media the gang who kidnapped 17 missionaries is willing to negotiate their release for a hefty ransom. we have all the details for you. and it's a spacecraft, not a missile. china denies launching a hypersonic weapon, so is it all just a cover up? >> announcer: live from london, this is "cnn newsroom" with isa soares. hello. welcome, everyone. it is tuesday, october 19th, and in just a few hours the u.s. house select committee investigating the january 6th attack will vote on whether to hold former trump adviser steve bannon in criminal contempt for refusing to comply with the subpoena. now, political analysts say the rare move is intended to send a message to other allies of donald trump the committee wants to sque. but trump's team isn't backing down. on monday lawyers for the former president filed a lawsuit against the committee to keep trump records tied to the insurrection a secret. now, the committee had asked the documents as part of its probe. both trump and bannon are trying to assert executive privilege to keep information from investigators. in addition, trump's lawyers argue the committee is, quote, attempting to damage the country. but remember, it was under trump a mob of protesters attacked the capitol to halt the certification of joe biden's election win. cnn's ryan nobles picks up the story from here. >> reporter: the january 6 select committee is set to meet tuesday night to begin the process of filing a referral of criminal contempt against steve bannon. but before they even get to that, they were hit with an obstacle in their investigation, and that came in the form of a lawsuit from the former president donald trump who filed a lawsuit against the committee and the national archives seeking to prevent the committee from obtaining a whole tranche of documents that the national archives holds from the trump administration that the committee believes would help aid them in their investigation into what happened on january 6. now, this lawsuit is not unexpected. this is the former president trying to defend executive privilege, even though some legal experts argue he doesn't have that ability, especially given the fact the current white house has said they are not going to use executive privilege to get in the way. obtaining of these documents. the former president's lawyers also arguing that asking for these documents goes beyond the scope of legislative business for the select committee which is a part of what -- a standard they need to meet when conducting investigations just like this. now, the committee as we said before not surprised that this lawsuit was coming. and one of their members, representative zoe lofgren said she believes firmly the courts will weigh heavily on their side. >> i don't think it's well founded, but the former president, we know, is someone who likes to sue a lot. he's engaged in frivolous lawsuits throughout his life. i've just had a chance to begin to read it. but as outlined, you know, president trump is the holder of and decider of this privilege. he went through and decided that the material should not be protected by the doctrine of executive privilege and i think that is the definitive answer. >> reporter: now, again, this could take some time to resolve itself. it will be a court process that could go through a certain set of appeals. and that actually plays into the hand of the former president because it could be used as a delay tactic, and the committee does not necessarily have that much time to get their work complete. many believe it needs to be done before the midterm elections next year. still, the committee feels confident they'll ultimately get the information that they're looking for. and in the case where they're running up into trouble with people that do not want to cooperate, as they will show on tuesday night, they're not afraid to take the step of criminal contempt which they will do with the former trump ally steve bannon. ryan nobles, cnn on capitol hill. cnn analyst told us earlier why trump may be using this latest lawsuit as a delay tactic. take a listen. >> donald trump is not the president. joe biden is the president. joe biden is the one who decides whether to apply these confidentiality rules, and he said no as to the initial set of documents. so i don't think it will work. and as you point out, it's a delay game. nobody's had the hut spa to make these arguments before and donald trump is hoping to tie up the courts in the aspiration that congress flips, and he gets out of his subpoenas. >> if you can get this stuff into courts, it takes time. even if you get ruled against, as trump certainly will be, you can appeal and you can appeal again and you can ask for rehearings. so it can take some time. i do think in this matter the law is so clear and the understanding that the information being sought is so important and the time is of the essence, given what's going to happen in the coming year, that we could have quicker judicial rulings than we normally do. i think it's 100% a delay tactic. >> well, cnn will continue to closely follow the legal maneuvers as we saw outlining the insurrection probe in the days and weeks to come, of course. meantime, president biden is ramping up his push for his economic agenda. he's meeting with progressive democrats and a group of moderates tuesday to discuss his social safety net and climate change spending bill. the provision that provides incentives to power plants to use cleaner burning fuels is running into opposition from west virginia senator joe manchin. he argues, it costs too much and will hurt his state's coal industry. the full democratic meets tuesday to discuss alternatives on the climate issue. meanwhile manchin and bernie sanders met saturday saying the two senators