Evening briefing Wednesday 29th October

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

0:35This is the Times evening briefing for Wednesday 29th October. A Home Office minister has told Times Radio the government had no choice but to pay a convicted sex offender to leave the country. Hadoush Kibatu was handed£500 after agreeing not to submit a late legal challenge to removal. The Conservatives say it's an absolute disgrace. But Mike Tapp, the Minister for Migration and Citizenship, says he's pleased the man will no longer pose a risk to the public. The alternative here is that he's removed from the flight, put back into detention. A new flight is chartered and that could cost the taxpayer£8 ,000.

1:12So it's a decision made at the time to ensure that this man is removed and is no longer a threat to the British public. And that's what's happened. So Keir Starmer has refused to say if he stands by a manifesto promised not to raise taxes. The Prime Minister wouldn't answer Kami Badenoch's question directly in the comments earlier. He warned that upcoming forecasts would show the economy in a worse state than thought. The opposition leader accused him of always blaming someone else. Mr Speaker, he is raising taxes because he is too weak to control spending. He's blaming us, he's blaming the OBR.

1:46Last week they were blaming Brexit. The prosecutor investigating the Louvre jewellery heist says two arrested men are believed to be the pair who broke into the gallery 10 days ago. She told a news conference in Paris they've partially recognised their involvement in the£80m robbery, but the jewels haven't been recovered yet. The woman accused of stalking the parents of Madeleine McCann says she's still 50-50 as to whether she is the missing girl. Julia Vandel told Leicester Crown Court she would walk away if given full paperwork, proving she was not. She denies plaguing the toddler's parents with calls, emails and visits to their home.

2:20There are warnings that AI advances could speed job losses in white-collar roles. Amazon, Nestle and the delivery company UPS are among companies announcing thousands of job cuts, replacing many with automation. Roa Powell is from the IPPR think tank. She told Times Radio their research shows it's not all doom and gloom. We're talking about white collar jobs. We're talking about entry level jobs, which mean young people are especially at risk. We're also talking about women being 40 percent more at risk. But in our scenarios, we have some cases where you get eight million job losses. We also have cases where you get jobs being augmented.

2:55We have GDP growth and we have workers seeing real wage increases due to AI increasing their productivity. And the king and queen have been garlanded with flowers on a visit to a Hindu temple in West London. Orange-robed priests placed roses and carnations around Charles and Camilla's necks as they wished worshippers ablated. Happy Diwali. 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?

3:39Strong 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