Is life on this planet getting better? When it comes to the progress of nations, how do you measure what matters most? There’s wealth, there’s health, there’s basic human freedoms. These criteria, and others, make regular appearances in a variety of international rankings, from the Better Life Index to the Sustainable Economic Development Assessment and the World Happiness Report. But a new study takes a [...]

Kosovo's Majlinda Kelmendi has won her country's first Olympic medal — and it's a gold. Kelmendi defeated Italy's Odette Giuffrida in the women's 52-kilogram judo division final in a tight contest Sunday marked by aggressive grip-fighting as both competitors struggled to get a decisive hold on the other's uniform. Kelmendi only managed to score once, but it was enough. After her victory [...]

The country's achievements in education have other nations, especially the United States, doing their homework! It was the end of term at Kirkkojarvi Comprehensive School in Espoo, a sprawling suburb west of Helsinki, when Kari Louhivuori, a veteran teacher and the school’s principal, decided to try something extreme—by Finnish standards. One of his sixth-grade students, a Kosovo-Albanian boy, had drifted [...]

How often do we let conditions beyond our control or our handicaps hold us back from going for our dreams? I didn’t come from a rich family so I didn’t get the same opportunities. I wasn’t born attractive enough.  I can’t move up in my company because English wasn’t my native language. The list of excuses goes on. How often [...]