Seriously, you hear about helicopter crashes all the time. Not sure about actual rates, but I'm sure compared to other aircraft it's ridiculous.
>DUBAI, May 19 (Reuters) - A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister crashed on Sunday as it was crossing mountain terrain in heavy fog, an Iranian official told Reuters, and rescuers were struggling to reach the site of the incident.
>The official said the lives of Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were "at risk following the helicopter crash", which happened on the way back from a visit to the border with Azerbaijan in Iran's northwest.
>"We are still hopeful but information coming from the crash site is very concerning," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
>Iranian state media said bad weather was the cause of the crash and was complicating rescue efforts. The chief of staff of Iran's army ordered all the resources of the army and the elite Revolutionary Guard to be put to use in search and rescue operations.
>"It is dark and it has started raining, but the search continues. Rescue teams have reached the area ... however, the rain has created mud, making the search difficult," a local reporter told state TV.
>State TV had earlier stopped all its regular programming to show prayers being held for Raisi across the country and, in a corner of the screen, live coverage of rescue teams deployed on foot in the mountainous area in heavy fog.
>The rescue teams were expected to reach the probable site of the crash later on Sunday evening.
> WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will push fellow G7 finance officials next week to agree to a plan to bring forward the interest earnings on frozen Russian assets to provide more money to Ukraine quickly, a senior U.S. Treasury official said on Friday.
> The official told reporters ahead of Yellen's May 21-25 trip to Frankfurt, Germany, and the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Stresa, Italy, that the G7 is "making progress" toward consensus on a plan to harness some $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets frozen since Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
> The G7 finance ministers have been tasked with recommending a plan for G7 leaders to adopt at a summit in June in southern Italy. The G7 industrial democracies are the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada.
>Yellen had previously pushed for full confiscation of the largely euro-denominated assets, but officials in Europe, concerned about risks to the euro and problematic legal precedents, have balked, opting instead for a more conservative plan to put the earnings -- estimated at around $3.5 billion per year -- into a fund for Ukraine.
> Since then, the U.S. has proposed a plan to pull forward the interest on the assets to back a bond or a loan that would provide Ukraine perhaps $50 billion in the near term as it battles increasing Russian military pressure in its east and north.
>The plan comes with some controversy, because it would require Western powers to hold the assets for around 20 years, said Josh Lipsky, senior director of the Atlantic Council's GeoEconomics Center.
>"It's a big mountain to climb, and the U.S. is going to push this strongly at the G7," Lipsky said. "If it doesn't happen now, I'm not sure that it will in the near future."
>The reaction from G7 finance ministries so far has been cautious. Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Friday that any proposals to use the frozen Russian assets must comply with international law.
>The French Economics and Finance Ministry said in a statement: "France supports and shares the fact that more resources are needed for Ukraine. We have taken note of the U.S. proposal and we will work together technically at the G7 level and at the European level to determine the best option."
I think we’re all operating under the assumption that would be a communist government’s end goal
You fool, you activated my trap card!
Are they just building to provide jobs and push the economy along?
By allowing developers to build more housing, they increase the supply of housing. Increased supply necessarily lowers cost.
Yeah this is just them passing the buck to someone else, I agree
Yeah you could call it state capitalism or a bailout, the end result is more affordable housing. I’d rather bailout housing speculators than market speculators.
Also Friday, the PBOC removed a floor on mortgage interest rates, and lowered the minimum down payment ratio for first- and second-time home buyers.
Developers "that must go bankrupt should go bankrupt, while those that need to be restructured should be restructured," Dong Jianguo, deputy head of the ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, told reporters in Mandarin, translated by CNBC. He said homebuyers' interests and rights should be prioritized, and those that violate the law should be punished.
Yeah or like a dozen other productive and helpful things for the people they are supposed to govern
Wow a government spending billions to provide affordable housing instead of bombing civilians 
Chinese authorities on Friday pledged new support for state-owned enterprises to enable them to buy unsold apartments.
>These and other measures announced Friday marked Beijing's latest efforts to address issues in the massive real estate sector.
> The People's Bank of China will provide 300 billion yuan ($42.25 billion) to financial institutions to lend to local state-owned enterprises (SOEs) so they can buy unsold apartments that have already been built.
> Also Friday, the PBOC removed a floor on mortgage interest rates, and lowered the minimum down payment ratio for first- and second-time home buyers.
> BEIJING — Chinese authorities on Friday pledged new support for state-owned enterprises to enable them to buy unsold apartments, in an effort that could help developers get more funding to finish construction on pre-sold properties.
>These and other measures announced Friday marked Beijing's latest efforts to address issues in the massive real estate sector.
>"I think it is encouraging that the policy is taking a turn of direction trying to support the housing market," said Zhu Ning, a professor of finance at Tsinghua University and author of the book "China's Guaranteed Bubble."
