Under-19 and Under-16 cricketers selected for KSCA Academy coaching

Bengaluru, Mar 15: Amid growing coronavirus cases, the Karnataka government on Sunday postponed examinations of class 7, 8 and 9 till March 31, 2020.

The revised dates for examinations will be announced after reviewing the situation. The directive was issued by state education minister S Suresh Kumar on Sunday morning.

On Friday, the government had shut all educational institutions, malls, and clubs for a week.

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had said no one should travel unless it is an emergency.

"All malls, cinema halls, pubs, wedding ceremonies and other large gatherings in the Karnataka have been banned for another one week," Chief Minister Yediyurappa had said.

Notably, the number of coronavirus cases in the country has risen to 93, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare today.

So far, two deaths due to the COVID-19 have been reported in the country. In the wake of spurt in cases of coronavirus across the country, the Central Government on Saturday decided to treat the deadly virus as a "notified disaster".

Coronavirus, which originated in China's Wuhan city in December last year, has so far spread to more than 100 countries, infecting over 1,30,000 people. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared coronavirus a pandemic.

Bengaluru, Feb 14: A 31 -year-old Bhojpuri dancer and another girl were rescued from human traffickers after the former alerted city police on landing at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) on Tuesday. They were to be received by a woman named Preethi at the airport.

The dancer had been told she was supposed to perform a few stage shows in the city, which has a significant Bhojpuri-speaking population. But when she realised she is likely to be pushed into flesh trade, she raised an alarm.

The woman, Radha (name changed), is a mother of four children and the lone breadwinner of the family. A few months ago, Radha came in contact with a woman named Soniya in New Delhi during a dance performance. Last month, Soniya got in touch with Radha and offered to pay Rs 40,000 per month if she performed in Bengaluru.

Radha agreed and was sent to Bengaluru from Chandigarh along with the other girl. During the journey, she learnt she was supposed to do more than just perform on stage. A shocked Radha informed the Central Industrial Security Force personnel manning KIA that she feared being pushed into prostitution. KIA police were informed and the women were rescued. Preethi was arrested.

Global oil markets remained under intense pressure on Tuesday, with Brent crude dropping below $20 per barrel for the first time in 18 years while other major benchmarks across the world tumbled. 

Brent, the international crude marker, slipped to $18.10, indicating that markets see no immediate let-up to the collapse in oil demand that sent some US oil benchmarks plunging under $0 for the first time on Monday, leaving producers paying for buyers to take their oil away while available storage is scarce.

Coronavirus has sent the oil sector into a state of crisis, with lockdowns implemented by authorities to smother the outbreak slashing demand for crude by as much as a third.

Contracts for the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery next month tumbled as low as minus $40 a barrel on Monday. Analysts at Citi warned that “if global storage worsens more quickly, Brent could chase WTI down to the bottom”.

The collapse in the May WTI contract was partly a technical product of the fact that it expires on Tuesday, meaning trading volumes were low and making the contract for June delivery more noteworthy, analysts said. That contract held above $20 a barrel on Monday but slid as much as 42 per cent on Tuesday to trade at lows of $11.79, suggesting the blowout in the May contract was more than a blip and that the entire global oil market faced challenges.

Goldman Sachs analysts said the June contact was likely to face downward pressure in the coming weeks, pointing to the “still unresolved market surplus”.

“As storage becomes saturated, price volatility will remain exceptionally high in coming weeks,” they said. “But with ultimately a finite amount of storage left to fill, production will soon need to fall sizeably to bring the market into balance, finally setting the stage for higher prices once demand gradually recovers.”

Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, said it was likely that “storage this time next month will be even more of an issue, given the surplus environment”.

“And so in the absence of a meaningful demand recovery, negative prices could return for June,” he added.

European equities traded lower, partly dragged down by weaker energy stocks. The continent-wide Stoxx 600 was down 1.9 per cent, with its oil and gas sub-index dropping 3.3 per cent. In London the FTSE shed 1.7 per cent, while Frankfurt’s Dax slid 2.3 per cent. 

Equities were also broadly lower in Asia, with futures tipping US stocks to fall 1 per cent when trading in New York begins later.

On Wall Street overnight, the S&P 500 closed down 1.8 per cent, partly because of weakness in energy shares, but also due to increased pessimism over the time it will take for countries to emerge from lockdowns.

In fixed income, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury fell 0.03 percentage points to 0.585 per cent as investors retreated to the safety of the debt.