24/02/2016 BBC Wales Today

Here on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.

Welcome to Wales Today.

Our top stories: More on Aston Martin.

The Vale of Glamorgan beat off competition from around the world

to build it in St Athan.

And Private Cheryl James from Llangollen was ordered

by a superior to have sex with another soldier

the night before she died - an inquest hears.

It's one of the most iconic names in motoring - perhaps best known

as James Bond's favourite car and now Aston Martin

is coming to Wales.

The newest model, the DBX, will be made in the Vale

of Glamorgan - beating off competition from around the world.

750 high-skilled jobs are promised to make the prestige car

which will set you back at least ?150,000.

A symbol of glamour arrives outside Welsh government buildings.

vehicle, the DBX.

2020, it will be handmade in Wales and exported

around the globe.

It is a coup for Wales - it fought off competition

from 20 other sites from the Middle East,

Eastern Europe and the States, to win the investment with several

million pounds and 750 jobs.

For two years the Welsh government and others have been courting Aston

Martin, so what's attraction?

You train great people.

I actually believe that this will maybe

actually retain youngsters in Wales and in Cardiff.

Magnificent, isn't she?

0-60 in 3.2 seconds.

Slick, sleek and very male.

That has been the luxury brand's image.

The new car is designed around what women might want.

Costing up to ?200,000, it is the same price as the average

house in Wales.

Aimed at those who seek glamour and also safety and room

Neither the Welsh government nor Aston Martin would

tell us how much public money is being spent to bring them here.

We were hungry for it and we have a proud history

of manufacturing here that we wanted to carry on doing the business.

I felt passionately when we were going for this,

I didn't want the business to go outside the UK.

It is going at the former MoD site at Saint Athan.

Building starts next year.

This announcement is about more than money.

It is about more than jobs.

It is about glamour.

One of the smartest, sexiest and most glamorous brands

in the world is made in Wales and it is impossible

to calculate how much that is worth.

For the Welsh economy to benefit, this brand has be successful.

It needs to sell cars.

It was badly hit by the 2008 recession with sales in 2014 half

of that seven years earlier.

We have gone bankrupt a lot of times in our history and it will never

happen again and we will increase our production of sports

cars in Warwickshire and create business with the DBX.

When it was launched at the Geneva motor show a year ago,

the global economy was much stronger and the rich emerging markets

like China were big buyers of luxury products.

But there is less money being spent in many of

those markets now and the question is whether this new style Aston

Martin will be as attractive to the rich is the need to be

for the Welsh plant to be a success.

The performance of the Welsh Ambulance Service in responding

to emergency calls was worse in January than in the previous month.

However it continues to meet its target of responding

to over 65% of the most urgent calls within eight minutes.

Figures show that in January, the service responded to a higher

number of calls than the month before.

The number of politicians we send to Westminster is to be cut.

Wales will lose more than a quarter of its MPs under a review

of parliamentary constituencies.

The number of MPs we send to Westminster will fall from 40

to 29 as part of a move to reduce the size of the House of Commons.

An inquest into the death of an 18-year-old soldier

from Llangollen has heard she mentioned to a friend "how easy

it would be to shoot yourself".

Private Cheryl James was found with a gunshot wound to the head

at Deepcut barracks in Surrey more than 20 years ago.

The inquest also heard claims she had been "ordered" to sleep

with a fellow soldier.

What happened to Private Cheryl James at Deepcut 20 years ago?

The young soldier was found dead with a single bullet

wound to the head.

This fresh inquest into her death has heard

about the culture then at Deepcut.

How some recruits were seen as a sexual challenge and some

soldiers had little supervision and were

drunk every night.

The inquest heard from a friend of Cheryl James,

Yvonne Sneddon.

She said they were returning to Deepcut on a coach

when Cheryl turned to her and said, if you are going to kill yourself it

would be really easy.

Mrs Sneddon said she was shocked and this was out

of context with the atmosphere on the coach.

She said Cheryl had switched from being really happy

to being serious.

The inquest also heard from another friend of Cheryl at Deepcut,

seen here on the right, Andrew Carter.

He said Cheryl had wanted a fake passport to leave the country

and had asked if he had ever done anything off impulse.

Then, the inquest touched on claims that the James family desperately

want answers to.

Was Cheryl James ordered to have sex with a fellow

soldier?

Mark Beards, a former soldier, told the inquest he saw

Cheryl the night before her death.

He claims she told him she had been ordered to go down to a room

with another soldier.

He claims the order came from a Sergeant and Cheryl didn't

want to go but felt like she had to.

It was later put to Mr Beards he had been paranoid and delusional

and was untrustworthy.

He maintains he is telling the truth.

The inquest continues.

Some of Wales's biggest arts companies will lose up to 3.5%

of their funding from April this year from the Arts Council of Wales.

It's protected funding for those who receive less than ?150,000

a year, but others will see their income fall,

after the Arts Council's own budget was cut by the Welsh Government.

Critics and supporters of the police have been taking to social media

after it emerged officers deliberately ran over a dog

on the A55.

North Wales Police say there was no other way of dealing with an animal

that was running loose in the dark, posing the risk to drivers.

The force has referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints

Rugby and France has made five changes to face Wales

in the Six Nations in Cardiff on Friday.

Including scrum-half Maxime Mashino, who will be in the starting line-up.

Meanwhile Wales coach Warren Gatland has been explaining his reasons

for making three changes to the Welsh side, including

selecting Alex Cuthbert ahead of Tom James.

We don't think he is far away from coming back with confidence.

With Tom at the moment we feel it is an

opportunity for him to come back and play for the Blues.

He knows himself he is down on sharpness and a bit

of conditioning so it is an opportunity for him to keep

working and hopefully get back to that.

Let's see what the weather has in store for tomorrow.

Derek's got the forecast.

It's going to stay on the cold side over the next few days.

More dry weather for tomorrow, some sunshine with showers in places.

Talking of showers, a few spread southwards

tomorrow, wintry in places.

Icy patches in the north and west.

Dry weather as well, with a widespread frost.

Temperatures down to minus five Celsius.

A frosty start for most of us tomorrow morning,

icy in places.

Crisp and sunny but not everywhere.

Some showers likely in the West.

Across the rest of the UK, bright, crisp and sunny.

Plenty of sunshine but not dry everywhere.

Showers likely in the West.

Wintry on higher ground.

Temperatures ranging between five Celsius in Glasgow to a high

of seven in Plymouth.

In Wales, tomorrow afternoon, a mixture of cloud and sunshine.

A few showers but many places stay dry.

The wind will be light.

Tomorrow night the odd shower but otherwise a fine night.

Not quite as cold as tonight will be nevertheless,

there will still be some frost.

The forecast for Friday is hard to nail

down with low pressure.

That does run the risk of a little rain but we may miss

the worst of it.

On Friday - showers and snow on higher ground.

Some dry weather with maybe some rain in the south-west.

The forecast for the weekend is more straightforward.

A lot of dry weather with the old wintry shower

in places.

Hopefully the sun will shine but will feel cold

with a north-easterly breeze, with temperatures below average.

I will see you soon.

That's Wales Today.

Thank you for watching.

From all of us on the programme, good night.

Catching criminals is tough.

Police!

But catching coppers? God give me strength.

This investigation is far from over.