U.S. consumer confidence fell for the fourth straight month as Americans’ anxiety about their financial futures declined to a 12-year low amid rising concern over tariffs and inflation. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell 7.2 points in March to 92.9. Analysts were expecting a decline to a reading of 94.5, according to a survey by FactSet. The Conference Board’s report Tuesday said that the measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for income, business and the job market fell 9.6 points to 65.2. That’s the lowest reading in 12 years. The Conference Board says a reading under 80 can signal a potential recession in the near future. The proportion of consumers anticipating a recession in the next year held steady at a nine-month high, the board reported. “Consumers’ optimism about future income — which had held up quite strongly in the past few months — largely vanished, suggesting worries about the economy and labor market have started to spread into consumers’ assessments of their personal situations,” said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist at The Conference Board. While inflation has retreated from the highs during the post-pandemic rebound, it has remained above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Those still-elevated prices, combined with President Donald Trump’s announced tariffs on many imported goods, has Americans feeling sour about spending as concerns about the economy mount. Consumers appeared increasingly confident heading into the end of 2024 and spent generously during the holiday season. However, U.S. retail sales dropped sharply in January, with cold weather taking some of the blame. Earlier this month, the government reported that Americans modestly stepped up their spending in February after a sharp pullback the previous month. The board reported Tuesday that consumers’ view of current conditions decreased 3.6 points to 134.5. The consumer confidence index measures both Americans’ assessment of current economic conditions and their outlook for the next six months. Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity and is closely watched by economists for signs about how the American consumer is feeling. (AP)
A jaw-dropping video appearing to show a lion roaming the parking lot of Gourmet Glatt North sent social media into a frenzy on Tuesday morning. The footage, which quickly spread online, sparked concern among residents and shoppers who feared a dangerous animal was being filmed in the area. However, there’s no need to worry—the lion was never real. Read the full story on Lakewood Alerts.
A magazine journalist’s account of being added to a group chat of U.S. national security officials coordinating plans for airstrikes has raised questions about how highly sensitive information is supposed to be handled. Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg detailed a discussion that happened over the Signal messaging app hours before strikes on Iran-backed Houthi-rebels in Yemen order by U.S. President Donald Trump. The National Security Council has since said the text chain “appears to be authentic” and that it is looking into how a journalist’s number was added to the chain. Here’s a look at the app in question. What is Signal? It’s an app that can be used for direct messaging and group chats as well as phone and video calls. Signal uses end-to-end encryption for its messaging and calling services that prevents any third-party from viewing conversation content or listening in on calls. In other words, messages and calls sent on Signal are scrambled and only the sender and recipient at each end will have the key to decipher them. Signal’s encryption protocol is open source, meaning anyone that it’s freely available for anyone to inspect, use or modify. The encryption protocol is also used by another popular chat service, social media company Meta’s WhatsApp platform. Encryption on Signal is turned on by default, unlike another popular messaging app, Telegram, which requires users to turn it on and does not make it available for group chats. Signal has features that are found on other messaging apps. It allows users to host group chats with up to 1,000 people and messages can be set to automatically disappear after a certain time. Is it secure? Signal touts the privacy of its service — and experts agree it is more secure than conventional texting. But it could be hacked. Government officials have used Signal for organizational correspondence, such as scheduling sensitive meetings, but in the Biden administration, people who had permission to download it on their White House-issued phones were instructed