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CNN Headlines: WHO: Ebola Outbreak Is "Public Health Emergency Of International Concern"; Sources: Trump & Netanyahu Diverge On War's Future In Tense Phone Call; U.S. Indicts Former Cuban President Raul Castro. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired May 21, 2026 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[05:31:10]
BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: It is half past the hour. Let's hit the refresh button on our top stories.
CNN has learned that Iran is replenishing its drone supply faster than expected. U.S. intelligence said to think that Iran will be back at full speed making attack drones within six months, a U.S. official telling CNN. Meanwhile, President Trump says he's willing to keep negotiating with Tehran in order to save lives.
And there are now 148 suspected Ebola deaths and nearly 600 suspected cases. Those are the latest numbers coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The World Health Organization has officially declared the outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern" but insists the global risks remain low.
And flash flooding swamped streets across New York City last night leaving vehicles stranded and partially underwater in Queens and Brooklyn. Torrential downpours dumped about two inches of rain in less than an hour during the evening commute turning roadways into rivers.
Returning now to the Ebola outbreak as the World Health Organization says that the risk is high in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Ugandan region, but the actual risk globally continues to be low. Right now there are nearly 600 suspected cases, and the agency says that there will be more.
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DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR, GENERAL WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: We expect those numbers to keep increasing given the amount of time the virus was circulating before the outbreak was detected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: A U.S. citizen who was exposed to Ebola has arrived at Czech hospital. Officials say that he is a male medical doctor who was working in the Congo when he came in contact with the virus. The physician leading the team in Prague says that they've been told he is not showing symptoms. So he will be under observation, but no tests will be performed.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is coordinating a shipment of an experimental Ebola treatment as officials say that it could potentially be used in high-risk Americans exposed to the virus. The EU says it is shipping around 100 tons of medical supplies to the DRC to try and stem the outbreak.
A doctor on the front lines says the need is urgent.
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DR. ISAAC MUGENI, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, RAMPURA GENERAL HOSPITAL (through translator): Although we keep receiving cases, we don't have enough space to admit and hospitalize them. We have set up a tent right here already and perhaps we will need another one to try to isolate patients in the immediate future. There aren't enough medications, protective equipment, or even staff. We will also need support to try and increase the number of staff who can actually take care of these patients.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Complicating matters the World Health Organization says the Ebola outbreak likely started a couple of months ago. Health officials are trying to pin down exactly where and when.
Now more on the war with Iran and concerns about its military capabilities if hostilities resume. A U.S. intelligence report shared with CNN suggests Iran could fully rebuild its drone supply within six months and remains a significant threat to U.S. allies in the region.
President Trump delayed a new round of attacks against Iran earlier this week, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has different views on the fragile ceasefire.
CNN's Kristen Holmes explains.
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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump today answering questions on the state of a potential deal with Iran, saying that these delays in negotiations weren't annoying or bothersome to him if they could eventually save lives.
And we have reported that President Trump and the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, of Israel spoke on the phone in roughly an hourlong conversation on Tuesday. Here is what President Trump said about that.
[05:35:00]
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He'll do whatever I want him to do. He's very -- very good man. Uh, he'll do whatever I want him to do. And he's a -- he's a great guy. To me, he's a great guy. HOLMES: President Trump also praised his counterpart, saying that he wasn't treated fairly. He also talked about his own popularity in Israel, joking that he, himself, could be elected prime minister.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.
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SMITH: Extreme weather has been hitting the northeast and the south heavily in recent days from torrential rain and flooding to extreme heat and raging fires. Weather-related threats have struck in multiple cities.
Reed Benyon reports with more.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then there was like this loud like boom. It sounded like -- almost like a gunshot.
REED BENYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): A home in Massachusetts struck by lightning when a powerful storm rolled through the Boston area, just part of the severe weather impacting parts of the northeast and south this week.
In New York Wednesday, heavy rainfall triggered flash flooding across parts of the city. The downpour dumped about two inches of rain in under an hour in some neighborhoods leaving vehicles stranded in certain areas. Video from Queens showed multiple vehicles submerged in floodwaters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never seen flooding like this, guys -- never. This is historic to see this much flooding in our area.
