Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former president Donald Trump are battling it out for the White House, with polls gradually closing across the United States Tuesday and a long night of waiting for results expected.

Results are tumbling in, with US media projecting wins for Trump so far in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Harris has so far captured Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and the US capital Washington, DC.

So far, that gives Harris 81 electoral votes and Trump 168.

The magic number to win the presidency is 270.

Observers expect the hotly contested race for the White House to come down to a handful of key battleground states.

At least 34 people, including two babies were killed when a contraband fuel depot exploded into flames in southern Benin near the border with Nigeria on Saturday.

According to Beninese Interior Minister Alassane Seidou, “a serious fire occurred in the town of Seme Podji. Another 20 people were seriously wounded in the incident.”

"I can't really give you the cause of the fire, but there is a large gasoline warehouse here and cars, tricycles and motorcycles come from morning to evening,” he added.

Nigeria is a main oil and gas producer where fuel smuggling is very common along its borders, particularly when the government maintains a subsidy to keep fuel prices low.

The majority of the victims were burnt and they could not be not be identified.

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