Morning briefing Friday 13th 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 The British Defence Secretary has accused Russia of profiting from Iranian strikes across the Gulf after British troops came under attack for the third time since the conflict began.

0:44Speaking after meeting military chiefs yesterday, John Healy said that analysis of Iranian strikes showed similarities to tactics developed by the Russians in Ukraine. Nigel Inkster is former Director of Operations and Intelligence at the Secret Intelligence Service. It comes as no surprise that Russia might have provided Iran with the intelligence to undertake these attacks. Russia will look at this as simply paying us back in our own coin for the intelligence assistance that we've been providing to Ukraine for the last four plus years. So I think we realistically should expect that to continue.

1:24A British tourist has been held in Dubai for allegedly filming Iranian missiles over the city. The 60-year-old is accused of what the authorities describe as publishing rumours or provocative propaganda. In the United Arab Emirates, it's illegal to post material that's critical of the state or its rulers. Radha Sterling is CEO of Detained in Dubai, a leading international authority on UAE law. It is that reflex, isn't it, to take a photo. So if something is already out there in a news piece, a news article or on social media, to reshare or post a comment. And that's quite standard behavior. And I don't think that people realize that even posting a comment on something on social media is actually illegal as well.

2:08I think that the UAE should also calm down a little bit. I don't think that they should be making people feel so endangered in a time of crisis, where people are already very nervous and anxious to be in Dubai. Police in the US state of Michigan are investigating after a violent attack at a synagogue in the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield. Authorities say a man rammed a vehicle into the building at Temple Israel, one of the largest reform synagogues in the United States, before opening fire. Security guards confronted the attacker who was shot dead at the scene. All 140 students inside the preschool at the complex were safely evacuated.

2:44Robin Irv is a senior reporter at Bridge, Michigan. This is tough. I mean, there were some folks at the scene and there were some tears. And what we heard a lot was not now, not here. I think folks have been on heightened alert for some time. But nobody wants to see it in their own neighbourhood. The Scottish secretary, Douglas Alexander, wants Lord Mandelson to pay back the£75 ,000 he got when he was sacked as US ambassador, Sir Keir Starmer is facing new questions about his judgement in appointing him after being warned about the risks of the peer's friendship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

3:19Anne McElvoy is executive editor at Politico. Now that the files have come out, it's clear that he did have at least access to that material. So now his line is really changing to closer to the apology. He does get there in the end. I think he should have started with that. which is to say I'm very sorry, I should not have done this. More on these stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

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