this is the business briefing, i'm sally bundock. hitting the brakes. bmw tells the bbc that workers at its mini plant in the uk could see their shifts cut in the event of a no—deal brexit. and a group of 50 states and territories in the us have launched an investigation into google‘s dominance of the online advertising market. and financial markets are mixed is asia following a flat close on wall street, with investors now looking ahead to central bank action first in europe on thursday and then the fed in the us next week.

the world's largest motor show gets under way today in frankfurt, with all eyes on trade tensions between the us and china. with germany's economy now shrinking, the likes of bmw, vw and daimler will hope that the showcase event can give their brands a much needed turbocharge. according to the european automobile manufacturers association, the auto industry provides jobs to 13.8 million europeans. however, during the first half of 2019, demand for cars across the eu fell by 3.1% to 8.2 million. and there are fears that the eu could be dragged into a trade war with the us, after president trump repeated his threat that auto tariffs are never off the table as he pressures the eu for better trading terms.

however, there is one bright spot, because 1 million electric cars are expected to be sold in europe over the next year, according to ihs markit. that is a 300% increase on 2018. at the show, our reporter theo leggett met with bmw's chief financial officer, nicolas peter, and asked him first about the chinese situation. definitely we are, if you look, probably more exposed than other manufacturers. having said this, we have — and this is what is making me optimistic, the most flexible production network in the industry. so we can shift from one plant to another plant, and therefore, thanks to this, we are probably better prepared

regarding trade tensions. as we speak, we are on the one hand side continuing to invest in our production in spartanberg in south carolina in the us, and on the other hand side to further expand our production network in china, and at the same time, investing in additional production capacity in europe. on top of all that, of course, there is the political chaos in the united kingdom, the deep political uncertainty. there may well be an ideal brexit, we simply don't know. what effect does this uncertainty having on your business? how concerned are you? element of course this would impact our business, and the impact is explained in a very simple way —— are no deal brexit. most likely tariffs would be imposed from one november onwards. this would mean that we most likely would have to raise our prices for the

products produced in the uk and shipped to other markets in those markets. an increase of price means an impact on the volume you sell, and would eventually lead to a reduction of produced cars in oxford in the uk plants. so this is the scenario, and this is exactly why we wouldn't urge the government —— we wouldn't urge the government —— we would urge the government to avoid a no deal brexit solution. a group of 50 states and territories in the us have launched an investigation into google‘s dominance of the online advertising market. as the bbc‘s samira hussain reports from new york, the action adds to a mounting number of probes of big technology giants by authorities in america. this is not something you see very

often in washington, dc — democrats and republicans working together. but together they stood on the steps of the supreme court, announcing an investigation into the business practices of the internet giant google. and while democrats and republicans may be from different parties, we all have a common bond, and that is we are charged with the responsibility of protecting the citizens of our state. these state officials are looking at google‘s search engine and its digital advertising and whether it has stifled competition by favouring its own sites. and this is not the only investigation to hit big tech. last week, another coalition of state officials announced an anti—trust look into facebook. they will probe whether social media,

search, and e—commerce companies have become too big, and the federal trade commission continues to examine facebook. these investigations may take a year or even longer, and at the end of all of that, the landscape of big tech may not end up looking any different. even with anti—trust enforcement, even with investigations, we still may have a few dominant firms. and that will leave policymakers with another question. that is, do you regulate more in this space? do you come up with neutral stray digital market that actually expand opportunities for competition? i believe that is probably where we're headed. this all comes as consumers have confidence in tech companies. they have been unable to safeguard people's information and they have been caught up in efforts by foreign powers to influence elections. so now, it is up to big tech to prove lawmakers wrong. samira hussain, bbc news, washington. we have been asking you today if you can live without google. do you think that alphabet, the parent

company, should have its wings clipped. we will discuss some of your comments a little later, as well. later today jack ma, who is one of the best—known and richest businessmen in china, is stepping down from his post as the executive chairman of aliba ba. the announcement last year took many by surprise. let's go to our asia business hub, where rico hizon is following the story. so jack ma stepping down. what is he going to do? at 55 years old he is retiring from alibaba. well, he wa nts to retiring from alibaba. well, he wants to get into education, sally. and basically he is following through on his own advice which he shared two young leaders at the world economic forum in davos last year. he said when you are in your mid— 50s or 60s, you should enjoy spending time with your grandchildren. and that is what he plans to do. but retirement aside,

sally, you probably know him as one of china's richest men, with a net worth of over $38 billion. he was born into a poorfamily worth of over $38 billion. he was born into a poor family and started his career as an english teacher, and he was even rejected for 30 different jobs, and he was even rejected for 30 differentjobs, including one at kfc. he founded alibaba, which is now worth $460 billion, in his apartment two decades ago. well, he bought his first computer at the age of 43 and was surprised when no chinese beers turned up in his search for beer, and the rest is history. from being a traditional e—commerce company 20 years ago, it is now a conglomerate that has businesses from logistics to food delivery and cloud computing. sally. quite a story, thank you very much. good to see you. now let's brief you on some other business stories: nissan's chief executive, hiroto saikawa, has said he will step down next week. mr saikawa has been criticised for being overpaid as part of a bonus scheme, although he denies any wrongdoing.

