Global News Podcast - US aerial refuelling plane crashes in western Iraq

Episode Date: March 13, 2026

US officials have said a KC-135 refuelling plane that went down in western Iraq was not the result of hostile or friendly fire. They said it had involved a second refuelling aircraft that landed safely. Six crew members were reported to be on the plane that crashed. We also hear from Lebanon where a BBC correspondent has been spending time in the south of the country which is under constant Israeli attack. In other news, a man who was shot dead by armed guards when he drove his truck into a synagogue in the US state of Michigan has been identified as a naturalised US citizen who was born in Lebanon; a satirical cartoonist has been freed from prison in Eritrea after fifteen years without charge; and the chef behind Copenhagen's Noma restaurant steps back after multiple accusations of abuse by staff.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail]

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Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get to your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Will Chalk and in the early hours of Friday the 13th of March, these are our main stories. Questions are being asked after an American plane reportedly crashed in Iraq. Meanwhile, air strikes are continuing. in Iran and Lebanon. And the US authorises the temporary sale of some Russian oil in another effort to curb the war's economic impact.

Also in this podcast. There have already been some violations of this law. Due process will be followed. This kind of filming puts yourself in harm's way. Why filming Iranian missiles can get you into big trouble in Dubai. We start with a rescue effort underway in Iraq after a U.S. refueling aircraft apparently crashed. The U.S. military has said neither hostile nor friendly fire were to blame.

Speaking to the BBC, White House representative Jim Himes, the most senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, gave his immediate reaction. This is part of the inevitable costs of a conflict. Even the best military doesn't operate without accidents, and that appears to have been what occurred here. But the United States has already lost, I believe we're up to eight now, fatalities as part of this, lots of individuals injured, gas prices high, the Supreme

Leader replaced by somebody who is even more extreme than the Supreme Leader of a month ago. And so amongst other things, we pray for the safety of the crew, but this is the cost to be paid when a nation decides to go to war. I got more from our North America correspondent, Simi Jolla Oshay. So what we know is that two aircrafts were involved in the incident and that it occurred in friendly airspace. The U.S. Central Command has given us a few more details saying that one of the aircraft was a KC-135 refueling aircraft in that it went down over Western Iraq and they've now deemed it lost. But the second aircraft landed safely. They said this was not due to hostile fire

or even friendly fire and that rescue efforts are ongoing and will receive more information as the situation develops. Now, we don't know how many people were on board. KC135s usually have a crew of three, so you get a pilot, a co-pilot and a person who would operate the boom to refuel other aircraft. But we know it can carry up to 37 passengers. And this war obviously in the Middle East, but this just brings home, you know, the risk to US personnel. Yeah, this definitely highlights the risk of such military operations, even over friendly skies, as Central Command told us. We know the U.S. has deployed a large number of aircraft to the Middle East. And this is at least the fourth U.S. military aircraft that has been deemed lost or that's been downed by non-hostile fire during this U.S. military operation against Iran.

Earlier in the war, three F-15s were mistakenly shot by Kuwaiti forces over Kuwait. But we know the six crew members on board those were able to. to eject safely. And do we know just how many US service personnel have been wounded so far? Well, there are reports that up to 150 US troops have been wounded in the US-Israeli war against Iran so far. We do know that seven US service members have been killed. They have had their dignified transfers happen here. President Trump commented at the time and said that they had given their lives for a righteous mission. And he warned that there will likely be more American deaths.

