Group Names the Happiest Places on Earth
It looks like some of the happiest places on earth have nothing to do with Disney. According to recently released report, Costa Rica, in Central America, ranks No. 1 as the happiest and greenest place in the world. The nation is followed by the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, two countries in the Caribbean, in a report released by the New Economics Foundation, a group based in England. Rounding out the top 10 are Guatemala at No. 4, followed by Vietnam, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Brazil and Honduras. Life expectancy, happiness and a small environmental impact were factors that contributed to the rankings. So, while the United States ranks high on life expectancy and happiness, its large ecological footprint made the country land at No. 114 on the list out of 143 countries.

Nigerian Writer Awarded
EC Osondu, a writer from Nigeria, is the winner of this year’s Caine Prize for African Writing and will receive $16,000. The honor, which is also referred to as the African Booker, is given each year to an African writer for a short story that is published in English, reports the BBC.  It’s named after the an ex-chairman of Booker plc, Sir Michael Caine. Osondu’s short story, “Waiting,” describes “the dislocating experience of being a displaced person,” from a child’s point of view, one of the judges said. Osondu was born in Nigeria and moved to New York to attend Syracuse University where he studied writing. In 2006, he received an honor, the Allen and Nirelle Galso Prize for Fiction, for another one of his stories, “A Letter from Home.” He is currently teaching literature at Providence College in Rhode Island, the BBC reports.