Daily briefing Sunday 22nd 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 Daily Briefing on Sunday the 22nd of March. A cabinet minister's told Times Radio he doesn't believe that London and other European capitals could be hit by Iranian missiles.

0:45Israel says Tehran has weapons that can travel 4 ,000 kilometres. Iran has fired two missiles towards the British airbase on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, which is about 3 ,800 kilometres from northern Iran. Steve Reid, the community secretary, was asked if he accepted that Iran had such weapons. No, there's no assessment that I'm aware of that says either that the Iranians would target Europe or even that they could if they wanted to. We've got one of the finest militaries in the world. We're perfectly capable, if there were anything like that, we're perfectly capable of defending ourselves as we have done for decades.

1:22The Times understands that intelligence on this has been shared with European governments. A former Royal Navy commander, Tom Sharp, has told Times Radio that if a missile was fired towards London, UK would have to rely on other countries to shoot it down. More than 100 people have been injured after two Iranian airstrikes on the southern Israeli cities of Arad and Dimona. Reporter Sally Lockwood in Dubai says those cities are in a sensitive area. They're particularly significant because they're not far from Israel's nuclear research facility in the south of the country. And it's caused a lot of shock that missiles have managed to penetrate Israel's extremely powerful air defence systems around that very sensitive site, which is believed to be home to the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, something that Israel's never confirmed.

2:13Prince William has answered questions about his commitment to the Church of England. A source close to the heir to the throne says William believes in the church and wants to support it. Despite not being a regular churchgoer, the prince apparently sees it as an important aspect of his role. The Shadow Communities Secretary, Sir James Cleverley, was asked on Times Radio whether, in a multicultural society, it's provocative for William to talk about Christianity. Are you kidding me? The king is the head of the established church. This is a Christian country. We are constitutionally a Christian country.

2:47The head of state is the head of the church. We also, of course, have a long-standing tradition of having freedom of religion. We don't demand that people subscribe to the national religion. Drug squad officers in Greater Manchester have found that children as young as 10 are taking and dealing in ketamine. They say they're also seeing the drug being mixed with other sedatives, making it extremely potent. It's then openly sold on social media. This officer, whose identity is being protected, monitors the online marketplace. Platforms that are being used, it's Snapchat, Telegram. We see a lot of stuff on WhatsApp.

3:23It's effectively run like a legitimate business in the way that Amazon sells legitimate items. But they won't just sell one brand of MDMA, one brand of ketamine. They'll have two or three different types. And you can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online. This 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.

3:59That'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. You've got social dialed in. Search is doing its thing. So why do your marketing results look the same as six months ago? That's because you're fishing in the same pond as everyone else. Podcast listeners are a different audience entirely. More engaged, harder to reach through traditional channels, and ready to act when someone they trust makes a recommendation.

4:40We're Acast, and we put them right in front of you. Browse thousands of the world's leading podcasts, book host reads or run your own ads, and track every conversion in real time. Same skills you already have, brand new results. Acast. Acast.com slash advertise.