Morning briefing Wednesday 16th 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 Good morning. The British military is responsible for a data leak that put up to 100 ,000 Afghans at risk of death, and successive governments have spent years fighting to keep it a secret using an unprecedented super injunction.

0:48Some 24 ,000 Afghans affected by the breach have either been brought to the UK already or will be in the future as part of the biggest covert evacuation operation in peacetime. Up to£7 billion of taxpayer money was once earmarked to handle a fallout. The Times defence editor Larissa Brown revealed the story. The leak had actually happened in February 2022. A British soldier had been trying to verify applications and he inadvertently sent an email to his Afghan colleagues to ask, you know, can you help me with this? And the Afghans then forwarded it on to other Afghans who were in Afghanistan and he didn't realise at that point that what he was sending was actually a database with 33 ,000 cases.

1:37Meanwhile, former Tory Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said he makes no apology for applying for an injunction blocking reporting about the leak of data on Afghans who supported British forces. He said the decision to apply for the gagging order was not a cover-up and that if the leak had been reported, it would have put in peril those we needed to help out. You can find the full story on our app. The Chancellor's announced plans to rip up red tape in the financial sector. Rachel Reeves has also said she's considering changes to ISAs or tax-free saving accounts, saying there's too much focus on risk in investing.

2:18Michael Jacobs is a former special advisor to Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He told Times Radio some of the plans may not work. What Rachel Reeves is signalling today is that she wants to get rid of some of that regulation. She's claiming that by doing so, she will stimulate growth. But it's not at all clear that that will happen. And I think a lot of observers are rather worried that this is giving the financial sector what they want. They don't like this regulation, but it isn't giving the British economy what it needs, which is more investment. The Chancellor also hopes the reforms will help more first-time buyers get a mortgage with simplified rules.

2:56BBC cooking show MasterChef has been plunged into crisis with its two main presenters now fired. John Taroad was sacked after an allegation against him using an extremely offensive racist term was upheld, although the 59-year-old says he hasn't heard from anyone about his exit. His co-host Greg Wallace was also let go after claims of inappropriate behaviour. Donald Trump told Vladimir Zelensky not to target Moscow after announcing more arms will be sent to Ukraine. The US president agreed to sell the weaponry, which includes surface-to-air Patriot missile system, to NATO, which will then pass it on to Kiev's military.

3:37He's also threatened Russia with severe tariffs if it doesn't end the war in 50 days. The US president says he's been talking with President Putin. Vladimir called me up. He said, I'd love to help you. with respect to making a deal with a couple of them, like Iran. I'd love to help you, I say. Vladimir, I only want to help with one deal, Russia, because you're the only deal that we're not doing too well on. He oftentimes, oftentimes he said, no, he wants peace. And I think he does, I hope he does, we're going to find out soon. And it could be before the 50 days. Two men who illegally felled the Sycamore Gap tree have been sentenced to four years and three months in prison.

4:16Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Caruthers, 32, who tried to blame each other for what the prosecution described as an act of mindless vandalism. HMRC cannot identify how much tax is paid by UK billionaires, that's despite the small number of individuals and significant sums of money involved. The Public Accounts Committee said that HMRC can and must do more to understand and explain the contribution that the very wealthiest in society make to tax revenue. Its report highlighted the Sunday Times Rich List and artificial intelligence as ways that the revenue body could dig deeper into wealth and assets.

4:57And Palm House at Kew Gardens is to shut for four years in a net zero push. The gas boilers in Kew Gardens' Victorian-era hothouse will be replaced with heat pumps and all 16 ,000 glass panes upgraded to improve energy efficiency. And you can hear detailed analysis of the biggest developments in global security on our World in 10 podcast.

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