Pokémon fans have spent the past three decades trying to catch 'em all - and since the beginning this hunt has often taken place outside the home.
The popular series started out on Nintendo's portable Game Boy console in 1996, and has found modern success on people's phones.
The mobile app Pokémon Go, which is now celebrating its 10th anniversary, uses GPS and augmented reality to let players find and catch virtual monsters in real-world locations.
It has been downloaded more than a billion times across iOS and Android devices, with millions still logging on each day.
And Michael Steranka, vice president of product at the game's publisher Scopely, says the Pokémon Go experience has always been about bringing people together.
"Pokémon Go will always start with community - we think we're only scratching the surface here," he said.
"We often receive wedding invites from players who met through Pokémon Go... because it's been such an integral part of their relationship."
It may seem a surprising sentiment to have for a game and its studio.
Pokémon Go players celebrated the game's 10th anniversary at the real-world event in Times Square on Thursday
When it was released in 2016, Pokémon Go quickly became one of the biggest mobile game launches in history.
The technology overlays digital creatures onto a live view of the real world through a smartphone's camera, making it appear as though they're standing in front of the player.
It sparked a craze where people flocked to places like parks, waterfronts and shopping malls in the hope of catching Pokémon.
"By allowing you to take your mobile phone out into the world to discover virtual creatures, Pokémon Go helped realise the millennial dream of becoming a Pokémon Trainer," said Matthew Reynolds, editor of Pokémon news website One More Catch, external.
The game's popularity has endured. It has hosted major live events in more than 60 countries, averaging more than 400,000 attendees a year since the first Go Fest in 2017.
Image source, PG/Bauer-Griffin
'Like a music festival'
Scopely estimates players have explored over 100 billion kilometres while playing Pokémon Go - roughly 334 round trips between the Earth and the Sun.
UK content creator j0beats runs one of Twitch's biggest channels dedicated to the game and regularly travels to events like the one in New York to meet fellow players.
"People always think it's crazy that you travel all over just to catch some pixels," she laughs.
"But it's not just about that. When you go to these big events, you're there for the people and for the energy of it.
"It's like a music festival - you could just stay at home and just listen to the music, or you could go out there and you could listen live and appreciate it with other people. It's the same sort of concept."
But the streamer says her fondest memory of the game is a little closer to home.
In 2025, Pokémon Go's Wild Area - one of its events - came to South Yorkshire.
"It was the only European event and it was hosted in Doncaster, which is sort of just around the corner from me," she said.
"So it was really exciting to collaborate with the community ambassadors there and help them host the event."
Image source, j0beats
Image caption,
J0beats (left) says her favourite Pokémon is Eevee
For some players, the game has also had an unexpected impact on their mental health.
Austin lives in Maine in the US and has been playing since 2017.
He told me before playing Pokémon Go it was "nearly impossible" to motivate himself to do anything, as he was feeling very anxious and depressed about life.
"When I went to my first raid meetup it was like a warm blanket," he said.
"As I held my phone and walked to the group of strangers in the park, I saw them look at me, and for the first time I wasn't nervous meeting this new group of people, I was actually excited and happy."
"From that day on that little voice telling me to stay in bed was put on mute."
Image source, Getty Images
Over the years, the game has sometimes been a victim of its own hype and global appeal.
Police and safety groups once warned players not to become so engrossed in catching the next Psyduck that they got lost or put themselves in danger.
The game's immense popularity sometimes also meant "servers buckled under the strain", said Reynolds, meaning connectivity problems were "rife for some time".
And while the pandemic was seen as a boon for many in the video game industry, Steranka says the initial strict lockdowns "impacted Pokémon Go probably more than any other game out there".
The game later bounced back as restrictions eased and people once again looked for reasons to get outside.
Then in 2025, some fans questioned how the game's future might change when Scopely - which is itself owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, bought developer Niantic for $3.5bn (then £2.7bn).
