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News Headlines-9th Jan
- Ganga Vilas Cruise
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on January 13 flag off the 51-day luxury Ganga cruise from Varanasi to Dibrugarh, via Bangladesh, a 3,200-km river voyage being pitched as the world’s longest. The ship, MV Ganga Vilas, will sail across 27 river systems in India and Bangladesh, with the journey packed with visits to 50 tourist spots including World Heritage spots, national parks. This will herald a new age of river cruise tourism for India. MV Ganga Vilas has three decks, 18 suites on board with a capacity of 36 tourists, with all the luxury amenities. The maiden voyage has 32 tourists from Switzerland signing up for the entire length of the journey. The tourists will board the cruise on January 10 and complete local sightseeing, before the ship sets sail from Varanasi on January 13. The journey will cost approximately Rs 25,000 per person per day. While the cruise is being managed by private operators, the Inland Waterways Authority of India, under the Ministry of Shipping, Ports and Waterways, has supported the project.
- China reopens international borders
After three years, mainland China opened sea and land crossings with Hong Kong and ended a requirement for incoming travellers to quarantine, dismantling a final pillar of a zero-Covid policy that had shielded China’s 1.4 billion people from the virus but also cut them off from the rest of the world.
- Israel revoked Palestinian FM’s travel permit over UN move
Riad Malki said in a statement that he was returning from the Brazilian president’s inauguration when he was informed that Israel rescinded his travel permit, which allows top Palestinian officials to travel easily in and out of the occupied West Bank, unlike ordinary Palestinians. It was not clear whether the permits of other officials had been revoked as well. Israel’s government on Friday approved the steps to penalize the Palestinians in retaliation for them pushing the U.N.’s highest judicial body to give its opinion on the Israeli occupation. Rulings by the International Court of Justice are not binding, but they can be influential on world opinion. Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed it, a move unrecognized by most of the international community. Israel considers the city its undivided, eternal capital. The Palestinians seek the city’s eastern sector as the capital of their hoped-for state. About a third of the city’s population is Palestinian.
- FPIs begin new year in sell-off mode, withdraw 5,900 crore from equities in a week
Foreign investors offloaded nearly Rs 5,900 crore from the Indian equity markets in the first week of January on growing concerns over the re-emergence of Covid in some parts of the world and recession worries in the US. Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) have been adopting a cautious stance toward Indian equity markets for the past few weeks. Apart from India, FPI flows were negative for Taiwan and Indonesia so far this month, while it was positive for the Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand.
- Sovereign Green Bonds
Meaning – Green bonds are bonds issued by any sovereign entity, inter-governmental groups or alliances and corporates with the aim that the proceeds of the bonds are utilised for projects classified as environmentally sustainable.
Benefit to the investor – Green Bonds offer investors a platform to engage in good practices, influencing the business strategy of bond issuers. They provide a means to hedge against climate change risks while achieving at least similar, if not better, returns on their investment.
Benefit to the corporate – Additional money which can be used for environmentally sustainable projects. The government will use the proceeds raised from SGrBs to finance or refinance expenditure (in parts or whole) for various green projects, including in renewable energy, clean transportation, energy efficiency, climate change adaptation, sustainable water and waste management, pollution and prevention control and green buildings. In renewable energy, investments will be made in solar, wind, biomass and hydropower energy projects.
When will they be launched? – 16,000 crore rupees in two tranches of 8,000 rupees each in the current financial year.
- Anahat Singh wins U-15 British open squash title in Birmingham
The 14-year-old, who was India’s youngest athlete at the Commonwealth Games last year, beat Sohaila Hazem of Egypt 3-1 in the final. The British Junior open is held in January every year. This year, it was held after a gap of two years due to COVID-19. Anahat had won the under-11 title in 2019 and finished runner-up the year after in the girls under-13 category. The India player will now be preparing for the Asian Junior team championships, to be held in Chennai in February.
- Racer KE Kumar dies after crash at national championship
K E Kumar, a well-respected racer, died on Sunday following a crash in the second round of the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Car Racing Championship at the Madras International Circuit. He was 59.
