This past year has been tumultuous. With the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the rise of far-right extremists in the US, and terror attacks reverberating across the globe, 2017 has changed the world. 

However, there are a number of cities around the world where citizens are happy, social services, are improving, and economies are growing. 

These places routinely make the list of the world's most livable cities. Using factors such as crime, health care, culture, and access to transportation, the Economist has put together its annual list of the cities that have the highest standard of living. 

And, despite all the chaotic news, the average standard of living still managed to rise in a number of major cities around the world – which helped bring the global average livability metric up for the first time in a decade, reports The Economist. 

Cities such as Melbourne, Australia, and Vancouver, Canada, have been mainstays on the list for years, while Sydney, Australia lost its spot in the top ten this year.

Here are the top ten most livable cities in 2017:

SEE ALSO: These photos of the border between North and South Korea show just how disastrous a nuclear strike could be

#1: Melbourne, Australia

#2: Vienna, Austria

#3: Vancouver, Canada

If you're older than, say, 15, there's a healthy chance you've never heard of Roblox. 

Although Roblox has been available for PCs since 2005, the game has exploded in popularity only over the last few years. The newer smartphone, tablet, and Xbox versions of the app have opened it up to a new generation of players, making it a smash hit on schoolyards and college campuses everywhere. 

Nowadays, Roblox boasts 56 million monthly players. That actually puts it ahead of Minecraft. Earlier this year, Microsoft said about 55 million people play its hit game every month. Meanwhile, by some measurements, more people search for Roblox's website than for Lego, company officials boast. 

Even more intriguingly, Roblox lets anybody build games using its technology — providing its mostly-teenage base of developers with an unprecedented entrepreneurial opportunity. Roblox recently announced that it's on track to pay out $30 million to developers this year, with the top earner set to rake in no less than $3 million.

In an effort to better understand the Roblox phenomenon, I asked the biggest fans I know. My nephews, 11-year-old Diego and 7-year-old Tony, have been teaching me the ins and outs of Roblox. Here's what I learned.

SEE ALSO: A video game you've never heard of has turned three teens into multimillionaires — and it's just getting started

Welcome to Roblox. It's been around for PCs since 2005, but flew under most people's radar until the smartphone, tablet, and Xbox versions led to a total Roblox renaissance. Now, Roblox has over 56 million monthly active players, many millions of whom are kids.

I knew Roblox would be a big deal when it started wooing my nephews away from Minecraft, which had been far and away their favorite game — Diego and Tony say that they now split their video game time 50/50 between Roblox and Minecraft.

So what makes Roblox so sticky and addictive for kids? First thing you have to know is that Roblox is much more like an app store than it is a game in its own right. By using Roblox, you can access games in pretty much every genre imaginable.

This is Jailbreak, currently the most popular 

This week, in a press conference addressing violent white-nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, President Donald Trump brought up a surprising topic: his winery.

"I know a lot about Charlottesville," he said. "It's a great place that has been badly hurt over the last couple days. I own one of the largest wineries in the United States. It is in Charlottesville."

Trump Winery, which is run by the president's son Eric, has received backlash following some of Trump's controversial political stances and actions. In February, there was a movement backed by a local chapter of the National Organization for Women to boycott Wegmans for selling Trump wine at Virginia locations.

According to a legal disclaimer on its website, Trump Winery is "a registered trade name of Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC, which is not owned, managed or affiliated with Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization or any of their affiliates."

While on a recent trip to Charlottesville, we decided to pay Trump Winery a visit.

Considering our lackluster experience at Trump Grill, our expectations weren't too high when we visited. But, we went in with an open mind. Here's what we found. 

SEE ALSO: We ate at the controversial Trump Grill restaurant — here's what happened

DON'T MISS: We went to Waffle House — the American highway staple beloved by truckers — and discovered why Anthony Bourdain and chefs are obsessed with it

The Trump Winery — originally the Kluge Winery, which was bought by Trump in 2011 — is located in the rolling green hills outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, minutes from another more historical presidential estate, Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.

The tasting room sits off a winding country road in the midst of the winery's many rolling acres. Like many of the area's plentiful vineyards, it's a popular tourist destination and hosts many weddings.

As we walked in, we noticed a familiar plaque from the American Academy of Hospitality Science. The award plaques also adorn the walls of other Trump properties — the head of the organization, Joseph Cinque, is a longtime Trump acquaintance. Sometimes described as a "small-time mobster," Cinque has previously been convicted of possessing stolen property.

