SEOUL -- An explosion and fire occurred Monday on a South Korean-operated vessel anchored inside the Strait of Hormuz, South Korea's foreign ministry said.
The vessel, HMM NAMU, flying the Panamanian flag, has six South Korean crew members and 18 foreign crew members aboard, with no casualties reported so far, the ministry said. (S Korea-Strait of Hormuz-Vessel explosion)
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TOKYO -- "Firmly oppose arbitrary revision of the Constitution!" "No to war!" "Safeguard the pacifist Constitution!" On Sunday, around 50,000 people gathered at Tokyo Rinkai Disaster Prevention Park, chanting slogans and holding banners against the government's push for constitutional revision and military expansion, the largest turnout in recent years.
Sunday marks Japan's Constitution Memorial Day, commemorating the day the country's current Constitution took effect in 1947. (Japan-Constitution-Revision)
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ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan has facilitated the transfer of 22 Iranian crew members who had been held aboard a container ship seized by the United States last month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday.
The move was undertaken as a confidence-building measure by the United States, under which the crew members from the Iranian vessel MV Touska were evacuated and flown to Pakistan overnight, the ministry said in a statement. (Pakistan-Iran-Vessel)
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NEW DELHI -- The death toll in the cruise capsizing incident in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has risen to 13, officials said on Monday.
The cruise capsized at Bargi Dam on Thursday in Jabalpur district, about 340 km east of Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh. (India-Boat Capsizing-Death Toll) ■