>People's Bank of China Deputy Governor Tao Ling told reporters at a briefing Friday the central bank would provide 300 billion yuan ($42.25 billion) to financial institutions to lend to local state-owned enterprises (SOEs) so they can buy unsold apartments that have already been built.
>The central bank expects the support to release 500 billion yuan in financing for such purchases, which the SOEs could turn into affordable housing.
>The real estate companies can then use funds earned from those sales to complete construction on other apartments, the central bank said.
>As for unfinished, pre-sold properties, the National Financial Regulatory Administration Deputy Director Xiao Yuanqi told reporters that commercial banks have provided 935 billion yuan in loans to finish construction on whitelisted projects since the program was released in January.
>"The government's purchase of housing inventory can inject more liquidity to developers, who could then have more resources for housing delivery," Larry Hu, chief economist at Macquarie, told CNBC. "Finally the government stepped in as the buyer of the last resort."
>"At this stage, it's mainly SOEs and local governments to implement the policies, but their resources may be too limited to move the needle at the macro level," he said. "Later on, we might see more efforts from the central government."
> Developers "that must go bankrupt should go bankrupt, while those that need to be restructured should be restructured," Dong Jianguo, deputy head of the ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, told reporters in Mandarin, translated by CNBC. He said homebuyers' interests and rights should be prioritized, and those that violate the law should be punished.
Israel would not be able to resist killing UN peacekeepers
Arab leaders accuse Israel of obstructing Gaza ceasefire efforts and demand an end to its war on Palestinian territory.
>The Arab League has called for a United Nations peacekeeping force in the occupied Palestinian territory at a summit dominated by Israel’s continuing deadly assault of the Gaza Strip.
>The meeting of Arab heads of state and government convened in Bahrain on Tuesday more than seven months into Israel’s offensive in Gaza that has convulsed the wider region.
>The “Manama Declaration” issued by the 22-member bloc called for “international protection and peacekeeping forces of the United Nations in the occupied Palestinian territories” until a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict is implemented.
>It called for an immediate end to fighting in the Gaza Strip and blamed Israeli “obstruction” for failed negotiations for a ceasefire.
>“We stress the need to stop the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip immediately, withdraw the Israeli occupation forces from all areas of the Strip [and] lift the siege imposed on it,” the statement said.
>The statement blamed Israel for the war continuing.
>“We strongly condemn Israel’s obstruction of cease-fire efforts in the Gaza Strip and its continued military escalation by expanding its aggression against the Palestinian city of Rafah, despite international warnings of the disastrous humanitarian consequences,” it said.
I lost a couple friends in 2015-2016 to MAGA.
Sure, back then I wasn't who I am today but I didn't think they were mask-off fascists. None of them recovered, you'll find better friends.
Hell yeah, I walked out of my healthcare job for similar reasons. I couldn’t live with myself denying people basic needs because of money.
Co-op carried me through basically every boss battle
It’s definitely been accelerating as sane people and leftists leave and the disgusting turds float to the top
I have convinced the NSA that all my alts are separate people
Trump is a useful idiot to distract people from the things they should really be mad about
Companies like Eli Lilly, Merck, GSK, Bristol-Meyers Squibb cause and perpetuate massive amounts of human suffering. I view them on the same level as Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. Input?
Police in Slovakia are investigating more than 1,000 bomb threats to schools and other institutions.
> Police in Slovakia are trying to find out who sent more than 1,000 bomb threats to schools and other institutions on Tuesday.
> Emails from an anonymous sender reportedly began arriving at 05:00, alleging that explosives were stored in hundreds of schools spanning the country's eight regions.
> Classes were suspended as specialist teams investigated the alerts. The vast majority were sent to schools, but Slovakia's national police announced on social media that at least 110 banks and 40 electrical stores also received the bomb threats.
> It comes after similar emails were reportedly sent to more than 120 schools in the Bratislava region last week, according to police.
> In April, Slovakia's newly elected populist-nationalist leader, Robert Fico, pledged not to send "one more round of ammunition" to Ukraine.
>… Mr Fico has refused to join about 20 countries that have signed up to a Czech-led operation to procure large quantities of artillery ammunition on the global arms market.
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will have to wait for another day to fly to the International Space Station in an orbital capsule that has already faced years of costly technical delays.
>NASA astronauts will have to wait until another day to launch to orbit in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. The planned launch was called off Monday night because of a problem in the Atlas V rocket that was to send them to space.
>Engineers will work through the night to assess whether the two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, can get back on the launchpad on Tuesday, or if repairs will be needed that could delay the flight by at least several days.
>Before a door-size panel blew out of a Boeing 737 Max, leaving a gaping hole in the side of an Alaska Airlines aircraft shortly after takeoff; before whistleblowers came forward to say they were threatened for bringing up safety issues at the company; and before the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into the blowout incident, Boeing was struggling with another set of issues, on another high-profile vehicle.
