Morning briefing Tuesday 23rd December

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 Tuesday 23rd December. Taxpayers will be kept in the dark about how much public money is being spent so that union officials can have paid time off work under the government's workers' rights reforms.

0:48Even though almost£107 million was spent on so-called facility time last year, Labour has scrapped powers to cab it and removed the requirement for public bodies such as the NHS to declare it. At the same time, the right to be paid to carry out union duties has been extended to equality representatives. Geri Scott is the Times Assistant Political Editor. Of course in the public sector that salary is ultimately paid by the taxpayers and currently what we have is a system where that has to be reported each year, the amount of money, the amount of time spent by those union reps but under Labour's Employment Rights Act the public sector will no longer have to report this so from next year we're no longer going to know the amount spent.

1:33People who've grown up in care will receive free medicine and dental services until their 25th birthday under measures announced by the government. A pilot scheme will also aim to enhance access to mental health support for children in care. The health secretary Westreasing said the change is being made in recognition of the difficulties young people face if they have grown up in foster care or a children's home. President Trump says Washington needs to acquire Greenland in order to enhance the United States national security. Citing its strategic location, Trump was speaking after his new envoy, Jeff Landry, said it would be an honour to make the semi-autonomous island the 51st US state.

2:14Greenland's defence and foreign policy are under the control of Denmark. The Danish government says it will call the US ambassador for an explanation. Masane Egede is the editor-in-chief of Greenland's Semitsiak newspaper. Even if it's defence, even if it's minerals, even if it's something else, the Greenlandic people, we're only 56 ,000 people. This is not a game that we can play against the US. We want to be an ally, a friend to the US, but we do not want to be a next. Scotland has appointed its first curator of osteoarchaeology through a project that aims to enhance the care of the country's human remains.

2:51Jess Thompson is responsible for the collection, which spans thousands of years, in her role at National Museum Scotland, the oldest remains in her care date from around 8 ,000 years ago. We're also improving and updating our records with the aim to make the archaeological human remains collections inventory accessible online and that this should hopefully then galvanise more future exciting research on our collections. And the first prize of almost€470 million in Spain's famous Christmas lottery has been shared by people living in a village devastated by recent fatal wildfires. Most of the big winning tickets in the lottery known as El Gordo, or the fat one, had been bought by people in small towns in the northwestern province of Leon.

3:39Another town in the region, Viablino, also claimed a massive share of the jackpot, with inhabitants there receiving a share of€200 million. 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? 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.

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