BAELEN, Belgium (AP) — Firefighters battled a massive wildfire in eastern Belgium on Sunday that has burned more than 27 square kilometers (10 square miles) in the High Fens, a large nature reserve, and forced nearby residents to evacuate in what media describe as one of the worst-ever wildfires in the country’s recent history.

About 600 residents in nearby municipalities in Waimes and Bütgenbach, in Liège province near the German border, were told to evacuate Saturday as winds shifted and smoke spread through the area. Authorities also advised tourists to leave, while a nearby gymnasium was opened to receive evacuees.

Liège provincial Gov. Hervé Jamar said in a statement Sunday that more than 250 emergency personnel have been deployed, including over 100 Belgian and German firefighters, police and military officers and civil protection staff, helped by firefighting helicopters operated by Belgium’s federal police and the Netherlands,

Authorities said no homes had been affected as of Sunday morning, though the fire remained close to residential areas and heavy smoke persisted. They urged people to stay away from the fire zone, warning that unnecessary traffic could obstruct emergency vehicles and complicate firefighting operations.

The fire follows weeks of unusually hot and dry weather. The High Fens’ mix of heathland and peat bogs has complicated efforts to contain the flames.

In the nearby town of Monschau, in Germany, local authorities warned overnight that the fire was about 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the border and said firefighters were on alert. Early Sunday morning, the town website recommended that people in three outlying districts near the border leave the area temporarily because officials couldn’t rule out health risks caused by smoke.

Belgium was hit by another spell of intense heat this week, with temperatures reaching about 37 C (98.6 F) in parts of the country Friday.

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Corbet reported from Paris. AP writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed.

“I’m going to tell you the truth. He told me he’s watching Kit.”

Mark Allen’s on-air remarks during S4C’s coverage of Connah’s Quay’s defeat to Welsh champions The New Saints back in March was the first time it was publicly mentioned.

Manchester United scout Tony Coton, an old friend of Allen’s from their days playing at Manchester City together, was allegedly in the crowd to watch a largely unknown Swansea City loanee.

“He’s competent in what he’s doing. He’s growing up, and every time I see him play, he’s growing up in front of me,” Allen added.

In all honesty, it was a claim that wasn’t necessarily taken very seriously by many, including by some insiders at Swansea.

Just a couple of months on, however, young Kit Margetson is preparing to embark on a new chapter at Old Trafford, one he hopes will lead to the very top for club and country.

Training in the back garden

Margetson, who leaves the Swans without making a single senior appearance for the club, shares what for many in Wales is an instantly recognisable surname.

His father Martyn was, for much of his son’s time in SA1, serving as a goalkeeper coach with Swansea’s senior side, having held similar roles with both Wales and England.

Martyn is now back with the Wales set-up under Craig Bellamy, and has predictably had a big hand in his son’s early development, particularly during the Covid lockdown, which in another life might have put the then 13-year-old’s progress on ice.

“Me and Kit have had some major run-ins,” Martyn laughs.

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“But I knew goalkeeping was going to come full circle. I knew it in lockdown.

“Goalkeepers were going to be needed to be able to play the ball third line, not just, you know, tippy-tappy stuff playing out from your six-yard box.

“During lockdown was when Kit started to evolve as a goalkeeper because obviously we couldn’t go into training.

“I couldn’t go into training with Swansea, so me and Kit, we just trained together every day.

“In that time then I said to him, ‘the game’s going to come full circle again, and you’re going to be able to need to be able to kick the ball in behind the back four’.

“So we spent a lot of time in lockdown practising his longer-range kicking.

“Lo and behold, it is evolving full circle, and last year I think he had five assists for Connah’s Quay.

“He’s now capable of seeing a situation he likes, and he hits the ball in behind. He’s able to do that as well as play the shorter game.

“When that starts happening and metrics are being hit by a young goalkeeper out on loan playing men’s football, then, you know, the big boys then, they get alerted to it.

“That’s basically what happened with Kit.”

Lockdown also coincided with a massive growth spurt for the teenager, who would later go on to enjoy guidance from some of the club’s more established shot-stoppers.

“He came down one day in lockdown and I looked at him and I thought, ‘Bloody hell’.

“I watched him walk through the door and I said, ‘Do me a favour, Kit’. I said, ‘Just go upstairs and put your school trousers on’.

“Honestly, he came down and his school trousers were above his ankles.

“There’s a bit of science behind it because a lot of kids in that lockdown period, because they were sleeping for so long – you didn’t have to wake them up to go to school, for example.

“A lot of them shot up in lockdown, and Kit was one of them.

“He was growing and growing and has obviously got up to 6ft 4 now.