BENYON (voiceover): Footage from a city bus in Queens showed knee-deep waters covering the streets.
In neighboring New Jersey a day earlier the problem wasn't water but heat with temperatures so hot some school districts sent students home early.
From the heated New Jersey to fires in Pennsylvania. According to the Philadelphia Fire Department at least two fires close to the train tracks Wednesday impacted Amtrak service between Philly and New York.
Hundreds of miles to the south, Atlanta, on Wednesday, got hit with flooding at least as bad as what they saw in New York. Heavy rainfall caused major flooding on the interstate and left vehicles stranded. Emergency officials said they had to clear several storm drains but the highway was eventually reopened.
I'm Reed Benyon reporting.
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SMITH: Stephen Colbert will sign off for the final time tonight. The late-show host is stepping away after CBS canceled the show. Colbert took over the show in September 2015 succeeding David Letterman.
And what started as a simple social media invite from rapper-turned- women's sports fan Flavor Flav will officially become a huge event this summer. His "SHE Weekend" celebration on the Las Vegas strip in July was officially greenlit by Clark County commissioners in a unanimous vote. The event will feature live music, a parade, and appearances by a women's Olympic hockey team, the skeleton, and the bobsled athletes who Flavor Flav became close with.
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FLAVOR FLAV, RAPPER: They made me want to do it, first of all, is because, you know, I'm a girl dad. You know what I'm saying? I'm a big supporter of women's sports. You know what I'm saying? And I know what it feels like. When my daughters do something good, they want to be recognized for it, and they don't get recognized for it.
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SMITH: "SHE Weekend" will take place from July 16th to the 19th.
And K-Pop supergroup BTS is about to do something that they haven't done in years. Billboard reports that the band will make their first appearance at the American Music Awards in four years. They're up for three awards, including Artist of the Year.
Queen Latifah is set to host the AMAs in Las Vegas Monday night. The show will air live coast-to-coast on CBS and Paramount+.
And "Piano Man" Billy Joel isn't happy about an upcoming biopic. A representative for the legendary singer telling Variety in part, "Billy Joel has not authorized or supported this project in any capacity and any attempt to move forward without it would be both legally and professionally misguided."
Variety reports the casting is already underway and filming will start this fall.
Next on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, if you're driving out of town for the Memorial Day weekend get ready for sticker shock at the pump. Coming up just how high gas could go.
And as Cuba dives deeper into economic uncertainty reaction on the U.S. indictment of the country's former president. We've got more on that straight ahead. Stay with us.
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[05:43:50]
SMITH: Let's go around the globe here as the Trump administration has indicted former Cuban President Raul Castro. He is accused of ordering two planes to be shot down in 1996. Four people were killed, including three Americans. The 94-year-old was defense minister at the time, and his charges include conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of an aircraft, and murder. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the indictment at a ceremony honoring the victims.
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TODD BLANCHE, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: This isn't a show indictment. This is an indictment because we expect that -- there was a warrant issued for his arrest so we expect that he will show up here by his own will or by another way.
(Applause)
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SMITH: Amid the heightened tensions between the U.S. and Cuba, the U.S. military says the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group has arrived in the Caribbean, but President Donald Trump says there will be no escalation.
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REPORTER: Should we expect any escalation here or should they expect anything?
TRUMP: With Cuba?
REPORTER: Yes.
[05:45:00]
TRUMP: Uh, no, no. You won't -- there won't be escalation. I don't think there needs to be. Look, the place is falling apart. It's a mess. And they've sort of loss control. They've really lost control of Cuba.
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SMITH: The Cuban government is condemning the charges with Cuba's current president, writing on X that the U.S. indictment "only reveals the arrogance and frustration that the representatives of the empire feel towards the Cuban leadership."
CNN's Patrick Oppmann has the latest.
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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cuban officials are blasting an indictment announced on Wednesday in Miami that for the first time charges Raul Castro with the downing of two civilian aircraft off Cuba's coast more than 30 years ago. This is the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown.
