Morning briefing Friday 3rd 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.

0:36This is Times Radio's morning briefing on Friday the 3rd of April. The Energy Secretary is expected to give the green light to the first major North Sea gas field project in a decade. Whitehall officials say Ed Miliband is minded to approve the Jackdaw gas field. The company says it could produce the equivalent of 6 % of the UK's future gas supply. Talking to Times Radio, Brian Wilson, former Labour Energy Minister, says he believes the Energy Secretary should approve the Rosebank field as well. I just think it should just swallow hard and accept the direction of travel. The same arguments apply.

1:14We're going to need oil. There are countries with far lower environmental standards and absolutely no net zero agenda which are exporting oil to us at the present time. How can it not make sense to maximise? No decision is expected before next month's elections in Scotland. The spacecraft Artemis II has left the Earth's orbit and is on its way towards the Moon. Dr. Laurie Glaze leads NASA's Artemis program. In the early hours of this morning, she shared this update. I am so, so excited to be able to tell you that for the first time since 1972, during Apollo 17, human beings have left Earth orbit.

1:54With Artemis II's successful 5 minute and 50 second translunar injection burn this evening, our four crew members, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Cook, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen are now on their trajectory toward the moon. NASA officials say the crew on board are healthy and the spacecraft is performing well. Pete Hegseth has asked the Army's top general, Randy George, to step down. The US Secretary of War hasn't publicly disclosed why he asked George to retire early. He was expected to stay in position until 2027. In a statement on X, the Pentagon said he would be retiring from his position effective immediately.

2:37A War Department official told CBS News it was time for a leadership change in the army. The US Attorney General Pam Bondi has been fired after criticism of the Department of Justice's handling of the Epstein files. She said she was eternally grateful to work in the Trump administration. On Truth Social, the president referred to her as a great American patriot and loyal friend and said Todd Blanche, Bondi's deputy, would serve as acting attorney general. Retail giant Markson Spencer has told the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to get a grip on crime. It came after groups of teenagers stormed high streets across the country and a branch of the retailer in Clapham.

3:17The supermarket chain's retail director, Athanas Keeve, said attacks on stores were more brazen, more organised and more aggressive than ever before, and that the company has spent millions of pounds protecting stock and stores and on technology to identify repeat offenders. There's more on these stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

3:52This 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