But that goes without saying that in this incident, there are no details on how many people have been injured or if there are any deaths. The US Central Command said they're still gathering details in order to provide clarity for the families of the service members that were on board. And I'm sure we'll receive more information as that happens. That was Simi Jola Oshow, speaking to me from

Washington. Now, for the first time since the start of Israel's joint military campaign with the US, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has held a press conference. Mr. Netanyahu denounced Iran's new supreme leader as a puppet of the revolutionary guard. He again called on Iranians to bring down the regime as a new wave of airstrikes targeted the Iranian capital Tehran. We are crushing the new military. We are crushing the new. We are crushing the new nuclear infrastructure, the missile and launcher array, the repression headquarters, the regime's centers of power, and many more targets. At the same time, we are working to advance another objective to create the conditions for the Iranian people so they can remove the cruel,

tyrannical regime that has oppressed them for nearly half a century. Our correspondent Lucy Williamson has more details. It was a fairly triumphalist tone struck by Benjamin Netanyahu. listing what he said was that all the strategic gains made in the war, despite the fact that the regime change he's been calling for hasn't happened. He talked about the enormous achievements that were changing the balance of power in the Middle East and beyond. This is no longer the same Iran, no longer the same Middle East, and this is not the same Israel, he said.

And there are some Israelis who will hear that and will hear in it their prime minister, saying that Israel has achieved what it set out to achieve in this war and perhaps gesturing towards the end of that war, even while Iran's regime is still in place, and while Israel is still fighting on a second front against Hezbollah in Lebanon. And on that, the Prime Minister said that Israel was committed to completing that task, saying that Hezbollah would pay a very heavy price for its aggression. That was Lucy Williamson talking about.

Benjamin Netanyahu's comments about Lebanon and Hezbollah, and we're going to stick with Lebanon for our next story, because hundreds of thousands more people are being forced to head north following a new evacuation order by the Israeli military. All residents south of the Zirani River were asked to leave their homes immediately. Our correspondent, Weira Davis, has spent time with civil defence units in the southern Lebanese town of Nabatia, which has come under constant Israeli attack, and which is now part of the evacuation. zone. We're just about to leave at the end of the day and the two more massive explosions. One air strike hit the village here that's on the edge of Nabatia and we are right next to the hospital. Another one over to my south. Now there were some general evacuation warnings issued by the IDF before these air strikes but nothing too specific. We are of course in an area north of the southern evacuation zone imposed by Israel. But such is the intensity. and the power of these Israeli airstrikes that many of these areas now are depopulated

because the risk of staying here is just too great. We're now in our vehicle following an ambulance through the town of Nabatia to the scene of another air strike. There have been four in the last 20 minutes, some of them very loud. We're now with a squad from the Civil Defence League. They've gone into this building

to try and rescue a disabled woman She's on the third or fourth story of this building right next to a building that's taken a big hit and has been completely destroyed. Her windows have been blown in. Masonry has been blown in to her building. There's no way she could have stayed here. But it was a monumental effort to get her down the stairs

into an ambulance and to relative safety. We've arrived now at the hospital. with Intisar, the old woman who was evacuated from the house because she couldn't get herself out. Thankfully, she's now getting treatment at the hospital. I was very scared when the strike happened. I've been living in fear and panic, and my heart keeps pounding.

Your house has been badly damaged by the bombing. There's glass. There's stones everywhere. Do you think you'll go back? The glass on my windows shattered from the explosion. I've lived in my home for 25 years. Where am I supposed to go? If the situation calms down, I'll go back to my home. It's really, really busy here because of all the bombing

the Israelis are doing in and around Navatia. Down the hall, there's a young family, a mother, her two very young children, a teenage nephew, I think. They're uninjured, but they had to stay in Nabatia because they simply couldn't. afford to leave. We didn't leave because we saw on the TV how

people are stranded on the roads and sidewalks. I didn't want that for my two kids, so I decided to stay and trust in God's will. We were sitting on mattresses, on the floor having lunch and watching television, when suddenly, half the house collapsed.

The glass on the windows shattered so we couldn't see a thing. I grabbed my kids and went to hide in a small room until the respond showed up and took us out. Well, it would be absolutely puerile to say that life goes on here despite this. In fact, Nabatir is like a ghost town, but at some point, the Israeli attacks will stop and people will return. For now, some things are happening.

In the background, you may be able to hear the call to prayer. Above it is the omnipresent sound of the Israeli drones. Weira Davis, reporting from Nabatia in Lebanon. The price of oil has soared since the war began, the Iranian authorities stopped ships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Now the United States has announced it will allow the temporary sale of some Russian oil in a bid to boost global supplies and stabilise energy prices. I asked our business correspondent Nick Marsh if this is being seen as a major concession by the US.