And it has trailed Castro for years as various U.S. administrations have considered indicting him. But only now has the Trump administration as part of its pressure campaign on Cuba to decide to take the extraordinary step of charging the former Cuban president. While Raul Castro is officially retired, he remains the most powerful
man on this island. He has handpicked many if not all of the top leadership here, both military and political. And so when Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel says that Castro is not going anywhere, much less a courtroom in Miami, that carries a lot of weight with it.
It is essentially the Cuban government's way of saying that if the U.S. were to try to seize Raul Castro -- like we saw take place against Venezuela's leader, Nicolas Maduro, who himself was under U.S. indictment -- then clearly, the Cuban government and the Cuban military would put up a fight.
Already we have seen the Cuban military carrying out more maneuvers. We've seen Cuban officials tell the population here that they should prepare for any kind of military strikes or potentially a U.S. invasion. That is something that people take seriously here. This is an island that for decades has lived under the fear of a U.S. invasion and one that is becoming more and more probable as tensions get higher and higher here.
Cubans that I have spoken to, even those who don't support the government, say they are very concerned though if there's an off-ramp to this crisis that any kind of military strikes to destabilize the government and cause it to collapse eventually could lead to some kind of humanitarian disaster.
Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.
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SMITH: All right. Thank you, Patrick.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping successful and productive. His comments came during a tea ceremony in Beijing. The leaders sat down Wednesday and signed several agreements. The Russian president saying the countries have built a system of mutual trade shielded from "external influence and negative trends in global markets."
Xi praised China's strong ties with Russia but also warned the world is far from peaceful, saying it's now at risk of returning to "the law of the jungle."
Putin's visit to China came just days after Xi hosted U.S. President Donald Trump.
Well, still to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, a car explosion on the busy streets of New York City sends people running for cover. We've got those details for you next.
And a popular 81-year-old gamer known as GrammaCrackers winds up the victim of swatting. We'll break down what happened on the other side of the break.
You are watching CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
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[05:52:55]
SMITH: AI chipmaker NVIDIA reports record earnings in the first quarter. The company made $81.6 billion in revenue. That's up 85 percent from a year ago. Their chips power major data centers around the world. And NVIDIA is saying that the current quarter could be even bigger, forecasting $91 billion in revenue.
Oh, yeah -- worth noting that they also authorized an $80 billion stock buyback plan and they already had plans for $38.5 billion on a preexisting stock buyback plan. We'll see how investors digest this news today.
Well, in today's Money Express thousands of Meta employees are being notified that they were either laid off or reassigned as the company is doing a major reorganization to lean even harder into AI.
Maribel Aber has this and is following the details for us over at Meta. Maribel, what are we seeing here?
MARIBEL ABER, CNN CORRESPONDENT, MONEY MATTERS: You know, Brad, we used to call it rightsizing. We're talking about thousands of Meta employees, again, being notified this week that they're laid off or reassigned.
The company recently announced plans to cut 10 percent of its staff or about 8,000 jobs. It will also close another 6,000 open roles. Another 7,000 will be shifted into AI-focused roles according to an internal memo. And Meta says the reduction will help offset steep AI infrastructure costs, which could reach $115 billion this year.
And tens of millions of Americans hitting the road this Memorial Day weekend face historically high gas prices. Fuel tracker GasBuddy puts the national average for unleaded at $4.57 a gallon. That's more than 40 percent higher than last Memorial Day and the second-highest price on record.
AAA's estimate is about the same, $4.56 a gallon. And some analysts predict the average for unleaded could hit $5.00 next month if blockades in the Persian Gulf continue.
McDonald's is getting into the sneaker game. The fast-food chain is teaming up with Nike on the new Nike Book 2. The bright turquoise design is a nod to Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker. And the McDonald's restaurant in Sedona, Arizona, one of the few where the arches are not golden, Brad. I didn't know this was a thing.
[05:55:02]
Rewards members can enter to win a pair on the McDonald's app starting tomorrow. The sneakers hit stores and Nike's website on June 2 with an estimated price tag of around $155.
Brad, you always have great kicks though.
SMITH: I have the Book 1s, Maribel, and so the Book 2s I haven't --
ABER: There you go!
