♪ hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world, i'm rosemary church. just ahead on "cnn newsroom," israeli rockets target gaza in a second week of conflict with the death toll climbing and calls for a ceasefire growing louder. plus -- >> some people may want to continue to wear masks, even if they are fully vaccinated. that's a decision they can make. >> america's guidance on masks has become a controversy of its own. why some health experts think

it's too soon to ditch them. and the pentagon now confirms these ufo sightings were real. we will have one navy pilot's story about her out of this world encounter. ♪ good to have you with us. we begin with the fighting between israel and hamas where for the first time in a week no rockets were fired from gaza overnight, but israeli air strikes have not let up. these latest strikes toppled a four-story building in gaza near the u.n.'s palestinian refugee agency and the islamic university. israel says it's targeting hamas rocket installations, tunnels and the homes of the militant

group's commanders. the hamas-run gaza health ministry reports 212 people have been killed since last monday, including 61 children. israel claims hamas is putting rocket launchers and military equipment in residential areas near schools and hospitals. meanwhile, hamas rockets fired into israel have claimed at least ten lives since this fighting began. in a phone call with israel's prime minister u.s. president joe biden voiced his support for a ceasefire. well, it is just past 11:00 a.m. in tel aviv and we are joined by cnn's hadas gold, she is there live. hadas, what is the latest on thesis really air strikes now that prime minister netanyahu says that he will continue? >> reporter: well, i'm actually in a town just on the outskirts of tel aviv, this is the site of where one of the rockets fell on saturday, one of the rockets

that were launched from gaza into israel, one of more than 3,400 that the israeli military have been launched. though this rocket landed in the street behind me the impact, the shrapnel from this rocket affected the buildings all around here and actually killed a man who was within one of the buildings on this street. the cleanup as you can see is continuing into today. now, as you noted, we did have some period of calm last night between around just after 11:00 until just after 5:00 a.m. there were no rockets fired from gaza into israel, one of the calmest nights for the communities in southern israel, especially air strikes, though, the israeli military saying overnight it struck more than 65 targets within the gaza strip including what they're calling the hamas metro which is this tunnel system underneath the gaza strip that they say hamas is putting near civilian infrastructure and hiding their assets. they say they struck the home of five hamas infrastructure

calling them terror infrastructure, also saying they struck rocket launching stations. we do know that there are continuing to be conversations on the diplomatic level. we do know as you noted that president biden and prime minister netanyahu have spoken once again and biden for the first time talking about a ceasefire but not quite yet demanding it, which i think is an important note to make about the tone from the americans. meanwhile, the israelis say that their operation will continue. take a listen to what the prime minister had to say. >> translator: the directive is to continue to strike at the targets of terrorism. the idf is doing well and today eliminated another senior commander. we continue to strike at the underground medium, the hamas metro. there are other targets. we will continue to act as necessary to restore peace and security to all residents of israel. >> reporter: and the american officials telling our cnn

colleagues in the united states the next 72 hours will be critical in terms of how the americans will respond, whether they will try to put greater pressure on both sides here to try and bring some sort of cessation to the hostilities but as of right now the americans are still saying that they understand israel's desire to defend itself but do want to see a reduction in the violence. that's also the impression i'm getting from my sources here, that the israeli military has more military objectives, targets it wants to hit because for them every target that they hit, every day of this operation in their mind brings calm in the future, rosemary. >> all right. hadas gold joining us from just on the outskirts there of tel aviv, many thanks. the biden administration is facing growing calls from democratic lawmakers to put more pressure on israel and this comes at a time when congress is reviewing a proposed arms sale to israel. sources say new york lawmaker gregory meeks is expected to call for the arms deal to be delayed.

