make no mistake, the scenes and the light coming from a meteor as it streaks across the side. the blinding flash. the deafening explosion. caught on tape. up 1,000 people were hurt because of this meteor. nearly 300 buildings were reported damaged including this factory that you're seeing. glass windows were shattered and blown out. entire walls collapsed and roofs caved in. throughout this region, all of it from a meteor the size of a big kitchen table. but weighing in at about ten tons but it tore through the earth's atmosphere at an alarming speed about 33,000 miles per hour. jim bolden is standing by with the very latest. also joining us democratic congressman rush holt who just so happens to be a rocket scientist. literally, a physicist and rocket scientist and also part of your government. jim, i want to start with you. we are getting conflicting numbers of the injured and they keep going up. what are you hearing now? >> yeah, they keep going up. the russian news agency saying more than 1,000 people injured in some way after this. to set the scene, just after breakfast time, people may have been taking their kids to school and you get that bright flash in the sky. and the shock wave. the explosion seems to have caused the explosion. the shock wave goes off shattering glass. breaking windows and some buildings collapse as well. the government says, schools, hospitals, offices all affected. it came from nowhere. people may have looked at the streak in the sky. might have looked what you see trailing from an airplane. airplane vapor. then the explosion. one woman thought it was a plane crash because of the noise and because of what they saw in the sky. so you have more and more people injured. slightly injured for most of the people. and no one has yet died as far as we know. but you can imagine the shock of seeing this and hearing this explosion. most of this asteroids, in this case, a meteor or a meteorite if it lands are in unpopulated areas or in the ocean so people aren't expecting to see this kind of thing in a populated area. ashleigh. >> jim, stand by for a moment. i want to zip to capitol hill. not somewhere i'd normally go for a science story but the man on the scene is not only a congressman, but jim holt, a rocket scientist. a ph.d. in physicist. a director of the princeton laboratory, arms director as well. you're a great source to get information on this. first of all, to the staff and the facts as we know them. scientists are saying they believe this is one meteor that broke into fragments. but are you surprised at the incredible images and the damage that's it's rained on that region? >> no, i'm not surprised, ashleigh. you're appropriately coming to capitol hill. there is something to come to capitol hill, there is something to talk about it here, besides the curiosity and human interest story and upset there. you know, there are lots of things from space that rain down on earth every day. most of it is dust. it amounts to tons of material. but when something the size of a foot or a yard or, you know, a meter across, that can carry a lot of energy. as much as a big explosion. in fact, it could be mistaken, in some cases, for a nuclear explosion. so that's one of the reasons we need to watch these things. >> but, i'm glad you mentioned that, congressman, because i think there was an explosion in 2002 over the mediterranean when india and pakistan were really in heated -- at a heated time in their sort of prenuclear battles. so that is a critical issue. if those can be mistaken for nuclear attacks, we do have north korea in a precarious situation. so logistically speaking, how are governments handles this? it's to cover this, but then you have people injured and governments who need to be not only aware of the political implications but just the natural disaster implication 80. >> sure. that's why it makes sense to watch these things. and nasa has a near-earth program. it is, i would argue, it is underfunded because of what's at stake here both in the sense of preparedness and dealing with injury and upset. but as to deal with international incidents that might occur. you mentioned the 2002 meteorite over the mediterranean, at the time, the deputy director said if this would have happened over the subcontinent it might have been mistaken for a nuclear explosion in this belligerent stand off between india and pakistan at the time. there are certainly occasions back in the soviet days when the united states and russia mistook natural occurrences for what might have been belligerent events. and so, you have to watch these things. and the nasa near-earth program is important for all of those reasons. as you pointed out, as your other guest pointed out, the energy that's contained in just say small rock, you know, a foot across or a couple of feet across, traveling at these velocities can pack a lot of energy. so when it explodes, it's as if a nuclear explosion went off. obviously, not the radiation and that sort of thing. but the damage could be great. >> well, congressman holt, i appreciate that you scrambled to the rotunda to speak with us on this. i don't go to normally capitol hill with a science crisis like this, but with your academics, and your credentials you were the perfect guest. thank you to jim also. by the way, we have pictures to show while you were talking they were caught on dash cams. according to al jazeera, about a million drivers have affixed dashboard cameras to get video from their cars for very good reason. they are very concerned about police corruption, and they want to make sure they record their every move in case they end up embroiled in something they prefer not to be. that's why you have so maniage images captured. here we're talking about the meteors and meteorites and fragments. there's also another story. similar but different. the asteroid. it's the size of the white house. and it's hurdling towards the earth as we speak. don't freak out. it's not going to hit us. that's what we're told anyway. you but here's animation to help you understand the significance. this thing is going to be, i guess i should call, it a barely miss. a near miss. when i say near, i mean 17,000 miles away. sounds like a lot of miles but space geeks know that's very close when we're talking space distance. here perspective for you. you all know that tv and weather satellites are rotating out there. they're floating about the earth. but look at the difference, they are 22,000 miles away. and the asteroid is within that perimeter at 17,200. our jason carroll is monitoring this story. the approaching asteroid from the american museum of natural history. give us an idea, jason, how long before the situation we're currently in becomes something we discuss in the past? >> reporter: it's a very good question. well, we're basically looking at 2:24. that is when this particular asteroid, it's called 2012 da14. not an very inspiring name for such an incredible object but at 2:24 p.m. eastern time that is when the asteroid will be at its closest. 