Afternoon briefing Monday 8th December

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 the 8th of December. Ukrainian officials say Volodymyr Zelenskyy is being briefed today on the latest peace plans after Donald Trump accused him of not reading them.

0:45The US president says he's disappointed in Ukraine's leader. Russia's fine with it. Russia, I guess, would rather have the whole country when you think of it. But Russia is, I believe, fine with it. But I'm not sure that Zelenskyy is fine with it. His people love it. But he hasn't read it. The Ukrainian president is in London for talks at Downing Street. Zakir Starmer is also hosting the French president and German chancellor. The Royal Navy is launching a new fleet of remote-controlled boats to protect undersea cables and pipelines from Russia. The government's putting£14 million into the high-tech force, which will integrate AI with conventional weaponry.

1:25Overall, the UK spends£62 billion on defence. Reform UK has denied breaking electoral law in Nigel Farage's successful bid to become an MP at the eighth attempt. Richard Everett, who worked on that campaign in Clacton last year, says the party overspent in the seat and didn't declare the money, including installing a bar in the constituency office. The Daily Telegraph says he's handed over documents to the police, but Deputy Leader Richard Tice says it's revenge. First of all, this is by a disgruntled former councillor who was expelled from the Reform Party for allegedly inappropriate sexual behaviour back in the summer.

2:03And surprise, surprise, he's now making all sorts of allegations. Well, that's a surprise. Mr Everett denies allegations of inappropriate behaviour. Labour and the Conservatives say it's a serious matter that needs investigating. Labour Together, the think tank once run by Zakir Starmer's chief of staff, is asking Labour members who should replace the prime minister. Morgan McSweeney used the group to run Zakir Starmer's party leadership campaign in 2020. Now it's asking members to rank Labour figures against the Prime Minister based on who's most likely to win the next election. Minister Jackie Smith dismissed the idea it undermines the Prime Minister.

2:40Listen, if they ask me to do their survey, I'll be quite clear that Keir Starmer's the leader. He's getting on with the job. He's not being destabilised by that today. He's off to see young people and their apprenticeships and the highly successful British company McLaren. And that's what he'll be focusing on and it's what I'm focusing on as well. Thailand has launched airstrikes along the Cambodian border as both sides accuse each other of breaking a ceasefire brokered by Donald Trump It's one of the conflicts the US president says he's brought to an end The former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood has pleaded not guilty to four counts of rape two of sexual assault and nine of indecent assault The 68-year-old is on trial over a number of incidents from 1983 to 2016 And a survey suggests drivers from London are more likely to crash on country roads but are also more likely to say they're confident to drive on them.

3:32NFU Mutual spoke to 2 ,000 drivers. It's calling for the government to deal with the fact the death toll is higher in the country than in urban areas. Don't forget you can subscribe to The Times News Briefing on Spotify or listen live to Times Radio online.

3:53This 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 At Brookfield, we invest in the thing behind the thing behind the next big thing.

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