Evening briefing Thursday 18th June

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 Times Radio's evening briefing on Thursday the 18th of June. The Children's Commissioner for England has told Times Radio the killing of 13-month-old Preston Davie was a failure of the state and a case involving unimaginable cruelty.

0:48Schoolteacher Jamie Varley will never be freed from prison for murdering and sexually abusing the adopted toddler, while his partner John McGowan for Zacherley was jailed for 25 years for allowing his death. Dame Rachel D'Souza says serious questions must now be answered about how agencies fail to protect the little boy. We have a baby who's been sexually abused, physically abused, his broken little body. He's dead. It's just unbelievable. Now, I'm the Children's Commissioner for England and I have a special responsibility for looking after children in care. I am personally committed to getting to the bottom of this case.

1:26A man's been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a three-year-old boy was allegedly thrown into a crocodile enclosure at a zoo near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. The child's in a critical condition in hospital. Detectives say they don't believe the suspect and the boy knew each other. US President J.D. Vance says the new peace deal with Iran is already delivering results with oil prices falling and record levels of shipping returning to the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices are down nearly at their level from the pre-war conflict. Gas prices dropped below$4 a gallon today for the first time since the conflict.

2:01And importantly, they're going to keep falling further given how low oil prices are. The agreement includes a$300 billion reconstruction fund for Iran, although Vance insists not a single penny would come from the United States and said Tehran would only benefit if it complied fully with the deal. The Foreign Office is no longer advising against all but essential travel to the United Arab Emirates. Ministers warned against holidaying in places like Dubai because of the Iran war, but have changed the guidance following the US-Iran peace agreement. A Russian warship that fired warning shots at a British couple sailing in the Channel earlier this week has been spotted escorting a sanctioned Russian oil tanker through UK waters.

2:44Correspondents from the Times watched the frigate Admiral Grigorović should accompany the vessel through the Strait of Dover. Kemi Badenoch has suggested she'll refuse to welcome back Conservatives who defected to reform if they start regretting their decision. In an interview with Times Radio, she was asked about Robbie Lammas, a councillor in Kent who says joining Nigel Farage's party was the biggest mistake of his life and that he hopes Ms Badenoch might accept his return. My party is not for drama queens. We don't want any psychodrama people jumping from party to party. The public aren't interested in that.

3:17They're not interested in that. What they are interested in is who's going to reduce the cost of living, who's going to bring down energy costs, who's going to get them a job. And that's the only thing that I want to talk about because I've got a great agenda for that. And health and care services could come under pressure as temperatures soar to 32 degrees this weekend. An Amber Heat health alert comes into force tonight across much of southern and eastern England. You can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

3:50This 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. Here's a tip for you. There's a podcast out there with fans waiting to be your next customer.

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