​ US refuelling plane crashes in Iraq, military says. 16 minutes ago. Claire Keenan. EPA. Rescue operations are under way after a US military refuelling aircraft crashed in western Iraq, US Central Command (Centcom) has said.. Neither hostile nor friendly fire were involved in the downing of the KC-135, which occurred over western Iraq, Centcom said.. The tanker had been involved in ongoing US operations against Iran, and was one of two aircraft involved in the incident, the military command unit said. The second landed safely, it added.. The Boeing-manufactured aircraft are capable of refuelling planes midair and typically play a major role in US military operations. They were used extensively in the first Gulf War to extend the range of fighter jets and bombers.. The KC-135 usually has a crew of a pilot, a co-pilot and a boom operator responsible for operating the refuelling arm of the aircraft, although it is believed that six service personnel were on board the crashed aircraft.. The status of the plane’s crew is currently unclear, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.. Centcom described the crash as happening over friendly airspace, but this is a region of Iraq where pro-Iranian militias operate. Iran’s military claimed on state TV that an allied group had targeted the plane with a missile.. Democratic Congressman Jim Himes, part of the so-called “Gang of Eight” US lawmakers typically briefed on military operations, appeared on BBC Newsnight shortly after news of the incident emerged.. He told the programme that it was too early to tell specifically what had led to the crash, but said: “A KC135 is usually used for refuelling. It carries a crew between 3-5 people. We pray that those 3-5 people are safe.”. Himes added: “This is part of the inevitable cost of a conflict. Even the best military doesn’t operate without accidents and that’s what appeared to have occurred here.”. Since the outbreak of the US-Israel war with Iran, seven US soldiers have been confirmed as having been killed in the conflict.. The US military has now lost at least four aircraft during the current war.. Earlier this month, three F-15s were shot down in “an apparent friendly fire incident” over Kuwait, officials said. All six crew members were able to safely eject.. Boeing manufactured the KC-135 Stratotanker for the US military in the 1950s and early 1960s.. It has been a backbone to the US military’s air refuelling fleet, and allow combat aircraft to carry out longer missions without needing to land.. US military says rescue efforts under way after refuelling plane crashes in Iraq. ‘What if we’re left with ruins?’: Doubts creep in for Iranians who supported war. Iran’s new supreme leader vows to block Strait of Hormuz in first statement. Middle East. Iran. Iraq. United States  

​ KPop Demon Hunters to return as Netflix announces sequel. 3 hours ago. Osmond Chia,Singaporeand. Nardine Saad,Los Angeles. Netflix. Netflix has announced a sequel to KPop Demon Hunters, the streaming platform’s most watched movie of all time.. No release date has been set yet. The sequel marks the first project under co-directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans’ new and exclusive multi-year deal with Netflix.. The announcement comes as critics predict that the first film will win at the Oscars on Sunday, where it is has two nominations for best animated feature and best original song.. The song Golden won a Grammy for best song written for visual media – the first time a K-pop song has won at the prestigious music awards.. The original film follows main characters Rumi, Mira and Zoey from the K-pop group Huntr/x as they grapple with fame and their secret lives as demon hunters.. In the announcement first made by Netflix on social media, Kang said: “I feel immense pride as a Korean filmmaker that the audience wants more from this Korean story and our Korean characters.”. “There’s so much more to this world we have built and I’m excited to show you. This is only the beginning.”. In an interview with the BBC last month, the singer Ejae, who voices Rumi’s singing voice and co-wrote the film’s breakout hit Golden and other songs, said she hopes to incorporate some new styles in the sequel.. “It depends on what they create and hopefully, you know, we can show more sides of Korea,” Ejae said. “There’s so many different kinds of music in Korea, so that’s what I’m hoping for personally.”. Ejae said the reception of the animation and its music has felt unreal.. “A lot is happening so I’m trying to digest everything but it’s really hard to digest,” she said. “It’s crazy.”. Getty Images. Zhun, a South Korean music producer for the track Golden, told the BBC that he, too, is hoping to build on the success of the first film.. “I want to continue the high energy that we brought to the first film,” he said through a translator.. He added that he hopes to build on combining the music with the “visual elements in the film [that] gave us so much energy”.. Netflix did not provide any further details about the sequel. The original film took seven years to make, from its initial pitch to its release.. In October, Kang had told the BBC that “there’s definitely more we can do with these characters in this world.”