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Economy Added Surprisingly High 115,000 Jobs in April; Trump Says, Ceasefire Holds, Despite U.S. and Iran Exchanging Fire; Countries Race to Track Hantavirus as Cruise Passengers Head Home. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired May 08, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, rushing to contain the outbreak. What officials are doing to track who has left that Hantavirus-hit ship and where they are as the ship makes its way to the Canary Islands. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be here to answer your questions. We have a full Situation Room special report just ahead.

Plus, renewed search for Kristin Smart's remains. Why officials are now combing the home connected to the man convicted of killing the 19- year-old college student 30 years after her death.

And later, how much more will your summer vacation cost because of rising gas and jet fuel prices? We'll make it make sense just ahead.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown. Wolf Blitzer is off today, and you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin this hour with that breaking news. The jobs report shows the economy added 115,000 jobs last month, beating expectations by almost double.

Let's go live now to CNN Business and Politics Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich. Vanessa, what more are you learning?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, a much better than expected jobs report, 115,000 jobs added. The expectation, as you mentioned, was 65,000 jobs added, so we're talking about beating expectations by almost more than double, the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.3 percent.

If you look at where jobs have been over the past year, it's been very up and down. You can see in this bar chart that we can put on your screen here that there's been a lot of volatility. There have been downward revisions in the last -- in February, some upward revisions in March. But what's really notable is this is the first back-to-back job monthly gains in about a year. So, moving in a positive direction, just really showing the resiliency of the labor market among so much uncertainty, especially with the war in Iran and what that means for prices and decisions that businesses are making.

Also worth noting that earnings picked up a little bit. The analysis from investors and from folks who were analyzing this was that we could see wage gains of 3.8 percent on an annual basis. It came in at 3.6 percent. But, Pamela, that's important because that is tracking higher than inflation, which has been on the rise to 3.3 percent.

The war was not expected to make an impact on this jobs report simply because, Pamela, a lot of businesses plan to hire three to six months in advance. But, of course, the longer that this war goes on, businesses are going to factor in hiring going forward, and that could leave the labor market a little bit weaker. But, certainly, Pamela, today's jobs report shows the resiliency of businesses and hiring in the country.

BROWN: No, absolutely. And so where are all these jobs?

YURKEVICH: So, healthcare is the leading sector. This has been the leading sector for about a year now. The average for healthcare in the month of April, 37,000 jobs added. Historically, over the last 12 months, it's been about 32,000 jobs. So, you're talking about nursing, home health aides, also transportation and warehousing in the month of April up 30,000 jobs added. But since about a year ago, the overall sector, transportation and warehousing, down about 100,000.

Where job losses have incurred, information, that's tech and media, that could be the A.I. impact there, down about 13,000, and then the federal government, again in the month of April, shedding 9,000 jobs. Since February -- excuse me, since October of 2024, the federal government has lost 348,000 jobs. So, that's been a leading decline in the job sector. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much.

And happening now, gas prices are holding steady this morning. According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of gas is $4.55. Prices are up 15 cents since last week and nearly $1.60 since the Iran war started. And this all comes as one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, Shell, announced that it raked in more than $6.9 billion in the first quarter, its highest in two years.

So, despite the surge in oil prices, ExxonMobil and Chevron both saw a decline in first quarter profits compared to last year. Exxon posted a net income of more than $4 billion, while Chevron made more than $2 billion.

And happening now, a shaky ceasefire is holding in the Middle East even after the U.S. and Iran traded attacks. This is new video right here from Iran state media. It purportedly shows launches toward U.S. ships in the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump says three U.S. destroyers fended off the missile and drone attacks, and the U.S. responded with strikes on military targets inside Iran. President Trump says it's a warning to Iran to sign the U.S. peace proposal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: They trifled with us today. We blew them away. They trifled. I call that a trifle. I'll let you know when there's no cease -- you won't have to know. If there's no ceasefire, you're not going to have to know. You're just going to have to look at one big glow coming out of Iran. And they better sign their agreement fast.

