Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned America’s governors on Saturday to be wary of China, which he said was targeting individual U.S. states in a strategic effort to expand its economic and political influence. He said a Chinese government-backed think tank has assessed all 50 governors on their attitude toward China and assigned each one a label: “friendly, hard-line or ambiguous.” “So here’s the lesson. The lesson is the competition with China is not just a federal issue,” Pompeo said in addressing the National Governors Association meeting in Washington. “It’s happening in your states with consequences for our foreign policy, for the citizens who reside in your states and indeed for each of you,” he said.

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!

Join in this historic Tu B’Shvat day of tefillah as your names will be davened for in 4 holy places.  Remember you can join for free. This is an email we at Yad L’Achim received from Rivky F. from Brooklyn, NY: “I wanted to let you know that 5 of the 9 girls I submitted for tefillah a few months ago, got engaged! Thank you” JOIN THE TEFILLAH ON THE DAY OF SEGULAH OF TU B’SHVAT – FOR FREE – click here AS THIS TU B’SHVAT, TALMIDEI CHACHAMIM, MESSENGERS OF YAD L’ACHIM WILL DAVEN FOR YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES FOR SHIDDUCHIM, PARNASSAH, CHILDREN, REFUAH SHELEIMAH, AND ALL PERSONAL REQUESTS! IN AMUKA, MERON, ARIZAL & BABA SALI   The ARIZAL says that Tu B’Shvat is a day of segulah to merit finding a shidduch.

A soldier with a grudge gunned down 26 people and wounded 57 in Thailand’s worst shooting spree before he was fatally shot inside a mall in the country’s northeast on Sunday, officials said. Officials said the soldier was angry over a financial dispute, first killing two people on a military base and then went on a far bloodier rampage Saturday, shooting as he drove to the mall where shoppers fled in terror. It took police sharpshooters 16 hours to end the crisis. Authorities said Sgt. Maj. Jakrapanth Thomma was behind the attack in Nakhon Ratchasima, a hub for Thailand’s relatively poorer and rural northeastern region.

Following another cold, wet and rainy Shabbos in Israel, the cold weather is expected to continue this week with a cold wave hitting Israel on Sunday and the possibility of light snow in Yerushalayim on Sunday and Monday. A significant drop in temperature will begin on Sunday, with the temperature expected to fall as low as 37.4° Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) in Jerusalem. There may be light rainfall in Jerusalem which may be mixed with or turned into snow. The Chermon ski resort in the Golan will be closed on Sunday due to the stormy weather. About 15.75 inches (40 cm) of snow fell on the Chermon on Shabbos.

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Two New York City police officers narrowly escaped with their lives when a gunman fired into their patrol van Saturday night, wounding one of them in an attack officials called an attempted assassination. The ambush, which Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said “should outrage all New Yorkers,” happened just before 8:30 pm in the South Bronx. The officer at the wheel of the van was grazed in the chin and neck, but he avoided serious injury, Shea said. He was expected to released from the hospital Sunday. “He is lucky to be alive,” Shea said. “He is expected to make a full recovery and it is a miracle.” Shea recalled other unprovoked assaults on police officers sitting in their patrol vehicles.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced that damage from protests in New York last week cost taxpayers $100,000. The agency responded to protests on Thursday, saying while they respect freedom of speech, demonstrators caused significant damage, WABC reported. The MTA faced a flurry of protests last week across dozens of its stations in the city’s five boroughs over the heavy presence of police and the city’s crack down on fare evasion. “What we had that day was a lot of cases of vandalism which unfortunately took a lot of our team, took a lot of our focus away from our normal repairs and improvements that we could have been making for customers,” said Senior Vice President for Subways Sally Librera.

It is cause for celebration when an album is released that recaptures the magic of the past, while possessing the energy and cutting-edge musicality of today. The debut of Aish 3, featuring the spectacular joint efforts of Abie Rotenberg, Shlomo Simcha and Doni Gross will no doubt be exuberantly embraced by knowledgeable Jewish Music fans worldwide. For more than two decades, Aish classics have accompanied Klal Yisrael through the milestones of Jewish life. This newest addition to the collection is no different. The twelve selections on Aish 3 offer both deeply emotive and inspiring tracks, as well as rousing, joyful Niggunim. Without doubt, many are sure to become tomorrow’s classics.

The U.S. government on Thursday began enforcing restrictions on flavored electronic cigarettes aimed at curbing underage vaping. But some teenagers may be one step ahead of the rules. Parents, researchers and students warn that some young people have already moved on to a newer kind of vape that isn’t covered by the flavor ban. These disposable e-cigarettes are sold under brands like Puff Bar, Stig and Fogg in flavors such as pink lemonade, blueberry ice and tropical mango. The Food and Drug Administration’s crackdown narrowly targets reusable vaping devices like Juul, the blockbuster brand that helped trigger the teen vaping craze in the U.S. Under the new policy, only menthol and tobacco flavors are allowed for those devices.