At least 15 dead in the stampede at the Kumbh Mela, the largest Hindu gathering

Today's news: millions of people in Asia celebrate the Lunar New Year; The Jordanian Air Force launched a massive airlift (supported by the US) to bring urgent medical supplies to Gaza; Myanmar's military junta started recruiting women: Pasinyan to the Armenian diaspora: ‘Really clarify what happened during the genocide and why’.

INDIA

At least 15 people are reported to have died before dawn in a stampede in the town of Prayagraj at the Kumbh Mela - a large Hindu pilgrimage that attracts some 400 million worshippers to Uttar Pradesh in recent weeks. The crowd poured out of a police cordon trampling some people during the ‘Shahi Snan’ bath. ‘Condolences to those who lost their loved ones,’ PM Modi wrote.

CHINA - WORLD

The Year of the Snake begins today and millions of people in Asia and around the world are welcoming it with family, friends, prayers and plenty of food. Lunar New Year, which coincides with the first new moon of the year, is a 15-day festival that falls between 29 January and 4 February. Chinese communities in China and elsewhere consider it the most important festival of the year, also celebrated in Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and other parts of Asia.

JORDAN - GAZA

TheJordanian Air Force launched the largest airlift to date to bring urgent medical supplies to Gaza as part of a US-backed deal to step up deliveries after the ceasefire. The operation involves 16 helicopter flights per day that will initially deliver at least 160 tonnes of life-saving medical supplies within a week to hospitals and medical centres. Jordan has been a key hub in sending aid to the enclave for the past 15 months.

MYANMAR

The military junta in Myanmar has taken the first steps to enlist women for active military service, according to residents, showing the army's desperation to replenish its ranks amid a series of defeats. Last year, military conscription was also imposed on unmarried women between the ages of 18 and 27. Until now it had only enlisted men - sometimes by force - but since mid-January, the authorities have started to compile lists of women.

PHILIPPINES

The US-based pressure group BishopAccountability.org, which has been campaigning for years on the issue of sexual abuse committed by priests, released a list of 82 Filipino priests and religious publicly accused of such crimes who continue to carry out their ministry, calling on the country's bishops to take action.

RUSSIA

The Russian Ministry of the Interior has prepared a new classification system, to establish a register of ‘LGBT people and workers in the sexual sphere’, including those who participate in the non-existent ‘international LGBT movement’, banned in Russia by a decision of the Supreme Court, and all these people will then have a public status, to allow anyone to ‘check their friend or girlfriend’.

ARMENIA

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pašinyan, met with representatives of the Armenian diaspora in Switzerland, insisting on the need to ‘really clarify what happened during the genocide, and why it happened’, going back to studying its history and documents, also asking ‘why in 1939 it was not a topic on the agenda, but became so in 1950’, focusing on the responsibility of the Armenians themselves, rather than accusing the Turks.

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