meantime, more than two dozen senators are calling for an immediate ceasefire agreement. manu raju has details now from capitol hill. >> reporter: a growing number of democrats actually want to see a ceasefire happen between israel and hamas. we have seen that more from the democratic side and less from the republican side on capitol hill, including senator chuck schumer who is the majority leader, the first jewish majority leader of the united states senate, also someone who has defended israel for years and years and years, but has made clear here that he believes that there should be a ceasefire. he also is joining more than 28 democrats in the senate who have called for a ceasefire to happen immediately. also joe biden himself said he expressed support for a ceasefire in a private conversation with benjamin netanyahu. very clear that's the direction of the party. we are not hearing much on the republican side on this issue. one republican did join with a democrat, senator todd young of indiana joined with democrat

chris murphy in pushing for a ceasefire. you're hearing more criticism also of those calls, from senate republican leader mitch mcconnell who went to the floor and said this should not be an equivalence issue and attacked hamas and said that israel should not be forced to essentially -- the action -- should not be equate wd what hamas is doing. you're hearing partisan split of sorts happening on capitol hill. at the same time questions about a $735 million package, an arms sale that the united states is trying to move forward to israel. this happened actually before the conflict, they moved forward with this arms sale, but congress is currently approving this arms sale at the moment, but i am hearing that from my sources that it appears that that arms sale will go through and one key member, senate foreign relations chairman bob mendez indicated to me that he does support that arms sale going forward even though some calls on the left, some democrats such as ilhan omar are sharply critical of the biden

administration for moving forward with that. manu raju, cnn, capitol hill. israel is defending a strike that destroyed a gaza building which held offices for the associated press and al jazeera. the idf says there was a warning before the attack and that the building contained hamas military intelligence assets. hamas denies that claim. the managing director for al jazeera english says no evidence of a hamas operation was seen in the building. >> we have no knowledge, we have no evidence of any hamas operations in that building, and that's what we are demanding. we are demanding an explanation, but we're saying where is the evidence? i think the u.s. secretary of state earlier today in a press conference in copenhagen said that up until now he hadn't seen any evidence. that no evidence had been produced by the israelis. no matter how many times they keep saying this, they seem to be operating on the idea that the more you say something and

the more you repeat it, it becomes accepted as truth and fact. well, we don't accept that. >> israel insists it shared information justifying the strike with the u.s., but secretary of state antony blinken said he hadn't seen it. the u.s. national security council hasn't commented and the white house said it couldn't provide any indication the intelligence had been received. israel is not wavering in its position. >> our intelligence is crystal clear and i can't talk about how the americans filter up what comes from the intelligence community to senior leaders, but i can tell you the evidence has opinion shared with the united states and it is crystal clear. and this example of this building, of this high-rise, is a classic example of israel doing things right. there was not a single casualty, no journalist was hurt, no journalist, heaven forbid, was killed. we gave an hour's warning so that they could clear out the

building, in so doing of course we allowed hamas to clear out as well. but the goal was to neutralize what was an important hamas target from our perspective. we succeeded without the loss of life. >> and we will continue to follow this story as it develops. the global vaccine alliance is welcoming u.s. plans to share more of its coronavirus stockpile with other countries. on monday president joe biden vowed to donate at least 20 million doses of the moderna, pfizer and johnson & johnson vaccines by the end of june. the u.s. has already pledged 60 million doses of oxford/astrazeneca. now, this is a big boost for the covax global vaccine initiative which is falling short of its delivery goals. it's partner unicef says covax was hoping to get 170 million

doses to low income countries by this week, but has distributed less than half of that. the head of the world health organization put the vast inequities in vaccine access in stark terms. >> the world is in vaccine apartheid. as you know, high-income countries account for 15% of the world's population but have 45% of the world's vaccines, and low and low and middle income countries account for almost half of the world's population, but have received just 17% of the world's vaccines so that the gap is really huge. here in the united states there is now a confusing patchwork of rules in place nationwide governing who should wear a mask and when. the cdc now says fully vaccinated americans can remove their masks even in most indoor settings. major questions remain about how safe the new rules are and how

to tell who is really vaccinated. erica hill explains. >> reporter: get the shot, lose the mask. >> it was a little bit of whiplash for the american public in terms of them saying just a week before keep your mask on. >> reporter: the other issue is every uncovered face really vaccinated? >> in terms of the honor system, people have to be honest with themselves. you're protected if you are vaccinated, you are not if you are not vaccinated. >> public health doesn't work by the honor system. we want the cdc not only to look at the science but to think about human behavior and to think about real world scenarios. that's how we're going to build trust in our public institutions and that's how we're going to build to population or community immunity. >> reporter: that real world scenario today is a little confusing. cvs and target the latest chains to drop mask requirements for vaccinated customers unless local regulations still require