Source: Chicago Tribune

New York's subway system has been under closer scrutiny as disruptions pile up during what many are calling the "summer of hell."

It's hard to go a day without seeing a new complaint about the ailing system on social media. But the frequency of complaints are not just the product of easy access to Twitter: Delays have skyrocketed to 70,000 per month from 28,000 per month in 2012, according to the New York Times.

There are quite a few factors causing the decline in service — scroll down for a closer look:

SEE ALSO: 'Everyone was dripping and couldn't breathe': Passengers share hellish experience on stranded NYC subway

FOLLOW US: on Facebook for more car and transportation content!

Decades of disinvestment

New York was first and foremost a city built around public transit, but there's a well-documented history of how the automobile and Robert Moses' rise to power channeled resources away from the subway toward bridges and highways to better support cars.

By the time Moses passed away in 1981, the subway was in dire condition, as reported by Curbed.

Since then, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has done what it can to keep it operational, but little to bring a century-old system up to modern standards. The MTA even admits that "decades of underinvestment" are to blame for New York's subway woes.

All of this is to say that the state has neglected to channel funding toward longstanding issues. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and state legislators before him have cut millions in funding in the past, choosing to put money toward other projects.

Century-old technology

Staff members have to pull handles to operate track switches and signals so operators know it's safe to pass through, Business Insider's Graham Rapier reported. It doesn't give a precise location or speed, so it's hard to tell where the subways are. 

The L uses a system known as communications-based train control, which is safer and more reliable. But installing it on every subway line could take 50 years and cost $20 billion, the New York Times reported.

Overcrowding

One might think that using hand signals to control a subway system would be the main force behind delays, but the sheer number of people are actually the biggest problem. Over one-third of delays are caused by overcrowding, Gothamist reported.

Crowding prevents trains from leaving the station on time, a problem that gets progressively worse as the day goes on. New York needs more train cars to handle the swell of people clamoring to ride the system.

The most complacent stock market in history was shocked to attention last week after fiery comments from President Donald Trump about North Korea ratcheted up geopolitical tensions worldwide.

The S&P 500 dropped 1.5%, the most since May, as investors sought the relative safety of Treasury bonds and gold, clearly shaken by the potential for military escalation.

The benchmark index bounced back in a big way on Monday, climbing more than 1%, showing that there's still appetite for buying on weakness. It's a dynamic that's played out time and time again over the eight-year bull market, and it's helped keep the rally afloat through some tough times.

But there are cracks forming in the foundation of the equity rally slowly but surely. If you know where to look, there's no shortage of signs investors are feeling increasingly uneasy.

Here are three charts that show stock traders are not as confident about the market as Monday's relief rally would have you believe:

The stock market's fear gauge is spiking

Thursday's 44% spike in the VIX brought the fear gauge's three-day increase to 62%, which was the most since mid-2015 for a period of that length. This is significant because Trump's verbal escalation of the North Korea situation was deemed to be more anxiety-inspiring than some other major geopolitical events.

When faced with the UK's decision to leave the European Union, stocks sold off sharply, yet the VIX didn't spike to the degree it did last week. The fear gauge also failed to reach recent heights from just after the US presidential election, one of the biggest sources of market uncertainty in recent years.

A new volatility regime is being priced in

Now that we've discussed the VIX, what about expected volatility on the fear gauge itself? There's a handy measure for that, the CBOE VIX Volatility Index, or VVIX.

While the VIX spiked the most since May last Thursday, the VVIX did it one better, rising by the most since August 2015. In fact, the ratio of the VVIX relative to the VIX reached the highest ever, according to data compiled by Goldman Sachs.

Goldman isn't yet ready to say the volatility regime is shifting entirely, but the historically high ratio signals that markets are already bracing for more turbulent conditions.

Bearish puts on South Korean stocks are surging

The worry that rocked stocks worldwide last week was no more prevalent than in the South Korean market. The MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY) dropped 2.5% on Thursday, and fell 4.6% for the week.

Even more intriguing was the enormous volume in put contracts betting on a decline in EWY. It reached almost 70,000 units on Thursday, the most since early 2014, and totaled roughly 125,000 for the week, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Clearly investors are adopting a defensive, if not outright bearish, stance on South Korean equities as tensions boil. However, as Strategas Research Partners points out in the chart, the surge in put volume could be considered bullish — the logic being that the resulting weakness makes it easier to buy the dip, and also that sentiment isn't getting overextended to the upside.

