Browse content similar to 26/07/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Welcome to Wales Today. Tonight's headlines: | :00:02. | :00:06. | |
A lorry burning in a tunnel on the M4. Significant damage to the main | :00:06. | :00:11. | |
artery into South Wales. There could be days of disruption. Tens | :00:11. | :00:21. | |
:00:21. | :00:32. | ||
Our other headlines tonight: People claiming benefits. New | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
figures suggest tens of thousands will be told, "you're fit to work." | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
The end of elite rugby league in Wales. The Crusaders stun their | :00:40. | :00:46. | |
players and fans by pulling out. We begin a celebration of our | :00:46. | :00:48. | |
national parks in Pembrokeshire, the only one in Britain that's | :00:48. | :00:53. | |
largely by the coast. And setting her sights on London | :00:53. | :01:03. | |
:01:03. | :01:05. | ||
2012. Helen Warnes has her eye on Good evening. It's been a day of | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
huge disruption on the roads of South East Wales, after a lorry | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
fire in the Brynglas Tunnels. It broke out during this morning's | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
rush hour, causing severe delays, with people taking hours to drive | :01:14. | :01:21. | |
just a few miles. This was the scale of the problem. The A48 M out | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
of Cardiff was closed for much of the day, as was part of the M4, in | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
both directions around Newport. The motorway has reopened tonight, but | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
the drivers still face delays, as the westbound Brynglas tunnel could | :01:32. | :01:42. | |
:01:42. | :01:46. | ||
be closed for days. Here's Nick We have just received these | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
pictures from our cameraman, who has filmed inside the Brynglas | :01:49. | :01:54. | |
tunnel in the past hour. You can see the extent of the damage. The | :01:54. | :02:03. | |
temperature got so high, the tarmac melted. | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
This was the immediate aftermath of the lorry fire. Phil Taylor from | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
Chepstow filmed this on his mobile phone, after reversing his car out | :02:10. | :02:15. | |
of the tunnel. He says the lorry was well alight, the tunnel quickly | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
filling up with thick black smoke. There was a series of loud bangs, | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
which fire crews say were tyres exploding. The motorway was closed | :02:23. | :02:33. | |
:02:33. | :02:33. | ||
immediately, the tailbacks immense in both directions. I have moved | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
about half-a-mile in 40 minutes. is gridlock here at rush hour. | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
For many regular motorists on this stretch of the M4 between Newport | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
and Cardiff, there must have been a sense of deja-vu, a simple accident | :02:44. | :02:47. | |
having massive repercussions for the travelling public. At one point, | :02:47. | :02:49. | |
Traffic Wales say the tailback stretched up to nine miles along | :02:49. | :02:57. | |
the M4. And those diverted off the motorway fared little better. | :02:57. | :03:02. | |
policeman directed me to come this way. The roundabout is completely | :03:02. | :03:07. | |
blocked. I do not know which way to go! We have been here about an hour | :03:07. | :03:13. | |
now. We have ended up driving round demand Newport, getting diverted | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
further and further. We have kind of given up. We came off the | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
motorway as we were instructed by the police. There is no instruction | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
where to go. When the Brynglas Tunnel opened in | :03:28. | :03:33. | |
1967, it was designed to ease traffic congestion around Newport. | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
Nearly half a century on, the tunnel itself has become a | :03:36. | :03:38. | |
pinchpoint for commuter traffic to the Capital as four lanes become | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
two. Problems here have serious implications, as demonstrated this | :03:43. | :03:52. | |
morning, and will lead to renewed calls for an M4 relief road. We are | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
very vulnerable in terms of the tunnels in Newport. Whilst there | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
has been improvements in terms of the flow of traffic, it is still a | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
gateway to Wales. Whenever this happens, the perception it gives of | :04:07. | :04:13. | |
Wales I do not think is a good one. You are not trained to build a new | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
road overnight, but there must be other ways in which you can deal | :04:16. | :04:22. | |
with a crisis. It is now approaching 12 o'clock. Neddie four | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
hours since their problems began. - - nearly four hours since the | :04:26. | :04:33. | |
problems began. My journey took over two hours, to travel three | :04:33. | :04:35. | |
miles. And the situation won't improve | :04:35. | :04:37. | |
quickly. The Transport Minister admitting one tunnel could be | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
closed for some considerable time. The fire has now been completely | :04:40. | :04:48. | |
