AP Top News at 11:58 p.m. EDT

Trump downplays national security team texting military operation plan on Signal as a minor ‘glitch’

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday downplayed the texting of sensitive plans for a military strike against Yemen’s Houthis this month to a group chat that included a journalist, saying it was “the only glitch in two months” of his administration as Democratic lawmakers heaped criticism on the administration for handling highly sensitive information carelessly. Trump told NBC News that the lapse “turned out not to be a serious one,” and expressed his continued support for national security adviser Mike Waltz. Waltz, according to an article posted online Monday by The Atlantic, appeared to have mistakenly added the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a chat that included 18 senior administration officials discussing planning for the strike.

America’s allies alarmed by a leaked group chat about attack plans

LONDON (AP) — As wake-up calls go, the alarms don’t get much louder. Allies of the United States see the group chat between top U.S. officials about a planned attack in Yemen that accidentally included a journalist as a jaw-dropping security breach which casts doubt on intelligence-sharing with Washington and the security of joint military operations. “Scary” and “reckless” was the verdict of one European diplomat about the discussion on the Signal messaging app about strikes on Houthi rebels. Neil Melvin, a security expert at defense think tank the Royal United Services Institute, called it “pretty shocking.” “It’s some of the most high-ranking U.S.

Trump signs order seeking to overhaul US elections, including requiring proof of citizenship

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a sweeping executive action to overhaul elections in the U.S., including requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and demanding that all ballots be received by Election Day. The order says the U.S. has failed “to enforce basic and necessary election protections” and calls on states to work with federal agencies to share voter lists and prosecute election crimes. It threatens to pull federal funding from states where election officials don’t comply. The move, which is likely to face swift challenges because states have broad authority to set their own election rules, is consistent with Trump’s long history of railing against election processes.

Consumer confidence is sliding as Americans’ view of their financial futures slumps to a 12-year low

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence continued its sharp 2025 decline as Americans’ views about their financial futures slumped to a 12-year low, driven by rising anxiety over tariffs and inflation. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell 7.2 points in March to 92.9, the fourth straight monthly decline and its lowest reading since January of 2021. The reading was short of analysts expectations for a reading of 94.5, according to a survey by FactSet. The business group found that the measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for income, business and the job market fell 9.6 points to 65.2.

Appeals court allows Trump administration to suspend approval of new refugees amid lawsuit

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration can stop approving new refugees for entry into the U.S. but has to allow in people who were conditionally accepted before the president suspended the nation’s refugee admissions system, an appeals court ruled Tuesday. The order narrowed a ruling from a federal judge in Seattle who found the program should be restarted. The three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the president has the power to restrict people from entering the country, pointing to a 2018 Supreme Court ruling upholding President Donald Trump’s ban on travel from several mostly Muslim countries during his first term.

US Vice President JD Vance to join his wife in Greenland on Friday

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance said that he’s joining his wife on a Friday trip to Greenland, suggesting in an online video that global security is at stake. “We’re going to check out how things are going there,” Vance said in a video shared Tuesday. “Speaking for President Trump, we want to reinvigorate the security of the people of Greenland because we think it’s important to protecting the security of the entire world.” President Donald Trump irked much of Europe by suggesting that the United States should in some form control the self-governing, mineral-rich territory of American ally Denmark.

Gunman who killed 23 in racist attack at Texas Walmart is offered plea deal to avoid death penalty

The gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack targeting Hispanic shoppers at a Walmart near the U.S.-Mexico border in 2019 would avoid the death penalty under a plea offer announced Tuesday, abruptly ending years of efforts by prosecutors to see that he face execution by lethal injection. El Paso County District Attorney James Montoya said during a news conference that his decision in the prosecution of Patrick Crusius, who drove across the state for one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history and posted a racist screed just before opening fire, was driven by a majority of victims’ relatives who wanted the case behind them.

US holds separate talks with Russians after meeting Ukrainians to discuss a potential ceasefire

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. negotiators worked on a proposed partial ceasefire in the 3-year-old war in Ukraine on Monday, meeting representatives from Russia one day after holding separate talks with a team from Kyiv. It has been a struggle to reach even a limited, 30-day ceasefire — which Moscow and Kyiv agreed to in principle last week -- with both sides continuing to attack each other with drones and missiles. One major sticking point is what targets would be off-limits to strike, even after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with the countries’ leaders, because the parties disagree. While the White House said “energy and infrastructure” would be covered, the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to “energy infrastructure.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he would also like to see infrastructure like railways and ports protected.

Wildfires ravage southern South Korea, killing 18 people and destroying a 1,300-year-old temple

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Wind-driven wildfires that were among South Korea’s worst ever were ravaging the country’s southern regions, killing 18 people, destroying more than 200 structures and forcing 27,000 people to evacuate, officials said Wednesday. A 1,300-year-old Buddhist temple, houses, factories and vehicles were among the structures destroyed in the wildfires that have burned 43,330 acres and injured 19 people, the government’s emergency response center said. In a televised address, South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo said the wildfires that began last Friday were causing worse damage than many other past wildfires. “Damages are snowballing,” Han said. “There are concerns that we’ll have wildfire damages that we’ve never experienced, so we have to concentrate all our capabilities to put out the wildfires in the rest of this week.” Han said crews were struggling to extinguish the wildfires because strong winds swept the areas overnight.

Russell Wilson is heading to the New York Giants, AP source says

Russell Wilson has agreed on a one-year contract with the New York Giants, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday because the signing hasn’t been finalized, said Wilson’s deal is worth up to $21 million with $10.5 million guaranteed. The Giants signed veteran Jameis Winston to a two-year contract last week and have the third pick in next month’s NFL draft. They went 3-14 in 2024 and released 2019 first-round pick Daniel Jones during the season. Before signing Winston and Wilson, Tommy DeVito was the only quarterback on the team’s roster.