Norway displaced Denmark as the world’s happiest country in a new report released on Monday that called on nations to build social trust and equality to improve the well-being of their citizens. The Nordic nations are the most content, according to the World Happiness Report 2017 produced by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), a global initiative launched by the United Nations in 2012. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa, along with Syria and Yemen, are the least happy of the 155 countries ranked in the fifth annual report released at the United Nations. “Happy countries are the ones that have a healthy balance of prosperity, as conventionally measured, and social capital, meaning a high degree of trust in a society, low inequality and confidence in government,” Jeffrey Sachs, the director of the SDSN and a special advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General, said in an interview. The aim of the report, …

A man who drove to a security checkpoint near the White House in a car that was deemed suspicious has been detained by the U.S. Secret Service. Media outlets reported Sunday that the suspect has been identified by police as 29-year-old Sean Patrick Keoughan of Roanoke, Virginia. The car was stopped Saturday night about a quarter-mile from the White House. The Secret Service says it’s investigating. It hasn’t said what caused the car to be considered suspicious. Republican President Donald Trump wasn’t at the White House because he and his family are spending the weekend at his resort in Palm Beach, Florida. The incident happened just hours after the Secret Service apprehended a person who jumped over a bicycle rack outside the security perimeter of the White House. Reports say Secret Service officers tackled the intruder and arrested him within two minutes. Alarm bells at the White House went off …

Taiwan’s government, worried about being used as a pawn by China and the United States, said on Monday the self-ruled island must protect its own interests as concerns in Taipei rise ahead of an expected meeting of U.S and Chinese leaders. China has never renounced the use of force to take back what it deems a wayward province and has been pressuring Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, who leads an independence-leaning ruling party, to concede Taiwan is a part of China. The United States is Taiwan’s only major political ally and sole arms supplier. “We call on the United States and China, when they improve relations, to not use Taiwan in their own interest or as a chess piece,” Catherine Chang, Taiwan’s minister in charge of China affairs, the Mainland Affairs Council, told reporters. Chang urged Beijing to communicate with Taipei “in order to maintain stability and peace in the Asia …

U.S. House Republicans are working on changes to their health care overhaul bill to provide more generous tax credits for older Americans and add a work requirement for the Medicaid program for the poor, House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Sunday. Ryan said Republican leaders still planned to bring the health care bill to a vote on the House of Representatives floor on Thursday. Speaking on the Fox News Sunday television program, he said leaders were working to address concerns that had been raised by rank-and-file Republicans to the legislation. Republicans remain deeply divided over the health care overhaul, which is President Donald Trump’s first major legislative initiative. It aims to fulfill his campaign pledge to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, the signature health care program of his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. Millions could lose care Democrats say the Republican plan could throw millions …

U.S. security officers have begun fingerprinting refugees held on Pacific islands in the final stage of assessing who will find new lives in the United States, asylum-seekers said Monday. Department of Homeland Security officers are taking biometric details from refugees on Nauru, including fingerprints, heights and weights, according to a document circulated among asylum-seekers and provided to AP by Mehdi, a refugee on the island nation who for security reasons did not want his family name published. U.S. officials began scheduling appointments with asylum-seeker families on Nauru from Monday, Mehdi said. Refugees had been given no indication of how long the security vetting process would take, he said. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. The Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection declined to comment. President Donald Trump has reluctantly agreed to honor an Obama administration deal to accept up …

Firefighters made progress Sunday in battling a small wildfire that forced people to flee hundreds of homes in the mountains just outside downtown Boulder, Colorado, and authorities said they believe the blaze may have been human-caused. Light winds pushed the flames in the wooded area a couple of miles west of Pearl Street, the shopping and dining hub in the heart of the university city. Crews partially contained the fire that had burned just over 60 acres, but officials worried that stronger gusts that could fan the flames might develop overnight. The Boulder Office of Emergency Management said 426 homes were evacuated before dawn and residents of an additional 836 were warned to get ready to leave if conditions worsened. The evacuation orders will remain in place overnight, said Boulder County Sheriff’s Cmdr. Mike Wagner. There were no reports of injuries or damage to homes, emergency officials said. Several aircraft …

