Evening briefing Tuesday 26th May

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 the Times evening briefing for Tuesday the 26th of May. The rape sentences handed to three boys in Hampshire aged between 13 and 14 are to be reviewed by the Court of Appeal over concerns they were unduly lenient.

0:49It follows increasing publicity surrounding the case which saw the judge spare the boys' jail, opting instead for rehabilitation orders. Giselle Pellico, who was raped by her husband and other men in France, has today said minors know what they are doing despite their age. Speaking through a translator, she told Times Radio that widespread pornography use is having an appalling impact on young people's understanding of what love is. We've got to be able to talk, dialogue, first of all through education within the family home, but also national educational level. We've got to realise that in fact it really is an evil of society at the moment.

1:25A woman has been found guilty of killing her five-year-old stepdaughter by scolding her in a hot bath nearly 50 years ago. Janice Nix denied manslaughter after forcing Andrea Bernard into the bath in Thornton Heath in South London in 1978. Her death was treated as an accident until her older brother Desmond went to the police with new evidence in 2022. Four teenagers have been confirmed dead after drowning in water during the bank holiday heatwave. Police have confirmed a boy's body was pulled from the water in Rother Valley, while a 13-year-old was recovered from a dam in West Yorkshire yesterday.

1:58Hours later, a teenage girl drowned in Warwickshire. that came a day after 15-year-old Declan Sawyer got into trouble in a lake in Lincoln. Today, meanwhile, is the hottest ever recorded in the month of May in the UK, with temperatures reaching 35 Celsius in West London. Sir Keir Starmas' action to tackle social media harms affecting children needs to be a game-changer, as he promises to act very quickly. The Prime Minister's pledge to crack down as a consultation on a potential ban for under-16s closes today. Leading medics say they're treating social media use like smoking or not wearing a seatbelt.

2:31Jonathan Haidt is a psychologist and author of The Anxious Generation. At most kids who start are going to become heavy users. And we know that the heavy users, five hours a day or more, that's at least half of them. They suffer from more depression and anxiety. They get less sleep. They spend less time with other people. They get less sunshine. They get less exercise. I mean, it's just devastating childhood. And I don't think there's really any scientific dispute on that point. There is about the link to depression, but the fact that it is depriving kids of sleep and exercise and sunshine, nobody even disputes that.

3:03And oil giant BP has removed its chairman after serious concerns were raised related to important governance standards. Albert Manifold has been removed with immediate effect after the company's board said it had been surprised and disappointed to learn of governance, oversight and conduct issues. The Irishman had only been appointed in July last year and took up the role in October. The VP share price fell 5.5 % following the news. You can hear more of these stories throughout the evening on Times Radio. 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.

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4:52McDonald's at the FIFA World Cup 2026.