this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. price spike — a huge surge in the price of oil one day on from the attacks at oil refineries in saudi arabia. and, downing tools — 19,000 auto workers walk out in a strike at gm's us plants in the biggest industrial dispute in over a decade. and on the markets: quite a stark difference in markets in asia. the big difference is in the price of oil.

global oil prices have hit their highest in four months after two drone attacks on saudi arabian facilities on saturday. brent crude has jumped 10% to over $66 a barrel. aramco is the world's biggest oil producer and one of the world's most profitable businesses. around 5.7 million barrels a day have been cut by the attacks, that's roughly half of saudi arabia's oil production. oil prices have eased back slightly after us president donald trump authorised the release of us reserves. aramco‘s affected facilities at khurais and abqaiq produce around 8% of the world's oil supply. bob mcnally served in the bush administration as its senior energy advisor. he's now president of the rapidan energy group in washington. he thinks there are genuine reasons to be concerned about the impact

of the attack: (tx vt next as long as the us and saudi arabia on one side and iran on the other remain in this conflict, we will build on a risk premium. it is getting very serious. this is not simplya getting very serious. this is not simply a tanker here or a pipeline that, abqaiq is the crown jewel of the saudi government but also of the global oil industry. so this has really ramped up, and it won't go away soon. gregory perdon is co—chief investment officer at the banking group, arbuthnot latham. good to see you. you were hearing that quick reaction there. a lot of people are trying to weigh up how this will play out in the next few days and what it means for the price

of oil. your thoughts? the viewer should make no mistake about it. this is the biggest oil outage i think ever. 5.7 million barrels off—line. we also saw one of the largest spikes. from a portfolio management perspective i think we have to take the position that this could potentially be a flash in the pan. the reason for that is that we see general demand for oil and the supply is quite high. you have seen over the past few months lots of opec nations coming out and saying we have to cut supply to keep the price higher. on top of that you see the us administration prepared to release reserves . the us administration prepared to release reserves. also saudi arabia has said they have a lot in stock so they could meet any shortfall there is. the concern is what could happen next, in terms of the reaction from

saudi arabia, iran denying any involvement, questions on how this could happen, could it happen again, and the vulnerability of other oil supplies in the area. i think there isa supplies in the area. i think there is a lot of talk about how the us could potentially escalate the whole situation. again, iwould could potentially escalate the whole situation. again, i would discount that, and the reason i would discount it is because a lot of us policy is now revolving entirely around the re—election of donald trump. the last thing he wants is a difficult conflict in the middle east, that won't get him re—elected. what will saudi arabia's reaction be? it is difficult to say how they will react depending on what evidence they have about who is responsible for the attacks, and based on what we have seen no—one has any hard evidence. saudi arabia is not going to sit and do nothing about it but they have also asked

the us administration for a green light and it would be very hard for donald trump and his administration to authorise anything beyond just sabre rattling. thank you, interesting to get your perspective. this is a story we will keep across. china's industrial output continued to stutter in august, with manufacturing slumping to a new 17—year low in the last month before the united states imposed new tariffs on chinese—made goods. let's go to our asia business hub where mariko oi is following the story. mariko oi has been following this story from singapore for us. what is the latest news from china? as we mentioned last week, investors we re as we mentioned last week, investors were cautiously optimistic about easing tensions between the us and

china but the impact of the trade war is already evident. production only rose by 4.4% in august, which is much weaker than economists have been expecting, and in fact the wea kest since been expecting, and in fact the weakest since february 2002. the slowdown is not just weakest since february 2002. the slowdown is notjust affecting factories but also consumer sectors as well. thank you, and that is the latest on the numbers from china. let's brief you want some of business stories. the drug manufacturer accused of fuelling the opioid epidemic in the us, purdue pharma, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. the company has reportedly reached a tentative multi—billion dollar agreement in the us to settle a host of lawsuits against it. the firm owned by the billionaire sackler family, is accused of helping fuel the us opioid crisis through drugs such as painkiller oxycontin.