them. joining starbucks, costco, trader joe's and walmart. >> at some point we have to actually allow for both private responsibility as well as the opportunity for businesses to do business on their terms. >> reporter: kids still need to mask up at school, but what about camp this summer? >> we're working on that right now. >> reporter: amidst the confusion, more signs the vaccines are working. on sunday new cases hit a low not seen since march 25th, 2020. hospitalizations down 11% in the last week. poised to drop below 30,000 for the first time in more than ten months. >> we're safer, smarter and better equipped in this fight than at any time since it began. >> reporter: massachusetts will drop all covid restrictions may 29. it's one of seven states where more than 70% of the adult population has had at least one dose of the vaccine. president biden's july 4th goal for the country as a whole. several more are closing in, but

not these ten. where less than half the adults have at least one shot. >> now is the time to get your vaccine shot. >> reporter: president biden hoping to boost vaccinations globally. >> every ott next six weeks the united states of america will send 80 million doses overseas. >> reporter: a move health experts have been calling for to help close the equity gap. new york state will adopt the cdc's guidance for fully vaccinated people as of wednesday. masks will still be required in schools and health care settings and also on public transportation. we're also learning that the new york city marathon is coming back, now scheduled for november 7th. 33,000 runners, that's about 60% capacity. erica hill, cnn. and one example of that patchwork of rules erica talked about is new jersey. that state's governor has lifted mask requirements for outdoor public spaces but he says the state will continue requiring masks at indoor settings. that's contrary to the new cdc

guidance. murphy says the cautious approach is worth it. >> i think we were the first state in america to put in place an indoor masking requirement. we know it's been hugely helpful. if we can save only one more life by waiting a couple of weeks longer, i will sign up for that. we've got this thing on the run, this is my simple premise, we've got the virus on the run at long last. twice before we thought we had this thing on the run and it came back and clobbered us again. i don't want to see that again. medical experts we have spoken to here on cnn have largely backed the cdc's decision to lift mask requirements for the fully vaccinated, but they say it's now up to local officials to tailor the rules for their area. >> the cdc got the science right by saying that vaccinated people are completely protected, whether they are indoors or

outdoors, whether they are wearing a mask or not, vaccinated people are protected. what states and localities need to understand is they should cuss mieds how they enact these guidelines. >> some states are saying, okay, you're protected if you're vaccinated but i'm still going to protect the rest of the community for now and keep the mask mandates in place. many states have gotten rid of mask mandates, potentially putting people who haven't had the chance to be fully vaccinated yet at risk. >> and there are a lot of americans who haven't been fully vaccinated. take a look at this map. those same health experts are urging states to improve their vaccination infrastructure to help reach more people. well, the u.s. supreme court has agreed to take up an important abortion case next term. it could pose a direct challenge to the 1973 rover su3 roe versu

decision. we have more on the case, how the court has changed and what's at stake. >> reporter: the supreme court will hear a major abortion case next term, it has to do with a mississippi law that bars most abortions after 15 weeks. there are some exceptions but not for rape or for incest. critics of this law say it's a direct challenge to roe v. wade and lower courts who have blocked the law also cite roe v. wade. this is the first real signal of where this new conservative court is going. it includes justice amy coney barrett former president trump's last appointee as well as justice clarence thomas who has already said that he thinks roe v. wade should be overturned. this comes as republican-led states across the country are moving to push for more abortion restrictions. so supporters of abortion rights are worried that this supreme

court is going to take up this law next term and they say that it raids alarms. ariane de vogue, cnn, washington. louisiana declares a state of emergency. flash flooding across the state has authorities working around the clock responding to rescue calls. more on the severe weather next. plus yet another election conspiracy theory from the former u.s. president. why a republican election official is now saying, quote, it has to stop. that is next. residue? spots? it's not your dishwasher's fault. simply add finish jetdry 3in1 to rinse, dry and shine your dishes. solve 3 problems at once with finish jetdry 3in1. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy, even a term policy, for an immediate cash payment. call coventry direct to learn more. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized that we needed a way to supplement our income. our

