sian lloyd, bbc news, tredegar. peter firmin, who co—created children's television characters the clangers, bagpuss and ivor the engine, has died at the age of 89. his career spanned more than 60 years, with the clangers first airing in 1969. in 2014 he was honoured with a bafta lifetime achievement award. a spokesman said he died at his home in kent after a short illness. andy murray has said he's pulling out of this year's wimbledon tournament, which begins tomorrow. he has onlyjust started playing again after 11 months out of action with a hip injury, our sports correspondent joe wilson reports. if there was the vaguest, remotest, wildest chance that this might happen again this month, well, maybe we'd all implore andy murray to give it a go at wimbledon. but he listens to his body, and to his medical team. and so his statement today read: at wimbledon, the queue digested that news. how heavy were the hearts there? it's a real shame. i think he's done so much for british tennis in the last ten years. you've got

sian lloyd, bbc news, tredegar. the rail operator, govia thameslink, could be stripped of its franchises —— unless its services in the south east of england start to improve. passengers who use thameslink and great northern trains are also set to be offered compensation equivalent to a months free travel. hundreds of thousands of people have faced weeks of disruption following the introduction of new timetables in may. people renting homes in england could be given more security, under government proposals to introduce a minimum tenancy term of three years. eight out of ten tenants currently have contracts of six or twelve months. ministers say longer agreements would strengthen communities. millions of people who book their holidays online will be protected under new eu rules which come into force today. until now, trips booked via websites like expedia and on the beach did not have the same protection as traditional package holidays from travel agents. our business correspondent joe lynam has more. expedia, la

tredegar took to the streets for bevan day in traditional style. hundreds joined the local band on a banner march to remember this former mining town‘s famous son, and to commemorate 70 years of the national health service he founded. i think we‘re all paying homage to nye, and if he were here today, i‘m sure he would be incredibly proud. i've brought my son, as well, who thanks the nhs, had some life—saving operation when he was six weeks old, so it is really quite emotional to be here today. aneurin bevan was labour minister for health, when, in 19118, a new service to deliver free health care for all was launched. what he‘d seen in his hometown was said to have provided the blueprint to "tredegar—ise" the uk, as he put it. the town‘s medical aid society saw miners and steelworkers contribute to a fund that paid for people‘s health care, who otherwise wouldn‘t have been able to afford it. there were political messages today from senior labour figures, including the leader, jeremy corbyn. but, above all, a festival for localfamil

sian lloyd, bbc news, tredegar. the search for 12 young boys and their football coach trapped in a flooded cave in northern thailand, has entered its ninth day. rescue teams have been trying to reach deeper into the chambers of the tham luang cave in the hope of finding the children, who are all aged between 11 and 16. howard johnson reports. water, gushing out of the tham luang cave complex. earlier this week, engineers began pumping it out from a flooded cavern. other teams have also worked to divert streams from flowing into the area. what we are seeing here is part of a new superjet pump being delivered. it's hoped that when it's fully operational, even more water will be pumped out of the cave complex to the right of me here. the falling water levels have galvanised search and rescue teams. last night, thailand's elite navy seal divers returned to a chamber around a kilometre away from the pattaya beach, a high sandbank where many hope the missing boys and their football coach are sheltering. the team will now

tredegar took to the streets for bevan day in traditional style. hundreds joined the local band on a banner march to remember this former mining town's famous son, and to commemorate 70 years of the national health service he founded. i think we're all paying homage to nye, and if he were here today, i'm sure he would be incredibly proud. i've brought my son, as well, who thanks the nhs, had some life—saving operation when he was six weeks old, so it is really quite emotional to be here today. aneurin bevan was labour minister for health, when, in 19118, a new service to deliver free health care for all was launched. what he'd seen in his hometown was said to have provided the blueprint to "tredegar—ise" the uk, as he put it. the town's medical aid society saw miners and steelworkers contribute to a fund that paid for people's healthcare, who otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford it. there were political messages today from senior labour figures, including the leader, jeremy corbyn. but, above all, a festival for localfamilies. among them

they've got a lot more work to do, it is complex and tredegar and will take a lot longer. it is delicate careful work that has to be done cautiously but having shown that four boys have made it out alive and have received treatment there is great hope that the rest will follow by the same route. everyone is impressed with the technical skills that have been employed by the team of international diving experts that have come together to work on this impossible puzzle but a great sense of relief that thankfully it appears to be working. the man in charge of the operation today said this was d—day, and seems it's going very successfully so far. danieljohnson just at the exit to the cave system. let's look back at how the whole thai cave rescue story unfolded. the group went missing on 23 june after exploring the tham luang cave. heavy rains struck, flooding the system and trapping them inside. a search operation was set in motion — ten days later the group was discovered alive deep inside the caves by two british divers. but the danger of the rescue mission was put into t

looked from one of our weather watchers close to merthyr tydfil and not too far away from there, at tredegar, they recorded a1 millimetres of rain in 2a hours, a couple of inches but that was not the wettest place in wales, northern ireland had the greatest amount of rainfall, this was one garden in antrim and not too far away at aldergrove, very nearly 100 millimetres of rain in 2a hours. thejuly average 100 millimetres of rain in 2a hours. the july average for the month 100 millimetres of rain in 2a hours. thejuly average for the month is about 71 millimetres, so injust a few hours, they had more than a month's rainfall. the ground couldn't cope? no, it is so hard at the moment, it is like having a sponge which absorbs the water and then you swap it out and have a brick instead, the grout is like that, it won't absorb any of the water. —— the ground is like that. hence the flash flooding and no great surprise when you look at the rainfall, northern ireland on saturday, the rain arrived, torrential rain at that and then it kept on raining for a good part of the day. on sunday, it came b