Afternoon Briefing Tuesday 19th 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 Afternoon Briefing on Tuesday 19th August. Sir Keir Starmer is to hold a virtual meeting of the Coalition of the Willing to update allies on the White House summit.

0:44EU leaders will hold a virtual meeting of the European Council. Security guarantees for Ukraine are likely to be high on the agenda in the event of a ceasefire. Geneva is emerging as a possible venue for the next summit. Speaking last night, the Prime Minister said any agreement would have a NATO-style element requiring countries to act together. Should there be a deal, and I hope there is, it needs to be a lasting deal, not a temporary deal, one that is enforced and necessary, where President Putin knows that if he makes a deal and then breaches it, there will be serious consequences. That has been the underlying objective throughout.

1:19That is something we've materially moved forward this morning. Ukrainian MP Ennis Solzhenitsyn has told Times Radio the Ukrainian people will be sceptical about security guarantees. You have to understand that Ukrainians are very cautious about the whole idea of security guarantees because Ukraine does have experience of giving up its nuclear weapons arsenal, all of it, in the early 90s in exchange for security guarantees which never really materialised. So everybody in Ukraine remembers that and that is a very sensitive moment for Ukraine. That is why we don't really trust security guarantees that are just written on paper.

1:53We need something more real, more tangible. Hamas has agreed to a 60-day ceasefire proposal with Israel. It includes the return of half the hostages still being held in Gaza and the release by Israel of some Palestinian prisoners. Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim confirmed the group's approval on Facebook. Sama al-Atrash is the Times' Middle East correspondent. Israel so far, you know, they've been very noncommittal. We saw the Israeli prime minister yesterday, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he's seen reports of the proposal and Hamas is under pressure. while his government prepares to agree a plan to invade a Gaza city, the largest urban centre in the Gaza Strip.

2:36Here, people who own properties worth more than£500 ,000 could reportedly have to pay annual property taxes under plans to replace stamp duty. The Treasury is said to be considering such a tax in the autumn budget, according to The Guardian. The property expert Kirsty Allsop has told Times Radio it's a bad idea. If you live in the south of the UK, 500 ,000 gets you very little. So it doesn't necessarily mean that you're wealthy or that you have a big asset if you have a two-bedroom flat in South London that you have worked desperately hard to buy. So this whole idea that somehow there's this 500 ,000 figure and that means you're wealthy is in itself absurd.

3:18And you can follow the Times News briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

3:28This 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. Hi, this is Becca Moore from For The Girls and this podcast is sponsored by Aerie, where you can find the right bra in 59 sizes, soft fabrics and good fits.

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