Joe Biden is facing increasingly formidable competition in South Carolina, a state his campaign has long assumed was safely in his column and one he’s repeatedly described as a “firewall” in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and billionaire activist Tom Steyer are challenging the former vice president’s standing in South Carolina. The Feb. 29 primary is the first contest in the South on the 2020 election calendar and serves as an important gauge of black support. Sanders has generated enthusiasm from younger black voters in South Carolina. That could help him avoid a repeat of his dismal showing in the 2016 primary, when African Americans overwhelmingly backed Hillary Clinton.

An Iranian rocket failed to put a satellite into orbit on Sunday, state television reported, the latest setback for a program the U.S. claims helps Tehran advance its ballistic missile program. The launch happened at 7:15 p.m. local time at Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran’s Semnan province, some 230 kilometers (145 miles) southeast of Iran’s capital, Tehran. A Simorgh, or “Phoenix,” rocket couldn’t put the Zafar 1 communications satellite into orbit, however, due to a low speed, Iranian state TV reported.

Scrambling to salvage his presidential campaign, Joe Biden escalated his criticism of Pete Buttigieg on Saturday, mocking Buttigieg’s experience as a small city mayor and cutting down the comparisons Buttigieg has drawn to the last Democratic president, declaring: “This guy’s not a Barack Obama.” Biden’s biting attacks on Buttigieg’s relatively thin resume mark a new, more aggressive attempt to slow the momentum of the youngest candidate in the Democratic field. The 38-year-old emerged from Iowa in an effective tie with Sen. Bernie Sanders, but faces questions about whether his eight years as mayor of South Bend, Indiana — a city of about 100,000 people — prepared him for the presidency. “I do not believe we’re a party at risk if I’m the nominee,” Biden told voters in Manchester.

Israel Police raided the Shuva Banim community in Jerusalem early Sunday morning and arrested Rabbi Eliezer Berland and his wife and five other senior figures in the cult-like community on charges of alleged exploitation of sick people and their families as well as money laundering and tax evasion of hundreds of millions of dollars. The police raided the Shuvu Bunim shul about 5 a.m. and brought Rabbi Berland to his home where they carried out a thorough search with the assistance of dog handlers and then arrested him. While Berland was being taken to the police car, his followers began rioting and throwing rocks and stones at the policemen, wounding two of them. One of his followers can be heard shouting repeatedly “Harav, kill them!

Israeli security forces arrested an Arab in Chevron on Friday who is suspected of throwing a Molotov cocktail that exploded on a Border Police officer on Monday, the IDF spokesperson stated on Motzei Shabbos. “Yesterday, IDF combat soldiers arrested the terrorist who threw a Molotov cocktail on a Border Police officer on Monday in Chevron during violent riots,” the IDF spokesperson stated. “The suspect was transferred to security forces for interrogation.” The Border Police officer was lightly wounded on Monday after the Molotov cocktail exploded on his shoulder, bursting into flames. Arab rioters also threw stones at the police. “Luckily, the firebomb landed on my vest and I immediately extinguished the flames with my hands,” the police officer told Ynet.

Three days before the critical New Hampshire Primary, seven Democratic presidential candidates debated, with many of them fighting to survive in the race to challenge President Donald Trump. Here are some key takeaways. MAYOR PETE MAKES HIS CASE Pete Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend., Ind., was the candidate of the moment Friday. All eyes were on him Friday night to see if he could make his case. And he did – with one significant stumble. Attacked for his thin resume, Buttigieg shot back, “If you’re looking for the person with the most years of Washington, D.C., experience under their belt, that candidate is not me.” He promoted his youth compared with the lawmakers onstage talking their achievements from decades ago.

An Israeli man traveled to Hong Kong on Wednesday and reported to B’Chadrei Charedim that everything was empty. In a photo the man took of the inside of the plane, the only people who were on the flight were the staff as hundreds of seats on the jumbo jet lay empty while the staff wore masks over their faces. The man, who was traveling for business, requested to remain anonymous and said: “My wife refused to let me go until she realized that I had to go, otherwise my business would fail. Of course I am afraid, but I have no choice the work needs to get done.” The man added that when he arrived in Hong Kong, he could not see many people at the airport.

Frightened kindergarten children ran for cover in Kiryat Gat when a cluster of explosive balloons was spotted over the kindergarten on Wednesday, Channel 13 News reported. The children were playing outside when the balloon cluster appeared, forcing the teacher to quickly herd the frightened children back inside the kindergarten building. Earlier on Wednesday, two clusters of balloons rigged with explosives landed in Israel, one in Sderot and the other in an agricultural field in the Merchavim Regional Council. Police sappers were called to the scene and neutralized the explosives. Dozens of explosive balloons have been launched into Israel over the last two days, some of which exploded in the air, causing panic and shock among residents of Israel’s south.

President Donald Trump unleashed his fury against those who tried to remove him from office at a prayer breakfast Thursday, a day after his acquittal by the Senate in his impeachment trial. Speaking from a stage where he was joined by congressional leaders, including Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who led the impeachment charge against him, Trump shattered the usual veneer of bipartisanship at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. “As everybody knows, my family, our great country and your president have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people,” Trump said at the annual event. His airing of grievances came hours before he was to deliver a full response to the impeachment vote at the White House s urrounded by supporters.

A plane skidded off the runway Wednesday as it tried to land in bad weather in Istanbul, crashing into a field and breaking into pieces. Passengers had to evacuate through cracks in the smashed plane and authorities said 120 people were sent to the hospital with injuries. The low-cost Pegasus Airlines plane with 177 passengers and crew on board was arriving at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport from the western Turkish city of Izmir when it had what the Transportation Ministry described as a “rough landing.” The ministry said no one died in the incident. Istanbul Gov. Ali Yerlikaya said the plane landed in bad weather, failed to “hold onto the runway” and skidded some 50-60 meters (yards) before crashing into a ditch from a height of some 30 meters.