Morning briefing Wednesday 10th 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. Hello, this is your Times Morning Briefing for Wednesday the 10th of September with me, James Kitchen. Donald Trump has condemned an Israeli airstrike on Qatar that killed five Hamas members but failed to eliminate its senior leadership.

0:46He also contradicted Benjamin Netanyahu's assertion that the U.S. had been warned about the attack. The White House described Qatar as a close ally and appeared to criticize the Israeli Prime Minister, saying yesterday's bombardment in Doha does not advance Israel or America's goals. The former UK National Security Advisor and Ambassador to the UN, Sir Mark Lyle Grant, told Times Radio Benjamin Netanyahu is going for break. This is an airstrike, quite a lengthy, large-scale airstrike on the capital of Qatar, which is a non-NATO ally of the United States. So that's the highest status of ally for the Americans who are not a member of NATO.

1:28So this is really quite a gamble taken by Netanyahu, and I think it shows that he's now going for broke and doesn't want to do some sort of deal which he feels would interrupt the military operation that's going on in Gaza. NATO has scrambled fighter jets after Russia launched a widespread attack on Ukraine with drones and missiles. The Polish armed forces say Allied aircraft are operating in its airspace, while ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness. Four airports in Poland, including the country's largest in Warsaw, have been closed after Ukraine warned of drones in Polish airspace.

2:09Bridget Philipson is leading the Labour deputy leadership race with rival camps, accusing her of being robotic and too close to Sikir Starmer. The Education Secretary has 44 of the 99 overall nominations. Lucy Powell, who was sacked as Commons leader last week, is second with 35. Candidates have until tomorrow evening to secure the backing of 80 MPs in order to reach the next round. The backbench MP Paula Barker, who's also in the running, told Times Radio she would boost geographical diversity, adding the party needs to do better. I also think that there is a real lack of diversity in terms of politics.

2:47and I want to hopefully be that conduit between the Parliamentary Labour Party and more importantly our members and the community because I think we've had a lot of missteps in our first year in office and I think that it's time for us to change the culture of our party and I think it's time to ensure that everybody is listened to. The Chancellor has told Cabinet ministers their departments must live within their means. Rachel Reeves also warned that rising borrowing costs are putting mounting pressure on the public finances. The Chancellor said the volatile global environment meant that keeping control of public spending was more important than ever before the autumn budget.

3:33She's expected to raise taxes to fill a hole of up to£40 billion. It's feared the Office for Budget Responsibility is poised to downgrade its forecast for economic growth. And the Times has revealed the heads of the 10 worst performing NHS hospitals all earn more than the Prime Minister. The government has published a league table ranking the performance of all 134 hospital trusts in England. It's vowed to dock the pay of the worst chief executives. Analysis of NHS trusts' accounts show that almost all hospital heads earn more than£200 ,000 per year. This means that they take home more than Sakhir Starmer, who has a salary of£172 ,000.

4:14And remember, you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

4:37AI 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. While every other channel is fighting for your customer's attention, podcasts are where they've already given it. No one accidentally listens to a podcast for 45 minutes. They choose to be here. They trust the voice in their ears. And when that voice talks about your brand, it doesn't sound like advertising.

5:20It sounds like a recommendation from a friend. Acast gives you that trust at scale. Digital precision, post-read authenticity, and performance data that proves it worked. Don't fight for attention. Buy it with ACAST. Learn more by visiting acast.com slash advertise.