extinguished and engineers are assessing any structural damage. | :04:48. | :04:50. | |
Tonight, the M4 has re-opened, though the westbound Brynglas | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
tunnel remains closed. A contraflow through the Eastbound tunnel is in | :04:56. | :05:04. | |
operation. Lengthy delays are expected. | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
New figures suggest there'll be dramatic reductions in the number | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
of people in Wales able to claim the replacement to Incapacity | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
Benefit, which is in the process of being phased out. Wales has one of | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
the highest proportion of people claiming sickness benefit in the UK, | :05:16. | :05:19. | |
at more than 180,000. All of those people are undergoing tests, and | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
early estimates suggest that as many four in ten could be judged | :05:22. | :05:31. | |
capable to work. Let's talk to Nick Servini. | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
Dramatic changes are ahead. Where have these figures come from? | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
critical thing to remember is that Incapacity Benefit is being phased | :05:39. | :05:44. | |
out, and been replaced by something called the employment and support | :05:44. | :05:50. | |
allowance. There are huge figures in Wales of people claiming | :05:50. | :05:57. | |
incapacity benefit, around 180,000. Those existing claimants will | :05:57. | :06:02. | |
undergo a medical test to see what new benefit they will be entitled | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
to. They have only just started, they began in the spring, and are | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
being rolled out now. We do not know exactly how they are going, | :06:11. | :06:17. | |
but we know that is 2008, across the UK, all new claimants have | :06:17. | :06:24. | |
undergone of those test. The figures show that 39 % of the | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
people who went through those tests were deemed to be capable of | :06:28. | :06:34. | |
working. If those figures are reflected in the figures in Wales, | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
where 180,000 people are on benefits, we're talking about | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
70,000 people in Wales will be told that they are fit for work. As part | :06:43. | :06:49. | |
of that, if these figures at reflected in Wales, only about | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
13,000 people will actually have a legitimate claim for some kind of | :06:54. | :06:59. | |
long-term benefit, because they are not capable of working. I should | :06:59. | :07:04. | |
stress these are early estimates, but dramatic change is never less. | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
The Prime Minister has been in Caerphilly today talking about this. | :07:07. | :07:14. | |
Yes. He was at one of those centres that people will prove to to try to | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
get a job, to get back into the workplace. He told us that he | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
believed these changes are long overdue. Far too long in this | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
country, we have let people on welfare for year after year, when | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
those people with help could work. We are producing a much better | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
system, where we put people through their paces and say, if you can | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
work, you should work. There has been some criticism of these tests. | :07:42. | :07:47. | |
Yes. The freshest criticism came this morning from a select | :07:47. | :07:50. | |
committee of MPs which said the attempt by the government were | :07:50. | :07:55. | |
laudable, but these tests had contributed to a sense of mistrust | :07:55. | :08:05. | |
a monster some vulnerable groups. This report said they were | :08:05. | :08:10. | |
concerned about the levels of appeals. A lot of people are | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
appealing against decisions of this test. About 40 % of them are | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
successful. Thank you very much. A full meeting of the Welsh Cabinet | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
took place in North Wales for the first time today. It marks the | :08:22. | :08:24. | |
first anniversary of staff moving into new Government offices at | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
Llandudno Junction. Later, on a visit to Caernarfon, the First | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
Minister Carwyn Jones announced a �15 million scheme to support young | :08:30. | :08:33. | |
people across North West Wales who are risk of falling out of school | :08:33. | :08:39. | |
or further education. A man has been arrested in | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
connection with a fire at a disused tyre factory which burned for more | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
than three weeks. The warehouse in the Fforestfach Industrial Estate | :08:45. | :08:52. | |
of Swansea contained 5,000 tonnes of shredded tyres. The cause of the | :08:52. | :08:58. | |
fire is still under investigation. Wales will be without an elite | :08:58. | :09:01. | |
rugby league side following the shock news that Crusaders have | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
withdrawn their application to play in Super League next season. The | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