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louisiana's governor has declared a state of emergency due to life-threatening floods. the water has risen so high cars were nearly submerged. authorities in lake charles are working with several agencies to handle more than 100 rescue calls. some parts of the state had more than a foot of rain on monday. more than they received from the two hurricanes that made landfall there last year. for more on this i'm joined by cnn meteorologist pedram javaheri. what's the latest on this

flooding and how much worse can thgt? >> we have so much more rainfall on the way, fortunately only one more day for louisiana, the energy shifts away from this region come wednesday into thursday. we will follow that carefully. as you noted this is an area that has seen tropical activity in recent years and land falling hurricanes, we have not seen this much rainfall come down with some of these storms. we have upwards of 30 million americans in eastern texas, portions of oklahoma, into arkansas and much of louisiana, the entirety of the state of louisiana that are underneath flood alerts because of the intensity of this rainfall. as you noted kind of look at this area and see the colors of yellows and oranges, 4 to 6 inches, the pink contours those are as rare as they get and that's upwards of about 10 to 12 inches that has come down across this region of louisiana, lake charles in particular 12.4 inches of rainfall and that is in 24 hours. that is 260 plus percent of its monthly average. i did the math on this. when you average out this amount of rainfall over the city itself

that's the equivalent of 12,000 olympic-sized swimming pools essentially being poured over the city in a matter of 24 hours. that is why we have flooding taking place to this extent. when you take a look this has been an ongoing event across some of these areas. back to march rainfall amounts in baton rouge almost doubling what is normal. new orleans almost tripling what is normal. stretching into portions of eastern texas for heavy rainfall on tuesday and wednesday you see the rainfall threat continue across this region. making this a major concern over the next couple of days. >> pedram javaheri, many thanks as always. police in los angeles say they have arrested the man suspected of starting an uncontrolled wildfire burning outside the city. the fire has destroyed more than

1,300 acres and at one point forced about 1,000 people to evacuate their homes. the l.a. fire department said it was around 25% contained as of last night. california has been in a massive drought for weeks and experts fear it will only get drier and hotter meaning potentially another devastating wildfire season. arizona republican officials are pushing back against more false claims from former u.s. president donald trump and his allies about the 2020 election. trump is amplifying claims by republican state senate president karen phan that there is evidence election files have been deleted, but now the republican official who heads the state's election department says he's had enough. >> just stop indulging this. stop giving space for lies. we found out about this latest accusation through the arizona senate's audits twitter account

which is anonymously run, just accusing me and my staff of unlawfully deleting evidence. that's not appropriate and i called the senate president and i said, do you really want to accuse me of unlawfully deleting evidence for an election that, by the way, i didn't even run because i took office in january, and she wrote back that she doesn't have any control over this twitter account. so i'm just wondering what's going on here. who are these people who are defaming us, i don't think they are professionals and don't understand how to run elections. >> this latest election conspiracy theory from trump comes as republican leaders of the arizona senate press forward with a controversial election audit. a former florida official with ties to embattled house republican matt gaetz has pleaded guilty to six charges in federal court, among those charges joel greenberg admits to knowingly soliciting and paying a minor for sex. as cnn's randi kaye reports

greenberg's plea deal to cooperate with investigators could spell trouble for congressman gaetz. >> reporter: these courtroom sketches capture joel greenberg huddling with his attorneys, he was dressed in a dark jumpsuit, his hands shackled in front of him. greenberg is a former tax collector in seminole county, florida, who was once an ally of congressman matt gaetz. that friendship may explain this banner someone was buying overhead, it reads tick tock, matt gaetz. the florida congressman could find himself in hot water given greenberg's admission in court that greenberg solicit add nd paid for sex with a minor and says others have, too. >> mr. greenberg has pled guilty pursuant to a plea agreement. it has certain requirements and obligations on him and he is intends to honor that. >> reporter: honoring that 86-page plea agreement means greenberg could be called on to testify against others and

provide information about co-conspirators who may include congressman matt gaetz. the florida congressman wasn't named in the plea agreement or in court, though investigators are still trying to determine if gaetz has also been involved in sex trafficking, prostitution or sex with a minor. gaetz has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime. >> does my client have information that could hurt an elected official? i guess this is just, you know, must dee tell igs, you will just have to wait and see. >> reporter: in the plea agreement, and this is key, greenberg admits he introduced that same minor he was sexually involved with to others who also had sex with her. the question is who are those other men? and will greenberg name them in the hopes of getting a lesser sentence? as part of his plea greenberg agreed to provide substantial assistance. that may be why the department of justice cut a deal with him allowing greenberg to plead