17, 200 miles from the earth. again it sounds very far away but very close when you consider how close the weather and communication satellites. we should point out that scientists tell us it will not disrupt or come in contact with satellites. if you're living in indonesia, you'll the best vantage point to see the actual asteroid. even though it's nighttime there, if you've got a high-powered telescope or fairly good binoculars you should be able to see it, ashleigh. >> a particular damage to all the science we have floating like all the satellites that bring us tv, our radar? just about everything. is there potential damage coming to those thing? >> reporter: well, here's the way to think about it. no potential damage this time around. it was amateur astronomers who discovered this particular asteroid. they just happened to be looking in the skies and discovered it about a year ago. what you have to worry about is this, if this is to impact the earth an it was discovered a year ago, we don't not currently have the capability to stop something like this from happening in that short period of time. that's something that has a lot of scientists worried. in fact, they've been worried for many years about this particular situation. >> all right, jason carroll, as you said, the difficulties pass us at 2:24 eastern time. that's when brooke will take over. the asteroid is going to come closest as we said at that particular time. that's less than 2 1/2 hours from now. we're going to listen in to nasa command and edward lu, a former astronaut. and a current astronaut and asteroid hunter. there is such a thing. 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[ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your citi thankyou points to travel whenever you want. visit citi.com/thankyoucards to apply. then you're going to love this. right now they're only $14.95! wow-a grt deal just got a whole lot better. hurry. $14.95 won't last. in about an hour, president obama is going to head back to his old stomping grounds to visit hyde park academy on chicago's south side. his main focus, the economy, but he's as expected to talk about gun violence. more than 500 people were murdered in chicago last year. and tonight, "a.c. 360" is live from chicago. is it realistic to expect that the president's strategy will make any difference when it comes to gun violence? that's tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on cnn. well, it may be as pretty as a postcard. the glistening white ship against a crystal blue sky but this isn't how more than 4,000 passengers and crew members aboard the carnival "triumph" are remembering their week-long nightmare that just ended hours ago. no, they were staggering off the ship that had minimal fire since an engine fire last sunday in the middle of the gulf of mexico. jammed the power and put them in darkness and set off the vacation from hell. whoa, are they hope to be back. if you were with us yesterday, you know that mobile, alabama, was in sight for, oh, i don't know, ten or more hours before these very happy travelers had something to cheer about once they got to land. once they did get to land, they dispersed mostly on buses from new orleans. from there, on buses and planes to houston or galveston. that is where the "triumph" originally set sail from. speaking of sailing, that massive 14-story tank is on the move. this time to a repair dock. tugboats started pushing it an hour ago. i want to bring some jim spellman in galveston. jim, give us the latest with what's happening on the passengers and also the crew members. we got to give a shoutout. everyone to the last passenger we spoke with, said the crew was fantastic. >> reporter: yeah, every single person we've spoken to here, ashleigh, had nothing but glowing reviews. we spoke to one family they were craving peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. steward, roberto, had some in his cabin. he made get peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. it's possible to keep some sort of good cheer as they went forward. the people we've met here so far, the people so eager to get home, they jumped in a bus in mobile, and rode overnight to get here and get into their cars and drive home. they're so earring to get a hot shower. to use their own bathroom and maybe get a nap in. some of the families had it the worst. the people with little kids had to keep their kids' safety in mind. and keep them entertained. we caught up with roxie gallegos with her husband and brother-in-law and kids. >> we've been on four other cruises we enjoyed them all. we never had any bad experiences like this. i would say it's definitely not going to keep us from cruising but not going to be a while. >> they were risking their lives for us. they were swim manage ming in p. you know, just taking care of us, the chefs. they're the true here rose. >> reporter: the next people of people, ashleigh, the people overnighted from new orleans to catch planes to houston. they're on their way to houston now. they'll come and get their cars and be on the way home. that will be the next thing we see here. >> jim spellman, thank you for that. i also want to let the viewers know at 9:00 eastern tonight you can hear some of the stories and see some of the photographs that a lot of passengers were taking. they're starting to share a lot of cell phone pictures from onboard. you won't believe what they show. it's called "triumph and tragedy onboard. the cruise from hell." from olympic glory to international shame, a once brave and accomplished track star weeping openly in a south african courtroom, shaking uncontrollably. this morning, a judge charged oscar pistorius with premeditated murder. he's accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend on valentine's