Morning Briefing Tuesday 29th July

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 Hello, this is your Times Morning Briefing for Tuesday the 29th of July with me, James Kitchen. Sir Keir Starmer is to set out a Middle East peace plan that will put Britain on a path to recognising a Palestinian state amid mounting political pressure.

0:47The Prime Minister will hold an emergency cabinet meeting to sign off his proposal after discussions with Donald Trump in Scotland. The US president acknowledged there was real starvation in Gaza and called on Israel to allow every ounce of food into the region. Speaking to Times Radio, the former British ambassador to Washington, Lord Darroch, said he was sceptical now is the right time to formally recognise Palestine. Gaza and the West Bank don't meet the legal criteria that we normally apply to recognising a state. They don't have a stable border. There isn't a single government in charge of the territory.

1:21Second, the problem with recognition at this stage is it doesn't achieve anything on the ground. I don't think the Israelis will be infuriated and I don't think there necessarily will be a very hostile reaction to the Americans but they won't see this as helping their efforts. Meanwhile, Mr Trump's presented a new shorter deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire over the war in Ukraine of 10 or 12 days. The US president says there's no reason to wait any longer as no progress towards peace has been made. He warned he could impose 100 % tariffs on Moscow if Vladimir Putin doesn't comply. At least four people have died after a shooting at a New York skyscraper.

2:01Officials say the gunman is also dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound His motive is not yet clear Among those who died is a police officer The New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he was protecting New Yorkers Early tonight I met with the officer's family I told them that he was a hero And we admire him For putting his life on the line The NHS has accused the British Medical Association of risking patient safety It's after the union refused emergency requests to allow striking doctors to cross picket lines and return to work. Since the five-day resident medic walkout began on Friday, the BMA has rejected 18 requests from NHS hospitals for doctors to break the strike to stop patients coming to harm.

2:46And four more people have died in wildfires in Turkey as record-breaking heat waves and strong winds fuel devastating blazes across the eastern Mediterranean. More than 3 ,500 residents outside the country's fourth-largest city, Bursa, were forced to flee their homes over the weekend. The latest fatalities bring the total number of deaths in the past month to 17. Ruth Mickelson is a journalist based in Istanbul. This is something that should be combated in the interim. And instead, what we've seen is that Turkish officials have focused very much on talking about people arrested or prosecuted. There is a possibility that there is criminal activity involved in starting some of these fires.

3:27But at the end of the day, if this is an annual occurrence and you know that there is a climate change link, there are other things that the government could be using its resources on in the interim that would prevent this being such an enormous problem that is now occurring every year. And remember, you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

3:53This 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.

4:36This week on the Business Podcast, we're hearing from Tom Behon, the co-founder of British sportswear brand Castor. It didn't make sense to us why there wasn't a British competitor to Nike Adidas Puma. If not us, then who? Join me, Hannah Prevett. And me, Dominic O 'Connell, for weekly conversations from the world of business and entrepreneurship. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts or find our channel on YouTube by searching Times Business.