A Boeing C-135 Stratotanker / Stratolifter military aircraft known as KC-135 of the United States Air Force USAF configured as Air Tanker Transport for aerial refueling. (Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Four service members were killed when their refueling aircraft “went down” in friendly airspace in western Iraq, according to U.S. Central Command.
“Four of six crew members on board the aircraft have been confirmed deceased as rescue efforts continue,” CENTCOM said Friday.
The KC-135 aircraft went down at approximately 2 p.m. ET when two aircraft were involved in “an incident,” CENTCOM said in a brief statement Thursday, confirming that “one of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely.”
Gen. Dan Caine addressed the crashed refueling plane, saying the incident is being treated as an active rescue and recovery mission.
“The incident occurred over friendly territory in western Iraq while the crew was on a combat mission, and again, was not the result, as CENTCOM has said, was not the result of hostile or friendly fire,” Caine said Friday. “We’re still treating this as an active rescue and recovery operation, as CENTCOM announced this morning, four airmen have been recovered, and the Air Force and US Central Command will provide updates as information becomes available.”
The other aircraft involved was also a KC-135 tanker, according to a U.S. official.
The circumstances of the incident are currently under investigation and the identities of the service members who died in the incident are being withheld until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified, officials said.
KC-135 aircraft are not equipped with parachutes and do not have ejection seats, which are primarily in fighter aircraft, officials have told ABC News.
Passengers and crew members of KC-135s instead are trained on how to exit the aircraft when it is on land or on water, officials said.
According to a 2008 Air Force profile of the tanker crews, the move to get rid of parachutes was made because the tankers “seldom have mishaps, and the likelihood a KC-135 crew member would ever need to use a parachute is extremely low.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
People wait in long TSA lines as the partial government shutdown continues for several weeks at airports like Chicago OâHare in Chicago, IL, United States on March 09, 2026 (Photo by Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Transportation Security Administration rolled out a new video at airports across the country Friday warning travelers of longer-than-usual wait times and staffing shortages, blaming Democrats for the partial government shutdown.
“You may be experiencing longer-than-average wait times due to the ongoing Democrat shutdown of TSA and the Department of Homeland Security,” the agency’s video message says.
At several airports nationwide, passengers have seen security wait times ranging from 20-30 minutes to as long as two hours at certain points, with travelers being advised to arrive at the airport early to allow adequate time for screening.
The roughly 30-second video message was released as TSA officers begin receiving their first $0 paycheck Friday, with the length of the shutdown nearing a month. The message also encourages travelers to show gratitude toward the TSA officers.
“The TSA Officers you are interacting with have shown up to work despite having missed paychecks. Please take the opportunity to thank the dedicated men and women of the TSA when you fly today,” the video message says.
Assaults on TSA officers have increased during the shutdown, Acting Deputy Administrator Adam Stahl told ABC.
“We’ve seen increases in assaults on our TSA officers which is always completely unacceptable, particularly unacceptable right now,” he said in an interview. “And so we just ask our passengers to please be respectful, thank them because they’re doing an incredibly difficult job under incredibly difficult circumstances.”
Stahl said the agency has “zero tolerance” for such behavior and works with the law enforcement authorities, including the Department of Justice, so those responsible face ramifications for their actions.
Though the rate of unscheduled absences by TSA officers has more than doubled since the shutdown began, Stahl said there are no safety concerns about TSA’s operations and that the agency’s focus remains on the impact to wait times.
“We don’t have any significant concerns about the integrity of the screening process right now as it stands, but again this is going to continue to worsen as the days continue and we’re really focused and really urge Senate Democrats to get back to the drawing table, get back to negotiating table, so we can get back to normal operations,” Stahl said.
A similar video featuring outgoing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was rolled out by the agency during last year’s government shutdown. It received pushback from several major airports that refused to play it, citing the Hatch Act — a law that restricts the political activities of federal employees, as well as some state and local employees who are involved in or work in federally funded programs.
On Thursday, Senate Democrats blocked a fourth vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security, refusing to fund the agency without any reforms to ICE and CBP.
The package would have provided funding for the Department of Homeland Security through September. The agency has been shut down since Feb. 14.
Ahead of the vote, Democrats once again attempted to get support to fund other agencies, besides ICE and CBP, that are a part of DHS and that have been shut down. After their effort to fund all other agencies besides CBP and ICE was blocked Wednesday by Republicans, Democrats took a piecemeal approach Thursday, making individual requests to pass funding for TSA, CISA, Coast Guard and FEMA.