Let's assign that the US is concerned about the rising price of oil. It's currently at around $100 a barrel for Brent Crude. yesterday, it finished above $100 a barrel for the first time since the war in Ukraine. So this is an issue because the higher the price of oil is, then the higher the price of everything is. Therefore, ordinary Americans, people all around the world, suddenly face a higher cost of living. So saying to countries, yes, you can buy sanctioned Russian oil for 30 days. It's oil that's specifically stranded at sea. You have all these Russian tankers. Some of them delivering oil illicitly, some of them just sort of popping about in the sea. Saying to countries, yeah, you can do

this is an attempt to try and increase the supply and to try and ease fears among oil traders. We actually saw last week the US issue a waiver to India specifically. They made an agreement with India and India said it would stop buying Russian oil. The US kind of went back on that and said, no, you can carry on. To be honest, neither of these moves have had a very big impact on the price of oil. I mean, it's still very high. And the fact of the matter is that the strait of Hormuz, you know, that crucial waterway is still very much blocked. Barely anything's getting through there. And to be honest, until that changes, it's hard to see how the price of oil is going to move that significantly in a downward direction. But it seems clear that someone who definitely will benefit from this would be Russia.

Absolutely, yeah. I mean, I was just looking at some data reporting in the Financial Times. That shows that Russia, apparently, is getting $150 million extra a day in its energy sales, in its fossil fuel sales. Because if you can't buy Middle Eastern oil, or you can't buy all that's transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, then you turn to Russia, another major oil production. We know China buys a lot of Russian oil. We know India was buying it as well. And now with this waiver, it seems like, you know, more and more countries could be turning to buying what was previously sanctioned Russian oil. So in a financial sense at least, forget that the geopolitics, Moscow is definitely benefiting already. That was Nick Marsh in Singapore. Dozens of people have been arrested in Dubai for filming Iranian missiles hitting the city

on their mobile phones. They were detained under a United Arab Emirates law that prohibits the publishing or sharing of material deemed to disturb public security, and if found guilty, they could be jailed for two years. The BBC's Clive Myrie spoke to the UAE's Minister of State, Lana Nasebe, and he began by asking her how the UAE can justify such harsh punishment for taking photos. In order for everyone to feel safe, it's important at this time that the information is credible and the sources are reliable. That is the basis of the legislation that has come into play in this state, which is obviously a tense time.

But I am aware there have already been some violations of this law. Due process will be followed, and this kind of filming puts yourself in harm's way. But if you're just an innocent tourist or me as a journalist, and I see something quite extraordinary, the aftermath of a drone attack or whatever, and I innocently pick up my phone, it seems a little bit over the top to arrest that person, potentially, have them faced two years in jail? Actually, if you look at legislation around the region and the state of crisis, if you even look at legislation in contexts such as Ukraine,

this legislation is quite common. We put out public warnings. We ask people not to do things. Unfortunately, unless there is strict legislation and guidelines in place, a lot of people continue to do those things. You believe this law is fully justified that someone can simply take a picture and perhaps go to jail? I don't think the law states that someone can take a picture and go to jail.

jail. It's very specifically describing taking pictures of missile interceptions and drone interceptions. I know you and your family and myself and my family would want to be safe. And to do that, you need to follow the guidelines. And the law will be applied for everyone's safety, along with all the other measures we have taken to keep this community safe. Lana Nasebe, a Minister of State for the UAE. Still to come on this podcast. I'm sorry everyone is in this situation. I really, really am. I don't think this represents our team. There's trouble in Food Paradise after a scandal at one of the world's best restaurants.

We focus on the part of the internet that most people don't know about. It's called the dark web. Undercover in the furthest corners of the dark web, US special agents are on a mission to locate and rescue children from abuse. Move in now. From the BBC World Service, World of Secrets, the darkest web follows their shocking investigations. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get to your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News podcast. A man's been shot dead by armed guards in the US state of Michigan after ramming his truck through the front door and into the hallway of a synagogue. Here is the local sheriff, Michael Bouchard.