Bank of America is stepping up its game in the travel rewards credit card competition, revealing its new Premium Rewards card, which will launch in September, the Wall Street Journal reported this week. 

The bank, the second-largest in the US by assets, has largely avoided the fierce battle for young, affluent credit card holders that has raged the past year since JPMorgan Chase unveiled its heralded Sapphire Reserve card.

Since the Sapphire Reserve's release last August, other competitors like American Express and Citi have tweaked their upper echelon reward card offerings to compete — even as the early returns suggest Chase may be struggling to make money off its blockbuster card so far. 

The pitfall of offering such lucrative rewards — Chase was handing out 100,000-point sign up bonuses before it slashed that down to 50,000 earlier this year — is it's tough to make money if customers stick around only long enough to reap the bonuses. Churners don't make for good business.

All the perks of the Premium Rewards card haven't been revealed yet, but like its competitors, it will offer a travel credit — $100 for airline expenses, excluding airfare — as well as $100 toward TSA PreCheck or Global Entry, a Bank of America spokesman told Business Insider. 

So how is Bank of America distinguishing its card? For starters, it will have a lower bonus, lower minimum-spending threshold to earn that bonus, and lower annual fee. 

But perhaps more importantly, the points cardholders will earn directly correspond with how much money they have at the bank, rewarding those enrolled in their Preferred Rewards program who have deeper ties and are less likely to cut and run. 

BI Intelligence's Jaime Toplin explains: 

"At its base, consumers get two rewards points for travel and dining, and 1.5 for everything else — a platform similar to 'mass-market' cards, according to the WSJ. But the firm also has a tiered system in place, where consumers with active BofA accounts can get higher rewards based on their account balances, with totals of up to 3.5 and 2.6 points, respectively, available to consumers. This system could help the card attract and incentivize lucrative customers without sacrificing mass appeal, ultimately broadening its user base."

Here's a look at how Bank of America's new card compares with the Sapphire Reserve and other competitors in the premium credit card rewards space.

Note: Card benefits listed are not exhaustive 

This article has been updated from its original version.

1. Bank of America Premium Rewards

Annual fee: $95

Sign-up bonus: 50,000 points

Spending required for sign-up bonus: $3,000

Points per dollar spent (tiered system based on how much cash you have deposited or invested with the bank):

• 2 for travel/dining, 1.5 for all other purchase (Less than $20,000 deposited)

• 2.5 for travel/dining and 1.875 on all other purchases ($20,000 to 49,999 deposited)

• 3 for travel/dining and 2.25 on all other purchases ($50,000 to 99,999 deposited)

• 3.5 for travel/dining and 2.6 on all other purchases (More than $100,000 deposited)

Other perks:

• $100 travel credit for airline travel expenses (like baggage fees; doesn't include airfare)

• $100 application credit for Global Entry/TSA PreCheck

This slide has been updated from it's original version. 

Chase Sapphire Reserve

Annual fee: $450

Sign-up bonus: 50,000 points

Spending required for sign-up bonus: $4,000

Points per dollar spent:

• 3 for travel/dining, 1 for all other purchase 

Other perks:

• $300 credit for travel expenses

• $100 application credit for Global Entry/TSA PreCheck

• Priority Pass airport lounge membership

Citi Prestige

Annual fee: $450

Sign-up bonus: 75,000 points

Spending required for sign-up bonus: $7,500

Points per dollar spent:

• 3 for travel, 2 for dining, 1 for all other purchase 

Other perks:

• $250 credit for airline expenses

• Book four nights at a hotel, and Citi will comp the fourth night

• $100 application credit for Global Entry/TSA PreCheck

• Priority Pass airport lounge membership

Successfully and painlessly getting from one part of the world to another can be difficult.

Between booking the right flights, planning and packing for all contingencies, and ensuring your travels are as stress-free as possible, a lot of things can go wrong along the way.

Luckily, there are plenty of people in the airline industry who can offer extensive knowledge on the matter.

So we asked more than 80 airline workers including flight attendants, gate agents, ticket agents, and other airport customer service reps to share their best travel hacks with us, and we scoured the internet for even more.

Here are 22 things that could help make your next trip less painful:

SEE ALSO: Flight attendants don't really want you to stop ordering Diet Coke

DON'T MISS: Flight attendants share 25 things they wish passengers would stop doing — and one you can probably get away with

Save space in your suitcase

"My favorite travel hack is definitely the clothes-roll technique. I am often gone from home for several days, even up to three weeks, and I save space by rolling my clothes instead of folding them."