"My hope is that we prove to players over time that this is definitively a good thing for the game and the community," Steranka says.
Looking ahead, Steranka says the focus for the game remains on community, memories and creating experiences families can share.
"No matter where I was and what phase of my life, Pokémon Go has been there for me," he says.
"It meets people where they are, at whatever phase of life they're in."
"Brother Wang was very important. He was number one," says Enrique, chuckling knowingly.
Enrique – not his real name – describes himself as a high-level co-ordinator in Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, one of the world's most powerful criminal organisations.
… %!s()
On the outskirts of Sinaloa's state capital city, Culiacán, sitting in a parked car where no-one can overhear him, he explains how ingredients to make the deadly drug fentanyl are shipped thousands of miles from Chinese factories to laboratories in Mexico. Members of his cartel credit Brother Wang with establishing this supply chain.
Known in the criminal world as the "king of fentanyl", Brother Wang is a 39-year-old Chinese national, whose real name is Zhang Zhidong, according to the US Department of Justice. Arrested in Mexico in 2024, Zhang later made a dramatic escape before he was recaptured and extradited to the US in 2025.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin. It kills tens of thousands of people each year, mostly in the US, where the finished drug often ends up. A dose as small as a few grains of salt can be lethal.
US President Donald Trump has labelled fentanyl dealers "narco-terrorists", classified the drug and its components as weapons of mass destruction, and used the fentanyl trade as a reason for imposing tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada.
Enrique describes how orders for precursors would be placed with Zhang, who he says used his contacts in China to secure the chemicals.
The ingredients would then be shipped by air or sea to Mexico, according to Enrique. He says his own network would then distribute them to fentanyl cooks, such as Luis, in the illicit laboratories in Sinaloa.
Pressed on whether he feels guilty for being involved in an industry that causes so many deaths, Enrique says one of his relatives died from a fentanyl overdose. "It shakes your conscience," he says, but adds, "work is work and we don't know another way to make a living".
When asked the same question, Luis says he once tried to stop working in the laboratory, but his boss told him the alternative was to go out on patrol. He says his boss gave him a choice: "You put on the vest, the gear, and you go out and fight - it's either that or working as a cook."
According to Mexican security agencies, Zhang ran illegal operations spanning the Americas, Europe, China and Japan.
Victoria Dittmar, a researcher at InSight Crime, a think tank, has spent years investigating the flow of precursor chemicals into Mexico. She says that brokers – the role it is suggested that Zhang played - sit at the crucial intersection between the chemical producers and the cartels.
She says that people with the kind of reach Zhang is said to have had are "quite unique" and "are key to the supply chain".
"He was a broker that connected Mexican trafficking organisations with Chinese suppliers of precursor chemicals," a world she says it's hard for outsiders to navigate.
"He also had a huge presence in the US," she says. "You don't see that often… one person that can connect three regions."
Mexican authorities said Zhang was responsible for exporting and distributing more than 1,000kg of cocaine, 1,800kg of fentanyl and 600kg of methamphetamine. They also accused him of handling more than $150 million in annual drug proceeds.
The US Department of Justice issued a press release in 2025 with details of the indictment against Zhang. As well as accusing Zhang of drug trafficking, it said he recruited people to open bank accounts on behalf of more than 100 shell companies.
It says they would pick up money, at various locations in the US "deposit that money into the shell company bank accounts, and wire the funds to other beneficiary accounts to be laundered outside of the United States".
At the other end of Zhang's alleged operations sits China. The country is one of the world's top producers and exporters of the precursor chemicals used to make synthetic drugs, according to a 2025 US State Department report.
It says China's chemical industry is "massive", with 160,000 companies, and despite steps by authorities to implement controls, oversight is "insufficiently staffed and equipped".
The Chinese embassy in Washington told the BBC that China is "one of the world's toughest countries on counternarcotics".
It noted that the country scheduled all fentanyl-related substances in 2019, which means they are tightly controlled by the government. They are not banned because some have legitimate uses across multiple industries.
