Unbiased headline news for Wednesday March 20, 2024 – Unhappy news for Americans: The United States has fallen from the ranks of the 20 happiest nations globally, as per new data from Gallup and its collaborators.
In the recently released 2024 World Happiness Report, the U.S. dropped out of the top 20 list for the first time in the report’s 12-year history. The U.S. now ranks at Number 23, compared to Number 15 last year. The researchers attribute this decline partly to a drop in life satisfaction among Americans under 30 years old.

Four individuals who accused a military doctor at the center of a massive sexual abuse prosecution claim they were “severely and irreparably harmed” by the Army and the Defense Department.
The four accusers allege the military’s negligence failed to safeguard them from abuse, according to new federal civil complaints filed. The physician, Major Michael Stockin, faces charges from Army prosecutors who allege the misconduct occurred under the guise of treatment, based on accusations from 41 male patients.

Israeli Prime Minister told parliament that a planned ground operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip will proceed, amid pressure from the United States to exercise restraint.
Net-in-yahoo informed members of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that he acknowledges Israel and the United States “have a disagreement” about Israel’s “need to enter Rafah.” However, he added, there was no disagreement “about the need to eliminate Hamas.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a firing drill of “super-large multiple rocket launchers,” state media reported, an exercise that South Korea had described as a short-range ballistic missile launch a day earlier.
The drill in the west of the country, was “aimed at proving the might and the real war capabilities of the weapon system through the sudden maneuvers and salvos of 600mm multiple rocket sub-units,” state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.

Former Rankin County, Mississippi, sheriff’s deputies Hunter Elward and Jeffrey Middleton were sentenced in federal court on Tuesday after pleading guilty, along with five additional former law enforcement officers, to a total of 16 charges related to the January 2023 torture of two Black men.
Elward, who pleaded guilty to the most serious charge in the indictment — discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence — was sentenced to 241 months, or about 20 years, according to the Department of Justice. “I hate myself for it,” Elward said during the sentencing hearing.

Three individuals were stabbed and one person was shot after a fight erupted outside a funeral home in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, authorities said.
Police received multiple reports around 1:30 p.m. MT of people injured downtown, according to Salt Lake City Police Department spokesperson Brent Weisberg. Officers found four people with injuries outside and near the funeral home, Weisberg said.

Congressional leaders and the White House have reached an agreement on how to fund the Department of Homeland Security, one of the last obstacles to prevent an approaching partial government shutdown deadline on Friday.
Funding for DHS was the final major sticking point in negotiations for the six spending bills that need to pass to avert a shutdown. The details of the negotiation haven’t yet been released.

The UnitedHealth Group — one of the nation’s largest health care providers — said it is making headway in its recovery from one of the worst cyberattacks on a health care system in United States history, its CEO said earlier this week.
On Feb. 21, UnitedHealth Group announced a hacking group called ALPHV — also known as “BlackCat” — breached its system. Its subsidiary Change Healthcare was hit hardest by the attack. “Change Healthcare can confirm we experienced a cybersecurity issue perpetrated by a cybercrime threat actor,” according to a statement.

By