Afternoon Briefing Tuesday 23rd 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 Tuesday 23rd December. The US Department of Justice has released its largest batch so far of files linked to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, with around 11 ,000 documents made public.

0:50Among them are emails between Ghislaine Maxwell and an unidentified man signing off as A, using an address described as the Invisible Man. In one message, the writer says he's at Balmoral during the royal family's summer stay, prompting renewed speculation about his identity. Earlier, files named high-profile figures including Bill Clinton and Michael Jackson. US President Donald Trump has told reporters being pictured with the late paedophile financier shouldn't ruin your reputation. A lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein, but they're in a picture with him because he was at a party and you ruin a reputation of somebody.

1:30But I never went there, but a lot of people did go there. A man's appeared in court in Swindon charged with 56 sexual offences against his ex-wife. Philip Young's accused of drugging and raping his former partner over a 13-year period. He's been remanded in custody. Ministers are going to raise the inheritance tax relief threshold for farmers. It's going up from£1 million to£2.5 million following months of protests. The government says it will allow spouses or civil partners to pass on up to£5 million in qualifying agricultural or business assets between them before paying inheritance tax on top of existing allowances Taxpayers will be kept in the dark about how much public money is being spent on paid time off for union officials under government reforms.

2:20The power to cap and publish the cost of so-called facility time has been scrapped, even as spending near£107 million and new rights are extended to equality representatives. The Conservatives say they would reverse the changes and restore transparency. The Times Politics newsletter editor Stefan Boscher told Times Radio it marks a clear shift in Labour's relationship with the unions.

2:59Amidash's holiday enjoyed by England's cricketers in Australia is being investigated by their bosses. They had a break in the Queensland beach town Noosa, where some players reportedly drank excessively before losing the third test and the series. But former England bowler Steve Harmison has told us it's not a black and white situation. If they've gone 60 a bender, bang them against the wall, they get what they deserve. If they've been caught having a couple of pints in the middle of the afternoon, when the world is ending, I'm not hammering them for this. Meanwhile Australia's Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon have both been ruled out for the rest of the series with injuries There's more on these stories throughout the day on Times Radio

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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