The embassy said China's "extensive and in-depth" counternarcotics co-operation with the US had been "highly productive'.
Zhang's alleged involvement in the drugs trade came to an abrupt end when he was arrested in Mexico on 31 October 2024.
A judge took the controversial decision to place him under house arrest, but Zhang managed to slip out – reportedly through a hole in a wall – and flee by private jet to Cuba and then on to Russia.
Russian border officials detected his forged papers and he was sent back to Cuba, which returned him to Mexico, from where he was extradited to the United States.
His arrest made headlines around the world. The alumni network of Beijing's Peking University, where Zhang had studied Spanish, was stunned.
"Everybody was talking about it," says Alex. "It was such a shocking story and he's probably one of the most famous people Peking University produced."
In Culiacán, the cartel members say Zhang's absence was felt immediately.
Luis says it became "really hard to get the precursors".
"They took the man and that caused a mess," says Enrique. He says Zhang was "the one with the connections" in China, and the cartels had to "start from scratch and build a new route".
Around the same time, the United States' Drug Enforcement Administration began to detect a decline in fentanyl purity, which it said was "consistent with indicators that many Mexico-based fentanyl cooks are having difficulty obtaining some key precursor chemicals".
But disruption in drug supply chains is usually temporary, in what Dittmar describes as a "constant game of cat and mouse".
Her research has tracked how, when brokers are removed or key chemicals controlled, fentanyl producers adapt by finding substitutes and learning new processes.
Individuals in the supply chain can also be replaced – even, according to the cartel members, ones as deeply and widely connected as Zhang is alleged to have been.
Enrique says there is already someone in the frame – another Chinese person, but he says he can't say more "for my own safety".
Another cartel member, who describes himself as a coordinator responsible for moving goods and personnel within the cartel, says that although "all this started because of him [Brother Wang]… he left lots of connections to help us keep going".
"If he's gone, someone else will step in… the business will not stop."
Additional Reporting by Ruth Evans and Miguel Angel Vega%!s()
Witnesses at royal commission subjected to ‘ugly antisemitic attacks’ after appearing, commissioner says
Caitlin Cassidy
The royal commissioner, Virginia Bell AC SC, says Jewish witnesses have been subject to “ugly antisemitic attacks” after giving evidence of their own experiences of antisemitism.
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The fourth block of hearings in Melbourne this week is examining the lived experiences of antisemitism on Jewish students and academics, including the response of universities to combat it.
Opening the hearing on Monday, Bell drew attention to the provisions of the Royal Commissions Act, which makes it an indictable offence to inflict any damage or disadvantage on a person on account of their evidence.
Four academics and students are giving evidence under a pseudonym on Monday. Also appearing is a co-convener of Students for Palestine and education officer at the National Union of Students, Yasmine Johnson, the president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Hugh de Krester, and Josh Keller of the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism.
Commissioner for the royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion, Virginia Bell. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP
Key events
9m ago
Witnesses at royal commission subjected to ‘ugly antisemitic attacks’ after appearing, commissioner says
47m ago
More than 600 trombonists gather in Queensland for world record attempt
2h ago
Dfat checking whether Australians caught in deadly blaze at Bangkok pub
2h ago
Digital passenger cards will be ‘much more efficient way’ to run the border, Burke says
3h ago
Shadow education minister labels university leaders ‘weak and spineless’ over antisemitism
3h ago
Richard Scolyer to be honoured in state memorial service at Sydney Opera House
3h ago
Welcome
Josh Nicholas
Does Pauline Hanson really have a path to government?
One Nation’s spectacular rise from a distant 6% of the vote in the last election to first or second in some recent polls has upended Australian politics. It has also made it a lot harder to predict what exactly will happen at the next election.
Traditionally, pollsters and election experts would look at how preferences flowed in previous elections when estimating two-party preferred numbers, or translating polling into seat projections. This was fairly predictable when almost every seat would come down to a contest between Labor and the Coalition.
