By United Press International, Inc. | | 2/13/2025 12:15 AM
Britain unveiled a new "firepower" package of dones, tanks and air defense systems for Kyiv on Wednesday at the start of a Ukraine summit. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 2/13/2025 12:15 AM
Britain unveiled a new "firepower" package of dones, tanks and air defense systems for Kyiv on Wednesday at the start of a Ukraine summit. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 2/12/2025 6:51 PM
A journalist was among at least three people jailed in Belarus who the White House said Wednesday were released following a series of prisoner swaps this week, according to U.S. officials. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 2/12/2025 6:19 PM
Bangladesh's former government systematically committed "serious human rights violations" against student-led protesters, with up to 1,400 people killed and thousands of others injured, the U.N. Human Rights Office said ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 2/12/2025 5:41 PM
The U.S. Navy sent two vessels to transit the Taiwan Strait for the first time since President Donald Trump took office, and China tracked their progress through the disputed seaway. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 2/12/2025 4:46 PM
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the two men agreed to end the 3-year-old war between Russia and Ukraine. ... Read full Story
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she believes that the tariffs would come before Thursday's visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 2/12/2025 3:32 PM
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called corruption charges against him politically motivated while testifying in a Tel Aviv courtroom on Wednesday. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 2/12/2025 2:48 PM
Chevron on Wednesday announced it will lay off 15-20% of its global workforce in an effort to reduce costs by up to $3 billion. Chevron expects to complete most of the cuts by the end of 2026. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 2/12/2025 1:11 PM
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday said that the United States will release alleged cybercrime boss Alexander Vinnik in exchange for the recently-freed teacher Marc Fogel. ... Read full Story
U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said he also believed NATO membership for Ukraine was not realistic, nor was the country regaining its pre-2014 borders. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 2/12/2025 11:11 AM
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Wednesday Japan has formally asked the United States for an exemption of Trump administration 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum. ... Read full Story
Paul Martin had served as the U.S. Agency for International Development's inspector general, a position requiring U.S. Senate confirmation, since December 2023. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 2/12/2025 9:46 AM
Averting frictions that could lead to a trade war with the United States will be top of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's agenda as he arrives in Washington ahead of a meeting with President Donald Trump. ... Read full Story
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's one-day visit in Brussels includes a meeting with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte and the European Union's two most senior leaders. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 2/12/2025 7:32 AM
Russia launched ballistic missiles and more than 100 drones in a wave of attacks across Ukraine overnight that killed three people and injured at least 16, including a child, authorities said. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 2/12/2025 4:33 AM
North Korea on Wednesday slammed the United States over President Trump's announced aim to take control of the Gaza Strip and permanently displace its residents, calling it "slaughter and robbery" in state-run media. ... Read full Story
Trump signed an executive order Tuesday intended to advance Musk's work slashing spending with his Department of Government Efficiency. ... Read full Story
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 13, 2025 is:
gallant \GAL-unt\ adjective
Someone or something described as gallant is very courageous and brave. Gallant is also sometimes used to mean “large and impressive” (as in “a gallant ship”), or to describe someone who has or shows politeness and respect for women.
// Though they failed to reach the summit, the mountaineering team made a gallant attempt.
“He turned to go, and was promptly whacked across the backside by Miss Chokfi. ‘Ouch?’ he said. ‘What was that for?’ She was standing up very straight and gallant, though it still left her a foot and a half shorter than him, with the office stapler ready by her hand. ‘That was for not stopping him,’ she said. ‘Was there anything else you need?’ ‘Not a thing,’ said Barrow, and tipped his hat to her.” — Francis Spufford, Cahokia Jazz: A Novel, 2024
Did you know?
If you’re familiar with the long-running comic strip “Goofus and Gallant,” created by Garry Cleveland Myers and published in the monthly children’s magazine Highlights, you likely have a particularly good sense of the meaning of the adjective gallant. In the comic, the character of Goofus demonstrates to young readers all sorts of bad habits and behaviors, while Gallant provides examples of proper conduct and comportment when in circumstances similar to those of his ill-mannered counterpart. The characters’ names were, of course, chosen with purpose. We record several different senses of gallant and all are compliments. Someone described as gallant may be smartly dressed, courteous and chivalrous, or valiant and brave. Goofus, bless his heart, is none of these things (while we do not define the adjective goofus, the Oxford English Dictionary does: “stupid, foolish”). Perhaps ironically, gallant comes from the Middle French verb galer, meaning “to squander in pleasures”; such squandering is something Goofus is likely to do, and Gallant never would.