The New York Times

Friday at 07:48 PM

May 6, 2026

	By Sam Sifton

Good morning. President Trump said he was suspending his plan for the U.S. Navy to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz. And, in Indiana, challengers he backed mostly won primary races.

We’ll get to more, below — including my favorite recipe for beef and broccoli. But first, let’s go to sea.

A large cruise ship with a port in the distance.

The cruise ship MV Hondius near Cape Verde yesterday. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Seeking safe harbor

It’s the plot of a horror movie: A mysterious virus creeps through a luxury cruise ship that’s following the spring migration of ocean birds out of the Antarctic. The bug, which can cause lung and kidney failure, isn’t supposed to be able to leap between humans. Except maybe it can? Three passengers are dead, and four more have fallen ill.

The hantavirus crisis aboard the Hondius has been unfolding for nearly a month, and the uninfected passengers have been stuck aboard the whole time.

The ship now sits at anchor near Cape Verde, off the west coast of Africa, and was supposed to sail to the Canary Islands yesterday. Spanish officials said the vessel would need to be inspected before they could decide where exactly it might go. Officials from Oceanwide Expeditions, the ship’s operator, said they had locked down the cruise with “isolation measures, hygiene protocols and medical monitoring.”

The World Health Organization advises against panic. “Based on the current information, including how hantavirus spreads, W.H.O. assesses the risk to the global population from this event as low,” the agency said yesterday.

Still, yikes. Can you imagine? These trips are meant to be edifying, adventuresome, cool. The company that runs this one offers cruises for tens of thousands of dollars. (The Hondius is a handsome ship.) It offers quiet luxury. “The point of a cruise like this isn’t cocktails by the pool or reconfigured versions of Broadway shows,” Amy Virshup, The Times’s travel editor, told me. “It’s to explore faraway places, to learn about them from scientists, naturalists, people who can talk about the ecosystems you’re observing.”

Instead, voyagers got a seaborne season of “The White Lotus,” with pathogens. Here’s what we know.

The virus may be jumping between people. Typically, the microbe spreads from rodent droppings. Humans contract the disease when they inhale fine particles of dung or urine. But the W.H.O. isn’t ruling out human-to-human transmission here. “Some of the cases had very close contact with each other,” a health official said, adding that one couple may have been infected before they boarded the ship.

Hantavirus is dangerous. The disease may be uncommon, but the C.D.C. says it has a fatality rate of 35 percent in the U.S. (it’s closer to 15 percent in Asia and Europe). It presents early on as a fever with chills, body aches, headaches. Shortness of breath follows and, in some instances, lung or heart failure. There’s no drug to treat it, so doctors have to rely on oxygen and heart-lung machines if things get bad. Last year, colleagues reminded me, Betsy Arakawa, wife of the actor Gene Hackman, died from the effects of the virus.

Cruising is back. After getting walloped by the coronavirus pandemic, the cruise industry now sees more people aboard its ships than ever before. Some 35 million people took cruises in 2024, according to the industry’s trade association, up from 30 million in 2019. (Most people go to the Caribbean: water slides, rum punches, repeat. “Exploration” cruises of the sort the Hondius takes to the Antarctic and the Arctic carry about 1 percent of global passengers.)

Quarantines are scary. Being confined to quarters on a ship infected with a virus can be terrifying. In 2020, my colleague Motoko Rich reported on a vessel quarantined in Japan at the start of the pandemic. “I know that stress and anxiety compromise my immune system,” one passenger told her. “But every day it’s anxiety-provoking when we see the ambulances line up on the side of the ship.” Jake Rosmarin, a travel influencer aboard the Hondius today, echoed that anxiety in a tearful social media post on Monday. “All we want right now is to feel safe, to have clarity and to get home,” he said.

THE LATEST NEWS

War in Iran

The White House has insisted that the war is over, though Iranian missile and drone attacks have continued.
Trump’s push for a deal relies on tactics that suggest he doesn’t understand Iran’s motivations, analysts say.

Midterm Elections

Indiana: Trump mostly prevailed in his attempt to punish Republican legislators who opposed his redistricting plans. At least five Trump-backed challengers won primary races.
Ohio: Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican billionaire entrepreneur, and Amy Acton, a Democrat and the state’s former Covid czar, won their primaries and will face off in November’s race for governor.
Michigan: Democrats kept their majority in the State Senate with a special election win.

THE MORNING QUIZ

This question comes from our recent coverage. Click an answer to see if you’re right. (The link will be free.)

Separate images of Chase Infiniti, Adut Akech, Skepta and Bill Skarsgård at the Met Gala.

Nina Westervelt for The New York Times

Which designer dressed Chase Infiniti, Adut Akech, Skepta and Bill Skarsgård for this year’s Met Gala?

