WORLD Radio – Wednesday morning news: May 14, 2025
The news of the day, including President Trump touts economic and defense deals with Saudi Arabia, Ukraine’s president says he’ll await Vladimir Putin in Turkey, and Planned Parenthood boasts record number of abortions
President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shake hands during a signing ceremony at the Royal Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday. Associated Press / Photo by Alex Brandon
Trump Saudi deal / Syria » President Trump, seated next to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, signed multiple new agreements Tuesday in Riyadh on the first stop of his weeklong Middle East tour.
TRUMP: Today we reaffirm this important bond and we take the next steps to make our relationship closer, stronger, and more powerful than ever before.
Among those agreements, a $600 billion dollar economic deal with Saudi Arabia.
They also signed what the White House calls the largest defense sales agreement in history in which the US will provide nearly $142 billion worth of weapons to the Saudis.
Trump also touted efforts to repair relations between the U.S. and Syria for the first time in more than a decade.
TRUMP: I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness.
He added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be meeting with the new Syrian foreign minister in Turkey later this week.
Zelenskyy says he’ll be waiting for Putin » Meanwhile in Ukraine
ZELENSKYY: [In Ukrainian]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday accused Russia of conducting a drone strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. He also said Russia launched a separate attack on an energy facility.
All of this comes as Zelenskyy says he will travel to Turkey tomorrow ahead of potential face-to-face ceasefire talks with Vladimir Putin.
But it’s not clear that Putin will show up. The Kremlin suggested talks in Turkey this week, but the Russian leader never committed to attending talks in person.
U.S. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott told reporters:
PIGOTT: The president has also been clear that he wants to see those talks happen, and he’s been dedicated to trying to first get that ceasefire and then an enduring peace.
Trump has suggested that he too may fly to Istanbul for the meeting if Putin agrees to meet with Zelenskyy.
Republicans launch hearings in ‘big bill’ push » House Republicans launched marathon public hearings on Tuesday in a push to craft what President Trump has called his “big beautiful bill.’’ That would be one bill to cover a number of the president’s top priorities.
The bill would make permanent President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, remove taxes on tips, and fund national security and border security.
And GOP Senator Mike Lee says he’s pushing to add a measure to the bill that will demand regulations be approved by Congress, rather than federal regulators themselves.
LEE: The REINS Act, which we wanna fit into this reconciliation measure, so we can pass it with 51 votes in the Senate, would revolutionize the entire system by making the Constitution work again as it’s supposed to.
House Speaker Mike Johnson hopes to send the Senate the bill by Memorial Day.
Democrats fear possible cuts to welfare programs and accuse Republicans of pushing tax cuts for the rich.
NYC antisemitism office » New York City is opening a new office aimed at combating antisemitism. Mayor Eric Adams told reporters Tuesday:
ADAMS: This is the first office of its kind established in a major city in America. And let’s be honest with ourselves, it’s not a Jewish issue. It is all of our issue, as in any hate on a group, is an issue that we all should address.
He said the mayor’s office to combat antisemitism will establish an interagency task force to identify and combat antisemitism, monitor court cases, and collaborate with the city’s law department on appropriate cases to bring or join.
The announcement follows anti-Semitimic incidents —as well as anti-Israel demonstrations— on college campuses including New York City’s Columbia University.
Planned Parenthood report » Planned Parenthood performed a record number of abortions in its most recent fiscal reporting year. WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher has more.
BENJAMIN EICHER: In its annual report, the abortion giant says it ended the lives of more than 402,000 unborn children in the fiscal year that ended in June of 20-23.
That’s the most ever—and nearly 10,000 more than the year before.
At the same time, the group made just over 2,000 adoption referrals—that’s one referral for every 187 abortions.
The federal government sent about $800 million taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood that year. Those funds were earmarked for non-abortion services, as federal law requires but pro-life groups call it a shell game.
The report also reveals that, while abortions were up, the group’s other services … like cancer screenings and prenatal care have all dropped—some by more than 50% over the last decade.
For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.
Inflation numbers » Inflation slowed down once again in April, for the third month in a row.
In fact, the Labor Department says inflation inched up at the slowest rate in more than four years.
Prices were up 2.3% last month as compared to April of last year. That was down slightly from 2.4 percent in March.
The US also saw the biggest drop in grocery prices since 2020, down 0.4% from March to April.
Still some economists expect that the effects of tariffs may show up in the inflation numbers over the summer.
I’m Kent Covington.
Straight ahead: Washington Wednesday and the budget battle. Plus, a father and son fight to keep the family farm afloat after hurricane Helene.
This is The World and Everything in It.
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