— A flight attendant with one year of experience

Always sleep in clean sheets

"Don't sleep on hotel sheets that don't have creases from being folded; someone slept on them already."

— A flight attendant with 19 years' experience

Get a cheaper upgrade

"Some airlines do offer reduced-price upgrades the day of the flight — there's sometimes even first-class flights available. So be in the boarding area good and early during boarding, because this is when you'll hear the announcements for last-minute upgrade purchases you might be able to get. It's not for every airline, but it does happen."

— A flight attendant with three years of experience

Brandless is a new ecommerce startup offering a wide assortment of household and food items, each at the magical price of $3. 

The idea behind Brandless is that it can add value for the consumer by selling quality merchandise without a so-called "brand tax." Instead of having a big logo emblazoned on a product, the actual attributes of the product are listed on the package instead. 

Founders Tina Sharkey and Ido Leffler came up with the idea as they looked at how consumer behavior had changed, and how many big name brands are struggling as a result.

"The false narrative of modern consumption, that brands have created and products have created, was actually dying a fast and painful death," Sharkey told me.

She added that customers are more likely to shop in accordance with what they value, whether that's a preference for organic or non-GMO products or a good value.

I was enticed by Brandless' promise, so I decided to try it out.

SEE ALSO: American consumers have a new attitude that's creating a 'sphere of despair' for Nestle, Unilever, and Procter and Gamble

I happily shopped around, adding things to my cart. But as I went to check out, I hit my first snag. Brandless wanted to charge me $9 for shipping. I would have had to add $56 more to my order to get to the $72 threshold for free shipping. My other option would be to become a Brandless member, which would lower the free shipping threshold to $48.

I was about ready to give up on the order, but I saw later that day that Brandless was offering a discount on shipping — $3 for the first order. Ok, fine. You've got me, Brandless.

I placed my order and waited for it to arrive. I got the aforementioned tongs and garbanzo beans, as well as a two-pack of mac and cheese, gel hand soap, coconut cookies, and peanut butter.

The package arrived via FedEx four days later. The packaging was all very slick. The box and packaging tape are (somewhat ironically) all branded with the Brandless logo. Inside, literature welcomes customers to Brandless.

I immediately tore into the coconut cookies. I was packing for a trip and forgot to eat a real meal all day. But as hungry as I was, I wasn't impressed with how the cookies tasted. They were sweet and coconutty, but they were also really fragile, and there were a lot of crumbs at the bottom.

There was also a lot of salt, which I began to notice more as I reached the bottom of the 4.5-ounce bag. Yes, I ate the whole thing.

But in my opinion, $3 is a bit steep for one sitting's worth of cookies. For comparison, a 14.5-ounce bag of Oreos is $3 at Target. They're not non-GMO, but they are delicious.

Despite seceding and eventually losing the Civil War, the Confederacy lives on in a number of monuments in almost every state in the country. 

But it's not just monuments — like the Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville that led to an eruption of violence on August 12 — that are dedicated to Confederate officers. 

Schools, highways, parks, streets, and even US military bases are named after Confederate figures. 

At this time, there appears to be no plans to change the names of the bases. 

"There is no discussion at the DoD level," a Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Patrick Evans, told Business Insider, adding that any name changes would have to come from the "service level," meaning US Army leadership, since all 10 bases named after Confederate soldiers are Army bases. 

An Army spokeswoman referred Business Insider to a 2015 comment by Brig. Gen. Malcolm Frost: 

"'Every Army installation is named for a soldier who holds a place in our military history. Accordingly, these historic names represent individuals, not causes or ideologies,' and, 'It should be noted that the naming occurred in the spirit of reconciliation, not division.'"

Below are the 10 US military bases named after Confederate soldiers. 

SEE ALSO: Here's what Robert E. Lee thought about Confederate monuments

1. Camp Beauregard

The base is named after Confederate Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard, who ordered the first shots of the Civil War fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

2. Fort Benning

The base is named after Confederate Brig. Gen. Henry Benning, who was an advocate of slavery and fierce proponent of secession. 

3. Fort Bragg

The base is named after Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, who was known for having a "quick temper, general irritability, and tendency to wound innocent men with barbs thrown during his frequent fits of anger," according to historian Peter Cozzens. 

