  We review the status of hyperon semileptonic decays. The central issue is the
$V_{us}$ element of the CKM matrix, where we obtain $V_{us}=0.2250 (27)$. This
value is of similar precision, but higher, than the one derived from $K_{l3}$,
and in better agreement with the unitarity requirement,
$|V_{ud}|^2+|V_{us}|^2+|V_{ub}|^2=1$. We find that the Cabibbo model gives an
excellent fit of the existing form factor data on baryon beta decays ($\chi^{2}
= 2.96$ for 3 degrees of freedom) with $F + D = 1.2670 \pm 0.0030$, $F - D =
-0.341 \pm 0.016$, and no indication of flavour-SU(3)-breaking effects. We
indicate the need of more experimental and theoretical work, both on hyperon
beta decays and on $K_{l3}$ decays.
