Thames Water has said its hosepipe ban is likely to be enforced until the end of the year.

More than 27m people across England have now had hosepipe use restricted in their area, including Thames Water’s 10.1m customers after a ban was put in place last month.

After several heatwaves over a record-breaking summer and historic lows of rainfall, hosepipe restrictions in England’s capital and surrounding areas could last for several months, the water firm said.

Nevil Muncaster, strategic water resources director at Thames Water, told Times Radio: “I think realistically, it’s going to be towards the end of the year before that comes off.

“That’s something that we need to make sure we do just to protect the environment.”

Earlier this week, it urged customers to continue efforts to reduce water use as it revealed household demand has fallen by 3 per cent across London and more than 6 per cent across the Thames Valley and Home Counties since a hosepipe ban began on 23 July.

In an update on Tuesday, the utility said London reservoir storage was at 74 per cent, which is lower than what the firm would expect for this time of year but the Farmoor Reservoir in Oxfordshire is 92 per cent full.

It also said rainfall in the Thames catchment area during July was less than 1mm, which is just 2 per cent of the long-term average, while customers used around 100 million litres more water every day than normal, adding further pressure to rivers, reservoirs and the water network.

Mr Muncaster said that dry conditions were still expected, even though some rain is forecast to fall.

“The Environment Agency forecast is that it will be drier than normal for the next few months, but we’ll wait and see,” he added.

The beleaguered water firm, which is the country’s largest, is struggling under almost £20bn in debt, with cash running out to see the firm through beyond the end of this year and widespread concern about which direction is best for the future of the business.

Mr Muncaster told Times Radio that a new reservoir at Abingdon in Oxfordshire is unlikely to be ready until 2040.

He also defended the fact the company’s £250m Beckton desalination plant, which opened in 2010 to provide water during droughts, had been offline this summer.

He said: “It was something we planned. We had a very wet winter, so we took the opportunity to do that maintenance, expecting us to be able to work through the summer.”

Pocklington-based Jason and Belle Richardson, who created SealStop in 2024, will be pitching for investment for their pioneering SealStop, the ground-breaking automatic shut-off valve designed to eliminate water waste and save gardeners’ time.

Together, they say, they have found an innovative solution to an everyday problem.

SealStop, which is now sold across six countries across the world, has won 12 major awards during the past two years, including recognition for sustainability and innovation.

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The episode will air on Thursday August 27 at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

During the episode, Jason and Belle will pitch to Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman and Steven Bartlett, as well as footballing legend Gary Neville.

Belle Richardson said: “We are so thrilled to have been featured in this series. It’s such an honour and a privilege and we cannot wait for the episode to air. What started as one of those everyday frustrations on our smallholding has completely changed our lives.

Jason and Belle Richardson on Dragon’s Den (Image: Pic supplied)

“We never imagined it would lead us to building an award-winning business together and standing in front of the Dragons. We’re incredibly proud of how far we’ve come in such a short space of time, and we hope our journey inspires others to back their ideas and just give it a go.

“Our appearance on national television comes after an exceptional period of growth.

“Apart from the awards we have won, we have expanded into international markets; we are recognised as one of Yorkshire’s fastest-rising startups; we are proud to be standard bearers for British manufacturing; and our mission to help people waste less water through simple innovation is gaining real traction.”

Belle added: “Saving water has never been so important. It has been predicted that, by 2050, there will be a five billion litre water shortfall daily in the UK. Meanwhile the Government, realising this potential water crisis, has set a 20 per cent reduction target for household water use,” added Belle.

Tune in on August 27 to see how Jason and Belle fare and discover if they impress enough to gain investment.

For further information about SealStop, please visit www.Sealstop.co.uk

By GREG HEFFER, POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

Published: 11:20 BST, 21 August 2026 | Updated: 12:30 BST, 21 August 2026

Teofimo Lopez takes on Rolando Romero in Las Vegas this weekend, with the winner likely to face whoever comes out on top between Conor Benn and Ryan Garcia

The T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas is the place to be over the next couple of weeks, starting this weekend when Teofimo Lopez takes on Rolando Romero for the super version of WBA welterweight title.

Lopez moves up to 147 pounds as he bids to recharge his career after the defeat to Shakur Stevenson last time out. Stevenson was all wrong for Lopez, who loves opponents to come on to him.

He won’t have far to look for Romero, who knows only one way to fight. Romero has been quiet since his surprise win over Ryan Garcia 15 months ago.

Victory will likely open the door to a moneyed showdown with the winner of Garcia and Conor Benn, who meet in the same Vegas ring next month.

