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A statue of a Confederate general toppled amid the civil rights protests that swept across the country during the summer of 2020 has been reinstalled in Washington, D.C.'s Judiciary Square. ... Read full Story
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The Federal Reserve will meet Wednesday, as the U.S. government shutdown enters its fifth week, to decide whether to cut interest rates for a second time since September. ... Read full Story
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The White House has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow President Donald Trump to fire a top official in the Library of Congress after a lower court ruled against it. ... Read full Story
A federal grand jury indicted a 19-year-old California man for the alleged torture of an animal and sexual exploitation as a member of extremist group "764." ... Read full Story
Tyler Avalos of St. Paul, Minn., was arrested after an alleged "murder-for-hire" bounty was placed on U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on social media. ... Read full Story
Preparation is underway for Rockefeller Center's 2025 Christmas tree in New York City. The 75-year-old Norway spruce is 75 feet tall and weighs about 11 tons. ... Read full Story
An airman found dead at F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming was suspected in the on-duty shooting death of another airman on the base in July. ... Read full Story
Tech giant Qualcomm said its release of new AI accelerator chips was looming. its Snapdragon 6s Gen 4 mobile chip set will offer a 36% CPU performance boost. ... Read full Story
The Senate is to meet at 3 p.m. EDT Monday, but there's no plan to vote on a government funding bill on the 27th day of the federal government shutdown. ... Read full Story
American Water Works and Essential Utilities on Monday announced the board approved an all-stock merger to serve 17 states with a market cap of $40 billion. ... Read full Story
Tesla's board chair, Robyn Denholm, has warned that CEO Elon Musk may not stay if shareholders don't vote to approve Musk's nearly $1 trillion payout. ... Read full Story
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun called a special session Monday to consider redistricting the state's congressional seats. Some Republicans have spoken out against it. ... 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.