ASIA TODAY Six dead in the stampede at the Tirumala temple in Andhra Pradesh

Today’s news: With the bodies of the two Bedouins found in a tunnel in Rafah, the number of hostages reportedly still in Gaza drops to 94 (of whom 34 are believed to have died). The boss of the Japanese Yazuka mafia, convicted in the United States for trafficking nuclear material from Myanmar. Shanghai opens to foreign-owned hospitals. Reduction of fines in Vietnam. In Tajikistan, President Emomali Rakhmon gives way to his son for the New Year message.

INDIA

At least six devotees were killed and dozens injured last night in an incident at the Venkateswara Swamy temple in the Tirumala Hills, in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The incident occurred when hundreds of people thronged to buy tickets for the Vaikunta Dwara Darshanam, a ceremony being held these days near the ancient temple.

GAZA-ISRAEL

The hostage’s corpse Youssef Ziyadne53 years old – a Bedouin who worked in the stable of a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip and was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 – was recovered by the Israeli army in a tunnel in the Rafah area. Other remains not yet formally identified would be those of his son Hamza, 22, kidnapped with him. The bodies of at least two other people who the Israeli military believes were Hamas supervisors were also found in the area. Of the 251 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, 94 are believed to remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

JAPAN-MYANMAR-UNITED STATES

A head of the yakuza – the Japanese mafia – pleaded guilty in federal court in New York to trafficking nuclear material, such as weapons-grade uranium and plutonium, from Myanmar to other countries. Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, a member of a criminal organization, also admitted to collaborating with a global network of associates from countries including Thailand, Sri Lanka and the United States to traffic drugs and weapons.

CHINA

Shanghai has launched a plan to allow the establishment in China of wholly foreign-owned hospitals in key economic zones, biopharmaceutical areas and central districts that host many foreign residents. The commercial capital is the first city to announce the move after the central government said in September it would allow wholly foreign-owned hospitals to be established in nine locations, including Beijing.

VIETNAM

With the New Year, a new decree came into force in Vietnam allowing the police to impose heavy fines to those who run red lights, drive on sidewalks or use mobile phones while driving. Under Decree 168, fines for drivers who run red lights, for example, have increased from 4 million Vietnamese dong ($157) to 18 million Vietnamese dong ($709).

RUSSIA

Andrej Kotov, director of the Man Travel agency, who had been imprisoned for a month, accused of extremism for organizing tourist trips for homosexuals, died in the Vodnik solitary confinement prison in Moscow. Repeatedly subjected to electric shocks, humiliated and tortured in every way, he was apparently beaten to death by other inmates until his death, which was described as “suicide.”

TAJIKISTAN

It caused a great impression in Tajikistan that the New Year message to the nation, for the first time since 1994, was not delivered by President Emomali Rakhmon, but by his son Rustam Emomali, mayor of Dushanbe and speaker of Parliament, without giving official reasons, but fueling rumors about a close substitute for the presidency.