guilty to just six federal charges instead of the 33 counts he was facing. >> i think he's feeling a sense of acceptance and he definitely feels a sense of remorse. >> reporter: at a republican event over the weekend gaetz played down allegations against him. >> i'm going falsely accused of exchanging money for naughty favors. >> reporter: naughty favors or something more. that may come down to what joel greenberg shares with investigators. joel greenberg is promising substantial assistance but does have a credibility problem. part of his plea deal included him admitting that he falsely accused a teacher of having sex with a student back in 2019 that was not true. he also admitted that he had posted on social media sites that the teacher had raped a student, again, that was not true. this was a political opponent of his so that is why he was spreading these false rumors, but all of this speaks to his credibility. he has on his resumé, if you

will, sex trafficking, false accusations, sex with a minor and he will have to answer to all of this as he goes forward with this case. randi kaye, cnn, orlando. the gaetz tes foundation sat has never received any formal complaints against co-founder bill gates. that was released after new reporting suggesting why gates resigned from the microsoft board of directors in 2020. according to the "wall street journal" gates quit the board after it began investigating a romantic relationship he had with a microsoft employee back in 2000. cnn has not confirmed the allegation cited by the journal. earlier this month bill gates' wife melinda filed for divorce. still to come as india tops 25 million covid cases a massive cyclone is hampering testing and vaccination efforts on the

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well, we are following the covid crisis in asia where two locations are seeing a sharp rise in cases. india just became the second country to top 25 million known coronavirus cases after the u.s. and now a massive cyclone is pummeling india's west coast,

disrupting both testing and vaccination efforts in that region. taiwan is also seeing a record rise in covid cases, one senior official is now asking people to reserve medical resources for critically ill covid patients. cnn's anna coren is in hong kong and will ripley is in taipei with the latest on those stories. anna, i want to start with you, what is the latest on efforts across india to try to contain this virus and get more people vaccinated? >> reporter: the focus is very much on the west coast of india right now after that cyclone barrelled into -- into the west coast of the country. where it made landfall hundreds of thousands of people had to be evacuated from low lying areas and it really just complicates efforts in that part of the country that have been doing well, you know, we've seen cases

drop as far as covid goes in that part of the country. now with this cyclone, now with these mass evacuations, people being crammed into shelters, the fear is that the virus is once again going to surge. hospitals had to be moved, certainly covid patients in those low lying hospitals had to be moved and we've heard of power outages at hospitals, obviously fallen trees because of the high winds, the flooding, the heavy rain. it has been causing havoc. the vaccination program in this part of the country had to be suspended because of the cyclone and now with the cleanup operations and having to restore, you know, the storm damage it could take days if not weeks to get that vaccination program back up and running, which india admits is the only way to tackle this second wave, rosemary. >> such a tragic situation there.

thanks for that is correct anna. will, we go to you now and taiwan, of course, had contained this virus for so long but is now facing its most severe outbreak since the start of the pandemic. what went wrong? >> reporter: that's what makes this story here in taiwan so important for everyone around the world, rosemary. it's not the numbers specifically because taiwan's numbers all along have been extraordinarily low. as of today you have more than 2,000 total cases for the entire pandemic and two new confirmed deaths today. so 14 people have died here throughout the entire pandemic. those numbers are extraordinary and they are the result of a nation that acted decisively at the beginning shutting down their borders and all but eliminating local transmission for most of the time that the rest of the world was locked down and cases were skyrocketing. and yet now here they are with their worst outbreak to date. 240 new confirmed local cases just announced this afternoon here local time and the concern

is you have 23 million people living on this island and no herd immunity because fewer than 1% of the population is vaccinated right now. there wasn't a whole lot of demand for vaccines prior to this outbreak to be perfectly frank because people were living life as if it was actually normal. masks maybe, large gatherings, sure. night markets and adult entertainment venues and big dinners with family and friends. life was normal and so when those cases came in, they are believed to have come in through air crew, through pilots and then they spread silently. people had no idea that this virus was going around and this is a nation that is highly susceptible because they have a vaccine shortage, they have almost run out of the doses they have. locally-produced vaccines may not be available until late july the president of the taiwan says and this island has struggled to get in more vaccines for a lot of different reasons including a complicated political situation between taiwan and mainland china. so it's not the fact that the numbers are so big at the moment but it's that this crisis could

