Afternoon briefing Monday 5th January

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 afternoon briefing on Monday 5th January. Donald Trump is threatening further military action in Venezuela and beyond.

0:42The US president says a second airstrike is possible if Venezuela's new leaders don't cooperate, and he gave this warning to Colombia.

1:12me? Yeah. You know why? Because they kill a lot of people, yeah. Colombia's president says that is slander. Venezuela's acting president, Delcey Rodriguez, has called for cooperation with the US. The British government has neither endorsed nor condemned the raid, which abducted Nicolas Maduro on Saturday morning. Labour MP Dame Emily Thornberry chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee and told Times Radio the government needs to clearly criticise the US. You just can't go around snatching leaders from different countries taking them back to your domestic courts and trying them. It will just end in anarchy.

1:44There is no legal basis for this and it sets a really bad precedent for countries such as China and Russia who may also think, well, we've got spheres of influence. Why can't we do things like that within our sphere of influence like Ukraine or Taiwan? The foreign secretary is updating MPs this afternoon ahead of an expected vote at the United Nations. Manchester United have sacked their men's head coach Ruben Amerim. The 40-year-old's been in charge for 14 months and leaves the club sixth in the Premier League table, having won only three of their last ten games. After a one-all draw to Leeds yesterday, he appeared to criticise Manchester United's senior leadership.

2:21I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the coach of Manchester United. And it's going to be like this for 18 months or when the board decided to change. I'm not going to quit. I will do my job until other guy is coming here to replace me. Manchester United say they've made their decision reluctantly. Sir Keir Starmer insists the country will turn a corner in 2026 as he focuses on the cost of living for his first outing of the year. The Prime Minister's warned his backbenchers they'll get booted out at the next general election if they replace him. Ten people have been found guilty of cyberbullying the French First Lady Brigitte Macron.

3:06Their harassment campaign was based on spreading false claims she was born a man and comparing her 24-year age gap with the President Emmanuel Macron to paedophilia. The Macrons are also pursuing a defamation case in the United States against right-wing influencer Candace Owens. And in the final Ashes Test, 160 from Joe Root helped England to a first-innings total of 384. Its route, 41st Century, his second of this series, but only his second on Australian soil. Australia finished day three on 166-2 in response, then Stokes took two wickets. Don't forget you can subscribe to The Times News Briefing on Spotify or listen live to Times Radio Online.

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5:08All rights reserved. Copyright 2026. McDonald's at the FIFA World Cup 2026.