to use the app sparingly, according to a former national security official who served in the administration. The official, who requested anonymity to speak about methods used to share sensitive information, said Signal was most commonly used to notify someone that they should check for a classified message sent through other means. Beyond concerns about security, Signal and other similar apps may allow users to skirt open records laws. Without special archiving software, the messages frequently aren’t returned under public information requests. In the Atlantic article, Goldberg wrote that some messages were set to disappear after one week and some after four. Do other government officials use Signal? Encrypted messaging apps are increasingly popular with government officials, according to a recent Associated Press review. State, local and federal officials in nearly every state have accounts on encrypted messaging apps, according to the review, which found many of those accounts registered to government cellphone numbers. Some were also registered to personal numbers. Who’s behind Signal? The app’s origins date back more than a decade, when it was set up by an entrepreneur who goes by the name Moxie Marlinspike, who was briefly head of product security at Twitter after he sold his mobile security startup to the social media company. Marlinspike merged two existing open source apps, one for texting and one for voice calls, to create Signal. The […]
Editor’s Note: Yeshiva World News (YWN) takes no official position in the ongoing debate regarding participation in the World Zionist Organization (WZO) elections. As always, YWN follows the guidance of its Rabbanim in determining what content to publish and which advertisements to accept. We urge our readers to do the same—seek the counsel of your Rav or Manhig and follow their direction regarding this, and any other hashkafic matter. ___________________________________ In a powerful and impassioned address at Beth Medrash Govoha’s 2025 Purim Mesiba, HaRav Malkiel Kotler, Rosh Yeshiva of BMG, strongly condemned any notion of joining the World Zionist Organization (WZO). “How could an ehrliche Yid think about joining the WZO?” he asked forcefully. Rav Malkiel lamented the influence of Zionist ideology in frum circles, questioning the long-term impact of such affiliations, declaring: “Who knows what this does to your neshama?!” His words echoed the longstanding stance of BMG’s roshei yeshiva, who have historically opposed involvement in organizations that intertwine Yiddishkeit with secular nationalism, seeing them as treif. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
A Chicago police officer who pleaded guilty to vandalizing an elderly Jewish man’s vehicle has faced no disciplinary action, sparking outrage from the victim’s family and raising serious concerns about anti-Jewish bias in law enforcement. Officer Mohammed Khan, 35, was caught on surveillance footage smashing the side mirrors off the car of 77-year-old Rabbi Avraham Wineberg, who was visiting his granddaughter’s family in Chicago’s heavily Jewish West Rogers Park neighborhood. His family believes his car was targeted because it belonged to a Jew. The incident unfolded on March 3, 2024, when Rabbi Wineberg accidentally parked in a private handicapped spot issued to accommodate Khan’s relative. Surveillance footage shows Khan, who was off duty at the time, issuing a parking ticket before peering through the car’s rear window—where he would have clearly seen a sefer. Then, in an apparent act of premeditated vandalism, Khan returned on foot and violently kicked off one of the vehicle’s mirrors, leaving it dangling. A few minutes later, he came back again, this time with a tool, and completely removed the second mirror. Adding insult to injury, the damaged vehicle was later towed—an unusual action for an illegally parked car. The next morning, Khan was captured on video orchestrating a second parking ticket with another officer. When confronted by Rabbi Wineberg’s grandson-in-law, Yisroel Wolf, Khan denied any knowledge of the vandalism, despite being caught on tape. “When we confronted him the next day, he tried to use his status as a police officer to get out of the crime, telling me, ‘I’m a police officer, I would never do such a thing, I don’t know what you’re talking about,’” Wolf recalled. Further raising suspicions, the parking ticket issued by Khan had an illegible signature and no badge number. “He knew he was doing something wrong. That’s why he didn’t legibly sign his name or include his badge number,” Wolf said. Despite pleading guilty to the crime and receiving 40 hours of community service, 10 hours of anger management, and $800 in damages, Khan remains an active-duty officer with no disciplinary action taken against him. The Chicago Police Department’s Bureau of Internal Affairs continues to claim that the case is ‘under investigation’, sending Wolf periodic emails stating that no action has been taken—even though Khan has already admitted guilt. Khan has been a full-time, active Chicago police officer since 2017, according to public records. Yet despite being caught red-handed, pleading guilty, and serving his sentence, his own department refuses to hold him accountable. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
