The hottest conditions are forecasted for Wednesday when Monmouth is expected to reach 28C. Newport and Chepstow, along with Wrexham, are also expected to be among the hottest places in the country this week

Another heatwave could hit Wales this week with temperatures expected to reach 28C in parts of the country on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Forecasters say temperatures will reach around 26C by 4pm on Tuesday, marking the start of a spell of hot weather which is expected to intensify on Wednesday before remaining very warm into next week.

The hottest conditions are forecasted for Wednesday when Monmouth is expected to reach 28C. Newport and Chepstow, along with Wrexham, are also expected to be among the hottest places in the country this week.

The Met Office defines a heatwave in Wales as three consecutive days with maximum temperatures of at least 25C, with the threshold varying across different parts of the UK to reflect regional climates.

Advertisement

There could well be a heatwave in Wales this week, but it’ll likely be isolated to the east or south east of the country.

Eastern parts of Wales are expected to bear the brunt of the heat. Much of mid Wales is forecast to see highs in the mid 20s, while western coastal areas will remain noticeably cooler, generally in the low 20s.

Although temperatures are expected to ease slightly on Thursday, parts of the east of Wales are still forecast to remain at around 24 or 25C, which could tip us into heatwave territory.

Advertisement

Conditions will continue to be warm from Friday and remain so until around Wednesday next week, which is when temperatures are expected to return to more typical summer temperatures in the low 20s across much of Wales.

July has been 3C above average across the UK, according to provisional Met Office data, and with more than a month of summer left, the UK has already faced more days above 30C than ever before.

The prolonged spell of hot, dry weather comes as parts of Wales continue to experience exceptionally dry conditions following one of the driest Julys on record, increasing concerns over drought and wildfire risk.

Firefighters have spent days tackling a major blaze covering around 220 hectares of bracken and gorse at Blaenavon, while North Wales has also seen several large moorland fires as drought conditions tighten their grip on the region.

The combination of persistent heat, very low rainfall and dry vegetation has prompted repeated warnings from fire services for people to avoid lighting barbecues or campfires in the countryside.

Last week, Natural Resources Wales announced that parts of Wales are now in drought, saying that all of the country is experiencing prolonged dry conditions.

NRW said on Thursday that record-low river flows, back-to-back heatwaves and widespread wildfires have prompted the declaration of drought status in north Wales and the Upper Severn, causing problems for fish, wildlife and crops.

Get daily breaking news updates on your phone by joining our WhatsApp community here. We occasionally treat members to special offers, promotions and ads from us and our partners. See our Privacy Notice

By FRANCINE WOLFISZ, NEWS REPORTER

Published: 18:54 BST, 27 July 2026 | Updated: 19:40 BST, 27 July 2026

Nigel Farage has called for Zack Polanski to be arrested after the Green Party leader shared a photograph of a man wearing a T-shirt ‘planning his decapitation’.

Mr Polanski, 43, shared the image of the unknown bearded man, wearing sunglasses, a rainbow-striped hat and making the ‘peace’ symbol, to his 713,000 followers on Instagram earlier today.

The man’s black top showed a guillotine with the slogan: ‘We’re only making plans for Nigel.’

It is thought the shirt references a 1979 song title by English rock band XTC, but the addition of a guillotine suggests a darker statement.

Advertisement

Mr Farage tonight called for the Green leader to be arrested.

The Daily Mail understands Reform UK is in the process of reporting Mr Polanski to police, while Alex Wilson, Reform UK leader on the London Assembly, will be raising a complaint to the Greater London Assembly.

Just hours after it appeared, Mr Polanski removed the post, with a Green party spokesman stating he does not ‘support’ this ‘dangerous message’. 

However, the original post is tonight being shared widely on social media.

Advertisement

Mr Farage, 62, retweeted the image on X, writing: ‘This is what Zack Polanski has just posted on his Instagram. 

‘If I was to post anything as inciteful then I would expect to be arrested, and so should Polanski.’ 

