Afternoon briefing Tuesday 17th March

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. Welcome to the Times Radio afternoon briefing on Tuesday 17th March. march. Israel's defence minister says Iran's security chief Ali Larajani has been killed in an overnight strike by the IDF.

0:46Larajani was a key advisor to Iran's former supreme leader Ali Hamenei. Iran has not confirmed his death. Reporter Sally Lockwood in Dubai says this is an important moment. He is secretary of the Supreme National Security Council which essentially coordinates military and security and intelligence operations in Iran. We understand that he's been involved in the day-to-day running of security since this war kicked off. He's a former nuclear negotiator, extremely well known and a really senior figure inside the regime. Donald Trump has again criticised Britain's refusal to send ships to the Strait of Hormuz.

1:25The Tory leader, Kemi Beidnok, says the US president's comments are not helpful. I found the words that were coming from the White House yesterday quite shocking. I'm Keir Starmer's biggest critic. I think he does a lot of things wrong. I think on this he's been very slow. But the last thing we need is a war of words. I think it's quite childish as well, a war of words between the White House and Downing Street. We've got President Zelensky in the UK today. The Western Alliance having a spat is unhelpful. Britain is struggling to deploy anything of significance to the Middle East. General Sir Patrick Sanders, former chief of the general staff, has told Times Radio we should have increased defence spending years ago.

2:05This should not be a surprise to people. People like me, but much more authoritative people, have been saying for some time that we have run down our defence capabilities to a very large extent. And if there was an awakening, I mean, the Ukrainians would have said that the awakening should have been in 2014 with the Russian invasion of Crimea. they would say at the very least it should have been in 2022. The UK Health Security Agency says the strain of meningitis which has killed two people in Kent is B. Routine vaccination for men B for babies and young children was rolled out in 2015. It means the current generation of students is not covered.

2:45GP Rosemary Leonard says young people may have the meningitis bacteria but not know it. The problem with meningitis B is it can be carried without any symptoms in your nose and throat. And it's thought about one in four teenagers, young people, have the meningitis B strain living in the back of their throat, causing them no harm at all. But in somebody else, quite randomly, if they get that same meningitis B strain, they can get invasive meningitis and sepsis. And it's the sepsis that is so, so devastating with meningitis B. And you can follow The Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

3:29This 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.

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