05/03/2014 BBC Wales Today

Welcome to Wales Today. Tonight's headlines: A woman is charged with

possessing and distributing indecent images of children as part of the

investigation into paedophile Ian Watkins.Not giving up - protestors

take their fight over changes to hospital services in west Wales to

the Health Minister at the Senedd Good evening, in tonight's sport.

Jonathan Davies is bad for Wales and is straight into fees England. And

Gareth Bale as the star attraction is will start the campaign for 2016.

-- Wales start their campaign. It's been a highly respected name in the

Welsh construction industry but tonight most of the Macob empire has

collapsed with the loss of 145 jobs. It's been operating since 1981. In

that time, it's built over 12,000 homes and more than 200 miles of

road. The company owns Cardiff's historic Coal Exchange, but

development plans for that iconic building won't be affected by

today's announcement. Here's our business correspondent, Brian

Meechan. The sign on the door of the headquarters of Macob told its own

story. The company has ceased trading and that means 145 jobs have

been lost in Cardiff and also in Chichester. That is account is some

of the biggest names in the industry as some of its clients shows the big

reputation is at hand. Many involved in the construction sector have been

surprised by the collapse of the company. I'm very sad that this has

happened and all you can say is that the murky is changing. We hope that

work will come to fruition. This hospital opened over a decade ago

but the construction history has been very badly hit by the economic

crisis. But there are signs of a positive future for construction and

industry is set to grow between now and 2018. This is mainly down to big

construction projects such as a new nuclear facility in Anglesey. The

Welsh specialist panel on construction says we should not read

anything into the state of the industry in general because of the

fortunes of this one company. There have been more positive statistics

from the housing sector but commercially it is still a very

competitive murky so we are regrettably seeing companies failing

which is not a surprise at this moment. This is the end for large

parts of the Macob Empire although small parts are being salvaged.

However job opportunities could arise in other companies as the job

construction sector improves. A 38-year-old woman has been charged

in connection with indecent images of children, as part of the

investigation into the jailed Lostprophets singer, Ian Watkins.

Officers have charged Joanne Mjadzelics with offences relating to

the possession and distribution of indecent images. Rebecca John is in

the newsroom. Rebecca, what more can you tell us? Lucy, the Crown

Prosecution Service confirmed this afternoon that they've charged

Joanne Mjadzelics as part of Operation Globe, the police

investigation into Ian Watkins. She faces four charges of possessing an

indecent image and two of distributing one. She also faces an

account of the struggle string -- of encouraging another person to

distribute images. The possession charges relate to the A seventh

charge relates to allegations that she asked Ian Watkins to send her an

indecent image of a child. The Crown Prosecution Service said they were

asked by South Wales Police to review evidence files and concluded

there was sufficient evidence, and it was in the public interest to

chargeher. Joanne Mjadzelics has been bailed and is due to appear at

Cardiff magistrates' court on 21st March. And Ian Watkins was jailed in

December. Yes, the former Lostprophets singer from Pontypridd

was jailed for 29 years last December after admitting a catalogue

of serious sex offences involving children. Police said they believed

Watkins is a serial offender, and that there are more young victims in

the United States and Germany. A spokesman for the Independent Police

Complaints Commission said the charges against Joanne Mjadzelics

had no bearing on its continued investigation into the responses of

three police forces, including South Wales, to allegations that Ian

Watkins was abusing children. Councillors in Powys voted to

increase council by 4.5% as the approved their budget for the coming

financial year. It was their second attempt to pass it, after protestors

interrupted their first seven-hour meeting last week. The budget

includes ?20 million-worth of cuts with the loss of around 400 jobs.

