President Donald Trump said that India has offered to cut all its tariffs on US goods but downplayed any sense of urgency to reach a trade agreement with the world’s fourth-largest economy.

Trump cited India as an example of a country where he’s seeking to slash barriers to US exports during an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier that aired Friday.

The White House on Friday assailed a decision by Moody’s Ratings to lower the US credit rating, casting it as a political decision.

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for President Donald Trump, singled out Mark Zandi, an economist for Moody’s Analytics, in a post on X, accusing him of being a long-time critic of the administration’s policies.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has confirmed that India launched ballistic missile strikes on Nur Khan Airbase and other locations on 10 May, marking a rare moment of candour in Pakistan’s typically guarded response to Indian military actions.

Speaking during a ceremony at the Pakistan Monument on Friday, Sharif revealed that he was informed of the strikes by Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir during the early hours of the day.

Signalling a concerning resurgence of the virus that first emerged over five years ago, Covid-19 cases are rising once again across several parts of Asia. Densely-populated financial centres such as Hong Kong and Singapore have reported significant increases in infections, while health agencies in China and Thailand are also grappling with fresh outbreaks. Despite previous periods of relative stability, the current wave is unfolding in a season when respiratory viruses usually subside.

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to examine a couple of fresh pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, saying everybody wants name in newspapers.

A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih said it would decide the pending matter scheduled to come up on May 20.

Green energy major ReNew on Friday marked its re-entry into Andhra Pradesh after six years, with a Rs 22,000 crore investment to develop the country’s largest single-site renewable energy complex in Anantapur.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the 4.8-gigawatt project (including solar, wind, and battery energy storage) was conducted by state industries minister Nara Lokesh. This comes a day after the State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) cleared 19 new industrial projects worth Rs 33,720 crore.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday praised the Indian Air Force for the precision and swiftness of its strikes under Operation Sindoor, calling it a symbol of India’s growing military prowess. He warned Pakistan that the operation was only a “trailer” of what India is capable of.

During his visit to Gujarat's Bhuj airbase, Singh said, "Operation Sindoor is not over yet. Whatever happened was just a trailer. When the right time comes, we will show the full picture to the world."

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (Singtel) has sold a 1.2 per cent direct stake in Bharti Airtel for S$2 billion (approximately $1.54 billion), resulting in an estimated gain of S$1.4 billion, the company said in an exchange filing.

The sale was executed through Pastel, a wholly owned unit of Singtel, which offloaded 71 million Airtel shares at ₹1,814 per share. The transaction was priced at a 2.85 per cent discount to Airtel's closing stock price on Thursday.

Sajjan Jindal-promoted JSW Group looks set to acquire a 75 per cent stake in Dulux paints maker AkzoNobel India from its Dutch parent in a deal valued at approximately ₹12,000 crore, according to a person familiar with the matter.

It marks JSW’s latest strategic push into the consumer-facing paints segment, where it is aiming to build scale in a market witnessing heightened competition.

IndusInd Bank on Thursday disclosed to the exchanges that a review of the bank’s microfinance business by the internal audit department (IAD) has found an incorrect recording of ₹674 crore as interest income over three quarters of FY25. The amount was fully reversed as of January 10.

The bank has also informed the exchanges that pursuant to receipt of a whistleblower complaint, the audit committee asked the IAD to review transactions recorded under “other assets” and “other liabilities”.

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