BBC Business News

Jaguar Land Rover is ready to roll out new models next year, investing more than £4bn to extend the range and manufacturing capacity.

The Tata-owned firm has key factories in Warwickshire, Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Wolverhampton.

It is now planning to build a new plant in Slovakia and is also planning to launch a smaller, cheaper version of the Jaguar E-Pace SUV in markets including China.

Image source, Getty Images

Next year will see the launch of a refreshed Range Rover and Range Rover Sport including hybrid models, as well as the Jaguar I-PACE electric performance SUV.

Tata Motors said today that higher sales at Jaguar Land Rover helped profits jump nearly three-fold for the quarter to 30 September.

Faith Page
Reporter, BBC Shropshire

The demolition of Ironbridge power station's famous cooling towers is expected to start in the spring and take three years to complete.

Plans to dismantle the old power station were approved by Shropshire Council yesterday. , external

There's been talk of homes and businesses being located on the old site but owners Uniper says it's going to cost £50m to decontaminate first.

BBC Business News

Shares in Redditch-based Halfords are down after the retailer said half-year profits were hit by higher costs linked following the slide in sterling.

Image source, PA

The car parts, bicycles and camping chain said underlying pre-tax profit slipped 9.8% to £36.8m in the six months to 29 September despite a 1.5% rise in like-for-like sales.

Shares fell more than 5% to 314.8p in morning trading.

Halfords said that while "prolonged uncertainty" over Brexit, weak sterling and a slowing economy would hurt sales, it could also benefit from a rise in staycations.

A writer from Wolverhampton says he never imagined as a teenager that his book about growing up in the city would be made into a film.

Sathnam Sanghera's The Boy With The Topknot premiered at Molineux last night.

It tells the story of his life, from growing up in a Sikh family in Park Village in the 1980s to becoming a columnist for the Times newspaper.

Image source, BBC Two

BBC Sport

Watford and Stoke City have been fined £25,000 and £20,000 respectively for failing to control their players during their recent Premier League game.

Image source, BBC Sport

The Football Association punishment relates to a 94th-minute incident during Stoke's 1-0 win on 28 October.

Stoke's Joe Allen clashed with Troy Deeney after the Watford captain tried to initiate an attack after Stoke kicked the ball out for an injury.

Deeney has since been banned for three matches for violent conduct.

Coventry Telegraph

Here are some of the stories appearing on the Coventry Telegraph website today:

• Biggest industrial development in generations to be, external built in Coventry
• This thug shot at an innocent woman, external in a Coventry street
• Coventry teenager denies preparing for, external terrorism

A taxi driver who has admitted killing his two young children was a "perfect dad" and appeared normal in the run-up to the deaths, his wife has told a jury.

Penil Teklehaimanot said Endris Mohammed was "gentle as usual" in the months before he smothered eight-year-old Saros Endris and his sister Leanor, six.

Image source, West Midlands Police

Mr Mohammed, 47, is alleged to have used a petrol-soaked rag to murder the "happy and healthy" primary school children at the family's home in Holland Road, Hamstead, Birmingham.

A trial at the city's Crown Court has been told Mohammed denies the murder of the children on the grounds of diminished responsibility, allegedly caused by a depressive disorder.

Asked by prosecutor Jonas Hankin QC if Mr Mohammed had seemed angry or irritable in the months before her children were killed, Mrs Teklehaimanot said: "No, he was normal. I didn't see any change."

BBC News Travel

One lane has reopened on both sides of the M6.

Cheshire Police says it is waiting for an engineer to assess the damage caused to the central reservation when a lorry jackknifed.

Traffic has built up around junctions 19 and 20.

BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

A primary school in Rugby has been closed for a second day, following reports that lit fireworks were thrown at pupils after a group of travellers moved on to nearby land.

Image source, Google

Pupils at Rugby Free Primary school were reportedly targeted as they left school on Monday, and again as they arrived at school on Tuesday.