Romero’s two defeats have come against compact aggressors with big punches. Lopez does not offer the same heavy-handed threat as Gervonta Davis and Isaac Cruz, but he can still punch and has more strings to his bow. Lopez is the better technician. He can box, counter and wallop.

What he can’t do is back up opponents, which is precisely the game of Romero, who is tough, takes a shot and fights at pace.

Romero reminds me a little bit of the great Mexican Carlos Palomino, who knocked out John H Stracey and Dave Boy Green a year apart at Wembley half a century ago for the WBC welterweight crown.

Romero doesn’t have Palomino’s finesse but he fights in the same mauling style. He wants that slugging match, but Lopez is too smart for that.

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It’s all happening at 147 with Garcia and Benn setting the economic agenda with their big- money match. The fight generated $6.3m in ticket sales in the first 24 hours. Benn was demanding $15m to take the fight. The details of the deal have not been disclosed but it’s fair to say the numbers for both boxers will be big.

Lopez and Romero are doubtless fighting for less in the hope of hitting the jackpot against next month’s winner. For Lopez it is a real chance to get everyone talking about him again after the Stevenson setback.

The defeat to Stevenson was predictable. Lopez doesn’t like guys who run or stand off him. He can’t chase them down.

That is why this has the makings of a classic. Lopez wins by controlling the centre of the ring with his jab and whipping in the right at every opportunity. Expect Lopez to start getting through in the later rounds and possibly winning by stoppage.

Follow Barry on X at @‌ClonesCyclone @mcguigan’s_Gym

Trumpington residents said the developer, who remains responsible for the roads, has been ‘very very slow’ to fix broken lights

Cambridge residents fear their safety may be at risk after delays in fixing broken streetlights in a new development has left streets “completely dark at night”. Clay Farm and Glebe Farm saw their first homes occupied more than a decade ago, but residents report ongoing issues with road management.

Central to their concerns is that responsibility for the roads still lies with developer Vistry, not Cambridgeshire County Council, as they remain unadopted. Residents on the Trumpington estates have reported issues with parking enforcement and long delays for repairing street lights.

Dr Kevin O’Brien has lived on Clay Farm since 2016, but said that since then they’ve got no closer to road adoption. The 56-year-old said the developer, who sub-contracts much of the road management, has not taken responsibility for the roads.

He said: “In the summer of 2023, a whole series of lights went out – both street and pathway lights – and it has been an ongoing battle to get these things fixed.”

He said three years on, some lights have finally been fixed – only for new ones to go out. Dr O’Brien even tried to get the police involved due to safety concerns, but was told they couldn’t do anything as the roads are privately owned.

He said: “There are complete blackspots where you can’t see anything. The police have had a major push to combat violence against women and girls – and one of the concerns around violence against women and girls is poor lighting and dangerous streets. There’s an enormous amount of frustration as a home-buyer – you buy into a new development, get all these promises of how it’s going to be brilliant, and then left in these rabbit holes from all of these issues.”

David Plank, a Glebe Farm resident and member of the Trumpington Residents’ Association, said the developer had been “very very slow to attend” to the lighting issues.

The 82-year-old said: “There are significant street lighting problems in the new developments with lights not working. A very significant number of street lights on Glebe Farm are not working and the developer is being very very slow to attend to it. There are safety issues apart from anything else.

“It really is a scandal that more than ten years on none of the roads in those two developments have been adopted. It leads to difficulties for residents actually getting problems sorted out and it can be an obstacle to selling your house if people see the roads aren’t adopted.”

Cllr Olaf Hauk, of Trumpington, raised a motion at last month’s Cambridge City Council meeting to highlight the issues residents face on estates with unadopted roads.

The Liberal Democrat councillor said: “As a resident of a new development, you encounter broken street lights and street furniture, missing or confusing signage, uncertainty over parking rules. If there is something weird and it don’t look good, who are you going to call? Well you don’t know because you don’t know who owns the place.

“And sometimes it really feels like we are hunting ghosts. Some streets are completely dark at night because streetlights have not been fixed. The fundamental problem is that public services are expected to be publicly accountable.

“Residents on these estates pay exactly the same council tax as everyone else in Cambridge. Yet often they receive fewer public services because essential infrastructure remains in private hands.”

A spokesperson for Vistry said they have done a survey of the lighting infrastructure across the development and started work to fix them.

They said: “The works are now underway and will be carried out over the coming weeks. We recognise the frustration experienced by some residents and are committed to improving the reliability of the lighting network across the site. We will continue to work with relevant stakeholders as the programme progresses.”

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire County Council said developers can offer roads up for public adoption but they do not have powers to mandate this.

They said: “As such, it is not possible at this time to suggest when these roads may be adopted. However, the council has been in dialogue with the developers throughout the design and construction phases of these developments.

