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LONDON — Police in southwest England said Friday that the death of former Conservative minister Ann Widdecombe will be investigated as a murder.

The 78-year-old, a former MEP and staunch Brexiteer who found popularity on reality competition shows, was found dead in her home in Devon on Thursday with evidence of “serious injuries,” according to the Devon and Cornwall police .

Detective Chief Inspector Ilona Rosson said the suspect is believed to be a white male, adding that the force is “deploying all of the necessary resources to find out exactly what has happened and to locate the person responsible.”

She appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

Tributes had been paid throughout the day to Widdecombe, who served for years as a Conservative member of parliament and had backed Reform UK since 2023.

Reform leader Nigel Farage said Widdecombe had a “decisive role in getting Brexit over the line” when she stood as a Brexit Party candidate in 2019.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch described Widdecombe as a “formidable politician,” while former leader Iain Duncan Smith told the Today program that she “gave her opinions even if you didn’t necessarily look for them.”

A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “The Prime Minister was saddened to hear of the death of Ann Widdecombe. She was a distinctive figure in British politics for many years, and he pays tribute to the conviction and dedication with which she served her country.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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The Palworld 1.0 patch notes are gigantic, but an understated element of the update was only spotted after players dove into the new content themselves. Several old Pals have been redesigned, seemingly to bring them up to par with modern creature designs, but many fans also noted that the new versions put some distance between similar Pokemon designs that sparked comparisons in the past.

On the Palworld subreddit, user Silverr98 assembled side-by-side comparisons of the new designs for four updated Pals. Verdash, a green bipedal Pal, is now a bit shorter but has much longer ears, a less pronounced collar, and poofier shorts.

I think this is all redesigns from r/Palworld

"Verdash actually has its own identity now instead of giving off 'legally distinct Cinderace' vibes," Reddit user Pends101 says in a reply, and they're not the only one that feels this way.

"Verdash is now a smol boi instead of grass Cinderace," says Twitter user Rasen .

The Pal Robinquill, whose colors and overall shape drew comparisons to the Pokemon Decidueye, now sports an olive green cloak and a leaner silhouette which sheds the feather headpiece altogether.

Similarly, Fenglope, which previously used colors close to the horse-like Pokemon Cobalion, now uses a purple palette and has more flame-like horns.

Players also spotted a small change to the Pal Grintale, whose bright yellow eyes and jagged smile were often compared to the Galarian version of the Pokemon Meowth. After update 1.0, Grintale has subtle eye markings and straight teeth, with more of a Cheshire Cat vibe overall. Congratulations on getting the braces off.

Obviously, Pocketpair hasn't drawn a straight line from these changes to the Nintendo lawsuit it's still dealing with , but assuming it was a motivating factor, this wouldn't be the first time the developer has updated Palworld to avoid overlap with Pokemon.

Reactions to the new Pal designs seem pretty positive overall, and they do feel closer to the more recent (and, in my opinion, generally better) Pal designs. We still haven't topped the best Pal design of all time, though: Chillet.

Palworld 1.0 sees the survival game's biggest Steam player spike since its record-breaking early access launch and 96% positive reviews: "Better than even Pokemon."

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland’s first offshore wind farm has begun to deliver electricity. Once complete, the facility, known as Baltic Power, will generate 4 terawatt-hours (TWh) annually, enough to meet around 3% of Poland’s demand, powering the equivalent of 1.5 million homes.

The project is part of ambitious plans by Poland to develop wind farms along its Baltic Sea coastline. The government aims for around a fifth of the country’s electricity to come from offshore wind by 2040, as Poland moves away from reliance on coal and towards renewables and nuclear.

💡 Baltic Power będzie produkować energię dla ponad 1,5 mln gospodarstw domowych.

