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Photo: Erin Hooley / AP
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1. Why can’t you be happy like your nice Finnish friend?
American youth are full of doom and gloom, according to the 2024 edition of the annual World Happiness Report. The U.S. fell out of the top 20 happiest countries for the first time since the list was published in 2012, dropping from 15th place last year down to 23rd, largely due to an increasing unhappiness among people under 30.
In North America, people Millennial-aged and younger were significantly more likely than older age groups to report loneliness.
But unhappiness isn’t just an American phenomenon. According to a Reuters story with this incredible headline, “Gloomy youth pull US and western Europe down global happiness ranking,” sullenness is also affecting young people in Canada, Japan, France, Germany, and Britain.
Finland and other Nordic countries, by contrast, are killing it in the happiness department. Finland took the report’s number-one spot for the seventh year in a row, with Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden taking the next three spots.
Reasons for Finland’s success could include its homelessness reduction program, which decreased the country’s unhoused population from 18,000 to 3,686 by — surprise, surprise — giving people a place to live permanently; its criminal justice system, which includes open prisons that allow inmates to leave the facility to work or get an education; and its flexible work laws, which allow employees to decide when their work days start and end.
Read more: Why is Finland the happiest country in the world?
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2. Canada will stop selling arms to Israel. What other countries have halted exports?
After several hours of debate and back-channel negotiations, Canada’s House of Commons voted on Monday evening to cease all future arms exports to Israel.
The 204-117 non-binding vote comes as Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip and obstruction of aid entering the enclave has killed nearly 33,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and resulted in the starving of an estimated one million people.
The motion also calls on the Canadian government to work “towards the establishment of the state of Palestine,” which appears to be in line with Canada’s previously stated position.
In the first three months of the conflict, Canada authorized $21 million in military exports to Israel.
Other international governments and companies have also announced plans to cease selling arms to Israel:
- Japan’s Itochu Corporation announced in February it would end its partnership with Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems by the end of that month.
- Spain’s foreign minister said in January that Spain would suspend all arms export licenses to Israel.
- In February, a Dutch appeals court ordered the government to block all exports to Israel of parts for the F-35 fighter jet that are stored at a warehouse in the Netherlands.
The U.S. is the biggest arms supplier to Israel, accounting for 68% of the country’s weapons imports between 2013 and 2022. Germany, the U.K., and Italy are also among Israel’s top arms suppliers.
In other Israel-Gaza news:
- The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it has killed 90 gunmen in a raid on Al Shifa hospital. The director of Gaza’s Hamas-run media office said that all individuals killed were wounded patients or displaced people.
- A cease-fire deal could still be weeks away, according to officials briefed on the negotiations in Qatar, though a diplomat said Hamas may be softening on its position that any agreed-upon cease-fire be permanent.
- As an alternative to a full invasion of Rafah, the U.S. will propose (among other ideas) that Israel secure the Gaza-Egypt border, according to two U.S. officials. The plan would limit Hamas’ ability to smuggle in weapons through Egypt.
- Drone footage casts doubt on Israel’s justification for a targeted airstrike in January that killed two Al Jazeera journalists and their driver and seriously wounded two freelance journalists.
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3. Cambodia’s PM bans musical car horns; also dancing, revelry, and fun
OK, so dancing and fun may still actually be allowed, but Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet has indeed ordered a ban on car horns that play songs. The move is an attempt to avoid “anarchy in the streets” and ensure safety ever since videos on social media have shown people dancing outside as trucks pass by blasting music.
Cambodia’s transportation ministry has been instructed to take action against vehicles that have replaced their regular car horns with little songs that appear to bring bystanders joy.
Last year, Hun Manet took over the role of prime minister from his father, Hun Sen, who led the country for 38 years.
During his time in office, Hun Sen was linked to numerous human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, torture, censorship, bans on assembly and association, and spying in order to intimidate the public, according to Human Rights Watch.
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In other news
- Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukrainians have endured a “constant threat of violence, detention, and punishment,” according to a U.N. report released Wednesday. The report further revealed that, since the invasion, 56 civilians have been executed and 48 detained civilians have suffered sexual violence, including rape. [Reuters]
- Julian Assange may be allowed to plead guilty to the U.S. Department of Justice to a reduced charge of mishandling classified information, which would open up the possibility of the WikiLeaks founder eventually being released from British jail. [The Wall Street Journal]
- Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced on Wednesday he’d resign as Ireland’s prime minister as soon as a replacement was found, saying his reasons for doing so are both “personal and political.” [The Irish Times]
- In an attempt to curb the cotton candy-flavored habit among its youth, New Zealand will ban disposable vapes. A new law says that stores selling vapes to minors will be fined up to $60,000. [The New Zealand Herald]
- Marjane Satrapi, the French-Iranian creator of the graphic novel “Persepolis,” has put together a collaborative book of “graphic-novel-style essays” on the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests in Iran. Amini died in Sept. 2022 after being beaten by police for not wearing a headscarf. [The Guardian]
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Say that again
“We have to be there, even if we don’t stand a chance,” said Selly Ba, a Senegalese activist and sociologist. She was speaking of 40-year-old Anta Babacar Ngom — the only woman running for president in Senegal’s Sunday election and the first to do so in over a decade. Ngom is not expected to win, but activists say the mere fact that she’s running is a step toward greater gender equality in the country. [Associated Press]
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Wanna turn that frown upside down? Try suing the government.
Blue Marble’s Hope O’Dell takes us through the 2015 Dutch case that compelled U.S. teenagers to get litigious over climate change.
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What we’re cooking
My friend came back from a recent trip to Patagonia with a small but potent present for me: merkén, a Chilean spice made of smoked peppers.
While a spice made from smoked peppers may not sound like a big deal — I’d wager you have some paprika in your cupboard right now — believe me when I say that this spice is special. It’s a Special Spice.
Merkén is a little hot and super smoky. Imagine chipotle peppers made into a magic powder and you’ll get an idea of its deep flavor. This afternoon, I sprinkled some over cubed sweet potatoes before roasting them. For the half- hour they were in the oven, my apartment smelled like a campfire.
—Laura Adamczyk, staff writer
Thanks for reading. We’ll see you tomorrow.
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Hope O’Dell contributed reporting to today's newsletter.
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