But, given the rise of One Nation, we are now in “unknown territory”, says George Hasanakos, head of research at DemosAu.
Read more:
One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
More than 600 trombonists gather in Queensland for world record attempt
A fun story from the weekend: More than 600 trombonists gathered in Ipswich, Queensland, on Sunday to secure a new world record for the world’s largest trombone ensemble.
The group performed the piece 76 Trombones with, well, many more than that. Seizing an opportunity to toot their own horn, Ipswich’s mayor, Teresa Harding, said in a statement:
double quotation markIpswich has once again shown the world what can happen when a community comes together with passion, creativity and a willingness to dream big.
To see hundreds of musicians of all skill levels in Tulmur Place ready to try and set a new world record is an extraordinary achievement and one that every participant, volunteer and supporter can be incredibly proud of.
Participants travelled from across south-east Queensland and beyond to take part.
The previous world record of 368 musicians was set in Washington DC in 2012. A submission has been made to Guinness World Records for official verification.
Ipswich City Big Band Music Director Matt Chambers and Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding at the world record attempt for most trombones playing a song at one time in Tulmur Place for Spark Ipswich arts festival. Photograph: ICC MediaThat’s a lot of trombones. Photograph: ICC Media
Caitlin Cassidy
Australia’s ‘unfair’ visa price hikes: what’s changed and why it matters
The federal government has been accused of exploiting international students and permanent residents after non-refundable visa fees were quietly hiked by up to 200%, placing Australia well in excess of other western countries.
The peak body representing international students has warned prospective students to consider studying elsewhere, while critics affected by the scheme have accused Labor of trying to “out-One Nation One Nation”.
Here’s what you need to know.
Support for Hanson’s One Nation slips in new poll
Pauline Hanson and One Nation’s popularity have slipped since her controversial Press Club speech with support shifting to the Coalition, according to new polling.
AAP reports support for One Nation fell by three points in July to 26%, while the coalition’s backing rose to 23%, in a Resolve Political Monitor survey released on Sunday night.
Labor remained at 28%, and support for the Greens was also unchanged at 12%.
Anthony Albanese made a comeback as preferred prime minister with 33% nominating him, up from 29% in June, with Angus Taylor sitting on 21%, two points higher than previously.
Pauline Hanson. Photograph: David Gray/AFP/Getty Images
Nearly 55% of homes sold at auction over the last week
Cotality reports preliminary data shows just under 55% of homes sold at auction over the last week, a decent rise after multiple weeks where that figure hovered below 50%.
In Sydney, 57.5% of homes sold at auction; in Melbourne, 56.2%; and in Adelaide 59.1%. Figures were still low in Brisbane (43%) and other capital cities, although there were far were auctions.
83 homes were withdrawn from auction in Sydney and 65 in Melbourne, the country’s two largest markets.
Dfat checking whether Australians caught in deadly blaze at Bangkok pub
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat) is investigating if any Australians were affected by a deadly fire at a pub in Bangkok overnight. At least 27 people were killed in the blaze and dozens more injured.
A Dfat spokesperson said:
double quotation markAustralians will be shocked to hear of the terrible loss of life in the restaurant fire in Bangkok. Our sincere condolences are with all those affected.
Australian officials are making urgent enquiries with local authorities to determine whether any Australians were affected. We stand ready to provide consular assistance.
Digital passenger cards will be ‘much more efficient way’ to run the border, Burke says
The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said the end of the physical passenger cards and a transition to digital forms would be a “much more efficient way” to run the border.
He told RN this morning:
double quotation markAt the end of a long flight, people might not be at their best, and nobody knows … the full address off the top of their head of the hotel they’re staying at, or remembers the phone number of their next of kin.
What actually happens to all those paper cards? They are used sometimes:
double quotation markFrom a home affairs perspective, there are times when we need to go back to those cards for information.
