Finland is named the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row, according to the World Happiness Report 2025 published Thursday.

Other Nordic countries are also once again at the top of the happiness rankings in the annual report published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford. Besides Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden remain the top four and in the same order.

King Charles III is scheduled to have an audience with Pope Francis during a state visit next month to the Vatican, suggesting the Holy See is optimistic the pontiff will be back at work by then, barring any setbacks in his recovery from double pneumonia.

The tentative audience was among details of the British monarch's visit to the Vatican and Italy released on Tuesday by Buckingham Palace. State visits are always planned in close consultation with the Vatican's secretariat of state.

Hundreds of thousands of people packed the streets of Dublin on Monday to watch Ireland's national St. Patrick's Day parade, as crowds in green flooded cities and towns across the country to mark the annual holiday.

Officials said half a million spectators were expected to line the parade route in the capital to watch the colorful floats, performers and dancers. Some 4,000 people and 12 marching bands from across Ireland, North America and Austria were taking part this year to commemorate Ireland's patron saint.

Conan O'Brien is returning to the Oscars stage in 2026. The late-night host and comedian will preside over the 98th Academy Awards, set for March 15, the film academy's leadership said Monday.

"The only reason I'm hosting the Oscars next year is that I want to hear Adrien Brody finish his speech," O'Brien said in a statement.

John Lennon is being honored in a specially minted British coin collection to mark the year the Beatles great and peace advocate would have turned 85, the Royal Mint said Friday.

The coin, which will go on sale on Monday, features a portrait of Lennon that is based on a famous image taken by music industry photographer Bob Gruen in 1974.

Millions of people in South Asia celebrated Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, on Friday by smearing each other with brightly colored powder, dancing to festive music and feasting on traditional sweets prepared for the occasion.

The raucous spring festival sees Hindus take part in a kaleidoscopic celebration of the end of winter and the triumph of good over evil. The festival is a national holiday in India, while in Nepal it's a two-day event that began Thursday. It's also observed in other South Asian countries as well as among the Indian diaspora.

The mayor of Miami Beach, Florida, wants to terminate a lease and cut financial support for an independent film theater that screened an Oscar-winning documentary about the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.

Mayor Steven Meiner introduced a resolution describing the film "No Other Land" as antisemitic. City commissioners will discuss the resolution Wednesday during their next meeting.

An iconic reindeer so beloved that he has been in parades, featured on reality TV shows and visited by schoolchildren on field trips in Alaska's largest city is fighting for his life after mysteriously falling ill after someone tampered with his pen.

Ever since, 8-year-old Star has had pneumonia, digestion issues and rapid weight loss. Star's owner, Albert Whitehead, has taken him to a veterinarian every other day to receive care and in hopes of finding a cause for the issues.

Paris has spoken, and fashion's final authority has laid down the law: This coming fall, it's all about power shoulders, enveloping outerwear and a color palette that runs from somber to surreal.

If Milan softened up with romance and New York leaned into Y2K grunge, Paris countered with sartorial surety — a wardrobe built for the sharp, the serious, and the spectacular. Coats are enormous, tailoring is back and drama is dialed up on every front.

By all logic, Chanel should be floundering. A global juggernaut without a captain, the house has been in limbo since the abrupt departure of Virginie Viard, drifting toward an uncertain horizon while awaiting the arrival of Matthieu Blazy in the fall.

Yet against all odds, inside the majestic Grand Palais, Chanel did what it has done for a century: endure. And not just endure. Dazzle.