We have put together a round-up of all the latest news, weather, and travel information for Monday, March 14, that will get you caught up and ready for the day.
The Welsh Government is being called on to take action against water companies after over 105,000 incidents of untreated sewage being dumped into Welsh rivers were recorded in a single year.
A report by the Senedd's climate change committee also said the true figure may be much higher as not all spills were recorded by monitors, or were legal.
Read more: The major problems facing Wales' schools in wake of Covid .
The report focused on how untreated sewage was frequently dumped into Welsh rivers via 'storm overflows' following extreme rainfall. This is when diluted and untreated sewage is diverted into rivers to prevent sewers from becoming overloaded.
Worrying statistics showed that in 2016, there were just under 15,000 such incidents recorded by 545 monitors in Wales. By 2020, over 105,000 incidents were reported, despite the number of monitors having only increased to 2,000.
It has also been highlighted that these numbers do not include unpermitted storm overflows or overflows that are not monitored by water companies, meaning that the real number of instances of sewage dumping is much higher.
Committee chairman Llyr Gruffydd MS said: “It cannot be right that a parent is scared to let their child swim in a river in Wales for fear of pollution and human waste. The public is rightly outraged by what it is witnessing - it is simply unacceptable."
The committee has made a series of recommendations to the Welsh government to deal with the increase.
These include reducing the number and volume of sewage spills and for Natural Resource Wales (NRW) and water companies to publish data on the proportion of sewage spills which were not within permit conditions. They should also report if enforcement action was taken.
The two water companies operating in Wales, Dŵr Cymru and Hafren Dyfrdwy will also be asked to report on discharges from storm overflows “within an hour of the discharge beginning”, which is already a requirement placed on water companies in England. The Committee’s report goes on to say that “if they cannot match this standard, both companies should explain why.”
The Committee has given the Minister for Climate Change, Julie James MS, 6 months to work with water companies to address the concerns raised in this report about the volume of raw sewage discharged into rivers before she will be asked to appear before the Committee.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: "Reducing pollution impacts from all sources is a priority for us and we are currently working on sustainable, nature based, solutions to achieve this.
"We are also working with Natural Resources Wales to encourage water companies to come up with plans to develop a more resilient wastewater and drainage infrastructure to deal with current and future pressures caused by factors including population growth and climate change."
Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water told the committee: "It's not where we want to be. We clearly can see the number of discharges from storm overflows is a really large number, and that's not coming down."
Hafren Dyfrdwy, which covers parts of north-east and mid Wales, said: "We are committed to continue to drive performance, improve performance, and accept that there's far more that the water industry can do."
Wales news headlines
Police make arrest in connection with serious assault in Clydach after two day manhunt
Detectives investigating a serious assault in Clydach on Saturday, March 12, have arrested a 37-year-old man in connection with the attack.
South Wales Police said the victim of the assault remained in hospital in a stable condition.
Officers had said at the weekend they were carrying out an "extensive search" for a suspect and warned members of the public not to approach the man.
It came after a 68-year-old man suffered what were described as serious facial injuries in an assault at around 5.30pm on Saturday.
A spokesman for the force said at the weekend: "The 37-year-old man who police are looking for is known to the victim – he is described as being 5ft 10in with a slim build and gaunt appearance. He has mousy-colour hair that has been dreadlocked and an ‘unkempt’ ginger beard.
"He also has a colourful sleeve tattoo on his left forearm. He is believed to be wearing a white checked shirt, beige or green trousers, and boots."
Residents were told to lock their doors and windows and were urged to contact police immediately if they saw the suspect.
Chief Inspector Stuart Johnson said at the time: “Whilst we understand people are worried within the community we don’t want people to be alarmed – there is no specific threat to the general public. We have specialist search teams out looking for him and have increased patrols throughout the area.”
Police have said the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Temporary Detective Chief Inspector Gareth Jones, said: “We know this incident caused some concern within the local and wider community. I would like to reassure people that we have the suspect in custody and we are not looking for anybody else.”
Wales' latest covid infection rate
Three more people have died with coronavirus in Wales, according to latest figures from Public Health Wales.
New data published on Monday, March 14, and covering a 24-hour period, shows 1,508 new positive PCR test results to bring the total to 827,518.
The total number of people who have died within 28 days of a positive Covid test in Wales now stands at 7,048.
The latest infection rate based on PCR tests for the seven days up to March 7 is 217.7 cases for every 100,000 people – a rise from the 202.1 cases recorded on Friday. This has been rising steadily for the last week.
The infection rate based on PCR tests is only a guide to the spread of Covid in Wales as it does not include lateral flow test results which are reported weekly in Wales. People with no symptoms who test positive on an LFT no longer need a confirmatory PCR test.
The latest data on lateral flow tests, for the week to March 6, also show an increase in positive tests. There were 12,288 positive test results reported in the last seven days. That's up substantially from 9,255 the previous week.
LFT and PCR positivity is also increasing. The percentage of LFT tests that produced positive results increased from 8.49% to 10.88%. The highest LFT incidence rate was in the Hywel Dda University Health Board area with 467.5 positive tests for every 100,000 people - way up on the 349.5 in the previous week.
Today's forecast
Wales will be dry and bright today, according to the latest Met Office forecast.
