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A U.S. military refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, in an incident U.S. Central Command said involved another aircraft but was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.

The United States has deployed a large number of aircraft into the Middle East to take part in operations against Iran and the incident highlights the risk of operations, even over friendly skies.

In a statement, U.S. Central Command said it was carrying out rescue efforts after the U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft went down. The ⁠second aircraft landed safely.

“The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury,” the statement said, using the military name of the U.S. operation against Iran.

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the other aircraft involved in the incident was also a KC-135 and the one that crashed had as many as six service members on board.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, claimed responsibility for downing the U.S. military refueling aircraft.

The group said in a statement it had shot down ⁠the KC-135 aircraft “in defense of our country’s sovereignty and airspace”.

The KC-135, built by Boeing in the 1950s and early 1960s, has served as the backbone of the U.S. military’s air refueling fleet and is critical to allow aircraft to carry out missions without having to land.

Since the U.S. and ⁠Israel started carrying out strikes against Iran on February 28, seven U.S. troops have been killed. The United States has carried out strikes against more than 6,000 targets in Iran.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that ⁠as many as 150 U.S. troops have been wounded in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. News of the crash comes the same day two U.S. sailors were injured after ⁠the USS Gerald Ford suffered a non-combat-related fire on board.

So far the war has killed more than 2,000 people, including almost 700 in Lebanon.

Source: adaderana.lk

A tragic accident has claimed the life of a seven-year-old student at an international school located in Mahaiyawa, police reported.

According to authorities, the child was run over by a vehicle belonging to a member of the school’s board of directors. The incident occurred within the school area in Kandy.

The young student sustained fatal injuries as a result of the accident. Police have launched an investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, claimed ⁠responsibility for downing a U.S. military refueling aircraft in western Iraq on Thursday.

The group said in ⁠a statement it had shot down the ⁠KC-135 aircraft “in defense of our ⁠country’s sovereignty and ⁠airspace”.

Source: adaderana.lk

The Parliamentary Committee on High Posts has granted approval for a number of new diplomatic appointments representing Sri Lanka overseas.

Among the key decisions, the committee endorsed the appointment of M. I. Fazeeha Azmi as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Iran, while S. K. Chandrasiri received approval to serve as the country’s Ambassador to Israel.

The committee also cleared several other diplomatic postings. Dharshana M. Perera has been approved as the High Commissioner to Malaysia, while D. M. S. P. Dassanayake will serve as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva.

Meanwhile, Dayani Mendis has been appointed as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to Austria, and S. P. W. Pathirana will serve as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Romania.

Additional appointments include N. I. D. Paranavitana as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to Ethiopia and the African Union, Dhammika Fernando as High Commissioner-designate to Kenya, Anura Withanage as Ambassador to Lebanon, and M. Farook M. Fawzer as Sri Lanka’s representative to Palestine.

According to the President’s Media Division, all ambassador-designates held meetings with Anura Kumara Dissanayake before taking up their new diplomatic roles.

The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has won a landslide in Nepal’s election - the first held since last year’s youth-led protests toppled the then government.

The RSP received 182 votes in the final tally - falling short of achieving a two-thirds supermajority in the parliament’s lower house by two seats. Nevertheless, it is the biggest win for a single party in Nepal in decades.

The Nepali Congress came in second with 38 seats, while the Communist Party of Nepal UML (CPN-UML) was third on 25. Voter turnout was around 60% of the nearly 19 million eligible voters.

The result puts the RSP’s Balendra Shah - a rapper-turned-politician - on track to become the country’s next leader.

It is expected to take at least a week for the new government to be formed.

The result is an amazing turn in fortune for the RSP, which was only founded in 2022 and came fourth in the election held that same year. Shah, like the party he only recently joined, is largely untested - his only political experience so far has been as the mayor of the capital, Kathmandu.

The landslide is all the more significant because the country’s mixed political system - which uses a combination of first past the post and proportional representation - is mathematically designed to prevent such domination by a single party.

