Evening Briefing Tuesday 25th August

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.

0:35This is the Times Radio evening briefing for Tuesday 25th August. Ministers are being urged to free up prison spaces by reducing the number of former inmates being recalled to jail. The government's early release scheme is due to free up about 5 ,000 prisoners over the next year, but there are almost double that number in jail after being recalled despite facing no new charges. According to a report by criminal justice charity NACRO, only a fifth of recalled prisoners have committed a further criminal offence. Police looking into alleged criminality in the run-up to a crash that killed seven people on the A66 have made five more arrests, taking the total to 17.

1:17Detectives think five young men who died near Middlesbrough on Saturday might have had links to organised crime. The car they were travelling down the wrong way of a dual carriageway in went into a police vehicle, killing two officers. An undercover investigation released exclusively by TORQ suggests people smugglers are using labour as a form of payment for small boat crossings to the UK. Journalist Christian Drogon managed to get on a dinghy by pretending to be a British criminal on the run in Calais. On the French side, people are helping the smugglers and they have to work, say, two months to get people to the boats and set the boats off, that sort of thing.

1:52And then once they've done the two months or whatever period it might be, you're on your way to Britain. Mr Drogon claims the traffickers themselves also get onto the boats to make sure they leave before pretending to be ill en route so they can effectively get a lift back to France. French authorities are compelled to help anyone experiencing difficulties. The Home Office says 48 ,000 have been prevented since Labour came to power two years ago. Canada says it will match US tariffs dollar for dollar and impose counter levies on American steel, dairy, appliances and a range of other goods. It comes in response to 50 % tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on a small percentage of Canadian goods as of Friday.

2:31in addition to existing US tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminium, automobiles and lumber. And England Test cricket captain Joe Root says he's hacked off after bowler Brydon Kars was dropped from the squad for the second test against Pakistan, pending an investigation into him being filmed handcuffed outside a nightclub on Saturday. I've spoken to Brydon, you know, when I first found out my first concern was him as a person. He's someone I've spent a lot of time with, been involved in this dressing room. He obviously developed personal relationships with players. he's very upset, been very apologetic and understands his actions and I'm sure when he gets his chance he will say that himself but I don't think it's a, it's not the isolated incident itself I think it's the fact that we continually keep making stupid mistakes away from the game and it's detracting from what we're doing on the field It follows former captain Ben Stokes and bowler Gus Atkinson being banned for a game in June after an incident that broke team protocol and Vice-Captain Harry Brooke being fined for an altercation with a bouncer in New Zealand for the ashes in the winter.

3:35You can hear plenty more of these stories throughout the evening on Times Radio. This 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.

4:15Discover more at pwc.co.uk From blockades to breakthroughs. From rising tides of populism to market crashes. From number 10 to the White House. The Story podcast helps you digest the news cycle with the best journalism from The Times and The Sunday Times. I'm Manveen Rana. And I'm Luke Jones. We'll bring you one news story told in-depth every day. Exclusive stories, expert analysis and groundbreaking investigations. Find the story wherever you get your podcasts.