Morning briefing Friday 12th September

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 Morning Briefing for Friday the 12th of September. Allies of Lord Mandelson say he admitted in his vetting interview before his appointment as Britain's ambassador to the United States that he continued his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein for many years The Prime Minister sacked the Labour peer yesterday morning after reading a series of emails in which Mandelson defended Epstein following his first child sex conviction But the Times has also learned that Mandelson is said to feel ill-treated by Starmer's decision Lee Turner is a former UK ambassador to Ukraine and Turkey.

1:08My understanding was that Peter Mandelson did pass DV, that's developed vetting, which is the highest level of vetting, which is really about connections to foreign governments that could pose a security risk. Of course, the Prime Minister would have known about that somewhat complex background when he appointed him, but I doubt he would have been involved in the DV procedure, the developed vetting. The former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has been sentenced to 27 years in prison after being found guilty of plotting a military coup. A right-wing ally of Donald Trump, Bolsonaro was earlier convicted by Brazil's Supreme Court of leading a conspiracy designed to keep him in power after he lost the election of 2022 to the current left-wing president, Lula da Silva.

1:54The Times' Latin America correspondent, John Bonfilio, says the verdicts could inspire Bolsonaro supporters, both domestically and overseas. Lula da Silva's party, the Workers' Party, have sort of characterised these interventions by Donald Trump as being an attack on Brazil's sovereignty. And if anything, that sort of strengthened their hand. But at the same time, a significant part of the Brazil population are also now energised by what they see as being an overstep of jurisdiction, if you like, and a travesty of justice. The body of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk has been returned to his home state of Arizona following his assassination at a university campus in Utah on Wednesday.

2:35Investigators have released video footage and enhanced images of a person of interest, but officials have not publicly identified a motive. The United Nations Security Council has condemned the recent strikes on Qatar's capital, Doha, but did not mention Israel in the statement agreed to by all 15 members, including the United States. Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with the attack on Tuesday, escalating its military action in what the US described as a unilateral attack. The acting American ambassador to the United Nations is Dorothy Shea. Unilateral bombing inside Qatar, a sovereign nation working very hard and bravely alongside the United States to broker peace does not advance Israel's or America's goals.

3:24That said, it is inappropriate for any member to use this to question Israel's commitment to bringing their hostages home. And the House of Lords will today hold its first debate on the Assisted Dying Bill. MPs narrowly voted in favour of the legislation in June, despite concerns that some of the safeguards had been watered down. You can follow the Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio Online.

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