the latest announcement followed a meeting of the carmaker‘s board. rating agency moody has downgraded ford's senior unsecured debt rating, putting the car company injunk territory. it also warned further downgrades could follow. ford's shares fell 3.7% in after—hours trading. british airways pilots are striking for a second day in an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions. tens of thousands of passengers have been told not to go to airports, with the airline cancelling some 1,700 flights due to the disruption. later, apple will be holding its yearly launch event. we are expecting details on the next iphone, and possibly some other product upgrades. but the talking point for apple is more political in nature, with the looming threat of trade tariffs threatening to have a big effect on america's richest company. our north america technology

reporter dave lee will of course be there. here is what he is looking out for. apple is a company that craves control, which is why the next few months will be so interesting, starting with this iphone launch. most of apple's products have not been affected by tariffs put in place by the us, but that could change. on 15 december, if donald trump keeps his word, almost all of apple's products will be affected, including its lucrative iphone. the question is, how is apple going to handle it? do they raise the price of their devices in a way that could, of course, upset their customers? or do they swallow that cost, eating into their profit margins? investors are not going to be happy about that. they could move production elsewhere, outside of china, but that would reduce their ability to make so many devices so quickly. apple will hope that this event is about good news,

a better camera on the iphone, some new features on the apple watch, perhaps something completely new coming down the line. but never before in its history has apple been in so little control of the performance of its business. dave lee, bbc news, in silicon valley. and dave, of course, will update us. that's it for the business briefing this hour. there are growing concerns that people are becoming dependent on prescription drugs, according to public health england. the report warns that drugs are not being prescribed in accordance with guidelines. it found that, in the past year, one in four adults in england have been prescribed drugs which could be addictive. here is our health correspondent dominic hughes.

medicines that can relieve pain or help with sleep play a vital role in the lives of millions of people, but concern is growing about how many of these potentially addictive drugs are being prescribed, and for how long. public health england looked at five commonly prescribed types of medicine, including powerful painkillers, sleeping pills and antidepressants. a quarter of all adults in england have been prescribed at least one of these drugs in the year to march 2018. half of all patients taking these drugs have done so continuously for the previous 12 months, and depending on the medicine, between the fifth and a third had received a prescription for at least the previous three years. these drugs are commonly used for some very common ailments. what i am more concerned about is that half of the people who are taking these drugs have been prescribed those in the last year have had a prescription for more than a year, and for the

vast majority of these medicines, using them for that length of time is very unlikely to be supported by clinical guidance. antidepressants may take awhile to become effective, but opioid painkillers and stop working for most people after three months, and drugs prescribed for insomnia and anxiety are not recommended to be used for more than 28 days. the review warns that long—term use is likely to result in dependency or withdrawal problems. but patients should also be wary of suddenly stopping their medication. instead, they should seek the help of their gp. and there is more detail online on that story, and on the bbc news app. do read the detail. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: mps have rejected the british government's call for a general election. parliament has now been controversially suspended until mid—october. north korea has raised the prospect of another meeting between kim jong—un

and president trump, saying it is willing to take part in denuclearisation talks with the us. and, two years after hundreds of thousands of rohingyas were driven out of myanmar, all traces of where they lived are being erased from the landscape. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the independent which leads on borisjohnson‘s controversial decision to suspend parliament. it notes that there's just 51 days left until the deadline for the uk to leave the eu. the resignation of commons speaker john bercow is the focus of the metro's front page. in his statement, mr bercow warned: "we degrade this parliament at our peril." the times has the details

on theresa may's honours list — which every departing prime minister has the option to draw up. ms may opted to include two advisers who resigned in the wake of the 2017 general election where the conservatives lost their majority. buzzfeed news takes a look at the latest involving google — 50 attorney generals in the us are planning to launch an antitrust investigation into the tech giant's use of data. the daily mail has the latest on the uk health secretary's promise to end the pills crisis in the uk. and finally, should the next james bond be a woman? former 007 pierce brosnan says yes. but not everyone agrees with him. so let's begin. with me is geraint anderson, a former analyst in the city of london and author of ‘city boy'.