“We approved the design of the streets and we have inspected the works throughout the entire construction period. The Council therefore remains content, in principle, to adopt the internal roads within Clay Farm and Glebe Farm once all technical and legal requirements have been fulfilled by the developer.”

A year after successfully transmitting ocean data from a shark for the first time, scientists are pushing ahead with an unusual experiment that could eventually help predict the strength of hurricanes.

Researchers from the University of Delaware, US, first revealed the project last summer after fitting sharks with sensors that measure conductivity, temperature and depth as they swim through the Atlantic.

The researchers are continuing to test whether sharks could become roving, near-real-time ocean observers, gathering information from parts of the Atlantic that are difficult and expensive to monitor.

Of particular interest is the heat content of the ocean’s upper layer, which can influence how powerful a hurricane becomes before it reaches land.

Until now, researchers have relied partly on robotic ‘gliders’ – mini submarines that gather similar measurements – but the machines are expensive, relatively slow-moving and cover limited areas.

Sharks, by comparison, can travel vast distances. Researchers have identified shortfin makos, blue sharks, smooth hammerheads and juvenile great whites as promising candidates because they regularly surface, allowing sensors on their fins to transmit data to satellites.

The researchers stress that the idea is still being tested, but hope shark-gathered data could eventually supplement existing observing systems and help forecasters better predict hurricane intensity.

“They are amazing animals perfectly adapted to the ocean, and we can learn a huge amount from them,” principal investigator, prof Aaron Carlisle, told Reuters. “If we can show that sharks can help people, it’s a win-win situation.”

Image: University of Delaware

The top jumps trainer is aiming to cater for up to 2,000 people who will get a behind the scenes glimpse of the operation of a major racing stable

Top jumps trainer Olly Murphy is throwing open his doors to up to 2,000 members of the public next week determined to show horse racing in the best possible light.

Murphy will be joined by champion jump jockey Sean Bowen at his 145-box yard at Wilmcote, near Stratford-Upon-Avon, at the event on Tuesday, one of the biggest stable visits to be staged during National Racehorse Week.

Over ten days from August 22 to 31, 96 different racing venues across England, Scotland and Wales will be open to the public, alongside over 50 community events and three city activations held at some of England’s biggest cities and landmarks.

And the sport is coming to the heart of London for the first time when the public can meet a racehorse, at one of four city pop-up racing yards. Two will be held in Liverpool and another in Portsmouth.

Spaces are available for more than 15,500 people to attend public events this year, an increase on last year’s figure of 14,800 free spaces available to book. During the event there will be 111 public open days across 96 venues including: 76 training yards, 11 studs and nine aftercare centres

Murphy has been a staunch supporter of National Racehorse Week, believing he has a duty to show the sport’s commitment to horse welfare.

“We are opening our gates to an unlimited number,” he said. “We are at a very important stage in horse racing and this gives the wider public an opportunity to see what we do.

“I am very keen to have the public come in and see how these horses are looked after, spend the morning with us and meet myself and the staff and see how we operate.”

As well as Bowen signing brochures, Murphy will put on various demonstrations of the operation of a racing yard.

“This is not about me trying to get new business or new owners, it’s just to welcome everyone into Warren Chase who might not have seen a racing yard before or even those who have.” he said.

“It’s important we can show off our sport and what goes on behind closed doors. Anyone who hasn’t got the greatest perspective of how a racehorse is looked after and is very inquisitive please come along and see the love, care and attention we give these horses.”

National Racehorse Week runs from the 22nd to 31st August 2026. Bookings open on 15th July.

Events are free to attend, advance booking is required. At some events spaces are limited. To browse participating venues and secure your place, visit www.nationalracehorseweek.uk

The developer behind Elden Ring has suggested it is looking to dive back into single-player games after The Duskbloods, ahead of its network test this weekend. 

FromSoftware has built its name on predominantly single-player games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne, but its recent titles have been geared towards multiplayer. 

Both Elden Ring: Nightreign and its next game, The Duskbloods, require you to play with others online. In the case of the latter, it combines player versus player (PvP) and player versus environment (PvE) elements in matches for up to eight players. 

For anyone adverse to multiplayer, it’s perhaps not an enticing prospect – but it sounds like the studio is looking to get back to single-player games for its future projects. 

Speaking to IGN, FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki said there was never a plan to release two multiplayer games back-to-back, it just happened that way because ‘both of those ideas just coincided’.

‘It’s funny because there was never really any big plan that these two games [Nightreign and The Duskbloods] would both release next to each other,’ Miyazaki said. ‘I mean, that’s a different director, but both of those ideas just coincided with being multiplayer games. 

