It's five weeks on since refuse workers in Birmingham went on strike.

Where do your sympthies lie? We've been asking you on the BBC MIdlands Facebook page., external

Unite assistant general secretary Howard Beckett says: "I hope there's hostility in the right direction. This isn't a dispute members have asked for and is a last resort."

This afternoon the council said it has cleared 50% of the backlog in Birmingham.

Steve Hermon
Journalist, BBC WM

New powers aimed at stopping travellers moving illegally onto sites in Sandwell have been used for the first time.

Council officers were called to the car park in Great Bridge Market Place at 08:00 yesterday morning after three caravans parked on the site but moved several hours later.

Sandwell Council said it then moved the same family again when they moved to Ridgacre Industrial Estate in West Bromwich which is one of 17 council sites with an injunction.

Anyone breaching the order could face two years in jail, a fine or have their assets seized.

Stourbridge News

Brave Jess Harris is set to scale her very own Everest, external later this month with a walk to the top of Clent Hills.

Allen Cook
BBC Local Live

A man only suffered minor injuries despite his car ending up on its roof in a ditch after hitting a tree this afternoon.

Image source, West Midlands Ambulance Service

West Midlands Ambulance Service says it happened at 13:40 on Hilton Lane, in Shareshill, near Featherstone.

Its operations manager Rob Marsh tweeted that, despite what the crash looked like, the victim's worst injury, external "was nettle rash".

Birmingham Mail

Police are investigating after Britain's self-proclaimed vainest man Sam Barton, external was punched and kicked in a brutal attack on a night out in Birmingham city centre.

Birmingham City manager Harry Redknapp says the club had "every right" to bid for Bristol City's Aden Flint and Joe Bryan.

A breast surgeon who intentionally wounded his patients, including a woman from Worcestershire, has had his 15-year jail term increased to 20 years.

Ian Paterson, 59 was found guilty in May at Nottingham Crown Court of 17 counts of wounding with intent.

Lisa Lloyd, 42, from Redditch, Worcestershire, underwent two operations in 2007 to remove her milk ducts, at the private Spire Parkway Hospital, after being told by Paterson they could be pre-cancerous growths.

Image source, Lisa Lloyd

Years later when Mrs Lloyd was pregnant with her second child, she went for a check-up where a scan picked up something in her right breast.

She was advised by Paterson to go under the knife - a procedure, she says, which would have put her unborn child at risk.

An ultrasound after the birth discovered the growth had disappeared. A sonographer put it down to "hormones".

Mrs Lloyd, later discovered that the second milk duct removal procedure and subsequent six-monthly check- ups had been unnecessary.

"Some people said it was acting like God, but I think it was for financial gain," she said. "I just can't believe he would put people at risk.

"What he was prepared to do to me while I was pregnant, I will never forget."

Olivia Morley
Journalist, BBC WM

A driver has been captured on dash-cam footage travelling the wrong way along the M6 Toll.

It happened during last night's evening rush hour near Cannock.

A woman in her 60s was driving and crashed into two other vehicles. Nobody was injured.

A community group known as Bearded Broz have been clearing streets of waste left piling up because bin collectors are on strike.

Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo says the club is "alert" to new signings despite already bringing in 11 players.

Sarah Papachristophorou admits supplying a 77-year-old man with drugs.

Walsall Advertiser

Any large transfer windfalls received by Walsall FC could be used to buy back the freehold, external to the stadium from chairman Jeff Bonser, members of the board admitted this week.

BBC WM

A woman who lost three relatives in the Tunisia beach attack two years ago says her fights continues for better security at holiday destinations.

Joel Richards, from Wednesbury, died alongside uncle Adrian Evans, grandfather Patrick Evans and 35 others in terror attacks near Sousse in 2015.

Suzy Evans, mum to Joel, says she is working for better contingencies in the wake of an emergency.

Today Joel would've been celebrating his 22nd birthday. Tonight she says she's meeting with his friends and raising a glass in his memory and will continue to run the charity Smile for Joel in his legacy., external

Last week the government said it no longer advised against travel to Tunisia following the attack in 2015., external

They were among four men who had been plotting a "mass casualty attack" in the UK.

About 250 patients have been awarded compensation by the NHS after they were treated by the breast surgeon Ian Paterson.

Thompsons Solicitors, which is representing more than 500 of his former patients, says "the criminal matter is only one part of this story". A civil hearing for compensation is due to take place in October.

So far payouts have been in the region of £9.49m according to the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust. Paterson treated his patients in both private and NHS hospital throughout his career in the West Midlands.

Solicitor General Robert Buckland says Ian Paterson "systematically mutilated" vulnerable victims.

Students booked to live in two blocks of flats are told they cannot go there, weeks before a new term starts.

A recruiter for so-called Islamic State (IS) who helped two British would-be jihadis in their attempt to join fighters in Syria has been jailed.

Iraqi Kurd Awat Hamasalih had denied being an IS member, but jurors decided last month he had run an "active and committed" campaign for the terror group from his home in Kingstanding.

Image source, West Midlands Police

He helped the terror group through speeches, social media, crowdfunding and even tipping off an IS commander in Iraq of imminent attack.

Sentencing him to six years in prison for being a member of IS and possession of documents likely to be useful to the terror group, Judge Richard Marks QC said he was a committed "advocate and ambassador" for the "pernicious" terror group.

Ian Paterson's crimes were so serious that a jail term of more than 15 years was needed, judges rule.

The solicitor general who brought forward the appeal to challenge Ian Paterson's jail sentence hopes "the increased sentence will help bring some closure" to the victims.

Robert Buckland spoke outside the Court of Appeal after he challenged the prison sentence of 15 years for undue leniency which was originally given to the 59-year-old in May this year.

Image source, PA

Paterson operated on nine women and one man between 1997 and 2011, at the privately-run Little Aston and Parkway hospitals in the West Midlands.

But he had hundreds of other victims who are fighting for compensation from the private hospital, Heart of England NHS Trust and Paterson himself.