The Supreme Court Friday asked markets regulator Sebi not to take any coercive steps against NDTV promoters Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy till it hears their pleas on September 3 against the penalty proceedings related to alleged violation of securities norms by concealing information from shareholders on certain loan agreements.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana was requested by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) that the hearing on the pleas of the NDTV promoters be adjourned till next Friday.

India witnessed a slight dip as it reported 44,658 new COVID-19 cases and 496 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the Health Ministry data. There were 32,988 recoveries in a single day taking the overall count to 3,18,21,428. The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country now stands at 3,26,03,188 with the death toll reaching 4,36,861.

The total number of active cases has reached 3,44,899. The total number of samples tested up to August 26 is 51,49,54,309, reported ANI.

The risk of developing adverse events such as blood clots is considerably higher after infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus than after immunisation with Pfizer and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, according to a large UK study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) on Friday.

The team led by researchers at the University of Oxford in the UK conducted the study on thrombocytopenia -- a condition with low platelet counts -- and thromboembolic events or blood clots following COVID-19 vaccination with Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech preventives.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday announced that actor Sonu Sood will be the brand ambassador of the Delhi government's 'Desh Ke Mentors' program that will be launched soon.

Sonu Sood ji has agreed to become the brand ambassador of our 'Desh Ke Mentors' program which will be launched soon, said Kejriwal while addressing a joint press conference with the actor.

Shares of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) moved higher by 4 per cent to Rs 1,664.75 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Friday after brokerage firm Motilal Oswal Financial Services increased the target price of the stock to Rs 1,950, largely driven by mark-to-market (MTM) of listed information technology (IT) subsidiaries. The stock of the engineering & construction (E&C) company had hit a record high of Rs 1,676.70 on August 16, 2021.

Shares of Laxmi Organic Industries surged 8 per cent to hit a new high of Rs 414.05 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Friday in an otherwise range-bound market. The stock of the specialty chemicals company was trading at the highest level since its listing on March 25, 2021.

In the past three weeks, the market price of Laxmi Organics has soared 52 per cent after the company delivered a robust financial performance for the quarter ended June 2021 (Q1FY22). With the past three weeks' rally, the stock has zoomed 219 per cent against its issue price of Rs 130 per share.

Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday lifted a ban on Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, two and a half years after it was grounded globally. The ban had followed two crashes killing 346 on-board.

India, besides China, was the only major aviation market for the Chicago-headquartered Boeing not to allow the aircraft to resume service so far.

Shares of Zen Technologies rallied 12 per cent to hit a 52-week high of Rs 107.75 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Friday on the back of heavy volumes. The stock of the defence company has zoomed 30 per cent in the past three trading days.

At 09:41 am, it was trading 9 per cent higher at Rs 104.70, as compared to a 0.38 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. The trading volumes on the counter jumped over seven-fold, with a combined 0.91 per cent of the total equity having changed hands on the NSE and BSE so far.

Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul's airport Thursday, transforming a scene of desperation into one of horror in the waning days of an airlift for those fleeing the Taliban takeover. The attacks killed at least 60 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops, Afghan and U.S. officials said.

The U.S. general overseeing the evacuation said the attacks would not stop the United States from evacuating Americans and others, and flights out were continuing.

Kerala is the worst COVID-19 affected state in the country. In the past 24 hours, the number of new COVID-19 cases in the state has jumped nearly 30% to over 31,000 and 215 deaths. The state government is blaming the Onam festival for this jump and termed it the Onam spike'.

On Wednesday, Kerala reported 31,445 new cases, taking the total infection tally to 38,83,429 and fatalities to 19,972. The highest number was recorded in Ernakulam district with 4,048 new cases, followed by Thrissur which reported 3,865 new cases. The state recorded a test positivity rate of 19.03%.

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