Daily briefing Sunday 3rd 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. This is the Times Daily Briefing for Sunday 3rd August. As many as 300 seriously ill children from Gaza will be allowed to enter the UK for specialist care by the NHS under plans to be announced within weeks.

0:47The government says it will operate in parallel with the scheme run by the group Project Pure Hope. Only three children have been granted medical visas by the UK since the war in Gaza started in October 2023. It amid a statement from Hamas that it would not lay down its arms unless an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state was established, with Jerusalem as its capital. Tal Schneider, a political and diplomatic correspondent at the Times of Israel, says Hamas has been emboldened. They feel like they should probably not negotiate since they have something to expect. So we are in a difficult situation at the moment.

1:25and there's almost a ceasefire because there's like a humanitarian ceasefire where they bring the food from 10am until 8pm or so and there's no firing going on at those hours. The Home Secretary is expected to introduce a fast-track scheme to deal with the asylum backlog with the aim of reducing the number of people waiting in hotels for their applications to be processed. Yvette Cooper says refugees seeking asylum will have their appeals heard in weeks rather than years. At least nine people were arrested after anti-migrant and anti-fascist protesters gathered outside the Thistle City Barbican Hotel in Islington in North London on Saturday.

2:05A new offence will make it illegal to advertise small boat crossings or fake passports on social media. Those caught could face up to five years in prison under the government's amendment to its borders bill. Home office figures show more than 25 ,000 migrants have attempted channel crossings this year. Steve Smith is the chief executive of the refugee charity Care for Calais. Speaking to Times Radio, he said there is only one viable way to reduce illegal migration. A system of safe routes like we have for the Ukrainians, like we have for the Hong Kong Chinese, where those with a viable claim to refugee status are processed offshore and then brought in with a visa.

2:42That would put the people smugglers out of business because you deprive them of their customers. and yet Labour's got itself into a position where it can't start to go down this route for fear of upsetting people. President Zelensky of Ukraine has been described as absolutely immoral by the country's anti-corruption agencies. They say they've uncovered cases of large-scale bribery in the buying of drones and electronic warfare systems used by the military. Four suspects have been arrested, including an MP from Zelensky's party. And the card payment business Visa and the vodka brand Smirnoff, which is owned by the drinks giant Diageo, have told Channel 4 that they did not want their products promoted during a programme about the porn star Bonnie Blue.

3:24They've asked for them to be removed because the documentary 1 ,000 Men and Me did not chime with their advertising guidelines or their values. Channel 4 has been criticised for making the documentary freely available on its app and online platform, where it is accessible to teenagers on their phones outside the television watershed. You can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

4:13you 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.