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BROWN: All right. Let's go live now to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House. Alayna, Iran had been expected to respond to the U.S. peace proposal by now. Where do things stand?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, I think that trading of attacks that you referenced between Washington and Tehran yesterday, Pamela, is the most severe test of this very fragile ceasefire that we have seen thus far. But despite that, as you heard in that clip that you just played of the president, he is continuing to downplay it, arguing that this is not a violation of the ceasefire and that they are still pushing toward what they hope will be a diplomatic solution to all of this.

The latest we have heard, though, is from the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who is in Italy today. And he said that they are expecting, the Trump administration, to receive a response from the Iranians to the U.S. proposal that they had sent a couple days ago. We know that the Iranians have been studying it. They are expecting a response at some point today. Rubio adding that they hope it is a serious offer and one, of course, that will get them into a much more serious negotiating posture moving forward.

Now, I will also note, we did hear Rubio kind of echo what we are hearing publicly from the president, the same thing I'm being told, Pamela, by my sources here at the White House, which is that they view the attack from the U.S. military on Iranian facilities yesterday, the same ones that they argued were responsible for the attacks from the Iranians. They said that that was separate and distinct from Operation Epic Fury.

I think that is a very important line you're hearing from Rubio here, because that is what they are trying to say. They're trying to show this distinction between the infighting we are seeing around the Strait of Hormuz with the broader military operation that had been happening toward Iran.

All to say, the latest is that they are waiting for this proposal from the Iranians, hoping to get it today, and very much still prioritizing negotiations at this point. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Alayna Treene live for us from the White House on this Friday. Thank you so much.

And new this morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is wrapping up his two-day visit to Italy. This morning, he met with Italy's prime minister and other top officials. Yesterday, he met with Pope Leo amid historic tensions between the White House and the Vatican. President Trump has repeatedly attacked Pope Leo for his criticisms of the war with Iran.

So, let's go live now to CNN Vatican Correspondent Christopher Lamb. He joins us from Rome.

Christopher, first off, a short time ago Rubio updated us about the war with Iran. What did he say?

Christopher, can you hear me?

Oh, hopefully we can connect with Christopher soon.

Still ahead here in The Situation Room, a volcanic eruption in Indonesia leaves three hikers dead and more than a dozen others stranded. The explosive scene and the rush to rescue them.

Plus, the rush to trace anyone who may have come into contact with those passengers who left the Hantavirus-hit cruise ship, how officials are scrambling to contain the outbreak as the ship heads to the Canary Islands.

We'll be right back.

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BROWN: Happening now, health authorities across several countries are scrambling to trace and contain an outbreak of Hantavirus. The World Health Organization announced that five confirmed infections were identified among people connected to the now infamous cruise ship, the M.V. Hondas.

The virus is typically associated with rodents, but may have passed between humans. Those on board represent 23 nationalities, including 17 Americans. President Trump says the outbreak is, quote, very much, we hope, under control, and that his administration will release more information today.

Three people from that ship have died since April 11th, while a handful of others are sick. The Netherlands health authorities just announced that three people with symptoms have all tested negative for the Hantavirus. And the WHO tells CNN a Dutch KLM flight attendant who reportedly had contact with the woman who died last month in South Africa is among those who tested negative.

Port workers in Spain's Canary Islands are protesting the ship's arrival there, while the WHO says the port has the right conditions for passengers to disembark.

So, I want to go live now to CNN Salma Abdelaziz in London. Salma, we're now learning someone with a suspected Hantavirus case disembarked this cruise ship in this remote British overseas territory. What more can you tell us about that and what passengers are saying right now? [10:15:02]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is one of the suspected cases that British authorities are following. They have three suspected cases, including one who is an individual in critical condition in Johannesburg. Another one is in a European hospital, and you've mentioned the third, which has just emerged.

