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US President Donald Trump announced a 30-day ban on travelers from mainland Europe Wednesday as the continent reeled from the rapid spread of a coronavirus pandemic that has emptied streets, shuttered shops and disrupted travel for millions.  As quoted by AFP.com (12/3)  the edict came amid signs of a widening European crisis, as Italy clocked more than 2,300 new cases in 24 hours and infections in Spain jumped by a quarter to more than 2,100. Ireland, Albania, Belgium, Sweden and Bulgaria registered their first deaths Wednesday, bringing Europe's total to 930, from more than 22,000 infections. This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history," Trump said in a primetime television address from the Oval Office -- his latest attempt to counter criticism of his response so far. The president said the ban would come into effect from "midnight Friday" but would not affect travelers from Britain, which recently left the European Union, to Trump's great approval//AFP

Google's parent company Alphabet has asked its North American staff to work from home to reduce the potential spread of the coronavirus. Last week the tech giant sent a memo to staff recommending that employees in Washington state work from home. It has now expanded that request to all of its almost 100,000 workers across 11 office in the US and Canada. Alphabet is the latest company to make such an announcement as US coronavirus cases have risen to almost 1,000.

"Out of an abundance of caution, and for the protection of Alphabet and the broader community, we now recommend you work from home if your role allows," Chris Rackow, Google's vice president of global security, wrote in an email to workers.

Alphabet said its offices in North America will remain open for those whose jobs require them to come in. Last week, Google, along with many of the world's other major tech companies, including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook, began recommending that staff in Seattle should work from home as the coronavirus spreads in Washington state. The state had more than 160 cases as of Monday night. California and New York, where Alphabet has large offices, are also experiencing spikes in the number of cases. In other moves to combat coronavirus, Google has temporarily banned ads for medical face masks, established a Covid-19 fund, so temporary staff and vendors can take paid sick leave if they have symptoms of the virus and teamed up with the UK's NHS to help prevent the spread of misinformation about the outbreak, by promoting correct health and travel advice when people search for coronavirus treatments or symptoms//BBCnews

The Bank of England has announced an emergency cut in interest rates to shore up the economy amid the coronavirus outbreak. Policymakers reduced rates from 0.75% to 0.25%, taking borrowing costs back down to the lowest level in history. The Bank said it would also free up billions of pounds of extra lending power to help banks support firms. It comes as the chancellor is expected to announce further measures to support growth and jobs in the Budget later.  Mark Carney, the outgoing governor of the Bank of England, said policymakers had seen a "sharp fall in trading conditions", including spending on non-essential goods.

"The Bank of England's role is to help UK businesses and households manage through an economic shock that could prove large and sharp, but should be temporary," he said. 

Carney stressed that the economic damage caused by the coronavirus remained unclear. However, he suggested that the UK economy could shrink in the coming months. He said early evidence from China suggested that the world's second largest economy was on course to contract in the first quarter. Other nations were experiencing a "similar shift", he said.

"I would emphasise the direction is clear, though the orders of magnitude are still to be determined."

While the Bank's last emergency rate cut was in October 2008, Mr Carney said the virus was unlikely to inflict the damage seen during the financial crisis.

"There is no reason for it to be as bad as 2008 if we act as we have, and if there is that targeted support," he said. 

The emergency rate cut comes as a sixth person died from the virus in the UK, which has a total of 382 cases.The latest person to die was a man in his early 80s who had underlying health conditions. Meanwhile, Manchester City's Premier League match against Arsenal on Wednesday has been postponed as "a precautionary measure" because of the outbreak//BBCnews

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is preparing to release 1,500 Taliban prisoners in coming days, according to a decree viewed by Reuters on Tuesday, as the United Nations backed a U.S.-led push to end Afghanistan’s 18-year war. The two-page decree signed by Ghani, which requires all released Taliban prisoners to provide “a written guarantee to not return to the battlefield”, is aimed at paving the way for direct talks with the hardline insurgent group. The United States warned the Taliban that the current high level of violence was “not conducive to advancing the peace process” after the 15-member U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a U.S.-drafted resolution. The United States signed an agreement with the Taliban last month for a phased withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign forces if the Taliban keeps its commitments. It also prescribed the start of talks between the insurgents and an Afghan government delegation on a political settlement to end decades of conflict. The prisoner release decree, which is expected to be made public later by Ghani’s office, said the process will begin in four days. The decree said talks between the government and the Taliban will run parallel with the prisoner release, and requires the insurgents to stick to commitments to a reduction in violence.(Reuters)