Michelle Dawes
BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

One of the biggest industrial developments in the UK has been announced at the former Rolls Royce site at Ansty near Coventry.

The massive development, the size of 200 football pitches, is expected to support thousands of manufacturing jobs.

Image source, Google

It's provisionally called Prospero Ansty and will see Rolls Royce team up with a Henley-in-Arden firm, Opus Land, to develop the project on a site close to Ansty Park.

Tom Edwards
Reporter, BBC Hereford & Worcester

The North Herefordshire MP Bill Wiggin has been criticised after taking on a second job for an offshore financial company.

The latest Register of Members' Interests, external has been released online in which MPs have to declare their earnings for taking on second jobs.

Image source, Conservative Party

It shows Conservative Mr Wiggin is being paid about £19,000-a-year as the managing director of a Bermuda-based firm , externalcalled Emerging Asset Management.

The company advises people on how they can launch new hedge funds in tax havens.

Hereford's Labour Party branch has called for him to quit the job, but Mr Wiggin insists that he has done nothing wrong.

BBC News Travel

One lane northbound and another lane southbound could be reopening soon on the M6 in Cheshire, after the earlier crash.

North West Motorway Police says there are still long delays after a lorry jackknifed between junctions 19 and 20, external, forcing the closure of the entire northern side.

Image source, North West Motorway Police

Allen Cook
BBC News

Huge letters measuring about 90m (295ft) in length have been marked into the side of a hill in Shropshire. , external

The letters "L", "F" and "C" were spotted earlier this week by a member of the Ordance Survey team on the north side of Titterstone Clee Hill.

Image source, Ordnance Survey

The organisation says it's worked out they are between 85 and 95m (278ft and 312ft) long, are on common land and appear to have been made by some kind of vehicle.

It's believed they may have been made by a Liverpool FC supporter and can be seen for several kilometres, although it has ruled out alien involvement.

It comes days after mystery letters "Sue" were spotted etched into an Oxfordshire field and went viral.

Bromsgrove Advertiser

These are some of the Bromsgrove Advertiser's top stories today:

• Details of lights switch-ons revealed by council, external
• Town centre car park to close for inspection, external
• Car fire extinguished overnight, external

A pedestrian has been hit in a "serious" crash in Handsworth that has seen a number of roads closed in the area.

West Midlands Ambulance Service said the air ambulance attended the incident this afternoon.

We'll bring you more on that as we get it.

Allen Cook
BBC News

Clearing the M6 in Cheshire this afternoon will be a "significant" job, Highways England says,, external after a lorry crashed into the central reservation.

Image source, Cheshire Police

It happened between junctions 19 and 20 and the organisation says debris and fuel's been spilled across the carriageway.

Highways England says the northbound side remains completely closed, but there are now just two lanes shut on the southbound side.

The two police officers were mown down while responding to a suspected burglary.

Nine Polish nationals who live in the West Midlands have been remanded in custody accused of human trafficking offences - concerning 80 people.

It's alleged the eight defendants from Birmingham and the Black Country, and one from Evesham, brought 80 people over from Poland, controlled their bank accounts and stole their wages.

They've all been charged with conspiracy to force people in to labour, conspiring to traffic people with a view to exploitation and conspiracy to acquire criminal property.

They are due to appear at Birmingham Crown Court on 5 December.

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

Nobody's reported to have been hurt in the crash on the M6 in Cheshire which has forced both carriageways to be shut., external

Image source, Highways England

Cheshire Police says a lot of fuel's been spilt on to the road between junctions 19 and 20 after a lorry hit and went through the central reservation.

Officers say they don't know how long the motorway will be shut for and say drivers should avoid the area.

BBC News Travel

The M6 has been closed in both directions in Cheshire after a lorry jackknifed across both carriageways., external

Image source, Highways England

Cheshire Police said it happened between junction 20 and 19 in the roadworks area, travelling southbound.

Officers said the lorry went through the central reservation with fuel spilled across the road after its tank ruptured.