hello. this is the business briefing. i'm victoria fritz. trade wars and a multi—trillion dollar debt pile weigh on china, as growth slows to its weakest since the financial crisis. plus, ditching the desert davos. the us treasury secretary becomes the latest big name to pull out of saudi arabia's investment conference, as the boycott widens over disappeared journalist, jamal khashoggi. and on the markets, us shares tumble again, wiping out most of their gains from tuesday's rally, as those concerns over trade wars and rising rates resurface. on the sell—off has continued across asia, not helped by those growth numbers from china coming in much weaker than expected, particularly on industrial production. this hello.

we are going to start in china, where in the last few hours, official figures have confirmed the weakest economic growth since the end of the financial crisis almost a decade ago. gdp growth in china slowed to 6.5% in the three months to september, weaker than expected and a level that we've not seen since early 2009. these are the very first growth figures we've had since that very big escalation in america's trade war with china. there are now us import taxes on $250 billion worth of chinese goods. it's not the only concern though. the credit agency standard & poor‘s has warned of a debt iceberg — of up to $5.8 trillion of borrowing by chinese local governments, which it says is a titanic credit risk. this on top of worries over high corporate debt levels. then, of course, we've got the currency.

the trade war has hit the value of the yuan, while rising us interest rates have boosted the dollar. that has pushed the yuan close to seven to the us dollar — levels not seen since the financial crisis. on the plus side, it makes chinese goods cheaper — and that helps to offset the effect of the trade tariffs. but if it falls further, it could see investors start to move their money out of the country. robin brant is following the story in shanghai. there you are, hello. live, i was expecting perhaps play player but we get you live, even better. what you make of these numbers? they are a coming ina make of these numbers? they are a coming in a little softer than expected that this is still going great guns compared to the us, the eu, the uk, for example. yeah, you're right. 6.5% is very healthy viewer looking on from london and rome, but it confirms that the rate of growth in the world's second—largest economy continues to slow. now it is 6.5%, that is bang

in line with government forecast us talk about the caveat of chinese government forecast because what we get from the national statistics office, certainly over the last six yea rs, office, certainly over the last six years, is suspiciously very, very close to what the government is forecasting. there is often much doubt frankly about whether this is an accurate reflection of the health of the chinese economy. the truth is though it is all we had to go on and what it shows is that the rate of growth is slowing, and that expected, that is expected rather to continue over the years ahead. but i think one of the big reasons for thatis think one of the big reasons for that is something that you just touched on, that mountain of debt, in particular as you mentioned, referring to standard & poor‘s this week, local government debt, local financing vehicles. local governments across china have been using these to raise billions and billions of dollars in chatterley loa ns billions of dollars in chatterley loans in the government is very worried about that. in the last year, it has been clamping down on the availability of that kind of credit. —— in lines. $200 million

worth of goods, it is going tojump up worth of goods, it is going tojump up to 25%. these figures seem to suggest that china's exports remain strong, so no sign yet that perhaps the trade war is really beginning to bite. we know an escalation is coming and gdp figures as well are a bit of a lagging indicator, what it confirms is that the growth in the world's second—largest economy is continuing to slow. 0k, we're going to live there. thank you very much. —— leave it there. chris southworth is secretary general of the international chambers of commerce here in the uk. we were running through some of those numbers, they look good compared to say other countries. some questions over the veracity of those numbers but we do know, for example, that the people's bank of china has cut the liquidity that is needed for banks four times this

year, and then we have had comments today, in the last 2a hours, that there is enough liquidity in the system. should we be concerned by moves like that, because there are other indicators that we can go on as welcome as i don't think so. it is the second biggest economy in the world, still growing at twice the pace of the global economy, at 6.5, 6.6% is pretty good from where we're sitting in the uk, where we are so 196. 1.296, i sitting in the uk, where we are so 1%.1.2%, i think, sitting in the uk, where we are so 1%. 1.2%, ithink, annually at sitting in the uk, where we are so 1%. 1.2%, i think, annually at the moment, but the comparison still stand. yeah, absolutely. and the chinese economy in the bigger picture is in transition, so from where it has been double—digit growth from a long period of time now down to just over 6%, that is going to take a long time for the economy to transition into more of a service driven, consumer driven economy. it is a big economy to absorb those kind of issues, i think. these are the two kind of

things that we have been hearing for quite sometime coming out of china, one, try to reduce the level of indebtedness both corporations and local governments, it also this kind of structural adjustment they touched on there. and neither of those kind of sentiment has really changed in these numbers, it is kind of almost like this is really what we should be expecting from china, we should be expecting from china, we should be expecting from china, we should be expecting perhaps a bit ofa we should be expecting perhaps a bit of a slowdown. yeah, i think that is right, and whether you sort of leaves the government figures, it is on target for it end of year growth forecast, so it is not off—track. so do not think we should be panicking or the overly, those issues within the chinese economy are not new. we knew about those before, and they will continue for some time, as that economy transitions over the next coming years. this saw the bigger issue in away is the relations between china and the us, i think it is too early to predict what the

