Israel’s military said on Monday that heavy rainfall last week caused extensive flooding at an air force base, resulting in damage to eight warplanes. The military said in a statement that “several planes were damaged, they were fixed and will return to flying in the coming days.” The military said floodwater seeped into an underground storage facility where the fighter jets were parked. It said operational capabilities were never compromised. The military declined to comment on the extent of the damage to the planes, but Israeli media reported that it amounted to tens of millions of dollars. Details of the damage were placed under a gag order by Israel’s military censor in the immediate aftermath of Thursday’s rains.

Likud Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin decided on Monday afternoon to remove Tiveria mayor Ron Kobi from office. According to law, a council that does not approve a budget by the [extended] date determined by the Interior Ministry is dispersed. Kobi failed to pass a budget for Tiveria by the original deadline after being elected as mayor over a year ago and failed to pass a budget by the extended deadline granted to him by the Interior Minister.

The Trump administration is dropping its designation of China as a currency manipulator in advance of the signing Wednesday of a Phase 1 U.S.-China trade agreement. The preliminary pact that the two sides are set to sign this week includes a section that’s intended to prevent China from manipulating its currency to gain trade advantages. The action announced Monday comes five months after the Trump administration had branded China a currency manipulator — the first time that any country had been so named since 1994 during the Clinton administration. Even while removing China from its currency black list, the Treasury Department does name China as one of 10 countries it says require placement on a watch list that will mean their currency practices will be closely monitored.

Thanks to Williamsburg Shomrim volunteers, four suspects were taken into custody for stealing a truck. It happened just after 1:00PM at Classon Avenue and Park Avenue, in the heart of WIlliamsburg’s Jewish community. The Shomrim volunteers witnessed the 4 suspects steal a truck from in front of a truck mechanic. They immediately called the NYPD as they followed the truck from a safe distance. The four men were taken into custody by the NYPD after a short foot pursuit at Willoughby Avenue and Classon Avenue.

Federal authorities, including the head of the local FBI, gave stunning new details Monday about the hate-filled shooting in Jersey City last month that left three people at a kosher market and a police officer at a nearby cemetery dead. Authorities said the alleged domestic terrorists in the case, David Anderson and Francine Graham, had a bomb in their van powerful enough to kill or injure people five football fields away, according to NBC4. It was already known that investigators found a bomb in the couple’s van, but the new information sheds light on just how serious of a threat the device posed to the public. Authorities also said they could have made a second bomb with the amount of materials they had in the van.

An off-duty sheriff’s detective who was helping an elderly woman cross the street was struck and killed by a vehicle in Valley Village Sunday morning, officials say. The detective was identified as Amber Joy Leist, a 12-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. She was the 41-year-old mother of two sons, ages 17 and 20. Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Leist was stopped in her car near the intersection of Riverside Drive and Whitsett Avenue around 11 a.m. when she saw a woman stumble as she tried to cross the street. Leist put her car in park and went to help the woman cross. While returning to her vehicle, she was struck by a car heading eastbound on Riverside after the light had turned green, Villanueva said.

Israel police raided the “Be’er Miriam seminary” – a sefardi Chareidi girls’ seminary – in the Bucharim neighborhood of Jerusalem on Monday morning and arrested a man and eight women on suspicion of holding victims in slave-like conditions, child abuse, and other forms of abuse, Israeli news outlets reported on Monday. Police say that the main suspect, Aharon Ramati, about 60, is suspected a running a closed community “cult” of dozens of women and children and abusing them physically, emotionally and financially. Ramati, his wife and seven other women were all arrested on criminal charges of exploitation and holding victims in slave-like conditions.

Democrat Cory Booker dropped out of the presidential race Monday, ending a campaign whose message of unity and love failed to resonate in a political era marked by chaos and anxiety. His departure now leaves a field that was once the most diverse in history with just one remaining African American candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. Since launching his campaign last February, Booker, a U.S. senator from New Jersey, struggled to raise the type of money required to support a White House bid. He was at the back of the pack in most surveys and failed to meet the polling requirements needed to participate in Tuesday’s debate. Booker also missed last month’s debate and exits the race polling in low single digits in the early primary states and nationwide.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced new funding to harden security infrastructure and further protect communities in and around the community of Monsey, where a man attacked a home full of Jewish worshipers on the seventh night of Hanukkah on Dec. 28, 2019. The Governor is directing $340,000 for the village of New Square to install license plate reader technology, which was used to catch the Monsey attacker, as well as other security cameras. The Governor is directing up to $340,000 to the Town of Ramapo to install the same technology on roads in and around Monsey. The expanded New York State Hate Crimes Task Force, which the Governor announced during his 2020 State of the State address, will evaluate requests from other municipalities for license plate readers.

A water main break flooded streets on Manhattan’s Upper West Side near Lincoln Center and hampered subway service during the Monday morning rush hour. The Fire Department of New York responded to the flooding around 5 a.m. near Broadway and West 62nd Street. The water spread for blocks and was several inches deep in places. “It’s crazy, you need a boat or something to get through. I didn’t end wear boots today and now we got all this,” commuter Michael Romero, 27, of the Bronx told the New York Post. Abigail Marie, 33, of Manhattan, said city workers and firefighters responded quickly after the streets started “flooding a lot and from all directions.” “You have to be careful, there’s big puddles around and they’re deeper than they seem,” she told the Post.