The outcome of the election reflects a desire for change that was seen during the election campaign, with parties courting Nepal’s key youth bloc with promises of addressing issues including unemployment, economic stagnation and inequality.

These were the same problems that saw youth-led protests that broke out last year, initially against a social media ban, escalate. Demonstrators criticised Nepal’s political system and the symbolism of class inequality, “nepo babies” - children of the country’s politicians.

A total of 77 were killed during the protests, and a BBC investigation revealed the country’s police chief issued an order allowing the use of lethal force against thousands of unarmed protesters.

The demonstrations eventually saw the then leader, KP Sharma Oli, ousted - only for him to stand again as a prime ministerial candidate, expressing confidence he would be re-elected.

Not only did his party, the CPN-UML, come third in the election, Oli was beaten decisively by Shah in the Jhapa 5 constituency - a former stronghold for the 74-year-old.

Gagan Thapa, the new leader of the Nepali Congress - the country’s oldest democratic party - also lost his seat to an RSP candidate.

Source: adaderana.lk

Oil prices surged past $100 per barrel again overnight, three days after it hit a four-year high, as the US and Israel’s war with Iran continues to have a historic impact on global fuel supplies.

The jump came despite the International Energy Agency’s member countries unanimously agreeing earlier on Wednesday to release a record 400 million barrels of oil into the global market.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, hovered around $100 a barrel late Wednesday, an 8.7% increase for the day. Meanwhile, WTI, the US benchmark, also soared 8.7% to $94.8.

Source:adaderana.lk

Israel has issued an urgent warning for residents in Qasr Naba, in Lebanon’s Baalbek region, to evacuate the area.

The Israeli military ‘‘will attack military infrastructure belonging to the terrorist Hezbollah in the near time frame,’’ Israel’s Arab media spokesperson Avichay Adraee says.

The warning comes after the Israeli military carried out a series of strikes on Beirut overnight. During this wave of strikes, it says it hit 10 Hezbollah buildings in southern Beirut.

It is reported earlier that eight people had been killed in a strike on Beirut’s seafront.

Source:adaderana.lk

The UN Security Council on Wednesday called for Iran to halt its attacks on Gulf states, in a resolution that did not mention US or Israeli strikes on Iran, prompting Tehran’s ambassador to decry a “blatant misuse” of the international body.

The resolution, passed by 13 votes with two abstentions, “demands the immediate cessation of all attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran against Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan.”

It also “condemns any actions or threats by the Islamic Republic of Iran aimed at closing, obstructing, or otherwise interfering with international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iran has repeatedly struck Gulf states in retaliation to US-Israeli attacks that killed Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and continue to pummel Iranian sites.

The Islamic republic has also fired on commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial sea passage for the global fuel trade, in a bid to inflict pain on the global economy.

Jamal Fares Alrowaiei, the UN ambassador of Bahrain, which introduced the resolution sponsored by 135 countries, said its passing reflected the Gulf’s key role in the global economy.

“This is why ensuring the security of this region is not merely a regional matter, it is a common international responsibility that is closely linked to the stability of the global economy and energy security,” Alrowaiei told the Security Council.

Veto-holders China and Russia both abstained from the Security Council vote, angered that the resolution did not acknowledge US-Israeli hostility towards Iran.

Iranian ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said adoption of the text represented a “blatant misuse of the Security Council mandate in pursuit of the political agendas” of the United States and Israel.

“Let me make it clear, this resolution is a manifest injustice against my country, the main victim of a clear act of aggression,” he said.

The United States, which backed the text, said its adoption reflected a broad condemnation of Iranian strikes.

“Iran’s strategy of sowing chaos, of trying to hold their neighbors hostage, trying to shake the resolve of the region, has clearly backfired, as shown by this vote today,” said US ambassador Mike Waltz.

Source:adaderana.lk

The Bahrain interior ministry says alarms in the country have been activated.

In a post on X it says: ‘‘We urge citizens and residents to remain calm, head to the nearest safe place, and follow the news through official channels.’‘

It is not clear what area the siren is being sounded in or why. In our previous post we shared a picture of smoke being seen rising over the country’s capital, Manama.

