Afternoon briefing Wednesday 3rd 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 your Times afternoon briefing for Wednesday, 3rd December. Russia says its discussion with America yesterday about Ukraine was a normal negotiation process and that it did accept some proposals.

0:47A Kremlin spokesperson has refuted the idea that President Putin rejected a peace deal and said Russia is ready to meet US negotiators as many times as it takes to reach an agreement. Foreign leaders are meeting in Brussels to discuss Ukraine. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutter spoke to reporters this morning about the status of a solution. Peace talks are ongoing. That's good. But at the same time, we have to make sure that whilst they take place, and we are not sure when they will end, that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position to keep the fight going, to fight back against the Russians, but also in the strongest possible position when peace talks really get to a point where they sit at the table.

1:26The border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will open to allow residents to leave in the next few days, according to Israel, for the first time since May 2024. 16 ,500 people are thought to be in need of medical attention in Gaza, according to the World Health Organization. At least 357 Palestinians have been killed since the October ceasefire, according to Gaza health authorities. Israel says Palestinian militants have killed three Israeli soldiers in that time. The health secretary has told Times Radio he's frustrated with the doctors' union, the British Medical Association, saying unions representing less well-paid health workers are engaging more responsibly with the government, where Streeting said the BMA is pointlessly opposing greater online access to GPs.

2:10Patient satisfaction with GP access has increased from 60 % when Labour came to office to 75 % today. So this could have been a really great opportunity for government and BMA and the profession to speak with one voice. But instead, what we've seen from the GP committee is a lot of outrage and not speaking for their members, let alone speaking for patients' interests. Some GPs have concerns that opening up Contact Us forms for longer will mean serious cases get missed. Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice says claims that his party will do a deal with the Conservatives at the next election are not true.

2:46It's fake news. This has been just completely and deliberately blown up into a story. Maybe the Financial Times was shorter things to write about this morning. But honestly, this is just clap trap. Donors to Reform UK said that Nigel Farage told them to expect some sort of collaboration with the Conservatives. The Conservatives say a deal or pact is not going to happen under Kemi Badenoch's leadership. The search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 will resume 11 years after it vanished. The plane had 239 people on board when it disappeared from radar screens in 2014. Malaysia's government says a deep sea hunt will begin at the end of the month in the southern Indian Ocean.

3:30For more stories like this, listen throughout the day on Times Radio.

3:42This 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