Sonoma, California, a region located in the heart of America's top winemaking region, has been named the best small town to visit in the country by US News & World Report.

The accolade came as a surprise, largely because Sonoma is a county made up of 13 cities — including the city of Sonoma — and several unincorporated towns. The region has flown under the radar relative to Napa Valley, with its elite wineries and globally known brand. But Sonoma has become more popular in recent years because of its laid-back vibe and affordability.

US News and World Report described Sonoma in glowing terms, calling it"Napa's rustic, less-refined, and more-relaxed sister" that comes without the crowds and high price tags.

I recently spent the day in Sonoma County to see why wine-lovers are abandoning Napa for wine country's lesser-known hotspot.

SEE ALSO: Napa wine country is overrun by tourists, so people are abandoning it for Sonoma — we visited both to see who does it better

If Napa Valley is the Disneyland of wine country, Sonoma is the Disney World.

Located about an hour's drive north of San Francisco, Sonoma stretches across three times the land area of Napa County. The region includes redwoods and a 55-mile coastline.

Because it's so large, you can't easily bike or use a ride-sharing service from one winery to the next. I enlisted my boyfriend as a designated driver for the day.

There's something about a good heist movie that makes going to the multiplex worthwhile.

With the high stakes, and the top-shelf actors and directors who seem to gravitate to the genre, when it's done right, it can be a thrilling cinematic experience.

As Steven Soderbergh dives back into the genre with the excellent "Logan Lucky" on Friday (in which Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, and Daniel Craig try to rob a NASCAR race), we thought it was a good time to look back on the classics of the genre.

Here are the 21 best heist movies of all time, ranked:

SEE ALSO: Steven Soderbergh has a new plan to make Hollywood movies outside the control of big studios

21. "A Fish Called Wanda"

John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin play a bumbling group who commit a robbery of very pricey diamonds and then try to con one another out of the loot. Cleese and Palin are at top form, and Kline's portrayal of a cocky American earned him an Oscar win for best supporting actor.  

20. “Mission: Impossible”

Though Tom Cruise's first time playing Ethan Hunt showed off all of the fun spy aspects of the franchise, it also had a very elaborate heist element. Hunt breaking into CIA headquarters to steal the "NOC" list is a highlight of the film.

19. “Bottle Rocket”

For Wes Anderson's directorial debut, he cast then-unknown brothers Luke and Owen Wilson as friends who plan the heist of a factory only for things to go horribly wrong.

• Manners are always welcome, but some are outdated

• Good manners are about making people feel comfortable, and some old-fashioned ones no longer do that

• Teaching your child to be thoughtful about how they interact with other people will always be valuable

The idea of skipping over to a new friend's house with a ribbon in your hair and dropping off a fancy calling card is, today, almost laughable.

But not too long ago, that was standard social protocol. And parents would be ashamed if their children did anything else.

Business Insider asked two etiquette experts — Barbara Pachter, author of "The Communication Clinic," and Daniel Post Senning, the author of "Manners in a Digital World" and the great-great-grandson of Emily Post — to tell us about some manners that kids don't need to learn anymore.

Read on for those manners — and what you should be teaching your kids instead so they grow up to be polite and respectful adults.

SEE ALSO: 4 outdated etiquette rules no one needs to follow anymore

Letting a man pay bills, carry packages, pull out chairs, and open doors

Here's a tricky area that Pachter pointed out.

For example, maybe at home, Dad does carry the grocery bags for Mom. That doesn't mean that at work or school, your son should insist on carrying a woman's bags — she might consider it insulting or awkward.

Instead: Pachter's general rule that she recommends teaching kids is "help anybody who needs help"— regardless of gender.

Addressing adults using their title and last name

Both Pachter and Senning said this is tricky territory, too. Only a few decades ago, you'd always have your kids call your friends Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Today, some of your friends might prefer it that way, while others might prefer Bob and Deb.

"It gets a little confusing," Pachter said.

Instead: If your kid isn't sure how they should address another adult, Pachter's advice for them is to err on the side of formality. "You can always be a little more formal and work your way down," she said, "but it's a lot harder to work your way back up."

Exchanging calling cards

The etiquette territory "that changes the most quickly tends to be the manners around communication," Senning said.

For example, if you take a look at a 1920s edition of an etiquette handbook, there could be a whole section devoted to exchanging calling cards.

These days, Senning said, calling cards are largely obsolete — and many parents are instead concerned with how their kids are interacting with other kids on social media.

