Evening Briefing Tuesday 10th November

0:00When it comes to managing money, forget the hype and look at results. Bill has a trillion dollars of secure payments powering our BillPay tools. Instead of just moving money, Bill is powering the financial operations of nearly half a million customers. So stop the guesswork and start scaling with the proven choice. Ready to talk with an expert? Visit Bill.com slash proven to get started. And grab a$150 gift card as a thank you. Terms and conditions apply. See offer page for details. Hello, this is your Times Radio evening briefing for Tuesday 10th November with me, James Kitchen. David Walliams has been accused of abusing his position to prey on girls as young as 15.

0:43The comedian decided not to appeal against a judge's decision to dismiss his injunction against The Guardian and ITN. The Times' newsroom reporter Olly Cole says the allegations date back to 2003. One woman described her alleged encounter with Walliams at 15 years old as a sexual assault. Multiple women have accused Walliams of grooming them when they were teenagers. One says he began contacting her when she was 15 after meeting her at a Little Britain fan event before starting a sexual relationship with her at 17. Walliams also is accused of inappropriate conduct and sexual harassment at Britain's Got Talent.

1:20Walliams had used what's been described as an unprecedented argument that he would attempt to kill himself if the allegations were published. The Justice Minister Alex Davis-Jones has told the Commons the government will look at whether injunctions are being abused. We are concerned about the use of these and my honourable friend, the Minister for Courts, is looking at what more we can do with slaps, injunctions. He will know we've already taken action on NDAs for sexual abuse cases and what more we can do to prevent abusive process throughout the judicial system. Downing Street has described the allegations as deeply troubling while Labour has suspended Williams as a party member.

1:55The BBC says it's removing related content from its platforms, including Little Britain. In a statement, Williams denied he's a sexual predator and insisted he's not broken the law. Elsewhere, the US Secretary of State says talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials in Abu Dhabi have been productive. American Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are mediating the discussions. Last week, President Donald Trump suggested an agreement on ending the war in Ukraine was possible. But the foreign affairs expert Tim Marshall says the European powers fear being left out of any resolution. They do not want to be left with a post-war agreement that the Americans and the Kremlin has cooked up, which leaves Ukraine pretty much defenseless.

2:41The Americans completely disinterested and the Europeans three to five years from being in a position to really deter various forms of Russian aggression. Because any peace agreement with Ukraine is not just about Russia and Ukraine. It's about Russia and Europe. Meanwhile, the US Defense Secretary has called an attempt to impeach him over his handling of the Iran war sabotage. Time for one man's final days in Congress to try to do damage to this president, this country, and most irresponsibly, the warriors who defend it. It's a farce and it's a stunt and everybody knows it. Republican Thomas Massey's initiated the impeachment, arguing Pete Hegseth violated the Constitution by not seeking approval for the war.

3:31The government has launched an investigation into potential leaks of the autumn budget, which it says may have moved financial markets. The head of the Treasury has been reassured that no banks or trade bodies were briefed on the details of changes to the tax on banks unveiled by the Chancellor. Times columnist Simon French says the measure was a sensitive data point. It's right that the government looks at it because if they see the bank shares moved ahead of the Chancellor's statement, that speaks to somebody who was trading those instruments having advanced knowledge, which of course is market manipulation.

4:05Remember, you can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

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5:10That's a level of expertise you just can't fake. Ready to talk with an expert? Visit bill.com slash proven to get started and grab a$150 gift card as a thank you. Terms and conditions apply. See offer page for details.