“So he had the physical attributes, we just had to work on the tactical side of things.

“I’m really passionate about that, and I concentrated on that with him throughout the whole of lockdown.

“I have to say last season, Lawrence Vigouroux, Andy Fisher and Paul Farman (Swansea’s goalkeepers) were a huge part of Kit’s development as well because he trained with us every day.

“That for him was massive because then he was going to Connah’s Quay and playing.”

The spell that changed everything

Margetson’s move to Old Trafford comes despite him not playing a single minute of senior football at the Swans, with his only real taste of first-team football coming in the form of a season-long loan spell at Cymru Premier side Connah’s Quay, where he spent the final year of his Swans contract.

As head coach John Disney explains, it proved a pivotal step in his career.

Disney is, as it happens, friends with Kit’s older brother Ben, whom he heard raving about the young goalkeeper’s progress in the Swans academy set-up.

“Quite a lot of clubs were interested in him at the time,” Disney remembers. “I think there were a couple of bids turned down from Brighton and other clubs at the time.

“We needed a goalkeeper on loan. My remit was to try and get a young goalkeeper, so I went to watch him live.

“The first thing that impressed me massively was his distribution with his feet.

“He was unbelievable. He can play short, he can play long, which is a dying art, I think, in goalkeepers now, especially the younger ones.

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“A lot of them are told to play out. But away from the coaching element, he just had a really good presence about him.

“He’s obviously a tall lad and he holds his box really well.

“But he was playing in youth football at the time, and I was just excited to see what that would look like from the men’s game.

“When he first came into the building, obviously he was coming from a Championship club into a part-time Welsh club, but his respect for everyone around the place was impeccable, and that’s probably credit to him and his family.

“I always trusted Kit and always knew that we could get something out of him. I never thought it would ever end up in a move to Manchester United, I’ll be honest with you!”

The Wales call-up

As well as scouts from Man United, Wales are clearly keeping a keen eye on the youngster’s progress.

Having previously come through the age grades, Kit received his first call-up to the under-21s back in September, and won his first cap under Matty Jones in the 2-0 win over Belarus back in March.

Goalkeeper coach Alex Ramsay is reluctant to saddle the youngster with any sort of prediction over where his talents may take him, but has already been impressed by the 20-year-old’s attitude.

“There’s obviously no doubt that he has a high level of technical ability both in possession and from a goalkeeping perspective,” he said.

“But what really stood out to me is the way he carried himself as a character.

“He showed a real willingness to learn and contribute to the team and to the goalkeeping group in general throughout the camp.

“But I just think the way he carried himself from a personal perspective really stood out to me.”

Bellamy is also closely monitoring Kit’s progress, having brought him into an EFL training camp earlier in the summer.

“You learn a lot and you get a lot as well,” Bellamy said at the time.

“We’ve selected one or two we would like to see in certain areas that we’re going to need in the next few years. It’s been really good to get to see them and you always leave these type of weeks with a lot of optimism for the future. There are some really good young players coming through, so it’s great to be able to get to see them and for them to see us as well.”

A future Wales number one?

When it comes to assessing the next generation, a new batch of goalkeeping talent will be one of the more pronounced items on the collective wishlist.

Karl Darlow and Danny Ward look to be the two contenders right now, but at 35 and 33 respectively, it’s natural to wonder how many more years either of them will be able to offer.

Options beyond them are frankly rather thin right now, and it’s not implausible that youngsters like Kit will become subjects of keen interest.

“Craig has certain principles for what his goalkeepers have to be,” dad Martyn adds. “They have to be able to handle football with their feet, and Kit certainly fits that bill.

“So obviously Craig is delighted for Kit to get this move, like he is for any Welsh player given this opportunity.

“With respect to our current goalkeepers, as brilliant as I think they all are in what they’ve done in their careers, they’re all about 30.

“So there is an opportunity, you know, in the years ahead for a young one to try and establish themselves.

“But he’s only going to do that if he’s out playing games.”

Martyn believes a loan move away probably awaits, although the rigours of Premier League 2 and the UEFA Youth League will both prove valuable experiences.

Disney, meanwhile, has fully accepted the possibility of a loan move back to Connah’s Quay, but has no doubt Kit has all the attributes needed to one day play at the highest level.

“I think he’s got the full dynamic of what a footballer or goalkeeper needs to be a part of a Premier League squad,” he added.

“But any footballer needs a bit of luck, to stay injury-free and to have a breakthrough. They need an opportunity, somebody to back them and trust them.

“That doesn’t matter whatever level that’s at. We had to back and trust Kit as an 18, 19-year-old keeper.

