Afternoon briefing Monday 17th August

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. Welcome to the Times Radio afternoon briefing for Monday the 17th of August. Ministers have been told to prepare for widespread bans on the use of water at car washes and in private swimming pools.

0:46Restrictions could be brought in if low levels of rainfall continue. Wessex Water has imposed a hosepipe ban today. Ministers are considering a drought order requested by Southern Water. Minister Matthew Pennycook has told Times Radio we're not at that stage yet, however. This country has not built a reservoir, a major reservoir, since 1992. 2022. This government has nine reservoirs now in development, two major reservoirs, the Fens in East Anglia and the Lincolnshire Reservoir in the planning process. We've got to make progress on infrastructure to ensure that we don't have these requests coming in in the future.

1:20Reform UK says it would ban more than a million foreigners living in Britain from claiming almost all benefits. By the fifth year of the scheme, reform says it would save about£21 billion a year. European Union citizens with settled status would be included. Reforms Danny Kruger was asked on Times Radio what would happen to the children of EU nationals who are struggling financially. Children are dependent on their parents. We ascribe benefits to households and families that are unable to support themselves should not be here. Obviously there are hardship grants. But if they are here what happens to them?

1:54They shouldn't be here. But if they are here what happens to them? They will not be entitled to benefits and they will have to go. Listen the extreme example you're giving I think you're suggesting that children are destitute their parents are not earning. Obviously, social services would step in and remove those children from their parents if they're not able to put food on the table. Sir Tony Blair and Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have met Hamas leaders in Cairo to discuss the peace plan for Gaza. They're trying to salvage a deal struck in October to end the war and rebuild the territory.

2:22The Times' Israel correspondent, Gabrielle Weiniger, says Israel is unlikely to be happy about the sequence of events. Those meetings are likely to anger the Israelis who they are meeting later today in Jerusalem. The fact that they met with Hamas officials first, reportedly to hammer out those details and ensure that Hamas fully disarm the optics of it for Israel are likely to be displeasing, particularly for the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has said he won't abide by the current circumstances and terms of the Gaza agreement. Five teenagers have died and four other people have been seriously injured after a car was driven in the wrong direction on a motorway in County Kildare.

3:02Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly says vehicles are being driven on the wrong side of the road in exchange for likes on social media. One of those seriously injured in the crash is a child. The number of e-bikes being seized by police has risen by 83 % in a year. More than 7 ,000 were confiscated across the UK in the 12 months to mid-May. Sergeant Stuart Ford, who leads the cycle team at City of London Police, says illegal e-bikes are a menace. You can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online. This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC.

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