The former coroner for Carmarthenshire is due to appear

before magistrates later this month, accused of theft. John Owen resigned

from his post in 2011, and was arrested later that year. It's

understood the alleged offences relate to his work as a solicitor in

Llandeilo. The Cardiff-based insurance company, Admiral, has

announced a 7% rise in annual profits. It's the UK's second

biggest car insurer and employs 7000 people at its offices in the

capital, Newport and Swansea. Hundreds of people, angry at

proposals to close a special care baby unit at Withybush hospital in

Haverfordwest, took their protest to the Senedd in Cardiff Bay today.

They say moving the unit to Carmarthen will lead to lives being

lost. But the Welsh government says the changes would provide the best

possible care for mothers and babies. Caroline Evans reports.

Shame on you! Angry and determined, a 300-strong crowd including

patients doctors and midwives cold on the Health Minister to change his

mind and keep the special care baby unit in Haverfordwest, among them

Mel and Jill ilcox who believe their grandaughter survived a difficult

birth only because the care she needed was instantly available at

Withybush. -- Mel and Jill Wilcox. She would not have stood a chance.

The Welsh government says providing specialist neonatal services across

all hospitals in the Hwyl dda Healthboard is neither safe nor

sustainable and the changes will increase the likelihood of survival

and long term well being for sick and premature babies needing

intensive care. But it's not just the loss of what they call the SCBU

Unit that people here fear. Without 24-hour paediatric cover you cannot

have a 24-hour accident and emergency department so that service

will also be lost and will endanger life because most people here will

be outside that category. Hwyel Dda Health Board says its repeatedly

stated its intention is to continue 24/7 A cover at Withybush. But

feelings among the campaigners were running high and a despite a

delegation being invited to meet Health Minister Mark Drakeford, they

decided to try and take their protest inside the senedd building,

they were stopped at the door, but those who had been allowed in for

the meeting said they felt nothing had changed. I feel that the has

made up his mind and he will not change it at this stage. Also at the

meeting was Joyce Watson, the Labour AM for Mid and West Wales. We have

to make sure that we have long-term safe and sustainable services. What

we have at the moment are short-term safe and sustainable services and

that panel made it clear and that evidence that that would fall apart

in the very near future. As they marched round the Pier Head building

one mother told me how crucial the care at Withybush had been for her

and her daughter, she'd come to Cardiff she said with a simple

message for the minister a plea to listen not to panels of experts but

to mothers in Pembrokeshire. Caroline Evans there on the row over

local services. We have become accustomed to David Cameron

attacking the Welsh assembly. There was quite a scathing attack today I

generally hunt who said that the performance of the Welsh NHS was so

bad that 10% of patients were turning to the English NHS for

treatment. He said that they had ignored eminent advice given by the

Royal College of Surgeons. This was echoed in Cardiff by the Welsh

Conservatives who renewed their call for an independent enquiry looking

all around the Welsh NHS and I think we can clearly identify a chance for

winning points I year before a British election in two years before

the Welsh one. What has the Prime Minister said? Jeremy Hunt has been

attacked by those seeing it as a cynical attempt by the Tories and

with all this talk about death rates in Wales being too high not, it is

clear that the way we measure them in Wales will change and it will be

made clearer to people when they compare one hospital to another

hospital. The question is will it make it easier to compare with

England still to come tonight, a repair bill or than ?1 million for a

top to this attraction and will start their build-up to Eudora 2016

with a friendly tonight. The UK Government has come under pressure

over the future of the Severn Bridge tolls - and weather they should be

reduced. In a special debate, MPs have been trying to find out what

will happen to them when the privately-run bridges return to

public ownership in the next few years. But the message was clear -

no decisions have been made. Nick Palit reports. It's a iconic gateway

to Wales but with bridge tolls rising each year, many also see it

as a barrier to cross-border investment and trade. Haulage firms

say the ?19.20 toll for a lorry is an extra financial burden in these

straitened times. But for the private motorist,too, it's a

significant expense. In in 2018 VAT will no longer be payable. And that

debate was happening today in Parliament's Westminster Hall. The

Transport Minister confirming that once in public ownership there would

still be around ?88million of debt to pay off - which would take about

two years. After that, who knows? No decision has been made and I suspect

it would be slightly earlier to look at that at this point. The

Department for Transport will see it as a cash cow as they do now and

will continue to charge tolls. The Welsh government have other

interests including development and to lose. -- and to resume. Other

bridges like the Humber saw their tolls halved after the Government

wrote off much the debt three years ago. In Scotland, tolls on the Skye

Bridge were abolished when it was bought by the Scottish Executive.