. “And whatever it will be, it will be a story that deserves to be a sequel, and it will be something that we want to see,” she added.. In February, KPop Demon Hunters songwriter Mark Sonnenblick said a sequel is “in process”.. “There’s going to be a whole development process before we get deep into writing the songs,” said Sonnenblick. “The music will follow from the story and that’s if it makes sense for us all to be doing it again.”. ‘I hated that I looked Asian’: KPop Demon Hunters star on her struggle for acceptance. Taylor Swift and KPop stars dominated mu  

​ Suspect dead after ramming vehicle into synagogue in Michigan. 4 hours ago. Madeline Halpert. A driver who rammed his vehicle into a large synagogue in Michigan on Thursday afternoon is dead, officials say.. Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard told reporters the suspect drove his vehicle through the doors of Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield and then down a hallway before his vehicle caught fire.. Security guards at the synagogue had opened fire as he approached and then confronted him inside. One who was hit by the vehicle is being treated at hospital and is expected to recover, authorities said.. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said the incident is being investigated as a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community”.. The Department of Homeland Security has identified the suspect as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old naturalised US citizen who was born in Lebanon and came to the US in 2011.. Thirty police officers were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation as the building was “engulfed” in flames, the Oakland County sheriff said. He added that the investigation would uncover what had ignited the fire.. Temple Israel – one of the largest reform Jewish synagogues in the US – also has a preschool where dozens of children had to be evacuated during the incident.. FBI special agent Jennifer Runyan said the incident was “deeply, disturbing and tragic”.. Bouchard called the crime a “hateful, terrible thing”, but did not elaborate on a specific motive.. “We know there’s evil in the world,” Bouchard said at an evening press conference. “When they show up, that’s where training and preparation come in.”. At an earlier briefing, Bouchard said, “Everything that was supposed to happen, happened,” adding, “Security did their job, and then the responders did theirs.”. Getty Images. Police did not say how the suspect died. Bouchard said it was difficult to determine the suspect’s cause of death because the vehicle caught fire.. “We can’t say what killed him at this point,” he said. “But security did engage the suspect with gunfire.”. Officers were working to clear the vehicle for explosives “out of an abundance of caution”, he added.. State and local law enforcement, as well as the FBI, all responded to the emergency.. Speaking at a White House event on Thursday, Trump said he wanted to “send our love to the Michigan Jewish community and all of the people in Detroit”.. “It’s a terrible thing,” he said.. Lisa Stern, a member of Temple Israel for over 20 years, drove to the congregation after she heard news that there had been an attack, concerned about her friends inside, who included two rabbis and a social worker.. But she said she chose not to text them to see if they were safe, as a pinging sound might give their locations away. Initially the ramming was reported as an “active shooter incident”.. Waiting across the street, Stern said she saw anxious parents and grandparents arriving to make sure their children were safe  

​ ‘There’s no hiding place on a ship’: The sailors stranded near Iran. 5 hours ago. Mohammad Zubair Khan,BBC News Urdu,. Aye Thu San,BBC News Burmese,. Hyojung Kim,BBC News Korean,. Andrew Webband. Grace Tsoi,BBC World Service. Royal Thai Navy. Drones, cruise missiles and fighter jets have become a common sight for many sailors stranded on oil tankers and freight ships in the Gulf, after Iran threatened to open fire on any vessels trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz, in response to US-Israeli attacks.. In recent days there has been a growing number of reported attacks on ships in the Gulf region, as Iran responded to attacks by the US and Israel by threatening to open fire on any vessels trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz.. The Strait is a key artery for shipping, both for energy supplies and vessels carrying other goods. The sudden outbreak of war has left many ships – and their sailors stranded at sea as they watch strikes play out on land around them and overhead.. “I have seen Iranian drones and cruise missiles flying at low altitude,” says Amir, a Pakistani sailor aboard an oil tanker in the United Arab Emirates that cannot leave the area. “I also hear the sound of fighter jets, but we can’t identify which country they belong to.”