Source: adaderana.lk

The head of Iraq’s ports company told CNN on Thursday that it had rescued 38 crew members of two foreign oil tankers left ablaze in the Persian Gulf after coming under attack in Iraq’s territorial waters – but at least one person has died.

Farhan al-Fartousi, the director general of the Iraqi Ports Company, told CNN that the 38 rescued crew were all of foreign nationalities but did not provide details on injuries or damage to the ships.

Iran claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying an underwater drone attack “blew up two oil tankers in the Persian Gulf tonight,” Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported.

Earlier, an Iraqi-security source in Basra told CNN that an Iranian boat rigged with explosives is thought to have hit the two vessels and an investigation is ongoing.

Oil ports have stopped operations following the attack, al-Fartousi said.

The attack occurred within Iraqi territorial waters, according to the head of media at Iraq’s joint operation command, Lieutenant General Saad Maan. He called the attack a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and said the country reserves the right to take legal action.

Footage verified by CNN shows the two tankers ablaze, with flames spreading into the surrounding water – likely the result of an oil spill. Vessel tracking data indicates that they were anchored alongside each other when the fire began.

The ships on fire are the Maltese-flagged Zefyros and the Marshallese-flagged Safesea Vishnu.

The registered owner of the Safesea Vishnu is US-based company Safesea Transport Inc. while the Zefyros’ owner is based in Greece.

CNN has reached out to Safesea Transport Inc. for comment.

Iraqi authorities have not immediately released further information about the nationalities of those who were rescued.

Source:adaderana.lk

New Zealand’s national airline said Thursday (Mar 12) it would cancel 1,100 flights over the next two months, pointing to the impact of the war in the Middle East.

Air New Zealand chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar said around five per cent of its flights will be cancelled, affecting 44,000 passengers.

The cancelled flights are mostly on domestic routes within New Zealand but will also include some international flights, he said.

Flights between New Zealand and the United States would not be impacted due to increased demand for alternative routes to Europe, Ravishankar added.

“With the unprecedented volatility in jet fuel prices due to the conflict in the Middle East, airlines around the world are adjusting fares and their schedules to help manage the impact of these significantly increased costs,” Ravishankar said.

Ravishankar said jet fuel typically cost about US$85 a barrel, but prices were now double that.

Cancellations would help keep flying as affordable as possible and ensure the company was efficient with fuel, he said.

On Tuesday, Air New Zealand raised ticket prices on all routes.

Oil prices this week surged well above US$100 a barrel, after Iranian attacks on shipping effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to the US-Israeli strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Source:adaderana.lk

US President President Donald Trump claimed in remarks Wednesday that “we won” in the war with Iran, without providing substantial evidence of his claim.

“Let me say we’ve won. You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won. We won, in the first hour it was over, but we won,” the president said.

Trump’s message on how long the war with Iran will last has been inconsistent, saying at times that the war was significantly ahead of schedule, that it would take four to six weeks, that we’ve “already won … but we haven’t won enough,” and that the strikes were “both” a war and a “short excursion.”

The president in his speech in Kentucky also told the crowd how he came up with the name Operation Epic Fury.

“They gave me, like, 20 names. And I’m like, falling asleep. I didn’t like any of them. Then I see Epic Fury. I said, ‘I like that name,’” the president said.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has claimed he questioned the decision to sink an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka last week.

Speaking at a rally in Hebron, Kentucky, Donald Trump said he had asked military officials why the vessel was destroyed rather than captured.

“I said, why the hell did we kill them? Why didn’t we just capture them and use them in our Navy?” he told supporters.

Trump added that one of his generals told him sinking the vessel was preferable, saying: “Sir, it’s a lot more fun.”

The Iranian navy frigate was torpedoed and sunk by a US submarine in international waters near Sri Lanka last week, with dozens of sailors killed in the attack.

Source:adaderana.lk