new week, new controversy being stirred up by the white house as president trump says he will scrap a historic nuclear arms treaty signed by reagan and gorbachev, but could this unleash a new cold war? the saudi royal family has reached out to the family of the late journalist, jamal khashoggi, as the u.s. prepares to announce a coordinated response to the killing. a disaster after a speeding train derails on a curve, the cars flipping over, killing at least 18. growing by the hour, the migrant caravan moving from guatemala, through mexico, towards the u.s. border, has gone from dozens to now over 7,000. we'll take you inside

facebook's war room as the social media giant arms themselves and you against false news and hacking, leading up to the midterm elections. "early today" starts right now. good morning. i'm marlie hall. >> and i'm philip mena. cold war-era mentions heating back up this morning. president trump is threatening to pull out of a landmark nuclear arms agreement negotiated decades ago with russia. >> now national security adviser john bolton will kick off two days of high-stakes talks in moscow this morning to try and find common ground. nbc's tracie potts joins us from washington. good morning, tracie. >> reporter: hi, marlie and philip. good morning. good morning, everyone. you're right, it was more than 30 years ago that presidents reagan and gorbachev signed that inf treaty that bans missiles that could travel 3,500 miles or more. in other words, from one side of the world to the other. but now, president trump says that russia has violated that deal, so he wants to pull out, and he sent his national

security adviser to moscow to send that message over the next two days. >> russia has violated the agreement. ers not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons, and we're not allowed to, so we're going to terminate the agreement. we're going to pull out. >> reporter: now, nato also agrees that russia has violated the agreement, and now the question is whether or not president trump's threat or talk of a pullout is really a test of his relationship with vladimir putin. putin has said that u.s. missile launchers in europe are also a threat. so, clearly, two different sides here, and we'll see it plays out with bolton in russia this week. back to you. >> tracie, thank you. a homecoming party descended into chaos when the floor of a clubhouse near clemson university caved in, hurdling dozens of people into the basement below. dramatic cell phone video shows people dancing at the off-campus party when the floor gives out,

sending them into a free fall. authorities say dozens were injured and transported to local hospitals, as survivors share their harrowing stories from those terrifying moments. >> reporter: celebration turning into chaos in just seconds with this homecoming party. when the floor suddenly collapses. >> the floor broke! >> reporter: sending dozens of people plummeting several feet down into the basement. >> that whole piece, i saw that fall on a girl. >> reporter: ricardo arroyo shot this horrific video, bodies piled on top of each other, some desperately trying to climb out, others too stunned or injured to move. >> a lot of students in pain, a lot of bloodshed. i saw a lot of open wounds. not something you anticipate seeing at a party. >> reporter: the floor giving way after dancing revelers began jumping at the same time. 30 people were left injured, some taken to the hospital, including tyrese blocker, whose knee was stitched up. >> i felt the floor give in, but

by the time i felt it, it was too late. >> reporter: kappa alpha si fraternity hosted it at a clubhouse three miles from clemson university. >> this is not typical for an organization to have an event at a facility such as this. >> and a catch! >> reporter: the party coming just hours after the clemson tigers' big win against north carolina. hundreds of party-goers packed into the room. for some, lucky to be alive. >> it was a crazy moment. i'll never forget it, for sure. >> reporter: we reached out to the fraternity to find out what exactly happened inside here, but we haven't heard back. meanwhile, police are investigating. philip and marlie? >> all right, tammy, thank you. saudi arabia issuing fresh denials in the killing of "washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi. in an interview with fox news, the saudi foreign minister doubled down on claims that crown prince mohammed bin salman knew nothing prior to khashoggi's death. and as new security pictures were released of khashoggi

before he entered the saudi consulate in istanbul, members of congress say they aren't buying this latest story. nbc's sarah harman joins us now from london with the latest. good morning, sarah. >> reporter: hey, good morning to you, marlie. after weeks of insisting otherwise, saudi arabia now admits that khashoggi was killed inside the saudi consulate in istanbul. on friday, they claimed he died after a fistfight inside the building. now, many members of congress aren't buying that. senator rand paul called the explanation insulting. and on sunday, the saudi foreign minister went on fox news and he doubled down, claiming the men involved in khashoggi's killing were rogue agents and the crown prince had nothing to do with it. >> this was an operation that was a rogue operation. this was an operation where individuals ended up exceeding the authorities and responsibilities they had. they made the mistake when they killed jamal khashoggi in the consulate and they tried to cover up for it. >> reporter: now, turkish officials say that president

