The Z-category VIP security cover of West Bengal politician and MLA Mukul Roy, who recently re-joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after a brief stint with the BJP, has been withdrawn, official sources said on Thursday.

They said the Union Home Ministry has directed the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to recall its detachment deployed with the 67-year-old Roy.

Shares of PNB Housing Finance were locked in the upper circuit of 5 per cent at Rs 750.10 on the BSE in Thursday's session. The stock of the housing finance company recovered 9 per cent from the low of Rs 690 touched in the intra-day deal today. It has fallen 25 per cent from its 52-week high level of Rs 924 touched June 8, 2021, amid concerns raised in certain quarters about its proposed Rs 4,000 crore-deal with Carlyle group.

Till 01:42 pm, a combined around 1,90,000 shares of PNB Housing had changed hands and there were pending buy orders for 12,000 shares on the NSE and BSE. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.22 per cent at 52,384 points.

A single day rise of 67,208 new coronavirus infections were recorded taking India's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,97,00,313, while the active cases declined to 8,26,740, the lowest after 71 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The COVID-19 death toll climbed to 3,81,903 with 2,330 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed

Tech giant Google on Thursday said Google.org - its philanthropic arm - has announced a grant of Rs 113 crore (USD 15.5 million) to support procurement and installation of about 80 oxygen generation plants and upskilling of healthcare workers in rural parts of the country in partnership with various organisations.

Google.org will support procurement and installation of about 80 oxygen generation plants in healthcare facilities in high-need and rural locations with new grants of about Rs 90 crore (USD 12.5 million) to GiveIndia and about Rs 18.5 crore (USD 2.5 million) to PATH.

Walmart Inc's Flipkart and Amazon.com Inc have filed legal challenges against the resumption of an antitrust investigation into their business practices, according to sources and a legal filing viewed by Reuters.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) launched an investigation in January last year after a complaint accused Flipkart and Amazon of promoting select sellers on their e-commerce platforms and using deep discounts to stifle competition.

Wipro on Thursday said its step-down subsidiary, Wipro IT Services, will issue US dollar denominated notes worth USD 750 million on June 23.

The net proceeds of the notes, which are proposed to be listed on Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd, are intended to be utilised for refinancing existing debt and general corporate purposes.

The overall global Covid-19 caseload has topped 176.5 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 3.81 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Wednesday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 176,559,700 and 3,819,109, respectively.

Shares of Infosys rose 1 per cent to hit a record high of Rs 1,484.10 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Wednesday in an otherwise subdued market. The stock of the information technology (IT) major surpassed its previous high of Rs 1,480 touched on April 12, 2021.

Infosys was trading higher for eight straight days. At 01:25 pm, the stock was up 0.45 per cent at Rs 1,479.45, as compared to a 0.41 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Shares of three Adani Group companies - Adani Power (Rs 127.25), Adani Transmission (Rs 1,369.35) and Adani Total Gas (Rs 1,394) – were locked in lower circuit for the third straight day, down 5 per cent each, on the BSE on Wednesday despite the National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) clarifying that the accounts of three foreign funds - holding nearly Rs 43,000 crore worth of Adani group shares - are 'active' and not frozen.

Besides these three stocks, Adani Green Energy fell 4 per cent to Rs 1,165 in intra-day trade and is trading in ‘T’ group on the BSE and ‘BE’ segment on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

The Delhi government will train 5,000 youths to assist doctors and nurses as part of preparations for a possible third wave of COVID-19, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday.

The health assistants or community nursing assistants will be imparted two weeks' basic training in nursing and lifecare. The training will start from June 28 in batches of 500 candidates.

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