decision follows a review of the club's finances and leaves staff | :09:07. | :09:12. | |
and players concerned for their future. Matthew Richards is at the | :09:12. | :09:20. | |
club's ground in Wrexham. Thanks. This all began as an | :09:20. | :09:22. | |
experiment to transplant rugby league from South to North Wales, | :09:22. | :09:25. | |
but despite some high profile signings it hasn't been a smooth | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
transition. The club's chief executive is facing fans at a | :09:29. | :09:38. | |
meeting now to explain why it looks like that experiment has failed. | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
They want answers. Supporters arriving in the past 90 minutes to | :09:41. | :09:51. | |
hear why the club they love won't be continuing at the highest levels. | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
We know we are bottom of the leak, but we thought as a new club, we | :09:55. | :10:02. | |
would get a licence for another three years. This morning, I | :10:02. | :10:07. | |
thought we would win. We watched it on Sky and it was like execution by | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
live television. This was the Crusaders three years | :10:10. | :10:13. | |
ago, in their high profile move to Wrexham from Bridgend. But apart | :10:13. | :10:15. | |
from reaching the play-offs last year, they've spent much of their | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
time languishing at the bottom of the table and went into | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
administration. Keen to support a club branching out in a new | :10:21. | :10:23. | |
location, the Rugby Football League had backed the Crusaders' attempts | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
to encourage younger players to participate in the sport. The | :10:26. | :10:32. | |
future looked secure until this morning's announcement that it | :10:32. | :10:38. | |
couldn't afford to go on. At the end of the day, we have found it is | :10:38. | :10:44. | |
not sustainable going forward. To be fair to the game and the clubs | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
involved, to take a place that we may not be able to carry on through | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
the years ahead, that would be unfair. Many are disappointed that | :10:53. | :10:58. | |
after such a promising start, things have ended so badly. What is | :10:58. | :11:03. | |
sad is that they had created a very positive impact. They did a lot of | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
street would be with kids, there Street engage and was good. | :11:08. | :11:10. | |
Players are reeling. Gareth Thomas has garnered much of the headlines | :11:10. | :11:16. | |
since his move north. He'd signed on for the next season. And Keith | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
Senior recently joined the club from Leeds Rhinos only to learn he | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
may have to find work elsewhere. There's no news yet on how the | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
Crusaders will emerge from this crisis, or what impact it will have | :11:25. | :11:32. | |
on the future of rugby league in North Wales. | :11:32. | :11:42. | |
:11:42. | :11:43. | ||
What has the chief executive been saying to fans? He set out why this | :11:43. | :11:48. | |
process has happened. Fans wanted to know why this was happening now. | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
He was pointing out that back in April, when they applied for | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
permission to join the Super League, they forecast a much better | :11:55. | :11:58. | |
financial position, but said they could not really go ahead with the | :11:58. | :12:02. | |
next season and find themselves halfway through and risk not been | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
able to pay their debts. What happens next? There are around five | :12:08. | :12:13. | |
games left of the season, including a home game here in August. Fans | :12:13. | :12:19. | |
are happy that there has been a legacy of rugby league in this area, | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
which was not here before. They want to make sure that links with | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
young people continue, even if a Super League rugby League is not go | :12:28. | :12:33. | |
to happen here. They say they need to find out whether it pans -- | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
whether the fans and players want to play in lower leagues. Thank you | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
Much more to come before 7 o'clock, including all of tonight's sport. | :12:42. | :12:52. | |
:12:52. | :12:53. | ||
Making a comeback from injury - Tom The new director of BBC Cymru Wales | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
has been announced. Rhodri Talfan Davies will take up the post in | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
September. He began his career as a regional television news producer | :13:00. | :13:03. | |
and reporter, and has recently been taking a leading role in the BBC's | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
digital and interactive services. Earlier he told me his priority | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
would be to protect the services that matter most to the audience as | :13:10. | :13:18. | |
the BBC tries to makes savings of 20%. | :13:18. | :13:21. | |
I think that viewers will want to know that the services they value | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
the most will be protected. Undoubtedly, there are going to be | :13:25. | :13:30. | |
some tough choices to make, but at the heart of that thinking, | :13:30. | :13:35. | |