impact of towers will be, that will be quarter one, or even quarter two or three next year, we start to see the impact of that. but the relationship between the two countries is definitely starting to have an impact around the world, when you look at the world trade organization, that does have an impact on so that is unhealthy. u nfortu nately, impact on so that is unhealthy. unfortunately, we're going to leave it there because i could talk about all day, but thank you very much for coming in and sharing with us your thoughts. thank you. let's move to the us now, where the white house is raising the pressure on saudi arabia over the disappearance of journalist jamal khashoggi. the us treasury secretary steve mnuchin has announced he won't be attending saudi's future investment initiative — the high profile conference being described as "davos in the desert". he joins a growing list of business leaders who are now boycotting the event, as samira hussain reports. this business summit in saudi arabia gives them a chance to secure lucrative contracts in the country. so the financial benefit attending could be quite significant, but in

the end, there was just too much pressure on people to pull out, including us trade secretary steve mnuchin. ministers from france and uk already had an big names in america's business community, like jamie diamond atjp morgan chase and bill for the ford motor co, already had said that they would not be attending. no one will be going in steve mnuchin's place, and certainly increased the pressure on any american company that is still planning to attend. they have cancelled their sponsorship and will no longer be covering the conference, but goldman sachs is still planning to send a member of the firm and of course, a former high—profile member of the trump white house. last year, the us and saudi arabia traded more than $15 billion worth of goods and services. let's brief you on some other business stories. credit card giant american express say they've made profits of $1.65

billion in the three months to the end of september — that is up from the same time last year and better than wall street was expecting. rising wages and a strong us economy have fuelled consumer spending. amex says spending on cards was up more than 10% in the us, and 5% in overseas markets. amazon says it's creating more than 1,000 highly skilled jobs in the uk — in manchester, edinburgh and cambridge — working on software, machine learning and cloud computing. amazon's uk country manager described the new roles as "silicon valleyjobs in britain". what's trending in the business news this morning. on forbes, is facebook losing credibility with advertisers? the social network is facing a lawsuit accusing it of overstating the time users spent watching videos

on its site by as much as 900%. on cnbc, falling growth stocks signal the end of the bull market, according to traders. and on wired, "the faster, cheaper, better way to charge electric vehicles." chinese car maker nio has a big idea — battery swapping. a driver rolls into a battery swap station, and a robot replaces the drained battery with a fully charged spare. quite a good idea. it has already opened stations in major cities across china. don't forget, let us know what you are spotting online. and what you think of the show more generally, if you like. use the hashtag, #bbcthebriefing. that is it for the business briefing this hour. i will have a quick show of the markets if we can. we have seen a bit of a downturn yet again when it comes us market. some earnings missed expectations that pulled the us market down a little bit, and we have seen the session in asia actually done as well. there are

some concerns that they are cash—strapped companies, particularly in china, and that news in china coming in a little bit more downbeat was expected. that has pulled some of the markets down as well. that is it for the markets. i have plenty more for you in a little while, but i will see you in about ten minutes for the newsbriefing. see you in a second. ten minutes, as she has said ten seconds. i back already. healthcare professionals need to improve the way that they talk to patients about death, this is according to a new report. nearly half of all lives end in hospitals but the royal college of physicians says many health

workers lack confidence when it comes to telling a patient of their terminal diagnosis. our health correspondent dominic hughes reports. talking about death is never easy, ann linde knows how important it can be four patients were dying and theirfamilies. when be four patients were dying and their families. when her be four patients were dying and theirfamilies. when her husband was seriously ill four years ago, linda found medical staff struggled with a conversation. they literallyjust said you have got weeks to live, and sadly, it was done in an environment that was not private, there are, as i say, were five people around the bed, pages were going off the same time, it was very chaotic and it left a real sort of feeling of guilt with me, because i felt that i should have done more because that was a private moment, really significant moment for him. -- pagers. nearly half of all deaths in england occur in hospitals. one in three adults admitted to hospital as emergencies in the last year of their life, but only 4% of patients have talked about end of life care with the doctor. as doctors, they

will be seen as a failure for saying that we can't necessarily prolong your life and they worried about the reaction they will get. —— they are worried as doctors. the second thing is that we do not always have the confidence as doctors, or the training or the sensitivity, that those conversations sensitively. and the third thing is that we sometimes do not have the right time or privacy and, as i think there are some practical considerations. the royal college says talking honestly about dying is an essential part of making sure there is compassionate ca re making sure there is compassionate care at the end of life. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: italy is warned its plans to increase spending and increase its public debt could break eu budget rules. and the pressure is ramping up on saudi arabia. president trump says it "certainly looks" like the missing journalist jamal khashoggi is dead.

and still in the us. mexico deploys hundred of police officers, as thousands of migrants seek to cross the border. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the telegraph and uk prime minister theresa may, who has been given the cold shoulder by her own party and eu leaders, after admitting she is prepared to consider extending the brexit transition period. and staying with brexit, the business page of the times takes a look at unilever, which this month was forced to scrap plans to move its headquarters from london to rotterdam after a shareholder rebellion. onto the front page of the ft and, as we've been discussing, brussels has come down hard on italy's populist government for breaking eu deficit rules in its very first budget. the japan times says that plastic

waste is mounting up injapan after china banned the import of plastic waste last year, out of concern over environmental pollution. and finally, we go back to the telegraph and the story that's been discussed widely since it broke that actress keira knightley has refused to let her daughter watch the little mermaid and cinderella — popular disney fairytales — because they're sexist. we're asking what do you think? do you agree? or is it political correctness gone mad ?