Evening Briefing Thursday 6th 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 Radio evening briefing for Thursday 6th August with me, James Kitchen. Norfolk Police says a female officer was seriously bitten while another was hit by a rock during a second night of violence in Thetford.

0:46Officers evacuated five men from a house after a mob tried to force their way into properties which they claimed housed asylum seekers. Some residents in the market town are opposing plans to accommodate 1 ,000 migrants at nearby RF Barnum. The local Labour MP Terry Jeremy told Times Radio he's disgusted by the violence. The spread of misinformation online in these circumstances is a huge concern. There doesn't seem to be any proper process for closing down misinformation or deliberate spreading of misinformation, which is a real concern. And I've raised that with the Home Office. I really respect people's right to peaceful protest, and we have seen peaceful protest as well.

1:26But we need to be far better at dealing with this when it crosses into criminal activities. The government says it will urgently identify any grooming gang perpetrators who may still be eligible for early release. It comes after the Times found several men who assaulted children in Bradford could be freed from prison early. The criminals were convicted of indecent assault because anti-grooming laws weren't in place at the time of their offending. The Times' newsroom reporter Ollie Cole says Number 10 is trying to stay on top of a fast-moving story. The problem with reviewing the scheme over and over is every time you review it, there are going to be cases that fall by the wayside and you cannot draw a perfect line around them all.

2:05And so this is, you know, once again, Andy Burnham's trying to correct this because he can see that the narrative is turning against the government once again, but it's a difficult one to correct. A professor accused of plagiarism says his resignation from Cambridge shouldn't be an acceptance of the narrative surrounding him. Jason Arday, who was the university's youngest ever black professor, claims he no longer wants to live under a constant spotlight. Nathan Kovnas was the first academic to raise concerns about his colleagues' work. He told Times Radio Cambridge should be held to account. This is a story of corruption, of people who knew the truth and covered it up, who used the threat of legal intimidation to silence people, including journalists who tried to tell the truth.

2:51To this day, as far as I'm aware, there isn't a single member of the Cambridge faculty who has spoken publicly about the wrongdoing in this situation. UEFA says its member nations are still planning to boycott the World Cup, despite proposals to sell stakes in the tournament being ditched. European football's governing body says its conditions for dropping the threat have not been met. They include Gianni Infantino resigning as FIFA president after he insisted he'll remain in the post following crisis talks yesterday. Meanwhile, the FA has officially withdrawn its support for Infantino. There's major disruption to trains in the Midlands and the northwest of England.

3:32National Rail says it's because of a power supply failure at a communications centre. Northern and Transpennine Express are advising passengers not to travel for the rest of the day. Remember, you can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

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