:00:00. > :00:00.Welcome to Wales Today - our top stories tonight...
:00:00. > :00:08.The state of the NHS takes centre stage in Cardiff and Westminster
:00:09. > :00:10.as the First Minister and the Prime Minister attack each
:00:11. > :00:15.And Sam Warburton's in Wales' starting 15 to face Ireland,
:00:16. > :00:35.despite only playing once in two months.
:00:36. > :00:39.The state of the NHS in Wales was back in the spotlight today,
:00:40. > :00:41.as the Welsh and UK governments attacked each other's records.
:00:42. > :00:44.The Prime Minister criticised waiting times, after an exclusive
:00:45. > :00:47.report by BBC Wales showed that average waits here are longer
:00:48. > :00:49.for most key treatments and diagnoses, than in England.
:00:50. > :00:52.And in a major speech in Cardiff, the First Minister attacked
:00:53. > :00:56.what he called the "macho confrontational philosophy"
:00:57. > :01:06.Here's our political editor, Nick Servini.
:01:07. > :01:09.Two leaders and two very different takes on the state of the Welsh NHS.
:01:10. > :01:12.As the First Minister, Carwyn Jones, gave a major speech
:01:13. > :01:16.defending his record over the past five years and setting
:01:17. > :01:20.out his vision for the next, David Cameron used Prime
:01:21. > :01:24.Minister's Questions in the Commons to respond to our story last week,
:01:25. > :01:28.which revealed how many waiting times in the NHS in Wales
:01:29. > :01:32.Hip operations in England take 75 days
:01:33. > :01:44.Diagnosis of pneumonia takes two weeks longer.
:01:45. > :01:47.Treatment of cataracts, hernias, heart operations
:01:48. > :01:49.take two months longer than in England.
:01:50. > :01:55.But is the Welsh NHS living in the shadow
:01:56. > :02:00.Not so, according to Carwyn Jones, who told senior health figures
:02:01. > :02:03.in Cardiff that the accountability of
:02:04. > :02:07.the Welsh NHS contrasted with the baffling complexity
:02:08. > :02:08.in England and pointed to research showing nine out
:02:09. > :02:24.of ten patients rated the care they received.
:02:25. > :02:27.A crisis is an easy headline to write about the system.
:02:28. > :02:29.But when people face a crisis of their own,
:02:30. > :02:31.as the statistic show, the system is there for them.
:02:32. > :02:34.But we can't be complacent, we want that figure to be ten
:02:35. > :02:38.This was very much a speech from the First Minister,
:02:39. > :02:40.designed to give reassurance to the great and the good
:02:41. > :02:44.Unlike in England, he said there would be no major
:02:45. > :02:46.reorganisation and as a result, no strikes by doctors.
:02:47. > :02:48.There is undoubtedly a much closer and friendlier relationship
:02:49. > :02:51.between government and the health service in Wales, than in England.
:02:52. > :02:56.There's nothing between the Minister and the health
:02:57. > :02:59.service, there are no intermediate levels.
:03:00. > :03:02.So that requires the Minister to hold back a bit, not to get
:03:03. > :03:08.The health service, I think, has benefited from the fact
:03:09. > :03:13.But we've got an election approaching, all normal rules
:03:14. > :03:16.are put into abeyance, aren't they, for the next four months?
:03:17. > :03:19.That pre-election scrutiny will ramp up
:03:20. > :03:22.even further next week, when a major report is published
:03:23. > :03:24.into the relative strengths and weaknesses of the different
:03:25. > :03:34.A factory employing around 150 people in Cwmfelinfach,
:03:35. > :03:36.near Caerphilly, will close next year.
:03:37. > :03:37.Curtiss-Wright, the American-based company which owns the Penny
:03:38. > :03:39.and Giles factory, says the closure's due
:03:40. > :03:45.The firm makes equipment including joysticks and motion sensors
:03:46. > :03:49.for commercial vehicles and industrial use.
:03:50. > :03:53.Police say the body of a man found on cliffs at South Stack
:03:54. > :03:55.on Anglesey, is the father of two children found murdered in Leeds
:03:56. > :03:58.Geraldine Newman, her 11 year-old daughter Shannon,
:03:59. > :04:01.and her son Shane, who was six, were found yesterday.
:04:02. > :04:06.Detectives say they're not looking for anyone else.
:04:07. > :04:10.Calls to postpone the EU referendum until later in the year to avoid
:04:11. > :04:12.a clash with the National Assembly election in May, have been rejected
:04:13. > :04:17.David Cameron received a letter from the First Ministers of Wales,
:04:18. > :04:19.Scotland and Northern Ireland, warning that a June referendum
:04:20. > :04:29.But he told MPs that voters are able to differentiate between polls.
:04:30. > :04:32.Research that could lead to new drugs to tackle resistance
:04:33. > :04:34.to current antibiotics is being given a lifeline,
:04:35. > :04:37.with investment from a Welsh life sciences fund.
:04:38. > :04:39.Ground-breaking work is being done at universities,
:04:40. > :04:41.but in the past many ideas haven't gone further,
:04:42. > :04:46.because they haven't been developed enough to be adopted commercially.
:04:47. > :04:48.Now of course there's an impetus on commercialisation and actually
:04:49. > :04:58.But yeah, without this funding, certainly
:04:59. > :05:04.a lot of this would fall by the wayside.
