Amid soaring tensions in the Red Sea region, Newsweek reported on Thursday that Iran has positioned advanced kamikaze drones in Yemen that could be used to attack Israel or other countries. “The Iranians have delivered to their Houthi proxies in Yemen advanced UAVs,” an anonymous expert, who provided satellite images of the drones, told Newsweek. “They are forward deploying or prepositioning these drones in order to stage an attack against a variety of targets they have within range.” There have been previous reports of suicide drones in the possession of the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, but these drones, identified as Shahed-136 loitering munitions, are far more advanced and powerful and can reach countries as far as 2,000 to 2,200 kilometers (1,240 to 1,370 miles) away.

Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang officially entered the race for mayor of New York City on Thursday, joining a crowded Democratic primary field that includes longtime elected officials and veterans of the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is barred by the city charter from seeking a third term. “It is here in New York City that my passion for uplifting people, for wanting to move our country forward, got started,” Yang said at a campaign launch that was streamed on YouTube because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Israelis may think they have it hard during the coronavirus era amid the country’s third lockdown, but if they speak to Panamanian Jews, they would realize it could be way worse. In an exclusive B’Chadrei Chareidim interview, N., from the frum community in Panama, describes the situation in the Central American country. Panamanians have been in lockdown for eight months – which means that people are sitting at home and are not allowed to leave except for essential purposes. There were about five or six months in lockdown from after Purim through September, when it was lifted for several months, and about two months ago the lockdown was reimposed following a surge in the infection rate.

שבשעת פטירתו של אדם אין מלוין לו לאדם לא כסף ולא זהב ולא אבנים טובות ומרגליות, אלא תורה ומעשים טובים בלבד — [at the time of a man’s passing from this world, neither silver nor gold … accompany him, but only Torah knowledge and good deeds — Pirkei Avos 6:9] Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate who made prolific donations to right-wing politicians and causes in the United States and Israel, was laid to rest in Jerusalem on Friday. Adelson, a key supporter of President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other right-wingers, died this week at the age of 87 after a long illness. The chairman and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands built a worldwide casino empire. Forbes ranked him the 19th wealthiest person in the U.S., worth an estimated $29.8 billion.

Encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram are seeing huge upticks in downloads from Apple and Google’s app stores. Facebook-owned WhatsApp, by contrast, is seeing its growth decline following a fiasco that forced the company to clarify a privacy update it had sent to users. Mobile app analytics firm Sensor Tower said Wednesday that Signal saw 17.8 million app downloads on Apple and Google during the week of Jan. 5 to Jan. 12. That’s a 61-fold increase from just 285,000 the previous week. Telegram, an already-popular messaging app for people around the world, saw 15.7 million downloads in the Jan. 5 to Jan. 12 period, roughly twice the 7.6 million downloads it saw the previous week. WhatsApp, meanwhile, saw downloads shrink to 10.6 million, down from 12.7 million the week before.

Twin Palestinians from Gaza living in Belgium posted a video of themselves rollerblading through an Antwerp Chareidi neighborhood on Shabbos holding a Palestinian flag and provoking residents, JTA reported. The twins, Adham and Amjad Salah, were detained and questioned by the Belgian police on Tuesday evening following a complaint of alleged harassment and intimidation, filed by the Forum of Jewish Organizations in the Flemish region. The police warned the twins to halt their provocative actions. Guess who are back in the Jewish Quarter of Antwerp, Belgium?

A large number of police officers conducted a simultaneous sting operation on a number of shuls in the Meah Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem, Thursday morning, in an attempt to enforce adherence to the Covid-19 regulations under the current lockdown. The officers were met with dozens of extremists who began to throw rocks and other projectiles at them. A number of violent altercations between the police officers and the extremists broke out in a few locations and at least ten people were  arrested. According to a statement made by the police, two officers were injured after being hit with rocks and heavy objects. One extremist assailant was arrested with a stone in his hand that he was preparing to throw at a police officer.

The FDNY was battling a massive 5-alarm fire in Brooklyn Thursday night. The FDNY says the fire is at 244 Montrose Ave. No injuries have been reported at this time. See the videos below: JOIN THE TENS OF THOUSANDS WHO ALREADY ARE ALERTED OF BREAKING NEWS LIKE THIS IN LIVE TIME: YWN WHATSAPP STATUS UPDATES: CLICK HERE to join the YWN WhatsApp Status. YWN WHATSAPP GROUPS: CLICK HERE to be added to an official YWN WhatsApp Group. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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New York’s attorney general sued the New York Police Department on Thursday, calling the rough treatment of protesters against racial injustice last spring part of a longstanding pattern of abuse that stemmed from inadequate training, supervision and discipline. Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit includes dozens of examples of alleged misconduct during the spring demonstrations in the wake of George Floyd’s police killing, including the use of pepper spray and batons on protesters, trapping demonstrators with a technique called kettling and arresting medics and legal observers. “We found a pattern of deeply concerning and unlawful practices that the NYPD utilized in response to these largely peaceful protests,” James said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit.

As a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol last week clamoring to overturn the result of November’s presidential election, photographs captured a man in the crowd wearing a shirt emblazoned with “Camp Auschwitz,” a reference to the Nazi concentration camp. Two white nationalists known for racist and anti-Semitic rhetoric livestreamed to their online followers after breaking into the Capitol during the deadly insurrection. And video circulated on social media showed a man harassing an Israeli journalist who was trying to do a live report outside the building.