Homes in Birmingham and Wolverhampton were raided during the early hours.

Theresa May has criticised Labour-run Birmingham City Council's handling of the bin strike during Prime Minister's Questions.

The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn used the weekly question session to attack the government for cutting funding to local authorities.

Image source, PA

Birmingham goes to the polls for local elections in May.

Theresa May said Conservative-run councils cost taxpayers less.

Image source, Getty Images

Shropshire Star

Here are a selection of stories which are featuring on the Shropshire Star website today:

• Shropshire's police 999 call centre to close, external - with calls taken in Worcester
• Cadet sergeant, 59, sexually assaulted teenager at camp, external, court told
• Archie Spriggs murder trial: Mother tells court she fantastised about faking deaths, external and 'disappearing'

A man was shot in the leg earlier this morning. West Midlands Police said the man, in his early 20s, was taken to hospital, with non-life threatening injuries.

The victim was attacked in Brookvale Park Road at about 11:00.

The offender is believed to have fled in a white Ford Fiesta and officers are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

The road is currently cordoned off while investigations continue.

Sgt Simon Hanlon said: "At this stage it appears to be a targeted attack and we would ask anyone who saw anything to get in to touch.

"We are particularly keen to establish more information about the white Ford Fiesta which was seen leaving the area at speed."

Two men have been arrested in connection with the alleged exploitation of workers.

The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, external(GLAA) has now said it is looking into claims that "around 30 workers have been exploited".

The two men, both aged 41 and Romanian nationals, were arrested at separate residential addresses in Birmingham and Wolverhampton at about 06:00 this morning.

Matt Sandoz
Stoke City commentator, BBC Radio Stoke

Stoke City captain Ryan Shawcross says he'll accept not being picked if it means the team stays in the Premier League.

Shawcross made his first start in four games last weekend having lost his place in the side to Bruno Martins Indi.

He said he was not taking anything for granted.

Image source, Getty Images

It's getting to that time of year when foul smells fill the air in the countryside as farmers plough their fields and spread fertilizer.

Complaints having been filling in from Sandbach in Cheshire over the past 24 hours as parts of the town are said to "smell of rotten eggs".

But as ever with complaints, they are taken seriously - Cheshire Fire and United Utilities have been on the case trying to find out what the curious smell is.

Worcester Warriors' South Africa international scrum-half Francois Hougaard signs a new three-year deal.

Nick Southall
Journalist, BBC Shropshire

The government is being urged to co-operate with German crime agencies following the revelation yesterday that a Telford pensioner was being investigated in Germany on Nazi war crime allegations.

Stanislaw Chrzanowski, 96, from Hadley died last October as Munich prosecutors were preparing to search his home.

Labour MP Wes Streeting, vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group Against Anti-Semitism said many people had "died before being brought to justice" partly because Britain hadn't "approached hunting down and prosecuting Nazi perpetrators of the holocaust with the same vigour as German and Israeli authorities".

Mr Chrzanowski had previously been investigated in the UK in the 1990s but the Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.

Police say a man jumped from a bridge in Stoke-on-Trent during a chase in the early hours of this morning.

Officers were called to reports of a man acting suspiciously near vehicles on Victoria Road in Fenton who was challenged and taken down by a police dog, but escaped.

Image source, Google

Staffordshire Police say the man jumped off a bridge which stands 40ft (12 metres) above the River Trent.

Officers believe he landed on the bank first, and slid into shallow water.

Despite a search involving a police helicopter, firefighters and paramedics the man has not been found.

Anyone hoping for warmer weather after the recent freeze could be disappointed.

The Met Office's long-range forecast suggests colder than normal conditions are likely to hang around until the middle of April with a "continued chance of overnight frosts".

The Easter holiday could even still bring a chance of snow in some parts of the UK, the forecaster says, external.

Fire control operators in Warwickshire are not very happy with a hoax caller who phoned them last night to complain his Doritos were out of date.

And they're warning it is an offence to make malicious or hoax calls.

Image source, Getty Images

Last year West Midlands Fire Service said it received 747 false alarm calls which it classified as "malicious".

BBC Midlands Today

The West Midlands has seen one of the biggest drops in unemployment in the country.

The latest figures released today show between November and January there were about 141,000 people out of work - a drop of 9,000, but still well above the national average.

Nationally, over the same period wages grew by 2.6%.

Jennie Aitken
Reporter, BBC Radio Stoke

A woman accused of killing her own mother at her home in Cheadle has appeared in court today.

Charlene Sargeant, 24, from Sun Street, appeared by video link at Stafford Crown Court accused of stabbing 53-year-old Rocky Sargeant to death.

Ms Sargeant was remanded in custody and is due in court next month.

Hereford Times

T, externalhe lead stories in the Hereford Times this afternoon include:

• High Town developers buy adjoining Booth Hall pub in Hereford, external
• Apprentice star Karren Brady to speak at county business event, external
• Organisation formed to deliver community-led and affordable housing, external

Caroline Gall
BBC News

A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a pedestrian who police believe was dragged by a car.

Mohammed Miah, 22, was injured in High Street, West Bromwich, at about 02:40 on Saturday, police said.

Image source, Family handout

He later died in hospital, which his family said was a "devastating loss".

Paul Emmerson, of Kemp Road, Kitts Green, Birmingham, is accused of Mr Miah's murder and appeared before Birmingham Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

The 38-year-old was remanded in custody to appear via video link at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday.

A passer-by raised the alarm after seeing smoke at the house during the early hours.

A new medical school in Worcester could help bring in "new younger high-quality doctors", according to a university which has approved plans.

Nationally, GP leaders and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine have previously said the UK desperately needs both more GPs and emergency doctors - and there has been strong competition across the country to recruit the best of them.

BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

A Coventry mum says she's staggered at the response to her karaoke video to highlight World Down's Syndrome Day.

Rebecca Carless, along with other mum's, put the video of them and their children signing on YouTube in the style of comedian James Corden's carpool Karaoke series.

Ms Carless told Breakfast with Trish, since going online, more than nine million people have seen it.

Mayor Andy Street has welcomed plans to bring in 5,000 bikes to the West Midlands - similar to those operating in London (pictured below), which were dubbed the "Boris bikes" after the then mayor Boris Johnson.

Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley and Solihull will all see the shareable bikes and docking stations installed, with annual membership for anyone wanting to borrow the bikes set to cost £30.

Birmingham Coventry and Wolverhampton will see the first bikes from September, with other towns following next year.

Andy Street said cycling had "an important role to play in tackling issues such as congestion, air pollution and health".