shouldn't be allowed to sabotage what 48 want. listen to this. >> you're holding up the biden agenda. >> there are 52 senators, okay. there's two that want be to work something out if possible in a rational reasonable way. that's all. >> another key part of the enormous spending bill concerns the impact of covid-19 on the u.s. economy. right now about 200,000 shipping containers are sitting off the u.s. west coast with simply nowhere to go. the massive backlog has impacted supply chains not only in north america's largest container port, but also right around the world as well. last week president biden announced the port of los angeles would move to a 24-hour schedule in an effort, of course, to bring more containers on shore. and be sure to tune in this thursday. president biden will join anderson cooper for a cnn town hall where he'll take questions about his economic agenda. you can catch it right here at 8:00 p.m. in new york, 8:00 a.m. friday in hong kong, only on cnn. now, the u.s. supreme court has agreed to fast track a request from texas abortion providers to take another look at their state's abortion ban. nationwide protests erupted over the law. it effectively blocks abortion by making them illegal in texas after six weeks of pregnancy, before most women know they're even pregnant. the court's decision doesn't mean it has agreed to take up the appeal. only that it will speed up its consideration of that matter. we'll stay on top of that for you. now, the united states, japan and south korea are taking a close look at a missile launched from north korea earlier today. seoul says it appears to have come from the east coast port. japan thinks there may have been two missiles. paula hancocks is live for us in seoul. do we know if there were one or two missiles? what type of missile was launched here? >> reporter: well, isa, what we are hearing from the south korean side, from the joint chiefs of staff, is that they believe it was one missile. they believe what they say is it appears to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile. we have heard from the japanese side that they believe it may have been two missiles. so we don't have clarification on that at this point. they both do agree it is ballistic missiles, it violates the resolution. it is condemned by japan and the united states. it does come from the area of -- a submarine base in north korea that is also where previous launches have happened of submarine launched ballistic missiles. we're just waiting for further clarification from the south korean side. we haven't heard anything from north korea at this point. usually later in the day or the following morning we would get confirmation. we would get photos. potentially even footage later in the day. but we have seen in recent weeks that north korea has stepped up the level of testing that it's done. and it's not just been quantity. it's been quality. they have been testing new weapons, according to pyongyang and the state-run media. they tested long range cruise missiles, antiaircraft weapons. they really are pushing things forward, which is of great concern to those in the region. and as with everything in north korea, the timing has to be looked at. this week, we know today this tuesday, reportedly the intelligent chiefs of the u.s., japan and south korea are meeting in south korea to discuss north korea among other things. the top envoy from north korea is coming to seoul later in the week as well, again, to talk about north korea. so clearly north korea does time these to correspond to certain events that are happening. also an exhibition this week here in south korea looking at the air power of south korea. we have heard from kim jong-un himself a week ago saying south korea is being hypocritical by pushing its own weapons program forward while criticizing the north. isa? >> timing certainly interesting. paula hancocks for us in seoul. good to see you. now, we are now learning new details about the urgent effort to free 17 kidnapped missionaries in haiti. the wall street journal citing a top haitian official reports the gang that abducted the group is seeking $17 million for their release. a team of u.s. officials is in haiti working with local authorities. haitians angry over the kidnappings as well as surge in violence are taking part in a strike to demand action from the government. cnn's matt rivers is in the capital where he says people are expressing their frustration. take a listen to this. >> reporter: normally this street would be packed with traffic, with a lot of life, and it's a lot calmer than it normally is because many people have chosen to stay home today. schools are closed, businesses, many of them are closed. different types of transportation methods in the city have stopped. it is a form of protest from ordinary haitians who are basically saying, enough, that these levels of violence, the level of threats from these kidnappings, they're simply too high. they are unsustainable to live a peaceful life. they are demanding action from their government and this protest is how they are making their voices heard at least today that the government is going to change the situation, it's going to be very difficult because the level of control exercised by gangs like the one that controls that area behind me and also other gangs in this area. >> cnn's melissa bell recently returned from reporting in haiti. she joins me live from paris in the search. they're asking "the wall street journal" for 17 million. that puts authorities in a tight spot. what more are we hearing from u.s. and canadian authorities on this? because this is about setting a precedent here. >> reporter: that's right. and, of course, even as they are trying to deal with saving the lives