The Welsh Government is being urged to complete its plans for zones designed to breathe new life into economic blackspots via offering incentives to businesses.
A march calling for more jobs, training and education in Wales has been organised by members of the pressure group Youth Fight for Jobs. The three-day plan of action will have some backing from trade unions and some Socialist party members.
Tim Peppin from the Welsh Local Government Association said a rise in metal thefts affecting anything from bins to bollards was a very pressing problem for councils.
Tywyn Secondary School teachers have staged a second single day strike over pay. The union NASUWT claims the local authority and school governors were refusing to budge over proposed redundancies at the Gwynedd.
In a poll conducted to look into working habits and absenteeism, one Welsh woman revealed she took time off because "limescale from the shower fell into her eye". This and a myriad of flimsy excuses were given why people had to miss work.
About 1,170 jobs will be created at a Cwmbran development. Torfaen council has approved plans for the redevelopment of Cwmbran’s Arvin Meritor site, which it says is the "single biggest regeneration project of its kind in the town’s history".
Stores which will occupy Pontypridd’s Riverside Shopping Centre redevelopment have been named. High street chain Wilkinson and Poundland head the national names who have signed up for the scheme.
Members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and the University and College Union (UCU) went on strike today to affect schools in England and Wales. In Wales, according to local authority figures, 1,100 out of 1,800 schools were either closed or partially closed.
Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan said the latest official unemployment figures showed the UK government’s economic policies were working. The number of jobless in Wales went down by 9,000 in the three months to April. Unemployment stood at 115,000 in Wales, which is a rate of 7.9 per cent, compared with a UK average of 7.7%.
Delyth Humfryes, Chair of Dyfed Powys Police Authority, said imminent closures to a dozen police buildings will not "diminish the service to the public and in many cases it will improve the service we offer the public". Police chiefs want to go ahead with the plans as part of cost-cutting.
