Afternoon briefing Friday 25th July

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0:36This is the Times afternoon briefing for Friday the 25th of July. Striking resident doctors are on picket lines across England as the Prime Minister warns their action will damage the NHS. Patients are being urged to still attend appointments unless they've been told they're cancelled as the NHS aims to avoid mass cancellations as seen in past strikes. These patients at St Thomas's Hospital in London say they back the junior doctors. She's just been seen by a consultant so they need to do it, they need to do it. I don't think these doctors are getting what they should get. Keir Starmer keeps going abroad sorting all these people out and our poor doctors need money.

1:16It's only£4. And then it just makes me worry like are we going to be delayed waiting with a little baby who needs to be looked after. The Prime Minister is facing pressure to recognise a Palestinian state amid growing calls from MPs and a commitment to the issue from France. Sir Keir Starmer is to hold an emergency call on the humanitarian situation in Gaza with President Macron and Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz today. Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee says the UK should recognise Palestine now. Dame Emily Thornberry is chair of the committee. At a time when people are starving to death, it might seem like a strange distraction.

1:52I mean, obviously, we have to have a ceasefire. Obviously, we have to have the opening of the gates and for aid to get in. And that's the most important thing. But there also must be some form of long term solution. And the two state solution is the only sensible game in town. The Online Safety Act has come into force, meaning social media giants are now legally required to protect children from harmful content. It means firms have to bring in stricter age checks and will face tougher punishments if they don't take action. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle told Times Radio he's comfortable with young people having to prove their age with facial scans.

2:27It's down to the companies to prove how data is used, to reassure people that this is about that gateway into services. It's not about retaining data afterwards. But let's be really clear. For an entire generation, young people have had material put into their feeds. They haven't gone looking for it. They've had material put in their feeds, which is hateful. It is violent. It is misogynistic. It is pornographic. It stays, those images stay with them, sometimes for life. The coroner has ruled that Jay Slater died by accident after falling from a height. The body of the 19-year-old was found in Tenerife last summer after a four-week search.

3:02According to the coroner, he likely died instantly, and there was no evidence of a third party being involved. A record number of farms have shut for good this year after the cut to inheritance tax relief. Office for National Statistics figures show 6 ,365 agriculture businesses closed, the highest since data started being published in 2017. And a lawyer representing Ghislaine Maxwell has described talks between his client and a senior US prosecutor as productive. She's serving 20 years for helping Jeffrey Epstein abuse teenage girls. US Justice Department officials are seeking information on others who may have been involved.

3:38Remember, you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio Online. 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.

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