Morning briefing Wednesday 14th October

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1:21This is Times Radio's morning briefing on Wednesday the 14th of October. I'm Daryl Jackson. The Pope has undergone surgery to treat lung cancer. The Vatican confirmed the pontiff had a lower lobe of his right lung removed during the procedure, which was described as successful and which went as planned. Kea Burgess is religious affairs and science correspondent. We were told that he had a nodule on his lungs. Some of the phrasing when they announced this the other day, talking about it being very well localised, perhaps gave a hint that a cancer diagnosis might be suspected at the time, but we didn't know.

1:57He then went to have surgery. He apparently had that nodule removed. Andy Burnham's expected to use a visit by the Ukrainian president at Downing Street later to announce an acceleration of military help. It's thought the prime minister will also promise further rounds of sanctions on Russia. It's after Donald Trump made a deal to buy Russian diesel ahead of the US midterm elections. Lee Turner, former British ambassador to Ukraine, told Times Radio what the purpose of the visit is. To demonstrate that the UK is still strongly supporting Ukraine, to say we are still behind you. And I think there's a kind of wish list, there's a number of things that Prime Minister Andy Burnham will announce to demonstrate that support for Ukraine.

2:41The Times is reporting that ministers are to announce a tax crackdown on online retailers in this month's budget. It comes as Chancellor John Healy promises to deliver a budget for the White Van Man and the High Street beautician. For the first time, multi-billion pound online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay would be made responsible for collecting VAT from retailers selling on their platforms. Dan Bloom, Politico's political editor, told Times Radio the government had previously spoken about changing business rates. To rebase the business rate system is a huge thing to do. It's very complicated.

3:17You kind of have to do a lot of it at once. And basically, they haven't had time to do this since coming in in July. And we don't quite know when they will do it or if they will do it, etc. This looks like a way to get around that by looking at the VAT rules. But the sort of elephant in the room, the business rates, maybe that's not going to be changed yet. The family of a man who died after being mauled by a tiger at a zoo near Doncaster on Saturday say he suffered from significant mental illness. In a statement, William Chapman's been described by those who knew him as bright, warm and engaging.

3:50Sean Bradley is Northern correspondent for The Times and says he was a former child actor. He's understood to have actually grown up in Buckinghamshire, where he worked as a child actor. so he attended Jackie Palmer Stage School. He had roles in films and TV shows like Make and Say Nuts on ITV with Shirley Henderson and he also played Edward Jenner in the BBC series True Stories and was an extra in the 2015 film Pan. Yorkshire Wildlife Park remains closed. And the home of London's oldest restaurant, which has hosted famous faces from Dickens to Madonna over the past two centuries, has been given to the National Trust.

4:26The charity said the donation of the building in Covent Garden, which has been home to Rolls since 1798, would secure the future of a building where kings dined and writers and politicians plotted. Its diners have also included Liza Minnelli, David Bowie and Harrison Ford. And you can hear more on all of those stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

4:56Russell Brand is currently standing trial on charges of rape and other sexual offences he has pleaded not guilty to them. Reporters from The Times and The Sunday Times will be in the courtroom every single day to watch what happens. Then they'll join me, Luke Jones, in the podcast studio to unpack everything they have heard. Search for The Trial of Russell Brand wherever you get your podcasts.