And you may be asking, well, why is that? But it appears that the company behind that cruise ship did not initially alert or did not initially have that information about that Briton disembarking on this remote island.

And, again, that shows the issues that we're dealing with here when it comes to contact tracing for these authorities. You have dozens of people who left that cruise ship in previous weeks before this outbreak became clear. And those individuals, those many dozens of individuals that left those cruise ships, they moved through airports, they took commercial flights, they made their way back home.

So, you now have contact tracing across multiple countries from Singapore to Spain, to the Netherlands, to here in the U.K. as we mentioned. In fact, there's two British nationals who have arrived back in the U.K. who were on that cruise ship who are self-isolating.

And not only are all these countries having to try to track down where these passengers went and who they might have been in touch with, they're also having to prepare for what happens Sunday when that ship docks in the Canary Islands because there is, as you mentioned people -- more than 140 people from around 23 different countries. They will all have to be repatriated to each of those individual countries.

So, Spanish authorities are having to speak to authorities from each of those countries. Again, they're speaking to British authorities, for example, who are setting up flights potentially to repatriate their own. But then how are you going to do that with all of these other countries? And you have to remain or keep these individuals in isolation, transfer them safely home.

This is a mammoth, complex, and time-sensitive task as well as, of course, trying to find out where this outbreak originated, which is right now a priority for the WHO.

BROWN: And I believe we have some sound from a doctor who was on that ship. Let's listen to that.

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DR. STEPHEN KORNFELD, PHYSICIAN ABOARD HANTAVIRUS CRUISE SHIP: There are three patients that seemed to be getting ill around the same time. One of them just very nonspecific symptoms, a lot of confusion and a lot of weakness, and she ultimately passed away relatively quickly. The two other gentlemen, quite a bit younger, including the doc, just had a lot of standard viral symptoms.

At the time, neither one of them looked critically ill, but the fear with Hantavirus is you can go from seriously ill to critically ill very quickly.

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BROWN: And you can just imagine this doctor thinking he's going on vacation and then ending up in this role. Tell us more about the medical care on board that ship, Salma.

ABDELAZIZ: So, that doctor that you just heard there speaking, he actually took over because the doctor who was assigned to be the doctor on the ship actually fell ill, felt unwell. So, you can imagine the pressure on that doctor to make sure that everyone is safe.

Now, they've been in isolation for weeks now, many of these individuals, aboard that cruise ship. So, you can imagine that they're restless to get off, but there's also very specific procedures that are going to be in place once they do arrive in the Canary Islands. And Spanish authorities have been talking through that because many people on the Canary Islands are, of course, concerned. There was even protest against people arriving, so they've set up sort of isolation bubbles.

They're going to have a closed circuit system to make sure that the passengers on board don't get in contact with anybody else. They'll have specialized medical equipment that's prepared for them. But you have to imagine that that medical level, that medical level of training and facility has to be provided for these passengers all the way throughout their transfers back home.

And just to give you an indication of the concern and the worry around this, just a few hours ago, we heard that Spanish authorities did find a suspected case of one individual who was not on board that cruise ship, someone in Alicante who had been on a flight with an individual, the Dutch woman who died of Hantavirus. He had been on a flight with her and is now being treated as a suspected case.

So, this is the worry here is, yes, Hantavirus is generally a virus that is transferred from rodents, but the concern is that there is human-to-human transition, and you have dozens of people, again, that move through those airports and move through those commercial flights, and that contact tracing cannot happen quickly enough.

BROWN: Absolutely. Salma Abdelaziz, thank you so much.

And later this morning, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join us for a Situation Room half hour special devoted to learning more about Hantavirus and this very rare strain of the virus that appears to be at the center of this outbreak on that cruise ship. We'll be answering your questions. That's today at 11:30 AM.