certainly be thinking we have been doing over recent months, is how to | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
protect that which matters most to audiences. That will be at the | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
heart of whatever decisions we come up with. | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
If you are protecting programmes, presumably you will cut managers? | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
We will look hard at all costs. Audiences would expect us to do | :13:51. | :13:57. | |
that. The BBC has a strong story in terms of making savings of | :13:57. | :13:59. | |
efficiency over the last four or five years but there is probably | :13:59. | :14:02. | |
more we can do and we are looking hard at that at a moment. | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
It's National Parks Week. Over the next three days we'll be reporting | :14:07. | :14:09. | |
from Wales' three National Parks. Tomorrow, we'll be visiting | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
Snowdonia. Then on Thursday, we'll be travelling south to the Brecon | :14:12. | :14:14. | |
Beacons. But tonight, we report from Pembrokeshire, home to the | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
only largely coastal national park in the UK. Matt Murray has been | :14:17. | :14:27. | |
:14:27. | :14:28. | ||
From the wild hills to the extensive would land. Pembrokeshire | :14:28. | :14:33. | |
Coast National Park covers 240 square miles. It is this | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
breathtaking coastline which is the main attraction. It is unique in | :14:37. | :14:43. | |
Britain as the only national park that is predominately coastal. That | :14:43. | :14:48. | |
makes it the busiest can National Park in Wales for activities. I | :14:48. | :14:54. | |
headed out with a park ranger. The world is your oyster. We have | :14:54. | :14:59. | |
the greatest coastline in Britain. There are water activities and rock | :14:59. | :15:05. | |
climbing. The important thing is these activities work hand in hand | :15:05. | :15:08. | |
with the wildlife which exists on the coastline? | :15:08. | :15:13. | |
We have some of the most diverse to the wildlife in the world. It has | :15:13. | :15:19. | |
to be carefully managed. The marine wildlife is spectacular | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
along this coast line, from Europe's largest population of | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
bottle-nosed dolphins at Cardigan Bay to Pembrokeshire's grey seals. | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
The offshore islands are home to thousands of seabirds. The National | :15:32. | :15:37. | |
Parks research into its wildlife is always ongoing, so they can manage | :15:37. | :15:42. | |
the area and activities. This summer, canoeists are being asked | :15:42. | :15:49. | |
to look out for otters. You can actually spot otters here? | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
Absolutely. There is tons of food they can search for here. It is | :15:54. | :15:58. | |
clean and fresh. We failed to spot any otters but we | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
headed back to the shore to meet eight marine conservationist. We | :16:02. | :16:08. | |
found areas were the mammals had recently been. | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
This is a good site for otters. They tend to follow the stream down | :16:13. | :16:19. | |
until they can get to DEC. They will mark their territory by | :16:19. | :16:29. | |
:16:29. | :16:34. | ||
spraying it. I have just found one here. There we have something left | :16:34. | :16:38. | |
by the otters. You can see they have been spending time in the seat | :16:38. | :16:44. | |
from the droppings. Some survey we have done, we found that they | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
actually used the whole of the coastline. | :16:47. | :16:51. | |
It is not just the otters and other wildlife using the coastline in its | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
entirety. Thousands of tourist will flock here this summer and it will | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
be down to the national park to make sure everyone and everything | :16:59. | :17:02. | |
gets the most out of these beautiful surroundings. We had | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
hoped to be live in Pembrokeshire this evening. We've had some | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
technical difficulties with that, but fingers crossed we will be live | :17:08. | :17:10. | |
in Snowdonia tomorrow. A dozen puppies are 'recovering | :17:10. | :17:13. | |
well' after being dumped by the roadside in a recycling box near | :17:13. | :17:15. | |
Swansea. The five-week-old Staffordshire bull terrier cross | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
pups were crammed into a tub at Penllergaer. The badly dehydrated | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
puppies were found the next day and said to be too weak to climb out of | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
the bin. They were taken to the city's RSPCA animal centre. All are | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
expected to survive. Football, and Cardiff City continue | :17:31. | :17:34. | |
their build-up to the new season tonight with a friendly against | :17:34. | :17:36. | |
Yeovil Town. Earlier, they completed the signing of Scottish | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
international Kenny Miller from Bursaspor and, subject to football | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
league clearance, French striker Rudi Gestarde. Meanwhile, BBC Wales | :17:43. | :17:45. | |
understands that Swansea City are close to agreeing a fee for | :17:45. | :17:55. | |