All of us have thoughts of maybe why this happened, but we don't operate in a world where we can presume something. We have to determine it through investigation and specificity. And that is a work that's in progress as we speak. All of us will work seamlessly together to get the answers, and then it will be called what it is. Obviously, it's a hateful, terror, terror, terrible thing, right? But what drove this person into action, that has to be determined by the investigation. We can presume, but we have to find those facts, and that's going to happen over the next days. I got more from our correspondent Helena Humphrey, who's in Michigan.

Well, the Department of Homeland Security has now identified the man who rammed his truck into the synagogue. They say he was 41 years old, Amen Muhammad Ghazali. He was a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Lebanon. He came to the United States in 2000. Now we know that he was fatally shot by security officers who were there at the synagogue after he rammed his truck through the synagogue doors, continued driving it down the hallway, and then his vehicle caught fire. So in the minutes after that attack, we could see smoke billowing from the roof of the synagogue. There was a security officer who was hit by that vehicle. He was knocked unconscious. He's being treated in hospital, reportedly not. life-threatening injuries. But there are also over 100 children in a preschool on site. They were all safely evacuated, but a very anxious wait for their parents. And the special agent here, who's in charge of the FBI's Detroit field office, say that they're investigating this as a crime, which was a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community. But they've stressed that the

precise motive in all of this has to be determined by the investigation. Now, we've had statements from a number of officials, also from President Trump, who says that this is a terrible thing. And the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has said that the Jewish community here in Michigan must be able to live and practice their faith in peace. And an anxious wait then, Helemma, for a lot of the parents to find out about their children. No, indeed, you know, stories of parents, grandparents, rushing to the scene, falling to their knees as they were waiting for news. One employee on site said that when they heard this crash, they just knew it wasn't good. But they also said that they had been preparing for this with active shooter drills.

The sheriff has called on the community to take a breath saying that the response, he said, was flawless. And certainly synagogues here in the US have been. in ramping up security since the US and Israel launched a war with Iran with missile strikes last month. And what we've seen now is police in major US cities saying that they are going to ramp up police patrols around synagogues, Jewish schools, cultural centres and so on. Helena Humphrey speaking to me from Michigan. A satirical cartoonist has been freed from prison in Eritrea after being held for 15 years. is without charge. Biniam Solomon was detained in the capital Asmara in 2011, but the reason was never made clear. I've been speaking to the BBC's Temescan Debussy,

who's originally from Eritrea. Biniam Solomon, also affectionately known as Cobra in Eritrea, he is a cartoonist. He's also a physics teacher at a secondary school called St. Mary's Secondary School. Initially, he started drawing cartoons for the state-run newspaper, But then as private newspapers flourished back in 1997, up until 2001, when they were all shut down during a government crackdown, he was also producing cartoons for the different private newspapers. Now, I'm pretty sure the government didn't take lightly to Somof this works, because some of it probably had a, you know, subliminal message of dissent, probably, or it was just a matter of interpretation, how they interpreted it. Whether that is the case or not, we don't know why he was, he was, he was a matter of. he was imprisoned.

Obviously, the question would be, why is he being released now? And the answer to that is that nobody knows, just like nobody knows why he was in prison in the first place. But this is a man who's now probably in his early 60s. It's been 15 years since he's been in prison. And this isn't an isolated case. There's thought to be, what, thousands of other people being held without charge? There are estimates of over 10,000.

Again, there's no way to confirm the number. It could be higher than that. be lower than that. The good thing is, in recent months, we have been hearing stories of some people being released from prison. Again, reason unknown, but that is definitely a step in the right direction. And how much do we know about the conditions inside these prisons? There are estimated to be more than 300 various detention facilities across the country. Some of them are military camps, underground cells, police stations. The government also uses shipment containers as holding cells as well in the middle of the desert.

