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Small Businesses Struggling?; Pope Leo Meets With Marco Rubio; Will Iran-U.S. Negotiations Resume?; Hantavirus Outbreak. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired May 07, 2026 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Containing the outbreak, hantavirus cases now suspected in five countries. As officials scramble to stop the spread, the cruise ship hit by the outbreak now headed towards Spain's Canary Islands, where some officials do not want it to dock.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Wait-and-see mode. Iran expected to respond today to the U.S. proposal to end the war, but how much will the one- page framework leave unresolved?

And no humans needed. When it comes to building better artificial intelligence, could the next model help build itself? And, if it can, should we be worried?

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: We start this afternoon with a global race to contain the deadly hantavirus outbreak linked to this cruise, five cases now suspected -- rather, cases now suspected in five countries, I should say. And, so far, there are confirmed patients in the Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, as well as suspected cases here in the United States and the U.K.

In the U.S., health officials are monitoring at least one person in Arizona and two in Georgia. All three left the ship early and have not yet shown any symptoms.

Back on board, the nightmare is almost over for more than 140 people, including 17 Americans. The ship, which has been linked to three deaths, is now roughly 55 hours away from letting passengers depart in the Canary Islands.

Let's go now to CNN senior international correspondent Melissa Bell.

Melissa, what are you learning about this?

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have been hearing from the World Health Organization and more about their sort of wish, really, to reassure everyone that there is no major outbreak around the corner in these post-COVID times, but even as they organize what is going to be a pretty complex operation to get these remaining passengers off the ship safely in Tenerife.

Because, as you have mentioned, because of those 30-odd people who got off at St. Helena and have then fanned out across the world, there are these countries in which these people are having to isolate and all the difficulty that goes into the contact tracing.

Still, this is what the World Health Organization had to say a little earlier today:

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DR. MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: This is not SARS- CoV-2. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic. This is an outbreak that we see on a ship. There's a confined area. We have five confirmed cases so far. This is not the same situation we were in six years ago.

It doesn't spread the same way like coronaviruses do. It's very different. It's that close, intimate contact that we have seen. And most hantaviruses don't transmit between people at all.

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BELL: So, on one hand, reassuring people that this is not the beginning of a major outbreak beyond the ship, but, even at the same time, mounting this complex operation.

We have been hearing from dockworkers in Tenerife who are not reassured at all at the idea of this ship docking, who threatened a strike on Saturday in time for when it's planned to arrive. But the authorities have been looking at it.

One, we understand is the ship will dock off of the coast of Tenerife, and people will then be evacuated. Still, getting them back to their home countries, getting them to the right hospitals or in the right facilities where they can quarantine is a pretty big operation that authorities have ahead of them.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Thanks so much, Melissa Bell, for an update on that story -- Brianna.

KEILAR: We're also monitoring some breaking news in the Middle East.

According to a regional source, Iran is expected to respond today to a U.S. peace plan to end the war. But Pakistan's Foreign Ministry says Tehran is still reviewing U.S. messages and has not finalized a response.

At the same time, Iran is flexing its authority over the Strait of Hormuz, which has become, of course, this critical sticking point in these negotiations. Today, the regime laid out new rules for vessels looking to utilize the critical shipping lane.

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Let's go to CNN's Nic Robertson, who's live in Pakistan, where mediators are trying to advance this new one-page framework for ending the war.

Nic, what's the sense that you're getting? Is Iran inclined to move closer to any U.S. demands here?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: And I think even the more pressing question at the moment in the sort of two hours remaining here in Pakistan on Thursday, that was the window when it was expected Iran would deliver its response.

It seems to be less about what they will have in the document, is now about, when's that document going to come? And the fact that it hasn't arrived so far, I think, tends to speak volumes about the speed at which Iran is working at here.

And this is in an environment where President Trump has sounded positive, where he's called off Project Freedom, which was widely viewed in Iran as a failure by the Trump administration and something they poked fun at.

