Police name dead woman

South Wales Police have named a woman whose body was discovered at her flat at Brynderi Court, Bryntirion, Bridgend, on Wednesday.

Police are continuing their investigation into the cirumstances surrounding the death of 50-year-old Marlene Elizabeth Cooper.

The body was taken to the Princess of Wales Hospital, Bridgend, where a post-mortem examination has been carried out.

A 45-year-old man was arrested and remains in custody at Bridgend where he will be questioned in connection with the death.

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Finance firm deals jobs blow

A financial services company is to cut 300 jobs at its Cardiff office.

AMP is to relocate its customer services and IT operations to Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.

The company, which took over the Pearl Assurance building in Cardiff, is looking to re-deploy as many staff as possible.

The decision has been criticised by Cardiff Central MP Jon Owen Jones, who urged the Welsh Development Agency to help those affected find alternative jobs.

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Sentence adjourned 'crimewave boy

Sentencing on an 11-year-old dubbed a "one-boy crime" wave has been adjourned during his 154th appearance in court.

Psychiatric reports on the Cardiff youngster who faces 24 charges including car theft and burglary were not ready.

The boy was placed into local authority care at an earlier hearing and is under a nightly curfew.

He is due to reappear in court, which is unable to sentence him until he reaches his 12th birthday next month, on 7 May.

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Botham halfway in hospital charity walk

Cricketer Ian Botham is just over the halfway stage of his charity walk in aid of building Wales's first children's hospital.

The veteran fundraiser is walking 229-miles from Machynlleth to Cardiff where for the final few miles he will be joined by Hollywood star Catherine Zeta Jones and singer Charlotte Church.

On Tuesday he will be walking from Tenby to Carmarthen on the fifth day of his nine-day trek which aims to raise £250,000.

The Noah's Ark Appeal was launched in May 2000 with the target of raising £5m to build the first phase of a £21m paediatric care unit in Cardiff.

Drunk driver at wheel of school bus

A school bus driver from west Wales has been sacked for being drunk at the wheel of a coach carrying more than 40 children.

Michael Smith, 46, from Llanelli, was stopped outside Ysgol Gyfun y Strade by police carrying out routine safety inspections on school buses.

Magistrates in Llanelli heard that officers noticed he was unsteady on his feet and breathalysed him.

A spokesman for Roberts Brothers Coaches of Burry Port confirmed that the driver had since been dismissed.

Mr Smith, who pleaded guilty to drink-driving, is due to be sentenced on 8 May.

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Graffiti daubed at seaside town

Anti-English slogans have been daubed on houses and shops in a north Wales seaside town.

Residents of Nefyn, on the Lleyn peninsula, woke on Monday to find around a dozen phrases whitewashed onto walls and buildings.

The slogans included "English Out", "English Go Home", and "Cymru i'r Cymry" (Wales for the Welsh).

Local people fear the graffiti could spell disaster for the tourism industry.

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Woman killed in house blaze

A woman has died in a house fire in north Wales.

The blaze broke out at a house in Greenfield, near Holywell, Flintshire, at around 1845 on Sunday.

Paramedics tried to revive the woman, who was found collapsed in the upstairs front bedroom.

North Wales fire officers are investigating the cause, but police said there were no suspicious circumstances.

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Diver breaks leg on slipway

A diver has been flown to hospital in north Wales after an accident as his party returned to harbour at Holyhead on Sunday afternoon.

The 55-year-old man, from the Wirral, Merseyside, broke his lower leg when it was caught in a rock while bringing a boat up a slipway.

The man is a diver with Flintshire Sub Aqua Club.

A Sea King helicopter based at RAF Valley in Anglesey was on exercise in the area and flew him to Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor.

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Language group votes for 'disobedience'

The Welsh language pressure group, Cymuned, has said it is prepared to consider acts of civil disobedience to highlight the crisis facing the language in its heartlands.

In the organisation's first conference, in Harlech, members voted in favour of a motion to support non-violent disobedience.

Cymuned was founded after the row about in-migration into Welsh-speaking areas in mid and north Wales and its initial intention was to concentrate on political lobbying.

No-one from the group would specify what form such acts might take or when they might occur, Some members felt they should wait until the Welsh Assembly publishes its report on the Welsh language.

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Passengers hurt in bus crash

A total of 13 people have been taken to hospital after two buses were involved in a collision in Cardiff city centre.

The incident on one of the capital's main roads - St Mary's Street - happened at lunchtime on Friday.

Paramedics said they treated the victims at the scene before they were admitted to the University Hospital of Wales.

Four of the patients have suspected spinal injuries and the other nine were described as walking wounded, having suffered cuts and bruises.

South Wales Police are investigating what caused the collision.

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Doctor cleared of sex assaults

A south Wales doctor has been cleared of eight charges of indecent assault on women patients.

Consultant neurologist Dr Brian Phillips, 70, was accused of carrying out attacks in Swansea over ten years.

The incidents were alleged to have taken place at his consulting rooms in Walter Road or at the Sancta Maria Hospital.

A jury at Cardiff Crown Court took under an hour to find Dr Phillips, from Gower, not guilty.

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Mobile phone firm plans expansion

The mobile phone company T- Mobile has announced plans to expand its call centre at Merthyr Tydfil.

It says expects to create "several hundred" new jobs over the next few years.

T-Mobile is the new name for One to One, which has abandoned plans to open a second centre at Dundee to concentrate on the Rhyd-y-car site where it currently employs 450 staff.