An audio recording of former President Joe Biden’s 2023 interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur, released by Axios on Friday night, has confirmed long-held conservative concerns about Biden’s cognitive decline while in office. The five-hour-plus recording, obtained through an undisclosed source, reveals a president struggling with basic recollection, slurring words, and relying on aides to correct critical errors, raising fresh questions about his fitness to lead during his final year in office. The interview, conducted over two days in October 2023 as part of Hur’s investigation into Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, paints a troubling picture.

Senior Hamas officials held a high-level meeting in Gaza on October 2, 2023, during which Yahya Sinwar proclaimed that an “extraordinary act” must be carried out to sabotage the normalization process between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Minutes of the meeting were found by the IDF in a Gaza tunnel and reviewed by the WSJ.

A ballistic missile fired at Israel by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen was successfully intercepted by Israeli air defenses on Motzei Shabbos. No injuries or damage have been reported. Sirens blared across central Israel, preceded by a five-minute early warning sent via push notifications to residents’ phones, alerting them to the incoming long-range missile. Since the IDF relaunched its campaign against Hamas in Gaza on March 18, the Houthis have fired 35 ballistic missiles and at least 10 drones at Israel, with several missiles failing to reach their targets. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

Fifteen Israeli fighter jets carried out massive airstrikes on the Al-Salif and Hodeidah ports in Yemen on Friday afternoon, dropping over 30 bombs. The attack came after Israel last week twice issued warnings for Yemenis to evacuate the ports. Following the attack, the IDF issued a statement saying that the ports that were attacked were used to transfer weapons to the Houthis to attack Israel. It was Israel’s eighth attack on the Houthis in Yemen in less than a year. Defense Minister Yisrael Katz on Friday threatened to assassinate Houthi leaders just like the “Sinwars” in Gaza.   (YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)

A political firestorm erupted Thursday when former FBI Director James Comey posted a cryptic Instagram photo of seashells arranged to form the numbers “8647,” which many in conservative circles interpret as a coded call to assassinate President Donald Trump. The post, deleted after sparking outrage, has prompted investigations by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Secret Service, with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard leading calls for Comey’s arrest. The controversy stems from the phrase “86 47,” where “86” is slang for “to get rid of” or, more recently, “to kill,” and “47” refers to Trump’s status as the 47th President of the United States.

Syria’s new government under President Ahmad al-Sharaa is reportedly considering the return of the remains of legendary Israeli spy Eli Cohen — a potential diplomatic gesture that could mark a striking departure from decades of hostile silence between the two countries. According to Arab diplomats cited by Al-Akhbar, a pro-Hezbollah Lebanese newspaper known for its deep connections in the region, Syrian officials have not ruled out the possibility of transferring Cohen’s remains to Israel, nearly 60 years after he was hanged in a Damascus public square in 1965. The report, authored by Al-Akhbar editor-in-chief Ibrahim al-Amin, claims that covert security talks between Israel and Syria have intensified in recent weeks, with a particular focus on confidence-building measures.

The father of Edan Alexander, the US-Israeli soldier recently freed from captivity in Gaza, offered a glimpse of the brutal conditions his son endured while held hostage by Hamas. In an interview with The New York Times, Adi Alexander described how his 20-year-old son—who had been serving in the IDF for just ten months—was seized, blindfolded with a bag over his head, and subjected to beatings and interrogations. “There was nothing to interrogate him about,” the elder Alexander said. “They knew about the arrangement of the IDF much better than he did.” According to Alexander, Edan’s suffering was compounded when a tunnel collapsed around him, injuring his shoulder. For months, he survived on a starvation diet of pita bread, brown beans, rice, and bitter black coffee.

Hatzalah volunteers in Maryland can now legally use emergency lights in their personal vehicles during emergencies, thanks to a new law spearheaded by Senator Dalya Attar – the highest elected frum female in U.S. history. Senate Bill 1030, which formally codifies this permission into Maryland law, was signed by Governor Wes Moore on Tuesday. The legislation marks a huge win for Hatzalah of Baltimore and similar volunteer EMS organizations, ensuring they can continue to respond to life-threatening emergencies with maximum speed and safety. “This is a major milestone,” said Senator Attar, who championed the bill through the legislative process.

Yehudah and Shomron have undergone a dramatic revolution in recent months, with an unprecedented drop in terror attacks, a recent Ynet report said. Of course, as Am Yisrael mourns over the brutal murder of a mother on the way to give birth on Wednesday evening, frum Jews are aware of the constant Yad Hashem. The number of “attempted” terror attacks in the Shomron is staggering and there are constant nissim on the roads of Yehudah and Shomron every single day. According to security data, which was revealed for the first time in the report, the number of terror attacks in the Shomron in April 2025 was the lowest in five years, 46, of which three were significant (shooting, stabbing, or explosives).

YWN readers know that there have been significant recent developments in the long-running battle to protect our yeshivos from the State Education Department. Last week, important and helpful legislation was enacted, and yesterday the State’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, heard argument in the challenge to SED’s onerous substantial equivalence regulations. At the argument, SED conceded for the first time that parents can supplement any supposedly deficient instruction at their child’s yeshiva with a tutor, homeschooling or an extracurricular class. The state had insisted otherwise for three years, and had used that to try to force parents to enroll their children at other schools. In fact, many parents have received letters to that effect in recent days.