And at the moment, you’re going through warehouses trying to find the right box that’s got the right set of cards to be able to then decipher someone’s handwriting.
Lisa Cox
Great news for travellers: Australia to ditch paper arrival cards for incoming travellers
The days of filling out paper arrival cards are to end for millions of travellers arriving in Australia on international flights.
The Albanese government has announced it will roll out digital passenger cards to all Australian international airports and seaports after a “successful” trial on Qantas flights into Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
Photograph: Patrick Hamilton/AAP
The paper forms, which ask passengers arriving in Australia for personal information and to declare any food, plant or animal products, have long been an annoyance for travellers arriving on long-haul flights.
Read more here:
Shadow education minister labels university leaders ‘weak and spineless’ over antisemitism
Julian Leeser, the shadow minister for education, said the time for universities “mucking around” on definitions of antisemitism were over.
Leeser spoke to RN Breakfast this morning, saying:
double quotation markUniversities are the place where the next generation of leaders goes to be formed. And the fact that our vice-chancellors are so weak and spineless that they haven’t been able to crack down on this shows how much we need this definition adopted …
I think this week at the royal commission, this is the week where the vice-chancellors have to own up for their failures here, for their failures in allowing those encampments to persist and saying that that’s just the price Jews have to pay for free speech … for failing to provide a safe environment for Jewish staff and Jewish students, and allowing a culture of fear to take place.
Burke says there was a ‘reason’ woman with links to Islamic State was singled out with temporary exclusion order
Asked on ABC Radio National about a travel permit issued to an Australian citizen with links to Islamic State, after previously having a temporary exclusion order imposed on her, Tony Burke said he wouldn’t be surprised if the woman decided not to return to Australia.
“There is a reason why one person stood out from others in terms of the temporary exclusion order information,” the home affairs minister said when asked about the woman.
Burke added of those who have already returned to Australia:
double quotation markI was surprised when all the remainder of the cohort returned, but I think they weren’t quite expecting that some of them would be met at the airport by the Australian federal police because we already had the evidentiary burden there to be able to press charges.
The minister went on to say:
double quotation markEverybody who went to join [Islamic State] made an unconscionable decision … and while they were there, there were a range of unacceptable behaviours across the cohort.
Home affairs minister Tony Burke. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP/AP
Burke says definitions of antisemitism and Islamophobia on campuses about keeping students safe
Tony Burke, the home affairs minister, is speaking this morning, as universities across Australia will be required to adopt formal definitions of antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Burke said the change was about making sure students felt safe on campus.
double quotation markTime at uni should be a place where people feel completely safe. And clearly, for the last two years, for a whole lot of students, that just hasn’t been true …
It’s important that universities are given clear standards and metrics that they’re being measured against and that they’re measuring themselves against to make sure that the experience of a student in Australia, no matter who you love, no matter where you’re from, no matter what you believe, is an experience of safety.
Richard Scolyer to be honoured in state memorial service at Sydney Opera House
Richard Scolyer, the 2024 Australian of the year, will be honoured with a state memorial service on Monday, after his death from brain cancer on 7 June. He was 59.
AAP reports dignitaries including the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, NSW premier, Chris Minns, and governor general, Sam Mostyn, will attend the service at the Sydney Opera House.
Scolyer will be remembered as the pathologist who turned melanoma from being a common death sentence into a largely curable disease, through treatment that activated a patient’s immune system.
The prime minister called Scolyer one of Australia’s brightest lights and biggest hearts in a tribute after his death:
double quotation markEvery day, this remarkable man – the cancer specialist who became his own subject – took us into his confidence and he lifted us all in the process.
Richard Scolyer. Photograph: James Gourley/The Guardian
Welcome
Good morning, and happy Monday. Nick Visser to start off the week with the news of the day. Here’s what’s on deck:
Auction rates climbed slightly across the country, with the figures of homes sold in the combined capitals edging above 50% for the first time in weeks. Overall, 54.8% of homes sold at auction, including 57.5% in Sydney and 56.2% in Melbourne, the nation’s two biggest markets.