erdogan and president trump have spoken on the phone about this case and president erdogan has vowed to reveal what he calls the naked truth about what happened to khashoggi. he's expected to speak out tomorrow. a lot of interest in what he's got to say, because for all we've learned in the past weeks, we still don't know where khashoggi's body is. philip, marlie? >> sarah, thank you. the midterm elections are approaching and many campaigns are fully on social media in realtime. on friday, a new caution as federal prosecutors accused a russian woman of orchestrating posts aimed at meddling in the elections. so, what are the major social media companies doing about all this? nbc's jo ling kent takes us inside facebook's war room. >> reporter: the drive to protect the midterm election is in high gear at facebook. >> welcome to the war room. >> thank you. >> reporter: the world's biggest social network is mounting a coordinated war against false news and hacking in the final two weeks before election day. >> we want to be as quick and agile as we can here. all of these things help us

really prevent problems before they can become viral. >> russia, russia, russia. >> reporter: the hope? prevent another 2016 disaster, when the company allowed russian interference to spread, hitting its share price and reputation. >> one of my greatest regrets in running the company is that we were slow in identifying the russian information operations in 2016. >> reporter: facebook claims the investment is paying off, saying it's found accounts from russia, iran, and inside the u.s., targeting users in recent months. reddit, another powerful social network, is in the fight, too. is reddit ready for midterms? >> i think so. i think so. >> reporter: reddit is a breeding ground for conspiracy theories, violent threats and racism that unfold in real life, like the charlottesville unite the right rally last year, making its efforts even more critical. >> we have spun off a couple of teams this year specifically to work on this program. on the data science and engineering side, to find people, whether it's state-sponsored or not, attempting to manipulate reddit. >> reporter: ceo steve huffman

says they found at least 1,000 questionable russian accounts in the last month alone, but facebook's recently departed chief security officer, alex stamos, says winning will require more government cooperation. >> the united states could do better. the real issues that we have organized, foreign groups whose entire desire is to mess with the election. >> reporter: an uphill battle to protect your vote online and off. jo ling kent, nbc news, menlo park, california. it was a terrible scene in northern taiwan sunday afternoon after a high-speed passenger train derailed, killing 18 people and injuring more than 170. here's nbc's lucy kafanov with the latest. >> reporter: the tangled aftermath of a deadly train wreck in northern taiwan. this aerial footage revealing the scale of the disaster, a zigzag of overturned cars and twisted metal. rescue teams used flashlights to scour the wreck for survivors. a government spokesman said some of the victims were crushed to death.

the injured were rushed to nearby hospitals as desperate families checked whiteboards for updates. it was carrying more than 360 passengers from a suburb in taipei towards a city on the east coast when it suddenly derailed. capable of handling 93-mile-per-hour speeds, this was one of taiwan's newer and faster trains on a route popular with tourists. taiwan's president tweeting, "today's accident is a major tragedy." authorities have launched an investigation into what caused taiwan's worst rail disaster in more than three decades. lucy kafanov, nbc news. let's take a look outside. bill karins, good morning. new week, new hurricane threat, huh? >> a huge hurricane, too. this one flared up over the weekend. this is willa, off the coast of mexico, 155-mile-per-hour winds. it's almost a category 5. and this, by the way, is the ninth category 4 or stronger storm in the eastern pacific this tropical season, which has

never happened before, so it's pretty amazing stuff. and unfortunately for mexico, it still will come in as a major hurricane. here's the path, north of puerto vallarta through tuesday afternoon and will rain through the mountains of mexico and eventually bring flooding rains into texas by wednesday, so another huge hurricane and there will be, unfortunately, a lot of destruction from this one, too. each a catory 3 caneg that continues into your monday. there will be low clouds along the coast, but that shouldn't cause you any problems. we'll look at the week-ahead forecast coming up. >> sounds good, bill. thanks. over the weekend, reboots made their way to the front row at the box office. >> waited for this night. it's waited for me. [ screaming ]

