Afternoon briefing Friday 11th September

0:00This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwCWC. Staying competitive means getting ahead, not just keeping up. So how do business leaders cut through the noise and focus on what really matters. PwC takes you further with tech, from optimising the systems that put your data to work, to scaling AI from proof of concept to competitive edge. PwC helps you meet tomorrow's tech demands so you can compete at a speed that rewrites the rules. Discover more at pwc.co.uk. This is the Times News Briefing on Friday 11th September. MPs are debating whether to back assisted dying in England and Wales.

0:43It's two years since it was first debated. An earlier bill, led by Labour's Kim Leadbeater, was stalled in the House of Lords after peers tabled more than 1 ,200 amendments. Actor and disability rights campaigner Liz Carr says it should be delayed until there's equality for disabled people. You know, I believe that we do view certain lives as less than other people's. I don't think we have equality there. I think there are huge swathes of people, and it's not just around disability and illness, who are not treated equally in certain systems, and the NHS is one of them. So when we get that right, maybe let's look at it.

1:19But until then, I don't think it's safe for those people. Ministers have confirmed a new tourism tax, introduced as early as 2028, would increase the cost of domestic trips for Britons. Mayors in England will gain powers to charge up to 5 % on the cost of overnight stays at hotels, Airbnbs and camping sites. The Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, said it's up for regional mayors to decide how to spend the money. The way in which the proceeds of the levy are used will be for local leaders to determine. And actually, yes, that might be about improving the things that will attract more tourists to an area.

1:57But I should be clear that it won't necessarily be the case that you have an overnight levy everywhere in the country, because some local leaders could decide not to do one. The AI giant Anthropix says it's stopped people trying to use their products to help develop biological weapons. The company warns misuse of AI for biological weapons could have catastrophic consequences, and says it's uncovered and disrupted five cases of attempts to use its AI chatbot Claude for malicious activity. Will Guyatt is a tech journalist and was asked on Times Radio how they combat these problems. What they actually do is typically lock these accounts when they see these kinds of things.

2:38They're also looking for misuse of the platform, so trying to break guardrails and protection that's already built into Claude because you simply shouldn't be able to ask it some of this stuff. but then you have ways of asking around the question. So they're clearly monitoring everything that everybody is doing on the service, which should give us a fraction of comfort maybe this morning. Ceremonies are being held on both sides of the Atlantic today to mark the 25th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks. Andy Burnham has said that the UK and US stand together in memories of those we lost and in defence of values we cherish.

3:13The Prime Minister has also warned that terror still knocks at the door of democracy. Salvatore Cassano was one of the firefighters on the scene. He helped to coordinate the emergency response and went on to become the commissioner of the New York Fire Department. He spoke to Times Radio. There's not a day that doesn't go on where I don't think about the people that would kill our firefighters, my friends, my mentor, the people I mentor. It has never gone away. I can still hear the sounds, people jumping and the sights. It's never gone away. It feels like yesterday and it feels like 50 years ago, not 25.

3:53There's more on these stories throughout the day on Times Radio. This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC. AI is everywhere. In the news, in our hands, but return on investment, not so much. So how do you get beyond the hype and deliver AI that powers reinvention and growth across your business? Strong foundations unlock AI's potential. That's why PwC takes you further with tech, strengthening the data quality, processes and workflows that shape how well AI performs. PwC turns innovation into implementation so you can accelerate from experiment to scale. Discover more at pwc.co.uk.

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