Activists said Sunday that Berlin police prevented them from dismantling an art installation that angered Jewish groups after those who erected it claimed it contained Holocaust victims’ remains. A group calling itself Performance Art Committee said about 20 of its members attempted to cut down a pillar holding an urn that was placed in front of the German parliament by the left-wing Center for Political Beauty last month. The Performance Art Committee, which goes by the German acronym AKK, said its members include both Jewish and non-Jewish activists. Berlin police spokesman Martin Halweg confirmed to The Associated Press that a member of the Center for Political Beauty had submitted a criminal complaint for property damage to police.

A 15-year-old Charedi boy wanted to take his luggage out of the luggage compartment of a bus when he got off the bus near the El-Al junction on Highway 40. While he was leaning forward into the compartment, the driver closed the door to the luggage compartment which knocked the boy inside the compartment. The driver, not knowing that the boy was inside, began traveling towards Yerushalayim. The boy, who was scared, called the police from inside the luggage compartment and told them that he was trapped inside and that the bus was moving. Police immediately dispatched a squad car from the Yerushalayim traffic division and began chasing after the bus. They also utilized traffic cams to identify where exactly the bus was. The student, a U.S.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu handed out additional ministerial positions to members of the Likud and Shas parties after he resigned this week from all of his ministerial positions. The resignation came as a result of the indictment letter that was handed down against Netanyahu by the Attorney General back in November. The new appointments included MK David Bitton as the new Minister of Agriculture, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzippi Hotovely was appointed Minister of the Diaspora, Deputy Minister Itzik Cohen from Shas was appointed the Minister of Construction and Housing, and Shasha Bitton who was a former MK with the Kulanu party will be appointed as the Social Services Minister.

The blowback over the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general mounted Sunday as Iran announced it will no longer abide by the limits contained in the 2015 nuclear deal and Iraq’s Parliament called for the expulsion of all American troops from Iraqi soil. The twin developments could bring Iran closer to building an atomic bomb and enable the Islamic State group to stage a comeback in Iraq, making the Middle East a far more dangerous and unstable place. Iranian state television cited a statement by President Hassan Rouhani’s administration saying the country would not observe limits on fuel enrichment, on the size of its enriched uranium stockpile and on its research and development activities.

A 72-year-old man drowned on HaNachal Street in Binyamina due to the heavy rains that have poured down on the coastal region of Israel. The man was swept away with his car in a flash flood off of the road and landed in a wadi nearby. His vehicle was found only two hours later. Firefighters pulled the car up out of the wadi with the help of tractors and cranes, but rescue teams were unable to help him due to his elongated time underwater. United Hatzalah volunteer Aryeh Chipkis who was one of the first responders at the scene said: “When we arrived at the scene we found the car submerged in the water after it had been swept off of the road and into the wadi. Firefighters extricated the car from the wadi and got the man out of the car.

Throngs of demonstrators joined by elected officials walked solemnly across the Brooklyn Bridge in a solidarity march Sunday against anti-Semitism and all acts of hate. The “No Hate, No Fear” march was organized by New York’s Jewish community in the wake of recent anti-Semitic attacks, including a knife attack at a Hanukkah celebration north of New York City that left five people wounded and a fatal shootout at a kosher grocery in Jersey City, New Jersey. The crowds of participants jammed the streets in lower Manhattan as they waited their turns to get across the bridge. “It is wonderful that we are doing this and sad that we still have to do it,” said Claudia Stoller, 31, of Manhattan.

YWN regrets to inform you of the petira of Hagaon HaRav Shimon Zeffren zt”l, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Gedolah Merkaz HaTorah of Montreal, who was Niftar over Shabbos. The Levayah will take place at Yeshiva Gedolah Merkaz HaTorah of Montreal at 12:00PM today, Sunday. The levayah will continue in Lakewood on Monday morning/afternoon, followed by kevurah in Lakewood. Exact times to be announced. There will be a live-stream hookup available during the Montreal levayah. To call in and hear the levaya by phone, dial  (712) 770-5592, enter Participant Access Code:  487672. When prompted to announce yourself, DO NOT say anything.  Just set your phone on MUTE and listen. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

A deadly crash involving a passenger bus and multiple other vehicles on the Pennsylvania Turnpike left at least five dead and dozens injured early Sunday, shutting down a large portion of the highway. Officials said at least 60 people, ranging in age from 7 to 52 years old, were hospitalized with unknown injuries after the crash that happened at 3:40 a.m. Westmoreland County, around 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Pittsburgh. Photos from the scene show a mangled collision of multiple vehicles including an overturned bus, two tractor-trailers, passenger cars and a smashed FedEx truck that left packages sprawled along the highway. The images appear to show the bus is an Ohio Coach vehicle.

(By Ben Horodenker) An enthusiastic crowd of some 8,000 men, women and children, spanning the spectrum of English-speakers in Israel, filled all four of Binyanei Hauma’s halls to capacity on January 1st. The Siyum HaShas for English-speakers was initiated by Harav Mordecai Kornfeld, Rosh Kollel of Kollel Iyun Hadaf, which produces and disseminates online learning materials on the daily daf in English and Hebrew. The Siyum HaShas in Jerusalem was held concurrently with the Agudath Israel Siyum HaShas at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, attended by over 90,000 people (and connected to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn where there were another 14,000).

Dirshu’s exciting journey is underway: Thousands from the Manchester Jewish community are now gathering for a Siyum Hashas, the likes of which the city has never yet seen. The siyum is taking place at EventCity – the largest and grandest hall in Manchester, which has thousands of seats, and maranan v’rabanan gedolei Torah, rabbonim, dayonim, and roshei yeshivos, shlita, are in attendance. The entire Malchus Choir, and the Hamenagnim orchestra conducted by Reb Mona Rosenblum, and produced by Shalom Wagshal Music, will add to the enjoyment. Reb Zanvil Weinberger and Reb Ahrele Samet will contribute music and song to the event.