News brief: Big stories of the day

Sensex falls 395 points, Nifty below 11,900 as Budget 2019 fails to cheer markets 

The BSE Sensex fell 394.67 points to 39,513.39 and the Nifty50 declined 135.60 points to 11,811.20 after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed increasing the minimum public shareholding in listed companies to 35% from 25%, threatening a wave of new issuance.

No breakthrough with Russia on INF treaty dispute: NATO's Stoltenberg

NATO and Russia did not make significant progress on saving the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in talks at the alliance headquarters on Friday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

Budget 2019: It is 'path-breaking, comprehensive', says NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Thursday hailed the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman calling it as path-breaking and very comprehensive.

Nirmala Sitharaman delivers longest ever Budget speech of 2 hours 17 minutes

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled India's Budget for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020, to Parliament on Friday, with that she also gave the longest speech in the budget history by speaking for two hours and seventeen minutes.

Tunisian PM Youssef Chahed bans wearing of niqab in public institutions

Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed has banned the wearing of the niqab face veil in public institutions "for security reasons" an official source told Reuters on Friday.