>Its Starliner spacecraft, designed to fly astronauts to orbit under a $4.2 billion contract from NASA, had suffered a series of problems that put its launch with astronauts years behind schedule. Its onboard computer had failed during its first test flight. A second test flight was scrubbed after valves in the vehicle’s service module stuck and wouldn’t operate. Then, after the craft finally flew a test mission successfully without anyone on board, Boeing discovered that tape used as insulation on wiring inside the capsule was flammable and would need to be removed. The parachute system also had problems, which forced the company to redesign and strengthen a link between the parachutes and the spacecraft.
>Now, a decade after NASA awarded Boeing a contract to fly astronauts to the International Space Station, Boeing will finally attempt to fly its Starliner spacecraft with people onboard. If all goes to plan, at 10:34 p.m. on Monday, the company is set to fly a pair of veteran astronauts, Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, on a mission that will be one of the most significant tests for Boeing’s space division — and for NASA — in years.
I hate the privatization of space flight soooo much.
>A decision by the Ukrainian government to suspend consular services for military-aged men living abroad has left some men uncertain about their futures.
>Ukraine has canceled its consular services for all military-aged men living abroad. This means all Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 who reside outside of the country are currently not able to renew their passports or receive other important government documents such as marriage certificates.
Palestinian Prisoner Society confirms the death of Adnan al Bursh, who was running the orthopaedic department at al-Shifa Hospital during Israel's brutal war on Gaza.
> Israeli forces have killed Adnan al Bursh, 50, who was the head of the orthopaedic department at al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, a local non-governmental organisation has said.
> One more detainee identified as Ismail Khader, 33, has also died at Israeli prisons, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said on Thursday.
> Al Bursh was arrested by the Israeli army last December as he was treating patients at al-Adwa Hospital in northern Gaza.
> The NGO said al Bursh lost his life at the Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank on April 19 and his body is still withheld by the Israeli forces, while Khader died in custody and his body was released at the Kerem Shalom crossing on Thursday.
> "The two victims died of torture and crimes committed against Gaza detainees," the statement said.
A new U.S. military assessment affirms Washington Post reporting that cast doubt on officials’ initial claim to have slain a senior al-Qaeda operative in Syria.
> A U.S. drone strike in Syria last year killed a 56-year-old shepherd after confusing him for a terrorist leader, an internal investigation concluded, underscoring the Pentagon’s persistent struggle to avoid unintentional casualties despite the Biden administration’s pledge to curb such incidents.
> The new assessment by U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military activity throughout the Middle East, affirms a Washington Post investigation published a year ago that cast doubt on officials’ initial public claim to have slain a senior al-Qaeda figure. A summary of the investigation’s findings was provided to The Post ahead of an anticipated release later Thursday.
A proposed ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors in Kansas has died. The Republican-controlled Legislature was unable Monday to override Democratic Gov.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken's support for Israel's genocide has angered many officials and diplomats in the State Department
> Hala Rharrit, the Arabic-language spokeswoman for the US State Department, has resigned in protest against White House support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
>Her resignation, effective Wednesday, was confirmed through her State Department biography page. The State Department is the US equivalent of other nations’ foreign ministries.
>In a statement on the social networking site LinkedIn, Rharrit stated, “I resigned in April 2024 after 18 years of distinguished service in opposition to the United States’ Gaza policy. Diplomacy, not arms. Be a force for peace and unity.”
>Rharrit worked for the State Department for almost two decades, including as the Deputy Director of the Dubai Regional Media Hub. She fulfilled assignments in various countries, including Yemen, Hong Kong, Qatar, and South Africa.
>Rharrit is the third to submit her resignation to the State Department in protest of President Joe Biden’s and Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s Gaza policy.
Excitement among patients and researchers as custom-built jabs enter phase 3 trial
BREAKING: Medical advancements focus on predominantly white people problems
Haiti enters new phase aimed at stemming its spiralling political and security crisis, but the future is uncertain.
> "We have to pay the costs," he said. "Are there actions that were not punished and those responsible were not arrested? Are there goods that were looted and not returned? Let's see how we can repair this."
>”Apologizing is the easy part.”
Some 150 bodies have been found in the two graves, and around 700 people are still unaccounted for since the Israeli withdrawal from Khan Younis on April 7, following a 4-month ground offensive.
A judge ordered Planned Parenthood to hand records of transgender care over to Andrew Bailey.
>“My team will get to the bottom of how this clandestine network of clinics has subjected children to puberty blockers and irreversible surgery, often without parental consent,” he wrote in a statement. “There is no more important fight than to ensure Missouri is the safest state in the nation for children. No stone will be left unturned in these investigations.”
