Evening briefing Thursday 23rd July

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 Hello, this is your Times Radio Evening Briefing for Thursday the 23rd of July with me, James Kitchen. Andy Burnham has put the early prisoner release scheme on hold before more than 5 ,000 prisoners were due to be freed from September.

0:46It comes after the widow of PC Andrew Harper described the possible release of two of his killers as deplorable. The Prime Minister says no prisoners will be freed until the government's conducted an urgent review and done everything it can to minimise risk to the public. The Times' newsroom reporter is Olly Cole. At the moment, we have about 3 ,000 spare prison places on the male prison estate, which actually is greater than we have had for some time. So there is a small political window of opportunity that this story has come up, and actually you are able to do something about it without everything suddenly going off the rails.

1:23But if you want to carry out a full-scale review of this policy, and then you also want to change what's happening, MPs aren't back to change that legislation until September. Police have apologised after admitting phones were twice seized from the Manchester synagogue attacker months before the knife assault but were not examined. Jihad al-Shamie was on bail for an alleged rape when he carried out the attack on Heaton Park Synagogue in October last year in which two Jewish men were killed. His phones, which contained evidence of his extreme views, were seized after he was arrested in February and September.

1:57Donald Trump says the deal between the The US and Saudi Arabia to help the country develop nuclear energy is dependent on Riyadh recognising the state of Israel. The Trump-brokered Abraham Accords have led to five countries, including two Arab nations, recognising their neighbour. The Times' World Affairs editor Catherine Filt says the deal is now unlikely to happen. Saudi Arabia has been very clear that it will not normalise relations with Israel without, at the very least, some moves towards a Palestinian state. Now the current Israeli government have simply ruled that out altogether. The Prime Minister says the cavalry is coming to save the working class culture of pubs with a 20 % business rate cut.

2:41The discount, which will apply to 32 ,000 hospitality businesses, including clubs and live music venues, is expected to cost around£100 million a year. John Vincent is the co-founder of Leon Restaurants, which will not qualify for the relief. Speaking to Times Radio, he said the distinction made between restaurants and pubs is old-fashioned, calling the move bizarre. It's nice to think that pubs are all owned by your local landlady, but most of them are owned by big chains, big private equity that are benefiting from this. Most restauranteurs are actually pretty hard-working people who are now at even more of a disadvantage because they were at a disadvantage before, given the economics.

3:21Now they're going to be at a disadvantage again because the pub, which is next door, which sells food, which sells alcohol, which employs people in exactly the same way that they do, is going to be at an advantage. A drought has been declared in North Wales in the Upper Severn, the first part of the UK to make the announcement. It follows record-breaking heatwaves across the country this summer. The area has received less than 2 % of the expected rainfall for the month so far. Remember, you can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio online.

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