President Donald Trump followed through on his threat, or promise, to release video of his interview with CBS News journalist Leslie Stahl before it is set to air on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night. Trump was interviewed by Stahl at the White House on Tuesday, but abruptly ended the interview after 45 minutes, declining to participate in a scheduled walk-and-talk that would have included vice president Mike Pence as well.

Israel and Sudan have finalized discussions on normalizing ties and will announce the official establishment of diplomatic ties in the next several days, Israeli media reports said on Thursday. The announcement will follow a trilateral phone call between US President Donald Trump, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman al-Burhan, the transitional Chairman of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Walla News reported. Earlier on Thursday, Israel Hayom reported that a delegation of senior Israeli officials traveled to Sudan on Wednesday to hold discussions on establishing official ties.

Police were investigating a possible hate crime in Kensington, Wednesday night. Sources tell YWN that shots were reportedly fired at the Lev Avraham Shul, located on 18th Avenue and East 9th Street – between Flatbush and Boro Park. The NYPD and Boro Park Shomrim were called to the scene at around 10:45PM. An investigation revealed some type of bullet casings on the floor. It was unknown where the shots originated from, and Detectives were on the scene investigating. The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force was notified. 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.

On Tuesday, the head of the Yamina party, Naftali Bennett spoke about the incitement against the Chareidi community for opening their schools this week in accordance with the instructions of their Rabbinic leaders. Bennett told reporters that telling the Chareidi community not to learn Torah is like telling them not to breathe. A new wave of anti-Chareidi incitement flowed across Israeli media earlier this week following the decision of Hagaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky on Sunday to instruct Chareidi Mosdos to open their doors to students as of Monday. The ruling went against the expressed instructions of the government and the Health Ministry.

Iran is responsible for emails meant to intimidate American voters and sow unrest in multiple states, and Tehran and Moscow have also obtained voter registration with the goal of interfering in the election, U.S. officials said at a rare news conference Tuesday night just two weeks before the vote. John Ratcliffe, the intelligence director, and FBI Director Chris Wray said the U.S. will impose costs on any foreign countries interfering in the 2020 U.S. election. Despite the Iranian and Russian actions, they said Americans can be confident that their vote will be counted. “These actions are desperate attempts by desperate adversaries,” Ractliffe said.

The man who killed Williamsburg residents R’ Nosson and Mrs. Raizy Glauber Z”L in a horrific crash in 2013, may be soon released from prison – after having his conviction overturned. As YWN reported at the time, Julio Acevedo was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, after his BMW slammed into the car service that Nosson and and Raizy were using to go to the hospital to have their first child – who was Niftar shortly after the premature birth. But on Wednesday, his convictions were overturned by the Second Judicial Department of the Appellate Court of New York State – due to the court concluding the evidence against him was legally insufficient. claiming that there was not enough proof that he was driving so recklessly to be charged with criminal negligence.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that coronavirus control measures will increase in Brooklyn’s “red zone” while parts of Queens will see their restrictions eased two weeks after the measures were first put in place. “When we see progress, we adjust the target,” the governor said. In Brooklyn, the red zone remains a red zone and will see increased virus control measures; the orange zone moves to a yellow zone; and the yellow zone remains a yellow zone. Brooklyn’s orange zone areas will move to yellow zones, which allows schools to reopen with mandatory weekly testing, while its yellow zone areas will remain that way. In Far Rockaway, Queens, the red zone moves to a yellow zone; the orange zone moves to a yellow zone; and the yellow zone remains a yellow zone.

Israel’s Health Ministry confirmed 1,165 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday morning, with the positivity rate dropping to 3%. The number of seriously ill patients dropped to less than 600 for the first time in weeks, standing at 591, of whom 229 are ventilated. The death toll has increased to 2,278. Despite the seemingly good news of reduced virus rates, senior health officials have been warning that Israel’s infection rate is still very high and that there will be a spike in the infection rate in the next week or two due to violations of coronavirus restrictions and the loosening of restrictions, especially the reopening of the educational system.

Just yesterday the Socialist Mayor of NYC, the Honorable Bill DeBlasio, issued a “rare apology” to the Jewish community for the way the city has been responding, and said “we absolutely need a positive reset”. Keeping to his word, the Mayor has “reset” the out-of-control inspections in Boro Park and Flatbush. YWN is being inundated with reports that inspectors from the NYC Buildings Department are once again flooding the Jewish communities of Boro Park and Flatbush. Inspectors are not only visiting Yeshivas, but going into one business after the next, harassing businesses that are already on the verge of going out of business due to the COVID-19 pandemic On Tuesday evening, NYC Chaim Deutsch tweeted a video of a store owner (a deli) who was issued a summons for “having his door open”.

At least 55 Chareidi coronavirus patients in Israel passed away in the past two weeks, comprising 11% of Israeli fatalities, a high percentage in comparison to the percentage of Chareidi older adults in Israel, Kikar H’Shabbos reported. A total of 33 niftarim were residents of Bnei Brak, 18 were residents of Jerusalem, 2 were from Modiin Illit, and one each from Beitar and Elad. Since the data was compiled according to identifiably Chareidi cities, it’s likely that there were additional Chareidi niftarim in cities with mixed populations such as Petach Tikvah, Netanya, and Ofakim as well. Furthermore, there are currently 57 Chareidim coronavirus patients in critical condition, with at least 20 of them under the age of 65.