The 1st of March saw campaigners rally. It would do the local accord

me a huge amount of good if they were banning tolls. -- the local

community. We have found that more and more house-builders are offering

incentives for people to move into the area. The Welsh government has

cold for control of the bridges to be devolved and campaigners hope

that this roadside is erected on both sides of the water. It's one of

the most popular tourist attractions in the Brecon Beacons - the

Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal. Built more than 200 years ago, part

of it is now struggling to cope with the recent bad weather. ?1

million-worth of emergency repairs are being carried out after heavy

rain cause a landslip at Llanfoist near Abergavenny. Here's Paul

Heaney. Heavy machinery working seven days a week in a delicate

balancing act. The first sign of problems here was a crack like this

one in the canal towpath. In the middle of January the towpath

started to do this. Torrential rain since the start of the year is being

blamed for the path, trees and hundreds of tonnes of soil which are

still slowly slipping down this hillside. What would've happened had

you not done this work? The whole of the embankment would have started to

slide. Engineers are having to re-shape this hillside building a

man-made track just to get the machinery up to the canal where the

damage has been done. And this is how they're making sure things don't

get any worse. 500 meals that are 20 metres long and they are drilling

them and gently and will put concrete inside them to support the

embankment and pin it back to the original wall face. The canal has

had major building work in the past. It has come as a financial shock and

here we are now having to refund the income and we're looking at

cancelling up to 50 holidays so it is a major blow to the start of the

season. Insurance will cover some loses, but the Canal and Rivers

Trust has a ?1 million repair bill. It says other parts of the canal are

still open. The hope is to have this section open too by the end of

April, reconnecting one of the most popular attractions in the Breacon

Beacons. And tourism facilities in north Wales which were damaged in

this winter's storms are to get money to repair them from the Welsh

Government. In Rhyl, where 130 homes were flooded in December, ?250,000

will be spent on projects including beach access. While Conwy Council is

getting nearly ?500,000 to help restore Deganwy Promenade. There the

authority says it wouldn't be able to do the work without financial

help. The longest running television drama in Wales is to lose one of its

episodes each week and will also lose its weekly on a bus as part of

a plan to save ?1 million per year. -- its weekly omnibus. They're

infections that can kill and we're running out of drugs to combat them.

Superbugs like MRSA and C-Difficile infect one in every 25 hospital

patients in Wales. Now medical researchers at Swansea are leading a

multi-million pound, UK-wide project to try and stop future outbreaks.

They're analysing the bacteria's DNA using one of the biggest computers

of its kind ever built in Wales. Carwyn Jones has more. Mankind

against microbes and the fear is that our greatest weapon,

antibiotics, could be rendered useless as viruses mutate. We still

do not know how infections spread and evolve. Here they are breaking

down the very DNA of bacteria and analysing microbes molecule by

molecule. We can see that this one may have a particular gene that

means it is resistant to a certain antibiotic and we may be able to

understand where that Jean came from and how we can prevent nasty bugs

from acquiring resistance to some of the things we might use to get rid

of them. As well as hospital bugs, the research will analyse the DNA of

more usual bacteria. They will look at the most common form of food

poisoning and the genetic code of this bacteria which will appear as

row after row of letters on a computer screen. To make sense of

all the data, the research team has had to develop new technology on a

huge scale. This is one of the most powerful computers of its kind

anywhere in Wales and allows researchers to store and process the

genetic data of millions of different strains of bacteria. This

technology will be blisteringly fast and able to do computations at a

speed that is massively beyond desktop competing on your home PC at

home. That enormous amount of data is crucial in the war against

hospital superbugs which infect one in every 25 patients in Wales.

