however that news doesn't stop companies having to adapt to the virus outbreak from new york here's michelle fleury with the details on one such retailer. for many american shoppers, target is the cheap and cheerful option in department stores, which means its earnings statements, well, they give us all kinds of clues about the state of the us economy. its latest statement is out on tuesday. first off is its sheer size. if americans are happy to spend, they are probably spending a fair bit at target. second is china. lots of american products are made

there. so if the coronavirus are severely impacting supplies from china, target may well have something to say about that. and then there is the situation right here in new york. target, based in minneapolis, was planning to update investors in person in midtown manhattan. but it had to dig those plans and is instead doing a webcast because of the coronavirus. so that gives you a sense of the impact in the united states. what about asia, where effo rts states. what about asia, where efforts to contain the buyers have impacted a number of businesses? among them is twitter. twitter has now told staff in hong kong, japan, south korea to stay at home. let's go to our asia business hub was not mariko oi has the details. —— where mariko oi has the details. tell us about this twitter policy? twitter is encouraging all of its 5000 employees around the world not to come into work as it tries to come into work as it tries to prevent the spread of the

disease. just yesterday the company banned all non—essential business travel and events for its workers as well. of course, these moves are quite similarto well. of course, these moves are quite similar to what many companies in asia have done for more than a month now. they do goa more than a month now. they do go a lot further than most american companies. for example, american companies. for exa m ple, staff american companies. for example, staff at google's european headquarters will be working from home on tuesday as a trial, but most of them will be going back to work on wednesday. but i guess twitter‘s boss, jack dorsey, has long supported remote working and he himself announced in november that he plans to live in africa five to six months of this year. i guess this is not a huge surprise. —— for up to six months. i guess it shows how serious tech giants are now starting to take this outbreak. twitter and facebook have both pulled out of a media conference that was due to take place in austin, texas, as well. mariko oi, thank you. let's talk this through with andrew mulliner, global bonds

portfolio manager at janice henderson. to what extent would it help if we saw lots of interest rate cuts around the world. to a certain extent, interest rate cuts really will not help when it comes to solving the problem which is the virus itself and the economic impacts it has. where it will help is bolstering confidence from the financial markets' perspective. it will demonstrate the fact that actually central banks are aware of the fate —— the issues facing the markets. the federal reserve has some room to manoeuvre, with be interest rates on a range of around 1.5% toi.75%, rates on a range of around 1.5% to i.75%, whereas the uk does not really have much wiggle room, nor does the european central bank. that's correct. you know, this is something central banks are very aware of. they are aware they are not really going to have a primary impact if they do cut rates, and once they have cut rates, they don't really have much left to play with other than resorting to quantitative easing. would it be more like fiscal policy government money that might help? we heard the

announcement from the italian government over the weekend that they will be injecting money and tax breaks to those businesses really suffering in northern italy. is that helpful? at the end of the day, fiscal policy will have more of an impact in cushioning the economy, and monetary policy can play a role in supporting those physical efforts by maintaining low interest rates, by maintaining confidence in the financial markets. it is fiscal that will be more impactful. today in the uk we will hear from the government about those special measures, what action they will take, if the spread does get a place in this country. to what extent do you think this is playing into the budget, which is fairly soon the budget, which is fairly soonin the budget, which is fairly soon in the uk? i think it is probably helpful. we have already had the headlines around the budget, and the expectations it may be expansionary. now we have got an expansionary budget but a good reason for that. it takes the pressure off, perhaps. the uk is obviously of paramount importance to us in terms of their ability to really push out the fiscal boat. when it comes to the 0ecd warning and others wanting, the world bank and the imf, et cetera, how

concerned are you about global growth going forward? we are concerned. the reality is that probably the most important phrase you could hearfrom probably the most important phrase you could hear from an investor right now is "we don't know", which we are hearing from pretty much everybody. the impact of this could be relatively limited, to a sort of supply chain shock as we have seen from the china shutdown, or it could be much more significant, if we see western economies shutting themselves down in the same way that we saw who they problems getting shut down. then we are talking about an enormous demand shock. —— getting shut down the same way hubei province was shut down. with much of china still in lockdown, many businesses in beijing remain closed, because their employees are either unable or choosing not to return to the city. 0ur china correspondent stephen mcdonnell sent this report.

a beautiful afternoon, this is normally a busy street, look at all these businesses. closed, but one. close, next door. closed. the restaurant here not open. hang on, this shop is open. hang on, this shop is open. let's see if we can get somebody to talk

it looks like a wine shop. let's have a look. at the moment, the only customers they are serving others they can deliver to. if you know what you want, you told them and they will deliver it to your house. but they don't want people coming in and potentially contaminating the shop. the problem when shopping is touching everything. now, we got some apples here. i've got to touch the screen. who knows where that last hand has been?

lets squeeze in a few more business stories. british airways and budget rival ryanair have airways and budget rival rya nair have cancelled airways and budget rival ryanair have cancelled hundreds of flights as demand for travel drops amid fears of the spread of the coronavirus. the affected destinations include new york, italy, france and ireland. both airlines have declined to comment on how many flights or passengers would be affected. apple has agreed to settle a long—running class—action case in the us over allegations it deliberately slowed down older iphones. the proposed settlement, which still has to be approved, could cost apple up to $500 million, meaning each affected user could get just $25. the case dates back to 2017, when apple confirmed it slowed older phones to lengthened their lifespan. that's it for the business briefing this hour. that is your business briefing.

domestic abusers could be forced to take lie detector tests as pa rt forced to take lie detector tests as part of new laws being put before mps today. the plans, which also include a ban on abusers cross—examining the victims in court, are part of the long—awaited domestic abuse bill. if passed, a three—year trial would be carried out. the home office says many of the proposals were widely supported. they are ideas similar to ones once considered by ministers for keeping an eye on terrorists, and have come a step closer for terrorists, and have come a step closerfor domestic abusers. the plans would initially see around 300 offenders take a lie detector test three months after their release from prison, and every

six months after that. if it shows they broke rules around their release, they go back inside. they would also set a new broad definition of domestic abuse, which recognises economic exploitation for a victim's finances are controlled by an abuser. in changes to previous proposals, offenders would be bound from cross—examining their victims and family court proceedings, and councils would be ordered to find safe accommodation for victims and their children. ministers have called the plan is comprehensive, but some charities argue they don't go far enough to help children who have been affected by domestic violence, instead treating the more like mrs. the nspcc, for example, says the government is missing a landmark opportunity by leaving thousands still at risk because the help they deserve isn't in place. either way, if passed, and a three—year pilot is successful, these laws will be put in place across england and wales. also, the duke and duchess of

cambridge will make their first official visit to the republic official visit to the republic of ireland today. kensington palace says the royal couple are looking forward to building are looking forward to building a lasting relationship with the irish people. william and kate will spend some time in dublin, killed and galway during the three—day trip. —— killed our and galway. —— kildare. you are with the briefing on bbc news. the head of the world health 0rganization says the outbreak of the new coronavirus has entered uncharted territory, but can still be contained. with official results yet to be announced, israel's prime minister bejamin neta nyahu has claimed victory in the country's third election ina year. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. the financial times is talking

about coronavirus, saying the disease threatens to cut global growth in half. the new york times looks at new software in china which performs triage by colour coding on people's phones which indicates virus status information. which this paper says is then shared with the police. coronavirus could also affect sporting —— fixtures, so says the times. it is looking at matches that might be held behind closed doors going forward. in the substantive talks start between the uk and eu on trade, the independent digital wands that are no—deal brexit loss will be much larger than the benefit from any trade deal with the us. the times looks at the consumer group which saying that hotel rooms are more expensive saying that —— more expensive saying that —— more expensive when you book my travel sites than when you call the hotel yourself and book, and finally this story in the

mirror thing looking at search dogs being trained to track down dementia patients who go missing. the search dog heroes help bring vulnerable people back to safety. with us we have andrew tuck a editor —— the editor of monocle, coronavirus totally dominating papers and social media and online. this is the ft looking at the 0ecd warning. let's ta ke ft looking at the 0ecd warning. let's take some positive news from this. first of all, banks and countries have been through lots of these terrible stress moments before, we had september 11, we had the 2008 crash, so it is good that there isa crash, so it is good that there is a level of co—ordination between national governments and these huge organisations, that they have the sense of preparedness. in 2008 when the banks crashed, everyone stress tested so we know that our financial institutions are in a stronger state than they were before. so what is good is that

we are seeing here a huge amount of