Rugby and former Dragons coach Paul Turner is back in work. He's joined | :17:55. | :17:58. | |
former Blues boss Dai Young at the English Premiership side Wasps. | :17:58. | :18:01. | |
Turner, who left Rodney Parade in March, will become the club's | :18:01. | :18:06. | |
attack and skills coach. Tomorrow will mark one year to go | :18:06. | :18:08. | |
until the opening ceremony of the London Olympics, which means the | :18:08. | :18:11. | |
clock is ticking for Welsh sportsmen and -women who want to | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
qualify for the Games. All this week, we're meeting five Welsh | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
athletes with dreams of competing in 2012. Tonight Tomos Dafydd meets | :18:19. | :18:29. | |
:18:29. | :18:30. | ||
Cwmbran rifle shooter Helen Warnes. Meet one of our best shooters. | :18:30. | :18:37. | |
Helen Warnes's target is on a Olympic glory at London 2012. | :18:37. | :18:45. | |
This is my event rifle. That is my target down fair. That black dot | :18:45. | :18:50. | |
there is the target I will wane -- I will aim at. That is represented | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
on this screen. For me to gain represent -- for me to gain maximum | :18:55. | :19:01. | |
points, I need to hit this tiny dot in the centre. It is actually one | :19:01. | :19:09. | |
millimetre wide. From 10 metres, your target is one | :19:09. | :19:11. | |
millimetre wide? Yes. | :19:11. | :19:17. | |
It requires hours of training each week to be this good. Helen has | :19:17. | :19:23. | |
ditched University and is aiming for the 2012 Olympics. | :19:23. | :19:31. | |
It is amazing. Any person's dream. For that to come true, it is one of | :19:31. | :19:33. | |
those once-in-a-lifetime experiences. A her preparation has | :19:33. | :19:40. | |
not been without setbacks after an illness earlier in the year. | :19:40. | :19:46. | |
I got food poisoning in Australia. I was really ill and was in | :19:46. | :19:51. | |
hospital there and I had to come home early so I couldn't compete in | :19:51. | :19:56. | |
Korea. The road to recovery was long. | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
With this session, we are going to have a look at your lens. It is | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
slightly out of alignment. With hers since she started seven | :20:05. | :20:10. | |
years ago is her coach. He says that reaching London will be tough. | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
There is one place available in the squad and Helen will have to | :20:14. | :20:17. | |
outperform her counterparts in London, who get more funding than | :20:17. | :20:24. | |
her. She won the British championship as | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
an end to -- as an under 21-year- old. She showed a lot of potential | :20:27. | :20:33. | |
then. She has been to three of the four World Cups for Great Britain | :20:33. | :20:38. | |
and is in line for the Olympics next year. With a bit of luck, we | :20:38. | :20:45. | |
will see her home and dry. Rifle shooting isn't cheap. This | :20:45. | :20:51. | |
kit costs more than �5,000, 1,500 pounds goes on ammunition alone | :20:51. | :20:58. | |
every year. For extra cash, Helen swaps bullets | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
for the bar. She pulls pints at the local pub. | :21:02. | :21:06. | |
It doesn't get as much publicity and sponsorship as cycling or | :21:06. | :21:12. | |
athletics. It is a lot harder for me as an individual to get more | :21:12. | :21:19. | |
funding and sponsorship. Working somewhere like here helps me get | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
that money to pay for things like ammunition and other equipment, | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
because there is so much equipment. One of my rivals is worth �2,000. | :21:28. | :21:33. | |
The other is worth �1,000. I also have a full body kit. | :21:33. | :21:35. | |
The Olympic dream is inexpensive one? | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
Deri. It could all be worth it, should | :21:39. | :21:44. | |
she make it into Team GB. The first Olympic Games for Helen will be | :21:44. | :21:47. | |
next year. Well one man who's already tasted | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
Olympic success is Wrexham rower Tom James. He won gold in Beijing | :21:50. | :21:53. | |
and is now working hard to do the same in London, despite having | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
surgery to treat a bad back. Our reporter Ashleigh Crowter caught up | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
with Tom at one of rowing's showpiece events, the Henley Royal | :21:59. | :22:09. | |
:22:09. | :22:11. | ||
Regatta. The Henley Royal Regatta is one of | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
the most prestigious events in the British sporting summer. It is as | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
important to roaming as Wimbledon is to tennis. The social side plays | :22:19. | :22:24. | |
a big part here but there is more to Henley than sipping champagne by | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
the riverside. The rowing is fiercely competitive. This weekend, | :22:30. | :22:33. | |
Tom James and his crew are desperate to win. It's been four | :22:33. | :22:36. | |
years since Tom James climbed into a boat at rowing's summer festival | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
on the Thames. And it's a huge relief to be back. Because just a | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
few months ago, Tom James was wondering whether he could ever | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
reach the heights again after a serious back injury. | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
It has been a nice surprise because I have had a miserable year. I was | :22:52. | :22:57. | |