of these 17 missionaries, remember that there are several children amongst them, an 8-year-old baby. it does put them in a bind. it is an extremely steep ransom being demanded. a million dollars per hostage. and we know that there was precedence in this. back in april, that very same gang, in that very same neighborhood, kidnapped a group of haitian and french missionaries at the time. the french had not confirmed that any money had taken -- had exchanged hands, but they had been liberated fairly quickly before the end of the very month in which they were taken. so this is very much the modus operandi of the group. kidnappings of groups, holding for hostage, demands for ransom, as we heard from matt rivers, this particular case is being very closely followed by the rest of the world. what we are talking about here, isa, is a blight on the day -- everyday life of ordinary haitians just trying to go about their business. there has been a 300% surge in kidnappings in port-au-prince since july. you will remember that that was the month when the country's president was assassinated in his bed and as several haitians told me the last several weeks when we were covering this increase in gang violence and growing insecurity on the streets, if the most protected person in the country is not safe, then who is, isa? >> that does say a lot, doesn't it? melissa bell for us. thank you very much, melissa. he was america's top diplomat during a turbulent time. how colin powell is being remembered in the u.s. and, of course, abroad. >> he rose in the highest ranks not only in the military, but also in areas of foreign policy and state craft. this is the guy who we talk about who had teachers who looked at this african-american kid and said, you can do anything. - [narrator] as you get ready for what's next, custom gear from custom ink can help make the most of these moments. we've developed new tools to make it easy for you. custom ink has hundreds of products to help you feel connected. upload your logo or start your design today at customink.com it's sleep number's fall sale on the sleep number 360 smart bed. it helps keep you effortlessly comfortable by sensing your movements and automatically responding to both of you. and, it's temperature balancing to help you stay comfortable all night. it even tracks your circadian rhythm, so you know when you're at your 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powell's friends, former president george w. bush called him a great public servant and such a favorite of the president. he presented the presidential medal of freedom. he won it twice. bush said he was highly respected at home and abroad. let's cross over to nick payton walsh for how powell is being remembered around the world. you just heard there, nick, soldier, statesman. how is he being remembered around the world? he also sparked controversy. >> reporter: stateside there's been a focus on the extraordinary narrative of a man born in harlem who served in such remarkable national security positions through the regan administration, through the first gulf war, secretary of state the first part of the bush administration. of course, the use of that extraordinary career and tenure and symbolic nature of his rise from humble beginnings to sell the case for the iraq war as something that needed to be prosecuted over weapons of mass destruction, that doesn't form his international legacy. it was an abuse of the credibility he had by the bush administration to put him out in front of the united nations. he later recognized, i think it's fair to say, even former vice president dick cheney was said to say to him before the speech, you can afford to lose a few points. he later recognized how fortunately he may be seen as the man who made the case to the international community. that credibility, the authority he brought to suggesting solid intelligence was behind the case to invade iraq, he later recognized as being misleading. and it didn't change the international community's opinion, but still i think even with that to one side, the ongoing impact it has in the middle east now, there are very strong feelings of admiration, of love from many of the world leaders we heard from since his death. let me tell you, from british prime minister boris johnson, he said, i'm sorry to hear of the death of colin powell. he was an impressive and internationally respected statesman who leads a lasting lega legacy. i'm sure his life will continue to be an inspiration to many. on behalf of the state of israel, i wish to express our condolences to the family throughout his distinguished diplomatic career. jen general powell was a true friend and committed -- of israel. tony blair. many points the key advocate of george w. bush's invasion of iraq. he said this is a towering figure in american military and political leadership in many years. a hugely likeable, warm personality. a remarkable sense of admiration and honor of a man who gave himself to the united states, and left a trail behind him of warmth and admiration for those he worked with internationally. isa? >> nick payton walsh. thanks very much, nick. now, the fda is expected to green light a mix and matcha approach to vaccine booster shots for americans this week. that is according to reports in "the new york times" and other outlets. officials told the times the fda might tell people to stick to the same vaccine when possible, but it won't recommend one shot over another. last week if you remember the fda advisers heard early ongoing results from the study it was safe to mix boosters and might be a better option for people who got the johnson & johnson shot. well, former fda chief scott gottlieb is calling for more research into the strain of the delta variant