. What scares him the most is the thought of an intercepted drone or missile falling on his vessel.. Hein, a sailor from Myanmar, sees skirmishes every day. “Just this morning, two fighter jets fired at each other while we were still working,” he says. “There’s no specific hiding place on the ship for this, and we just had to run inside.”. We have changed the names to Amir and Hein, along with those of the other sailors at sea and their families, to protect their safety.. Sailor provided to BBC News. While it is difficult to get an accurate figure for how many sailors are stranded on ships in the Middle East, Capt Anam Chowdhury, president of the Bangladesh Merchant Marine Officers’ Association, estimates that the number is around 20,000.. Some are at sea and some are stuck in port, but he says it is difficult to assess which is the more dangerous position.. “Inside the port, people might think it’s safe, but there have been ships which have been bombarded when they were anchored,” he explains.. Sailor provided to BBC News. His organisation has tracked at least seven ships it says have been hit by projectiles and damaged in the war so far.. He says on 1 March, a sailor was killed on board the Skylark, a tanker registered to the Republic of Palau.. Chowdhury says the surviving sailors have been “traumatised” by the attack, during which the engine room caught fire and the crew evacuated.. Other mariners agree. Capt M Mansoor Saeed sails oil tankers, and tells BBC News he believes that when it comes to avoiding attack, there is little difference between being at port or sea: “If they want to target my ship they will target it.”. But, he says, generally large ships can be safer away from the coast. “In heavy weather  

​ French vote tests polarised electorate with right hoping to win control of Paris. 6 hours ago. Hugh SchofieldParis correspondent. Reuters/BBC/Léa Guedj. France is preparing to vote in town council elections, whose results will be closely analysed for trends ahead of next year’s presidential votes.. A strong showing for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) would be a boost for the nationalist right – even as she awaits a judicial decision on whether she can stand for head of state in 2027.. More broadly the six-yearly municipal elections – which take place in two rounds over the next successive Sundays – will be a test of how far mainstream parties are prepared to go in forming alliances with the far left and far right.. Politics in France has become increasingly polarised, as in much of Europe, and traditional parties have found it harder to win elections without at least tacit support from formations on their outer flank.. But this leads to accusations of pandering to extremism which in turn can cost votes in the centre.. Inevitably the highest-profile contest is for the mayorship of Paris, which has been under left-wing control for 25 years, but could now shift back to the right.. Here as elsewhere alliances will play a vital role in between the two rounds of voting.. Under the complex voting system, it is quite possible that as many as five candidates in the capital will make it through to the run-off on 22 March.. Defending the status quo is Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire, 48, former deputy to outgoing mayor Anne Hidalgo.. Leading the challenge from the right is former culture minister Rachida Dati, 60, one-time protégée of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy.. Reuters. But other candidates in the race are Pierre-Yves Bournazel from the pro-President Macron centre, Sophia Chikirou from the radical left France Unbowed (LFI), Sarah Knafo from the radical right Reconquest party and Thierry Mariani from the RN.. Polls consistently put all the candidates, except for Mariani, above the 10% level of votes needed to get through to the second round. And if Mariani were to get more than 5%, he, too, would be allowed to form a pact to merge his list with another’s.. So between the two rounds there will be pressure on Bournazel and Knafo to stand down in favour of Dati – and on Chikirou to leave the field to Grégoire. It will be urged on them that by staying in the race, they split the vote and open the way for their opponent.. The difficulty is that if Dati cuts a deal with Knafo, she will be accused of flirting with “fascists”, and if Grégoire cuts a deal with Chikirou, he will be doing the same with “violent antisemites”.. Tensions in France have become all the sharper after the February killing of nationalist student Quentin Deranque apparently by far-left militants in Lyon. This has led to calls for mainstream parties to boycott the LFI, just as they have the RN.. Wave of arrests over killing of French nationalist piles pressure on far left. The same dyn