become very big. if taiwanese don't follow the government's strictest guidelines in place now since the pandemic began, so far, rosemary, they're following them. people are wearing masks, staying off the streets, staying away from gathering in large groups because people want life to get back to normal here but are afraid that the worst may be yet to come if they can't contain this outbreak. >> it is certainly a cautionary tale for the rest of the world. many thanks to anna coren in hong kong and will ripley in taiwan. appreciate it. well, health experts are urging caution in the uk as parts of the country have rolled back covid restrictions. officials warn that until more is known about the indian variants dominating uk infections large social gatherings may not be the best idea. earlier i spoke with infectious disease expert dr. peter drobak who says an upswing in new cases is expected. >> i think there's cause for concern with this new variant.

we have made a lot of progress, 70% of adults in the uk have had one dose of vaccine and 40% have had two doses but there is still a long way to go. we experienced a really terrible surge of infections in january due to the b.1.1.7 variant and so now this 1617 variant originally detected in india appears to be even more transmissible. at the moment the individual risk of infection as we start to open up is low, you know, increasing higher risk indoor activities like indoor dining and things i think does pose a risk that we might see an upswing in infections given by this new variant. >> dr. peter drobac speaking to me earlier. the tokyo olympic games are just about two months away, some preliminary events are taking place like the olympic torch relay which passed through here she ma's peace park on wednesday. the relay will end in tokyo at the opening ceremonies.

but calls are growing from protesters to delay the games or call them off as japan battles a surge. a new poll found 43% of respondents in favor of canceling the games. u.s. president joe biden is heading to michigan today to promote his economic recovery plan. his trip comes as the u.s. faces a major labor shortage. ahead, why it's hard for some employers to find workers.

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the east coast after a ra ransomware attack that led to many drivers panic buying gasoline which has only made things worse. u.s. president biden is traveling to michigan later today to promote his economic agenda and meet with members of the auto industry. his trip comes as many employers in michigan and across the country struggle with a growing labor shortage. cnn's jeff zeleny has our report. >> reporter: at the brown iron brew house business is booming or starting to after a punishing year with the pandemic. but one day each week the dining room is dark. >> how is everything so far? good. >> very good. >> reporter: because patty has no other choice. >> it's not a lack of customers, it's purely for staffing reasons. i had 120 people before the pandemic, i'm down to 70.

i need immediate hire for 30 people. >> reporter: it's a stark warning sign in the economy, a labor shortage facing frustrated business owners here in michigan and across the country. now hiring signs from restaurants to manufacturing hang most everywhere you look. >> we're trying everything we can. there's just not the people out there right now. >> reporter: just as president biden's fortunes were tied to tackling coronavirus, so, too, are they linked to an economic recovery. the rest of his presidency will likely rise or fall on the strength that have rebound. >> he will be judged on how the economy is doing as will all of us. so our job is to work together and keep the kpre strong. >> reporter: michigan congresswoman dingell says the labor shortage is real as are the child care concerns, lingering covid fears and women leaving the workforce in droves. >> optimistic about the economy or too soon to say. >> i'm going to choose to be optimistic and it's my responsibility and everybody

else's to make sure we deliver on that optimism. >> reporter: and delivering on that optimism means fighting the unmistakable economic headwinds many of which revolve around rebuilding america's vanishing workforce. >> we have tons of jobs. we have more jobs than folks. >> reporter: margie martin is an employment specialist matching workers to jobs. she is on the front lines of a question hanging over the president's economic agenda, are unemployment checks keeping potential employees on the sidelines? >> i don't think so. my own personal experience there's other issues that doesn't allow someone to get employment like a single mom, doesn't have a support system, all her kids are at home. >> reporter: just north of detroit in sterling heights mayor michael taylor is a republican who has been watching the new president closely. when we first met him last fall he told us he was supporting biden. >> i can't wait to cast my vote to get donald trump out of office. >> so how are things going? >> well, i'm still very happy with my decision.

