That's it from Local Live for Birmingham and the Black Country on Wednesday.

Join us from 08:00 on Thursday for more news, sport, travel and weather.

Nick Owen
Presenter, BBC Midlands Today

Tonight we will all the latest on the Birmingham house explosion, a recap of all the football from last night and research into how to save our bees. 

Join us for the Midlands Today on BBC One at 18:30.

BBC Travel

One lane is blocked and there is queuing traffic on the M6 southbound between J6 for the Aston Expressway and J5 for Castle Bromwich because of a crash, drivers are warned.

Sara Thornton
BBC Weather

Continuing to be cold tonight - we could even have some wintery showers around. Lows of 4C (39F).

Find out more about tonight's outlook.

Investigations into the cause of the Birmingham house explosion in Wiggin Street we reported earlier are expected to continue for "some time" according to Dave James from West Midlands Fire and Rescue.

Relegation-threatened Aston Villa say they are spending less than £80,000 to "refresh" the club's crest.

It was reported changes to the badge - intended to make Villa "more effective in the digital age" - could cost £2m., external

The crest will change on their website, retail products, television station, club publications and at their stadium.

Image source, BBC Sport

A man has died and another has been seriously injured after a reported stabbing at a West Bromwich house this afternoon, police say.

Police were called to Campville Crescent at around 13:50. A man, believed to be in his early 40s, died at the scene, while another man, in his early 20s, was taken to hospital, said the force.

Two men and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Alex Homer
BBC Local Live

Here is a recap of the stories we have been running on Wednesday:

- A suspected gas explosion has blown the roof off a house while a man and woman were inside and left the man with serious burns in hospital 

- A police officer and two others have denied plotting to make a 999 call about a bogus plan by terrorists to kidnap another police officer

- Animal remains have been found dumped in plastic bags near Wolverhampton, say police

Allen Cook
BBC Local Live

The remains of five foxes and a badger have been found dumped in plastic bags in Staffordshire say police. 

Image source, Staffordshire Rural Watch

Staffordshire Police say they were called this morning to reports of several dead wild animals being found, external on Hilton Lane, Essington. 

The badger's being sent for a post-mortem examination to try to find out how it died.

Birmingham City boss Gary Rowett speaks to BBC WM after Tuesday's 2-1 defeat by Brighton in the Championship.

Dudley News

Opposition councillors in Dudley have spoken out in horror following the release of a damning new Ofsted report which rates children's services as "inadequate" - today's frontpage, external.

Image source, Dudley News

Giles Latcham
BBC Midlands Today

A police officer's gone on trial accused of conspiring to make a bogus 999 call in which it was claimed that radical Muslims planned to kidnap one of his colleagues.

Amar Hussain, 29, from Yardley in Birmingham allegedly made the call to incriminate two members of a religious group against whom he held a grudge. 

He is accused of telling the operator he was part of plot organised by a "potential terrorist" linked to so-called Islamic State, planning to "kidnap a police officer in Birmingham", which the prosecution says caused thousands of officers "significant anxiety and concern". 

Mr Hussain had allegedly fallen out with members of an entirely peaceful Muslim prayer group, Dawat-E-Islami, at whose meetings he hoped to provide security. 

He denies two counts of conspiring to pervert the course of justice. Two other Birmingham men, Adil Bashir, 26, of Small Heath and Muhammad Sheikh, 31, from Bordesley Green, deny the same charges. 

The trial is expected to last a fortnight. 

Alex Homer
BBC Local Live

If you are just catching up on Wednesday's news, here are our headlines:

- A suspected gas explosion has blown the roof off a Birmingham home and a man is being treated in hospital with serious burns

- Inpatient operations and outpatient appointments have been cancelled while the junior doctors strike takes place

- A Redditch man has died six days after a crash in Digbeth

This is a bird's eye view of the scene of the earlier explosion in Wiggin Street.

West Midlands Fire Service earlier sent 20 firefighters to the scene in Wiggin Street, plus three fire engines, a 4x4 Brigade Response Vehicle and an aerial platform, as well as fire investigators and technical rescue experts.

A spokesman said an initial report "described the roof of the house as having been 'blown off' and that much of the remaining property had been reduced to rubble".

Neighbour Tracy Clayton said: “What happened was the neighbour next door to us who has blown up, he ran out screaming. I think he was on fire or hurt, so he ran up the street - apparently he got to City Hospital.”

Wiggin Street is around half a mile away from the hospital, according to Google Maps.

West Midlands Ambulance service says a woman who is believed to have been in the house, which we have now been told is in Edgbaston, managed to escape the building herself, despite the damage, and was discharged at the scene.

A spokesperson said: "A second patient, a man, who was also believed to have been in the property at the time of the incident had made his own way to City Hospital. The aircrew and critical care paramedic attended the hospital, where the man was being treated for serious burn injuries.

“Due to his condition, the man was conveyed, via land ambulance, to the major trauma centre at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. The trauma doctor travelled on board the ambulance continuing to provide emergency care whilst en route."

BBC WM

Tracy Clayton was at home with her husband Bilal Azhar, at Wiggin Street, and told us: "We were at home and we were unpacking our fridge, and as we were doing that we just heard and felt this huge explosion. 

"In our back room - everything fell on top of us. The roof gave in. There was just smoke everywhere, bricks flying.

"I switched my electric off and thought about my cat and did not know where it was, but she was unharmed, thank God."

The man taken to hospital has serious injuries, police have confirmed.

A hydraulic platform is exploring the scene of a suspected gas explosion in Ladywood. The road, Wiggin Street, has been closed off while investigations continue.