The 2025 state budget has officially passed its third and final reading, securing the votes necessary to become law. After an intense session in the Knesset plenum, lawmakers voted 66-52 in favor of the NIS 755 billion ($205 billion) budget, avoiding a potential government collapse ahead of the March 31 deadline. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich hailed the budget as a crucial step in securing both the military front and the home front, emphasizing that economic stability is key to national strength. “The budget has everything we need to win, both on the battlefield and at home,” Smotrich declared. “We approached this budget with a great sense of achrayus, knowing that it is our responsibility to ensure Klal Yisrael remains strong. We promoted policies that will strengthen the economy and allow it to continue to grow. This is a war budget, and, b’ezras Hashem, it will also be a victory budget.” Despite the coalition’s confidence in the budget, the opposition fiercely attacked it, arguing that it places an even heavier financial burden on Israeli citizens without addressing the rising cost of living. Yisrael Beytenu chairman Avigdor Liberman lambasted the budget, accusing the government of ignoring the hardships faced by ordinary Israelis. “Everything has gone up—VAT has gone up, National Insurance payments have gone up, water, electricity, arnona—all have gone up. But they haven’t cut even a single shekel in coalition funds,” Liberman charged. National Unity chairman Benny Gantz echoed those concerns, warning that this budget would be felt by every Israeli household in the months to come. “This budget will hit every citizen of Israel, and at the end of the day, you will be the ones to pay the price,” Gantz warned. “The arrogance and detachment of this government will come back to them with interest.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
U.S. consumer confidence fell for the fourth straight month as Americans’ anxiety about their financial futures declined to a 12-year low amid rising concern over tariffs and inflation. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell 7.2 points in March to 92.9. Analysts were expecting a decline to a reading of 94.5, according to a survey by FactSet.
*OVERNIGHT IN FLATBUSH:* A silver Honda Accord was stolen near Best Buy on Bay Parkway within the 62nd Precinct. The NYPD pursued the vehicle, which ultimately crashed on East 7th Street between Avenues M and N. Officers apprehended one suspect, while the other managed to escape. A crime scene was established, with NYPD ESU, aviation, and K-9 units assisting in securing the perimeter. The scene was cleared a short time ago, but the second suspect remains at large.
*TOM HOMAN:* “Illegal aliens many times use Social Security numbers of American citizens, and it causes a lot of problems — We’re going to look out for the American people. We’re going to protect Social Security.”
In an interview with NBC News, President Trump defended National Security Advisor Mike Waltz after a journalist was accidentally added to a Signal chat discussing Yemen strike plans. Trump called it a “non-issue,” praised Waltz, and said the operation was “perfectly successful.”
Senate Intel Committee Chair m Tom Cotton: “The Biden Administration authorized Signal as a means of communication that was consistent with presidential recordkeeping requirements for its administration — and that continued into the Trump Administration.”
Secretary Turner: The Biden administration prioritized illegal aliens over American citizens. We put an end to that to make sure that the American citizens are not only prioritized, but that they are the only priority when it comes to HUD funded public housing instead of illegal aliens.
*MK Moshe Gafni:* “As a Chareidi person, it’s not easy today in the country, but there’s no such thing as a Jewish people without Lomdei Torah. We need to Daven for the soldiers, but without Torah learners, we would assimilate into the world.”
