Morning Briefing Monday 30th 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. This is Times Radio's morning briefing on Monday the 30th of March. I'm Daryl Jackson. Saqqia Starmer will gather business leaders in Downing Street later to address the impact of the war in Iran.

0:46The Prime Minister is expected to meet senior representatives from the energy, shipping and financial services industries amid warnings the UK could suffer serious economic damage as a result of the conflict. Discussion is expected to focus on Iran's ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Angela Knight, former Economic Secretary to the Treasury, told Times Radio there are two major problems in the UK. One is the security of supply. We're bringing in so much of our energy in its various forms from overseas. And the second is the price. But realistically, what he has also got to say, that is Keir Starmer and indeed Rachel Reeves to the nation, is that a lot of this energy crisis is in fact outside our control.

1:31Meanwhile, Iran has threatened to set the souls of American soldiers on fire as US Marines arrived in the Middle East for the start of ground operations in the war. That's despite President Trump previously vowing to wind the conflict down and proposing peace talks. Alex Plitsas, a former Pentagon official, told Times Radio a ground operation is a possibility. The US president I think has been very clear since the beginning of this that boots on the ground, as the phrase is used for political purposes, are not out of the question. We're not going to see a full-scale invasion, but it is possible that we would see limited or tailored operations, potentially Karg Island, where 90 % of Iran's fuel is loaded in the northern portion of the Persian Gulf up towards Iraq, several of the other smaller islands closer towards the Straits.

2:14A UN peacekeeper's been killed and another injured in Lebanon. The person killed was part of the UN interim force in Lebanon and died after a projectile exploded in the south of the country. Another person's currently in hospital with serious injuries. A 36-year-old Oldman remains in police custody this morning on suspicion of attempted murder after several pedestrians were struck by a car in Derby City Centre on Saturday night. Seven people were taken to hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries. It's not being treated as terrorism at the moment, though counter-terror officers have joined the investigation.

2:47Graham Wetone, a former Met police officer, told Times Radio officers will be looking into that. For it to be classed as a terrorist-related incident, the objective, the motivation is the key aspect, because it has to be the purpose of the incident must be to intimidate either government or the population and it must be to advance an ideological, political or religious cause. And that's what the investigators will now be looking at. What motivated this person? Millions of motorists who are missold car loans will find out how much they'll be compensated later. The finance watchdog is due to share its final plans for an industry-wide scheme.

3:25The Financial Conduct Authority set out draft plans last year, but it's likely to make several changes after receiving more than 1 ,000 responses to its consultation. The scheme will cover car finance agreements taken out between 2007 and 2024. There's more on these stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

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