Morning briefing Monday 17th 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 Morning Briefing on Monday 17th August. The Times is reporting that half of disability benefit claimants would be prepared to sacrifice£1 ,000 a year in exchange for services like therapy and healthy meals.

0:47That's according to a report from the Good Growth Foundation, an economic think tank. Plans to replace money with other supports for those claimants are set to be considered by ministers this year. Aliraz Amanji is a political reporter at Times Radio. In the long-term plans of this government, it's getting people back to work, and they want people, they basically are taking on a model from the Blair era, which is that support people with the helping hand of the state to get them back into work. But providing, obviously, these things like therapy, like employment support, would be a way to basically encourage people back into work and encourage them essentially not to rely on payments, which, you know, by the end of the decade, could reach something in the billions and billions of pounds.

1:25At least seven people died on the Russian side after Ukrainian forces launched nearly 1 ,500 drones over 24 hours in one of the biggest attacks of the war via air. The authorities in Kiev say Russian strikes killed at least seven people in Ukraine. Some of the drones are British. It's the first time UK-made drones have been used in the conflict. Lieutenant General David Leakey is former Director General of the European Union military staff in Brussels. Drone warfare has caused pretty much a stalemate. Neither side is being successful at the front line. And therefore, if they're not going to win the war, if the Russians aren't going to win the war on the front line through a massive breakthrough and a capture of territory and so on, then they have to do it by long-range strikes to undermine the will of the Ukrainian people, to undermine their political power base, and to destroy the national infrastructure.

2:19That's why they're attacking. Former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair and Jared Kushner have met Hamas leaders in Cairo yesterday in an attempt to move forward the Gaza peace plan. The meeting was called to try to persuade Hamas to give up its weapons. Blair and Kushner will also hold talks with Israeli officials in Jerusalem on Monday. It's an attempt to salvage the peace deal that was struck in October to end the war and rebuild the territory. Matthew Gold is a former ambassador to Israel and Iran. What's really going on underneath is a sort of very deep lack of trust between the parties. Politics and public opinion on both sides being, on the one hand, on both sides, the public wanting the conflict to end and stability to return.

3:05On the other side, a sort of deep mistrust of the other side. More than£120 ,000 has been raised for the family of the former Cambridge professor Jason Arday after he was found dead last week. He resigned from his position after allegations of plagiarism, which he denied. More on these stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

3:33This 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? Strong 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. You've got social dialed in. Search is doing its thing.

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