the fed raises concerns about inflation, as the us gears up for new policies under a trump administration. plus, we discuss the future of artificial intelligence with the former boss of japanese technology giant, softbank. hello and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. latest minutes from the federal reserve showed that officials were eager to slow the pace of interest rate cuts this year. they cited rising inflation risks on the horizon as donald trump returns to the white house. our north america business correspondent ritika gupta has all the details. the minutes from the fed meeting in december show officials have adopted a new stance when it comes to interest rate cuts amid upside risks to inflation. policymakers are in no hurry to cut rates and would like to see more evidence that price increases are settling down.

fed officials also expressing concern about the impact president elect donald trump's policies could have on efforts to reduce inflation. without calling out trump by name, the meeting summary featured at least four mentions about the effect that changes in immigration and trade policy could have on the us economy. in december, us central bank has cut their benchmark lending rate to a range of 4.25% to 4.5% for the third time in a row. a new forecast released after the december meeting showed a median estimate of two rate cuts in 2025 down from the four policymakers projected in september. asia is bracing for the significant impact of incoming us president donald trump's tariff policies. in his previous term,

the picture wasn't entirely bleak with some countries benefitting from us—china tensions. but the stakes are higher this time as the president—elect has promised a 20% tax on all us imports. for a look at how businesses in the region are adapting to the evolving trade environment, the bbc�*s katie silver filed this report. when it comes to trump's tariff, for asia there are pros and cons. during his last presidency, it was china in the firing line. seeing other countries in the region benefit, like vietnam and india, as they became alternative destinations for american companies to make their their products. take a look at how the us trade balance with vietnam has changed over the last ten or so years. of course, there are good years and bad but there does seem to be a trend in general is something known as friendshoring, where companies trade with countries that are their friends rather than their foes. this time round, the president—elect has suggested he may place a 20% tariff on all goods from abroad when he takes office again. when you have these very large

players who are clearly deciding that the rules no longer apply, or the rules that we've been used to no longer apply, that sets up a sort of law of thejungle and that is going to be very problematic for the rest of the planet as well, especially for smaller developing countries, because when you have the law of the jungle the small players tend to get eaten. and for china, things are looking even tougher. trump has threatened tariffs of 60% on all goods from there. trade expert deborah elms says it keeps her up at night. so i think people are much too calm about that. if you have learned anything from trump, one, it is that trade and tariffs matter to him personally, and you should expect him to do what he says, especially in the trade and tariff space. the repercussions are felt across asia. anthony chow runs a company that makes digital smart blocks of home so people don't need to use keys. it's headquartered in singapore but has

offices in the us factories across asia, including china. with a pandemic and supply chain shocks, igloo company opened up factories in south korea, vietnam and malaysia, but most of their production still comes from china. would you move any of your manufacturing to the us? we have thought about mexico before but tariffs is probably only going to rise in mexico as well and i'm looking at a couple of manufacturing partners in the region, in the us specifically. are you nervous about this? for us, it is always important to plan for the future, plant of the worst, hope for the best. we are not the only company that is facing this challenge. every other manufacturing company around the world are all thinking about this and we are not alone. anthony says their chinese suppliers themselves are trying to diversify manufacturing outside of china. all scrambling to unlock what a second trump presidency will bring. katie silva, bbc news, singapore.

in the last few hours china has said an investigation found the eu impose unfair trade and barriers on beijing. this is the latest in the ongoing trend. the foreign subsidy regulation had discriminated against chinese firms and constituted trade and investment barriers. officials announced the probe injuly. in announced the probe injuly. in a tit—for—tat move, probes into other chinese government subsidies were undermining european competitions. artificial intelligence continues to be a major theme going into 2025, but with a leadership change in the us could the landscape start to change? former president and cfo of softbank international group alok sama gave us his insights on the future of ai and how a trump presidency could impact the industry. first of all, elon musk is front and centre to everything trump is going to do this year.