President Donald Trump’s budget director says the proposed government spending plan is the vision on which the president ran and that he actually is following through on his promises to the American people. Mick Mulvaney told NBC television’s Meet the Press Sunday that means “more money for defense, more money to secure the border, more money for law enforcement generally.” Although the proposed budget slashes spending for the arts, environmental protection and social services, Mulvaney described what he calls its “compassion.” “Not just the compassion in terms of where the money goes but the compassion of where the money comes from. Could I as a budget director look at the coal miner in West Virginia and say ‘I want you please to give some of your money to the federal government so that I can give it to the National Endowment for the Arts?’” Mulvaney said Trump’s proposed budget increases …

A former North Carolina police chief who now works as a law enforcement consultant said Sunday that he’s disappointed with his country of 42 years after he was detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Former Greenville Police Chief Hassan Aden of Alexandria, Virginia, said he was detained March 13 on his return trip from Paris. He supports the officers of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, but he believes his 90-minute detention was unreasonable, he said in a telephone interview. Aden, who is biracial, said a customs officer told him that his name was used as an alias by someone on a watch list. He said one officer told him that he wasn’t being detained even though he couldn’t use his phone and he had to remain seated. “When it goes to 90 minutes with no phone … and you can’t move around, it seems more than an investigation …

President Donald Trump risks driving wedges between the United States and its closest allies, something America can ill-afford. So say lawmakers of both political parties as public disputes have arisen between the White House and Britain as well as Germany. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports from Washington. …

Two key U.S. officials are set to testify publicly about whether there is any truth behind the explosive, but unsubstantiated, claim by U.S. President Donald Trump that former President Barack Obama wiretapped his Trump Tower headquarters in the weeks before last year’s presidential election. Both FBI Director James Comey, and National Security Agency chief Admiral Michael Rogers likely would have known about the eavesdropping if it occurred. They are to appear Monday before the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee. For two weeks, Trump has refused to back down on his allegation, even as a string of officials, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and the top Republican and Democratic lawmakers on both the Senate and House Intelligence Committees, have said there is no evidence to support Trump’s March 4 wiretapping claims he made in a series of Twitter comments. On Sunday, Republican Congressman Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House panel, …

The eastern U.S. city of Philadelphia has canceled this year’s celebration of Cinco de Mayo, an event that attracts as many as 15,000 people. Edgar Ramirez, one of the event’s organizers, said the unanimous decision by the planners was “sad,” but it was the “responsible” thing to do because of “the severe conditions affecting the immigrant community.” Ramirez said the organizers were afraid federal immigration officers would stage a raid on the annual festival in Philadelphia — the country’s fifth-largest city. U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to step up the arrests and deportations of people living illegally in the U.S. Cinco de Mayo — or the Fifth of May — commemorates the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. In the United States, Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a celebration of Mexican culture and …

Before President Trump’s Supreme Court choice testifies before a Senate panel, Republicans are optimistic Judge Neil Gorsuch will be confirmed while Democrats face enormous pressure from progressive activists to block him. “Hopefully a week from Thursday, I’m able to tell you he [Gorsuch] has done such a good job in answering questions [at the confirmation hearings] that anyone would be embarrassed to take him on [vote against him],” the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa, told VOA. “I have a feeling that that’s the way it’s going to work out.” Conservative philosophy A federal appellate judge nominated by former President George W. Bush in 2006, Gorsuch would fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the death last year of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.  Widely viewed as an articulate and capable jurist, Gorsuch possesses a conservative judicial philosophy, borne out in thousands of federal court …

President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch, will have his moment in the spotlight Monday when the Senate Judiciary Committee begins confirmation hearings. Gorsuch is a solid conservative jurist who has strong Republican support in the Senate. But many opposition Democrats are preparing tough questions, as we hear from VOA National correspondent Jim Malone. …

Shihab Ayed and several other men struggled to push a cart carrying the bodies of his son and wife, wrapped in blankets, through a muddy ditch nearly 2 miles (3 kilometers) from their destroyed home in Mosul. Four other carts followed, laden with days-old corpses from air strikes that the men said killed 21 relatives and neighbors in an area Islamic State militants controlled earlier in the week. A father’s loss Ayed, a 40-year-old laborer, pulled back a blanket to show his only son, 3-year-old Ahmed, lying lifeless with his eyes closed and a big gash in his right cheek. “Three houses were destroyed by two air strikes,” Ayed said. “Islamic State fighters were firing from our house and from the road outside, and we were hiding inside. Fifteen minutes later the strikes hit. “We pulled the bodies from the rubble and now we’re going to bury them. Then I’ll …

