26% bridges are over 100-year old, 5% crossed 140 years

Government will continue to use the ETF route for disinvestment of PSUs

Prabhu spoke about priority being given to safety and need for more funds for railways to move ahead

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his second budget is likely to focus on steps to accelerate economic growth

Wants patient treatment, which is currently exempt from service tax, to continue to enjoy this sop under GST for 10 years

Minister says UDAY scheme will itself help save Rs 1.8 lakh crore annually within next three years

Bahl's company has been in the middle of some firefighting over reports on how there are efforts to downsize as cash is depleting

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories jumped 4.84% to Rs 4020 after the company said its manufacturing plant at Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh received the Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from US drug regulator.

Cadila Healthcare gains 0.11% to Rs 321.95 after the company said it received final approval from US drug regulator for Deferasirox tablets for oral suspension.

Key benchmarks extended gains in mid-morning trade. The Nifty was trading above the 9300 mark. At 11:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 494.49 points or 1.57% at 31,937.87. The Nifty 50 index rose 137.15 points or 1.49% at 9,336.20.

NLC India fell 0.46% to Rs 43.70 after the company said eight workers were injured in a fire accident at the TS II power plant in Neyveli, Tamil Nadu.

The benchmark indices pared gains in early afternoon trade as profit booking emerged at higher levels. The Nifty held above the 9300 mark. At 12:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 397.91 points or 1.27% at 31,841.29. The Nifty 50 index rose 106.05 points or 1.15% at 9,305.10.

At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 433.52 points or 1.38% at 31,876.29. The Nifty 50 index rose 120 points or 1.3% at 9,319.05

As per provisional closing, the barometer S&P BSE Sensex gained 199.32 points or 0.63% at 31,642.70. The Nifty 50 index gained 51.55 points or 0.56% at 9,250.60.

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL) jumped 4.81% to end at Rs 2088.35 after a foreign brokerage reportedly maintained an 'outperform' rating on the stock with a target of Rs 2,400 per share.

India VIX cools 3% to 38.53.

As fears of the novel coronavirus spread through the U.S., the high-contact tradition of presidential campaigning came to a halt. WSJ's Gerald F. Seib explains what Americans may see as campaigning resumes. Photo: Shutterstock/Zuma Press

States balance public health and economic well-being as more lockdowns expire; U.S. intelligence agencies confirm investigating if the coronavirus escaped from a lab in Wuhan; Apple and Amazon report profits. WSJ’s Shelby Holliday has the latest on the pandemic. Photo: Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg

Outside of New York, New Jersey is the state that has been hit hardest by the pandemic. WSJ visited a recent emergency food distribution event in Newark to speak with New Jerseyans about food insecurity during the pandemic.

State-media footage shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un cutting the ribbon at a fertilizer factory, ending a nearly three-week absence from public view that fueled rumors of his death. Photo: KRT/Associated Press

The Trump administration steps up assertions that the coronavirus originated at a lab in Wuhan, governments around the world start to allow businesses to reopen, millions of imported masks fall short of N95 standards. WSJ’s Jason Bellini has the latest on the pandemic. Photo: Scott Keeler/Zuma Press

Sales decline 2.83% to Rs 616.61 crore

RBI issues revised Calendar for issuance of Marketable Dated Securities for the remaining period of H1 (11 May - 30 September 2020)

However, the management of the Company expects the operations to remain sub-normal in the immediate future, with a possibility of intermittent disruptions based on the evolving situation and varying Government guidelines and permissions. The Company continues to closely monitor the situation and shall take appropriate action as per regulatory guidelines.

Transaction expected to close in Q3 2020

US stock market ended sharply higher on Friday (8 May) despite grim monthly jobs report as investors bet the worst of the coronavirus crisis has passed. Investors also hoped for an eventual reopening of the economy.

Cipla said that following USFDA inspection, the company's manufacturing facility in Bommasandra, Bangalore has received the EIR, indicating closure of the inspection.

