Afternoon Briefing Tuesday 26th May

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 Radio afternoon briefing for Tuesday the 26th of May with me, James Kitchen. Iran's supreme leader has warned that countries in the Middle East will no longer be a shield for American bases.

0:45The US says it launched strikes overnight in self-defence on southern Iran, despite both sides recently suggesting progress in peace talks. Washington says it targeted missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines. Political analyst Arya Kovla told Times Radio the latest strikes are not significant in the grand scheme of things. I don't see them derailing the talks process that's going on. There have been kind of continual low-level ceasefire breaches, if you want to call them that, from both sides. The UAE was attacked by Iran just last week despite this ongoing ceasefire.

1:19There's still an Iranian closure of the strait, there's still a US siege, and these kind of low-level clashes are inevitable until those things are lifted. Several deaths have been reported after a train hit a school minibus in Belgium. Times Radio's Cara Bentley has the latest. The crash happened in the town of Buchenhout, which lies 15 miles north of Brussels, at around quarter past eight this morning. Belgium's transport minister says several people have been killed. In comments reported by Belgian media, he said two teenagers, the bus driver and another adult all died. The country's interior minister says his thoughts are with those injured and has praised the emergency services for responding quickly.

1:56Medical leaders have declared social media is the new smoking, as campaigners push for the Prime Minister to back a ban for under-16s. A report published by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges warns of an epidemic of harm in children continuously exposed to hateful, addictive and grossly distressing content. Ellen Ruhm believes her 14-year-old son Jules died after an online challenge went wrong. Speaking to Times Radio, she said Sir Keir Starmer needs to step up. He's been kicking the can down the road for far too long with consultation, considering the options. Back with any other product, it would be removed from the market if it was harmful.

2:34This is a product. I don't understand why they're not removing it and fixing it. And whilst they remove it, they can consider what to do with it and make it safe to give it back. But it's on the market while it's faulty. The Scottish Parliament's expected to back a motion later, calling for it to be given powers to organise a second independence referendum. It comes as Scotland's former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has denied any knowledge of items her husband bought with£400 ,000 he embezzled from the SNP. The party's former CEO Peter Murrell used the money to pay for luxury goods, a motorhome and a£4 ,000 fountain pen.

3:08The former SNP MP Joanna Cherry Casey told Times Radio she feels for local campaigners and fundraisers. The real victims of Peter Murrell's crimes are the ordinary independent supporters who gave their hard-earned cash to the party. in the belief that it was going to be used to further the cause of independence. And I'm sure they will want to know this evening how their donations could have been embezzled over such a long period of time without anyone noticing. That's what I'm concerned about. Minimum temperature records for May have provisional been broken for the second night in a row. It failed to drop below 21.3 degrees Celsius at Kenley Airfield outside London, making it a tropical night.

3:48parts of the country could see highs of 35 degrees later. Remember, you can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

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