Yeshiva World News

“What’s funny about it to me is you’re mad at the guy who found the fraud, but not mad at the people that wasted your money” – Rep Wesley Hunt

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. Country rankings were based on answers people give when asked to rate their own lives. The study was done in partnership with the analytics firm Gallup and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. “Happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth — it’s about trust, connection and knowing people have your back,” said Jon Clifton, the CEO of Gallup. “If we want stronger communities and economies, we must invest in what truly matters: each other.” Researchers say that beyond health and wealth, some factors that influence happiness sound deceptively simple: sharing meals with others, having somebody to count on for social support, and household size. In Mexico and Europe, for example, a household size of four to five people predicts the highest levels of happiness, the study said. Believing in the kindness of others is also much more closely tied to happiness than previously thought, according to the latest findings. As an example, the report suggests that people who believe that others are willing to return their lost wallet is a strong predictor of the overall happiness of a population. Nordic nations rank among the top places for expected and actual return of lost wallets, the study found. Overall, researchers said global evidence on the perceived and actual return of lost wallets shows that people are much too pessimistic about the kindness of their communities compared to reality — actual rates of wallet return are around twice as high as people expect. While European countries dominate the top 20 in the ranking, there were some exceptions. Despite the war with Hamas, Israel came in at 8th. Costa Rica and Mexico entered the top 10 for the first time, ranking at 6th and 10th respectively. When it comes to decreasing happiness — or growing unhappiness —the United States has dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012. The report states that the number of people dining alone in the United States has increased 53% over the past two decades. The United Kingdom, at position 23, is reporting its lowest average life evaluation since the 2017 report. Afghanistan is again ranked as the unhappiest country in the world, with Afghan women saying their lives are especially difficult. Sierra Leone in western Africa is the second unhappiest, followed by Lebanon, ranking the 3rd from the bottom. In a concerning development, the study said 19% of young adults across the world reported in 2023 that they have no one they could count on for social support. That is a 39% increase compared to 2006. All countries are ranked according to their self-assessed life evaluations averaged over 2022 to 2024. Experts in economics, psychology, sociology and beyond then seek to explain the variations across countries and over time using factors such as GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, a sense of freedom, generosity and perceptions […]

Arson struck the Hyper Cacher supermarket in Paris overnight, reigniting painful memories of the 2015 terrorist attack that left four Jewish men dead in the store. Authorities are investigating after a man was caught on CCTV setting fire to containers outside the supermarket before igniting a nearby dumpster, reports say. The front of the supermarket sustained damage, with flames licking into the interior, though no injuries have been reported. The attack is the latest in a disturbing rise in anti-Semitic incidents across Europe. The Hyper Cacher supermarket holds a tragic place in history. On January 9, 2015, it became the scene of a brutal hostage standoff and massacre when Amedy Coulibaly, claiming allegiance to ISIS, stormed the store and murdered four Jewish men before being shot dead by police. The attack came just days after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, where 12 people were slaughtered by Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists. The latest attack has sparked widespread concern among France’s Jewish community, already on edge amid rising tensions. French authorities have yet to release details on a suspect or motive, but many fear the symbolic targeting of a site forever linked to terror and tragedy. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) staffer currently hospitalized in Israel has been discovered to have prominent pro-Nazi tattoos, a source revealed to JNS. The U.N. staffer, who was injured in a booby trap attack in Gaza, was initially treated in a Gaza hospital before being transferred to an Israeli medical facility for further care. Despite the U.N. blaming Israel for the attack, Israeli sources maintain that the IDF does not operate in that part of Gaza, and the injuries were likely caused by a Hamas-planted trap. While receiving lifesaving treatment in an Israeli hospital, it was discovered that the staffer bore tattoos with explicit Nazi imagery. One tattoo, written in bold black German letters, reads “My honor is loyalty”—the notorious motto of the Waffen SS, the Nazi paramilitary unit responsible for countless war crimes and mass executions during the Holocaust. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) describes this phrase as a neo-Nazi hate slogan widely used by white supremacists worldwide. The second tattoo is reportedly an image of an SS officer, complete with Nazi insignia, a military hat, sunglasses, and a marked collar. Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, downplayed the revelations, telling JNS: “I’m aware of the tweet showing the tattoos. Don’t know anything further, including which person is involved.” Instead of addressing the discovery of a Nazi-affiliated U.N. staffer, Haq pivoted, saying, “Our focus right now is getting medical care for the wounded people.” The incident comes amid increasing scrutiny of the United Nations’ ties to antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiment. Hillel Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch, described the revelation as part of a larger, systemic problem. “Sadly, this is not an isolated phenomenon,” Neuer said, adding that antisemitism pervades the United Nations. He pointed to the U.N.’s ongoing decision to retain Francesca Albanese, a U.N. human rights investigator, despite public condemnation from France, Germany, Canada, and the United States for Holocaust distortion and antisemitism. Albanese, a former UNRWA official, has previously written that “America is subjugated by the Jewish lobby”, a statement widely condemned as a classic antisemitic trope. The U.N.’s handling of its Gaza operations has been under intense scrutiny since Israel provided evidence that staff members from the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) directly participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks. A significant number of UNRWA employees have been found to have ties to Palestinian terror organizations, leading to global funding suspensions and investigations. According to Jewish employees within the U.N., antisemitism is not only rampant but actively encouraged within certain departments. Speaking anonymously to JNS in 2024, one Jewish U.N. worker stated, “Anti-Israel propaganda is completely organized and supported at the highest level by the U.N.” Another added, “Lots of people are hiding the fact that they’re Jewish. They’re not saying they’re Jewish out of fear.” The revelation that a U.N. staffer, allegedly working to remove mines and protect civilians, was openly carrying Nazi symbols adds yet another stain to the United Nations’ already tarnished record. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