“What Republicans are saying is that we want to hold TSA, our airports, the protection of our coastline, the defense of this nation from cyberattacks and our response to emergencies hostage to their determination to continue to fund a law enforcement operation at ICE that is out of control,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said during a speech on the floor as part of the Democratic effort to pass the bills to fund the individual agencies.
Republicans blocked each of those efforts, arguing that the whole of DHS should be funded.
“To my Democrat colleagues, if you have a bill that you want to defund ICE with, put it on the floor. I guarantee you it will get voted down because it is an extremely unpopular position. We are not going to let you get to that result by way of holding everyone else hostage. If you want to support all the agencies in this negotiated bill you have a way to do it,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mont., said.
ABC News’ Allison Pecorin contributed to this story.
The official trailer for Dan Levy’s newest series has arrived. Netflix has released the first look at its new comedy thriller show Big Mistakes. It premieres to the service on April 9. Along with Levy, the show stars Taylor Ortega, Laurie Metcalf, Abby Quinn, Boran Kuzum and Jack Innanen. It follows two siblings who are in over their heads when their dying grandma accidentally gets them involved in organized crime …
The littlest guy on Family Guy now has his own show. FOX and Hulu have given a two-season order to Stewie, which will be a spinoff of Family Guy centered on the Griffin family’s youngest son. The animated comedy will follow Stewie Griffin through preschool, as well as his exploration of time and space …
Marshals has been renewed for season 2 at CBS. The Yellowstone spinoff has received an early pickup for a second season after only two episodes of season 1 have aired. The Taylor Sheridan show was the most-watched network original series premiere without a football lead since 2017 …
Riley Green’s Cowboy As It Gets Tour (Live Nation)
Riley Green has a steamy new duet out with Carly Pearce titled “If I Don’t Leave I’m Gonna Stay.”
He also has a new tour to prepare for, as his Cowboy As It Gets run kicks off April 16 in Southaven, Mississippi.
“I’m taking out Justin Moore, who I’m a huge fan of, and several other artists that I love, and it’s gonna be great,” Riley says.
Drake White, Mackenzie Carpenter, Zach John King, Hannah McFarland and Adam Hood are the other artists who will join him along the way.
For the first time, Riley’s grappling with a new problem on tour — but it’s one he’s plenty happy to have.
“We got a lot of big songs now that we get to play, and I’m getting to this cool point in my career where I get to kind of pick through them,” he tells ABC Audio. “Like, I have to figure out which ones I want to play in my live show.”
Riley’s Cowboy As It Gets Tour is set to wrap Aug. 22 in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Mariah Carey’s one major career misstep, and though she says she used to hate it, she’s now excited to celebrate it.
That misstep was Glitter, her 2001 movie that had the misfortune of coming out 10 days after Sept. 11. It was panned by critics, audiences didn’t like it and it didn’t make any money, either. The soundtrack album fared better, but not on par with her past releases. However, Mariah tells Variety that since this year marks the 25th anniversary of Glitter, she’s got “plans for a deluxe and a reissue, or maybe just one, I don’t know.”
“We’re getting on top of it. I’m excited about it,” she tells Variety, adding that her feelings toward the project have changed over the years. “I used to hate it. I used to be so like, why did I do that?” she says, noting that it was “a disastrous flop,” made during what she described as “a tough time for me.”
But, she goes on to say, “[I]t became something that I really loved and it just sort of took on its own thing.”
Mariah also insists that she plans to eventually release her secret grunge album, Someone’s Ugly Daughter. The album’s songs were performed by Foo Fighters and Taylor Momsen at Mariah’s MusiCares Tribute earlier this year. She called that performance “one of the best things I’ve ever experienced,” adding, “I was flipping out.”
And speaking of rock, Mariah is on the ballot for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction for a third time, but she’s not holding her breath.
“Well, I mean, it would be fantastic, but I’m just like… Pftt. You know, if it happens, it happens,” she tells Variety. “And if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. But I think it would be amazing.”
Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters performs with Violet Grohl at Glastonbury Festival 2023 on June 23, 2023 in Glastonbury, England. (Harry Durrant/Getty Images)
Dave Grohl has said he’s been “totally uninvolved” with his daughter Violet Grohl’s debut album, but he did impact her latest single in an indirect way.
As Violet tells the U.K.’s Radio X, her song “595” was inspired by a T-shirt advertising a phone sex line that she’d ordered on Etsy. However, the package containing the shirt was rerouted by Dave before it got to her.
“My dad actually opened up my package and saw the shirt and then hid it in his studio for a couple months,” Violet recalls. “I scoured the house looking for the shirt because it said it was delivered, and then I found it in a box in the studio.”
Violet also shares how she told her parents she’d signed a record deal over dinner.
