A 50-year-old man in Jerusalem’s N’vei Yaakov neighborhood locked himself in his apartment on Monday morning and threatened to blow himself up, apparently distraught over his difficult financial situation.

**A police search in a home in Yishuv Shvut Rachel in Shomron turned up a “commercial amount” of drugs. Police believe the suspect is a drug dealer.

**Police on heightened alert on Monday as Arabs in Israel and PA autonomous areas mark Land Day.

**Two suspected terrorists were apprehended by IDF soldiers operating in PA-controlled Shechem on Sunday night.

**An additional 7 adults and 1 minor were arrested in Um el-Fahm during the night in connection with last week’s violence during the flag march.

**Officials are investigating the death of a boy who reported to a Kiryat Shmona clinic complaining of shortness of breath. He went into cardiac arrest and resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.

**A bus traveling in Upper Nazareth was targeted with rocks. Two windows were smashed and one passenger sustained light injuries.

**Likud’s Michael Eitan will serve as a minister without portfolio.

**Likud’s MK Kahlon will serve as communications minister.

**Likud’s MK Yossi Peled will be a minister without portfolio.

**Rav Ovadia Yosef has announced Yaakov Margi will serve as the new Minister of Religious Services.

**Shas’ Yitzchak Cohen, who serves as minister of religious services, will serve in the new administration as a deputy minister, Rav Ovadia Yosef has announced.

**Africa Israel posted a NIS 4.86 billion loss in 2008, the largest reported loss of an Israeli firm in 2008.

**Health Ministry officials report that Tel Aviv beaches are once again safe while Herzliya beaches are still closed due to the presence of bacteria caused from sewage spillage.

** Likud’s Gila Gamliel will serve as a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)