But the fact that the Foreign Ministry spokesman in Tehran says, we are still considering the U.S. proposal from last weekend, and haven't responded yet, and for the first time, actually, Iran's president has been in to meet with -- he says he's been in to meet with Iran's supreme leader.

And while there was a hope by mediators that that could have happened some time ago, that communications between all the sort of different levels of moderates and hard-liners in Iran could sort of get together and have conversations, and principally with the supreme leader, who's been in isolation, and his condition is unknown, the president's now had that chance of a meeting.

But the question is, does that mean that the country is now ready to respond to the United States? Or does it just mean that the moderates are now under even more pressure from the hard-liners in Iran? It's hard to read at the moment. But I think the sense is, because Iran hasn't responded so far, they're not racing into the talks, and it does seem as if the hard-liners do have the upper hand.

You know, that positivity that was expressed by President Trump yesterday, I think that has not been given up on here in Pakistan, but no answer means no progress. And that's not good, when you have things like Israel striking Hezbollah targets deep inside of Lebanon. That really tugs at the Iranians' commitment to anything positive, because, for them, that's a key piece of the deal.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly.

Nic Robertson, live for us from Pakistan, where all eyes are, thank you.

Still to come: Secretary of State Marco Rubio meeting with Pope Leo after weeks of tensions between the White House and the Vatican. Ahead, we will have a live update on their face-to-face.

And CNN speaks with mom-and-pop shops fighting to stay open. We will take a look at the economic pressures that have them struggling to survive.

And then later: A new report claims A.I. is showing early signs of learning by itself. What this so-called intelligence explosion means for you coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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SANCHEZ: After months of tension between the Trump administration and the Vatican, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met this morning with Pope Leo.

The visit follows extraordinary attacks from President Trump in which he's accused the first American pope of being weak on crime, terrible for foreign policy, hurting the Catholic Church, and even wanting Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

CNN's Jennifer Hansler is following Rubio's trip.

And, Jennifer, before leaving, the secretary dismissed the idea that this was an attempt at a diplomatic reset.

JENNIFER HANSLER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: That's right, Boris.

He may have tried to downplay that aspect, but it is clear that these two sides were trying to get back to some sort of normal relationship between Washington and the Vatican. Both the State Department and the Holy See put out readouts of that meeting that took place this morning in Vatican City in the Apostolic Palace.

And both of them emphasized the need for there to be good and strong bilateral relations between the two sides. The U.S. State Department readout said that they focused on the situation in the Middle East, as well as the Western Hemisphere. That would, of course, include Cuba.

This is something Secretary Rubio said that he would be bringing up in this meeting with the pope. He pointed to the fact that the U.S. has been using the Catholic Church to distribute some $6 million in humanitarian aid on the island.

The Holy See readout said -- quote -- "During the cordial discussions, the shared commitment to cultivate good bilateral relations between the Holy See and the United States of America was renewed. There was an exchange of views on the regional and international situation, with particular attention to countries marked by war, political tensions, and difficult humanitarian situations, as well as on the need to work tirelessly for peace."

Boris, of course, this meeting came against the backdrop of that barrage of attacks from President Trump, going after Pope Leo for what he claimed was the pope's desire for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. We should note here, Boris, the pope has never said Iran should have a nuclear weapon.

He has instead voiced his opposition to that war in Iran. And it is still a gap that persists between the two sides, both on the war, as well as issues of migration. Pope Leo has been an outspoken advocate for the rights of the refugees and migrants.

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This is something that Trump administration does not see eye to eye on, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

Rubio also scheduled to meet with Giorgia Meloni tomorrow, the Italian prime minister, another person that President Trump has had some tension with recently, in light of Italy's response to U.S. attacks on Iran. What are we anticipating from that meeting?

HANSLER: Well, it's another seemingly attempt to level-set and readjust the bilateral relationship after these attacks from the U.S. president.

President Trump has gone after both Prime Minister Meloni herself for what he says is not enough support for the war in Iran. He said that she thought -- he thought she was brave, but he was wrong about that. He has also gone after other NATO members, including Spain, as well as Germany and the United Kingdom, for what he says is not enough support for the U.S. war.

