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Today is a fun day! Today is the spring equinox, so it is officially spring, and today is actually the International Day of Happiness! Woohoo! According to the latest World Happiness Report, Finland is the happiest country in the world, for the sixth year in a row, followed by Denmark and Iceland. Israel placed fourth, the Netherlands came fifth, Sweden and Norway in sixth and seventh, Switzerland in eighth, Luxembourg in ninth, and New Zealand rounding out the top ten, with its counterpart Australia placing 12th and the US placing 15th. Anyway, let's get into today's news: UBS, Switzerland's largest bank, has agreed to buy its rival, Credit Suisse, for over 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.25 billion USD) to help stop financial panic after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were shut down in the US recently. Read the breakdown here. Also, we have some more bad news for California. (Yes, it just keeps on coming.) A 12th atmospheric river event is moving in, expected to hit Southern California later this week. The storm will bring high winds, heavy rain, snow (in the mountains), and a high flood risk as well, as many areas in the far West are still overly saturated after the huge storms that have been battering the region all winter. But, look on the bright side: all of these storms have helped with the huge drought!

It's all about nature-caused problems today: Over 500 people are dead after Cyclone Freddy pummeled Mozambique and Malawi, and survivors are still being found as people desperately dig through the mud and rubble to find anyone who is still alive. Oxygen levels in rivers of Australia have recently plummeted, and thousands of dead fish are now floating down rivers and creeks, filling towns up with a putrid stench. Officials are still trying to find the cause of the oxygen drop. A huge avalanche just hit Marble, Colorado, killing one person and injuring two others. The two survivors managed to stay alive in the freezing temperatures, but one skier was sadly, not able to make it.

At least 14 people are dead after a huge 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck Ecuador and Peru today, and the death toll is sure to rise as aftershocks still rumble the area. Extensive damage has been reported across the region as search-and-rescue crews move in to help rescue any survivors that are trapped under rubble.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! There is pretty much no news for today, other than the fact that today, Slovakia agreed to give 13 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, after Poland announced that they would give four more yesterday. Russia has responded that they will destroy the fighter jets when Ukraine uses them, but Ukraine will use them sparingly, as they have limited resources and have been waiting for jets for a while now.

There is minimal news for today, just the fact that Poland has now become the first country in the world to supply fighter jets to Ukraine, with the NATO country announcing that it will send MiG-29 jets to the country warring with Russia. The big question is, will the rest of NATO follow along, or will they hold back in the fears of a World War III? Just one more thing: Cyclone Freddy has now moved out of the Mozambique-Malawi region, but it has left a trail of destruction. Over 400 people are dead after Freddy pummeled the area, dumping feet of rain with high winds, so many people are now trapped in the mud. Survivors are now desperately searching through the muck to try and rescue any people who are still alive, but the death toll is sure to rise in the coming days.

Today, the big news is in the Middle East: Today marks the 12th anniversary of the civil war in Syria, with over 230,000 people dead and over 14 million have been displaced. And the last thing they needed was an earthquake. It all started when a group of teenage boys were arrested and tortured to death in a town in southern Syria. Protests followed afterwards, and the Syrian government initiated a violent crackdown on the protesters, sparking the civil war that has devastated both sides of Syria's population. Also, Iran has now done a thorough investigation of the mass schoolgirl poisonings that have been taking place in its schools, and they have now arrested over 110 people as suspects. There will be more details to come in the next few days. Lastly, severe weather is still battering the northeast and California, with the slow-moving nor'easter now moving through of the New England region. Over 1,000 flights have been canceled and over 40,000 people are still out of power. In California, the latest atmospheric river storm is creating hurricane speed gusts that are even breaking the glass of some high-rises, and over 125,000 people are still out of power in the region.

Happy Pi Day! How many numbers of pi can you name? 3.1415926535897932384626433... Anyway, let's get into today's only big news: weather. A massive nor'easter is moving into the northeast, with the New England region expected to receive up to 18 inches in some areas. Over 20 million people are under winter weather alerts, and over 70,000 people are already out of power in New York and New Hampshire, over 45,000 are out in Maine and Massachusetts, and over 25,000 are out in Vermont. However, the worst of all is in California. Yet another huge atmospheric river event has hit the state (its eleventh one this season), after receiving multiple feet of rain and snow in the past few weeks. Most California towns are already inundated, since the ground is so saturated, and over 335,000 people are without power. On the other side of the world, over 100 people are dead after Cyclone Freddy made its second landfall in Mozambique yesterday. It is now moving into Malawi, and Freddy is battering the countries with strong winds, heavy rain, and storm surge after becoming the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record.

Guess what's all over the news today? The Oscars! The 95th Academy Awards took place last night in Los Angeles, and the movie "Everything Everywhere All at Once" dominated, taking home seven awards, including "Best Picture." Michelle Yeoh from that movie also became the first woman of Asian descent to win an award in the category of "Best Actress." In addition, the song "Naatu Naatu" from the Bollywood movie "RRR" took home "Best Original Song," which was the first win for a Bollywood movie ever. Brendan Fraser won "Best Actor" for his movie, "The Whale," and "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio" won "Best Animated Feature." See the full results here. On another note, if you live in California, you are in for another big beating. Yet another atmospheric river event is moving in, and it will dump heavy rain, up to eight inches in some areas. Over 17 million people are under flood watches in California and Nevada after a massive storm passed through the area last week, completely inundating many towns and killing at least two people.

More severe weather is on the way for the northeastern US, with a potential bomb cyclone moving in with heavy snow and rain with high winds as well. Over a foot of snow is expected in some areas, so if you are in the New England region, you should brace for a serious winter storm. On another note, Cyclone Freddy has made its second landfall in eastern Mozambique, and it is absolutely pummeling the East African country after recently breaking the record for the longest-lasting hurricane/cyclone. It should fizzle out soon, but Freddy is still hitting Mozambique with strong winds and heavy rain.

California is just getting severely pounded, with the Silicon Valley Bank failure to their heavy rain. A levee in the town of Santa Cruz collapsed today, with emergency evacuations quickly taking place and flash floods inundating the area within minutes. This comes after back-to-back snowstorms pummeled the state a few weeks ago, and many Californians were buried in up to 10 feet of snow. On another note, Cyclone Freddy is back, and it is dangerous. Freddy started out as a tropical storm near Indonesia on February 6, and it moved west, strengthening into a Category 5, and slammed into Réunion, Mauritius, and Madagascar as a Category 2-3. After that, it was expected to hit Mozambique, but it seemed to have fizzled out over the Mozambique Channel. Now, over a month after it originally formed, it has re-strengthened, and become the longest-lasting hurricane/cyclone ever recorded. It is expected to hit Mozambique (again) soon, so if you are in its path, brace for some high winds and flooding!