“My dad can make a killer Sunday roast,” Violet says. “I’m pretty sure it was a Sunday roast.”
Violet’s debut album, Be Sweet to Me, drops May 29. Her dad, meanwhile, will release a new Foo Fighters album, Your Favorite Toy, on April 24.
The Black Crowes’ Chris and Rich Robinson (Photo by: Ross Halfin)
The Black Crowes are back with a new album, A Pound of Feathers, which they recorded in just eight days. And while that may sound fast, guitarist Rich Robinson tells ABC Audio that’s just how he and brother Chris Robinson work.
“Chris and I have always been that way when we make records,” he says. “Even when we were kids, we were always that way.” He adds, “This time around we were just like, well, let’s just kind of wing it and see what happens.”
Rich says he and Chris “work really quickly” when they get into the studio together, as does their producer, Jay Joyce.
“At the end of the first five days we had nine songs done, and we’re like wow, that’s pretty cool,” he says.
One of the first singles the band released from the album is “Profane Prophecy,” which Rich says is a fun song that has “an abandon to it.”
“You know, it is kind of a love letter to rock ‘n’ roll music,” he says. “Even how the songs are crafted, how they come across and, you know, and also the variety, the love, it’s a love letter to what rock ‘n’ roll was.”
When it comes to influences on the album, Rich says there’s a “really deep and broad base that we draw from,” but he notes, “At the end of the day, it still sounds like a Black Crowes record.”
A Pound of Feathers is the Crowes’ follow-up to 2024’s Happiness Bastards. While two albums in two years may also seem fast, Rich would be happy to continue at that pace.
“I would make a record a year indefinitely,” he says. “It’s something I love to do.”
Stellan Skarsgård as Gustav Borg in ‘Sentimental Value.’ (Kasper Tuxen Andersen)
Stellan Skarsgård appeared in many iconic franchises and critically acclaimed films prior to Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value. But it’s his performance as Gustav Borg in the 2025 movie that has earned him his first-ever Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. If he wins, he will become the first Swedish male actor to ever win an Oscar for acting, as well as the first Nordic male actor to do so.
At the time of the film’s release, the 74-year-old actor spoke to ABC Audio about what this exciting season of life has been like and whether this momentum feels particularly different.
“I haven’t played that many leading parts in America,” Skarsgård said. “I mean, I’ve played some bad guys.”
It’s true: he was the baddie Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Dune. But he’s also the morally gray Luthen Rael in Andor and one of Sophie’s three lovable dads in Mamma Mia! He’s right, they aren’t leading parts, but they’re surely memorable, and Skarsgård says he learns from them all.
“Every year I learn, and from every project, and I develop as an actor and I find I’m more experienced. It’s a wonderful work,” Skarsgård said.
The actor said the more that he continues acting, the more he can shed “all the anxieties of youth.”
“You don’t give a f*** about it. You become more simple,” he said. “You peel off the layers of b*******.”
The actor says the older he gets, the better actor he is.
“I’m getting better,” he said. “Come back in 10 years. I’ll be really good.”
The Oscars will take place on Sunday at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. The show will air live on ABC and will also stream live on Hulu.
2 Chainz’s debut memoir, The Voice in My Head is God, is now a New York Times bestseller. Reacting to the news on Instagram, he wrote, “Something told me to write this book. Something told me the message would find the people it was meant for. Now it’s a INSTANT New York Times Bestseller. Grateful for everyone who listened to that voice with me.” The book details his journey to stardom and success, and discusses the higher source behind it all.
Nas has compiled all his guest appearances from the Legend Has It… series into one album. Legend Has It...Feature Presentation features Nas’ commentary on each collaboration and is now available on digital formats. A physical copy is also available for purchase at shop.massappeal.com. For the uninitiated, Legend Has It… celebrated hip-hop legends Nas, DJ Premier, Slick Rick, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Mobb Deep, Big L and De La Soul via the release of their new albums.
John Legend and his Get Lifted company have joined the production team for Broadway’s Cats: The Jellicle Ball, a reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats. He’ll work alongside Mike Jackson, who has also recently signed on as a producer. On Instagram, John says the new musical reimagines the original “in a way that feels completely fresh while still honoring the original. It incorporates ballroom culture and brings an incredible new energy to the piece. We got voguing, runway, fashion, music, all coming together on the stage.”
Jada Pinkett Smith will reprise her role as Lena James in the A Different World sequel, which follows Dwayne Wayne and Whitney Gilbert’s daughter as she starts college at their alma mater, Hillman College. Jada posted a photo taken in front of her trailer, which had her character’s name on the door. “She back #ADifferentWorld,” she wrote in the caption.
