Tuesday morning news: May 5, 2026

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SCOTUS Mifepristone » The Supreme Court on Monday restored mail-order access to the chemical abortion drug mifepristone—for now. Justice Samuel Alito signed the order. It pauses a federal appeals court ruling that would have required in-person prescriptions.

Drugmakers asked for the pause over the weekend. Several states have sued the FDA over the mail-order policy.

We’ll have much more on this later in the program.

Iran – UAE » U.S. forces sank at least six Iranian boats on Monday—opening a passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Two American-flagged merchant ships made the transit.

Central Command has cleared a mine-free passage through the strait. And CentCom Admiral Brad Cooper says the operation involved more than a hundred aircraft as well as unmanned platforms:

COOPER: Under the sea, on the sea, and from the air. And then 15,000 service members, to extend this defensive umbrella across the Strait of Hormuz to protect our forces and also as committed to, to defend commercial shipping.

President Trump warned Sunday that Iranian efforts to interfere with the operation would be 'dealt with forcefully.' But Iran has vowed to continue firing on ships in the strait. And Admiral Cooper said Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps:

COOPER: …has launched multiple cruise missiles, drones, small boats at ships we are protecting. We have defeated each and every one of those threats through the clinical application of defensive munitions.

The operation, dubbed ‘Project Freedom’ aims to escort hundreds of ships stranded in the Gulf since war broke out in February.

Iran also resumed attacks Monday against the United Arab Emirates—a key American ally. Missiles and drones rained down on the UAE. One drone sparked a fire at an oil facility—wounding three workers. 

It was the first such attack against the country since the three-week ceasefire began between Iran and the U.S. and Israel.

Meat price fixing » The Trump administration has a bone to pick with the beef industry.

Officials at the Justice Department and the Department of Agriculture said Monday that they're looking into allegations of price fixing.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche:

BLANCHE: In the beef industry, the big four processors control over 85% of the beef processing market. Two of the big 4 are primarily foreign-owned. Multiple plant closures across the country, the current market structure, and high concentration in the industry indicate anti-competitive activity.

Those big four companies are JBS, Tyson, Cargill, and National Beef.

Officials are asking anyone with information on anticompetitive practices like price fixing, bid rigging, or procurement fraud to come forward.

But representatives from the meat industry say price fixing isn't to blame for the high cost of cheeseburgers. Instead, they say an ongoing cattle shortage is the culprit.

Alabama and Tennessee call sessions to redraw congressional maps » Republican state lawmakers in Alabama met Monday to redraw congressional districts—and Tennessee's special session begins today. 

WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more:

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Governors of both states called the sessions after last week's Supreme Court ruling. The justices struck down a majority-black district in Louisiana, saying the map relied too heavily on race.

Florida has already approved new districts that could give Republicans up to four more House seats. Other Southern states are eyeing similar moves before the November midterms.

Texas redrew its map last summer to add five Republican-leaning districts.

In November, California redrew its map in an effort to add up to 5 Democratic seats. And Virginia voters approved another map last month that could give Democrats four additional seats there.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Cruise ship virus » Authorities are working to contain a suspected outbreak of deadly hantavirus on a cruise ship off the coast of West Africa. Three passengers have already died and three more people are seriously ill—including two crew members.

Paul Hunter is professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia:

HUNTER: You acquire the infection typically from breathing in aerosols that are contaminated with rat urine and feces, or rodent urine and feces. And, um, so one of the riskiest things is, um, cleaning out rats nests from your house.

The cruise ship left Argentina for Antarctica with nearly 150 people aboard.

As of Monday, officials in Cape Verde refused to let anyone off the boat—citing public health concerns. 

The World Health Organization says it's possible that hantavirus could be spread between people. But Hunter says: 

HUNTER: There have been some suggestions that it might, but, um, other researchers have cast doubt on that evidence. Um, so it's, it's not clear if, if person to person spread does happen, it's probably quite uncommon.

The WHO says public health risk remains low.

Giuliani hospitalized in critical condition » Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is breathing on his own after being hospitalized with pneumonia and placed on a ventilator. Giuliani's spokesperson said Monday that the 81-year-old remains in critical condition but is stable at a Florida hospital.

Current New York City Mayor Zorhan Mamdani offered his well-wishes on Monday:

MAMDANI:  I know that many New Yorkers are concerned by the reports that he's in critical condition, and so we do keep him and his family in our prayers at this time.

Spokesperson Ted Goodman said Giuliani’s condition was exacerbated by restrictive airway disease, that'd attributed to his exposure to dust and toxins from the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.

I'm Kent Covington.

And coming up, fighting child gambling problems. Plus, an effort to stop sex trafficking at the Kentucky Derby.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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