Evening briefing Thursday 23rd 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

0:35This is the Times Radio evening briefing for Thursday, the 23rd of April. France has agreed to detain small boat migrants as part of a multi-million pound deal signed with the UK. A new immigration detention centre will also be built on the French side of the Channel, with space for up to 140 people from Afghanistan, Eritrea and Iran. Additional funding will be paused if the measures fail to stem migrant numbers. The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmoud, has called it a landmark agreement. This is a shared problem between the UK and with France. And of course, what we want to see is more law enforcement on the beaches of France.

1:09That is a choice that we want to see made and we are willing to invest in. The French also put money in in terms of the operations that they use here in the north of France. Donald Trump has insisted the US controls the Strait of Hormuz as he orders the Navy to shoot and kill any Iranian boats laying mines. That comes as Tehran warns peace talks can only resume if an American blockade of the waterway is lifted. The Pentagon says its forces have boarded a supertanker carrying Iranian oil a day after Iran seized two container ships. Here a man who deliberately infected sexual partners with HIV has been jailed for at least 23 years.

1:4543-year-old Adam Hall was convicted of five counts of rape and seven of causing grievous bodily harm after meeting young men on dating apps and in bars in Newcastle. Detective Chief Inspector Emma Smith of Northumbria Police says there may be more victims than the seven her force has been supporting. They age range between 15 and late 20s and are vulnerable in terms of they were quite new to the gay scene. They were less experienced sexually and in some cases it was their first same-sex encounter. Three asylum seekers have been found guilty of repeatedly raping a woman on Brighton Beach. Two Egyptian nationals aged 20 and 25 and a 26-year-old from Iran targeted their victim last October after she became separated from friends on a night out.

2:36The Privacy Watchdog is investigating after the medical data of half a million people was compromised, the charity Biobank. Ministers say the data didn't include names or contact details and has since been taken down. Oliver Wright is the Times' policy editor. This appears to have been anonymised data, medical data, that was used by researchers. The data came from volunteers who'd agreed to have their medical information shared with researchers. But the security around that data appears to have been extraordinarily lax, was hacked by people unknown, and then ended up for sale on the Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba.

3:14The Shadow Housing Secretary has blamed the incoming Renters' Rights Act after receiving an eviction notice. James Cleverley told The Times that being asked to leave his constituency home in Essex is a predictable outcome of the new law as many landlords leave the market. Campaign groups say there's been a rise in no-fault evictions ahead of restrictions on the practice. Remember, you can follow The Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio Online.

3:43This 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 At Brookfield, we invest in the thing behind the thing behind the next big thing.

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