i've waited for him. get out! go home! get inside! >> ooh. slashing its way to the top, universal's "halloween" dominated the box office. it made more than $77 million. >> scared me a little there. coming up in second, "a star is born" continues to impress, bringing in a lel over $19 million. and dropping to third place, "venom" raked in $18 million, followed by "goose bumps" and "first man." we'll be right back. 's gotten use room smelling like sweaty odors. yup, he's gone noseblind. he thinks it smells fine, but his mom smells this... luckily for all your hard-to-wash fabrics... ...there's febreze fabric refresher. febreze doesn't just mask, it eliminates odors you've... ...gone noseblind to. and try febreze unstopables for fabric. with up to twice the fresh scent power, you'll want to try it... ...again and again and maybe just one more time. indulge in irresistible freshness. febreze unstopables. breathe happy.

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park in southern mexico. some are building a tent behind me. there's an ambulance there as well. the mexican government had hoped to stop this caravan at its southern border, but that didn't happen. the migrant caravan is growing. the group, fleeing violence and poverty in central america, has pushed through mexico's southern border, and many mexicans are joining in as they move north. nbc's mariana atencio is there. >> reporter: this is now a massive exodus of around 7,000 people, and they're making their way to the most important city here in the southern part of the country. it is a critical juncture for this caravan. it is where the prior caravan reorganized to move north to the united states. >> reporter: "we're going to keep moving forward," this man says. he's been traveling more than a week with his 2-year-old daughter. unlike friday's clash at the border, now the mexican government says it won't use force to stop the migrants. here on the gut malan side of the border, patience is wearing

thin. rather than wait in this line for refugee status in the heat, some desperate migrants have decided to cross into mexico illegally. we met this woman, gilma, as she climbed onto a raft hoping to eventually reach the u.s. she doesn't believe applying for refugee status will work. she's afraid to return to hondur honduras. "we live in a terrible situation in our country," telling us her son was beat in the military. but others are turning around, boarding buses back to honduras. has it been very hard? rosa made the gut-wrenching decision because of her 4-month-old daughter. for her, there was too much at risk. philip, the mexican government is asking these migrants to go to a nearby shelter and apply to stay in this country, but many of them say that they plan to continue heading north towards the u.s. philip? >> all right, gabe gutierrez for us. thank you, sir. just ahead, the u.s. markets may be set to soar this week. we'll tell you why. plus, breaking down the

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paul punches a throw! paul and rondo punches! he's throwing punches. securities trying to -- >> after a hard foul late in fourth quarter, the lakers' brandon ingram shoved james harden, and that ignites a brawl, ending in chris paul and

rajon rondo throwing blows. all three are suspended. ingram slapped with four games, rondo gets three, and chris paul only received two. but financially, paul took the biggest hit, being fined a total of over $490,000, followed by rondo with $186,000 and ingram with $158,000. that is one expensive fight. >> it is. and chris paul only got a little bit more because -- a lot more -- because he makes a lot more than them. those are all game checks. but they say it all started because rondo spit in chris paul's face. you saw the video of it. >> yeah, you could see it. >> yeah. and that's why he did it. they're going to face each other a couple more times before the season's out, so we have not seen the last of that. all right, there is a new week and a new rally that we're keeping our eyes on. stocks in china, they are up over 4% this morning. will the u.s. markets also be on a tear? let's ask cnbc's frank holland. >> good morning to you, philip. wall street looks like it will open up slightly higher. markets in asia, and

specifically, china, rallied overnight. the mainland index in shanghai having its best day in three years on hopes the chinese government will unveil a new economic stimulus program. on the watch list for u.s. investors, earnings. about 150 companies in the s&p 500 are set to report their results this week. some big changes are coming on how your credit score is calculated. fair isaac, the creator of the fico score, plans to come up with a new system that factors in how consumers manage cash in their checking, savings and money market accounts. the new ultra fico score is expected to boost approvals for credit cards and other debt by taking into account a borrower's cash transaction history, which could signal how likely they are to repay new debt. here's a story you'll enjoy. it is happy hour at chili's all day today. the restaurant chain is celebrating the birthday of its signature drink, the president day margarita. it's made with salsa, tequila, orange liqueur, presidents' day brandy and chili's own house margarita mix.

customers can get the drinks for $5 at locations. the margarita's usually about 8 bucks. those are your headlines. i've never had one of those, but apparently they're considered the big mac of cocktails. have you ever had one? >> i haven't, but i have a feeling for 5 bucks, they're going to have to mix a lot in there. it's probably pretty strong, though. frank, thank you. >> i haven't either, but you know, 5 bucks. >> if you didn't get enough over the weekend, there you go, your $5 buzz. just ahead, an onstage scare for paula abdul in mississippi. the singer's close call, next. plus, proof that marriage really is a marathon, not a sprint. you're watching "early today."