“So I think it’s going to take a little bit of time. He’s going to have to make sure he earns his stripes in training every day at Manchester United, and then he’s obviously going to have to earn his stripes while getting a loan move where possible and really kick on.

“But as I said to my owner back in June of last year, I do think Kit Margetson will play for Wales, and he will be Wales’ number one someday.”

*Follow all of our social channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Swans news. Sign up to our daily newsletter here and our WhatsApp channel here. Our Swansea City correspondent Tom Coleman is also on social media. He can be found on his X account here, on Instagram, on TikTok and on Facebook.

He was told that misuse of the 999 line is a criminal offence

A young boy has been given “strong words of advice” after calling 999 when he was banned from his X-Box account. Earlier this week, police received a 999 call from an 11-year-old boy in Peterborough.

The boy was asking to be transferred through to Microsoft as he had been banned from his X-Box account. The call handler assumed that this may have been a cover story, and the boy was trying to communicate that he was actually in danger.

Using simple yes / no questions, and telling the boy to press 55 on the keypad if he was in danger but couldn’t talk out loud, the call handler was quickly able to establish that the boy was safe, and was genuinely calling to try and get back into his X-Box account,

The boy was given strong words of advice and told that misuse of the 999 line is a criminal offence. He was also told that he could face a maximum penalty of up to six months in prison or a fine of £5,000 for persistently misusing 999.

Policing Peterborough said: “These types of calls tie up our resources and divert crews away from real, potentially life-threatening incidents. Please help us keep our phone lines free for genuine emergencies by educating friends, family members, and children about the dangers and risks associated with hoax calling.”

A royal correspondent has shared a revealing story about Kate Middleton’s early confidence in her relationship with Prince William, recounting how she reportedly told people “he’s lucky to have me”

A royal author and correspondent has recounted a story that sheds new light on Kate Middleton from the earliest days of her relationship with Prince William.

William and Kate rank among Britain’s most celebrated couples, having begun their romance while studying together at St Andrews University before tying the knot in 2011, some 15 years ago.

Among the most memorable and widely recognised moments from that period was Kate’s appearance in a student fashion show, which William also attended.

Yet beyond that fashion show’s dramatisation in Netflix’s The Crown, considerable curiosity has grown around how much Kate has transformed since joining the Royal Family — most notably the remarkable confidence she has developed throughout her time in royal life.

Appearing on The Talking Royals podcast, Simon Vigar, one of the longest-serving royal correspondents in the UK for Channel 5, spoke with host Charlene White about his latest book, ‘The Four Wives of Windsor: The Inside Story of the Power Behind the Crown’.

During their conversation, Charlene pressed Simon on how he felt Kate had developed throughout her years within the Royal Family, prompting him to reflect on that celebrated fashion show.

He remembered: “One of my favourite stories from early on, there’s the famous fashion show at university with William saying, ‘Wow Fergus, Kate’s hot’, which is the famous one.

“But the less famous one, of course she was one of the few people not chasing William at university which made her all the more attractive, and when they finally did get together, people would say to her, ‘Well, you’re lucky to have him’ and of course her response was, ‘Well, he’s lucky to have me’.

“And there’s a confidence there that isn’t always obvious. You know, she didn’t, she found the early stages difficult in her royal career. She obviously didn’t have the training that Meghan [Markle] had in terms of media and just excepting it.”

Simon’s comments regarding Kate came to light following reports that the Princess may accompany her husband on an overseas visit, one centred on the couple’s shared commitment to environmental issues and the planet’s future.

This represents an area where William has invested considerable energy, particularly through his Earthshot Prize, established in 2020, which aims to identify solutions to ensure our planet remains sustainable for generations to come.

Reports suggest that Kate may accompany William to the forthcoming ceremony scheduled for November in India. Russell Myers, Royal Editor for the Mirror, said: “The secret to the Prince and Princess of Wales’ marriage is support for one another throughout their roles as working royals and as parents to their three young children.

“Everything they do is in tandem and this includes Catherine being the catalyst for William launching the Earthshot Prize, when he doubted it could become the global success it has.”

Fresh attention has turned to the Earthshot Prize as Europe and the UK endure another prolonged heatwave and an extended spell without rainfall that has left the nation’s parks parched.

Shane Richie and his wife Christie Goddard have officially divorced after 19 years of marriage, according to reports. 

Their divorce was said to have been finalised on July 23 – just six days before the actor, 62, had a row with petrol station staff when he was challenged at the Tesco petrol station in Harlow, Essex, after he was seen vaping. 

After police attended the scene, Shane was charged with drink-driving and is set to appear in court next month. 

The split was said to have been prompted by Christie, 47, getting ‘fed-up with his spiralling behaviour’. 

