All six crew members on US refueling

plane that crashed in Iraq are killed

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military says a KC-135 refueling aircraft supporting operations against Iran crashed in western Iraq, killing all six crew members. U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, said the crash followed an unspecified incident involving two aircraft in “friendly airspace,” and that the other plane landed safely.

The KC-135 Stratotanker is a U.S. Air Force aircraft used to refuel other planes in midair, allowing them to travel longer distances and maintain operations longer without landing. The plane has been in service for more than 60 years, and has been involved in several fatal accidents.

The most recent happened on May 3, 2013, when a KC-135R crashed after takeoff south of Chaldovar, Kyrgyzstan

Strike in Lebanon kills 12 medics

An Israeli strike hit a health care center in the village of Burj Qalaouiyah in the Bint Jbeil District, killing 12 doctors, paramedics and nurses who were on duty, Lebanon’s health ministry said Friday.

The toll was preliminary as rescue teams continued searching for missing people, it added.

The ministry said it was the second attack on the health sector within hours, after another Israeli strike on the southern village of Souaneh killed two paramedics and wounded five others when it hit a paramedic center.

The ministry condemned the attack and denounced what it called as continued violence against health workers.

JD Vance: Supreme leader injured

Vice President JD Vance says Iran’s new supreme leader is hurt but “We don’t know exactly how bad.”

The U.S. vice president told reporters while he was traveling to North Carolina on Friday that, “It’s not totally clear, actually” if the U.S. or Israel launched a strike that injured Iran’s new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.

Federal government to help farmers

hurt by price hikes caused by war

The Trump administration will help US farmers meet war-related fertilizer price hikes.

“We’re looking at every potential avenue to keep the fertilizer costs down as these farmers are going into planting season,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Friday.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Rollins said she’s had conversations on Capitol Hill exploring additional funding for farmers. “No big announcements yet, but it is coming.”

Most farmers have already purchased fertilizer for this year’s planting season, Rollins said, but about 25% have not. A separate aid package from December opened $12 billion in aid for farmers hit by rising costs amid a trade war with China.

The Associated Press