Former Vice President Joe Biden will enter the presidential race on Thursday and present himself as the man who can unify not only a splintered Democratic Party but a country that has been fractured by Donald Trump’s presidency.
Sources close to the former vice president say Biden’s campaign will be centered on the argument that he can defeat Trump and that he can best unify a nation divided along geographic, racial, gender and generational lines during the Trump era.
Biden is expected to announce his entry into the race with a Thursday video, according to a source. While details are still being ironed out, he is then expected to appear next week in Pittsburgh before moving on to other early voting states.

The driver of the bus who was involved in the accident yesterday in Beitar Illit, where  three-year-old Boruch Eisenberg A”H was killed, was interrogated by the police and released under restrictive conditions.
The driver’s license was revoked for thirty days. “The driver was questioned by police examiners on suspicion of causing the accident, his license was revoked for 30 days, and at the end of his interrogation he was released under restrictive conditions,” said the police.
The accident investigation continues.
 
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
{Matzav.com}

An offshoot of Alphabet’s Google has become the first drone operator to receive government approval as an airline, an important step that gives it the legal authority to begin dropping products to actual customers.
The subsidiary, Wing, now has the same certifications that smaller airlines receive from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Transportation. It plans to begin routine deliveries of small consumer items in two rural communities in Virginia within months, the company said.
“It’s an exciting moment for us to have earned the FAA’s approval to actually run a business with our technology,” Wing Chief Executive Officer James Ryan Burgess said in an interview. He called it “pivotal” both for his company and the drone industry in general.

Sri Lanka on Tuesday described the devastating string of Easter bombings that killed at least 321 people as a response to attacks on two mosques in New Zealand last month, even as the radical Islamic State group claimed responsibility.
Three hotels and three churches were attacked by suicide bombers on Sunday in an operation that was the subject of a warning days earlier in an intelligence report that circulated within the Sri Lankan government.
“Investigations have revealed that the attacks were carried out by Islamic extremists in retaliation for the mosque attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand,” State Minister of Defense Ruwan Wijewardene told Parliament. On March 15, a white supremacist killed 50 Muslims in two mosques in Christchurch.

Environmental activists have attempted to step up pressure on Israel over its use of plastics– which contrary to global efforts to curb such usage– rose by double-digits since May 2015.
Israel is the second largest consumer of disposable tableware per capita, just behind the United States at number one. Nearly half of Israel’s plastics are bought for the Yomim Tovim.
Israelis also ranked as the least likely out of all surveyed to say climate change is a major threat to their nation, with only 38% believing climate change was a major threat and over half of respondents in Israel (58%) saying climate change is a minor threat or not a threat at all.
Read more at i24NEWS.

White House senior adviser and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner said Tuesday that investigations into election interference by Russia have been “way more harmful” than the interference itself, which he characterized as “a couple Facebook ads.”
In a rare public appearance, Kushner spoke about the special counsel and congressional investigations at the Time 100 Summit in New York.
“Quite frankly, the whole thing’s just a big distraction for the country,” Kushner said. “You look at, you know, what Russia did, buying some Facebook ads, to try to sow dissent . . . and it’s a terrible thing, but I think the investigations and all the speculation that happened for the past two years has had a much harsher impact on democracy than a couple Facebook ads.”

Days after a series of explosions that appeared to target Christians and foreigners at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka and left more than 300 people dead, some details of who was behind the attacks and their motives are beginning to come out.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks Tuesday, while Sri Lankan authorities said Islamist extremists had carried out the attacks in retaliation for attacks on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15, that left 50 Muslims dead.
But big, unanswered questions remain about how the attacks were possible and what links exist between the Islamic State and local extremists, if any. Here, we try to break these questions down.
– – –
Why did the Islamic State claim of responsibility take so long?


Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pledge to build a new community named after US President Donald Trump on the Golan Heights in gratitude for the president’s recognition of Israel’s sovereignty on the strategically important territory.
During a family visit to the Golan Heights, Netanyahu said that “all Israelis were deeply moved when President Trump made his historic decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty on the Golan Heights.”
“Therefore, after the Passover holiday, I intend to bring to the government a resolution calling for a new community on the Golan Heights named after President Donald J. Trump.”
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
{Matzav.com}

The United States on Monday offered a reward of up to $10 million for information that could help disrupt financing of Hezbollah, the armed Shi’ite group backed by Iran.
The announcement by the US Department of State’s Rewards for Justice Program comes amid growing concerns by Washington about Hezbollah‘s growing role in the Lebanese government.
Hezbollah’s regional clout has expanded as it sends fighters to Middle East conflicts, including the war in Syria, where it has fought in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
Reuters and Algemeiner Staff
{Matzav.com}

According to a report on the website Alkhaleej Online, a member of Fatah’s central committee revealed on April 20 that heavy Arab pressure was being applied to the Palestinian Authority leadership with regard to US President Donald Trump’s Mideast peace plan—the so-called “deal of the century”—that the White House is expected to unveil in June. According to the report, the official stated that Saudi Arabia was leading the campaign.

Pages