beleaguered travel firm thomas cook says it is "focused on completing" a rescue deal amid reports that some lenders could vote against the terms of the agreement. the firm is understood to be in last minute negotiations with bondholders to approve a takeover by chinese firm fosun tourism. it's being reported that thomas cook wants to delay a meeting with them to have more time to negotiate. about 19,000 general motors workers have gone out on strike after america's biggest carmaker failed to reach a pay and conditions deal with the united auto workers union. union leaders also said the sides weren't swayed by a gm offer to make new products at or near two of the four plants it had been planning to close. the strike got under way about half an hour ago, at midnight eastern time in the us, and it's the first major stoppage

at gm since 2007. harley shaiken is a professor at the university of california, berkeley who specializes in labour and the global economy. welcome to business briefing. give us welcome to business briefing. give us your take on this industrial action. how is gm going to play this one out? it is a critical moment for gm and for the united auto workers union. at stake is how gm competes in the global economy and whether workers benefited from that all became its victims. you have close to 50,000 workers walking the picket line. gm has done something unprecedented — it released what it said it was offering at the bargaining table publicly, in a way seeking to go over the heads of the

union leadership directly to the membership. that may in fact backfire. it is the day after a major holiday in november in the us gm announced the closure of four major auto factories. there is no doubt that general motors is pushing through huge restructuring, which as you say is closing down several factories, thousands of jobs you say is closing down several factories, thousands ofjobs are on the line. all carmakers worldwide, certainly those that have been around for a long time like gm, have had to face tough decisions in the current had to face tough decisions in the current economy. had to face tough decisions in the current economy. absolutely. a tough road ahead for gm, electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, they are vehicles, autonomous vehicles, they a re really costly vehicles, autonomous vehicles, they are really costly and they need to compete in a very strong way. there is something else going on here. gm remains the largest seller of vehicles in the us market, but it is

now the smallest employer of workers in the united states, in part because they have become the largest exporter of vehicles from mexico to the us. last year, gm made 300,000 vehicles in mexico and sold more than two—thirds of them in the us market. that is why we are seeing picket lines. thank you for staying up picket lines. thank you for staying upfor us and picket lines. thank you for staying up for us and talking to us on the programme. let's show you financial markets again. it is quite an interesting picture. japan is closed today, which is why you have a i% gain. no action there at the moment, but hong kong you can see down by 196. but hong kong you can see down by i%. a but hong kong you can see down by 1%. a big but hong kong you can see down by i%. a big spike in the price of oil, still up 9% on the day. it was up

20% earlier, and is still a real concern for markets and the global economy if that is to continue. that's it for the business briefing this hour. universities should be legally responsible for students' mental health needs, according to a former health minister. sir norman lamb is warning lives are being put at risk, because some universities aren't keeping track of waiting lists for counselling. it comes as the inquest opens into the death of keira thacker, a student at liverpool university who took her own life in may 2018. our education editor, branwen jeffreys, has more.

keira thacker was just keira thacker wasjust i9 keira thacker was just 19 when she took her life. her death another tragedy, raising questions about support for students. the inquest will hear about her attempts to get help. more students want support for mental health problems. new data suggests it could depend on where you study. 110 universities responded with information to a campaigning mp. only 26 new the average or longest waiting times for counselling. in some universities, cambridge would be a good example, stu d e nts cambridge would be a good example, students will find a university that is really focusing on the data, analysing the scale of the problem, making sure they have a real handle on it, whereas in other places they don't even know how much they are spending. they are not maintaining and monitoring of data, not collecting the data, and in that way i think students' experience is com pletely i think students' experience is

completely different across the country. university say they already plan a voluntary mental health charter and need the nhs to provide more effective care for students. liverpool university said it was deeply saddened by keira's death, and is working with the health service on changes. coming up at 6:00am on breakfast, louise minchin and dan walker will have all the day's news, business and sport. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: britain's prime minister is to meet the european commission president for a working lunch later. he is expected to make clear for the first time in face—to—face talks that he will reject any offer to further delay brexit. oil prices have risen sharply on international markets following saturday's attacks on saudi oilfacilities. prices fell back slightly after president trump tweeted that he had authorised the release of strategic us oil reserves if needed.

hong kong's businesses have reopened as usual after a chaotic sunday during which police fired water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters, who blocked roads and threw petrol bombs outside government headquarters. several people were injured. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the i, and the story dominating most of the uk papers — that is borisjohnson preparing to meet european commission presidentjean—claude juncker in luxembourg today. here it is with the headline, "johnson's bid to save brexit on 31 october". now, staying with that meeting, and we turn to the metro, and it has the eu's chief negotiator, guy verhofstadt, here calling borisjohnson infantile hulk, and that is of course because mrjohnson likened himself

to the marvel character the hulk in breaking free of eu manacles in a conversation with the mail on sunday. on the front of the ft, the attack on the world's most important oil facilities. the damage has halved the kingdom's output, it writes. some saudi officials have tried to reassure oil markets, but sources have told the paper it could take weeks to restore output. honk kong pro—democracy activist joshua wong is seeking support in the us and the uk, says the japan times, as tens of thousands of protesters marched in hong kong on sunday, defying a police ban on a mass rally. and finally, the bbc online has this special report showing youtube's algorithm promoting health misinformation, mainly fake cancer