VST Industries said that the company has resumed its manufacturing operations with restricted capacity and manpower considering the permission granted by the State Government of Telangana.

On a consolidated basis, Shree Cement's net profit jumped 57.6% to Rs 535.93 crore on 2.1% decline in net sales to Rs 3,415.14 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019.

Venezuela's chief prosecutor ordered the arrest Friday of a former Green Beret and two opposition figures living in the United States for their purported role in a botched operation aimed at removing Nicols Maduro from power. Tarek William Saab said Venezuela will seek the capture of Jordan Goudreau, a military veteran who has claimed responsibility for the attack, as well as Juan Jos Rendn and Sergio Vergara, two U.S.-based advisers to opposition leader Juan Guaid. They are living in impunity, Saab said. In tranquility over there. US law enforcement is investigating Goudreau, though it remains unclear if he will charged. President Donald Trump does not recognize Maduro's government, making it highly unlikely that his administration would accept any extradition request. The Trump administration has denied all responsibility in the armed raid, which resulted in the arrests of two Americans, Luke Denman and Airan Berry, who were purportedly hired by Goudreau's private firm to ...

Salons, barbershops, nail salons and tanning facilities in the US state of Texas were allowed to open their doors on Friday for the first time in well over a month, giving a relief to several people who gave up their sleep to squeeze in a much-needed haircut and other services. Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced beauty salons, barbers, nail salons and tanning salons can open Friday, May 8, as long as they practice social distancing guidelines. Each stylist, nail tech and tanning salon employee can only have one customer at a time. Waiting customers should stay outside unless they can stay six feet apart. Abbott said customers and clients should wear masks Abbott also added an important clarification regarding phase one of reopening the state. He said weddings, funerals, memorials and burials should follow the same guidelines as churches by keeping people six feet apart and leaving every other row empty. Remote options should continue to be offered for high-risk groups. Abbott ...

Britain's minister for the environment, food and rural affairs says Prime Minister Boris Johnson won't be announcing immediate changes to the country's coronavirus lockdown when he addresses the nation on Sunday. George Eustice said the U.K. is not out of the woods and that there isn't going to be any dramatic overnight change to the lockdown. He said the government will be very, very cautious in loosening the restrictions. Johnson is expected to set out a roadmap of how the U.K. can start easing the lockdown in the future. Only minor changes, such as allowing individuals to sunbathe in parks and removing the limit on one daily outing for exercise, are anticipated. Eustice also revealed that another 626 people have died after testing positive for COVID-19 in all settings, including hospitals and care homes. That takes the U.K. total to 31,241, the second highest official death toll in the world behind the United States.

US President Donald Trump reached out to several world leaders, including those from Germany and Saudi Arabia, to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and the global economy on Friday, the White House said. Trump and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia discussed the latest positive developments in defeating the coronavirus pandemic and re-energising global economies, the White House said in a readout of the call. The two leaders agreed on the importance of stability in global energy markets and reaffirmed the strong United States-Saudi defence partnership, it said. Trump and King Salman also discussed other critical regional and bilateral issues and their cooperation as leaders of the G7 and G20, respectively, the readout of the call said. In a separate phone call with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, the two leaders discussed positive developments in defeating the coronavirus pandemic, research efforts and reopening the American and German economies. "The President ...

US lawmakers have introduced a legislation in Congress to give unused green cards or permanent legal residency status to thousands of foreign nurses and doctors to meet the urgent needs of the overstretched healthcare sector in the country. The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act would allow for recapturing green cards that were approved by Congress but unused in past years, allowing thousands of additional medical professionals to serve permanently in the United States. The legislation would send green cards to 25,000 nurses and 15,000 doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic and ensure that places like Iowa have the professionals they need to serve patients for years to come, a media release said. The move is likely to benefit a large number of Indian nurses and doctors, who are either on H-1B or J2 visas. In the House of Representatives, it has been introduced by lawmakers Abby Finkenauer, Brad Schneider, Tom Cole and Don Bacon. The bipartisan Senate companion bill is led by Senators ..

Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee and former US vice president Joe Biden alleged on Friday that President Donald Trump utterly failed to prepare for the COVID-19 pandemic and said his entire economic strategy is focussed on helping the wealthy and big corporations. Referring to the record 2.05 crore jobs lost in April alone, resulting in an unprecedented unemployment rate of 14.7 per cent now -- the highest since the Great Depression -- Biden, in a major policy speech, said it is an economic disaster, worse than any in decades, and it was made all the more worse because it did not have to be this way. "Donald Trump utterly failed to prepare for this pandemic and delayed in taking the necessary steps to safeguard our nation against the near-worst-case economic scenario we are now living in," he said in his remarks on "Trump's Disastrous Economy". COVID-19 caused a massive economic challenge, but the crisis hit the US harder and will last longer because Trump spent the

The owner of a popular Indian-American grocery story has been charged with price gouging during the coronavirus pandemic, when the entire state is under stay-at-home orders. Following consumer complaints, an investigation office revealed that Rajvinder Singh, owner of the popular Apna Bazaar in California's Pleasanton, had allegedly increased the prices of grocery items following the emergency declaration by the governor on March 4. Based on evidence provided by customer receipts, the investigation confirmed that the pricing of several food items exceeded the 10-per cent increase allowed during a state of emergency, with some prices being as much as 200 per cent more than what was previously charged, according to a joint statement issued by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley. The food items listed in the complaint include yellow onions, ginger, green beans, instant noodles, tea, chili peppers, pomegranates and red yams. "We ..

US Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary has the coronavirus, the White House said on Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus this week. President Donald Trump, who publicly identified the affected Pence aide, said he was "not worried" about the virus spreading in the White House. Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex. Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller, who tested positive on Friday, had been in recent contact with Pence but not with the president. She is married to Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser. The White House had no immediate comment on whether Stephen Miller had been tested or if he was still working out of the White House. Katie Miller had tested negative on Thursday, a day before her positive result. "This is why the whole concept of tests are not necessarily great," Trump said. "The tests are perfect but something can happen between a test where it is ...

North Korea says leader Kim Jong Un sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on the 75th anniversary of the allied victory in World War II and wishing Russia success in fighting its coronavirus outbreak. The report by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency on Saturday came a day after it reported Kim sent a personal message to Chinese President Xi Jinping to praise what he described as China's success in getting its COVID-19 epidemic under control. Some experts say the North could intensify its diplomatic outreach to neighbors, particularly China, as it seeks economic help after closing its border for months to fend off the virus. KCNA says Kim's message sincerely wished the president and people of Russia sure victory in their struggle to build a powerful Russia by carrying forward the tradition of the great victory in the war and to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection.

An appeals court should let a June 23 primary election in New York state proceed without voters and poll workers being forced to risk exposure to the coronavirus to vote for a Democratic candidate for president when the race is essentially over, lawyers for the state said Friday. The written arguments were filed by Attorney General Letitia James and Senior Assistant Solicitor Judith N. Vale after a judge ordered the state to include the presidential race on the ballot even though former Vice President Joe Biden is essentially running unopposed. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan has scheduled oral arguments for next Friday. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres said it was unconstitutional to eliminate the Democratic presidential primary after delegates for withdrawn candidates Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang complained that doing so weakens their standing at the Democratic Convention. She noted that a primary for contested races across New York state was ...