Nigel Farage has called for Zack Polanski to be arrested after the Green Party leader shared a photograph of a man wearing a T-shirt ‘planning his decapitation’

Advertisement

Daily Mail understands Reform UK is in the process of reporting Mr Polanski to police over the post, which has since been removed

The party told The Daily Mail the post was ‘staggering’ given that it appeared just days after the brutal killing of Reform UK spokesperson Ann Widdecombe in her own home

Zack Polanski has deleted the post, which the Green Party said was part of a ‘collaboration’

Reform shadow home secretary Zia Yusuf told the Daily Mail the post was ‘staggering’ given that it appeared just days after the brutal killing of Reform UK spokesman Ann Widdecombe in her own home. 

Advertisement

He said: ‘Zack Polanski has posted to his 713k Instagram followers a photo of a man in a T-shirt depicting the beheading of Nigel Farage.

‘To do this just two weeks after our friend Ann was murdered is staggering. This is incitement to murder.

‘It should be treated as such by the police.’

Lord Walney, the government’s former adviser on political violence, called the post ‘sickening’.

Advertisement

He told the Daily Mail: ‘There must be serious consequences for Zack Polanski after he shared material implying the assassination of another politician. 

‘This would be sickening and unacceptable at any time but it is even more serious in the present environment in which a senior Reform member has been brutally killed. 

‘The Green Party must be barred from participating alongside mainstream parties if it fails to take action against its leader.’ 

A Green Party spokesman said the post had now been deleted and had appeared as part of a social media ‘collaboration’.

Advertisement

They said: ‘After attending a public event, Zack accepted a request to collaborate on a post with several images. 

‘Once this image was brought to his attention he immediately unshared the post. He unequivocally does not support this type of dangerous message.’

DC Rachel Fletcher is alleged to have made “sexist, inappropriate and offensive” comments about men between February and December 2023 while on duty for Northumbria Police.

The officer is also accused of making a comment about transgender women in or around January 2024 which is alleged to have been “transphobic, inappropriate and/or offensive”.

No details of the alleged comments have been confirmed.

It is alleged that, if proven, the actions would amount to gross misconduct.

A misconduct hearing is due to take place for three days from Wednesday (July 29) at the Old Magistrates Court in Houghton-le-Spring.

The discovery was made during a joint visit today, Monday, July 27 by Bolton North Neighbourhood Team officers and Bolton Council Trading Standards to a shop on Blackburn Road.

The visit was prompted by reports of illicit cigarettes and nitrous oxide being sold in the area.

Enquiries remain ongoing and anybody with information can contact the force.

Nitrous oxide canisters were recovered (Image: GMP)

A spokesperson said: “Nitrous oxide seized following concerns from the community.

“Today officers from the Bolton North Neighbourhood Team have conducted a joint visit with Bolton Council’s Trading Standards to a shop on Blackburn Road in Astley Bridge.

“This visit is acting on concerns from the community about the sale of illicit cigarettes and nitrous oxide in the area.

“During the operation, a quantity of nitrous oxide canisters were recovered from a nearby flat and enquiries are ongoing.”

Idaho college killer Bryan Kohberger has petitioned to revoke his guilty plea and is demanding to stand trial after he previously admitted to slaughtering four students.

The 31-year-old, who is serving four consecutive life sentences, revealed his decision to file the petition in an interview with the New York Times and claimed he had an ‘absolute claim of innocence.’

‘My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn,’ he told the newspaper. 

Kohberger pleaded guilty to the November 2022 murders of University of Idaho students Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20, last July.

He was sentenced to life without parole.

Though Kohberger admitted responsibility for the killings as part of a plea deal that spared him the death penalty, he has never publicly explained why he targeted the four friends. 

He declined to comment on specifics about the alleged evidence that he says will exonerate him, the Times reported.

He also reportedly refused to talk about the concerns he has surrounding the plea process. 