To skala porównywalna z łączną liczbą gospodarstw w Warszawie, Poznaniu i Trójmieście. Energia z Bałtyku oznacza więcej czystego prądu w polskim systemie i większą niezależność energetyczną kraju. pic.twitter.com/QRV9t1cAFw

— Kancelaria Premiera (@PremierRP) July 10, 2026

“This is a technological victory for all those who believed that Poland could be among the leading countries in modern energy,” declared Prime Minister Donald Tusk at a ceremony announcing the first electricity from the Baltic Power facility.

He said that offshore wind would help protect Poland’s energy security and sovereignty by providing power that is “independent of geopolitical turbulence in these highly uncertain times”.

Tusk noted that the energy crises sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, when Poland and other EU countries stopped importing Russian gas and oil , and the current crisis in the Middle East, which has prevented oil and gas exports from the region, highlight how important it is to have a diverse energy mix.

“Polish wind will blow regardless of what happens in Iran or Moscow,” said Tusk. He also noted that, in the same coastal district where the offshore electricity comes onshore, Poland will soon build its first nuclear power plant as another key component of its energy strategy.

Popłynął pierwszy prąd z naszej morskiej farmy wiatrowej. Polska zwycięża! 🇵🇱 pic.twitter.com/I4b6672BN5

— Donald Tusk (@donaldtusk) July 10, 2026

Plans to build offshore wind farms and nuclear power plants were launched under Poland’s former Law and Justice (PiS) administration and have been continued by Tusk’s coalition government, which took power from PiS in December 2023.

Construction of Baltic Power began last year , and 54 turbines have already been installed. The project is a joint venture between Polish state energy giant Orlen – which has long been associated primarily with oil but has moved into greener forms of energy – and Canadian company Northland Power.

Baltic Power is scheduled to be completed by autumn this year, by which time 76 turbines will have been installed, with a total capacity of 1.2 gigawatts (GW). Over the coming years, five more wind farms are due to be established in the Polish Baltic, with a combined capacity of just over 6 GW.

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Other projects include another by Orlen, called Baltic East ; the Baltic 9 by PGE, another state energy firm; and a project developed by private Polish firm Polenergia and Norway’s Equinor.

In a major development last December, Poland’s Energy Regulatory Office (URE) concluded the country’s first-ever auction for offshore wind power, awarding contracts to three projects with a combined capacity of 3.4 gigawatts (GW).

The agreements provide for guaranteed prices for electricity produced from the wind farms for 25 years, with the state making up the costs if prices are lower but receiving excess revenues if they are higher.

Poland has also undertaken major investments in its power grid and other infrastructure to accommodate increased renewable sources , with much of the work funded by billions of euros from the European Union’s post-pandemic recovery funds.

Poland has successfully completed its first auction for offshore wind power.

It awarded contracts for three projects with a combined capacity of 3.4 GW, making it the largest such auction anywhere in Europe this year https://t.co/L3tYgbwS8D

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 19, 2025

The developments are part of a major shift by Poland, begun under PiS and continued by Tusk, to move away from coal, which still accounts for around half of power generation .

In 2023, PiS set out plans for Poland to generate around three quarters of its electricity from zero-emissions sources by 2040, with 51% coming from renewables and 23% from nuclear.

Under a national energy and climate plan approved by the current government last month, it plans by 2040 for Poland to generate 18-21% of power from offshore wind and 22-27% from onshore wind. A further 15-16% will come from nuclear, 14-18% from solar, 7-8% from gas and 0-5% from coal.

Speaking at today’s ceremony alongside Tusk, energy and climate minister Paulina Hennig-Kloska admitted that “offshore [wind] energy is more expensive than onshore wind or photovoltaic [solar] sources, but it competes well with gas and coal”.

Hennig-Kloska previously led efforts by the current government to expand onshore wind power, which had been largely blocked by the former PiS administration . However, a bill intended to loosen the rules for building onshore turbines was vetoed last year by PiS-aligned President Karol Nawrocki.

Poland's new president has used his veto for the first time, against a bill easing rules for building onshore wind turbines and freezing household electricity prices.

He criticised the government for combining the two issues in one piece of legislation https://t.co/1dCOUt7yQN

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 21, 2025

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Orlen (press materials)