bets as details from the last fed meeting are revealed. building momentum — us vice president kamala harris is set to round off the democratic convention with what could be the biggest speech of her career. what could it tell us about her plans for the economy? the new boss of starbucks is criticised for his planned commute of 1,000—miles between newport beach and seattle. lesotho�*s white gold — how the landlocked country is keeping the taps running in south africa. welcome to business today. i'm tadhg enright. we start with the world's biggest economy, the united states. minutes from the latest meeting of the people who decide on what to do with the interest rate show that the "vast majority" of them believe an interest cut

is likely next month. let's remind you of the state of play. the cost of borrowing has been at a range between 5.25% and 5.5% since july of 2023. it began climbing in earnest in 2022, after russia's invasion of ukraine sparked an inflationary crisis. if the fed does cut in september, it would be the first cut in the cost of borrowing since the pandemic—era cuts of 2020. more from our north america business correspondent, michelle fleury. officials inside america's central bank discussed cutting interest rates injuly before voting unanimously to wait, indicating instead that a september cut was more likely. the minutes from the last federal reserve policy meeting show officials are confident inflation is moving in the right direction, and that an increase in the unemployment rate means now is the right time to be talking about cutting rates from their current 22—year highs.

it comes as more cracks in the labour market are starting to appear. the us economy added 818,000 fewer jobs in 2023 and early 2024 than previously reported. for wall street, the debate now is not whether the central bank will cut rates in september, but how aggressive they will be. traders will be looking for clues from fed chairjerome powell when he speaks on friday at a gathering of central bankers injackson hole. assuming the fed does cut the cost of borrowing, it could boost the feel—good factor for american voters as they prepare to pick their next president. inflation has been a key issue in the us. the democratic national convention is under way in chicago this week and tonight, that party's candidate for president will close the event. kamala harris says reducing inflation will be her top priority and suggested that consolidation in the food industry is to blame for surging grocery prices.

will she reveal more of her economic plans tonight? the highlight on wednesday was a speech by the vice presidential candidate, tim walz. he said that kamala harris would take on the pharmaceutical industry to bring down drug prices. morris reid is a political strategist and partner at consultants actum. how did he think mr walz�*s speech went down? i thought it was terrific. he came through like a real coach, a real american. i think he hit the right notes and really got people excited. so i thought he did a really good job. it's a real new beginning. kamala is known but not well known to everyone like the clintons or the 0bamas. certainly the governor is a new face, a new energy, someone that's really relatable. and i think that democrats wanted to get someone that could really speak to that everyday american.

and so he's a new, fresh blood. and i thought he did a good job. elections in america are always local. all politics are local. so everything will focus on how the democrats or the republicans are able to relate to everyday american issues. that's number one. number two, for the democrats, they really need to be able to relate to those non—educated white rural voters. so bringing someone on like the governor will help that. as you know, no one votes for the vice president. he votes for the top of the ticket. but bringing someone from middle america with kamala harris, i think, really is a compelling narrative. at the end of the day, it will come down to who is able to better identify the issues that americans are suffering with right now — gas prices, food prices, inflation. i think the vice president has to really focus on these things. to africa now, and the small landlocked country of lesotho. it is completely surrounded by south africa but, despite its relatively small size, it has something its much larger neighbour lacks, and that's water.

since a deal was signed in the 1980s, lesotho has helped keep south african taps running. but, as demand increases, its citizens haven't always been feeling the benefits, as andre lombard reports. here, they call it lesotho�*s white gold. the katsi dam, the second largest curvature dam in africa. more than 500,000 0lympic sized swimming pools flow into neighbouring south africa each year. it's a deal that earns lesotho $200 million annually. but it's not without its controversies. from the dam, it's around a kilometre to this village. the country might be water rich, but not all people here share in that wealth. so when we first arrived about half an hour ago this spring, which is inside here, was running quite strongly. it's now dried up, which means the ladies who've been here about 5.5 hours will have

to wait for the water to start again. at the spring we meet this woman, who got here at 5am, but that wasn't early enough to get fresh water. translation: the water shortage situation here is terrible. - we are struggling to get water. sometimes when it rains, a dead dog can be washed into the spring. we have to just take it out as we need the water. even if it's contaminated. and dirty water leads to other consequences. we regularly get sick. even small children, they drink this water and they have upset and painful stomachs. sometimes when you come to the water, you see little worms. but you still have to drink it because there's no way we can survive without it. the village chief tells me that despite promises stretching back five years to fix the problem, nothing has happened.