Instead: As Ana Homayoun, author of the forthcoming "Social Media Wellness: Helping Teens and Tweens Thrive in an Unbalanced Digital World,"told The Washington Post, parents should help kids understand why they're posting or sending something on social media, so that they can make more informed choices.

• Twenty-nine students attend school in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.
• American troops monitor the situation to the North and teach English to the students.
• Less than 100 miles away from the border lies 70% of North Korea's soldiers.

In a small buffer zone on the southern side of the border that separates North and South Korea resides Daesungdong Elementary School.

The school is located in Taesung Freedom Village, a settlement in the Korean peninsula's Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The DMZ was created in 1951 for peace talks during the Korean War, and is a small area of just a little over a mile on either side of the border.

While the conflict stopped after an armistice was signed in 1953, a peace treaty was never signed, which means the two countries are technically still at war.

That tenuous situation led President Bill Clinton to call the DMZ "the scariest place on Earth" when he visited in 1993.

Reuters captured the daily life of students at Daesungdong Elementary School in a photo package called"Learning English in the Korean DMZ's Freedom Village."

SEE ALSO: Thousands of people gathered for a candlelight vigil at UVA — see the moving photos

On the southern side of the DMZ are American troops, many just a five-minute drive from a United Nations camp set up to monitor the situation to the North. Here, a US navy officer high-fives children at the Daesungdong Elementary School.

The students' daily commute includes trudging past barbed-wire fences, military checkpoints, and anti-tank barricades.

One of the students, a South Korean 4th grader named Lee Su-jin, said despite attending school in the DMZ, she isn't worried for her safety. "People are worried about us, but soldiers are with us, and we do evacuation drills," she told Reuters. "So I don't think there is anything to be scared or worried about."

The Carmelo Anthony trade remains one of the biggest trades in NBA history.

The 2011 blockbuster finally ended the saga known as "Melo-drama," sending Anthony from the Nuggets to the Knicks to form what was supposed to be a super-team with Amar'e Stoudemire.

The trade occurred just over six years ago, and with Anthony's current status with the Knicks up in the air, revisiting the deal remains fascinating. With so many changing parts — don't forget, the Minnesota Timberwolves were involved in the trade, too! — it resonated throughout the league.

With the help of Pro Sports Transactions, we tracked down where all of the players and draft picks are today.

Carmelo Anthony, of course, was the centerpiece of the deal. He wanted to go to the Knicks and essentially forced the Knicks' and the Nuggets' hands into dealing him before the trade deadline.

Today, Anthony is still on the Knicks, though trade rumors constantly swirl around him and his days with the Knicks are likely numbered.

The Knicks also got Chauncey Billups, a respected, capable veteran point guard, in the trade.

For much of America, the past four weeks of Donald Trump's presidency have been a wild roller coaster ride.

A wave of top-level hirings, firings, resignations, and public feuds have nearly dominated headlines over the last month. And though not all of the Trump administration's travails were of President Donald Trump's doing, it is clear that things are not all good in the White House.

One of the most significant examples of that can be found in Trump's approval ratings, which hit new lows this week on the heels of a days-long quarrel with North Korea over its nuclear-weapons program, and the fallout from a deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. And that's only part of the story.

Here's what happened in the Trump administration during the last four weeks:

SEE ALSO: Steve Bannon is out at the White House — here are all the casualties of the Trump administration so far

Another White House shuffle

Shake-ups among Trump's senior staff are nothing new in his administration, but the increasingly high-profile shuffles over the last four weeks have garnered so much news coverage, the administration has been a regular target of "Saturday Night Live" and late-night talk shows.

Sean Spicer, Trump's first press secretary who was known for his tenuous relationship with the reporters, resigned on July 21, amid rumors he strongly opposed the hiring of Anthony Scaramucci as communications director.

Within days of Spicer's announcement, chief of staff Reince Priebus was also ousted, amid reports of his contentious relationship with Scaramucci. Priebus was chastised by Scaramucci, who accused Priebus of leaking information to the press.

Ten days after he was hired, Scaramucci was fired over an explosive interview he gave to The New Yorker, in which he called out several members of Trump's senior staff in a profanity-laced tirade.

With Spicer, Priebus, and Scaramucci out, Trump made then-Homeland Security secretary and four-star Marine Corps general John Kelly the new White House chief of staff.

On Friday, August 18, White House chief strategist Steve Bannon also left the administration and return to his job at the right-wing website Breitbart News.

