The Taliban has claimed to have captured two more provincial capitals in Afghanistan after over-running over a dozen others in the past one week.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid on Friday posted on his social media account that the insurgents captured Tirin Kot, the capital of Uruzgan province, and Firoz Koah, capital of Ghor province, reports Xinhua news agency.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and the Trinamool Congress are likely to take part in a virtual interaction with Congress President Sonia Gandhi on August 20.

Confirming that the Congress leadership has convened a virtual meet next Friday, possibly in a bid to unite non-BJP parties, a senior DMK leader said, We are expecting an official invite today (Friday). Probably it will be received by his (Chief Minister's) office.

The price of 10 gm of 22-carat gold increased by Rs 320 to Rs 45,860 on Saturday, amid a recovery in international precious metal prices and rupee depreciation. In the previous trade, the precious metal had closed at Rs 45,540 per 10 grams. Meanwhile, silver was selling at Rs 62,500 per kg: up Rs 200 from yesterday, according to the website Good Returns.

Gold jewellery price varies across India, the second-largest consumer of the metal, due to excise duty, state taxes, and making charges.

As many as 66 people have been found infected with the Delta plus variant of coronavirus in Maharashtra so far, some of them fully vaccinated, and five of them have died, including one in Mumbai, the state health department said on Friday. Seven of these patients were aged under 18. The variant, considered highly infectious, was detected during genome sequencing of swab samples sent from different parts of the state. A 63-year-old fully vaccinated woman from Mumbai succumbed to the infection in the last week of July, the first death due to the Delta Plus variant in the city, a civic official said.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals on Friday said its consolidated profit after tax (PAT) increased by 21 per cent to Rs 306 crore for the first quarter ended June 30.

The Mumbai-based drug major had reported a PAT of Rs 254 crore in the April-June quarter of the 2020-21 fiscal.

Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) on Friday reported an over four-fold jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 314.43 crore for the quarter ended June 2021.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 70.10 crore in the same quarter a year ago and Rs 96.75 crore in the preceding quarter ended March 2021.

On Friday, India recorded 40,120 new COVID-19 infections, which is slightly less than Thursday's data. This has taken the country's tally to over 3.21 crore. The country recorded 585 deaths - 217 of these came from Maharashtra and 160 from Kerala, 67 from Odisha, 33 from Tamil Nadu, and 30 from Karnataka. The total death toll in the country now exceeds 4.3 lakh.

Active cases have come down to 3.85 lakh while recoveries have risen to 3.13 crore. India reported 42,295 new recoveries in the last 24 hours. The total number of people vaccinated so far is 52,95,82,956, including 57.3 lakh in the last 24 hours.

HCL Technologies' market capitalisation (market-cap) touched Rs 3 trillion for the first time on Friday, becoming the fourth Indian information technology (IT) firm to achieve this milestone after Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro.

Shares of HCL Tech hit a fresh record high of Rs 1,118.55, up 2 per cent on the BSE in intra-day trade, surpassing its previous high of Rs 1,101 touched on Thursday in intra-day deal.

Shares of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) hit a record high of Rs 1,648.40, up 1.6 per cent on the BSE in intra-day trade on Friday, after the company’s heavy engineering arm won an order for Oxidation Reactor from Technip Energies-India. However, the company has not yet disclosed order size. The stock surpassed its previous high of Rs 1,647 hit on July 22, 2021.

The order, according to the company, is for the technologically critical Titanium Clad Reactor is for a public sector petrochemical project for purified Terephthalic Acid plant.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched vehicle scrappage policy and said that the policy is a significant milestone in India's development journey.

Taking to Twitter, PM Modi informed about the launch and urged youth and start-ups to join this programme.

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