He has gone after them repeatedly and gone back and forth between saying they want to see them help, particularly when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz, and saying the U.S. can go it alone. So there's a lot that will be on the plate for Rubio in that meeting tomorrow, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Jennifer Hansler, thank you so much.

Still ahead: small business, big problem. A new report showing just how hard a perfect economic storm this is for mom-and-pop shops.

And, later, we're going to show you new videos from the trail of destruction left behind by tornadoes cutting across Mississippi.

Stay with CNN. We will be right back.

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KEILAR: Mom-and-pop businesses across America are struggling to survive right now. Many small business owners are blaming tariffs, one telling CNN that some costs are five times what they once were for her. And that is forcing these small business owners to make a difficult

choice,eat the higher costs, raise prices, or lay off workers. And so what we're seeing now is the biggest cut in small business jobs in the last decade.

CNN's Matt Egan is with us now to talk about this story.

Matt, you talked to several small business owners. It sounds like they're really struggling. What did they tell you?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, Brianna, a lot of them are really struggling, for a range of reasons, including chaotic tariff policy, expensive health insurance and lately surging energy costs.

And, yes, some of them have been forced to cut the very few workers that they were employing in the first place. Now, when you look at the smallest small businesses, those employing fewer than 10 people, they slashed almost 300,000 jobs last year. That's the most in at least 10 years.

This is four times as many jobs that were cut in 2020, so, yes, more job cuts last year than during COVID. Now, this is coming to us from Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee, who really dug into some Intuit QuickBooks data.

And they also found that this trend has continued into this year. Now, to be clear, this is not a brand-new problem. When we look at the trend, you can see that, yes, a lot of jobs at these small small businesses were lost in 2020 during the pandemic.

There was this massive boom in 2021. But look at this. Employment is down three years in a row, including the final two years under former President Biden.

But when you really dig in here, you can see the fingerprints of President Trump's tariff policy at play, because this report found that some of the tariff-exposed sectors, including retail, manufacturing and construction, not only are they facing declines in revenue, but they're shedding workers.

Look at this, retailers alone out of these small small businesses cutting 42,000 jobs just over the past year. And I spoke to a woman who owns a production company in Los Angeles, and she said they're facing price hikes on everything from food and transportation to clothes and fuel.

And she said it's just been a very expensive, muddy pile of price hikes. And like a lot of other small business owners, she's struggling to pass along those costs to her clients. And she's been forced to resort to layoffs -- Brianna.

KEILAR: So, what's the White House saying as they're looking at this? This is really tough for them. What are they saying about these job cuts at small businesses?

EGAN: Well, look, the White House is stressing that the president, he's worked to try to empower small businesses.

And a spokesperson pointed to three different things that the president has done. First off, there's the tax overhaul, which does include some benefits for small business owners and business owners of all sizes, also Small Business Administration reforms. And they say they have cut significant amounts of red tape, amounting to billions of dollars in regulatory savings.

Now, some of this does also depend on how you define a small business, because, when you zoom out a little bit and you look at slightly larger small businesses, those who employ up to 20 people, ADP has found that those small businesses, they're still adding jobs. They added jobs last year.

And they do continue to add jobs this year as well. And, look, I mean, the situation is somewhat mixed. Some small businesses, they're struggling right now. Others are thriving. There's also some small businesses that are launching. In March alone, there were about half- a-million applications that were filed to launch new businesses.

But one reoccurring theme that I have heard is frustration over all the volatility of policymaking out of Washington.

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I spoke to a woman who, 20 years ago, she launched a small manufacturing company in her garage with her husband. And she said that all of these tariff hikes, they have caused lots of price increases for her, delays in parts. And she said, right now, they're just struggling to stay alive.

And she had a pretty simple message for Washington when it comes to tariffs. She said, stop the game-playing. She said, this is not a game. This is people's lives -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. And, hopefully, they're listening, right? This is very tough on these business owners.

Matt, thank you very much.

Still ahead: The World Health Organization says hantavirus cases are now suspected in five different countries, as the search is on for others who may be infected. We have some new details right after the break.

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