The 'beleaguered' Attorney General

Attorney General Jeff Sessions drew ire from Trump during an interview with The New York Times on July 19. Trump blasted Sessions' recusal from the FBI's investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 US election.

Calling Sessions' recusal "very unfair to the president," Trump said that had he known Sessions was going to recuse himself, he would have "picked somebody else."

A few days later, Trump criticized his "beleaguered" attorney general again on Twitter.

Many in the Republican Party denounced Trump's comments on Sessions, who was one of Trump's first and most ardent supporters early in the 2016 campaign.

Repeal-and-replace failure

Trump's widely touted plan and the GOP's seven-year quest to repeal and replace Obamacare came to a screeching halt on July 28 when the Senate's "skinny repeal" bill failed in a late-night vote.

Following the vote, Trump admonished Senate Republicans on Twitter, accusing Congress of letting "the American people down," and suggesting sweeping changes to the legislative process.

• Infidelity means different things to different people
• Psychologists and relationship experts have spent years studying the science of infidelity
• Some of their most compelling findings are below — but remember, they aren't predictions of the future

Infidelity is murky territory. Does a one-night stand at a bachelor party count? How about an emotional entanglement with a close friend that doesn't involve anything physical?

Psychologists and relationship experts have spent years studying the science of infidelity, turning up surprising insights into what different couples consider cheating, how they react to cheating, and how they bounce back after someone strays.

We looked into some of that research and pulled out the most compelling results. Read on to see what we found — and how you can apply these findings to your own relationship.

SEE ALSO: The most insidious type of cheating isn't physical — here are 9 signs your partner could be guilty

If you're economically dependent on your spouse, you're more likely to cheat on them

A 2015 study of about 2,800 people between ages 18 and 32, published in the American Sociological Review, suggests that a person who is completely economically dependent on their spouse is more likely to be unfaithful. 

That's especially true for a man who relies financially on a woman. Fifteen percent of men who are completely financially dependent on their wives cheat, compared to 5% of dependent women.

Here's the really interesting part: Men are less likely to cheat the more money they make relative to their spouse — until they bring in 70% of the household income, at which point they become more likely to cheat again.

Women are also less likely to cheat the more money they make relative to their spouse — but their cheating rates don't seem to go up at any point.

Men and women react differently to flirting outside their relationship

A 2008 study published in the journal Interpersonal Relations and Group Processes found that after men flirted with an attractive person of the opposite sex, they were less tolerant of their partner's transgressions. Women, on the other hand, were more so.

The study also found that men could be taught to write down a strategy to protect their relationship from tempting alternatives. In fact, after developing their strategy, men were just as likely as women to protect their partnership, as measured through a virtual-reality game.

We feel differently based on the sex of the person our partner cheats with

For a 2015 study, published in the journal Personal Relationships, men and women read about hypothetical scenarios in which their partner had sex with someone of a different sex or the same sex.

When researchers asked participants how they would feel about it, the men were more likely to be angry and more inclined to end a relationship if their partner cheated with someone of a different sex. But they were more likely to be aroused if their partner cheated with someone of the same sex.

Women also said they'd feel more negatively if their partner cheated with someone of a different sex. But they'd be more inclined to end the relationship if their partner cheated with someone of the same sex.

Many former athletes struggle with weight gain after their playing careers end. This is especially true among football players.

Some players are luckier and actually lose a ton of weight. In many cases, the players are now nearly unrecognizable.

One common theme among many of these players is the position they played.

Most of the players on the following pages were offensive lineman, suggesting those players do more to push their body weight to an extreme, developing dangerous habits like consuming massive numbers of calories to maintain their playing sizes.

Brad Culpepper (No. 77) was a 275-pound defensive tackle for three different teams and retired after the 2000 season.

Source: @monicaculpepper

Here is Brad Culpepper with his wife on the show "Survivor." He says it was pretty easy to lose 80 pounds because he simply stopped eating all the extra food needed to maintain his playing weight.

Source: sptimes.com

Alan Faneca was a 320-pound offensive lineman for the Steelers, Jets, and Cardinals, and he last played in 2010.

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

No matter where you live, what you do for a living, or how old you are, there's a great chance that you own a pair of sneakers — if not several. 

Sneakers are easily one of the most popular style of shoes, and for good reason. While most are designed for performance in athletics, their looks and comfort have transcended sports into fashion.