circulating here in the uk. he said there is no indication it is more transmissible than delta, but it is important to quickly identify variants around the globe. it comes as covid numbers are surging in the uk which has few pandemic related restrictions. still a recent report from the government found new variant accounts for just 6% of new cases. and those warnings come, of course, as u.s. could be getting a glimpse of what this winter will look like. this map shows cases starting to tick back up in some states where the weather has been getting colder. meanwhile, cases are going down in the south where temps are still mild. it's similar to the pattern we saw if you remember last year. and experts have warned that the u.s. could see another surge, especially as more people head indoors during those winter months. and we are just hours away from the second day of jury selection in the trial of three men accused of killing ahmaud arbery. the 25-year-old unarmed black man was jogging in february of last year when two white men in a pickup truck chased him down and shot him. they face several charges including felony murder. the third man who recorded the incident is also charged. the family said they want justice. take a listen. >> this case is eerily similar to that of trayvon martin, another young african-american who was shot and killed by a citizen. the difference between trayvon martin and ahmaud arbery is there is video in ahmaud arbery, and we expect full justice for ahmaud arbery. >> yeah. >> well, arbery's mother said she never thought the day would come when the trial would begin. meantime, his father is calling the community to vote to remove officials who attempted to brush aside his son's case. now, the mystery surrounding gabby petito's death has gripped the world for weeks, and now her grief-stricken mother and stepfather are reflecting about final moments of her life. they are also lashing out at brian laundrie and his family in an interview with "60 minutes" australia. take a listen. >> i just -- i hope that she didn't suffer, and that she wasn't in any pain. >> just hoping that -- >> she was in a place she wanted to be, looking at the beautiful mountains. i think silence speaks volumes. i believe they know probably if not everything, they know most of the information. i would love to just face to face ask, why are you doing this? just tell me the truth. just want to get him in a cell the rest of his life. >> we want vengeance and him to be -- and justice. >> cnn reached out to the laundrie family attorney about that interview. the attorney responded with a no comment. meantime, it has been a month since petito's remains were found in wyoming. investigators are still searching for laundrie. now, the western united states is getting ready for some potentially stormy weather. a line of storms is about to move over the region in the coming days. meteorologist pedram javaheri has the forecast for us. pedram. >> good morning, isa. we're watching the western u.s. because the storm is going to open up the next several days. we have a nice block buster set up of multiple systems coming in from wednesday through at least saturday where we get not only rounds of heavy rainfall, but potentially some heavy snowfall, maybe measured on the order of feet, not just inches. again, an active pattern here for middle of october. here's what it looks like. across northern parts of california, along the coast, parts of oregon, parts of washington, 4 to 6 inches of rainfall the next three to four days. the rockies, it translates to snow showers. some of these areas, maybe as much as a foot or more possible going into the next three days. that front is on the move. temps now are well above normal across portions of the central u.s., but cooler and dryer air is going to arrive on our door steps. the midwestern u.s. begins to feel it here. look at minneapolis at 74 degrees on tuesday. snow and plenty of it going to be on your horizon here over the next several weeks and several months. but for now the mid 70s, but notice how quickly it comes back down to reality back into the middle 50s. chicago also going in from the low to mid 70s over the next several days. back down to the 50s, so these are the days for you to get outside and enjoy it before it changes in a big way over the next several days. temps, isa, ranging from about 43 degrees in billings, montana, to 88 in tampa, florida. in memphis, right around the middle 70s. send it back to you. >> the last bit of sunshine. thank you very much, pedram. still ahead, accusations of organized human trafficking. how belarus is luring refugees to send across the border. we'll have that story for you after a very short break. you are watching "cnn newsroom." >> they put us in a truck and took us to the other border. they told us to walk. >> they cut to the border. they cut the wire? >> yeah, they cut the wire. i would've called yesterday. but... i could've called yesterday. but... i should've called yesterday, but... would've, could've, should've. we hear that a lot. hi. i'm jonathan, an insurance professional and manager here at colonial penn life insurance company. sometimes, people put off calling about life insurance. before you know it, another year has passed. and when they do call, they say, "i wish i'd called sooner." call right now for free information on the $9.95 plan. are you between age 50 and 85? you can get whole life insurance with options starting at just $9.95 a month. do i have to answer health questions to get it? there are no health questions. you cannot 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(announcer) call now and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner. it's another day. and anything could happen. it could be