Best friends Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, were sleeping in the same bed after a night out. They were both stabbed multiple times

Young couple Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were also murdered by Kohberger

Advertisement

Mogen, Kernodle, Goncalves and Chapin were found stabbed to death on November 13, 2022, in a rented off-campus house in the small, rural town of Moscow.

Prosecutors say that Kohberger, who was masked, snuck into the home and brutally murdered the students. 

Kohberger, a graduate student in criminology at nearby Washington State University, was arrested in Pennsylvania, where his parents lived, roughly six weeks later.

A Q-tip from the garbage at his parents’ house and genetic genealogy were used to match Kohberger’s DNA to material recovered from a knife sheath found at the home, investigators said. 

They also used surveillance camera footage to help locate a white sedan that was seen repeatedly driving past the home on the night of the killings.

Cellphone location data also showed that Kohberger had been in the neighborhood multiple times before the attack. 

Kohberger’s attorneys got the trial moved to Boise after expressing concerns that the court wouldn’t be able to find enough unbiased jurors in Moscow.

But Judge Stephen Hippler rejected their efforts to get the death penalty taken off the table and to strike critical evidence – including the DNA – from being admitted in trial.

The student home at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, where the murders were committed

No blood or DNA was found in Kohberger’s white Hyundai Elantra after his arrest

From left: Dylan Mortensen, Goncalves, Mogen (on Goncalves’s shoulders), Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Bethany Funke

In exchange for Kohberger admitting guilt and waiving his right to appeal, prosecutors agreed not to seek his execution. Both sides recommended that he serve four consecutive life sentences without parole.

After his arrest in December 2022, Kohberger’s initial court-appointed lawyer said that the murderer was ‘eager to be exonerated.’

The defense spent more than two years challenging the evidence against hi before accepting the surprise plea deal just weeks before he was set to go to trial.

Kohberger acknowledged he committed the ‘willful, unlawful, deliberate’ murder of the victims ‘with premeditation and with malice aforethought’ as part of this agreement. But it didn’t force him to provide a narrative or say why he did it.

It’s unclear why Kohberger killed the four students and spared two roommates who were home at the time.

Investigators also never found a connection between Kohberger, the four victims or the two surviving roommates.

Judge Steven Hippler suggested in court that he too wanted to know why Kohberger did it, but he cautioned against continuing to wonder.

‘By continuing to focus on why, we continue to give Mr Kohberger relevance, we give him agency and we give him power,’ the judge said at the defendant’s sentencing. 

‘The need to know what is inherently not understandable makes us dependent upon the defendant to provide us with a reason, and that gives him the spotlight, the attention and the power he appears to crave.’

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates. 

When will the seats be released?

Set an alarm and get your details ready

More tips for cheaper travel

?

Select your team for football news tailored to you

Tasmin Paterson, 31, and her son Hudson Paterson, nine, were found dead at a property in the Fletchersbridge area of Bodmin, Cornwall, in September 2024

Advertisement

A mother took her son’s life before ending her own, an inquest has heard.

Tasmin Paterson, 31, and her nine year old son Hudson Paterson were discovered dead at a property in the Fletchersbridge area of Bodmin, Cornwall, in September 2024.

At an inquest into their deaths on Monday, it emerged that the relationship between Ms Paterson and her partner Marcus Hughes had broken down before he found mother and son dead in a bedroom at their shared home.

Cornwall Coroner’s Court heard that Ms Paterson, who had previously separated from Hudson’s father in an “amicable” split, had been living at the Bodmin property with Mr Hughes.

Mr Hughes told the inquest that the relationship had become “fraught” and grew particularly strained after Ms Paterson discovered he had been using a dating site.

He said: “We’d not broken up necessarily but we were on the verges, I felt.

“She believed it was to do with her ongoing health issues, but there were more things going on than that.”

Mr Hughes also revealed that Ms Paterson had experienced significant health difficulties following a head injury that left her with mobility problems, while the couple were also struggling with financial and housing pressures.