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switch to geico®. it's a win-win. that was singer paula abdul with that nasty fall during a show in mississippi on saturday. a fan cell phone video shows the pop star tumbled head first as she danced dangerously close to the edge of that stage. you can hear the gasping in the audience as it happened. people there say she is fine. she got up and she finished the show, and she's onto her next leg of the tour, which will be in canada. >> all right, the worst part was that sound she made when she hit the ground. >> yeah. i'm glad she's all right. all right, so the week-ahead forecast. texas gets a little rain today, a lot of rain on wednesday. notice we're okay many areas of the country, east coast and west coast. by the end of the week, though, moisture and rain will be increasing in the pacific northwest. we'll be right back. sofie's eating a tuna sandwich and her meeting just got moved up...

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week seven in the nfl. several teams looking to bounce back after some heartbreaking losses last week. first up, we had the chiefs and the bengals on sunday night. kansas city coming out with a chip on their shoulder behind patrick mahomes and their explosive offense. he threw for over 300 yards and four touchdown passes. mahomes leading the chiefs to a blowout victory over the bengals, 45-10. let's go to the nfc east, rivalry of the week, redskins hosting the cowboys. on the opening drive, alex smith faking the handoff, throwing it to kapri bibbs, runs it in for a touchdown. cowboys respond late in the second. dak prescott finding michael gallop, the rookie, ties the game going into halftime. in the second half, the redskins

defense, this tells the story right here. touchdown, redskins. dallas has a chance to send it to overtime, but the kick, boink, comes up a little off. washington wins, 20-17. over in baltimore, chalk up another milestone for quarterback drew brees. on this play to ben watson, brees cashes in on his 500th career touchdown pass. the ravens were not distracted by the milestone. they took a double-lijt lead going into the fourth. the saints took a late lead with a few strikes of their own, but it came down to this extra point to send it to overtime, and the most reliable kicker in the league not reliable on that extra point. first miss of his career on the point after touchdown, saints win, 24-23. to chicago now, fans holding their breath in this one. it was a back-and-forth, high-scoring game behind quarterback tom brady and mitchell trubisky, but it came down it this play here. two seconds left, and we're going to go for a hail mary. mitch trubisky leans back and launches into this one. he hurls it all the way to the 1

yard line. he catches it, but he needs to get in the end zone, and all those white jerseys ain't going to let that happen. pats win, 38-31. all right, it seems like everybody wants to wrap their arms around a royal. prince harry and meghan markle were in sydney watching a sailing competition in the invictus games when one of the sailors just couldn't contain his excitement. he jumped off the boat and lifted harry in a bear hug. the couple took it in stride with meghan declaring, now that's a hug. nicely done. and that guy's pretty big. he picked harry up like nothing. >> it is. i'm sure harry hated every moment of it. nobody likes that. one couple went the distance after exchanging vows during the detroit marathon. halfway to the finish line, steve and whitney took a break, not a water break, but to say their "-dos. family and friends waited for them at the mile marker. they had balloons, veil, the whole thing, as they had a makeshift altar. the ceremony took six minutes. they finished the race together

and they are now mr. and mrs. phillips. congrats to them. thank you for watchi ining "ear today." >> and i'm marlie hall. we leave you with an epic light

>> russia has not unfortunately honored the agreement so we are going to terminate the agreement and pull out. >> treaty terminated. president trump taking drastic measures to kill a historic nuclear arms treaty and this morning, are we on the verge of a new arms race? thousands of people and growing every minute. a massive migrant caravan crossed from guatemala into mexico with hopes of reaching the united states. >> off the campus of clemson, a college party filled with dancing and fun turns to terror as the floor gives way, injuring dozens.