the day you welcome 1,200 guests and all their devices. or it could be the day there's a cyberthreat. only comcast business' secure network solutions give you the power of sd-wan and advanced security integrated on our activecore platform so you can control your network from anywhere, anytime. it's network management redefined. every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities. welcome to "cnn newsroom." i'm isa soares. let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour. former donald trump is suing to keep documents a secret. later lawmakers will vote on contempt charges for former aide steve bannon after he refused to comply with the subpoena. officials in haiti tell "the wall street journal" the gang that abducted 17 missionaries in haiti is demanding $17 million in ransom. a team of u.s. officials is in haiti to secure their release. we'll continue to follow both the stories. we'll have much more for you in about 25 minutes or so. now, nearly two months after the last u.s. troops left afghanistan, the state department's watch dog has opened a number of reviews tied to the u.s. withdrawal. that is according to a letter from the acting jen -- inspector gin ral obtained by cnn. afghanistan special immigrant visa program and evacuation from kabul will be included in interviews in scrutiny of the rushed effort. the top envoy for afghanistan is stepping down. he will be replaced by his deputy. he said it was the right time as the u.s. enters a new phase in afghan policy. afghan refugees are among those caught up in a tangle along the border between belarus and poland. they don't want to stay in either country and neither wants them. cnn's fred pleitgen has the story for you. >> reporter: trapped and desperate between belarus and poland, refugees begging for passage to germany. and while many are stopped, an increasing number are now making it to germany to this refugee center in the town eisenhutenshtot. they said belarusian authorities drove them to the border. >> they put us in the truck, took us to the border, cut it, and told us to walk. >> reporter: they cut the border. there was a wire, they cut the wire? >> yeah, they cut the wire. >> reporter: the eu accuses strong man alexander lukashenko of state organized human trafficking, luring refugees to belarus and sending them across the border. a claim lukashenko denies. poland says it has sealed its border with barbed wire and will even build a wall. refugees are often trapped between the two sides for days and shoved back and forth. this woman from syria tells me the group she was part of slept under trees and ran out of food and water. >> we drink water from the -- on the floor. we don't have anything. >> reporter: you drank water from puddles? >> yes, yes. >> reporter: a few of the refugees stay in poland. most try to move on to germany. the brandonberg state government said. they go from 200 arrivals in august to almost 200 every day now. >> we increased the capacity here and we, of course, also sped up all of the administrative procedures. without compromising security and health checks. >> reporter: poland says the situation at the border with belarus remains tense. the highest refugee influx tells me he wants the eu to get tougher on lukashenko. it's a question of tough international diplomacy, he says. we as europe cannot allow belarus to do something like this. from point of view, we could also involve russia. all diplomatic channels should be used. few believe solutions will come quickly. folks at the refugee center said they are preparing for more arrivals and are already clearing additional space. >> want to bring in fred pleitgen who joins me in london. fred, let's talk more about the politics in this. he stated in the piece and hinted at, the eu clearly feels lukashenko is using refugees as pressure on the eu countries. what can the eu actually do here? >> reporter: i think the eu is exploring several things. first you have poland at the border as the eu nation at the border with belarus. they said they're going to continue their hard line. they're going to continue to keep their border hermetically sealed as they put it and they are going to build a border wall. that's also caused big criticism within the european union. one of the things that some of the refugees have told us, and some eu officials say as well, the poles are apparently pushing people back across the border back into belarus. that's something that causes a lot of criticism within the european union. if you ask big nations like germany where you have that big influx now, they want to take diplomatic action against the lukashenko regime and airlines that fly people knowingly fly refugees into places in belarus for them to then be brought towards the border. it's quite interesting because the german foreign minister ahead of the meeting, eu foreign minister, he said a lot of airlines, some airlines are making money by knowingly contributing to what the eu calls state-sponsored human trafficking and they want to start sanctioning some of these ar airlines. the belarusian flagship carrier is already heavily sanctioned, but also airlines based in the middle east that fly out of places like beruit, air beal and bringing more and more folks to that border area because the eu is saying the situation there is getting more dire by the day for the folks who are trapped at the border and trying to get across, isa. >> follow the monday and i try to stem that. thanks very much, fred pleitgen for us there. thank you, fred. you are watching "cnn newsroom." just ahead, what china is saying about a report about a hypersonic missile. we'll have that story for you after a short break. neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? yes, please! neuriva. think