Afternoon briefing Friday 24th April

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 Times Radio's afternoon briefing on Friday the 24th of April. The United States could review its position on the UK's claim to the Falkland Islands as part of a broader move to punish those NATO allies the Trump administration believes failed to support the war with Iran.

0:51An internal Pentagon email outlines options for Washington to respond to the perceived lack of support, including reassessing American diplomatic support for European imperial possessions. A US official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the email to the Reuters news agency The email, however, does not suggest the United States withdraw from the alliance. Having announced a three-week extension of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, President Trump says he's not subject to any pressure to bring the conflict in Iran to an end. He claimed the US had hit around 75 % of its targets and that it had total control of the Straits of Hormuz.

1:30Michael Rubin was a staff advisor on Iran for the Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush. He says any genuine claim for American victory must include the neutralization of Iran's enriched uranium. I do believe that you're going to see as part of any deal the International Atomic Energy Agency coming in and confirming the whereabouts of the missing 400 kilograms of Iranian highly enriched uranium. I don't believe Donald Trump can stop before that happens, but it doesn't need to be the United States confirming this. The House of Lords is today holding its final debate on the assisted dying bill, with the proposed legislation scheduled to expire.

2:13Supporters of the bill put forward by the Labour MP Kim Ledebeter have accused a minority of peers of blocking it, but opponents say they've been trying to improve what they say is an unsafe proposal. The Labour MP Lizzie Collinge is a supporter of the bill. Speaking to Times Radio, she said she is sad and angry. This bill has been scrutinised and passed by the elected House of Commons. It is well supported by the public. It is a very robust bill. And a small number of unelected peers are using procedural tactics to time it out. I think it's really unfair to the people who need this bill. And I think it's really very undemocratic.

2:51The National Cyber Security Centre is recommending a switch to login passkeys because it says passwords are no longer fit for the modern world. The cyber arm of GCHQ says passkeys are both more secure and more convenient. The Times technology correspondent Mark Selman is urging people, at the very least, to adopt a greater level of caution. Everyone should be using a password manager. If you're not, you should be, because that will actually store the passkey for you so you'll be able to use it across a range of devices as well. So that really is a minimum level of security that people should be using a password manager.

3:26And UK retail sales increased last month, prompted by a spike in the demand for fuel. The Office for National Statistics said the total volume of retail sales increased by 0.7 % in March. There's more on all of these stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

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