SMITH: -- been able to check out yet. Yeah, I have an inordinate amount of basketball shoes for the amount of time that I actually play basketball a year. However, the baby blue arches -- I'm kind of digging that and --
ABER: Right.
SMITH: -- it's a little different than those red kicks that we usually see Ronald McDonald sporting. I have a hard time to believe that he could get bouncy in those. So we'll see how these perform.
Maribel, thanks so much.
Let's take a look at some other stories making news across the country.
We start in New York. A woman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for drowning her own children near Coney Island. Erin Merdy pleaded guilty in March to three counts of first-degree murder. According to prosecutors she drowned her kids and left their sand- covered bodies along the shore near their home in 2022. Prosecutors say that when family members found Merdy barefoot at a nearby beach she told them that the children were gone.
Take a look at this. A fiery car explosion out of New York had people running for cover. We can see smoke billowing in the air. This all happened Tuesday in the Wall Street area close to the famous Charing Bull statue by the New York Stock Exchange a couple of blocks away. There is no work what led to that fire.
And in North Carolina four people and a dog had to be rescued after their boat overturned. Rescue crews arrived at the scene Monday to find two boaters in the water. Someone in a boat passing by helped pull the other two boaters and the dog to safety. Authorities say that the boat got caught in a sandbar, which crews later removed.
And it was a split-second catch that one officer believes saved a baby's life, and it was all caught on camera. In this desperate attempt to save her child, a mom throws her baby from a burning home.
CNN's Grand Rapids affiliate WXMI has the story.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): Sometimes words don't do a moment justice.
MICHAEL ARNETT, KALAMAZOO PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICER: Hey, throw me the kid.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): This is one of those.
ARNETT: Hey, yeah, yeah, yeah. I got it. Hey, ma'am. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): Meet Michael Arnett, the Kalamazoo public safety officer behind the body camera video you just saw.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So how did you know it was the right move in the moment?
ARNETT: Uh, well, I got -- I got a baby of my own, so I knew the first thing I want to do is at least get all the occupants outside the house. Um, property can be replaced. Obviously, lives can't. So --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): A fire at this home on Washington Avenue on May 15 quickly spread. There were no easy way out.
ARNETT: And the only exit and entry was fully involved so obviously that was no longer an option.
I got it!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): This was the option that police say likely saved the child's life.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tough call?
ARNETT: Yeah. It was a little adrenalin rush.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): Mom is OK, too. Arnett got a ladder and got her out.
ARNETT: She had -- she had pretty much zero hesitation basically saving the child first.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): In the moments before this one Arnett feared the worst.
ARNETT: Dispatch said that they lost communication with the mother and the child so obviously that kind of makes you worry a little bit.
Hey, ma'am.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): But Arnett would see the mom in the window.
ARNETT: Ma'am!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): On this call one choice that really wasn't a difficult choice at all --
ARNETT: Throw me the kid.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voiceover): -- changed three lives -- the officer's, mom's, and little girl's.
ARNETT: Yeah, it's kind of a one shot opportunity there.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: Incredible effort there.
And an Arizona woman has gone viral after her home was swatted during a livestream. She's known as "GrammaCrackers" and has been playing video games to help pay for a family member's medical bills. The 81- year-old has built a huge following online by making Minecraft videos with her grandsons. She has more than 600,000 YouTube subscribers.
But this week someone made a false police report that led to officers swarming her home in full tactical gear.
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JACK SELF, GRANDSON: We got a call that Jack shot his grandma and killed her and that he was going to kill himself. And right then I was like -- well, right as I heard that it was kind of like a -- like a punch to the stomach.
SUE JACQUOT, STREAMER KNOWN AS "GRAMMACRACKERS": They escorted me out and they were apologizing. And there was a police lady -- gorgeous, beautiful, brown eyes. She was so sweet, but I think she could have kicked butt, you know, if there'd been a problem. I just wondered what my grandkids had done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[06:00:10]
SMITH: Well, despite the scare she says that there are no plans to stop streaming. The family has since started a 24/7 livestream fundraiser for her grandson's medical expenses, and police are investigating the prank call.
That does it for CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. I'm Brad Smith. "CNN THIS MORNING WITH AUDIE CORNISH" starts right now.