Two men were arrested Friday in the fatal shooting of a security guard who demanded a woman wear a mask while shopping at a store. Genesee County authorities said Ramonyea Bishop, 23, was taken into custody at an apartment in Bay City. His alleged accomplice, Larry Teague, 44, was arrested Thursday near a motel in Houston. The men and Sharmel Teague, the wife of Larry Teague, are charged with first degree murder in the May 1 shooting of Calvin Munerlyn at a Family Dollar store in Flint. Munerlyn was shot at the store just north of downtown Flint a short time after telling Sharmel Teague's daughter she had to leave because she lacked a mask, according to Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton. Teague argued with Munerlyn, 43, before leaving. Two men later came to the store and allegedly shot the security guard to death.. Bishop's sister, Brya Bishop, was previously charged with tampering with evidence, lying to police and being an accessory to a felony. Leyton has said she attempted to

South Korea has reported 18 fresh cases of the new coronavirus in the past 24 hours, including 12 in the capital of Seoul, as health workers scramble to trace contacts after detecting a slew of transmissions linked to clubgoers. Figures released by South Korea's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday brought national totals to 10,840 cases and 256 deaths. While the KCDC didn't immediately release specific details, most of the new cases were likely linked to the nightclubs in Seoul's Itaewon leisure district, which was brought to a sudden standstill Friday night following reports of the transmissions. Officials on Friday said they detected at least 15 infections linked to a 29-year-old man who visited three Itaewon clubs on Saturday before testing positive on Wednesday. The infections raised concern about a broader spread of the virus in the Seoul metropolitan area, where about half of South Korea's 51 million people live. South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun in a

Carolina Vasquez lost track of days and nights, unable to see the sunlight while stuck for two weeks in a windowless cruise ship cabin as a fever took hold of her body. On the worst night of her encounter with COVID-19, the Chilean woman, a line cook on the Greg Mortimer ship, summoned the strength to take a cold shower fearing the worst: losing consciousness while isolated from others. Vasquez, 36, and tens of thousands of other crew members have been trapped for weeks aboard dozens of cruise ships around the world long after governments and cruise lines negotiated their passengers' disembarkation. Some have gotten ill and died; others have survived but are no longer getting paid. Both national and local governments have stopped crews from disembarking in order to prevent new cases of COVID-19 in their territories. Some of the ships, including 20 in US waters, have seen infections and deaths among the crew. But most ships have had no confirmed cases. "I never thought this would turn

In Texas, where the Republican governor was praised by President Donald Trump for loosening restrictions, hair salons and barber shops were allowed to reopen Friday, following earlier restarts of restaurants and retailers. Republican Senator Ted Cruz flew up from Houston to get his hair cut at a Dallas salon that became a rallying cry for conservative protests against lockdown orders after the owner refused to shut down and was jailed. She was later ordered released. California, which imposed the first statewide stay-home order in the U.S., was taking more modest steps. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom allowed clothing stores, sporting goods shops, florists and other retailers to start operating curbside pickup Friday, with many employees required to wear masks. Pennsylvania announced that 13 counties, including much of the Pittsburgh area, can loosen restrictions next week, following a similar move for a swath of rural northern Pennsylvania. South Carolina restaurants can reopen with

The decision to shelve detailed advice from the nation's top disease control experts for reopening communities during the coronavirus pandemic came from the highest levels of the White House, according to internal government emails. The files also show that after the AP reported Thursday that the guidance document had been buried, the Trump administration ordered key parts of it to be fast-tracked for approval. The trove of emails obtained by The Associated Press show the nation's top public health experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spending weeks working on guidance to help the country deal with a public health emergency, only to see their work quashed by political appointees with little explanation. The document, titled Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework, was researched and written to help faith leaders, business owners, educators and state and local officials as they begin to reopen. It included detailed decision trees, or flow ..

Barcelona returned to training after the La Liga champions allowed their stars to enter their facility to prepare for a potential restart to football in Spain. Lionel Messi and company took the fields at Joan Gamper training centre for individual sessions, for which the players arrived alone in kit and took to the three pitches without passing through the changing rooms. As well as doing their routines, they were also subjected to tests to see what effect two months of coronavirus quarantine has had on their bodies. "Finally we are getting back to normal. We hope to carry on and that soon we can get back to enjoying what we like to do most," Arturo Vidal told sports daily Marca. Sevilla, Villarreal, Osasuna and Leganes also returned to training, while Real Madrid -- who were two points behind league leaders Barca when play stopped in mid-March -- will likely start again on Monday should their players pass virus tests carried out on Wednesday. That would mark almost two months since ...

