Morning briefing Thursday 1st October

0:01This is Times Radio's Morning Briefing on Thursday 1 October. I'm Darrell Jackson. It's emerged an off-duty British pilot helped to rescue a plane after another pilot stabbed his colleague in the cockpit and tried to crash the plane heading to Israel, according to a passenger on board. Passengers and crew managed to overpower the alleged attacker as the Fly Dubai plane dropped 14 ,000 feet in a minute. The aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. All Fly Dubai flights to and from Israel have now been suspended, while an investigation into the attack is carried out. Alexander Gandler, from the Israeli embassy to the UK, told Times Radio it could have been catastrophic.

0:46This would have been one of the worst terrorist attacks in recent years, of course, post-October 7th. This would have been a 9-11-style attack, where the plane would have crashed either somewhere in the Jordanian desert or in an Israeli city. Where it was heading, it wasn't that far from an Israeli city. Iran has said the Prime Minister is barking up the wrong tree after Andy Burnham said there are strong indications the country played a part in a suspected terror plot near RAF Fairford. The Iranian foreign minister also said that releasing supposed terrorists working for foreign states really says it all.

1:22Mick Mulroy, former U.S. Assistant Secretary for the Middle East, told Times Radio that if Iran are found to be behind it, they are playing with fire. We're looking at a time right now where the President of the United States actively and publicly is considering a major military escalation, either before or after the midterms. These kind of things, I think, just in common sense, would weigh more toward doing it. If they are trying to attack allied bases, if they're trying to kill civilians, then I think it's going to bode poorly for them when it comes to the President's decision whether he should militarily escalate this.

1:55Five men arrested near the Gloucestershire Air Base on Sunday have since been released under investigation. US President Donald Trump has said we'll get more details later as to why the suspects were released. A 4 % increase to Ofgem's energy price cap takes effect from today amid warnings that household bills could soar by almost another£300 from January. Campaigners have urged the government to make plans now to support all households with energy costs this winter. Today's increase coincides with experts from Cornwall Insight predicting that it will rise by a further 16 % in January. Dame Esther Ransom has died at the age of 86.

2:35She was the face of TV shows like That's Life and became a tireless campaigner for young and old people. The head of the NSPCC says she helped millions of children by founding Childline, while Age UK has called her a true inspiration. She also pleaded with politicians to support Kim Leadbeater's assisted dying bill. The Labour MP has been speaking to Times Radio. She didn't want sympathy. She just wanted choice and she just wanted dignity. You know, it's easy to say it's not about me, but it wasn't about her because she actually knew, even if the bill had gone through, because there was a four-year implementation period for the law, then she wouldn't have been able to use the provision it provided.

3:16So she was very much campaigning on behalf of other people. And you can hear more on all of those stories throughout the day on Times Radio. Thank you.