day. and now a photo surfacing from his twitter feed. pistorius sending it out one afternoon it shows him at a shooting range with a message touting his accuracy. our air roe erroll burn neette the story. >> reporter: people here as they are around the world are just shocked at this. the key element here the prosecution announce they had just don't intend to charge the so-called blade runner with murder, but premeditated murder. keep in mind, we're only 36 hours out from when this tragedy took place. so was a very bold statement made today. they must feel confident in the evidence they have so far that they can use a conviction. now oscar pistorius, yes, he was visibly disturbed today but he said through his agent that he rejects the murder charge and will fight it in the strongest terms. now the prosecution and defense also agreed to delay the hearing that was meant for today until tuesday. so as each side gathers evidence for their case, oscar pistorius will continue to spend nights in jail. a much different setting than this mansion in pretoria where this tragedy happened on valentine's day. >> so, errol, one of the more unusual bits of news that came out this morning, the victim in this case, his girlfriend reeva steenkamp who was a model had actually taped a reality show. and it is set to actually premiere i believe this weekend. are they still going ahead with that show on television? >> reporter: this is also rubbing a lot of people the wrong way, ashleigh. yes, reeva steenkamp was a cover model. he was an aspiring tv star, similar to what you have in the u.s. and the program she shot in jamaica last year, young people wearing bikinis and frolicking around. the producers of the show say they will go ahead with plans to air the program it airs tomorrow in south africa. preceded by a tribute to reeva steenkamp. let me just read to you what the executive producer said, samantha moon, she said the reason they're going ahead with this because is reeva was a beautiful and intelligent woman. it's unimaginable what her family is going through. they've lost their 22-year-old daughter in what was a horrific crime and now they have to watch her on this show beginning tomorrow. >> thank you for keeping an eye on the story for us. reporting live. coming up in about 15 minutes, we're going to talk about what happens when mega superstar sports athletes end up in a situation like this, when, of course, they're receiving a lot of money from big companies who sponsor them. trouble on all sides? you'll find out what happens next. that's right, the one you apply to the underarm. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18. axiron can transfer to others through direct contact. women, especially those who are or who may become pregnant, and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body 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reynolds and her husband jim were the ones who called 911 to report that dorner had tied them up and stolen their car. and then rick heltebrake was kidnapped by standing by with his dog. the leading was capture and conviction. sometimes, they say arrest and conviction. since nobody died, does anybody end up getting it? cnn's legal analyst jeffrey toobin and jeffrey jackson joining me now. let's start with you, jeff, can they get the reward or is that caveat really big? >> i think there's a difference between the left of the law and how the real world works. as a technical legal matter, i'm not sure there's a valid contract here. i'm not sure if they were to sue these people that they would actually get the reward. remember, the l.a. police department wants to be a good guy here. this money, these people suffered. very scary incidents. i think they can split the money these two people, be done with it. >> that's the reynolds but of course, this man, carjacked. listen to what he told our randi kaye about his plans if he didn't get the money? >> anybody ever believe he was going to be captured and convicted? i don't think so. i think they put that in as an out. i'm going to talk to a lawyer today. i know i have to file a claim. >> joey jackson, he said he knows he has to talk to a lawyer and file a complaint. as jeffrey toobin says, there's a big difference in the letter of the law and spirit of the law. what do you think applies whoer? >> there is, but it's also about community participation. what do we want to reward here? if you look at it from a legal perspective what you look at is contract law and contract law finds common sense, why? because it's about equity. it's about rewarding people and not having them unjustly enriched. now, stepping away from the law, police want community participation. so the wise thing to do, ashleigh, is to encourage that by rewarding the money to those who assisted the police with this issue and many others, i'm sure to follow. >> jeff toobin to button it up. if this ends up getting messy and no one ends up with the money, what happens -- it's a big pot for a number of different groups. what happens to the money? >> it goes back to the donors. if it's not distributed, it's not a gift to the lapd, it has to go to the people who gave it. but i really do think that, you know, this situation is right for a compromise. lots of people who did good things. >> yeah. >> and it's the a possibility of making everybody happy. >> it's no fun looking down the barrel of a gun. trust me, i was in afghanistan. saw it a few times. and i feel for those people. they deserve something for the suffering. you know what, they called and set the wheels in motion. you two, thank you. i'll talk to you some a little bit. oh, watch tonight, "killer cop: inside the hunt for christopher dorner." really remarkable, all the things that happened to bring an end to that nightmare. here's this, nike, dropping an ad that featured an olympic runner. look closely. now look on the left. the man in that picture is charged in the shooting death of his girlfriend. this is an ad featuring oscar pistorius reading "i am the bullet in the chamber" and this is a gun killing. next, we'll look at how the products that protect the brand. administering her medication, and just making her comfortable. one night britta told me about a tradition in denmark, "when a person dies," she said, "someone must open the window so the soul can depart." i smiled and squeezed her hand. 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