The US has fallen to its lowest ranking ever in the latest World Happiness Report. The report ranks 156 countries by happiness levels, based on factors such as life expectancy, social support and corruption. The US ranked 19. Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs from Columbia University attributed this to worsening health conditions, declining social trust and declining confidence in the government.

Hamas is facing the biggest demonstrations yet against its rule of the Gaza Strip, with hundreds of Palestinians taking to the streets to protest the dire living conditions. Hamas, on its part, has accused the rival West Bank-based Palestinian Authority of orchestrating the protests. Unemployment in Gaza is over 50 per cent, tap water is undrinkable, electricity is limited, among other issues.

Armed men shot at members of a convoy transporting uranium to one of Brazil’s two working nuclear power plants on Tuesday. The truck was carrying nuclear fuel and its police escort came under attack. Policemen guarding the convoy returned the attackers’ fire. There were no injuries or arrests and the armed men fled.

Donald Trump Jr penned a column in the Daily Telegraph suggesting democracy in the UK is ’all but dead’. Trump blamed PM Theresa May for having ignored advice from his father, adding that ’the will of the people is likely to be ignored’ because of ’elite’ politicians in Brussels.

A woman in a city south of Phoenix has been arrested on charges of abusing seven adopted children, including using pepper spray on them and locking them in a closet. Machelle Hackney was booked on suspicion of two counts of molestation of a child, seven counts of child abuse and five counts each of unlawful imprisonment and child neglect.

The University of Southern California said students who may be associated with the college admissions scandal will not be able to get transcripts or register for classes while their cases are reviewed. USC also said applicants who are tied to the scam will not be admitted to the university.

Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, is suing Twitter and a number of its users for more than $250 million. The lawsuit alleges the social media giant censored conservative voices by ’shadow-banning’ them, which Nunes says potentially impacted the 2018 midterm election. Nunes accuses Twitter of ’facilitating defamation on its platform’.

A judge ruled Monday that documents related to the FBI’s raid on Michael Cohen’s office and hotel room must be made public. The raids were part of an investigation that eventually led Cohen to plead guilty to, among other crimes, violating campaign finance law by paying hush money shortly before the 2016 presidential election.

According to a lawsuit filed by the state AG, A Catholic diocese and its former bishop in WV knowingly employed pedophiles and failed to conduct adequate background checks on camp and school employees. A statement from the diocese says the allegations ’do not fairly portray its overall contributions to the education of children in West Virginia…’

EU antitrust regulators fined Google 1.49 billion euro ($1.69 billion) on Wednesday for blocking rival online search advertisers. The case accuses Google of abusing its market dominance by restricting third party rivals from displaying search ads between 2006 and 2016.

According to a new study by brain scientists, people don’t become fully ’adult’ until they’re in their 30s. The latest research suggests, that while judicial system generally recognizes a person of 18 as mature, changes to the brain continue beyond this age. These changes can have significant effects on young people’s behavior, as well as making them more susceptible to mental health disorders.

President Trump joined the debate about the Electoral College on Tuesday. In the past few days, Democrats including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Beto O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg have called for ending the state-based system. Trump hailed the Electoral College referring to it as a marathon where one ’must go to many States to win’ unlike the ’Popular Vote’ system where one goes to just the large States.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, long been at odds with President Trump, shocked many on Monday as he offered rare praise of the Trump administration ’Opportunity Zones’ policy. The policy provides tax breaks to spur investment in low-income areas. Newsom claimed the program would help provide funds to deal with state’s housing crisis and would promote energy investment.

A jury in San Francisco found Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide was a substantial factor in causing the cancer of a California man. Edwin Hardeman, 70, of Santa Rosa was the first person to challenge Monsanto in a federal trial, alleging that his exposure to Roundup caused him to develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). Hardeman’s case is considered a ’bellwether’ trial for hundreds of other plaintiffs.

Facebook will overhaul its ad-targeting systems to prevent discrimination in housing, credit and employment ads as part of a legal settlement. The social network says it will no longer allow ads in these sectors that target people by age, gender or zip code. Facebook will also limit other targeting options so these ads don’t exclude people on the basis of race and ethnicity.

Reports indicate Lyft IPO has been oversubscribed based on commitments made so far by investors. This makes it more likely that the ride-hailing startup will fetch or even exceed the $23 billion valuation it is seeking. Lyft started its IPO road show on Monday.

Binance will soon enable users in Australia to purchase Bitcoin from over 1,300 supported Newsagents across the country. Binance Lite marks the first time the exchange has managed to open a fiat gateway in Australia.

Switzerland’s largest online retail store, Digitec-Galaxus, has began accepting major digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, and XRP, among others as a means of payment. Users can use cryptocurrencies to pay for items if their bill exceeds CHF200 ($200). Digitec-Galaxus offers an impressive catalog close to 2.7 million products on its website.