Thom Browne

See which looks Times readers liked best.

OPINIONS

American kids are taking GLP-1 drugs. That’s a sign that the system has already failed to protect them, writes Julia Belluz.

Here are columns by Bret Stephens on a Democrat who wants to restore old-school patriotism and Jamelle Bouie on John Roberts’s America.

The Times Sale ends soon: Expand your knowledge with our experts.

Take advantage of our best offer and gain understanding and insight in every area of life. Just $1 a week for your first year of unlimited access to news, culture, cooking and more.

MORNING READS

A slide show of scenes from Meatstock includes samples of meat on plates, someone holding a large cut of meat and a person wearing a shirt that says “Eat Meat. Love Jesus. Be Happy.”

At a carnivore convention in Gatlinburg, Tenn. Juan Diego Reyes for The New York Times

Where’s the beef? At Meatstock, carnivores shared their beliefs about the benefits of an all-protein diet and got up close with their favorite meatfluencers.

“Cannot say”: The stand-up comic Chizi wants to be known for his jokes, not his defiance of China’s censors. “It’s easy to be a rebel,” he says. “It’s much harder to be a good comedian.”

Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was the list of the Pulitzer Prize winners.

TODAY’S NUMBER

22,000

— That is how many homes a developer plans to build in Pittsboro, North Carolina. The town’s current population is 5,000. Can its charms survive the growth?

SPORTS

N.B.A.: The Oklahoma City Thunder brought a 108-90 blowout to the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals series. In the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Pistons looked like a real contender again with a 111-101 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Women’s hockey: Marie-Philip Poulin’s goal in triple overtime for the Montreal Victoire tied the semifinal series against the Minnesota Frost at 1-1. Here are the playoff standings.

Subscribe to The Pulse, The Athletic’s morning newsletter, for more sports in your inbox daily.

RECIPE OF THE DAY

Beef and broccoli in a light brown bowl.

Gentl and Hyers for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Rebecca Bartoshesky.

Here’s my super-simple recipe for a Chinese-takeout standby: beef and broccoli. The chef Jonathan Wu taught me the velveting technique that keeps the meat tender, and the chef Dale Talde taught me to swirl a little cold butter into the sauce at the end to make it luxurious. I figured out how to add chile crisp for spice all by myself. 🥩🥦

THE TONY AWARDS

Daniel Radcliffe wearing a long-sleeved light blue shirt. His left arm is raised.

Daniel Radcliffe in “Every Brilliant Thing.” Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

A lot of stars are acting on Broadway this season, which means a lot of stars received Tony nominations yesterday. John Lithgow, Daniel Radcliffe, Lesley Manville and Rose Byrne all picked up nods, as did two longtime Broadway favorites, Nathan Lane and Kelli O’Hara. “Liberation,” one of the candidates for best new play, won a Pulitzer for drama on Monday.

Read about all the Tony nominees here. And consider the snubs and surprises. (Poor Lea Michele!)

More on culture

When “The Late Show” goes dark later this month, we’ll lose more than just Stephen Colbert, says Jason Zinoman, our comedy critic. Its last months have left him a little sentimental for generations of midnight laughs. We’re losing an institution, he writes.
The New York Times’s “Book Review” podcast turned 20 last month. For its anniversary episode, our journalists look back at some of the titles, trends and turning points that defined the last two decades in publishing. Remember the implosion of James Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces”? That’s where they start. Ferrantes and Mantels follow, along with much, much more.
Late night hosts wondered why Trump was telling kids about nuclear weapons.

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS

A watercolor set, a book with a pink cover, a notebook and a bar of soap.

Ruthie Darling/NYT Wirecutter

Remember that Mother’s Day is Sunday. The dutiful sons and daughters of Wirecutter assembled a sizable selection of gift ideas. (My mom hated even a card. “It’s just a Hallmark holiday,” she’d sniff.)

Read Dwight Garner’s review of Siri Hustvedt’s memoir about her life with the writer Paul Auster, even if you’ll never read the book. Dwight’s electric: “She was blond and he was dark-haired; they were almost photonegatives. She looked as if she’d been in Bergman films. He was, visually, America’s Camus — wary, heavy-lidded, wreathed in cigarillo smoke, an intellectual turned out in black Levi’s and sheepskin-lined leather jackets.”

Avoid miracle-cure supplements advertising on Facebook. Sometimes they’re selling things the authorities have classed as dangerous.

GAMES

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Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was abundance.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands.

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. See you tomorrow. — Sam

Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com.

Host: Sam Sifton

Editor: Adam B. Kushner

News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti

Associate Editor: Lauren Jackson

News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell

Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch

Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren

2026-05-10T02:26:14Z

May 7, 2026

	By Sam Sifton

Good morning. A judge released a suicide note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein. Evacuations have begun from the cruise ship stricken with hantavirus. And it’s still unclear what’s going on in negotiations to end the war in Iran.

