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A US military aircraft has crashed in western Iraq with American soldiers on board, the US Central Command says.

It says “rescue teams are responding” at the scene, and an investigation will be held to determine the cause of the crash. It provided no further details.

Two US officials said a HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter crashed near the town of al-Qaim, Anbar province, Reuters reports.

The town’s mayor told the news agency that seven people were on board the aircraft.

The US military says there are more than 5,000 American soldiers in Iraq as part of the fight against so-called Islamic State (IS).

They include trainers, advisers and special forces. The US has had a troop presence in Iraq since the invasion of 2003, reaching 168,000 at its peak in September 2007.

A Hungarian court has sentenced a Syrian-Cypriot man to seven years in prison for illegally crossing the border from Serbia in September 2015.

Ahmed Hamed was also convicted of being an accomplice in “terrorist acts”. Prosecutors said he had used a loudspeaker to address hundreds of migrants who then rushed through a gate in a newly completed border fence.

Amnesty International condemned Hungary for using anti-terror laws against refugees and migrants.

The incident in 2015 led to clashes between migrants and Hungarian police, who deployed tear gas and water cannon to push the migrants back. “We did not go to the border to cause problems,” Hamed was quoted as saying by local news website Index. “Neither my culture, nor my religion would encourage that.”

Also in September 2015, a Hungarian camerawoman was filmed kicking out at migrants as they rushed past. The same court in the town of Szeged gave her three years’ probation for that.

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Some 23,000 people have been evacuated in a town in central Italy after an unexploded bomb from World War Two was found during excavation work.

Officials in Fano had said the British-made bomb might explode after it was accidentally activated.

Patients were removed from a hospital and train services were suspended before army and navy experts removed the device and dropped it into the sea. Schools were ordered to remain shut on Wednesday.

The 1.1m (3.6ft) long bomb, weighing 225kg (500lb), was found on Fano’s seafront during the construction of a drain.

People and buildings within a radius of 1.8km of the device were evacuated. Almost a third of the population of the town – some 220km from Rome on Italy’s Adriatic coast – were affected.

The port and airport were also closed, with Mayor Massimo Seri saying the measures were needed because the removal operation was “dangerous”.

After working overnight, experts removed the bomb in the early hours of Wednesday.

Public offices would remain closed until 13:00 (12:00 GMT) but residents were told they could start returning to their homes.

Counter-terror police are leading an investigation into the “unexplained” death of a man in London.

He is believed to be Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov, who claimed political asylum in the UK after being convicted of fraud.

The Metropolitan Police said its specialist unit was looking into it “as a precaution because of associations that the man is believed to have had”. There was no evidence linking the death to the incidents in Salisbury, it said.

In a statement, it said the man in his 60s had been found at a residential address in New Malden on Monday night. The man has been identified, but not formally. However, next of kin have been informed.

Mr Glushkov, 69, is the former deputy director of Russian state airline Aeroflot. He was jailed in 1999 for five years after being charged with money laundering and fraud. After being given a suspended sentence for another count of fraud in 2006, he fled to the UK to seek political asylum and became a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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The UK will expel 23 Russian diplomats after Moscow refused to explain how a Russian-made nerve agent was used on a former spy in Salisbury, the PM says.

Theresa May said the diplomats, who have a week to leave, were identified as “undeclared intelligence officers”. She also revoked an invitation to Russia’s foreign minister, and said the Royal Family would not attend the Fifa World Cup later this year.

Russia denies being involved in the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal.

The Russian Embassy said the expulsion of 23 diplomats was “unacceptable, unjustified and short-sighted”.

Former spy Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, 33, remain critically ill in hospital after being found slumped on a bench on 4 March. Det Sgt Nick Bailey also fell ill responding to the incident, and is in a serious but stable condition, but is thought to be improving.

Moscow refused to meet Mrs May’s midnight deadline to co-operate in the case, prompting Mrs May to announce a series of measures intended to send a “clear message” to Russia.

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