Morning briefing Friday 22nd 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 Times Radio's morning briefing on Friday the 22nd of May. The Metropolitan Police says it will have to reduce officer numbers if a multi-million pound deal with the US technology company Palantir collapses.

0:48The Met said it was disappointed by a decision by the Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, to veto the deal. Scotland Yard had, according to reports, been in talks about using Palantir's AI technology to automate intelligence analysis in criminal investigations. The former Deputy Assistant Commissioner at the Met is Stephen Roberts. Speaking to Times Radio, he said the tech is also an effective tool in the investigation of crimes within the force. It's been used to some effect to identify corrupt police officers who are demonstrably breaking a whole series of rules and laws, but where it's impossible for a human being to tie together all those different elements because the performance is recorded on multiple databases.

1:38Andy Burnham will today set out his pitch to become the MP for Makerfield as he officially launches his campaign in the by-election, widely seen as a stepping stone to challenging Sir Keir Starmer. The Prime Minister has said he'll be campaigning in support of Burnham ahead of the contest on the 18th of June. The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, says Cuba poses a national security threat to the United States. His comments came just a day after Washington charged Cuba's former president, Raul Castro, with murder over the downing of two civilian planes in 1996, which resulted in the deaths of four US citizens.

2:16Secretary Rubio said Washington's preference was a diplomatic solution, but warned that President Trump had the right to protect his country against any perceived threat. Cuba not only has weapons that they've acquired from Russia and China over the years, but they also host Russia and Chinese intelligence presence. They, by the way, have been one of the leading sponsors of terrorism in the entire region. You look at the groups that work out of Colombia that have destabilized that country over the years, with full support from this regime over there. The Home Secretary has been accused of not following police advice about the risks of alcohol-fueled violence when she decided to allow all pubs to remain open beyond midnight during some World Cup matches.

2:57Shabana Mahmood announced three months ago that she would extend the opening hours for all pubs in England and Wales for the knockout stage of the tournament. It means pubs will be allowed to stay open until 2am if either England or Scotland make it to the last 32. But Mark Roberts, the head of football policing, said he advised the Home Office against such a policy. My advice is don't. Extending the hours means it extends the night-time economy, which invariably means we need to extend the hours of officers. So I think it could have been managed in a different way using existing processes. It is where it is, we'll just get on with it and deal with it.

3:34And the England manager Thomas Tuchel will name his 26-man World Cup squad at Wembley this morning. But there'll be no place for Harry Maguire, who was the first to go public with the news that he won't be on the plane to the United States. There's more on these stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

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