‘It’s not necessarily some big reveal saying that this is the direction we plan to go moving forward. We still have a heavy focus on single-player content as well. This is just something that happened to work out the way it did.’

Miyazaki went on to indicate that the studio is looking to go the other way for its next project, adding: ‘But, it’s like, the more you work on something multiplayer for a long time, if anything, it scratches that itch only to want to make something single-player again.’

Elsewhere in the same interview, Miyazaki described The Duskbloods as an outlet for ideas that ‘didn’t really fit in the context of a single-player game’. 

As for why it’s a Switch 2 exclusive, FromSoftware’s president said Nintendo ‘seemed very excited and very receptive’ to the pitch of The Duskbloods, which gave Miyazaki ‘a lot more reassurance for moving forward’ with the idea. 

He went on to explain that FromSoftware’s shortcomings when it comes to tutorialisation also played a factor in collaborating with Nintendo. ‘The onboarding tutorials and making sure players understand how the game works and how to succeed in the game is something we’ve historically not been super great at conveying instantly,’ he added.

‘We’ve definitely just dropped players in and hoped they would figure it out. Nintendo is definitely the right partner for better conveying that information in a way that is understandable to the player; it definitely suits their strengths.’

What is The Duskbloods? 

The Duskbloods is a PvPvE game with battle royale elements. Each match pits eight players against each other across four timed phases, where players are eliminated as the match progresses until there’s one last person left standing. 

The overall goal is to gather Virtue, which you can earn by defeating other players, wiping out bosses and other smaller threats in the open world, or by exploring and discovering Virtue-infused corpses. By the fourth phase, the top three players with the most Virtue advance to an arena battle to decide the overall winner in a final confrontation. 

What time does The Duskbloods network test start and can I still join? 

Unfortunately, it’s no longer possible to sign up for the network test. The application period closed in late July and successful applicants have already been sent codes.

For those who have signed up and were successful, you can check out the network test schedule below. It’s set to begin from today at 11am BST. 

A release date for The Duskbloods is yet to be announced, but it’s slated to launch later in 2026. 

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

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For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

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North Yorkshire Police is appealing for information after a series of ‘vehicle interference incidents’ in Tadcaster earlier this week.

They say that vehicles in the town were targeted this week between Wednesday (August 19) and Thursday (August 20) in the Meadow Way area, with one vehicle left with the doors open and receipts scattered throughout the car after the glovebox was searched.

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“As part of ongoing enquiries, officers have identified that other vehicles in the area may also have been targeted during the same time period. CCTV footage believed to show a person involved has been obtained and is currently being reviewed,” said a spokesperson for the force.

They also issued a reminder to residents to ensure their vehicles are blocked, valuables were hidden, and asked them to report any suspicious activity around vehicles in their neighbourhood.

Anyone with information, who witnessed anything, or with any footage is asked email Nicholas.Woods@northyorkshire.police.uk, contact the police through their website or live chat, or call 101.

Please quote reference 12260162315 when providing information.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The family and opposition party of imprisoned former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday accused authorities of violating a Supreme Court order by taking him to a government hospital for a medical examination instead of a private hospital designated by the court.

Khan’s sister Uzma Khan told a news conference she was present at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, a government-run hospital in Islamabad, when Khan was brought there overnight.

Khan’s personal physician, Faisal Sultan, said he had been escorted to Shifa International Hospital, where he waited for Khan until early Friday. He said he was eventually told that Khan had returned to Adiala prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

The accounts came hours after Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Khan had been returned to prison after doctors examined him and found him medically fit.

Tarar said authorities took Khan to the public hospital because of security concerns involving supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, who had gathered outside Shifa International Hospital or were heading there. He said Khan was found to be in good health.

Dozens of journalists gathered outside the private hospital overnight after Khan’s party said he was being taken there. Authorities deployed heavy security around the facility.

Khan’s sister said that during a meeting with her, Khan complained that he had been kept in solitary confinement, which she said amounted to mental torture for him.

Suhail Afridi, a senior PTI leader, also accused the government of violating the order by taking Khan to the public hospital.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that Khan be examined at Shifa International Hospital by a medical board that included specialists and one of his personal physicians. On Thursday, government minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry wrote on X that the government would fully comply with the Supreme Court ruling.

The government maintains that under existing prison rules, inmates receive medical treatment in prison and can be transferred to government hospitals when necessary.

Concerns about Khan’s health intensified in late January after his family said he had lost about 85% of the vision in his right eye, a claim the government disputed. Authorities later said his condition was improving.

The former cricket star turned politician was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022 and has been imprisoned since 2023 after being convicted in multiple cases.