By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/31/2025 2:03 PM
Nations across the Caribbean were assessing the cost in lives and destruction from Hurricane Melissa, no more so than on Jamaica where at least 19 people died. ... Read full Story
FBI Director Kash Patel said a planned terrorist attack, which allegedly could have occurred over the Halloween weekend, has been thwarted by the agency. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/31/2025 1:22 PM
South Korean analysts have welcomed the new trade and investment agreement with Washington, announced to coincide with President Donald Trump's visit. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/31/2025 11:37 AM
British Chancellor Rachel Reeves remained under pressure on Friday even after her realtor took the rap for leasing her London home without the correct permits. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/31/2025 10:59 AM
President Lee Jae Myung and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation during summit talks. They met at the APEC summit. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/31/2025 10:21 AM
World leaders kicked off the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Friday, with Chinese President Xi Jinping taking the spotlight to address global trade uncertainties. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/31/2025 3:09 AM
The U.S. Department of State on Thursday ordered non-emergency employees and their family members to leave Mali, where the government is in armed conflict with al-Qaida-linked terrorists. ... Read full Story
Global Affairs Canada wrote Thursday afternoon that it was 'not aware of any Canadian citizens who have been injured or killed as a result of this hurricane.' ... Read full Story
Prime Minister Mark Carney said his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday at a summit in South Korea will discuss "a much broader set of issues than trade." ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/30/2025 10:25 PM
England's Prince Andrew has been stripped of his official title and will leave his royal residence amid fallout from Andrew's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. ... Read full Story
By Global News | Sean Boynton | 10/30/2025 7:50 PM
The seizure occurred in May at the Tsawwassen Container Examination Facility in B.C., but was reported by CBSA on Thursday — one day before Carney and Xi are set to meet. ... Read full Story
Experts say Melissa, now a Category 2 hurricane, is expected to bring dangerous winds, flooding and storm surges to the Bahamas on Thursday, followed by Bermuda. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/30/2025 5:45 PM
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has signed a new law that increases penalties and expands enforcement tools intended to combat organized crime in Brazil. ... Read full Story
India is adding an additional duty of 30 per cent for all imports of yellow peas effective Nov. 1, including from Canada, in an effort to maintain local price stability. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/30/2025 5:23 PM
Chile has launched an effort to reduce textile waste that has led creating some 4,000 illegal dumps across the country, several of them in the Atacama Desert. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/30/2025 4:41 PM
Hamas has handed over the remains of two more bodies it says are former hostages to Israel via the Red Cross, the Israeli prime minister's office said. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/30/2025 4:26 PM
On Thursday, 17 children and two adults were safely rescued in the busy Powai neighborhood of Mumbai after a man claimed to be holding the coup hostage at a local acting school during audition practices. ... Read full Story
Included in the group is one of the suspected robbers, who authorities say was identified with DNA evidence collected from the scene. ... Read full Story
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 2, 2025 is:
arbitrary \AHR-buh-trair-ee\ adjective
Arbitrary describes something that is not planned or chosen for a particular reason, is not based on reason or evidence, or is done without concern for what is fair or right.
// Because the committee wasn’t transparent about the selection process, the results of the process appeared to be wholly arbitrary.
// An arbitrary number will be assigned to each participant.
“The authority of the crown, contemporaries believed, was instituted by God to rule the kingdom and its people. England’s sovereign was required to be both a warrior and a judge, to protect the realm from external attack and internal anarchy. To depose the king, therefore, was to risk everything—worldly security and immortal soul—by challenging the order of God’s creation. Such devastatingly radical action could never be justified unless kingship became tyranny: rule by arbitrary will rather than law, threatening the interests of kingdom and people instead of defending them.” — Helen Castor, The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV, 2024
Did you know?
Donning black robes and a powdered wig to learn about arbitrary might seem to be an arbitrary—that is, random or capricious—choice, but it would in fact jibe with the word’s etymology. Arbitrary comes from the Latin noun arbiter, which means “judge” and is the source of the English word arbiter, also meaning “judge.” In English, arbitrary first meant “depending upon choice or discretion” and was specifically used to indicate the sort of decision (as for punishment) left up to the expert determination of a judge rather than defined by law. Today, it can also be used for anything determined by or as if by chance or whim.