Editor's note

Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad will forever be remembered a president who oversaw the devastation of his country and ordered attacks on civilians to retain control. Despite this legacy, he insists he's a secular leader standing up against terror and extremism. Juliette Harkin writes that Assad and the father he succeeded as president have always been less interested in serving the Syrian people than in dominating them. Meanwhile Ruth Wells and Simon Rosenbaum explain how exercise can be used to help the many refugees who've fled Assad's Syria stem their depression and manage their mental health.

Venezuela has been on a dreadful downward slide since its own citizens voted it the fifth happiest nation in the world in 2012. Now the country has plummeted on the UN's World Happiness Report, a reflection of the political and economic uncertainty that's marked the past few years. Miguel Angel Latouche unpacks the despair Venezuelans are feeling.

Andrew Naughtie

International Editor

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Assad’s 2007 re-election campaign underway. EPA/Youssef Badawi

'Assadism' is destroying Syria – here's where it came from

Juliette Harkin, Anglia Ruskin University

Despite all claims to secular egalitarianism, the Assad family's decades of rule have been brutally elitist.

Dr Simon Rosenbaum in Gaziantep, Turkey, with participants in an exercise program for Syrian refugees. Simon Rosenbaum

Trust Me, I'm An Expert: 'Dancing out of depression' – how Syrian refugees are using exercise to improve mental health

Sybilla Gross, The Conversation

Last year, two researchers flew to Gaziantep in southern Turkey, where about one in four people are Syrian refugees, to explore how exercise might help improve mental health.

Venezuelans were once among the world’s happiest people. Then the country descended into economic chaos and humanitarian crisis. Jorge Silva/Ruters

Why Venezuelans are some of the unhappiest people in the world

Miguel Angel Latouche, Universidad Central de Venezuela

Venezuela – once known for its friendly people, oil wealth and beauty queens – ranks 102nd of 156 countries surveyed in this year's World Happiness Report, which measures well-being worldwide.

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