For part of this week, people across Wales have found themselves looking up at the sky.
Depending on where you lived, it looked darker than usual, and for a moment you could be forgiven for thinking it had something to do with Wednesday’s partial eclipse.
It didn’t.
The real cause was wildfire smoke, drifting across huge parts of the country and blotting out the sun. I’m Rob Osborne, ITV Wales National Correspondent, and I saw it for myself - standing on moorland above Ebbw Vale, looking at a blaze that stretched about four hundred hectares and was still being fought.
The sun was still up there but as my camera operator, Lynsey, pointed out, you’d barely have known it. Just an odd haze where the sun was battling to get through.
The firefighters on that hillside were doing a sterling job under brutal conditions. This particular fire was on the border between mid and south Wales and it took two fire and rescue services working together to bring it under control.
But there’s been more than one wildfire. It has felt for weeks now like we’ve been reporting on wildfires somewhere in Wales almost daily - north, mid, west and south, one after another.
The scale of it became clear on Thursday night when South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said its crews were tackling thirty separate wildfires at once, several of them severe.
The firefighters’ union say their members are feeling the strain and they’re not well enough resourced for what they’re now being asked to deal with.
The Welsh Government has committed to holding “a multi-agency summit to consider how we can best strengthen wildfire prevention and resilience".
But nobody currently serving in the fire service has experienced anything quite like this. Wales has had wildfires before but not at this intensity.
Record-breaking temperatures and dry conditions have turned the land into fuel.
The images coming out of Wales this summer tell their own story: not the usual beaches, ice creams and sunshine, but flames, smoke, and fire engines instead.
Now there’s talk of a Welsh wildfire summit and the prime minister’s announced a ban on disposable barbecues.
But as one firefighter said to me, as the climate changes, we’re probably going to see more of this.
Scientists have warned for years that this was coming: hotter summers, wetter winters. Wales has already lived through bad flooding. Now we’re watching bad fires. Next week shows no sign of letting up.
A grieving mother has told ITV News that she’s angry after being told her son’s killer could be released from prison after just four years.
Lisa Hippsley lost her son Kaylan when he was 13 after he was hit and killed by a speeding driver who’d been drinking and taking cocaine. The driver, Harley Whiteman, was due to serve a nine-year prison term but now the family say they’ve been told that could be reduced, as the UK Government tries to address prison overcrowding.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “This was a terrible crime and our thoughts remain with Kaylan Hippsley and his family.
“Prisoners held in open jails must abide by strict conditions, and we do not hesitate to move them back to closed conditions if they breach the rules.”
Police chiefs from Wales have joined calls to prevent the early release of two men who killed PC Andrew Harper in Berkshire in 2019.
They, along with police forces in England, have urged Andy Burnham to use “every lawful option” to prevent the early release of PC Harper’s killers.
In the open letter to the prime minister, coordinated by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, policing and law enforcement leaders also called for more protections for victims’ families and communities when offenders’ release arrangements change.
Two of his killers were due to be freed in January under plans to release about 5,000 prisoners early to ease overcrowding in prisons in England and Wales.
On Wednesday, Mr Burnham said he had ordered Justice Secretary Alex Norris to draw up plans to free up prison space for serious offenders, and said he is “increasingly confident” PC Harper’s killers will not be released early from their sentences as a result.
More than one million people have signed a petition set up to stop the police officer’s killers from being released early from prison.
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Disabled people have told ITV Wales they are being let down by Cardiff’s taxi companies and drivers who either cannot or refuse to transport them.
Britain’s Got Talent winner Lee Ridley and disability campaigner Kat Watkins have both shared their frustration over drivers refusing fares to wheelchair users and falling accessible taxi numbers after their separate experiences in the capital.
As an electric wheelchair user, Kat said she was turned away by a Cardiff taxi driver after he claimed her wheelchair would break his ramp.
His refusal to transport her forced Kat to make a two-mile journey in the rain, which she described as “upsetting”.
She said: “As an electric wheelchair, I try to be professional, but it’s just made me feel like I can’t be a professional because I’m always going to turn up dishevelled.
“It just left me feeling so terrible this time that I actually couldn’t talk about it for a few days because it upset me so much.”
In a statement, Cardiff Council said: “Refusing to carry a disabled passenger, failing to provide reasonable assistance, or charging a disabled passenger more are criminal offences, not matters of the driver’s discretion.
“Cardiff Council investigates every report it receives and takes action where the evidence supports it.”
After weeks of anticipation, thousands of A-Level students across Wales picked up their results on Thursday and looked ahead to their next steps.
Welsh results were up slightly, by 0.2%, overall compared to last year and one in 10 students achieved the top grade of A*.
A record number of young people have been accepted to a college or university this year, but for those whose results did not go the way they wanted, the advice is not to panic.
Natalie Thomas from Careers Wales said: “If they feel as though their plan isn’t working or they haven’t got the results today that they wanted, please get in touch with a careers adviser because we’re here to support you through this transition and get you to where you need to be.”
Sunday 17 August: The Principality Stadium in Cardiff hosts Arsenal v Manchester City in the 2026 FA Community Shield.
Monday 18 August: A service celebrating the life of Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler will be held at Swansea Minster, before her coffin is taken to her hometown of Skewen.
Wednesday 19 August: 47-year-old man from Ely due to be sentenced after pleading guilty to passing a car on an MOT, despite it having several faults. Three young people were later killed after it crashed in St Mellons.
Thursday 20 August: GCSE results day for school-leavers across Wales.
When Ken Wright first blew his whistle, England had yet to win the World Cup, Neil Armstrong had yet to set foot on the moon, and Swansea was still a town.
Sixty-three consecutive seasons and more than 5,000 matches later, the 78-year-old from Swansea has earned a place in the Guinness World Records as the longest-serving football referee in history.
Ken described the achievement as “unbelievable”.
He said: “When you think of the number of countries in the world and the number of referees, I just can’t believe it’s now a fact that I’m the longest serving in the world.
“It’s something you can’t believe in all honesty.
“To be the longest-serving referee in Wales would be an honour, Europe would be an even bigger honour, but when you talk about the whole world, it’s unreal really.”
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