The U.S. Secret Service has heightened security efforts after a motorist drove a car up to a White House checkpoint late Saturday and claimed to have a bomb. Officials say the driver was immediately arrested and the vehicle was seized. A Secret Service spokesman said a criminal investigation has been launched. It was not immediately clear whether there was a bomb in the car. Two incidents Saturday President Donald Trump was not in the White House. He is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, his fifth weekend there since taking office January 20. The incident happened just hours after the Secret Service apprehended a person who jumped over a bicycle rack outside the security perimeter of the White House. Reports say Secret Service officers tackled the intruder and arrested him within two minutes. Alarm bells at the White House went off after the security breach attempt, prompting …

This small city in the state of Rio de Janeiro is on high alert after authorities confirmed the death of one man by yellow fever and said they were investigating several other possible cases. Health authorities this week confirmed that 38-year-old Watila Santos died from the illness March 11.  A neighbor of Santos, Alessandro Valenca Couto, was infected and sent for treatment to a hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro, where he is recovering. Authorities are investigating possible cases involving four relatives of Santos, including a 13-year-old and a 9-year-old. Rio de Janeiro orders vaccinations In the city center and rural areas of Casimiro de Abreu, about 93 miles (150 kilometers) from Rio de Janeiro, a large tent has been set up to vaccinate people. Authorities say around 30,000 of the city’s 42,000 people have been vaccinated in recent days. “I’m really scared,” said Tais da Silva Almeida, …

With warm words from Chinese President Xi Jinping Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ended his first trip to Asia since taking office with an agreement to work with China on North Korea. They put aside trickier issues. China has been irritated at being repeatedly told by Washington to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and the U.S. decision to base an advanced missile defense system in South Korea. Beijing is also deeply suspicious of U.S. intentions toward self-ruled Taiwan, which China claims as its own, with the Trump administration crafting a big new arms package for the island that is bound to anger China. Words of praise But meeting in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, those issues were brushed aside by Xi and Tillerson, at least in front of reporters, with Xi saying Tillerson had made a lot of effort to achieve a smooth transition …

There’s a bromance brewing between actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds.    The Hollywood stars say they hit it off so well during the filming of their new sci-fi thriller called Life that a genuine friendship has blossomed. The movie, about a team of scientists aboard the International Space Station who find an alien life form from Mars, premiered Saturday at the South by Southwest festival in Austin.    The Brokeback Mountain and Deadpool stars were mostly all jokes during rounds of press interviews before the film’s premier, answering most questions with a back-and-forth comedy shtick. But they turned serious when asked about the connection formed on set.  ‘A lucky thing’   “You do these films and get to work with really amazing people, really talented people and you think ‘oh I’m going to hang out with these people afterward and see them again,’” said Reynolds. “You don’t most of the time because …

North Korea ground-tested a new high-thrust rocket engine, the country’s official news agency, KCNA, said Sunday. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the test was successful and “emphasized that the world will soon witness the great significance of the epoch-making victory we achieved today,” KCNA reported. The test consisted of firing the rocket engine while it was held in place on the ground, not powering a missile. The ignition took place at the Tongchang-ri rocket launch station near the North’s border with China, according to KCNA, which said Kim went to the site at dawn, “mounted an observation post and gave the order to start the test.” From this same region, Pyongyang launched a satellite into space in February 2016 using banned intercontinental ballistic missile technology. Possible ICBM engine The state news agency quoted Kim as saying the new “high-thrust engine would help consolidate the scientific and technological foundation …

President Donald Trump has chosen the husband of White House counseler Kellyanne Conway to head the civil division of the Justice Department, The Wall Street Journal reported.   George Conway was chosen to head the office that has responsibility for defending the administration’s proposed travel ban and defending lawsuits filed against the administration, the newspaper reported. Conway is a partner at the New York law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. The law firm’s website says Conway has extensive experience in litigation involving securities, mergers and acquisitions, contracts and antitrust cases. He graduated from Harvard and then Yale Law School. He joined the law firm in 1988, soon after his graduation from law school. Paula Jones case  He has been involved in numerous complex, high-profile cases with that law firm, where he has been a partner since 1994. In the 1990s, Conway wrote the Supreme Court brief that cleared …