5件需要了解的5月18日要闻：祈祷活动、特朗普最新警告、初选、埃博拉疫情、强风暴

5 things to know for May 18: Prayer event, Trump’s new warning, primaries, Ebola outbreak, severe storms

May 18, 2026 6:40 AM ET / CNN

Many of us already have a complicated relationship with Mondays. This one could be especially rough for New Yorkers: city officials are warning of major travel disruptions as strikes disrupt America’s busiest commuter railroad.

Here’s what else you need to know to get up to speed and on with your day.

Attendees participate in the National Mall prayer event in Washington, DC, on Sunday.

Eric Lee/Reuters

1️⃣ Prayer event

An all-day prayer event on the National Mall on Sunday — backed by taxpayer dollars and private donations — has become the latest flashpoint in the debate over the separation of church and state under the Trump administration. The gathering in Washington, DC, was part of a broader push by the White House to elevate Christianity in the government’s operations, culture and policy. Experts CNN spoke with were split on whether the event was constitutional. Read more.

MORE:Religion is ‘back in fashion’ in America

2️⃣ Trump’s new warning

President Donald Trump is escalating his rhetoric toward Iran as he considers resuming US military strikes there. In a social media post on Sunday, Trump warned that if Iran does not move quickly toward a deal, “there won’t be anything left of them.” The threat came a day after he met with his national security team to discuss the path forward on the war. Read more.

3️⃣ Primaries

It’s a big week in US politics. Several states are holding primary elections on Tuesday, but one of the biggest political battlegrounds is Georgia, where high-stakes House and Senate contests could shape key midterm races. The results may also test President Trump’s grip on the Republican Party, especially after a Louisiana primary over the weekend showed the risks of opposing him. Read more.

4️⃣ Ebola outbreak

An international effort is underway to contain a deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda that has infected hundreds and caused at least 80 suspected deaths. The CDC is also working to relocate a “small number of Americans” who were reportedly affected. Read more.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/18/us/5-things-to-know-for-may-18-prayer-event-trumps-new-warning-primaries-ebola-outbreak-severe-storms

CDC to deploy resources to Ebola outbreak in DRC and Uganda

2:50

5️⃣ Severe storms

A rare high-end tornado threat has been issued for parts of the central US as a severe storm outbreak is expected to peak today. Forecasters warn dangerous conditions across the Plains and Midwest could bring intense tornadoes — including long-track EF3s or stronger — along with destructive hail, damaging winds and torrential rain. Read more.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/18/us/5-things-to-know-for-may-18-prayer-event-trumps-new-warning-primaries-ebola-outbreak-severe-storms

Tornado tears through Nebraska town

0:32

Download the CNN Weather app

_Receive real-time news and weather information from storms so you know what’s happening as it happens._Learn more and download the app here.

GET 5 THINGS IN YOUR INBOX

• If you want to get up to speed on the latest headlines, then let us introduce you to your new favorite fix. Sign up for the 5 Things newsletter.

Breakfast browse

A historic victory

Aaron Rai on Sunday became the first English golfer to win the PGA Championship in more than a century.

Video: How not to be a cliché in Paris

Skip the beret. I’m begging you.

Nepali Sherpa scales Mount Everest for a 32nd time

A renowned Nepali Sherpa guide scaled Mount Everest for a 32nd time on Sunday, surpassing his ​own record set last year.

The eco-friendly funeral

A greener way to bury the dead is gaining ground — and sparking backlash.

Gallery: Dazzling photographs show nature in a new way

Rivers resemble woven yarn and microscopic organisms look like jewels in photographer Jon McCormack’s striking new collection below.

Dazzling photographs show nature in a new way
17 photos

Flamingos fly over Lake Magadi, an alkaline lake in southern Kenya.

Jon McCormack

-1 / 17

Diatoms, single-celled algae with glass-like silica shells, resemble intricate jewels under a microscope. McCormack was able to capture this image using a lab-grade scientific microscope modified to fit a mirrorless camera on top of it. He quickly noticed taking images this way resulted in an extremely shallow depth of field, meaning only one tiny sliver was in focus. McCormack needed to employ a digital imaging technique commonly referred to as “focus stacking,” where multiple images taken at different focus distances are merged to achieve one, fully in-focus image. The final photograph seen here was created from a stack of 25 pictures.

Jon McCormack

0 / 17

Flame-colored minerals create a stunning display as they flow through Iceland’s glacial rivers.

Jon McCormack

1 / 17

Flamingos fly over Lake Magadi, an alkaline lake in southern Kenya.

