By United Press International, Inc. | | 3/19/2026 12:16 AM
Iran on Thursday attacked major energy facilities in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates after vowing to retaliate for Israel striking its gas field a day earlier. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 3/18/2026 10:57 PM
S. Korea's four major oil refiners are ramping up production and delaying maintenance to stabilize domestic fuel supply amid rising global energy risk ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 3/18/2026 10:51 PM
A civic group on called for changes to ethics laws after finding that dozens of former police officers took jobs at law firms shortly after retirement ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 3/18/2026 10:47 PM
S. Korea's shipping industry is calling for the creation of a state-backed "strategic merchant fleet" of up to 200 vessels to safeguard supply chains ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 3/18/2026 10:39 PM
Labor unions and political organizations in S. Korea called on the govt. to reject any U.S. request to deploy troops related to the conflict with Iran ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 3/18/2026 10:33 PM
S. Korea's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family held its first public forum on whether to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 13. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 3/18/2026 10:23 PM
S. Korea has secured an additional 18 million barrels of crude oil from the UAE, along with a pledge of priority supply, officials said Tuesday. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 3/18/2026 10:17 PM
Japan is expected to agree with the U. S. on joint stockpiling of U.S. crude oil, as Tokyo moves to reduce its heavy reliance on Middle Eastern energy ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 3/18/2026 10:11 PM
S. Korean police will conduct a sweeping review of about 15,000 stalking-related cases after recent killing exposed gaps in victim protection measures ... Read full Story
All six crew members of a KC-135 Air Force refueling aircraft were killed last week in a plane crash over friendly territory in western Iraq, supporting operations against Iran. ... Read full Story
The spike in visitors since Moo Deng’s viral fame has been so significant the zoo had to limit public access to the baby’s enclosure. ... Read full Story
The comments came after new threats by Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said that the Cuban government's socialist economic model needs to “change dramatically.” ... Read full Story
U.S. companies will be allowed to do business with Venezuela’s state-owned oil and gas company after the Treasury Department eased sanctions, with some limitations, on Wednesday as the Trump administration looks for ways to boost world oil supplies during the Iran war. The Treasury issued a broad authorization allowing Petróleos de Venezuela S.A, or PDVSA,... ... Read full Story
Marius Borg Høiby previously pleaded guilty to several minor offences but pleaded not guilty to the most serious charges, including four counts of rape. ... Read full Story
Speaking in Berlin on Wednesday, Barrot said the European Union is attracting more candidate countries, suggesting 'maybe Canada at some point' will sign up. ... Read full Story
The foreign affairs department is struggling under Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cuts, and now is 'challenging traditional assumptions' about its work. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 3/18/2026 2:43 PM
El Salvador's Legislative Assembly has approved a constitutional reform that allows life imprisonment for people convicted of homicide, rape and terrorism ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 3/18/2026 2:38 PM
Iran is threatening to execute retaliatory strikes on oil and gas facilities near the Persian Gulf after Israel attacked a gas field in Iran. ... Read full Story
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified that the regime remains intact and Tehran and its proxies remain capable of attacking U.S. and allies' interests. ... Read full Story
James 'Jimmy' Gracey was reported missing after he didn't return to the short-term rental where he was staying with friends during spring break. ... Read full Story
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 19, 2026 is:
nadir \NAY-deer\ noun
Nadir refers to the lowest or worst point of something. When used in astronomy, nadir describes the point of the celestial sphere that is directly opposite the zenith and vertically downward from the observer.
// Only once the novel’s protagonist reaches her nadir does she arouse the reader’s empathy, and we root for her to climb back to respectability.
“Sacrament dives right into the nadir of the 2020 health crisis, following a group of nurses who have moved into makeshift housing near a California hospital, to isolate from their families during the height of the case surge.” — James Folta, LitHub.com, 1 July 2025
Did you know?
Nadir is part of the galaxy of scientific words that have come to us from Arabic, a language that has made important contributions to the English lexicon especially in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and chemistry. The source of nadir is naḍhīr, meaning “opposite”—the opposite, that is, of the zenith, the highest point of the celestial sphere which is positioned vertically above the observer. (The word zenith itself is a modification of another Arabic word that means “the way over one’s head.”) Though born of the heavens, both words are called upon to refer to earthy things too, especially a significant point or period of time, be it a high point or low one.