

This episode is a Times Afternoon Briefing for Friday 27th June plus a sponsor ad for Grow Therapy. Topic coverage: UK politics—Labour MP Andy MacDonald says he’ll vote against the welfare bill despite PM concessions; government confirms a U-turn on disability benefit cuts, limiting changes to new claimants’ PIP. Key claim: concessions only “delay poverty.” Crime—Habiba Massoum convicted of murdering Kulsouma Akhtar after tracking her to a Bradford women’s refuge; child unharmed. Immigration—possible UK-France “one-in, one-out” deal to return Channel-crossing migrants; Tony Smith criticizes detention/processing capacity. Gaza—Hamas-run media office says 549 Palestinians killed seeking aid; Trump approved $30m for a US/Israeli-backed aid group. Venice—protests expected against Jeff Bezos’ wedding; journalist Alina Trabatoni cites visually impactful demonstrations. Tennis—Emma Raducanu starts Wimbledon vs wildcard Mimi Hsu.
none mentioned; only Alina Trabatoni and Tony Smith are quoted.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes.
A Labour MP's dissent against the welfare bill amidst government concessions.
“despite a package of concessions by the Prime Minister.”
A man found guilty of murdering his wife while she was with their baby.
“as she pushed their seven-month-old son in a pram has been found guilty of her murder.”
Discussion on a potential migrant removal agreement between Britain and France.
“I think, and people are waking up to this.”
Protests concerning environmental impact during Bezos' wedding celebrations in Venice.
“Alina Trabatoni is an Italian journalist in Venice.”
Emma Raducanu's upcoming Wimbledon match against Mimi Hsu.
“The 17-year-old from Swansea sat an A-level biology paper earlier this month and is currently at 318 in the world rankings.”

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Automatic transcript. May contain errors.
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1:22This is the Times Afternoon Briefing for Friday 27th June. A Labour MP has told Times Radio he'll vote against the welfare bill despite a package of concessions by the Prime Minister. The government has confirmed a U-turn on its cuts to disability benefits in a bid to avert rebellion by more than 120 Labour backbenchers. Zakir Starmer's offered to limit change to personal independence payments to new claimants. Andy MacDonald, the MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East, is one of 126 rebels who backed an amendment to the proposed legislation. It is bringing about the change. It's just poverty delayed for millions of people in the future.
2:01People who are received a personal independence payment or the UC health element are not living in the lap of luxury. They are struggling to hold it together as things are. A man accused of fatally stabbing his wife as she pushed their seven-month-old son in a pram has been found guilty of her murder. 26-year-old Habiba Massoum killed Kulsouma Akhtar in April of last year. He tracked her to a women's refuge in Bradford before attacking her in broad daylight. The child wasn't hurt. A one-in, one-out migrants' removal plan could be announced by Britain and France as early as next week. The Prime Minister and President Macron are working on a deal that would allow Britain to return illegal migrants who cross the Channel in small boats.
2:46In return, Britain would accept migrants with a legitimate case for joining family already in the UK. Tony Smith is the former head of UK Border Force. We simply don't have the detention capabilities all this time, all the bandwidth to do all of the checks that we would like to do when they arrive and sometimes they're just kicked up the road to the next hotel. We take far too long to process the cases and it's becoming increasingly frustrating, I think, and people are waking up to this. Gaza's government media office, which is operated by Hamas, says 549 Palestinians have been killed trying to access aid since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operating four weeks ago.
3:22The Trump administration's approved$30 million in funding for the US and Israeli-backed organisation which uses private military and logistics firms to deliver the aid. Further protests are expected in Venice this weekend against the three-day wedding celebrations of the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Campaign groups say they are concerned about the environmental impact of private jets and yachts, transporting the 200 guests to the city. But the Venetian authorities say it will generate huge revenues for the local economy. Alina Trabatoni is an Italian journalist in Venice. She says many of the protests are having a significant visual impact.
4:00Another set of protesters set out a huge sort of artistic display with a massive complaint slogan on it in St Mark's Square that can be seen very easily from up on the church tower and from drones. So very, very visually impactful. And the British number one Emma Raducanu will begin her campaign at Wimbledon next week against the British wildcard Mimi Hsu. The 17-year-old from Swansea sat an A-level biology paper earlier this month and is currently at 318 in the world rankings. You can follow the Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio Online.
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