So you can imagine the conditions very, very hot in the day and then the temperatures can go completely very cold in the middle of the night. Some of the more known prisons, I can mention a few Adabato prison, Maizirwa, Iraero. Erraero is notoriously known for housing 11 senior government ministers that called for government reform back in 2001 in September. To this day, nobody knows they're about, based on the accounts given by former prison guards that have fled the country,

it is believed that most of them are probably not alive due to the harsh conditions and obviously their ailing health at the time. But that's the situation in Eritrea. Temescan Debussy. Now, if you're into fine dining, you've probably had fantasies about eating at the Copenhagen restaurant Noma. If you've got the cash to spare, you may even have eaten there yourself, if you have, lucky you. got three Michelin stars and has basked in the top spot of the world's 50 best restaurants on multiple occasions. But it's been making headlines on Thursday for all the wrong reasons.

Its founding chef, René Red Zeppi, has resigned a week after a New York Times report stating that dozens of former employees had accused him of inflicting physical and psychological harm between 2009 and 2017. A video posted on social media showed him making a tearful statement to his staff. I'm sorry everyone is in this situation. I really, really am. I don't think this represents our team. In order to make sure that you guys are 100% feeling safe,

I'm going to step away. Duncan Kennedy has more. Pushing the envelope of Nordic cuisine to flamboyant levels, René Red Zeppi's fine dining options have included everything from edible soil to ants. As head chef, his nomoom. restaurant in Copenhagen has been voted the world's best five times. But the New York Times recently published historical allegations from dozens of former employees

who claimed Mr. Red Zeppi created a toxic workplace, where he hit, jabbed and screamed at staff. Saru Jaya Rahman, who campaigns for better treatment of staff in the U.S. hospitality industry, says the problem goes wider than one man. This is not the exception. He is not one bad apple. He is not unique at all. He's the rule, not the exception. This is the culture in the restaurant industry worldwide. It is a culture of low or no wages, exploitation, abuse, and frankly, much worse for workers at far less posh restaurants than Noma. René Red Zeppi championed foraged ingredients for his three Michelin-starred restaurant. He was due to to open a pop-up version of his eatery in Los Angeles, where tickets were selling for $1,500.

But now he's resigned, accused by those who once worked with him of turning a kitchen into a destructive and unsafe workplace. Duncan Kennedy. The Chilean architect Smilien Radich-Clark has been awarded what's considered the most prestigious annual honour in architecture, the Pritzker Prize. The jury said he favoured fragility. with buildings that appeared temporary or deliberately unfinished.

Danny Aberhard has more details. Smilian Radich-Clark's structures have gained fame far beyond his native Chile. Tremendously diverse, they range from private homes to commercial buildings and exhibition spaces. A gallery of pre-Columbian art in a Santiago Museum, the object seemingly floating in the dark space that appears in part to evoke a basalt cave. A Chilean house perched above the Pacific Ocean with vertiginous expansive views. A translucent pillow-shaped fibreglass pavilion that temporarily graced one of London's most prestigious contemporary art galleries, the serpentine. A sleek, unobtrusive winery in a valley overlooked by the Chilean Andes.

Intimate spaces that embrace his ideas of shelter and refuge. The Pritzker jury praised him for embracing vulnerability, as an intrinsic condition of life. The 60-year-old Radich-Clark, who has Croatian and British ancestry, speaks of the importance of ambience, seeking to imbue buildings with their own character. He's also restless in his ideas,

keen not to repeat structures. As attested by his Pritzker Prize, it's paid off, not bad for someone who failed his first attempt to graduate from his architecture course at a Chilean university. Averhart. And that's all from us for now.

If you want to get in touch, you can email us at global podcast at BBC.com. You can also find us on X. We're at BBC World Service and you can use the hashtag Global NewsPod. Don't forget our sister podcast. It's called The Global Story and it goes in-depth and beyond the headlines on one big story. This edition of the Global News podcast was mixed by Holly Smith and produced by Stephen Jensen. and Wendy Urquhart. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Will Chalk. Until next time, goodbye.