More than 350 people were charged under a new blitz targeting violent and sexual offenders on the NSW transport network. Officials said the operation involved high visibility patrols and proactive targeting of alleged offenders on buses, trains, ferries and the metro.
A state memorial service for pioneering cancer researcher Richard Scolyer will take place today at the Sydney Opera House. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and other leaders will attend.
Oil prices opened sharply higher on Monday after the United States launched a wave of attacks on Iran and as Tehran announced it would close the strait of Hormuz.
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A barrel of international benchmark Brent crude for September delivery rose 3.75% to $78.86 at around 2210 GMT on Sunday.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate rose 3.65% to $74.02 per barrel for August delivery.
Strikes over the weekend have had wider regional implications.
Qatar, which has previously said it would not act as a mediator so long as it was under attack, said three people, including a child, had been injured by falling shrapnel. It said Iran was “fully legally responsible” for the attack.
The UAE said it detected missile threats outside its borders, while Bahrain said it intercepted several Iranian aerial attacks, Jordan reported missile strikes and Oman reported being targeted with drones. Kuwait’s army later reported damage from strikes, and said an attack on an oil drilling platform injured a worker.
Oman said it had summoned Iran’s ambassador to protest over drone attacks in two regions and the US embassy in Oman told its nationals in Duqm and Musandam to shelter in place.
Iran’s foreign ministry has condemned “aggressive” US attacks against Iran.
In a statement, the ministry also said talks between Iran and Oman on Saturday in Muscat — focused on arrangements for managing the strait and transit routes — were unable to reach a result because of “overt and covert” US pressure on Oman.
In the past week, Trump has said he considers the ceasefire over, while leaving the door open to more talks.
Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, posted on X on Sunday.
double quotation markThe era of one-sided deals is OVER. We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.”
The renewed fighting followed an Iranian attack early Sunday on a commercial ship in the strait of Hormuz, whose crew was forced to abandon it after it went up in flames.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said after the incident that “the Strait of Hormuz will be closed until further notice and until the end of American interventions in this region,” according to state news agency IRNA.
CENTCOM countered on X that the strait was “open to all vessels seeking to lawfully transit.”
It said US forces were “positioned and prepared to ensure” freedom of navigation, adding: “Iran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing.”
Control of the waterway has become key leverage for Iran, with an adviser to the country’s supreme leader on Sunday saying it was more important than “dozens of atomic bombs”.
The latest salvo by US forces began at 2100 GMT on Sunday, Central Command (CENCTOM) said on X, after earlier announcing approximately 140 strikes the previous night.
On Sunday evening, Iranian state media reported at least 10 “enemy projectiles” hitting Qeshm Island, which sits on the strait of Hormuz.
It also reported strikes on the island of Farur, to the east of Qeshm in the Gulf, that it said killed a telecommunications worker and wounded two others.
Shortly after, Kuwait said three of its land border posts in the north were damaged in an attack, and that an offshore drilling platform “was targeted by a hostile drone,” with one person injured.
Tehran said it had targeted two ships in Hormuz early Sunday, including the one that caught fire. Iran’s Guards said they also hit Oman, which has rarely been targeted.
Opening summary
The US and Iran have again exchanged heavy missile and drone assaults, with Tehran targeting US facilities in states across the Gulf and saying it had again closed the vital strait of Hormuz.
The US military began launching more strikes against Iran at 5 pm ET on Sunday, US Central Command said in a statement, “to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the strait of Hormuz.”
In a brief phone interview with Reuters on Sunday afternoon, Trump referred to this weekend’s US strikes on Iran. “We’re beating them up,” he said.
Iran’s latest barrage marked an escalation in pace and range, extending as far as Qatar, a mediator in ceasefire talks that had not come under attack since April. The United Arab Emirates, which had not been targeted since early May, said its air defenses had engaged missiles and drones from Iran.