:05:05. > :05:06.Plans to build Newport's first Welsh language secondary school alongside
:05:07. > :05:08.Duffryn High School have been refused over flooding fears.
:05:09. > :05:11.The council had proposed splitting the existing site,
:05:12. > :05:15.but the planning committee rejected it, after Natural Resources Wales
:05:16. > :05:19.warned the area was at risk of flooding.
:05:20. > :05:21.Dwr Cymru Welsh Water has announced that household bills will remain
:05:22. > :05:26.The not-for-profit company says customers will pay an average
:05:27. > :05:36.Rugby - and there are a few surprises in the Wales team to face
:05:37. > :05:39.defending champions Ireland in the 6 Nations on Sunday.
:05:40. > :05:41.Scarlets prop Rob Evans will start instead of the record cap-holder,
:05:42. > :05:46.Despite playing just one game in two months, captain Sam
:05:47. > :05:51.And Tom James will play, six years after his last cap.
:05:52. > :05:57.Head coach, Warren Gatland, said there is always trepidation
:05:58. > :06:02.But he had no worries about taking a bold team for the trip to Ireland
:06:03. > :06:04.for the match against the defending champions.
:06:05. > :06:09.After six years away from the international stage,
:06:10. > :06:12.wing, Tom James, is back in Wales shirt, to win his 10th cap.
:06:13. > :06:17.Reward for excelling with the Cardiff Blues.
:06:18. > :06:20.And having spent a couple of seasons at Exeter in recent years,
:06:21. > :06:23.Warren Gatland insisted time away from Wales has
:06:24. > :06:28.He was under the Welsh goldfish bowl, he needed to get out.
:06:29. > :06:32.He went out and went into the Premiership and went
:06:33. > :06:36.to play for Exeter and had some excellent form
:06:37. > :06:39.I think he's grown up, matured fantastically well.
:06:40. > :06:49.for the first time since last year's Six Nations.
:06:50. > :06:52.He's named alongside Jamie Roberts, Wales' most capped
:06:53. > :06:57.And Cardiff Blues' Gareth Anscombe makes his Six
:06:58. > :06:59.Nations debut at fullback, having started there in the last two
:07:00. > :07:04.In the pack, Scarlet prop, Rob Evans, is preferred to Gethin
:07:05. > :07:10.So with the record cap holder on the bench,
:07:11. > :07:12.does this represent a changing of the guard?
:07:13. > :07:16.He's a young player of the future and he's had a few caps now,
:07:17. > :07:19.I've been impressed with his form for the Scalets.
:07:20. > :07:24.Evans is joined by Scott Baldwin and Samson Lee in the front row.
:07:25. > :07:27.Luke Charteris and Alun Wyn Jones begin their partnership
:07:28. > :07:31.While Justin Tipuric starts the game at open side flanker
:07:32. > :07:34.with Captain Sam Warburton moving to blindside.
:07:35. > :07:37.He's played just one game in two months, but insists he's
:07:38. > :07:44.So from that point of view, my mind and body is ready for that.
:07:45. > :07:47.I will go as hard as I can and if I blow a gasket,
:07:48. > :07:50.you know, you blow a gasket and that is what you've got.
:07:51. > :07:52.A British Lion to come off the bench.
:07:53. > :07:54.And that British and Irish Lion is Dan Lydiate, part
:07:55. > :07:58.Wales' replacements have earned more than
:07:59. > :08:02.The Wales management is hoping they will come
:08:03. > :08:06.on and make an impact in Dublin this Sunday.
:08:07. > :08:13.Time for the weather now, here's Derek.
:08:14. > :08:21.It is likely to be windy in Dublin on Sunday at the same goes for us in
:08:22. > :08:27.Wales. The weather and the change, we have a warm front line to the
:08:28. > :08:34.Irish Sea. It will introduce a milder, warm air from the Atlantic.
:08:35. > :08:38.Rain from Anglesey in the West will spread across the country tonight.
:08:39. > :08:41.The breeze picking up with temperatures rising. Feeling milder
:08:42. > :08:47.tomorrow morning. Cannot promise much of any sunshine. 20 of cloud
:08:48. > :08:53.with rain and drizzle as well. Across the rest of the UK, rain and
:08:54. > :08:58.drizzle spreading east during the day. Most of the rain in the North.
:08:59. > :09:03.Further south, a few brighter moments in southern England where it
:09:04. > :09:06.will be drier. Cold in the north-east, six in Aberdeen, turning
:09:07. > :09:12.milder elsewhere. Temperatures in double figures. In Wales tomorrow
:09:13. > :09:16.afternoon, cloudy, damp at times with low cloud and hill fog. Should
:09:17. > :09:21.be dry in the east and the marches. Tomorrow night, further pockets of
:09:22. > :09:26.rain and drizzle in the south and west and on the hills. Another mild
:09:27. > :09:30.night. It stays mild and breezy on Friday, strong winds in the West and
:09:31. > :09:35.north-west, further patches of rain and drizzle. Over North East,
:09:36. > :09:41.Wrexham and Flintshire should be drier. Dry for a time on Saturday,
:09:42. > :09:47.but it won't last. Turning wet and windy. On Sunday, brighter with
:09:48. > :09:49.blustery showers, some sunshine. It could turn stormy on Monday with
:09:50. > :09:51.gales. We'll be back with updates
:09:52. > :09:55.in breakfast from 6.25am tomorrow But from everyone on the late
:09:56. > :10:01.team - goodnight.