translation: my message to the government is - that they should come here and see how we live. we can't have this beautiful dam built around our village, and yet we're still living in poverty. that's not an opinion you will hear on guided tours that tourists are offered of the dam. with officials keen to impress how much life has improved here. the governments elected in october 2022, admits there is a problem and says they are acting to address it. we now have to refocus our main objective is going to be going forward to give water to basotho and then secondly, do the water transfer. and now we have to look at the provision of water to the locals by 2030. that's what we're going to be looking at. so you can give assurances that those villages will have access to safe drinking water by 2030. i'll bet my life on it. this is where much

of the water ends up. 450km away in the world's largest city not built on a water source. johannesburg is south africa's economic heartland. the richest city in africa. but the city of gold is getting thirstier. taps increasingly run dry here due to crumbling infrastructure, a growing population and reservoirs vulnerable to climate change, which means demand is increasing for lesotho's water. with life, we need water as well as with the economy. it needs water as well. so the city's water is quite important because it basically drives part of south africa's gdp. and demand is starting to come from elsewhere. a deal has been agreed with botswana to take water more than 700km through a pipeline into the country. but for mantsebo, the balance of the economic benefits are more of a trickle than a gush.

andre lombard, bbc news at the katsi dam, lesotho. starbucks and its newly appointed boss, brian niccol, have come under fire for plans to allow him to commute almost 1,000 miles from his family home in california to the firm's headquarters in seattle on a private jet. the swift removal of niccol�*s predecessor and the $100 million deal to poach him from another company has been big news in corporate america. but environmentalists have been enraged that niccol is being facilitated to remain living in newport beach and jet in for the three days a week when he's expected to be in the main office. joining me now is chris roebuck, global leadership expert, who's also on the advisory board of ucl school of management. we know this because starbucks made his job offer letter public in regulatory filings about niccol�*s appointment. what damage does it do

to their environmental reputation? well, given that they knew they were going to have to publish this, did they not actually expect that someone might start asking questions and they might actually have to have and they might actually have to have a good, sensible answer? and, yes, it does. it does damage their reputation because they profess to be environmentally friendly. i'm just i think what really sort of pushes the button a little bit more is the fact that it is going to be an executive jet. the fact that he is not actuallyjust going to get on a scheduled flight, albeit in first class, and fly the two and a half hours. i think thatjust makes it worse and itjust doesn't look good. yeah. in one of the things we don't know is if it is a one day a week thing or an everyday a week thing or one trip a week or whether he will spend nights in seattle. starbucks has a policy, this is in line with

their policy of working in the office three days a week and they apply the policy to him. could a ceo get away with not following the same rules as ordinary employees? weill. rules as ordinary employees? well, ou and i rules as ordinary employees? well, you and i both _ rules as ordinary employees? well, you and i both know— rules as ordinary employees? well, you and i both know there - rules as ordinary employees? well, you and i both know there are - rules as ordinary employees? -ii you and i both know there are many, many examples out there currently and previously of chief executives trying not to stick to the same rules. the classic do as i say, not do as i do that we see repeatedly. but we know that the impact of that is that employees see it as hypocritical and it has a very, very bad impact on organisational trust because it is just a bad bad impact on organisational trust because it isjust a bad leadership example. i because it is 'ust a bad leadership exam - le. ., ., because it is 'ust a bad leadership examle. ., ., example. i mean, do you get the sense though _ example. i mean, do you get the sense though that _ example. i mean, do you get the sense though that this _ example. i mean, do you get the sense though that this kind - example. i mean, do you get the sense though that this kind of. sense though that this kind of behaviour is probably fairly common among ceos? could starbucksjust been unlucky that it has been publicised in this way? i been unlucky that it has been publicised in this way? i think the hiuher publicised in this way? i think the higher your _ publicised in this way? i think the higher your profile _ publicised in this way? i think the higher your profile is _ publicised in this way? i think the higher your profile is an - higher your profile is an organisation the more people are looking at what your senior

executives are doing. and, yes, they probably have got caught out but as i said before i'm sure even now if they got their act together they could mitigate it by saying well actually it is only going to be once actually it is only going to be once a week and it is only he is going to use scheduled flights. because i think they have just got themselves into a position that they didn't need to be in. and anyone could say fine this is what we are going to do about it and to mitigate the damage we've already caused ourselves. we will have to leave it there, chris, but thank you for sharing your thoughts with us today. that is your business today, do stay with us on bbc news.

hello from the bbc sport centre. i'm molly stephens.

we were expecting the second test between england and sri lanka to be back under way by now, but the late august manchester weather is having its say in that. this is an idea of how old trafford is looking after a pretty wet morning. so no play has been possible. the forecast is for the weather to improve later, and england will be looking to press home the advantage they built on day one. they bowled out sri lanka for 236 after the tourists won the toss and chose to bat. bad light on wednesday meant england's reply was just four overs old before the players were forced off. so england, under the temporary captaincy of ollie pope, will be looking to build a first innings lead. you can follow the action when play does get under way on the bbc sport website and we'll bring you updates throughout the day on bbc news. meanwhile, saud shakeel and mohammad rizwan have impressed with the bat, as pakistan build a healthy first innings total on day