Scientists here believe it is a fight we can win by tackling

microbes at a molecular level It's an important day for our national

football and rugby teams. Ashleigh's here with tonight's sport. Thanks,

Lucy. We'll be live at the Cardiff City Stadium shortly ahead of

tonight's football friendly. But first to rugby, where Scarlets

centre Jonathan Davies has been recalled to the Wales team for

Sunday's Six Nations clash against England. Davies has only played two

halves for his region since a serious chest injury last November.

Now that he is fit again, Warren Gatland says he's in great shape. In

terms of being fit, he is really sharp at the moment. Saturday steam

-- Saturday's team is the same as started recently. All the three

quarters division one test caps for the British Lions in the summer. I

think he has established himself as a fantastic player and we know all

each other's game inside out so it gives confidence for us to play

against them while alongside John. To football, then, and Wales are

hoping to create a feel-good factor tonight as they play Iceland in a

friendly. Chris Coleman feels his team has a great chance of

qualifying for Euro 2016 after being drawn in a favourable group. And

tonight, he starts his preparation for the qualifying campaign later in

the year. Live now to our football correspondent Rob Phillips who's at

the Cardiff City Stadium. Gareth Bale starts and Hughes comes into

the team as well. Hennessy is in goal and Neil Taylor is getting the

boat over Ben Davies. -- getting the vote. A lot of optimism, Rob, after

that trial. What will Chris Coleman hope to achieve tonight? This is the

start of the road to the EU law 2016 wildfires -- Euro 2016 qualifiers.

That is live commentary tonight on radio Wales And you can see all the

highlights from the game on Match of the Day Wales at 11.20 tonight, over

on BBC Two Wales I won't predict the score, but hopefully Sue can

forecast the weather. After the UK's wettest winter on

record - we're on course for the driest and warmest spell of weather

since last autumn. But before we get there, a rather cloudy day tomorrow

with some drizzle. Tonight that cloud will thicken across Wales -

misty and murky with some patchy rain - the cloud holding up the

temperatures, so much less cold than last night with overnight lows of

six or seven Celsius. Tomorrow's also a cloudier day - mist and fog

patches - some outbreaks of light rain on and off - but it shouldn't

amount to much - it's more a dull and damp day - a bit drier further

east - winds pick up slightly - but they're warmer, southerly winds - so

temperatures back in double figures of ten Celsius in Monmouthshire and

13 in Conwy. It's this waving weather front bringing the thicker

cloud and rain - it could turn heavier for a time - especially

across North and West Wales on Thursday night into Friday morning.

So some rain early Friday, turning drizzly but remaining cloudy,

eventually brightening up from the northwest through the day which will

be breezy and staying on the mild side. That front's being pushed back

northwards by high pressure building from the south on Saturday - these

isobars straighten out - meaning winds turn more southerly. And those

southerly winds start drawing up warmer air from the Azores, so

things beginning to turn much milder over the weekend. So tomorrow and

Friday it will be often cloudy with some rain and some brightness. A

cold start to Saturday, then the milder, more spring-like weather

developing through the weekend. Temperatures could reach the

mid-teens early next week. It will be warmer but not necessarily

wall-to-wall sunshine. Finally, today's picture, taken by Julia

Wilson in Barmouth, looking out over over the Mawddach estuary with the

Lleyn Peninsula in the distance. Not so bright there over the next couple

of days but improving over the weekend. Don't forget you can send

photos to us by Twitter or e-mail, especially if they

European ministers are trying to persuade Russia to back down over

Ukraine. Also, in Wales, the firm Macob has collapsed with the loss of

potentially 12,000 jobs. Goodbye.