The Iraqi government has told its military not to seek assistance from the U.S.-led coalition in operations against the Islamic State group, two senior Iraqi military officials said, amid a crisis of mistrust between Washington and Baghdad after an American strike killed a top Iranian general and an Iraqi militia commander. The step shows that while the Iraqí leadership’s demands for an immediate removal of American forces have cooled, they are serious about rethinking the strategic relationship, and this is directly affecting military cooperation. Officially, Iraqis have been unclear on the status of joint operations. The Iraqi military announced Jan.

A Lebanese Shi’ite cleric who visited Auschwitz last month as part of a delegation of Muslim religious leaders is seeking asylum in France due to death threats against him, The Jerusalem Post reported. Sheikh Mohamad Ali El Husseini of Lebanon participated in the most senior delegation of Muslim religious leaders to visit Auschwitz on January 23 to mark the 75th year of its liberation. The Muslim delegation was accompanied by a delegation of American Jewish Committee (AJC) officials and also visited the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw as well as the Nozyk shul, where they met with Holocaust survivors.

1000’s Have already submitted their names for tefillah for free for the special tefillah on Tu B’Shvat. The ARIZAL writes that Tu B’Shvat is a day of segulah to merit finding a shidduch. Remember you can join the tefillah in Amuka on Tu B’Shvat 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

A shooting attack took place on Har Habayis on Thursday about noon. An Arab terrorist shot a policeman near Har Habayis. Other policemen on the scene responded with gunfire and the terrorist was neutralized. MDA paramedics provided emergency treatment to the policeman, in his 20s, who was lightly wounded. “When we arrived at the scene…the victim was standing and was fully conscious; he suffered an injury on his hand,” MDA paramedic Yisrael Weingarten said. This is a developing story.

If you are starting a new job this year, or just want to update your tax information with your employer, some of the paperwork is going to look different. A lot different. The IRS has introduced a new Form W-4 that must be used by all employers in 2020 to better accommodate recent changes to the tax law. The overhaul of the form is the biggest in decades and makes a once quick exercise a bit more involved. In return, according to the IRS, it will yield more accurate results. That is particularly important as the new tax law led to surprises for some folks last year, due in part to improper withholdings. So the new form is worth a look, regardless of how long you have been on the job. The more accurate your W-4, the more accurate your withholdings are.

Facebook joined YouTube, Twitter and payment service Venmo on Wednesday in demanding that a facial recognition company stop harvesting user images to identify the people in them, which the startup does as part of its work with police. Facebook said it has demanded New York-based Clearview AI stop accessing or using information from its flagship site and Instagram. “Scraping people’s information violates our policies,” a company spokesman said. Clearview has drawn scrutiny following investigative reports in January by the New York Times and Buzzfeed detailing its work with law enforcement agencies and its practice of scraping social media and other internet platforms for images. Venmo on Wednesday said it is sending Clearview a cease-and-desist letter.

The Israeli Air Force attacked Hamas terrorist targets overnight on Wednesday in response to the firing of explosive balloons and mortars into Israel during the day, the IDF spokesperson said. Two mortar shells were fired at Israel on Wednesday evening, exploding in open areas in southern Israel and clusters of explosive balloons landed in southern Israel earlier on Wednesday. The IDF tested a new laser system designed to destroy the explosive balloons launched from the Gaza Strip by terror organizations and the tests were successful, a Kan News report said on Wednesday evening. Dozens of explosive balloons have been launched into Israel over the last two weeks, some of which have exploded in the air, causing panic and shock among residents of Israel’s south.

Today, the anti-Semitic group Rise Up Ocean County had their social media page on Facebook removed. For months now, community leaders and elected officials have been sounding the alarm on Rise Up Ocean County, urging Facebook to remove the site for violating Facebook’s own terms of service and because social media companies are responsible to ensure that hate does not fester on their platforms. Rise Up Ocean County has been operating under the pretense of opposing overdevelopment, but in reality, the group was dedicated to disparaging Orthodox Jews, often using ugly tropes that have plagued society for too long. We are thankful that Facebook has finally recognized their true motives and, at the urging of Governor Phil Murphy and Attorney General Grubir Grewal, removed their site.

With the final gavel banging down Wednesday on impeachment, President Donald Trump barreled ahead in his reelection fight with a united Republican Party behind him, and emboldened by reassuring poll numbers and chaos in the Democratic race to replace him. Republican senators voted largely in lockstep to acquit Trump, relying on a multitude of rationales for keeping him in office: He’s guilty, but his conduct wasn’t impeachable; his July telephone conversation with Ukraine’s president was a “perfect call”; there’s an election in 10 months and it’s up to voters to determine his fate. For Trump, there was one overriding message to draw from his acquittal: Even at a time of maximum political peril, it’s his Republican Party.

King Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff asked a federal judge Wednesday to grant him a “compassionate release” from his 150-year prison sentence, saying he has terminal kidney failure and less than 18 months to live. Madoff’s attorney filed court papers saying the 81-year-old has end-stage kidney disease and other “chronic, serious medical conditions,” including hypertension and cardiovascular disease. “There’s no cure for my type of disease,” Madoff told The Washington Post in a phone interview, expressing remorse for orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Meanwhile, Axios News tweeted about this story and confused Bernie Madoff with Bernie SANDERS. They quickly deleted their tweet.