Jon McCormack

2 / 17

Long after the sun dips below the horizon, Death Valley’s red evening light lingers, casting soft pink hues across the dunes. When photographing a subject as large as these dunes, McCormack said he tries to simplify the scene by focusing on what specifically appeals to him. “For that, it really was these really sharp, windblown creases and lines and edges,” McCormack said. “And so then it was just a case of searching for a composition. And then it was waiting for the light.”

Jon McCormack

3 / 17

It was this photograph of California’s Monterey Bay that started the yearslong project. “This was the image that took me from sort of this idea of literal photography to being much more willing to play with and interpret the landscape in front of me,” McCormack told CNN. “Instead of saying, ‘This is what it looked like,’ to also use the photograph to say, ‘This is what it felt like to be there.’”

Jon McCormack

4 / 17

Air bubbles frozen under the floor of an ice cave appear as delicate rings within Iceland’s Vatnajökull glacier.

Jon McCormack

5 / 17

“Some images were taken in pretty exotic places, but some of them weren’t,” McCormack said of the photos in his book. In the case of this hibiscus petal, it was photographed in a friend’s garden.

Jon McCormack

6 / 17

Seen in detail, cactus-like spires of a candelabra tree become a living sculpture.

Jon McCormack

7 / 17

Trails left by hippos wind through marshland in Botswana’s Okavango Delta.

Jon McCormack

8 / 17

McCormack shoots mostly with a 600 millimeter telephoto lens when looking for patterns. Sometimes he will also use teleconverters to make the lens even longer, turning it into an 840 millimeter or 1200 millimeter lens. In other words, he can photograph things from really far away. But even so, he said there’s still a need to get up close and personal with some subjects, such as the giraffe seen here. “I’ll need to be within 20 or 30 yards of the animal to really be able to isolate out that pattern,” McCormack said.

Jon McCormack

9 / 17

Water etches purple patterns into sand in Iceland.

Jon McCormack

10 / 17

Dusk settles over Death Valley’s Panamint Range.

Jon McCormack

11 / 17

Bold and abstract patterns make up the plumage of a vulturine guineafowl photographed in Kenya.

Jon McCormack

12 / 17

In Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, flamingos sweep across lakes and rivers, adding bursts of life and color to the landscape. The image is serene, but capturing it McCormack explained, was “chaos.” He estimates he spent six hours flying up and down the valley before coming across the grasslands that serve as the background of this image. While leaning out of an open helicopter door, about 1,000 feet above the ground, he began to photograph. “The first thing I did was photograph just the grasslands by themselves,” McCormack said. “And then all of a sudden in comes this unexpected flock of flamingos … and then it’s just this really frantic searching for a composition.”

Jon McCormack

13 / 17

Glacial water winds through volcanic sand in Iceland.

Jon McCormack

14 / 17

Red and golden bands shimmer in this macro photograph of a tiger’s eye stone in Australia’s Northern Territory.

Jon McCormack

15 / 17

Shaped by flowing water, sediment in a river delta spreads like a giant fan.

Jon McCormack

16 / 17

Diatoms, single-celled algae with glass-like silica shells, resemble intricate jewels under a microscope. McCormack was able to capture this image using a lab-grade scientific microscope modified to fit a mirrorless camera on top of it. He quickly noticed taking images this way resulted in an extremely shallow depth of field, meaning only one tiny sliver was in focus. McCormack needed to employ a digital imaging technique commonly referred to as “focus stacking,” where multiple images taken at different focus distances are merged to achieve one, fully in-focus image. The final photograph seen here was created from a stack of 25 pictures.

Jon McCormack

17 / 17

Flame-colored minerals create a stunning display as they flow through Iceland’s glacial rivers.

Jon McCormack

18 / 17

Flamingos fly over Lake Magadi, an alkaline lake in southern Kenya.

Jon McCormack

19 / 17

Long after the sun dips below the horizon, Death Valley’s red evening light lingers, casting soft pink hues across the dunes. When photographing a subject as large as these dunes, McCormack said he tries to simplify the scene by focusing on what specifically appeals to him. “For that, it really was these really sharp, windblown creases and lines and edges,” McCormack said. “And so then it was just a case of searching for a composition. And then it was waiting for the light.”

Jon McCormack

Prev Next

Dazzling photographs show nature in a new way

And finally…

https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/18/us/5-things-to-know-for-may-18-prayer-event-trumps-new-warning-primaries-ebola-outbreak-severe-storms

US aircraft carrier returns home after record …

1:39

▶️ Welcome home

A US Navy aircraft carrier is back home after a record-breaking deployment. See some of the sailors’ touching reunions with their families.

Today’s edition of 5 Things AM was edited and produced by CNN’s Andrew Torgan.