sitting around with doctors and physiotherapists. Training on your | :22:57. | :23:02. | |
own is depressing. It was one thing staying fit for the sake of staying | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
fit. Hard work. In fact, his comeback was so good | :23:06. | :23:09. | |
and his training times so impressive that Tom forced his way | :23:09. | :23:11. | |
back in Great Britain's iconic coxless four, breaking in to an | :23:12. | :23:16. | |
established crew just like he did in the run-up to Beijing. | :23:16. | :23:22. | |
Everybody knows that it is based on performance. Everybody has the same | :23:22. | :23:27. | |
chance and he took his chance. He is a very experienced guide. He had | :23:27. | :23:32. | |
a very tough time, fighting his way back into the team. I think he | :23:32. | :23:38. | |
knows how it feels to win at races. He is an Olympic champion and so | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
far I am quite happy with how it is going so far. | :23:42. | :23:48. | |
Tom James made a name for himself in Beijing. His coxless four | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
produced one of the great moments of the Games to win the sport's | :23:51. | :23:53. | |
Blue Riband event, maintaining Great Britain's incredible record | :23:53. | :23:59. | |
of winning that race at the last four Olympics. One year out from | :23:59. | :24:02. | |
the London Games, Tom and three new team-mates are already favourites | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
to keep the run going, beating Australia and the USA at Henley, | :24:05. | :24:08. | |
and breaking the course record on the same stretch of water where the | :24:08. | :24:16. | |
1948 Olympic rowing regatta was held. | :24:16. | :24:21. | |
It is quite satisfying, being back in a good vote with a good bunch of | :24:21. | :24:27. | |
guys, having fun. Not taking it too seriously, although obviously, it | :24:27. | :24:32. | |
is a big deal. We are preparing for the Olympics. Everything is a | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
stepping stone for the Olympics. Quite how Tom and his team-mates | :24:35. | :24:38. | |
will handle that extra pressure remains to be seen, although if | :24:38. | :24:41. | |
their performance at Henley is anything to go by, he remains one | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
of Wales' best hopes for a gold medal this time next year. | :24:45. | :24:55. | |
:24:55. | :25:11. | ||
Let's get the weather now with Sue, Plenty of sunny spells on the way | :25:11. | :25:18. | |
tomorrow. That's all thanks to an area of reasonably high pressure | :25:18. | :25:21. | |
over the UK which is keeping things fine and settled at least for a | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
couple of days before this weather system heads our way. This | :25:24. | :25:27. | |
afternoon will be dry with plenty of sunshine, especially in the west, | :25:27. | :25:35. | |
and only small amounts of cloud. Feeling warm with light and | :25:35. | :25:38. | |
variable winds. Cooler on the coast with a sea breeze. Up to 23 Celsius | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
in Cardiff and Newport. This evening it's staying dry with clear | :25:41. | :25:43. | |
spells overnight, especially further west. Winds remain light so | :25:43. | :25:46. | |
we could see a few mist patches forming with temperatures falling | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
no lower than 9 Celsius overnight. Tomorrow, a fine start to the day. | :25:49. | :25:52. | |
Some long sunny spells through the morning. Another largely dry one | :25:52. | :25:55. | |
with a bit more cloud developing by the afternoon further east. It will | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
feel warm again as winds staying quite light. Again cooler on the | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
coast - 19 Celsius along Cardigan Bay - up to 24 in parts of Powys, | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
75 degrees Fahrenheit, just above the July average. But late | :26:05. | :26:07. | |
Wednesday into Thursday a front pushes in from the northwest so | :26:07. | :26:10. | |
mostly cloudy through Thursday morning with some outbreaks of rain | :26:10. | :26:12. | |
spreading south-eastwards, but improving from the west later in | :26:12. | :26:22. | |
:26:22. | :26:25. | ||
the day. So fine for the next couple of days. It will be breezier. | :26:25. | :26:33. | |
Some rain on Thursday. Friday cloudier, looking a bit mixed. And | :26:33. | :26:39. | |
improving story heading into the weekend. Finally today's picture is | :26:39. | :26:42. | |
from Ray Worsnop, a glorious sunset taken over the Rhyl coastline last | :26:42. | :26:50. | |
It's approaching seven o'clock - the main news again from the BBC. | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
It's been a day of huge disruption on the roads of southeast Wales | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
after a lorry fire in the Brynglas tunnels. It broke out during this | :26:57. | :27:02. | |
morning's rush hour, the heat so intense it melted the tarmac. | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
Tonight the M4 has reopened but the westbound tunnel remains closed as | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
engineers assess the damage. Growth in the UK economy has slowed | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
in the past three months with official figures estimating it was | :27:13. | :27:17. | |
up by just 0.2% on the start of the year. The Office for National | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
Statistics said the figures were heavily influenced by a number of | :27:20. | :27:26. | |
one-off factors, such as the extra bank holiday for the Royal wedding. | :27:26. | :27:30. |