West Bromwich Albion has parted company with head coach Tony Pulis.

Image source, Getty Images

In a statement on the club's website, external, chairman John Williams said: "These decisions are never taken lightly but always in the interests of the club.

"We are in a results business and over the back end of last season and this season to date, ours have been very disappointing."

Assistant Head Coach Gary Megson has agreed to take charge of first-team affairs until further notice.

Mark Elliott
BBC News

Shropshire's fire and police services are taking safety messages on to petrol forecourts from today.

West Mercia Police and Shropshire Fire and Rescue are putting their campaigns on the back of fuel dispensing nozzles, reminding people to check their smoke alarms and look out for pedestrians and cyclists.

The Sentinel

Here are some of the top stories featuring on The Sentinel's website this morning:

• 'Why did it take the city council five months, external to clear this sofa from their own land?'
• Police appeal after unexplained death, external
• Rough sleepers say they could not be expected to pay a council fine - and challenge authority to give them more help, external

A 28-year-old man is due at Worcester Crown Court this morning charged with murder.

Image source, Family handout

Robert Sampson, 63, died after being stabbed and sustaining a serious head injury in Worcester on Thursday.

Police were called to Crookbarrow Road, Norton, following reports of a man being attacked.

Drivers at Arriva North West are staging the latest in a series of strikes over pay.

Image source, PA

Services across Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire are being affected by the fourth of five planned walkouts this month.

Workers will be balloted this week on an initial 2.6% pay offer, rising to 3%.

But unions are recommending the offer should be rejected.

A further nine days of action are scheduled for December.

BBC News Travel

Delays are building on the M6 northbound in Warwickshire after a two-car crash, said Highways England.

One lane is closed between J3, A444 and Corley Services.

Image source, Highways England

The Midland Metro tram extension from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill will create 8,500 permanent jobs and help develop 1,500 new houses a year, according to Dudley South MP Mike Wood.

The Conservative MP told BBC WM he's both "relieved" and "overjoyed" at the announcement of the £250m investment in the region's transport strategy.

"It's going to make such a big difference to Dudley South, and the wider Black Country," he said.

Prime Minister Theresa May will visit the region later to officially unveil government plans to improve transport connections within city regions.

A North Staffordshire MP says a newspaper report alleging drunken intimidation in Parliament is "ridiculous mischief-making".

Image source, Labour Party

The Mail on Sunday reported Paul Farrelly, the MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, "launched a foul-mouthed tirade" at fellow Labour MP James Frith.

Labour said it would be launching an investigation after it received "a number of complaints".

Mr Farrelly said the Mail on Sunday's story "seems to boil down to something about queue-pushing in Commons vote last week, and I have no idea what that's about".

BBC Coventry & Warwickshire Sport

England will monitor the progress of Wasps' new signing Brad Shields when the New Zealand Under-20 back row joins the club next season.

Image source, Getty Images

Shields has an British passport and qualifies through his parents.

The 26-year-old will arrive in Coventry after the completion of the Hurricanes' 2018 Super Rugby campaign.

"Alongside his natural talent, Brad is recognised for his immense physicality and high work-rate," Wasps director of rugby Dai Young said.

A fundraising campaign by Stoke-on-Trent City Council to buy gold treasure found in the area has been given an extra month to reach its target.

So far, only one fifth of the £325,000 needed has been raised for the Leekfrith torcs.

But now the British Museum, which is looking after the Iron Age Jewellery, has extended the deadline from December, to 5 January 2018.

If the target isn't reached, the artefacts may be sold separately to private bidders.

Victims of the Birmingham pub bombings will be honoured with the Freedom of the City at a ceremony this evening.

Twenty-one people died when two bombs were detonated in the city in 1974.

The ceremony comes a week before a new inquest into the deaths and is the first time Birmingham City Council has posthumously awarded its highest honour.

Express and Star

Here are some of the stories making the headlines on the Express & Star website this morning:

• Jailed: Robber who targeted disabled driver in Bilston Morrisons car park, external
• Banned driver jailed after Black Country police chase, external
• Rapists, paedophiles, drug dealers and gunmen 'let off' with cautions in the West Midlands, external

BBC Midlands Today

A primary school in Shropshire, once renowned for poorly behaved pupils, has been transformed after nature and farming were put at the heart of the curriculum.

Pupils at Wombridge Primary in Telford are encouraged to do their lessons by engaging with nature and have also forged links with a local farm.

It's inspired the children so much, 100 of them have achieved a GCSE in computing at just 11 years old.

The organisers of a Christmas attraction in Stoke-on-Trent say they have been "devastated" by false accusations of criminal behaviour at their site.

It's after some local schools sent out warnings to parents that Winter Wonderland in Hanley was a "known place" for Child Sexual Exploitation.

The messages were sent out before the attraction opened last Thursday and have now been retracted.

Staffordshire Police has confirmed it has never had a specific operation in respect to child sexual exploitation at the site.

Shelley Phelps
BBC Coventry & Warwickshire, Political Reporter

Council tax is set to rise by 4.99% in Coventry as the city council prepares to unveil budget plans later today.

Bills will rise from April, as the council looks to save £3m cuts by the end of the 2018-2019 financial year.

Image source, Coventry City Council

It says one of the areas putting pressure on its purse-strings is the cost of housing homeless people and families in temporary accommodation.

Recent figures show more than 1,500 in the city are in this situation.

A taxi driver from Birmingham is due to be sentenced today after being found guilty of the murder of his two young children and attempted murder of his wife.

Image source, West Midlands Police

Endris Mohammed, 47, had claimed at his trial last week that he wasn't in his right mind when he killed his children by smothering them with rags soaked in petrol.

Saros Endris, eight, and his sister Leanor, six, were found dead at their house in Birmingham in October 2016.

He was found guilty of two counts of murder and one of attempted murder at Birmingham Crown Court after the jury deliberated for less than 30 minutes.

A BBC investigation has uncovered fresh claims of child abuse within the Jehovah’s Witness organisation and fears that the Church’s own rules are protecting perpetrators.

The Charity Commission has launched an inquiry into allegations of abuse, which one lawyer has compared to historic problems within the Catholic Church.

Louise Palmer, who now lives in Evesham, Worcestershire, was born into the organisation along with her brother Richard Davenport, who started raping her when she was four.

He is serving a 10-year prison sentence for the abuse.

Police are trying to trace some of the owners of 53 stolen mobile phones found following a gig in Birmingham at the weekend.

Royal Blood performed at The Arena Birmingham on Saturday night, where police say the thefts took place.

Image source, West Midlands Police

West Midlands Police arrested a 22-year-old on suspicion of theft and recovered the mobile phones.

Det Sgt Jeff Clifford said: "Currently the vast majority of victims have been identified, but we urge anyone who attended the concert who is missing a phone to call us."

The Midland Metro is to be extended after the government announced £250m funding.

The news, which will see trams go to Brierley Hill, comes as the Theresa May travels to the West Midlands today to unveil government plans to improve transport connections within city regions.

Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street says the metro extension is a priority for the West Midlands Combined Authority.

Charlie Slater
BBC Weather presenter

After a damp and cloudy start, most of the day should be dry, but with some drizzle around at times and highs of 13C (55F).