Despite an abundance of options, the demand for certain sneaker styles greatly exceeds the supply, causing them to sell out almost immediately. Clicking a link a minute after it's posted, or fumbling to pull out your debit card during checkout can be the difference between getting the sneakers or not.

Most people don't have the time, energy, or patience to closely monitor release dates or sit next to a computer all day in anticipation of a randomly timed online launch, so getting the highly sought after models can prove to be difficult. Trust me, diehard sneaker collectors have done their due diligence to secure a pair before the average person.

Luckily, looking good in a nice pair of sneakers isn't limited to fanatics, as there are many stylish sneaker that don't incite such urgency to purchase. Whether you're into Nike, Adidas, New Balance, or Puma, there are many options available.

If you want to buy a new pair of sneakers without jumping through hoops, check out 10 stylish options that won't sell out in seconds below. 

SEE ALSO: 5 new dress shoe companies every guy should know

Adidas NMD_R1 Primeknit

Designed for the urban nomad, the Adidas NMD is the perfect sneaker for a person who's walking, traveling, and generally active. This particular pair features a Triple White colorway with Japanese characters reading "The Brand with the Three Stripes." A full-length Boost midsole gives these shoes unbeatable comfort.

Adidas NMD_R1 Primeknit, $170

New Balance 247 Sport

The New Balance 247 Sport is a sneaker that you'll want to keep on your feet 24/7. Drawing from classic New Balance sneakers, the 247 is a modernized lifestyle sneaker optimized for comfort. It uses an engineered knit for a super lightweight feel.

New Balance 247 Sport, $89.99

Adidas Iniki Runner

The Adidas Iniki Runner is another sneaker that uses the brand's innovative Boost technology, so comfort isn't sacrificed. While the silhouette new to Adidas' line of products, it has many old school design cues like serrated Three Stripes branding, gold flake lettering, and gum outsole.

Adidas Iniki Runner, $120

Roughly 40,000 people descended on Boston Common on Saturday to protest a controversial right-wing "free speech" rally that had been planned.

The event came one week after violence and chaos erupted in Charlottesville, Virginia during a white nationalist rally. One woman died after an apparent white supremacist plowed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters.

In contrast, Saturday's demonstrations in Boston remained largely peaceful, despite some skirmishes with police. Twenty-seven people were ultimately arrested, police told media.

Here's how the day unfolded:

SEE ALSO: Trump labels Boston protesters 'anti-police agitators,' then praises them for 'speaking out against bigotry and hate'

A right-wing rally for 'free speech' had been planned for Saturday

But many feared it would draw white supremacists and neo-Nazis

Roughly 40,000 people showed up to protest against the rally

A number of cities around the world are becoming tougher places to live due to growing threats of terrorism and political and social unrest.

In particular, heightened terrorist threats from groups such as Islamic State and Boko Haram continue to impact the stability and liveability of cities across the world.

Taking this into consideration, the Economist Intelligence Unit has just released a ranking of 140 of the most — and least — liveable cities in the world.

The index ranks cities worldwide by how "livable" they are, awarding them points out of 100 according to stability, healthcare, culture/environment, education, and infrastructure.

Cities in Australia, New Zealand and Europe continue to dominate the top 10 most liveable cities — with Melbourne scoring top — while cities in the Middle East, Africa and Asia — with the exception of the Ukraine's Kiev — account for the worst.

The survey only addresses a selection of cities or business centres that people might want to live in or visit. It does not include places like Kabul in Afghanistan or Baghdad in Iraq, but does rank Damascus and Tripoli, which are unlikely to attract visitors but were deemed relatively stable just a few years ago.

In total, 12 cities continued to occupy the very bottom tier of liveability, where ratings fall below 50% and most aspects of living are severely restricted.

Scroll down to see the 10 worst cities to live in the world in 2017, according to the ranking.

10. Kiev, Ukraine — 47.8/100 points. The capital of Kiev saw the biggest decline in terms of liveability — 21.4 points — of all 140 cities surveyed. It is the also the only European city in the 12 that scored below 50 points. The city is still in a recovery that remains under threat from unrest, economic instability, and the ongoing civil war taking place in the Donbass region.

9. Douala, Cameroon — 44/100 points. The country has fallen into crisis following tensions between English-speaking and French-speaking areas. The city's healthcare scored particularly low, with just 25 points.

8. Harare, Zimbabwe — 42.6/100 points. The country's capital scored lowest of all of the least liveable cities in terms of healthcare, with just 20.8 points, but relatively high in terms of education at 66.7 points.