Everton have this afternoon announced they've signed midfielder Idrissa Gueye from Aston Villa on a four-year deal.  

The Senegal international and former Lille player, 26, spent only one season with the Midlands club, who were relegated to the Championship last season.  

Opening batsman Varun Chopra agrees a deal to return to Essex from Warwickshire at the end of the season.

BBC Midlands Today

Transport bosses say passenger numbers on the Midland Metro trams have soared since it was extended to Birmingham's New Street station. 

Figures show that since June, usage is up by a third compared with the same period last year. 

The extension cost £128m and on average, 120,000 use the service each week. 

Here's something you don't see every day.

British Transport Police (BTP) found this car near the freight rail line in Warren Road, Birmingham, earlier.

Officers are investigating exactly how it got there.

In the meantime, BTP issued the following handy advice:

HS2 - the proposed high speed rail network linking London and the West Midlands in its first phase - has long been controversial, but it's unlikely campaigners in Birmingham and Warwickshire have witnessed scenes like this.

Trouble flared yesterday at a meeting about the HS2 route through South Yorkshire, resulting in residents grappling on the floor.  

Warwickshire batsman Laurie Evans signs a one-month loan deal with Northants for four-day cricket.

A man was cut free from a car after it collided with a lorry and left him with a "significant leg injury", West Midlands Ambulance Service says.

Crews were called to Cole Hall Lane in Shard End, Birmingham, shortly after 13:05.

The car's driver, a man believed to be in his 60s, was trapped for almost 50 minutes. He sustained chest and pelvic injuries in addition to a leg fracture.

The lorry driver was uninjured.

Vanessa Pearce
BBC Local Live

Here's a recap of some of our main stories today:

- Man stabbed in the back in what police describe as 'targeted' attack

- Opposition leader voices concerns over redevelopment of Centenary Square

- Passenger numbers rise after extension of Metro tram

Atherstone & Coleshill Herald

A man who suffered a suspected heart attack has survived thanks to the quick actions of the Polesworth community., external

BBC Travel

One lane closed and stop-start traffic on M6 southbound between J10, A454 (Wolverhampton) and J8, M5 because of a collision involving two cars and a lorry earlier on.

More details on BBC Travel. 

Torquay United sign West Bromwich Albion winger Chay Scrivens on a six-month loan deal.

Sheldon Fire Station has tweeted this image of a crashed car in Shard End. One man was left with a broken leg, a cracked sternum and pelvic injuries.

Image source, Sheldon Fire Station

A man has been stabbed in the back a number of times in Chelmsley Wood, West Midlands Police says.

Officers were called to Hedgetree Croft just before 11:00 following what they described as a "targeted" attack.

The victim has been taken to hospital with non-life threatening injures and is said to be in a stable condition.

Young people are being encouraged to watch out for signs their friends are being groomed online. 

The message, in the form of notices going up around the region, is the latest part of a campaign by West Midlands Police and councils to raise awareness of child sexual exploitation (CSE). 

The authorities are also aiming to get the advice to young people via apps and social media sites. 

Falling home ownership has coincided with a rise in renting from private landlords, says a report from The Resolution Foundation. 

Whether you are house-hunting or just daydreaming, try using this calculator to see where in the country you could afford to live - and would it be cheaper to rent or buy?  

Wolves sign Iceland striker Jon Dadi Bodvarsson from Kaiserslautern and midfielder Joao Teixeira from Benfica.

Sian Grzeszczyk
Staffordshire Reporter, BBC Midlands Today

Conservation work on the Staffordshire Hoard will finish this month, marking the seventh anniversary of its discovery.

Unearthed in a farmer's field near Lichfield in 2009, archaeologists have spent years putting pieces of Anglo Saxon gold and silver together.

I've been given special access to the treasure and you can see my report on Midlands Today on BBC One at 13:30.

Image source, bbc

BBC Travel

Here's the scene that's closed Wodehouse Lane in Gospel End, near Dudley.

There’s queuing traffic in both directions near the A449 Stourbridge Road junction.

Eleven people have now been arrested in a police crackdown on quad bikes and scramblers being ridden illegally.

Addresses in Coventry and Birmingham have been targeted, with 16 off-road bikes seized.

Image source, West Midlands Police

Chief Inspector Jack Hadley of West Midlands Police said: "The message to off-road bikers is very clear: enough is enough.

"We have been patient and tried to speak to those involved to warn about the dangers of their actions − but such unacceptable behaviour must now stop."

Charlie Slater
BBC Weather presenter