Afternoon briefing Wednesday 24th September

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 Wednesday the 24th of September. The Work and Pension Secretary has told Times Radio the Home Office is reviewing the use of taxis to take asylum seekers to hospital appointments.

0:46It's emerged some journeys are costing the taxpayer up to£600 in a deal between government contractor Clear Springs Ready Homes and transport company PTS247. Pat McFadden says how taxpayers' money is used needs to be looked at. Many people noticed that report yesterday. I believe the Home Office are looking into this. I quite understand people's concern about the use of public money in this way. I'm not sure why taxes are being provided for people that cost that amount. And as I say, the Home Office is looking into this. Clear Springs and PTS are now in a legal dispute over unpaid invoices. Mr McFadden also told Times Radio he has confidence in Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir Starmer's Chief of Staff, despite failures in declaring donations.

1:32The Conservatives have published an email from 2021 in which a Labour Party lawyer suggests Mr McSweeney register the failure to declare that£700 ,000 donation to the think tank Labour Together as an admin error. Labour Together says the Electoral Commission has already investigated. The Kremlin says Donald Trump's idea that Ukraine can win back territory from Russia is mistaken. The US president's position on the war in Ukraine appeared to have shifted in favour of Kiev after he met the president, Volodymyr Zelensky, at the UN General Assembly in New York. But former British ambassador to Russia, Sir Tony Brenton, says it may not bring big changes to negotiations.

2:09It's pretty clear that he's keen to have a decent relationship with Putin and Russia for reasons other than Ukraine, and he's very frustrated with them that he's not getting anywhere on that. And he's not been on sanctions. His view, which Putin shares, and which a lot of sensible people share, is that sanctions have been a complete failure and you need to find other ways of handling Russia going forward. The US Secret Service is investigating whether UN staff deliberately sabotaged Donald Trump's visit to the General Assembly after a Sunday Times investigation. A UN spokesperson insists a broken elevator, a faulty teleprompter and the incorrect audio feed of the president's speech were genuine mishaps.

2:48The most powerful typhoon of the year so far has killed 14 people in Taiwan and brought floods to Hong Kong. 152 people are missing after a lake overflowed thanks to super typhoon Ragasa. Ten people have been reported dead in the Philippines. And the American late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has returned to his TV show after being taken off air over comments about how Donald Trump reacted to the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. He criticised pressure from the Trump administration, which led to his six-day suspension on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live. Look, I never imagined I would be in a situation like this.

3:23I barely paid attention in school. But one thing I did learn from Lenny Bruce and George Carlin and Howard Stern is that a government threat to silence a comedian the president doesn't like is anti-American. That's anti-American. Mr Kimmel says he never intended to make light of Mr Kirk's killing. Donald Trump has called ABC losers for letting Mr Kimmel back on air. Don't forget to subscribe to The Times News Briefing on Spotify or listen live to Times Radio online.

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