TRUMP: “I want to just make one little personal statement: Teachers, to me, are among the most important people in this country… and we’re going to take care of our teachers.”

*WATCH THIS!:* As millions of Israelis ran to bomb shelters after Hamas fired rockets at central Israel on Thursday for the first time in months, HaGaon HaRav Berel Povarsky was in the middle of delivering a shiur to a group of bochurim at his home. Seemingly oblivious of the siren, he continued engaging in the sweet words of Torah.

BREAKING: President Trump has officially signed an executive order to shut down the Department of Education.

*POTUS:* Today, we take a very historic action that is 45 years in the making. In a few moments, I will sign an Executive Order to begin eliminating the Department of Education once and for all.

The alert system on a Delta Air Lines jet that flipped upside down and burst into flames as it tried to land in Toronto last month indicated a high rate of descent less than three seconds before touchdown, according to a preliminary report released on Thursday. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada, which issued the report, continues to investigate the Feb. 17 crash-landing in which 21 people were hospitalized. All 76 passengers and four crew members survived when the Delta plane arriving from Minneapolis burst into flames after flipping over and skidding on the tarmac. The TSB of Canada report says that when the plane’s ground proximity warning system sounded 2.6 seconds before touchdown, the airspeed was 136 knots, or approximately 250 kph (155 mph). It says the plane’s landing gear folded into the retracted position during touchdown and the wing detached from the fuselage, releasing a cloud of jet fuel, which caught fire. The safety board says its ongoing investigation is focusing on several key areas, including metallurgical examination of the wing structure, landing techniques, pilot training and the passenger evacuation process. All of those who were hospitalized were released within days of the crash. At least two lawsuits have been filed in the United States, and a law firm in Canada has said that it’s been retained by several passengers. (AP)

WILLIAMSBURG: NYPD Brooklyn North Chief Scott Henderson, Deputy Chief Richie Taylor, and commanding officers from local NYPD precincts visited the Satmar Matzah Bakery on Broadway Avenue and Gottlieb’s Restaurant ahead of Pesach. They were accompanied by askonim and community leaders during the tour.

