Evening briefing Friday 26th June

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0:36This is the Times Radio evening briefing for Friday the 26th of June. The record for the hottest June day has been broken for the fourth time today and for the third day in a row. The Met Office says 37.3 degrees has been recorded at Santon Downham in Suffolk. National Rail is warning people against non-essential travel in areas with heat health alerts, while firefighters continue to battle a 200-hectare wildfire in Derbyshire. Commander Dave Swallow from the National Fire Chiefs Council told Times Radio human activity is likely behind the blaze. Fires in that part of the Peak District have occurred for decades and fire services have been up there and dealt with them.

1:14But what we've come to realise in the last few years, the last probably 10 years or so, is that with our weather conditions changing and the climate changing with it, we're having to adopt more Mediterranean style of firefighting for wildfires. The names of 13 men accused of conspiring to drug and sexually assault a woman while she was unconscious have been revealed after reporting restrictions were lifted. They include a chief executive, a senior paramedic and a youth football coach. The Times Northern correspondent Constance Kampfner has been reporting on the case. The main defendant, who we cannot name to protect his wife, now ex-wife's anonymity, he was arrested back in October and a series of arrests followed.

1:5513 other men have since been arrested, accused of a variety of charges, and the main defendant is accused of 48 different crimes against his wife. A woman police officer who was punched during a fracas at Manchester airport has described her attacker as cowardly. 21-year-old Mohamed Fahir Amaz has been jailed for three and a half years over the 2024 attack on PC Lydia Ward. Shabana Mahmoud has blocked the immigration minister from seeing government documents, as sources close to her accuse him of trying to win a job in Andy Burnham's cabinet. The Prime Minister's seeking advice as the row, followed Mike Tapp writing an unauthorised article for The Times, threatens to become a Labour civil war.

2:38Number 10 says any decision on the Home Secretary's call for Tapp to be sacked is for Sukhia Starmer. But the Labour MP Clive Efford told Times Radio the PM might be avoiding action as Mahmoud called for his departure. I can't see any other logical reasons to why they would hold back on removing him as a minister. I mean, I've got nothing against him. I actually sympathise with his argument. But you can't have ministers just doing as they please. It's just nonsense. I mean, you can't govern like that. And number 10 really needs to wake up and smell the coffee and deal with it. The comedian and broadcaster Hadeep Singh Koli is to stand trial accused of rape and a series of sexual assaults.

3:14The 57-year-old denies all the charges, which are alleged to have taken place across Scotland over nearly two decades. And eyewitnesses say a small aircraft has crashed into Beijing's tallest building. It struck the 108-storey Sittick Tower, with police blocking nearby roads and reportedly ordering passers-by to delete photos of the damage. You can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio Online. This 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?

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