‘Christie was at the end of her tether with Shane and had had enough. The divorce was her decision and she pursued it after talking it through with relatives. She had put up with a lot over the years and has had a really hard time of things lately,’ a source told The Sun. 

‘There was not one specific incident that led to the end, but a build-up of things. She got fed up with his behaviour and did not take the decision lightly.

‘There is a feeling he has been working hard and playing hard and that his behaviour has spiralled a bit.’

There had been reported questions over their marriage after it was previously claimed that Christie was terminated as director of their joint company Bluebelle Skye Productions in June so now has no control over the business empire they have run together since 2017.

The source added Christie hasn’t kicked him out of their £2million family home and that her main concern is their three children. 

They claimed she was ‘shocked’ by Shane’s drink-drive arrest and hopes it will be a ‘wake-up call’ for the actor. 

Shane was challenged after he was seen vaping at the Tesco petrol station in Harlow, Essex on July 29.

Footage of the incident, which unfolded just after 11pm, saw the actor being told he could not smoke on the premises.

Brandishing the vape, he replied: ‘It’s not smoking.’ Upon realising he was being filmed, the EastEnders star then claimed: ‘This is not a vape.’

After staff told him the vape ‘is a risk’, the actor, while reaching back inside his car and with his back to the employee, said: ‘I don’t give a f***.’

As the manager of the petrol station phoned police, claiming Richie was being ‘aggressive’, the TV soap star told the man filming: ‘Someone’s coming to change my tyre.’

Their divorce was said to have been finalised on July 23 – just six days before the actor, 62, had a row with petrol station staff when he was challenged at a Tesco petrol station 

Shane, who plays Alfie Moon on EastEnders, and Christie married in 2007, after meeting in 2001 (pictured 2005) 

Police were later seen arriving at the forecourt.

He was arrested and later charged with drink-driving. He is set to appear in court next month. 

It is a criminal offence to smoke a cigarette at a petrol station due to the danger posed by sparks in the proximity of fuel, which is highly flammable.

It is not a specific offence to vape on forecourts, but petrol station companies strictly prohibit it over concerns about the same risk.

Shane, who plays Alfie Moon on EastEnders, and Christie married in 2007, after meeting in 2001. 

They met by chance after heading to a local pub while he was doing panto in Wimbledon, London. 

Shane sweetly revealed that he knew it was love at first sight as he exclaimed upon meeting Christie: ‘I’ve just met my future wife!’ during his appearance on I’m A Celebrity. 

Discussing their happiest moments with his campmates, the actor recalled: ‘I remember the moment, I was doing Panto in Wimbledon, I came off stage, my mate said to me, “We’re going across the road to the pub.”

‘Walked in, there was four or five people, she said, “Come and say hello to some friends”.

‘She went, “Shane this is Christie, Christie this is Shane.” At the moment I went, “I’ve just met my future wife”.’

Christie has also previously recalled the moment she met Shane, as she told the Standard: ‘I first met him when he was in Jack and the Beanstalk in Wimbledon. I was in Cinderella in Croydon.

‘A friend took me to meet him and there he was all in green tights and a little green suit.’

He was previously married to Loose Women star Coleen Nolan from 1990 to 1999. They share son Shane, 37 (pictured 1997) 

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Shane has had a complicated past with his relationships and was previously married to Loose Women star Coleen Nolan from 1990 to 1999. They share son Shane, 37.

Shane was unfaithful to Coleen during the marriage.

In 1996 Shane had an affair with dancer Claire Tyler while married to Coleen, and admitted his deception in his 2003 autobiography Rags To Richie: The Story So Far.  

Shane once confessed: ‘I lost my first wife through my drinking. A bottle of Jack Daniel’s and I was off.’ 

Shane is best known for his EastEnders role, having appeared on the soap for multiple stints since 2002, and his character has currently been part of the line-up since 2022.

He portrayed Alfie Moon again in a six-part spin-off Redwater in 2017.

The Daily Mail has contacted Shane’s representative for comment. 

The summer window is stepping up as Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham all work on more signings before the deadline. Arsenal are said to be plotting a shock bid for Jack Hinshelwood as they continue to chase England duo Ezri Konsa and Jarell Quansah, while Victor Osimhen could yet become Mikel Arteta’s statement attacking signing as the Gunners also remain in the race for Julian Alvarez.

South Wales Police are at the scene of an incident at Gabalfa Interchange.

A statement read: “The A48 is currently closed in both directions .

“Gabalfa Interchange is closed inbound and outbound from The Aneurin Bevan to St Mark’s Church.

“Please avoid the area and use alternative routes where possible.

