Top GKToday’s News Headlines- 9 January, 2020

January 9, 2020 January 9, 2020

Here are Top GKToday’s News Headlines for January 9, 2020.

IRCTC to start 2 Bharat Darshan Special tourist trains from Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu): 13-day Mahashivratri Nava Jyotirlinga Special Express on February 19 and 14-day Ramayana Yatra Special Express on March 5
Facial recognition technology installed at Bengaluru, Manmad and Bhusawal stations as test cases to identify and nab criminals
Cabinet approves conferring institution of national importance (INI) status to the cluster of Ayurveda institutions at Gujarat Ayurved University campus, Jamnagar
ASCEND 2020 Global Investors Meet being organised by Kerala govt. in Kochi on January 9-10
31st International Kite Festival being organised in Ahmedabad from January 7 to 13
Gujarat Govt. to set up Vikram Sarabhai Children Innovation Center (VSCIC) in the state

CCEA approves strategic disinvestment of equity shareholding of 4 central PSUs (MMTC, NMDC, MECON, BHEL) and 2 Odisha govt. PSUs (IPICOL and OMC) in Neelachal Ispat Nigam (NINL)
CCEA approves 1656 km North East Gas Grid project of Indradhanush Gas Grid having an estimated cost of Rs 9265 crore
M. Nagaraj appointed CMD of PSU Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO)
SBI launches ‘residential builder finance with buyer guarantee’ (RBBG) scheme aimed at improve homebuyers’ confidence

Japan has topped Henley Passport Index while Afghanistan is last (107th).
A country’s ranking is based on the number of countries its holders can enter without prior visa approval.
Japanese citizens can enter 191 countries while Afghan nationals can only travel to 26 countries without a visa.

Kiev bound Ukraine International Airlines aircraft crashes shortly after take-off from Tehran killing all 176 people
Selfie museum called Selfie Kingdom (TSK) inaugurated in Dubai
Jasbinder Bilan wins 2019 Costa Children’s Award in UK for ‘Asha and the Spirit Bird’
Spain: Pedro Sanchez of Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party takes oath as Prime Minister
936-km TurkStream line for transporting natural gas from Russia to Turkey inaugurated
Pakistan’s Parliament (National Assembly and Senate) pass bills to give extension to Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa for three years
India will be the guest of honour at the Paris Book Fair in March 2020