Merthyr Tydfil County, Wales News

WALES' only remaining X Factor contestant was yesterday installed as favourite to leave the competition this weekend.

MERTHYR Tydfil has been awarded Fairtrade County status, further enhancing Wales' standing as a Fairtrade nation.

On a visit to Cardiff to launch his new Star collection of Welsh Dragon accessories, the Merthyr Tydfil-born designer said: "If you see Kate in reality she's not so skinny.

At the northern end of the valley in which Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, is situated, is the little community of Heolgerrig.

THE oldest remaining synagogue building in Wales looks set to get a new lease of life with plans to convert it into apartments.

THE treasurer of a community centre has been spared jail after stealing 1,000 from the coffers to fund a loan.

Fans of Merthyr Tydfil rockers The Blackout, will get the chance to meet the band in person when they sign copies of their new single, 'I Don't Care ', at HMV's Queen Street store in Cardiff on Monday 16th November 2009.

END Pioneer navigation and amplifier believed to have been stolen from a shop in Cardiff has been recovered by police.

SICK and premature babies born in Wales are not receiving quality care because of long-standing shortfalls in services.

In death he has become known as "the man who knew too much" a ' a fearless young British reporter who walked from one desperate, godforsaken village to another exposing the true horror of a famine that was killing millions.

LABOUR leadership contender Huw Lewis has won the backing of Neil and Glenys Kinnock in his race to succeed Rhodri Morgan as party leader and First Minister.

By 1843, missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were proselyting in Wales.

HUW LEWIS is polling better than his two rivals for the Welsh Labour leadership among party members, with Edwina Hart in third place, Mr Lewis' campaign team claimed yesterday.

BBC Wales environment correspondent Iolo ap Dafydd considers where the three candidates for the Welsh Labour leadership stand on nuclear power, coal and GM crops.

A BOROUGH is counting the cost of several proposed public inquiries. Councillors in Merthyr Tydfil have been warned about escalating costs, which stand at 97,000 for 2009-10. But the projected bill for the following year is about 170,000 - made up of fees for engineering reports, barristers and professional witnesses.

HE MAY be the teenage heartthrob of the competition, but X Factor hopeful Lloyd Daniels' looks weren't enough to keep him out of the bottom two last week.

PUBLIC schools must come forward with proposals to help Wales' most vulnerable children to justify their charitable status, Labour leadership candidate Huw Lewis said yesterday.

MERTHYR TYDFIL players were told before kick-off that they must take a 50% wage cut.

A gas main explosion and fire which led to the evacuation of 50 homes and the collapse of a footbridge might not have been an accident, it has emerged.

A PAEDOPHILE "groomed" a 13-year-old girl, persuading her family to let him take her to a car rally where he had sex with her.