this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. the cost of coronavirus, the trump administration asks for more than a trillion dollars for a stimulus package that could include cheques sent to americans to give them a financial boost. good news for the supply of vital drugs, china is back in business and supplying india the components needed for generic medicines. and financial markets steady in asia as investors get their heads around the latest stimulus measures announced in the us and other countries.

us stock markets bounced back on tuesday, recouping about half of the previous session's historic sell—off. this as it looked like, finally, the us federal government might be about to act to address the economic damage caused by the coronavirus. samira hussain has more from wall street. wall street is finally getting what it has wanted for weeks, some help from washington. the us senate, after having been absent for a number of days, finally got back to work tuesday and is passing the coronavirus response bill. in it, it will provide a to ten days of paid leave for some

workers. it will provide free coronavirus testing and it will also bolster unemployment insurance. but the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell made it very clear that more help is coming. we need to directly help american workers and families face this uncertain period. in particular, we need to put money quickly into the hands of american families. the white house wants this third piece of legislation to be a trillion dollar economic stimulus package. this is good news for financial markets but they will probably need to see the details of the bill soon or perhaps risk another crash. here in the uk chancellor rishi sunak says the coronavirus is "a public health emergency but also an economic emergency". he promises government intervention "on a scale unimaginable only a few weeks ago". he says this will amount to £330 billion worth of guarantees,

that's $400 billion. but, is government support and packages for business enough? doug mcwilliams is deputy chairman of the centre for economics and business research. thanks forjoining us on business briefing. what was your reaction to what the chancellor announced yesterday? i think there were two good things. first of all, the state of the package, he had a 30 billion budgetjust a few days ago, and we said well, that's a lot of money. this is 330 billion, so ten times as big, 11 times as big, and it is clear they are taking the issue very seriously and they are firing the ammunition that they have got. i think the second

thing that really encouraged business was that he said we will give it what it takes. this is at the time to worry about the budget, we will worry about the budget, we will worry about that later. we have an economic crisis, the biggest one since the 1930s, and he has decided to use what ammunition he has two try to deal with it. and detail like a full year without this rates for the retail thing, hospitality, leisure, i would retail thing, hospitality, leisure, iwould imagine retail thing, hospitality, leisure, i would imagine that is extremely welcome for those operating in those industries. it's extremely welcome although frankly it is small compared with the loss of income they will be facing. they will still be in will be facing. they will still beina will be facing. they will still be in a lot of trouble. but when it comes to supporting staff and wages and ensuring syncope for those who have to self isolate, that kind of detail, what did you make of what they had to say about that with yellow most of that within the budget. there is some form

of universal basic income for eve ryo ne of universal basic income for everyone because you don't have to go through the rigmarole is that you used to have two previously to get it, it's available for the unemployed and the self—employed as well, so and the self—employed as well, soi and the self—employed as well, so i think that is good. businesses are probably getting what they need at this stage, although it is going to be very difficult for them even with the government's help. but very quickly, there is already criticism saying for those who rent, who are on lower incomes, they can't even get a mortgage and perhaps they haven't got a steady, stable job by and perhaps they haven't got a steady, stablejob by the. they are very exposed. what can be there to help those with yellow i think there has to be a package for renters. with had the package for mortgage payers, because they tend to be richer than those people who pay rent, so i think there will have to be a package for renters as well. it is a work in progress, and they don't expect to get everything at one announcement, and that chances

of keeping ongoing and looking at things and trying to deal with them as they come up. all right, thanks for your time. we shall talk in more detail about what was announced in the uk and us in our news briefing, but first let's take you to india. where we have some good news when it comes to ensuring the global drug supply chain is getting back on track. after months of disruptions and shortages, china has been able to re—start exporting pharmacutical ingredients to india. 0ur india business reporter nikhil inamdarjoins infrom mumbai. nikhil, what's the background to this? just to give you a background, india depends on china for about 80% of its api needs, these are essential, raw materials that go into

manufacturing essential drugs such as antibiotics and painkillers. india is also a huge import exporter of generic drugs to markets like the us and to europe, so when the supply change dominic chain disruptions happened over the past few months, there was a global scare about a potential shortage of medicine in world markets, however drug manufacturers that they have been speaking to the past few days seem to suggest that china is resuming some of the exports of those apis to india, they are reaching andy ensures whether they are being negated and thoroughly inspected before they are sent out as dispatchers to drug manufacturers, though certainly china as some sensors getting back to normalcy and factories resume work, this is good news coming in, possibly concerns on shortages could now be set aside although this is a dynamic situation and we can never be sure that things are absolutely normal. all right,