Senior coroner Andrew Cox said: “Mr Hughes was Tasmin’s partner at the time of her death and he accepted that, while their relationship had been good and healthy and strong at the outset, that more recently it had run into difficulties.

“There had been arguments, never anything physical and never involving Hudson, but I think it’s fair to say… that relationship was coming to an end.

“Mr Hughes accepted that Tasmin had caught him on a dating site.

“From Tasmin’s perspective, the relationship had not worked out how she had hoped, with all the disappointment and regret that comes with that.”

The hearing was told Hudson was “poorly” the night before his death, prompting his mother to say she would sleep in the same room as him, an arrangement that wasn’t considered “unusual”.

Mr Hughes stated he had no worries until the next morning, when neither appeared to have stirred.

He knocked and called out their names from outside the locked bedroom door, growing progressively more concerned when there was no reply.

After ringing the police, he forced entry and found Ms Paterson and Hudson’s bodies within.

During the inquest, Ms Paterson was characterised as a “doting” mother, with relatives stating they’d never had any cause to believe she would harm her son.

Aaron Paterson, her former husband and Hudson’s father, described their separation as “amicable” and said Hudson had been “everything” to his mother.

“She loved him with all of her heart and Hudson was her everything.

“She never hurt him, never raised a hand to him, never screamed in his ear or anything along those lines.

“I never had reason to be cautious or suspicious.”

A police investigation “very quickly recognised” Mr Hughes had played no part in either death, the coroner stated.

Mr Cox remarked: “The evidence of the police is that it is more likely than not that Hudson has died because he has been asphyxiated by Tasmin.

“That is a shocking turn of events, it is difficult to comprehend but I accept that evidence and as a matter of fact I find that is what has happened.

“It is far more likely than not that Tasmin has taken her own life and intended to do so.”

He determined Ms Paterson’s death was the result of suicide, while Hudson’s death was ruled an unlawful killing.

– Call Samaritans for free on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org..

The early bird gets the worm, according to experts, because early dinners result in better sleep.

As “early bird dinners” trend on TikTok — for health reasons and also to beat restaurant crowds — nutritionists and sleep experts have weighed in on the benefits of eating hours before going to bed, including an improved quality of rest.

Doctors say that eating too close to bedtime can cause heartburn or indigestion, and that instead, your last bite should come four to five hours before for the best chance at optimizing your circadian rhythm for deep sleep.

“Going straight to bed after a meal, particularly if the meal was large and/or contained high amounts of fat or spices, increases the chances that the food you just ate is still being processed by your body,” Dr. Farhan Abdullah, a board-certified internal medicine physician and the medical director of Magnolia Functional Wellness, told The Independent. “As such, your stomach could continue to produce excess acid, [causing] your body to become uncomfortable through bloating, or create pressure on your lower esophagus through gas buildup.”

“If you let some time pass before going to sleep…then your digestive system will calm down and your body will be able to relax into a state where you can fall asleep quickly and remain asleep until morning,” he said.

“This is a rare case where a TikTok trend actually aligns with basic human biology,” Alex Dimitriu, a sleep medicine specialist, told Heathline. “Eating earlier improves sleep by reducing digestion while asleep, and minimizing acid reflux, both of which can be disruptive to a good night’s sleep.”

Registered dietitian Julia Zumpano told the Cleveland Clinic: “An earlier dinner gives you a good amount of time to digest your food and allows your blood sugar to properly rise and fall after dinner. So, you’re not going to bed with a full belly or skyrocketing blood sugar. In fact, people who eat an earlier dinner often report better sleep.”

Zumpano went on to say that if there is no choice but to eat dinner later, being active after eating could be beneficial.

“If you’re eating dinner and going straight to bed, that’s going to slow down the digestion process,” she explained. “If you take a short 10- to 20-minute walk or do something active like clean the kitchen, vacuum or mop, or any moderate amount of movement is going to help with digestion.”