bigger. get pumped fans, because basketball's back! and our league pass lineup is totally stacked. forty games a week, all season long, on all your devices, so you'll never go wrong. watch your favorite sport, and do it your way, with nba league pass. order today! experience all the nba action with xfinity x1 - track stats and scores while watching your team live. to upgrade, just say nba league pass into your voice remote or go online today. hundreds of political prisoners in myanmar are now free. military leaders said the prisoners are required to sign a document pledging not to commit any acts of violence against the country. state television announced amnes amnesty for protesters on monday. the release came minutes after the military leader blamed them for causing unrest and the southeast asian nations for not acknowledging that. it appears the air force carried out air-strikes in tigray. state-run media announced the strikes monday after the government initially denied it. a witness told reuters one strike hit close to a market behind a hotel. the government is trying to regain territory taken by tigray people's liberation front. thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million have fled the conflict from tigray. now, china denies it that's tested a nuclear capable hypersonic missile. the launch happened in august. if it's true, it would have huge implications on the ultimate race with china and russia to develop hypersonic weapons. cnn's brian todd has all the details for you. >> reporter: u.s. officials are now closely monitoring china's missile program following a report of a possibly ominous missile test. the financial times citing unnamed sources briefed on the intelligence reports china tested a nuclear capable hypersonic missile in august. the report says the missile circled the earth before speeding toward its target, demonstrating an advance capability in space that, quote, caught u.s. intelligence by surprise. u.s. defense secretary lloyd austin while not commenting specifically on the financial times report, said this. >> we watch closely china's development of armament and advance capabilities and systems that will only increase tensions in the region. >> reporter: china denies testing a hypersonic missile, saying the test was a, quote, routine spacecraft experiment and implying it was for civilian purposes. analysts say if the report is correct, china not only has a missile that can fly at five times the speed of sound and is more maneuverable than a standard ballistic missile. >> because they're fast and can avoid detection, they can decrease the amount of warning time and decision time that leaders have to respond in a crisis if hypersonic weapons are used. the idea china might have fired a rocket into full orbit with this missile on it is disturbing to experts. >> if that's true, then we now have to start worrying about whether every chinese satellite might not, in fact, be a disguised nuclear warhead. this is a very, very destabilizing development. >> reporter: this summer it was reported that china began construction of what experts said were more than 100 new silos for inter-continental ballistic missiles in a western desert of china. >> what is very clear is that china is pushing to develop its nuclear capabilities, its strategic inter-continental capabilities, significantly beyond what has been the case for the last four decades, five decades. >> reporter: and china, according to u.s. officials has been more aggressive recently in testing its weapons. >> as of the end of last month, september of 2021, the prc had launched at least 250 ballistic missiles this year. >> reporter: but china is not alone in developing hypersonic miss missiles. the u.s. and russia are also working on them. kim jong-un claims north korea tested a hypersonic missile with a warhead that can detach and glide. >> a ballistic missile and hypersonic missile race in asia in recent years. there are military tensions between china and japan, between the koreas, between united states and china. >> reporter: experts are increasingly concerned over north korea's hypersonic missile tests. where did north korea get the technology? analysts believe it's possible china or russia could have given it to them. but they also say china and russia have expressed concern over north korea having that capability. so it's possible the north koreans could have developed it on their own. brian todd, cnn, washington. now, venezuelan president nicolas maduro is rejecting a plea from the u.s. to free six former american oil executives. intelligence officials picked up the citgo you can see in house arrest over the weekend. the u.s. state department calls them political pawns and their families have been urging the biden administration to take action. meanwhile, a close ally of nicolas maduro has appeared in court to face charges he laundered money on behalf of the venezuela an government. he was extradited to the u.s. over the weekend and venezuelan's embattled leader isn't happy about it. take a listen. >> translator: the united states government assured the unitary platform that they were not going to take alex because that would interfere with dialogue. yet they did it. i'm not going to lie. they did it with malice, with criminal spirit. they kidnapped alex sab, they kidnapped him. >> that is president nicolas maduro. of course we'll stay on that story for the latest as it develops. coming up right here, the future of the internet brought to you by facebook. details the tech giant's plans to build a new virtual reality. that's just ahead. strokes can be reversed. and there isn't one definition of what well feels like. there are millions. johnson & johnson is building your world of well. for people who could use a lift new neutrogena® rapid firming. a triple-lift serum with pure collagen. 