Evening briefing Wednesday 20th 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. This is the Times News Briefing on Wednesday 20th August. Human rights campaigners say civilised countries like Britain shouldn't put people in detention centres while they're waiting to have their asylum claims heard.

0:43The government says it's working on contingency plans for housing them. Some councils across England are considering launching legal action to block migrants being housed in hotels following a successful challenge in Essex. Max Kendix is a political reporter for The Times. What the Home Office wants, or at least in the medium term before the next election, is to house people in what they call dispersal accommodation. So that's houses in multiple occupation, it's student halls, for example. In the short term, those aren't simply available immediately. So the government is really struggling in the short term.

1:21Councillor Patrick Harley is leader of Dudley Council in the West Midlands. I think it's a victory for councils like my own who have had to suffer for several years now with lack of abidance by the rules and protocols that the Home Office and Serco have laid down themselves. That's happening up and down the country and I think local authorities up and down the UK have just simply had enough. So I think every council leader, every council and its residents should welcome the decision that was taken yesterday. A rapper accused of displaying a flag of the terror group Hezbollah at a gig has been released on bail.

1:57Kneecaps Liam O 'Haney has been told he'll find out in a month's time if his charge is being thrown out, after his defence team told a court there was a technical error in the way he was charged. The 27-year-old hasn't yet entered a plea. Donald Trump has offered US air support to Ukraine but has ruled out boots on the ground. NATO military leaders will meet today. President President Trump also said it would be impossible for Ukraine to join NATO as divisions with European leaders emerged after Monday's show of unity in Washington. Tom Rivers is a former foreign correspondent for ABC News. He's been listening to Russia's foreign minister.

2:34We just had some quotes coming from Sergey Lavrov saying that this US administration is seeing things, Not saying we accept them, but seeing at least the motivations and the perspective of the Kremlin. We had a deal two months into this three and a half year conflict. Lavrov says that maybe now is a good time to revisit that, dust it off and tweak it a bit, but we can use that again. Inflation rose to a higher than expected 3.8 % in July, up from 3.6%. It's the fastest rate prices have been increasing since the beginning of last year. Yep, the Office for National Statistics says a hefty increase in airfares is the main driver.

3:16And scientists say there's been a dramatic slowdown in the melting of ice in the Arctic Sea over the last 20 years despite global warming. The University of Exeter is putting it down to what it calls natural climate variation and says it expects the rate to speed up again in 5 to 10 years. And that's it for now. You can follow the Times News Briefing on Spotify and 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. So how do you get beyond the hype and deliver AI that powers reinvention and growth across your business?

3:57Strong 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.

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