5 Big News Stories Overnight - Sunday, May 10, 2026

Hantavirus Vaccines and Treatments Are in the Pipeline

New York Times:

The deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius has put the spotlight on a rare pathogen that typically attracts relatively little attention, even from scientists.

There are no targeted treatments for hantaviruses, which are typically carried by rodents, and no widely available vaccines. So when passengers began falling ill in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, doctors and public health experts were limited in what they could offer.

“It’s kind of a wake-up call,” said Dr. Vaithi Arumugaswami, an infectious disease researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Our tool kit is almost empty.”

Middle East: Updates Across the Region

Al Jazeerra reports:

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have escalated despite a United States-brokered ceasefire, killing at least 24 people so far today.

The US awaits a formal response from Iran on a proposal to end the war, after Iranian media reported “sporadic clashes” between Iranian and US naval forces in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said “every time a diplomatic solution is on the table, the US opts for a reckless military adventure”, and questioned whether Washington was engaged in a “crude pressure tactic”.

Los Angeles: Mayoral Candidate Pratt said ‘super meth’ is helping fuel L.A.’s homeless crisis

Los Angeles Times reports:

During a recent debate, Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt argued that drug abuse has been largely ignored as a factor when attempting to address the city’s homelessness crisis.

While both of his opponents on stage, Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman, touted progress addressing street homelessness, Pratt said neither of them is addressing the crux of the issue, which he believes is drug addiction.

“The reality is no matter how many beds you give these people, they are on super meth, they are on fentanyl,” he said during Wednesday’s forum.

Iran War Puts the World’s Most Used Chemical in Short Supply

WSJ reports:

War in the Persian Gulf and new Chinese export restrictions have sent sulfuric-acid prices soaring and raised concerns about the availability of a chemical that the world relies on for food, metal, paper, computer chips and clean water.

Sulfuric acid is the most consumed chemical on the planet, produced by smelting and refining nonferrous metals, such as copper and nickel, or by burning sulfur, a byproduct of oil-and-gas processing.

The acid can burn a hole in a steel shelf at the hardware store, where it is sold by the bottle as extra-strength drain opener. But it is more prevalently used higher up the supply chain by heavy industry to make a ubiquitous array of products and materials.

Russia: Putin Signals Ends of the War With Ukraine

Reuters reports:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on ​Saturday that he thought the Ukraine war was coming to an end, remarks that came just hours after he had vowed victory in Ukraine at Moscow's most ‌scaled-back Victory Day parade in years.

"I think that the matter is coming to an end," Putin told reporters of the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two. He also said he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe, and that his preferred negotiating partner would be Germany's former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.