A French citizen imprisoned in Iran for over 880 days has been freed and is back home, as was another French citizen held under house arrest in Tehran, French officials said Thursday. Their liberation came as France and the rest of Europe are trying to jumpstart talks with Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program. U.S. President Donald Trump has sent a letter to Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei seeking negotiations. Trump is also pressuring Tehran over its support of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels as the American military carries out an intense new campaign of airstrikes targeting the group. French President Emmanuel Macron announced online that Frenchman Olivier Grondeau had been freed. The French Foreign Ministry said another French citizen who had been under house arrest in Tehran for more than four months was released Wednesday night. He asked to not be publicly identified, the ministry said. The release came ahead of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, when Iran has released prisoners in the past. In January, Grondeau spoke to a French broadcaster from prison, alluding at the time to the politics at play in his imprisonment. “You become a human who has been stocked away indefinitely because one government is seeking to exert pressure on another,” he said. His lawyer in France, Chirinne Ardakani, said he returned on Monday to Paris. “He’s in good hands. He’s recovering,” the attorney told The Associated Press. An Iranian court had sentenced Grondeau, a backpacker and world traveler, to five years in prison on espionage charges that he, his family and the French government vigorously denied. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said France did not provide anything in exchange for Grondeau’s liberation. Barrot told French broadcaster TF1 on Thursday that he had initially discussed the situation with Iran’s foreign minister but when those discussions failed to secure a release, ″it was via different means that we obtained this result.″ He didn’t elaborate. Iran isn’t acknowledging the release Releases of Westerners in Iran typically come in exchange for something. Tehran did not immediately acknowledge Grondeau’s release. Earlier this week, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said France had arrested an Iranian woman who supported Palestinians, but said Tehran was still trying to gather more details about her case. An image that circulated of Grondeau on a private jet flying home was a plastic-wrapped T-shirt with a photo of pop star Britney Spears. He put it on before getting off the plane and embracing his family on returning home, in footage aired by TF1. After the family and Grondeau went public about his detention, his mother had described the former youth Scrabble champion as a fan of Beyoncé and karaoke in interviews with French media. Arrest came during Mahsa Amini protests Grondeau was detained by Iranian authorities in October 2022 in the city of Shiraz. Though the exact details of what sparked Iran’s arrest of Grondeau remain unclear, his detention began in the chaotic aftermath of the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died after being detained over not wearing Iran’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, to the liking of authorities. United Nations investigators later said Iran was responsible for the “physical violence” that led to Amini’s death, which sparked months of protests and a bloody security force crackdown in the country. “Most of the questions were, ‘Did you take part in […]

Former Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman was questioned by police on Thursday for alleged extortion against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. In an interview with Channel 12 last week, Argaman said that he will reveal private information about Netanyahu if he decides that the prime minister is acting “illegally.” Argaman was repeating the leftist refrain that Netanyahu is acting “illegally” whenever he does anything not to their liking – such as his plans to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and oust Attorney-General Gali Baharav Miara. “For now, everything that happened in one-on-one meetings between the prime minister and me—I keep in that space,” Argaman said. “It is absolutely clear that I have a great deal of knowledge, and I could use it, but I am not, for the reasons I mentioned. If I reach the conclusion that the prime minister is acting illegally, I will have no choice but to disclose everything I know and have kept to myself until now.” Following the interview, Netanyahu filed a complaint against Argaman for extortion by threatening him with the “criminal use of information he was privy to in his position in the Shin Bet.” Argaman was questioned at the central fraud investigation unit on suspicion of extortion by threats. Netanyahu also publicly slammed Argaman’s threats, saying after the interview: “A dangerous new red line has been crossed in Israeli democracy. Never, in all of Israel’s history or in the history of democracies, has a former head of a secret security agency openly blackmailed a sitting prime minister on live television. This crime is part of an ongoing campaign of extortion through media leaks in recent days, orchestrated by current Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

Thousands of anti-government protesters take to the streets of Yerushalayim in the pouring rain.

WATCH: Israeli Police are starting to smash protesters car windows who are obstructing the entrance to the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.

The IDF says it carried out airstrikes on Hezbollah facilities in Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa Valley, after identifying activity by the terror group there. One site included underground infrastructure, and another was used to store rocket launchers, according to the military.

Hamas has reportedly informed mediators that it is willing to accept any proposal for the release of Israeli hostages, provided it includes a resumption of the ceasefire, according to a report by UK-based Qatari news organization Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Thursday. The report suggests that Hamas did not outright reject U.S. Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff’s ceasefire-hostage framework, as some had speculated, but instead conditioned its acceptance on an agreement to halt Israeli military operations. However, Witkoff reportedly declined the condition, a move that caught Hamas by surprise, according to the report. Meanwhile, Egyptian sources cited by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed said an Israeli delegation visited Cairo on Wednesday evening for a few hours, with a Hamas delegation expected to arrive later on Thursday to continue discussions. Egyptian officials have been pushing both sides toward an agreement and reportedly presented a new ceasefire proposal on Tuesday. The proposal included the release of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander, along with the bodies of five hostages, and embraced Witkoff’s framework, which called for the release of half the remaining hostages over the coming weeks. According to KAN News, Egypt has been working intensively to persuade Hamas to agree to the U.S.-backed framework, which aims to secure the release of a number of Israeli hostages while preventing further military escalation. However, sources involved in discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s team say that Hamas has not changed its position on negotiations with Israel, even after the renewed military escalation. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

BREAKING: Defense Sec. Hegseth announces termination of $580 Million in DoD contracts.