planet gets hotter. this is what the region look bes like underground. it is built on permafrost now getting weaker as temperatures soared into the 90s. the permafrost institute says the world needs to cut back

emissions fast. the depth of melting is growing he says, the point of no return is almost here. we are at a critical point when it comes to permafrost. and this is what it looks like when the point of no return is reached. giant sinkholes like this one are popping up all over siberia and growing. the sound you hear is ice and frozen earth breaking off, climate change in action. russians call this place the gateway it heto hell because its like almost the earth is crumbling and underworld is coming to light and there are fears that fast erosion like this could destroy entire cities very soon. melting permafrost also releases huge amounts of carbon stored in the melting ice further fueling

the hellish flames affecting our climate back home. fred pleitgen, cnn, russia. >> the ground literally collapsing in some places. ivan watson -- sorry, ivan cabre cabrera. interesting, some people don't quite believe that it is happening. >> it is happening just a matter of how fast that it is going. and they talked about the point of no return. a lot of areas have gotten to there. so let's talk about the fires. fires do occur in siberia, every forest in the world.problem is that they have been occurring earlier and longer and because of the dry and very hot summer that we've had, we have exacerbated the situation. by the way, the fires aren't threatening structures directly. the issue has been the smoke has been carried up by atmospheric winds and transported hundreds and thousand of miles to the east. not impacting the u.s. staying up above. you really have to get to the

surface and that is not happening. but look at how many hectares we've burned, that is 6.7 million acres so far as a result of the fires burninging completely out of control. and that is what they will do, they will leave the fires to burn out. firefighting efforts will be diminished over the next several weeks as they are basically just giving up on this. likely started by lightning, that is a natural occurrence obviously. and the fires spread rapidly because of the strong winds that we've had there over the last couple of weeks. the third here is the issue. because of the hot and dry unusual pattern that we've been in this summer, we primed the forest to burn out of control and that is the climate aspect of this. so let's talk a little bit about the ice that we've been melting here across the arctic. this is also a natural process, but the problem is that it has been happening earlier and for a long time. watch what happens here. 80% of solar radiation is

reflected back into outer space here. but you start melting the sea ice, and all of a sudden it is not the white ice that will be reflecting the sun's radiation, it will be the ocean. and the ocean does not do an effective job at that, it only little bit less than that, so the ocean almost completely absorbings ta absorbs the radiation. and so it continues to occur, warming the oceans and the climate. so watch what happens, the trend next few weeks warming up you again in areas that shouldn't be this warm and that is exactly what we have going over the next few days as this heads in. we have a disturbance rolling in, people have been asking about showers. that won't help that much. my concern is the low that could potentially kick up some wind there. so we'll watch that closely. that has been the big threat

across many areas in siberia. >> a huge concern there. ivan, reerappreciate your time. the new issue of british "vogue" is on news stands but there is nothing ordinary about it. thanks to meghan duchess of. she was the guest editor and focused the issue on women who have mad and michelle obama. the duchess herself is not on the cover. scovered a nearby super earth that just might support life. the u.s. space agency was looking for planets outside of our solar system and it found three of them orbiting a dwarf star just about 31 light years away. wow. researchers say one planet is within the star's habitable zone. scientists believe if its

atmosphere is dense enough, it could trap heat to warm the planet and also allow for water and life on the surface. thank you for being with us for this hour of "cnn newsroom." i'm george howell at the cnn center in atlanta. more news right after the break. stay with us. here, it all starts with a simple...

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