In addition to eating earlier, other diet changes that can improve someone’s ability to fall asleep include cutting out caffeine and sugary foods in the evening.

NEW YORK (AP) — A new platform from a progressive group that’s notched several recent primary victories is becoming fodder for Republican attacks, as the GOP looks to frame Democrats as extremists and communists ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Although the Democratic Socialists of America’s Workers Deserve More platform doesn’t necessarily line up exactly with the candidates’ own agendas, prominent Republicans over the weekend decried it. The DSA platform proposes drafting “a new constitution” with significant changes to the structure of the U.S. government, including abolishing the Senate, replacing the president and the Supreme Court with leaders picked by Congress and allowing all permanent U.S. residents to vote. Alongside those changes, the platform, published earlier this month, calls for a number of social reforms.

“The barbarians are inside the gate — and Democrats are WELCOMING them in,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote on X. “Communism is no longer a far fetched threat. It is here on our SHORES!”

The Wall Street Journal’s conservative-leaning editorial board also warned about the agenda, calling it radical and writing that the job of Republicans and willing Democrats is to educate the country about it. But it cautioned Republicans to avoid communism attack lines, saying they wouldn’t resonate with younger generations.

Progressive and DSA-backed candidates running in Democratic primaries across the country don’t all subscribe to the group’s full agenda. The left is also split between progressive and moderate wings that have different ideas about the best policies to carry the Democratic Party forward. But the DSA platform has created an opening for Republicans to attack Democrats with a broad brush as they look for an edge in races that will determine which party has a majority in Congress next year.

President Donald Trump this year has returned to an old habit of calling Democrats communists, saying they want to “destroy the traditional American way of life.” Other Republicans have followed suit, turning to more comfortable territory after months spent defending their party as disgruntled Americans fume about foreign wars and the high cost of living.

DSA agenda calls for dramatic overhaul of government and society

The DSA’s vision for the country laid out in mid-July proposes major changes that the group says can in part be achieved under the current system but ultimately would require “building a new society from the ground up.”

Among the suggested changes are expanding voting rights, publicly financing all elections, replacing the two-party system with a multi-party democracy, establishing public ownership of large corporations and expanding rights for immigrants while ending Immigration and Customs Enforcement detentions and deportations.

In a recent Fox News Channel appearance, the group’s co-chair Megan Romer confirmed various aspects of the agenda while acknowledging that some of the proposals, like abolishing borders and prisons, would be considered parts of a long-term plan.

The Republican National Committee over the weekend called attention to the platform in a post that several GOP lawmakers seized on to raise alarm.

“These people are insane,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz replied on X.

“Watch this clip closely,” wrote Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican. “These ideas could be coming to your community sooner than you think.”

Progressive candidates have succeeded in recent races

The DSA’s agenda comes as aligned candidates have triumphed in several recent Democratic primaries. They’ve capitalized on voter anger at the party establishment and rising skepticism of the U.S. alliance with Israel to edge out moderates in House races in New York and Colorado.

Democratic socialist candidates also have succeeded in mayoral elections in major U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., New York and Seattle. An upcoming Missouri primary pitting a DSA-backed former congresswoman against the moderate Democratic incumbent will further test the movement’s momentum.

In other elections, progressive candidates have outlined where they differ from the DSA’s agenda. In an upcoming Michigan Senate primary, for example, progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed has distanced himself from socialism, saying that he believes in capitalism but that it needs to be regulated.

Meanwhile, establishment Democrats including former Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison have forcefully pushed back against DSA candidates who run in the party’s primaries while criticizing the way the party is going.

“I say this with no ill will or animosity: if you hate the Democratic Party, then please don’t run for our nomination,” Harrison wrote in a social media post in June. “Don’t use our resources. Don’t rely on our volunteers. Don’t use our infrastructure. Don’t ask Democrats to invest their time, money, and energy in your campaign. Focus on building the party you actually support.”