The Trump administration’s top intelligence officials face Congress this week to offer their first testimony in office about the threats facing the United States and tackle urgent questions about the security breach that unfolded when war plans were mistakenly leaked to a journalist. FBI Director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard are among the witnesses who will appear Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee and Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee in back-to-back hearings. Tuesday’s hearing will take place one day after news broke that several top national security officials in the Republican administration, including Ratcliffe and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, texted war plans for military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic. The text chain “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi-rebels in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” Goldberg reported. The strikes began two hours after Goldberg received the details. “Horrified” by the leak of what is historically strictly guarded information, the top Democrat on the House intelligence panel, Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, said he will be demanding answers in the hearing, as will others. The annual hearings on worldwide threats will offer a glimpse of the Trump administration’s reorienting of priorities, which officials across agencies have described as countering the scourge of fentanyl and fighting violent crime, human trafficking and illegal immigration. Former FBI Director Christopher Wray routinely has said he is hard-pressed to think of a time in his career when the United States faced so many elevated threats at once, but the concerns he more regularly highlighted had to do with sophisticated Chinese espionage plots, ransomware attacks that have crippled hospitals and international and domestic terrorism. “We have to change to the dynamic threat landscape that is changing constantly not just in America but abroad,” Patel said in a Fox News interview that aired Sunday night, citing the elevated threat from “narco-traffickers.” But, he added, “we’re not going to forget or ignore national security — never.” The hearings are also unfolding against the backdrop of a starkly different approach toward Russia following years of Biden administration sanctions over its war against Ukraine. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a lengthy call with President Donald Trump to an immediate pause in strikes against energy infrastructure in what the White House described as the first step in a “movement to peace.” (AP)
A love of science and a strong desire to help others made a career in medicine an obvious choice for Dovid Schoenberg, a Touro University School of Health Sciences grad. “Once I discovered that physician assistant (PA) was a career option, I knew it was for me. As a former EMT, I wanted to start working right away as a provider and becoming a PA was the best way to advance my career and get in the workforce as quickly as possible!” he explains. It was important for Dovid to study in a place that would respect his Jewish values and Touro became his top choice for undergrad and grad school. “Touro had great science professors, which was important to me as a pre-PA student. I also liked that Touro had small classes where I could readily form a bond with my professors. We had many opportunities for research in the lab and, overall, I had a great experience there,” he said. Dovid credits Professor Sondra Middleton in Touro’s School of Health Sciences PA program for helping him succeed. “Professor Middleton believed in me and would listen when I felt school was too much and maybe I couldn’t do it. She never gave up on me,” he said. Now an emergency medicine PA at Montefiore Medical Center, Dovid appreciates the fast-paced energy with new cases coming in all the time. “As a former EMT, I saw everything before we got to the hospital. Working in emergency medicine, I now see everything that happens in the hospital and, in a sense, completes the picture,” he said. “I work 13-hour shifts of organized chaos. I shuffle between the urgent care zone and the main emergency department, handling anything from CPR to suturing. I do it all.” Dovid hopes to stay in emergency medicine and leaves open the possibility of teaching at a PA school one day as well. Learn more at touro.edu/poweryourpath
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday rejected claims that white South Africans—particularly Afrikaner farmers—are being persecuted, calling it a “completely false narrative.” His comments were a direct response to President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and conservative leaders in the U.S., who have raised alarms over violent attacks on white farmers and government policies targeting land ownership. Billionaire Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, has been one of the loudest voices decrying what he describes as state-sanctioned hostility toward Afrikaners. Over the weekend, Musk repeated his warning about what he calls “white genocide” in South Africa, highlighting a recent political rally where Black leaders sang a song calling for the killing of white farmers. “Very few people know that there is a major political party in South Africa that is actively promoting white genocide,” Musk wrote on X, linking to a video of the event. The concerns voiced by Musk, Trump, and others have translated into direct U.S. policy action. Last month, President Trump issued an executive order cutting U.S. funding to South Africa over its treatment of white minorities, while offering Afrikaners refugee status in America. Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed these concerns, calling out the song sung by members of South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party that includes the lyrics “Kill the Boer, the farmer.” “This chant incites violence,” Rubio wrote Monday night. “South Africa’s leaders must take action to protect Afrikaners and other disfavored minorities. The United States is proud to offer protection to those facing this ongoing threat.” The EFF, which is the fourth-largest political party in South Africa, has a history of inflaming racial tensions and advocating for radical policies, including land expropriation without compensation. While its leaders claim the song is “historic” and symbolic, Afrikaner advocacy groups have argued that it contributes to a dangerous climate of violence against white farmers. The South African government has downplayed concerns over white farmers being targeted, insisting that they are merely victims of general crime in the country, which has one of the highest murder rates in the world. However, farm security groups and Afrikaner organizations say the government is deliberately misrepresenting the numbers. Official police statistics recorded just one farm murder between October and December of last year, yet Afrikaner advocacy groups documented eight in the same period—raising questions about the accuracy of government figures. South Africa’s government has been steadily pushing land redistribution policies, which many Afrikaners see as an attempt to strip them of their land without due process. While Ramaphosa claims his administration is acting fairly, Trump’s executive order reflects a growing recognition in the U.S. that white farmers are being placed in an increasingly vulnerable position. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Lisa Sólrun Christiansen gets up at 4 a.m. most days and gets to work knitting thick wool sweaters coveted by buyers around the world for their warmth and colorful patterns celebrating Greenland’s traditional Inuit culture. Her morning routine includes a quick check of the news, but these days the ritual shatters her peace because of all the stories about U.S. President Donald Trump’s designs on her homeland. “I get overwhelmed,’’ Christiansen said earlier this month as she looked out to sea, where impossibly blue icebergs floated just offshore. The daughter of Inuit and Danish parents, Christiansen, 57, cherishes Greenland. It is a source of immense family pride that her father, an artist and teacher, designed the red-and-white Greenlandic flag. “On his deathbed he talked a lot about the flag, and he said that the flag is not his, it’s the people’s,” she said. “And there’s one sentence I keep thinking about. He said, ‘I hope the flag will unite the Greenlandic people.’’’ Island of anxiety Greenlanders are increasingly worried that their homeland, a self-governing region of Denmark, has become a pawn in the competition between the U.S., Russia and China as global warming opens up access to the Arctic. They fear Trump’s aim to take control of Greenland, which holds rich mineral deposits and straddles strategic air and sea routes, may block their path toward independence. Those fears were heightened Sunday when Usha Vance, the wife of U.S. Vice President JD Vance, announced she would visit Greenland later this week to attend the national dogsled race. Separately, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will visit a U.S. military base in northern Greenland. The announcement inflamed tensions sparked earlier this month when Trump reiterated his desire to annex Greenland just two days after Greenlanders elected a new parliament opposed to becoming part of the U.S. Trump even made a veiled reference to the possibility of military pressure, noting the U.S. bases in Greenland and musing that “maybe you’ll see more and more soldiers go there.” News of the visit drew an immediate backlash from local politicians, who described it as a display of U.S. power at a time they are trying to form a government. “It must also be stated in bold that our integrity and democracy must be respected without any external interference,” outgoing Prime Minister Múte Boroup Egede said. Greenland, part of Denmark since 1721, has been moving toward independence for decades. It’s a goal most Greenlanders support, though they differ on when and how that should happen. They don’t want to trade Denmark for an American overlord. The question is whether Greenland will be allowed to control its own destiny at a time of rising international tensions when Trump sees the island as key to U.S. national security. David vs. Goliath While Greenland has limited leverage against the world’s greatest superpower, Trump made a strategic mistake by triggering a dispute with Greenland and Denmark rather than working with its NATO allies in Nuuk and Copenhagen, said Otto Svendsen, an Arctic expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Trump’s actions, he says, have united Greenlanders and fostered a greater sense of national identity. “You have this feeling of pride and of self-determination in Greenland that the Greenlanders are not, you know, cowed by this pressure coming from Washington,” […]
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz may be on the verge of losing his position after reportedly adding a journalist to a top-secret group chat discussing U.S. military strikes on the Houthis, Politico reports. According to White House officials, President Donald Trump is expected to make a decision on Waltz’s fate within the next day or two. “Half of them are saying he’s never going to survive or shouldn’t survive,” a senior administration official told Politico, referring to multiple staff discussions on Waltz’s standing. Two senior aides have suggested that Waltz step down to avoid putting Trump in a “bad position.” “Everyone in the White House can agree on one thing: Mike Waltz is a [expletive removed] idiot,” a person close to the administration stated. The controversy became public after journalist Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic revealed on Monday that he had been mistakenly added to the private chat. The National Security Council later confirmed the authenticity of the messages and announced an internal investigation into how the breach occurred. The Signal chat group included Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, Mideast Envoy Steve Witkoff, and 12 other officials. Waltz, a longtime advocate of Israel and a staunch critic of Iran, has been a key proponent of a traditional Republican foreign policy approach, in contrast to the isolationist wing emerging within the administration. Additionally, Politico reports that Trump may also direct his anger at Vice President Vance for opposing White House policy on Yemen in the leaked discussion or at Defense Secretary Hegseth for allegedly sharing classified details about the impending strikes. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