The renewed violence casts further doubt on the future of an interim US-Iranian agreement signed last month that aimed to reopen the strait and end the war after a further 60 days of negotiations.
Iran said early on Monday that the latest attacks had “rendered futile” all the diplomatic efforts of the last few months.
“The US regime has also caused the return of insecurity in the strait of Hormuz and disruption of international commercial shipping by openly interfering in the process of Iran implementing the necessary arrangements in the strait of Hormuz,” a foreign ministry statement said.
The UK's third heatwave of the year is set to intensify again this week, following a slight drop in temperatures for some on Monday.
More places in England and Wales could exceed 30C, with some forecasts suggesting that temperatures close to the mid-30s could be possible in a few locations.
Heatwave thresholds may also be briefly reached in parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland as humidity levels increase across the country.
Amber and yellow heat health alerts, external issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) are in effect until 21:00 BST on 15 July.
They warn that significant impacts are likely across health and social care services due to the high temperatures, including a rise in deaths, particularly among those with health conditions or aged 65 and older.
Heat and humidity set to build again
Brisk north-easterly winds and a spell of lower humidity, running around an area of high pressure in northern Scotland, have helped to break some of the recent intense heat, especially in central and eastern parts of the UK.
Temperatures across England and Wales on Monday will be lower than in recent days, but could still reach highs of 30C in some southern counties.
For some locations, this means the run of consecutive 30-degree days will enter its second week.
A few spots in Northern Ireland and western Scotland could also reach their heatwave threshold temperature of 25C.
By contrast, North Sea coasts will stay cooler at around 16C to 21C.
Image caption,
After a brief dip, temperatures are set to rise again this week
By midweek, an area of low pressure over France will bring the UK lighter easterly winds, marking a return to slightly more humid weather.
Temperatures will increase in most areas and are expected to peak on Thursday.
Readings around 26C or 27C are forecast across the western sides of Scotland and Northern Ireland.
More of England and Wales will experience highs around the 30C mark, with some weather models predicting isolated peaks of 34 or 35C.
The UK has already seen a record-breaking nine days this year where temperatures have reached 34C or higher, two more than the previous record years of 1976 and 2020.
Night-time temperatures will also increase again, with the prospect of a few 'tropical nights' being recorded, as temperatures hold above 20C.
Heat health alerts extended
Amber heat health alerts, external by the UKHSA were extended on Sunday in the West Midlands and south-west England, and will remain in force until 21:00 BST on 15 July.
Lower level yellow warnings are also in place for the same period in north-west England, East Midlands, east of England, south-east England and the London area.
Image source, NASA
Image caption,
Much of England's countryside appears a parched brown colour on this view from space on 9 July, following three record-breaking heatwaves
The prolonged hot and dry weather has also resulted in increased wildfire risk, especially for England and Wales.
Lower humidity and stronger winds over the weekend saw the fire risk raised to "exceptional" in parts of southern England.
That risk is expected to ease a touch as winds become lighter and the chance of showers increases slightly.
However, it will rise again more widely across central and eastern England from Wednesday.
When will the heatwave finally end?
Despite the chance of a few sporadic thunderstorms breaking out later this week across southern areas of the UK, the prospect of a concerted cooldown remains uncertain.
Computer weather models show a likely trend to more northerly winds this coming weekend, which will bring a drop in temperature.
However, how much cooler it will get is still uncertain. And, with the possibility of high pressure building back in quickly, it may not be long before parts of the UK return to heatwave conditions.
This also means that many areas will continue to see little or no rain.
You can stay update with the latest temperature trends on the BBC Weather app. %!s()
Image source, AP Images for Scopely Explore
Image source, AP Images for Scopely
Image source, PG/Bauer-Griffin
Image source, j0beats
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, SOPA Images via Getty Images
Image source, NASA