There’s more below — including new music from Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert. But first, let’s hit the gas station.

Sticker shock

There are many reasons to live in California, as so many readers of this newsletter could tell you. Cheap gas isn’t one of them, particularly since the start of the war in Iran. The national average is $4.56 a gallon, but have a look at this:

U.S. map of the price of gas in each state.

Source: AAA. Karl Russell/The New York Times

I was dorking around with The Times’s interactive gas-price map and saw the price running to $7.04 in Mono County, on the Nevada state line. Down in Murray County, Okla., it was just $3.98.

There are reasons for such divergent prices, my colleague Emmett Lindner reports. There’s the location of the refineries that turn oil into gas. The fuel’s not cheap to ship, and the logistics can be complicated. Different states have different taxes and regulations. And gas stations compete with one another for business.

It’s particularly bad in California because a bunch of refineries have closed there, forcing distributors to bring in fuel from elsewhere. Also, California uses a unique blend of gas designed to emit less noxious exhaust. That adds to the cost as well.

But wherever you live in the U.S., you’re likely feeling the pinch.

The hardest hit

The surge in U.S. gas prices presses hardest on those with the least ability to shoulder it, writes Talmon Joseph Smith, who covers economics.

Higher-income people spent more on gasoline in March than anyone else, but the amount they bought didn’t change much. They may not like it, but the wealthy can deal with more expensive gas.

Poorer people, though, were not only spending more on gas than usual but also buying less of it. They’re driving less, according to a new analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and potentially car-pooling or using public transportation instead.

But not all of them. Talmon spoke to a woman who drives for Uber and Lyft in Charleston, S.C. “I was paying well below $3 a gallon, damn near almost $2, then it felt like, within a week or so, it spiked,” she told him.

The woman’s car is a Kia, one she got specifically for its mileage, which helps increase her return on eight or nine hours a day behind the wheel. Before the war in Iran, she paid around $25 every time she filled up. Now it’s $40 or more. “It’s rough,” she said. “Now, you’re only making 100 to 160 bucks a day.”

How gas gets here

To illustrate the punishing logistics of moving oil around the world, my colleagues Agnes Chang and Pablo Robles built a marvelous depiction of the long journey from the Strait of Hormuz to the gas tank.

It shows a tanker leaving the strait and arriving, nearly three weeks later, in Japan. Workers spend a few days pumping the oil into storage tanks. Then it heads to a refinery that makes it into jet fuel, diesel and, eventually, gasoline. That’s another week right there.

The jet fuel goes directly to airports. The rest supplies depots all over the country, often via tanker train. Those feed tanker trucks, which finally arrive at gas stations. The whole operation takes about a month, for that one tanker. Click below to follow the odyssey:

Illustration of a ship delivering oil to tanks on land.

Pablo Robles/The New York Times

And, of course, very few tankers have made it through the Iranian blockade. Even when (or if?) the Strait of Hormuz fully reopens, it could take months for shipping to return to normal. We’re going to be in this pickle for a while.

Who’s to blame?

The last time gas was this expensive was in the summer of 2022, when prices rose above $5 a gallon. The Times wrote often about the demand for gas coming off the coronavirus pandemic, as well as disruptions in the supply chain and a huge shock to the global oil market brought about by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Politics being what it is, some Republicans blamed President Joe Biden. They affixed his image to gas pumps all over the country on stickers that said, “I did that!” Yesterday on Etsy, I saw the theme was back, this time with a decal featuring President Trump. On it, he grins and points: “My war did that!”

TED TURNER, 1938-2026

A photo montage of Ted Turner, the creator of CNN.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images; Robert Child/AP; Keith Meyers/The New York Times; Nancy Mangiafico/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP; Dave Martin/AP

Ted Turner, the media mogul who gave us CNN and the 24-hour news cycle, died yesterday at 87. He was one of the great characters of the late 20th century, and The Times’s nearly 5,000-word obituary is filled with wild stories. Here are a few.

He was a conservationist: Turner liked hunting and also wanted to protect the planet, so he bought more than a million acres of wilderness and ranch land, roughly enough to fill the state of Delaware, and set them aside as nature preserves. Read about how he revived ecosystems.

He was a darn good sailor: Turner was twice named Yachtsman of the Year by the United States Sailing Association, and in 1977 he won the prestigious (and famously difficult) America’s Cup.

He married Jane Fonda: Their courtship surprised many — he had been conservative in his youth, and she had been called Hanoi Jane for speaking out against the Vietnam War. But he won her over by emphasizing their similarities, including their mutual friendship with Fidel Castro.

Related: As the owner of the Atlanta Braves, Turner changed how we consume sports.