And coming up, nearly 30 years to the day she disappeared, a new search is renewing hope for answers in the case of missing college student Kristin Smart.

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What we're learning up next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Happening now, investigators in California have reopened the Kristin Smart murder case and renewed their search for her remains. The 19-year-old college freshman vanished from the Cal Poly State University campus in San Luis Obispo in 1996.

After years of searching, authorities never found her body, and she was declared dead in 2002. But a decades-long investigation eventually led to the trial and conviction in 2022 of Paul Flores for her murder.

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Then fast-forward to Wednesday, that's when a new search warrant was served at the California home of Flores' mother. Investigators were there for a couple of hours scouring the property and looking for any evidence that could lead to finding Kristin's body.

Her family said Paul Flores continues to stand in the way of their daughter being found, as investigators remain committed to searching for her remains.

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CHRIS LAMBERT, PODCASTER, YOUR OWN BACKYARD: Every time that they do a search for her is that this is going to be the time they finally find her. Kristin's mom turned 80 just a few days ago and you know, her parents are still waiting for answers, and this would be perfect timing.

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BROWN: So, for more on this case, let's turn to CNN Senior Correspondent Josh Campbell. Josh, what prompted investigators to launch this new search, and what have they found so far?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the big mystery right now, but this is certainly a fascinating and truly tragic case that occurred. As you mentioned, three decades ago is when Kristin Smart was last seen. She was a college freshman here in California. She was last seen over Memorial Day weekend in 1996.

And what authorities have said is that this man, Paul Flores, who you mentioned, he was a 19-year-old freshman at the time, he was the last person to actually see her. They were walking back from a party going to their dorms.

Now, after about two months of that investigation, authorities started to zero in on him. They said that his story began to shift. He eventually stopped cooperating all together. Police conducted this investigation, but they didn't believe that there was enough to charge him with murder because they could not locate her body.

Now, you fast-forward two decades to 2019, it was actually that podcaster that we just heard from. His name is Chris Lambert. He started looking into the case, actually uncovering additional new witnesses. There was this renewed search effort by law enforcement. They served search warrants at the home of Paul Flores, as well as other family members.

But here's what's key here. In 2021, authorities searched the home of his father, Ruben Flores. They were using this ground-penetrating radar to dig up the -- and other tools to dig up the property. Authorities say that they found a disturbance underground that appeared like it had possibly previously been a grave of some kind. But there was still no body.

There was, according to one forensic expert, a stain on the soil that was consistent with what a pattern occurs when a body decomposes. But, again, still no body.

Paul Flores, he was arrested. He was convicted of her murder. His father was arrested, but actually acquitted of accessory after the fact.

And now here we are, 30 years later, after she disappeared, yet another renewed search effort to look for those remains. Authorities are now searching the home of Paul Flores' mother. It's important to note that she has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

But on-site at the home, we're seeing the very same type of forensic experts that were involved in those past searches. One member of the search team actually told reporters that they were analyzing soil vapor, looking for human cadaver decomposition.

I wanted you to hear from the sheriff. Obviously, they are trying to get justice for Kristin Smart. Her family still wants answers. Here's him speaking about this renewed effort.

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SHERIFF IAN PARKINSON, SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY: We've been continually working the case since the conviction. This is not the first search. I'm not going to disclose the previous one, but very substantial. This is going to be an extremely thorough search. So, it could take, you know, two, three days. That's our plan. We're not going to walk out of there and not overturn every rock humanly possible.

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CAMPBELL: Of course, the big question now, what caused this search, this new renewed effort? We're expected to hear from the sheriff at a press conference in just over an hour, where we could learn new details about this mystery that continues. Where are the remains of Kristin Smart?

BROWN: I hope they find them for the closure for the family.

Josh Campbell, thank you so much.

And coming up, the summer travel season is just a couple of weeks away, but that family vacation may cost you more. We're making it make sense just ahead.

You're in The Situation Room, and we'll be right back.

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