92% saw visibly firmer skin in just 4 weeks. neutrogena® for people with skin. - that moment you walk in the office and people are wearing the same gear, you feel a sense of connectedness and belonging right away. and our shirts from custom ink help bring us together. - [narrator] custom ink has hundreds of products to help you feel connected. upload your logo or start your design today at customink.com re-entering data that employees could enter themselves? that's why i get up in the morning! i have a secret method for remembering all my hr passwords. my boss doesn't remember approving my time off. let's just... find that email. the old way of doing business slows everyone down. with paycom, employees enter and manage their own hr data in one easy-to-use software. visit paycom.com for a free demo. facebook is betting big on building a new virtual reality. the technology giant says it plans to hire as many as 10,000 workers in the eu to build a metaverse. it sounds like an idea straight out of a science fiction movie, right? they say it is the future of the internet. cnn's anna stewart has the story for you. >> reporter: this announcement from facebook has prompted many around the world to question, what is the metaverse, which sounds like something straight out of science fiction. it's a vision for the future where users can interact online as avatars in a virtual world with the aid of virtual and augmented reality to bring the experience much closer to real life. some people have already dipped their toes in the maattaetavers. those who play games and use vr headset. this could extend to having virtual homes, attending virtual concerts and virtual shopping for all your virtual needs. facebook isn't the only player investing in the space. with competition from game developers, like roadblocks and epic games. it's interesting, though, that facebook has picked the eu for this big investment. a market that is not considered all that friendly when it comes to u.s. tech companies. the eu commission has launched many antitrust probes on u.s. tech firms, including one on facebook in june which is ongoing. ireland has fined what's app, a facebook owned company, for breaching data privacy rules. something it is appealing. it invited facebook whistleblower frances to speak next month. investing in the eu with 10,000 jobs, facebook will make the eu much more invested in its future. anna stewart, cnn, london. thanks very much, anna. amazon plans to add 150,000 temporary positions in the united states for the upcoming holiday season. that's a 50% increase over the last year's holiday hiring. but it may be a struggle to fill all those spots. seasonal job searches in september were down slightly from the same time in 2020, and down nearly 40% from 2019. now, apple debuted a multiple items monday including two high-end macbooks powered by a silicon chip. it is 70% faster than the previous version. another hot item is the third iteration of the air pod which comes with better sound quality, longer battery life, and real-time sound customization. now, the boston red sox smashed their way into the history books monday night. cnn's patrick snell has our minute in sports. patrick. >> isa, thanks so much. we start right here in the u.s. on a history making night in the major league baseball postseason for the boston red sox who won a very one sided game three of the american league championship series against the houston astros. red sox star kyle schwarber had a grand slam. this the third grand slam or home run making boston the first team to hit three grand slams in any single postseason series. boston 12-3 win, now 2-1 up in the series. monday night american football action, the titans and the bills clashed in nashville. titans running back derrick henry rushing for 143 yards and three touchdowns for the 27-year-old, a decisive score in the fourth quarter. titans winning 34-31. alexander, first goal in the premier league this season. arsenal scoring deep, salvaging the 2-0 draw with crystal palace. amazing scenes at the cricket world cup as ireland taking four wickets against the netherlands. the south african born 23-year-old the fourth player to achieve that amazing feat. and our congrats to him. isa, with that, right back to you. >> thanks very much, patrick. pretty busy day in sports now. colombia finally seems to have a solution for dealing with hippos, putting them on birth control. the notorious drug lord brought four hippos in 1980 for his own private zoo. then then they've gone to a population of 80. biologists say they are a threat to people as well as the environment. now the government is trying a tactic, darts loaded with a contraceptive to sterilize the remaining hippos. scientists say it's cheaper and safer. thank you for joining us. i'm isa soares. early start up next. i shall see you. have a wonderful day. bye-bye. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? 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but what have you been doing for the last two hours? ...delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without breaking a sweat. xfinity makes moving easy. go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today. all right. it is tuesday, october 19th, 5:00 a.m. in new york. thanks for getting an early start with us. i'm christine romans. >> nice to have you back. i'm laura jarrett. welcome do our viewers in the united states and around the world. we begin with president trump, former president trump, i should say, escalating his fight against the january 6 committee investigating the insurrection at the u.s. capitol. he is now taking lawmakers and the national archives to court.