“Thank you for your patience.”

Danny Mavor, who served in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in Iraq, was paralysed from the neck down after a motorcycle accident six years ago.

A tetraplegic veteran is taking on a 79-mile journey in his off-road wheelchair to prove that life goes on and can still be “extraordinary”.

Danny Mavor, who served in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in Iraq, was paralysed from the neck down after a motorcycle accident six years ago. He is now based at Erskine Hospital.

The 41-year-old, from Glasgow, is preparing to travel across Scotland along the Great Glen Way using a chin-controlled wheelchair in a major endurance challenge next month. The journey will take Mr Mavor from Fort William to Inverness over three days, raising funds for people living with spinal injuries through the charity Regain.

It will push him to his physical and mental limits, but he said he wants to help support other tetraplegics who are facing similarly life-changing spinal injuries.

“All my life, I’ve always enjoyed that feeling of a challenge,” Mr Mavor told the Press Association.

“You break your neck and your previous life is kind of history – who you were, what you were, everything you identified as – there’s a lot to get over.”

He said he wants to struggle on this challenge because he believes sitting still is slowly killing him. Mr Mavor said he struggles day to day with pain that he has felt since the moment he broke his neck.

“It intensifies when I’m doing things like this [or when] I’m talking about the past, but it also gives me a little bit of a buzz thinking about my old life,” he said. “I just know that I’m struggling anyway, so why not do the things that I loved, like mountains, like a challenge, like hanging out and [enjoying] camaraderie with the boys?”

Mr Mavor previously said attempting 25 miles a day through Scottish terrain feels somewhere between “inspiring and absolutely idiotic”. There will be at least two or three obstacles throughout the journey where Mr Mavor will need to use harnesses and rely on his support team to traverse steep inclines.

“The path is going to be walkable, and drivable in a wheelchair,” he said. “It’s going to be bobbly, it’s going to be bumpy, and I’m going to have a very sore chin.”

He added: “This chair is all-terrain, and that’s great, but there’s still bumps – like stones and just little cambers, things like that that are all going to make a huge difference to the start and the end of each day.”

The shop will offer food and household items along with a post office and laundry services

A former Methodist chapel will be converted to make way for a village’s first shop. Baston Shop Ltd applied to Peterborough City Council to convert the former Ailsworth Chapel into a community shop.

Ailsworth and neighbouring village Castor currently do not have a shop. The most recent shop the villages had was The Paper Shop, which closed in May 2025. The chapel on Main Street was built in 1860 and has not been used since 2022.

A planning statement said: “The proposal secures the long-term use and revitalisation of a valued community asset.” The shop will “offer a range of food, household items and other necessities, along with a post office and laundry services”.

The planning document added: “Public support for the proposal is positive, far outweighing any concerns around parking, which previously blighted an application for residential conversion at the site.”

According to the now-approved plans, it is suggested the shop will three part-time staff members. It is expected to open seven days a week between 7am and 8pm. The applicant also sought approval to build a flat at the back of the property.

The applicant added: “The vacant chapel will provide an excellent location for a community shop as it is centrally sited in Ailsworth and also offers ease of access for Castor residents.”

No dedicated car parking was proposed for the site but five cycle spaces were included in the plans. Ailsworth Parish Council (APC) recognised there was “without doubt” a need for a local shop in the village, but it objected to the plans because of concerns about the impact on parking and road safety.

A spokesperson for the parish council said: “Road safety concerns have been raised by APC to the Highways Department on a number of occasions over the years, with particular reference to dangerous parking on corners around Helpston Road, Maffitt Road and Main Street. The information provided in the application does not provide adequate mitigation for adding to these safety concerns.”

One resident raised a similar concern. They said: “Parking is severely restricted and the number of cars present during daytime makes driving through Main Street difficult at any time of day, and especially during the evenings and weekends. A shop operating from 7 am to 8 pm would only serve to make this much worse.”

They want to make sure he receives any required medical help

Police are asking for the public’s help to identify a man who was injured in Cambridge yesterday afternoon (August 15). The man was last seen in Stourbridge Common heading towards Fen Ditton on a bicycle at about 2.45pm.

Police believe that he has been injured in an altercation, and an investigation is continuing into what took place. Police’s main aim currently is to find out who he is, and make sure he gets medical help.

Detective Inspector Sean Clery said: “We are keen to hear from anyone who knows this man or his whereabouts. We believe he has been injured in an altercation, and an investigation is ongoing into the circumstances.

“However, our main aim at this time is to find out who he is and ensure he receives any required medical attention.” Anyone with any information is urged to contact the police online or via 101 quoting incident 362 of 15 August.