Evening Briefing Friday 29th 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 Evening Breathing for Friday 29th August with me, James Kitchen. The Home Secretary has been allowed to appeal against an injunction which would have temporarily evicted asylum seekers from a hotel in Essex.

0:46It was granted by the High Court after weeks of protests outside the Bell in Epping. The Court of Appeal called the ruling seriously flawed in principle. The Conservative leader of Epping Council, Chris Whitbread, told Times Radio the battle for his local residents isn't over. I'm just very deeply disappointed. It's really bad news for the local residents of Epping. We saw yesterday the government say that asylum seekers have more rights than my residents. I'm really cross with this ruling. Obviously, we're still going to court in October to go for a final injunction. And we will be pushing hard to make sure that's successful.

1:22But we will do everything we can still. Israel's military suspending humanitarian pauses in Gaza City after declaring it a dangerous combat zone. Meanwhile, the bodies of two Israeli hostages have been recovered from the Strip and returned. Naga Tanapolsky is a reporter in Jerusalem. She told Times Radio the new declaration is a worrying development. This is a very, very dangerous juncture. And it basically makes it such that to be a human being in Gaza City is a danger to life and limb in an announced way, even though the operation has yet to be launched. The Deputy Prime Minister has been accused of avoiding£40 ,000 in stamp duty on her new flat in Sussex after she told authorities it was her primary residence.

2:08Angela Rayner reportedly removed her name from the official deed to her house in Greater Manchester weeks before buying an£800 ,000 flat in Hove. Jeremy Griffin is The Times' executive editor. According to reports, she would have had to pay around about£70 ,000 in stamp duty on a second property. But on the matter of council tax, Rainer is said to have told Tameside Council in Greater Manchester that the house in her constituency is her main home, while telling Brighton and Hove Council that a new flat was her second home. A surcharge on stamp duty for second homeowners was increased by Rachel Rees in last October's budget.

2:42The Prime Minister of Thailand has been removed from office after a leaked phone call with Cambodia's former leader. In the clip, Patontang Xionawatra was heard criticising the Thai army and calling Cambodia's Hun Sen uncle as tensions flared between the two countries. Thousands protested following the leaked phone call. Tommy Walker is a journalist in Thailand. Speaking from Bangkok, he told Times Radio the country is in turmoil again. He was accused of not protecting Thailand's interests in this phone call, criticising the military. And then we've seen this border war, which lasted for about a week.

3:22So it's been a very controversial time in Thailand. Hit on time, removed. A lot of analysis expected this to happen. And now Thailand is in political turmoil again. And European leaders are considering plans for a 40-kilometre buffer zone in Ukraine as part of a potential peace negotiation with Russia. Moscow has reportedly embraced the idea, but it's unclear whether Kiev would accept the plan, as it likely comes with territorial concessions. Keir Giles is a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House. He told Times Radio the plan won't work. It's all incredibly vague, but we know for a start that it's completely unfeasible.

3:59A 40-kilometre buffer zone along a 1 ,000-kilometre front, it doesn't take much of an effort of arithmetic to understand what an enormous commitment this would be to policing and protecting. It's no surprise that the Russians are in favour of it, because if it involves Ukrainian forces retreating 40 kilometres, that of course removes the entire front line of defences that have kept Russia successfully at bay for the last 11 years. And remember, you can follow the Times News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

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