Salem News Channel

Rubio In Turkey For NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Antalya, Turkey on Wednesday (May 14) to attend the informal NATO foreign ministers meeting on May 14-16 to discuss ending the Russia-Ukraine war. The visit comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed direct talks with Ukraine aimed at ending the war, an initiative welcomed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who said Kyiv was willing to talk but Moscow must agree to a ceasefire. Earlier on Thursday, President Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff said he and Rubio would travel to Istanbul on Friday for Russia-Ukraine talks.

Trump Attending State Dinner At Presidential Palace In Abu Dhabi

President Donald Trump arrived in the United Arab Emirates Thursday for the last leg of his first major foreign trip. Air Force One was given a fighter jet escort into the country’s airspace, just as Saudi Arabia and Qatar offered on the first stops of his Mideast trip. Trump was greeted by UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and later headed to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque — among the largest mosques in the world. He is to attend a state dinner at the presidential palace in Abu Dhabi. In other parts of the Middle East violence flared in the West Bank, and a hospital in southern Gaza said 54 people have been killed in overnight airstrikes.

Biden's COVID policy sacrificed young people's health

Biden's COVID Policy Sacrificed Young People's Health

Walmart Warns Higher Prices Are Inevitable

Volley after volley of tariffs — and at times on-again, off-again trade actions — have put companies around the world on edge. And a handful of major retailers have already raised prices across the U.S., or warned of future hikes. President Donald Trump's sweeping new import taxes and responding retaliation from some targeted countries have piled up in recent months. Because companies that buy products made abroad pay the tariffs imposed on them, higher costs that are typically passed on to consumers. Walmart, Barbie maker Mattel, Microsoft's Xbox and more have recently announced or anticipate price hikes amid the ongoing trade wars.

NJ Transit Engineers Could Walk Off The Job Friday

New Jersey Transit urged riders to reach their destinations before the end of the day Thursday or risk being stranded as talks continued in a bid to avert a rail strike by train engineers that would affect some 350,000 commuters who work in New Jersey and New York City. The advisory provided riders with details on contingency plans that would take effect if engineers walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. EDT Friday. The agency plans to increase bus service, saying it would add “very limited” capacity to existing New York commuter bus routes in close proximity to rail stations and will contract with private carriers to operate bus service from key regional park-and-ride locations during weekday peak periods. However, the agency noted that the buses would not be able to handle close to the same number of passengers — only about 20% of current rail customers — so it is has urged people who can work from home to do so if there is a strike. NJ Transit — the nation’s third largest transit system — operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. A walkout would halt all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between New York City’s Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently. Wages have been the main sticking point of the negotiations between the agency and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. The union says its members earn an average salary of $113,000 a year and says an agreement could be reached if agency CEO Kris Kolluri agrees to an average yearly salary of $170,000. NJ Transit leadership, though, disputes the union’s data, saying the engineers have average total earnings of $135,000 annually, with the highest earners exceeding $200,000. If the walkout happens, it would be the state’s first transit strike in more than 40 years. It comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management. The parties met Monday with a federal mediation board in Washington to discuss the dispute, but both sides and the board have declined to comment on whether any progress has been made in subsequent talks this week.

Ukraine-Russia Peace Talks Begin Without Putin Present

Russia and Ukraine are set to hold their first direct peace talks in three years, but hopes for a breakthrough remained dim after Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned an offer by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet face-to-face in Turkey. Zelenskyy said he's sending a team to Istanbul to meet a Russian delegation, even though Moscow’s side doesn’t include “anyone who actually makes decisions.” Few had expected Putin to show up in Turkey, and it punctured any hope of progress on ending the 3-year-old war that was given a push in recent months by the Trump administration and Western European leaders. It also raised the prospect of intensified international Western sanctions on Russia.