Evening briefing Wednesday 14th January

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 Radio evening briefing on Wednesday 14th January. The Home Secretary says she has no confidence in the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police.

0:42The force has admitted mistakes were made in the decision to ban Israeli football fans from a match last year. Shabana Mahmood says Craig Guildford needs to take responsibility for that. What is clear from this report is that on an issue of huge significance to the Jewish community in this country and to us all, we have witnessed a failure of leadership that has harmed the reputation and eroded public confidence in West Midlands police and policing more broadly. However, the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster says he will not make a decision to sack the chief constable yet, and the Times understands Craig Guildford is digging in and not resigning.

1:19British personnel are being pulled out of a US base in Qatar, which is under threat from Iranian airstrikes. Tehran says it'll attack US bases in the Middle East if Donald Trump follows through on his threat of military action. The president says he'll intervene if Iran executes prisoners. Former British ambassador to Iran, Nicholas Hopton, says Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Amman will all be asking the US to be cautious. The principal Arab states that I understand are talking to the White House in this way at the moment saying military action will be counterproductive. They have huge interests in seeing a stable region.

1:52War at this point, which American strikes might lead to, it would be very counterproductive for all those interests. Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff has announced the start of phase two of the 20-point peace plan for Gaza. This phase includes establishing a technocratic Palestinian administration, which will operate under the supervision of the Board of Peace. Elon Musk says his AI tool Grok will comply with the laws of any country. The owner of X says he's not aware of any child sexual abuse images being generated on the site with the chatbot, despite an investigation into that by Ofcom. Zakir Starmer says that will carry on.

2:27I have been informed this morning that X is acting to ensure full compliance with UK law. If so, that is welcome. But we're not going to back down. They must act. We will take the necessary measures. We will strengthen existing laws and prepare for legislation if it needs to go further. And OPCOM will continue its independent investigation. Officials in California, where Elon Musk's companies are headquartered, say they are also investigating. Danish and Greenlandic officials say there'll be an increased military presence in and around the island. They've held talks with US officials in Washington.

3:04So far, Sweden and Norway say they are sending troops. And David Hockney is accusing the British Museum of vanity and recklessness over its plan to move the Bayeux Tapestry this summer. The 88-year-old says it's madness and the museum's gambling on the 1 ,000-year-old tapestry surviving the journey from France. The museum says it will use a copy of the tapestry to test the journey first. Don't forget you can subscribe to the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify or listen live to Times Radio online. 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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