Evening briefing Friday 17th October

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 the Times evening briefing on Friday the 17th of October. Prince Andrew is giving up his royal titles, including that of the Duke of York.

0:43It follows a series of scandals, including about his association with Jeffrey Epstein and people alleged to have links to Chinese spying. Royal correspondent Sarah Hewson has the prince's statement from Buckingham Palace. He says, in discussion with the king and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of his majesty and the royal family. I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life. Andrews says in his statement that he still vigorously denies accusations against him.

1:20He will keep the title of prince. Donald Trump says he's confident Vladimir Putin wants to end the war in Ukraine as he hosts Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. The US president was asked whether the Ukrainian president would be included in his proposed meeting with a Russian leader in Budapest. To be determined, but I would say most likely it's going to be a double meeting. It'll be a double meeting, but we will have the president, Zelensky, in touch. There's a lot of bad blood with the two presidents, and I'm not speaking out of turn when I say it. It's a very difficult situation. President Zelensky is proposing a deal to trade Ukrainian drones for US long-range Tomahawk missiles, something President Trump says they will discuss.

2:06The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, says the government's working to make sure Maccabee Tel Aviv fans can attend an Aston Villa game next month, despite being briefed last week that they could be banned. The ban was imposed on police advice. Pro-Palestinian protests have taken place at a number of Maccabee games in Europe, and there was violent disorder between Maccabee fans and protesters in Amsterdam last year. Andrew Fox, honorary president of Aston Villa Jewish Villains Supporters Club, told Times Radio it'll scare Jewish fans in the UK. I certainly have friends who are now concerned about going to the game, even just wearing their Magen David, their Star of David, around their necks.

2:41They don't want this political nonsense to interfere with their enjoyment of Aston Villa. They want to go to the game and just be treated like any normal fan. And to see fellow Jews from Israel banned sends a very dangerous message, because if they can't keep Maccabee Tel Aviv fans safe, How can they guarantee the safety of Jewish Aston Villa supporters? Three extremists who idolise the Nazis have been jailed for between 8 and 11 years each for planning terrorist attacks on mosques and synagogues. Christopher Ringrose, Marco Pizzetu and Brogan Stewart amassed 200 weapons between them. The government has failed in its bid to stop a legal challenge against its decision to ban Palestine action as a terror group.

3:20The Court of Appeal has ruled the co-founder, Huda Amori, can continue her challenge. And a professional Father Christmas performer has been sacked because he's too fat. 77-year-old Mike Mendoza was let go days before he began rehearsing for events at Windsor Great Park, run by the company Lapland. Lapland says it can't adjust Mr Mendoza's costume to fit him and insists that that was always a condition of his contract. Don't forget to subscribe to The Times News Briefing on Spotify or listen live to Times Radio online.

3:58This 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