let's enjoy that little bit of good news for now. now let's brief you on some other business stories: amazon says it will only receive vital supplies at its us, uk and other european warehouses to free up inventory space for medical and household goods. the e—commerce giant says it's seeing a spike in online shopping from consumers who are staying home. the announcement comes a day after amazon said it will hire 100,000 workers at its warehouses. facebook says it'll give each employee a $1,000 bonus to help with the impact of coronavirus. the company has nearly 16,000 full—time employees. facebook hasn't yet said whether the bonuses will be given to its contract workers. earlier on tuesday, facebook also announced it would launch $100 million programme to help small business weather the crisis. at the age of 41 vasant

narasimhan was named ceo of novartis, one of the biggest drug companies in the world. growing up in america as the child of indian immigrants it was quite a journey which took in spells running treatment programs in africa and at international business consultancy mckinsey. for our series, paths to success we asked him to tell us what he learnt along the way. it is very easy to believe that power comes from controlling others. the only real power we really have is to enable others to accomplish extraordinary things, and we do that by inspiring, by enabling, by coaching, by creating an

environment that enables others to really be the best. early on in my career, they had bosses that were all about control, all about exerting power. believed their power came from the lines of the organisation chart. early on in my career i thought that to but as they learned to grow as a leader i thought the power of enabling teams, enabling others to achieve theirfull teams, enabling others to achieve their full potential, and when you go down the road of inspirational leadership of really trying to serve your people, you get much bigger impact, you are happier, your teams are happier, and i think overall your organisation grows. inspirational leadership, that's what we need, isn't it? that is your

business briefing. schools remain open, but for how much longer? the prime minster said he was keeping it under continuous review. the largest education union is urging the government to close all schools "at least for some time". here's our education editor, branwen jeffreys. # happy birthday to you... trying to make it fun, but schools are struggling to keep safe and teachers are anxious too. it does seem that everyone has been asked to socially distance except for children at school, and also the teachers and the staff. at this school, they are three teachers down already. by tomorrow, classes may

merge, and staying open looks increasingly doubtful. the government says that, for now, keeping schools open is the right approach. but, with everyone else being told to avoid crowded places, it has left many teachers and parents confused, and some families are simply keeping their children off school. it's down by about 30% and still falling, and i can understand why parents are concerned. while they keep lessons going, head teachers want advice that keeps up with reality. some schools are already partially closing. so what would a school closure mean for parents here? at the moment, i'm actually able to work from home. my partner isn't yet at that stage, where he can with hisjob, so it will be tricky for us. i've already started stocking up on activities, so that they've got things to do. but i am lucky. there are lots of people in the school who are friends

of mine who are working, and it will be harder for them. closing schools would be a massive step, one that the government says it is not yet ready to take. branwen jeffreys, bbc news. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: leaders of european union nations agree to close the border to the bloc in a bid to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. the us and the uk bring in massive stimulus packages to bolster their economies as they fall victim to the outbreak. joe biden‘s bid to take on donald trump gets a boost as results come in from democratic party primaries in three us states. now it's time to look at a few stories making the headlines in other media.

we begin with the washington post, and the american government's plans for an economic stimulus to counteract the effects of the coronavirus shutdowns. it says the white house is pushing for an immediate cash payment to households. that contrasts with the uk government, which has also announced a stimulus. the daily telegraph calls it a virus lifeline, but one that is targeted at businesses rather than individuals. the telegraph also highlights comments from the british government's chief scientific adviser that the most optimistic forecast of the impact of the epidemic would see 20,000 deaths in the uk. the financial times reports an internal eu document warning that russian media are using the coronavirus epidemic to try to sow distrust of european governments. it says a deliberate disinformation campaign is currently under way.

bloomberg looks at another effect of the virus on the delivery company amazon. it has decided to temporarily suspend restocking from independent retailers in order to prioritise deliveries of what it terms essential products. they include books, by the way. and finally, the german website focus carries the story of the country's big brother contestants, who had been completely isolated from the news for the past month. the programme producers had to bring in a doctor to inform the contestants about the virus pandemic. we normally have a guest in the studio to review the papers with us, but because of the coronavirus outbreak, the bbc has decided to implement a little social distancing. so this morning, we are talking to our reviewer from the comfort of her own home. she is anju solanki, founder of mea consulting, a firm that helps companies establish gender balance