Manila, June 29 (IANS) A total of five persons were killed while 20 others injured after a powerful explosion ripped through a firecracker warehouse in Zamboanga city in the Philippines on Saturday, the media reported.

According to officials, the blast also damaged houses and commercial establishments near the warehouse, Xinhua news agency reported.

Zamboanga Mayor John Dalipe, who rushed to the blast site, told reporters that five persons died, and rescuers rushed 20 others to hospitals.

Of the injured, eight are said to be in a critical condition.

A police officer said that a child was among those killed in the blast. She told reporters that firefighters and the police are investigating the cause of the explosion.

–IANS

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Harare, June 29 (IANS) At least five persons have been killed, and 26 others injured after a truck carrying 38 people overturned in Zimbabwe, the media reported on Saturday, citing officials.

The police attributed the accident to recklessness on the part of the driver who fled the spot after the mishap, Xinhua news agency reported.

A police officer said that the truck veered off the road and overturned on the way from Karoi town in Mashonaland West Province to Binga in Matabeleland North Province.

Following the accident, some passengers were thrown off the truck while others were trapped beneath the load the truck was carrying.

–IANS

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Zaranj (Afghanistan), June 29 (IANS) Afghan police seized 1,500 kg of illicit drugs, including opium and heroin, and arrested 120 alleged drug smugglers from Afghanistan’s Nimroz province over the past six months, the provincial police office said in a statement on Saturday.

Without providing more details, the statement said that the dossiers of the suspects have been referred to the judiciary for further investigation and possible legal process, Xinhua news agency reported.

Afghan authorities have intensified crackdown on illicit drugs and those involved in the business.

Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan had dropped by an estimated 95 per cent since the country’s caretaker government imposed a drug ban in April 2022, according to a report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime issued last November.

–IANS

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Tehran, June 29 (IANS) Iran’s 14th presidential election on Saturday entered a runoff vote, with former Health Minister Masoud Pezeshkian securing 10 million votes, while former chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili got over 9 million, Iran’s Election Headquarters Spokesperson Mohsen Eslami said.

According to Eslami, Pezeshkian got 42 per cent of the total vote count, while Jalili got 38 per cent, but no one secured the minimum threshold of 50 per cent of votes, Xinhua news agency reported.

The spokesperson said that the voting turnout stood at 40 per cent of over 61 million Iranians who are eligible to vote, adding that the runoff election will be held next Friday, July 5, as the majority was not secured by any of the candidates.

Additionally, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf got 3,383,340, or 13.8 per cent, and Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a former interior minister and justice minister, got 206,397, or 0.8 per cent, Eslami said.

Voting for Iran’s 14th presidential election took place on Friday after President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash last month.

The voting was held at close to 59,000 polling stations in more than 95 states, and over 61 million people are eligible to vote in the election, according to authorities.

Iran’s 14th presidential election, initially set for 2025, was rescheduled following Raisi’s unexpected death.

Initially, six candidates — Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, the current Vice President; Alireza Zakani, the Mayor of Tehran; Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the Parliamentary Speaker; Saeed Jalili, the former top negotiator for nuclear talks; Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a former Interior Minister and Justice Minister; and Masoud Pezeshkian, a former Health Minister — were qualified to enter the race.

Later, Hashemi and Zakani, two principlist candidates, withdrew from the race in favour of Qalibaf and Jalili, who were also in the principlists’ camp.

–IANS

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Tokyo, June 29 (IANS) One man died while five others sustained injuries following an explosion at a community facility in Japan’s central Niigata prefecture on Saturday, local media reported.

The local fire station received a report of an explosion during pipe dismantling work at Yahiko General Cultural Center in Yahiko in the prefecture at about 1:30 p.m. local time, public broadcaster NHK reported.

According to the police and fire department, the explosion is believed to have occurred in the basement of the building, where renovation work was being carried out on the air conditioning system and toilets, Xinhua news agency reported.

The facility has been closed since earlier this month for renovation, and no public visitors or village staff were present, the report said.

Local authorities are currently investigating the incident.

–IANS

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