Morning briefing Wednesday 18th June

0:00Hi, I'm Katie Prescott from the Times Tech Podcast. AI is already changing business and medicine, but could it also change the way we look after our own health? In a special episode in Paid Partnership with Vitality, we look at how AI, wearables and everyday health data could help shift healthcare from treating illness to preventing it. Listen to the Times Tech podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

0:28This is your morning briefing for Wednesday the 18th of June. Donald Trump's demanded Iran's unconditional surrender, but says their supreme leader is safe for now. The US president is reportedly weighing up joining Israel's strikes targeting Iran's nuclear sites. Iran says it will never compromise with Israel and show the Zionists no mercy. It's five days since Israel began attacking Iran, with both sides still firing at each other. Joshua Hantman is a former spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Defense and advisor to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. This isn't Israel's fight. In fact, this isn't even just America's fight.

1:06And this is a fight really for the free world, probably the most important fight since the end of World War II, to rid the world of at least the weapons that the despicable regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran could potentially have, but potentially also to rid the world of this Islamofascist, colonialist, expansionist, theocratic regime in Iran. Women will no longer be prosecuted for having a late-term abortion after a landmark vote by MPs last night. The biggest change to abortion laws in half a century passed with a majority of 242 in a free vote backed by 11 cabinet ministers. After the vote, women who terminate a pregnancy after 24 weeks or without approval from two doctors will no longer be charged, sentenced or imprisoned.

1:54Peter Kearney from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children didn't agree with this outcome, calling it barbaric. We have a situation where we do know from a number of opinion polls that the overwhelming majority of the public, that's more than 95%, do not support this move. They do not support abortion up to birth. MPs have gone ahead by quite a significant majority and voted for it, which just suggests once again a complete and total disconnect. Plans for cuts to benefits, which will impact more than 3 million households, will be published later. The government's facing a battle to convince dozens of Labour MPs to back them.

2:32Liz Kendall, the welfare secretary, has set out proposals to cut£5 billion from the welfare budget, which she has said is unsustainable, and trapping people in welfare dependency. An estimated 800 ,000 current and future recipients of the Personal Independence Payment, or PIP, which helps with the daily cost of living, will lose an average of£4 ,500 a year, according to a government assessment. And the man who was given a restraining order for stalking tennis star Emma Raducanu has been caught trying to get tickets for this summer's Wimbledon. An application from the individual was found in the public ballot before reportedly being removed by tournament organisers.

3:13His name had been red-flagged and was highlighted by the security system. For more stories like these, listen to Times Radio throughout the day.

3:47to preventing it. Listen to the Times Tech Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

4:17So you can. PwC refers to the PwC network and or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity.