Prayagraj (AFP) – A pre-dawn stampede at the world’s largest religious gathering killed at least 30 people in India, with many more injured after a surging crowd spilled out of a police cordon and trampled bystanders. Deadly crowd incidents are a frequent occurrence at Indian religious festivals, including the Kumbh Mela, which attracts tens of millions of devotees every 12 years to the northern city of Prayagraj.
Bogor (AFP) – From incense offerings in Beijing to prayer rituals at temples in Bangkok and Taipei, hundreds of millions of people across Asia celebrate the Lunar New Year, ushering in the Year of the Snake.
Hong Kong (AFP) – Two British artists, Rob Aspire and Dominic Johnson-Hill, have painted colourful birds on abandoned houses on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island, hoping to “bring them back to life” and raise awareness of biodiversity.
Quito (AFP) – Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa and Venezuela’s opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia meet at Carondelet Palace in Quito. IMAGES
Shantou (Chine) (AFP) – Physical exertion and deep-rooted patriarchal attitudes have long excluded women from lion dancing, but one troupe in southern China is training female dancers in an attempt to revitalise the tradition. Lion dancing mixes acrobatics, martial arts and theatre and is believed to bring prosperity and protection from evil spirits.
Kinshasa (AFP) – Protesters are targeting the French and Belgian embassies in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital Kinshasa, criticising international inaction amid the escalating conflict in the country’s east. The M23 armed group and Rwandan soldiers have entered the city of Goma following days of deadly fighting with government forces.
Goma (RD Congo) (AFP) – Pro-Rwandan forces have entered the besieged city of Goma, the regional capital of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, following days of fierce and deadly fighting with government forces. The conflict has cut off water supply and electricity to local residents calling for the international community to help.
Hanoï (AFP) – Exhausted after 12 hours of cooking, Nguyen Thi Thuy Hong gently unpeels the last of five leaves encasing a squishy, sticky rice cake known as “banh chung” — a Lunar New Year delicacy in Vietnam. Thi Thuy Hong has made the dish for 40 years, sticking with a tradition that many families have moved away from.
Pont-Réan (France) (AFP) – Flood waters have reached levels unseen in decades in western France, as the Ille-et-Vilaine region was placed on red alert for flooding on Tuesday. Heavy rainfall from Storm Herminia caused the worst flooding in 40 years in Rennes and the surrounding area.
Nations unies (États-Unis) (AFP) – Israel will cease all contact with the UN’s Palestinian relief agency UNRWA and any other body acting on its behalf, Israel’s envoy to the UN says after repeatedly accusing the organization of undermining its security.
Bogotá (AFP) – Images released by the Colombian Foreign Ministry show Colombian migrants deported by the United States disembarking from a military plane at the Catam military airport on the outskirts of Bogota. IMAGES
Krakau (AFP) – Commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day “is both a sombre and indeed a sacred moment,” says Britain’s King Charles III as he visits the Jewish community centre in Krakow, Poland, on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