he has appointed some people in the world of ai. i think you will see as you might expect lighter touch regulation, so i think less of a focus on, to somewhat misplaced wokeness, in the previous administration, so i think you will see faster innovation led by the private sector, probably more of a willingness or proclivity towards ai implications for national security and defence and then finally, inevitably, more protectionism probably directed at china in terms of restricting exports. do you have any concerns about the speed at which ai is developing, especially as you mention it could be having a bigger role when it comes to military and national security applications? candidly, i don't. if you look at things that could go wrong, one can dream up some pretty scary scenarios,

but i would rather focus on the positives, and candidly i always had the view that the bar we set when it comes to safety, for machines seems to be way higher than we do for humans. i come back to self driving cars, i have neverfelt safer, i would rather be in one than a yellow cab in new york or pretty much anywhere else. as we move further into a new year, the cost of living is still a big concern for many. one of the main components, the price of food, which has been on the rise. this chart outlines the united nations index, tracking the cost of a basket of goods, and you can see the steady rise over the last 12 months. tighter budgets have hit supermarkets, as well as gourmet organic grocers, like the singapore—based little farms. for a closer look at how their business is navigating rising prices, we'rejoined this morning by chief executive joe stevens.

food prices were up in most places post—pandemic. the inflation growth has subsided, prices remain elevated and inflation is not completely gone. in general, the higher quality all natural products that we saw little farm cell cost more to grow and produce than conventionally farmed and produced products. we have been very focused on limiting price increases and making our all natural product range more accessible to more people, and we are seeking to achieve this in four key ways. first, we are sourcing as direct as possible, so we buy from the grower, and from the maker, to the extent possible. this allows us to eliminate the middleman and provide better higher quality products at better prices, instead of buying through a wholesaler where it would be much more expensive.

the second thing we have been doing as we have been scaling, we've been growing. we now have seven grocery stores in singapore and our purchasing power has increased significantly so we need use that to negotiate lower by prices from our suppliers. another benefit of scale is with larger shipments, the logistic costs per unit decrease, and we share these benefits with customers. the other thing that has been important to our strategy is we have developed a good, better, best ranging approach in key lines, and so when we first opened, over eight years ago, yeah, we've focused on very high quality, all natural products from around the world. most consumers would say quality groceries are great to have but they are also very expensive. your own brand free range eggs 1198, just under $9

for 12 eggs. that is still a lot. ., . . for 12 eggs. that is still a lot. ., ., . ., for 12 eggs. that is still a lot. ., ., lot. you are correct and so what we — lot. you are correct and so what we have _ lot. you are correct and so what we have been - lot. you are correct and so what we have been doing l lot. you are correct and sol what we have been doing in addition to maintaining quality at the higher and line, we have been seeking good quality all natural products at more approachable price point for more people and so a good example of this is we now have grass fed, all natural ribeye steaks at three different price points. all of them are delicious, all of them are free from antibiotics and growth hormones, the nasty things you find in other products. we have a live page on the bbc webpage covering the la fires, there are now at least six raging across los angeles. that's it for now. bye—bye.

hiya. i'm betty with the catch—up. tonight: the latest on the woolwich stabbing,

wildfires, and baby pandas. a vigil has been held after 14—year—old kelyan bokassa was stabbed to death, tuesday afternoon, on a bus in south east london. no arrests have been made yet, but detectives are saying they are working at pace to find those responsible. keylan�*s mother, mary bokassa, said her son had been groomed by gangs after running away from care and living on the street. she told the bbc how she had tried to stop kelyan associating with these gangs. ifeel hurt, as i tried to prevent it. i have tried so many, so many times. i screamed it, i said, "my son is going to be killed". more than 1,000 structures have been destroyed and tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in the los angeles wildfires. firefighters have been battling the four wildfires around the city, but la official catherine barger is urging

residents to heed the advice of first responders. to further encourage people to stay home and leave the roads open, the city has closed some of its main attractions, like the la zoo, and the hollywood sign. time now for ten seconds of baby pandas. this week is turning out to have a bit of a theme, with some pandas on yesterday's show, but these bears are smaller, and cuter. leni and lotti are twins, and were born at berlin zoo last summer. today, they have been moved to a new play area, where they have spent all day exploring, playing, and falling off of everything. you're all caught up now. have a good night. hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm hugh ferris. our top stories: julen lopetegui

is out at west ham, who have already zeroed in on his replacement, with graham potter heading to east london. spurs turn to a teenager to take the lead in their english league cup semifinal against liverpool. and — going solo — the rower looking to break records for her transatlantic crossing. hello again. welcome along. west ham have acted swiftly to replace the man they took a little longer than some expected to sack. julen lopetegui is gone afterjust six months at the london stadium, where the premier league club's next manager graham potter will speak to the media on thursday morning. ben croucher has the story on how the spaniards short tenure in east london came to an end. the final act before the axe fell on a hammer.

commentator: manchester city beating west ham 4-1. _