>> reporter: but taylor said he believes unemployment assistance should not be extended so more people return to work. >> that's the number one concern i have heard from business owners. >> reporter: back at the brew house, they are offering a bounty for employees who bring in new workers, she also offers health care and a 401(k) and dismisses those who blame all business owners for the labor crunch. >> i think the misconception that i see from the politicians is that the reason why people aren't going back to work is that the jobs aren't worth it. these are low-paying jobs. but they aren't. >> reporter: these hiring challenges are a critical piece of the complicated economic puzzle facing the biden administration. now, the president traveling to the detroit area on tuesday to promote the new electric vehicles being built by the ford motor company. that is part of his jobs plan, part also of his climate plan, but all of these plans coming together representing trillions in federal spending rest at the heart of how successful the economy of course will be.

how that ends will be a key part of president biden's legacy. jeff zeleny, cnn, detroit. well, it turns out the stuff of science fiction isn't always fiction. coming up, the u.s. military acknowledges some ufo sightings are the real deal. >> my gosh. >> they're going against the wind. the wind is 120 miles from the west. >> look at that thing. >> it's rotating. wet dishes? residue? spots? it's not your dishwasher's fault. simply add finish jetdry 3in1 to rinse, dry and shine your dishes. solve 3 problems at once with finish jetdry 3in1.

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♪ welcome back, everyone. ufos are a favorite plot device for science fiction movies but now the pentagon has confirmed the authenticity of several videos and images depicting close encounters with them. cnn's oren liebermann has details. >> reporter: an object skimming the surface, apparently at high speed, when -- >> oh, got it. woo-hoo. >> reporter: bull's-eye, the aircraft sensors hone in on the -- the thing, the unidentified flying object. it's one of a few videos of these ufos the pentagon

confirmed as authentic. >> you know, i think that over the years we've sort of said, hey, man, if i saw this solo i don't know that i would have come back and said anything because it sounds so crazy. your mind tries to make sense of it. i'm going to categorize this as maybe a helicopter or maybe a drone, and when it disappeared, i mean, it was just. >> reporter: alex dietrich has never sold her story publicly. she is one of several navy pilots who spoke with "60 minutes" who picked up on similar objects moving fast with odd shapes and no obvious method of propulsion. >> there's definitely something that i don't know who is building t whose got the technology or brains, but there's something out there that was better than our airplane. >> reporter: no one is using the word aliens here. the pentagon calls them uaps, unidentified aerial phenomenon. >> there is a whole fleet of them. >> my gosh. >> they are all going against

the wind. the wind is 120 miles from the west. >> reporter: pilot ryan graves picked this up on his infrared sensor in 2004 off the coast of san diego. >> look at that thing. >> it's rotating. >> reporter: the highest probability is it's a threat observation program. >> could it be russian on chinese technology? >> i don't see why not. >> reporter: late last year the pentagon created a task force to look at the nature and origin of uaps. what are these things? where do they come from and is there an intent here? the government sees this as a possible threat, something that may be able to outperform military m military capabilities. >> we have things flying over our military bases and places where we are conducting military exercises and we don't know what it is and it isn't ours, so that's a legitimate question to ask if it's something of -- outside this planet, that might actually be better than the fact that we have seen some technological leap on behalf of the chinese or russians or some

other adversary. >> reporter: next month the direct ever of national intelligence and the defense secretary are scheduled to deliver an unclassified report on uaps to congress. former director of national intelligence james clapper applause the transparency but isn't expecting too much yet. >> i expect this report will be filled with ambiguity as well and people, depending on their leanings, will extract what they want out of this report. >> reporter: for years the government and military largely downplayed or ignored reports of ufos. now the pentagon's handling of these reports is under its own investigation. the dod inspector general announcing earlier this month that it will look at how the pentagon handled reports of ufos in the past. oren liebermann, cnn at the pentagon. >> thanks for your company, i'm rosemary church. be sure to connect with him on twitter. "early start" with laura jarrett and christine romans is up next. you're watching cnn. have a great day.

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every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities. welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. we have reports from tel aviv, orlando, beirut, the white house and nairobi, this is "early start" and i'm laura jarrett. >> we are around the world this mornings, folks this, tuesday morning, i'm christine romans, it's may 18th, 5:00 a.m. exactly here in new york. now, the coronavirus shutdown was sharp and quick, reopening will take time and patience. it's a maze of mask and vaccination requirements on the road back to normal. starting tomorrow new york will no longer require masks or social distancing for the fully vain