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates has predicted that next year's coronavirus-delayed Tokyo Games may ultimately be amongst the great games ever, if not the greatest. The Sydney-born Coates, who oversees planning for the Tokyo Olympics for the International Olympic Committee, told the AOC's annual general meeting on Saturday that he would put aside any of his parochialism while hoping that Tokyo would supplant Sydney as the best ever. At the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Games, then IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch described the Australian event as the best Olympic Games ever during the closing ceremony. The best-ever"claims for Tokyo by Coates, who did not go into further details, come despite spiraling costs for the Japan games, which will now begin on June 23, 2021. Japan is officially spending $12.6 billion to organize the Olympics, but a government audit report last year said it was at least twice that much. It's all public money except for $5.6 billion .

American stock car auto racing's comeback later this month from the coronavirus pandemic will cost three tracks their 2020 season races with more schedule adjustments coming soon. That was the word Friday from the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the closed-cockpit series that is the most popular form of US auto racing. Races at Sonoma, California; Joliet, Illinois and Richmond, Virginia were named those moved to ovals without spectators this month to jumpstart the US revival of sport in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic shutdown. Sonoma Raceway officials said the road course tried to find a new date to replace June 14 but couldn't "given the ongoing uncertainty around large events in California." It will be staged instead on May 27 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which will host a regularly scheduled race three days earlier in what will essentially be made-for-television events. A planned June 21 race at Chicagoland will be the May 17 comeback event at ...

The NBA took tiny steps toward a return to normalcy, as a small number of practice facilities reopened for workouts and at least one team received permission from the league to test players and staff for the coronavirus. Meanwhile, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver took part in a teleconference with members of the National Basketball Players Association on Friday night. Silver, according to a person familiar with the call's details, told players that the league is still aiming to hold full best-of-seven playoff series should the season resume and that playing without fans is an obvious possibility. Silver also spoke about the well-known notion of having the season resume in a centralized location, though cautioned that no decisions may be made for another several weeks, according to the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because details of the call were not publicly released. Cleveland and Portland were open for players who wanted to get voluntary workouts ..

China has reported 15 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases, taking their total to 836 while one new imported COVID-19 infection was confirmed, health officials said on Saturday. According to China's National Health Commission (NHC), as for Friday 836 asymptomatic cases, including 63 from overseas, were still under medical observation. The NHC said one imported case of coronavirus was reported on Friday and 15 new asymptomatic cases, all domestic ones, were confirmed in the country. Most of the asymptomatic cases were being reported from first coronavirus epicentres Hubei province and its capital Wuhan where no confirmed cases were reported for the 35 days, the local health commission said. Normalcy is returning to the province as the lockdown has been lifted and offices, business and factories have been opened since last month. The province still has 628 asymptomatic cases under medical observation, after 13 new cases were reported on Friday, the commission said. Death toll in China ...

Rafael Nadal says Novak Djokovic will need to be vaccinated to keep playing if the governing bodies of tennis make coronavirus shots obligatory once they become available. Nadal told the Spanish newspaper La Voz de Galicia this week that Djokovic and all players will have to follow the rules when tennis eventually returns to action. Nadal said no one can be forced to take the vaccine and everyone should be free to make their choices, but all players will have to comply if tennis officials require vaccination to travel and to protect everyone on the tour. Then Djokovic will have to be vaccinated if he wants to keep playing tennis at the top level, Nadal said. The same for me. Everyone will have to follow the rules, just like now we have to stay at home. Djokovic recently said he was against taking a vaccine for the coronavirus even if it became mandatory to travel. He later said he was open to changing his mind. If the ATP or the International Tennis Federation obligates us to take the