Today:
Any morning low cloud, fog and frost quickly clearing, leaving a fine spring day. Bright, if fairly cloudy skies at times, but some sunny spells for most. Feeling warm, with light winds. Maximum temperature 14 °C.
Tonight:
Remaining largely dry this evening, but cloud tending to thicken, perhaps bringing a few showery outbreaks of rain overnight. Much milder than last night. Minimum temperature 5 °C.
Here is how the roads and rail are affected at 7:30am:
- A534 Eastbound partially blocked, heavy traffic due to shed load of wooden pallets at Black Wood Way.
A44 partially blocked due to accident, one lorry involved and fuel spillage between Crossgates and Penybont. Traffic is coping well.
Queueing traffic and traffic heavier than normal on A4061 Oak Ridge Southbound at Paran Chapel.
Slow traffic on M4 Eastbound from J28 A48 ( Tredegar Park) to J24 A449 ( Coldra ).
Slow traffic on A465 Westbound at M4 J43 ( Llandarcy ).
Slow traffic on A470 Southbound at M4 J32 ( Coryton Interchange). Congestion to Pontypridd .
Slow traffic on A4055 Cardiff Road Northbound at B4267 Redlands Road (Merrie Harrier traffic lights ).
National news headlines
West must end addiction to Russian energy, says PM
Boris Johnson has urged the West to end its “addiction” on Russian energy as he heads to Saudi Arabia to push for increased oil and gas production. The Prime Minister is today set to travel to the kingdom for talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the hope Saudi can raise its production of oil and gas to make up for a reduced reliance on Russia.
In an article for the Daily Telegraph, Mr Johnson said Western leaders had made a “terrible mistake” by letting President Vladimir Putin “get away with” annexing Crimea in 2014 and subsequently becoming “more dependent” on Russian power sources. He said the “addiction” on Russian fuel had “emboldened” Mr Putin to bomb civilians during his invasion of Ukraine, while at the same time profiting from soaring global oil and gas prices.
“We cannot go on like this. The world cannot be subject to this continuous blackmail,” said Mr Johnson, whose administration has already announced its plan to phase out importing Russian oil by the end of the year.
Mr Johnson said that Russia produces “virtually nothing else” that the “rest of the world wants to buy”. He added: “If the world can end its dependence on Russian oil and gas, we can starve him of cash, destroy his strategy and cut him down to size.”
Offering a glimpse of what could be in his British Energy Security Strategy, which is due to be published this month, he argued there was a need to press ahead with investment in renewables, including expanding the number of UK offshore wind farms and creating more solar power. Mr Johnson also said there needed to be a “series of big new bets” on nuclear power to make sure the UK’s energy supply was “no longer at the mercy of bullies like Putin”.
However, the Prime Minister looked to level with the public. He said that diverging from Russian power would be “painful” and that financial assistance offered by Chancellor Rishi Sunak to help pay with rising bills this year cannot be afforded “for long”.
US warns China on support for Russia in Ukraine war
The US, meanwhile, has issued a warning to China on the issue. President Joe Biden's adviser Jake Sullivan met senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi in Rome and outlined that the Biden administration is becoming increasingly concerned that China is using the war to advance Beijing’s long-term interest in its competition with the United States.
Mr Sullivan was seeking clarity on Beijing’s posture and was warning the Chinese anew that assistance for Russia — including helping it avert sanctions imposed by the US and Western allies — would be costly for them.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said: "The national security adviser and our delegation raised directly and very clearly our concerns about the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) support to Russia in the wake of the invasion, and the implications that any such support would have for the PRC’s relationship not only with us, but for its relationships around the world."
Sport headlines
Wales to name team early
Wales will name their side to play Italy two days earlier than normal as Wayne Pivac decides whether to bring Alun Wyn Jones straight back into the starting XV.
The Welsh squad will reconvene at their Vale HQ today and will immediately be told the team, with a public announcement to follow at 2.30pm.
The normal practice is for the team to be named on a Thursday for a Saturday match, 48 hours before kick-off.
Jones is likely to feature in the 23 at least, although Dan Biggar will keep the captaincy.
It will be the lock's 150th Wales cap, while Biggar is winning his 100th.
Elsewhere, there could be ra recall for Louis Rees-Zammit, with Pivac also weighing up whether to revisit the experiment of playing Josh Adams in the centre.
Latest World Rugby rankings
Wales and England have both fallen in the new World Rugby rankings table published today.
Wayne Pivac's side have slipped back below Scotland to eighth after the 13-9 defeat against France on Friday night and the Scots' win over Italy on Saturday.
England's record 32-15 home defeat to Ireland, albeit with 14 men for almost the entirety of the match, sees them drop to fifth, behind the Irish. France maintain third place but will overtake the All Blacks in second if they beat England and secure a Grand Slam next Saturday.
It means Wales are set to finish the Six Nations as the eighth ranked team in the world next week, no matter what the result against Italy.
That's because of the Italian's lowly ranking of 14th, which means a home victory for Wales will make no dent in terms of rankings points. They are just one place and less than two rankings points ahead of Spain now, who qualified for the 2023 Rugby World Cup this weekend with victory over Portugal.
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