Daily Briefing Sunday 10th 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. Hello, this is your Times Daily Briefing for Sunday 10th August with me, James Kitchen. The White House is reportedly weighing up inviting Ukraine's president to the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska on Friday.

0:44Vladimir Zelensky has already rejected Donald Trump's suggestion that he might have to surrender territory in return for a peace deal. Last night, seven European leaders, including Sakhir Starmer, said the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine. The former EU ambassador to Moscow, Vigaudis Usakis, told Times Radio Ukraine will need security guarantees going forward. Most importantly, when it comes to negotiations with Putin, is not only a ceasefire, but more importantly, sustainable security of Ukraine, not allowing Russia to repeat the war, and of course reassurance and stronger presence of US and European allies in the Baltics to refuse and refute any aspirations Putin may have while he's thinking about the next chapter.

1:30A lawyer representing members of Palestine Action has told Times Radio the use of terror laws against peaceful protesters is dangerous. It comes as the Home Secretaries defended the government's decision to ban the group after police made more than 470 arrests at a protest in London yesterday. Palestine Action was prescribed after it claimed its members damaged two planes at RF Bryce Norton in Oxfordshire. But Associate Solicitor at Hodge Jones & Allen, Katie McFadden, called the move an affront to democracy. This is, to our knowledge, the first time that a non-violent civil disobedience group have been prescribed.

2:05And this really does reflect a slow walk into a position where the state are able to say, we don't like what you're protesting about and we don't like the way that you protest. And therefore, even though the vast majority of the actions are completely non-violent and not even really very disruptive, they have decided to ban the organisation as a whole. Meanwhile, international condemnation continues to grow over Israel's decision to mount a military takeover of Gaza City. It's claimed 11 Palestinians trying to access aid were shot dead in the past 24 hours in the Strip. Meanwhile, 50 Israeli hostages remain inside Gaza.

2:44Around 20 are thought to still be alive. Nogha Tanopolsky is an Israeli-Palestinian journalist based in Jerusalem. She told Times Radio young Israeli soldiers are now joining protests on the streets of Tel Aviv and other cities. Young conscripts wearing, for example, their uniform trousers. And on top, this is what I saw yesterday, a T-shirt that read, the soldiers stand with the hostages. I think this represents a very deep anti-war sentiment at this point in Israel, almost two years in. but also the terrible fear held by many of these soldiers that politicians are sending them into a war where they could harm other Israeli citizens.

3:28A former Conservative Justice Secretary has warned offenders will be laughing at victims if the government presses ahead with plans to deport foreign criminals as soon as they're sentenced. They currently make up around 12 % of the prison population and from September can be deported after serving 30 % of their term. It's understood Siobhan Mahmood's law change could save taxpayers£54 ,000 per prisoner every year. But Alex Chalk told Times Radio he has serious misgivings. Having been convicted, they would then be given a taxpayer-funded flight home. They are then released with no punishment at all.

4:04And, by the way, they get something like£1 ,000 from the British taxpayer to help them resettle. If you have been the victim of an appalling rape that has shattered your life, and you then pluck up the courage to go to court. A conviction then follows. Within two weeks, he's in Tirana. He's drinking a cocktail paid for by the British taxpayer and he's on TikTok laughing at his victim. And the former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeons described self-doubt as a secret superpower that drove her career. In an excerpt from her memoir published in the Sunday Times, she also denies the existence of a conspiracy to destroy her mental, the late Alex Salmond.

4:42And remember, you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

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