Fire and ambulance staff, along with student paramedics and council workers, are taking part in an emergency training exercise at a tower block in Coventry today.

It's set to test the response of the emergency services to a major incident.

Image source, Coventry University

More than 100 student volunteers from Coventry University will act as evacuees or casualties, and be moved to a local rest centre.

The university's high-tech simulation centre will be used by West Midlands fire incident commanders, and other emergency services, to help in the scenario.

Those studying forensic investigation at the university will also be involved in the exercise.

Members of the public are being told not to panic if smoke is seen from a high-rise building in the city.

Coventry Live

Some of the main stories on the Coventry Live website today are:

• Plans approved for major new development, external
• Man who tried to kidnap 10-year-old girl is jailed, external
• Driver spotted breaking the law in church car park, external

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Carl Jackson

A Druids Heath council estate is set to be redeveloped in a £43m scheme.

Birmingham City Council bosses are due to approve the first phase of regeneration next week which would consign five high-rises and the former Baverstock School to the bulldozer to make way for 250 new properties.

Three other tower blocks, from the 1960s purpose-built estate, will be retained and refurbished.

The six tower blocks in the south of Druids Heath will be subject to further plans for the second phase of development which will not be put forward until the first phase is completed.

Gary Rowett wants to improve Stoke City's dreadful away form, after winning just two games away from home in the last 12 months.

They travel to in-form Norwich at the weekend and Rowett said they would have to "find a solution" to their troubles on the road.

Image source, Getty Images

Rowett also said they would have to be "the best Stoke we can be" to get a result.

Kathryn Stanczyszyn
Political Reporter, BBC WM

A new £50m wholesale market, which has been official opened today, will continue to play a "major part in Birmingham life" said the council leader.

The Witton-based market is a "state-of-the-art" facility bringing the industry "firmly into the 21st Century", said councillor Ian Ward.

It replaces the former market in the city centre that had been trading for 900 years.

The chief executive of Shropshire's two main hospitals says taking the decision to close Telford's accident and emergency department overnight has probably been the "hardest decision" of his career.

But Simon Wright repeated the argument that the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust was forced into the move because a shortage of doctors and nurses had made it unsafe to run two A&E departments 24 hours a day.

The Telford MP, Lucy Allan, says she will ask Health Education England and NHS Improvement to transfer staff from neighbouring hospital trusts.

But Mr Wright said they'd already tried this, adding: "I'm afraid the difficulty is that at the moment almost every A&E in the land is short of these middle-grade doctors."

Earlier this week, the trust said it needed an "absolute minimum" of seven extra middle-grade doctors and 15 more nurses to keep the A&E open 24 hours a day.

People are being invited to a drop-in session today on the proposed new route between the M54 and the northbound M6., external

Image source, Highways England

Highways England has revealed the new dual carriageway will run between J1 of the M54 and J11 of the M6, from near Featherstone to near Cheslyn Hay.

It claims it'll take about 22,000 vehicles a day off the A460, as well as easing congestion on the A449 and the A5.

The session takes place at Essington Community Centre, Wolverhampton between 14:00 and 19:00 today.

The University of Worcester says it wants to take over operation of a CCTV camera near the Sabrina footbridge.

The family of student Thomas Jones, whose body was found in the River Severn last week, say the camera could have helped explain what happened, but it was broken at the time.

Image source, Google

Worcester City Council said the camera had not worked for a year.

The university says it has already contributed £200,000 to funding the CCTV system in Worcester.

Shropshire Star

Here are some of the stories featuring on the Shropshire Star this morning:

• 'Chaos' warning as Shrewsbury road to close for a week for latest work, external
• Badger cull has crossed over into Shropshire, campaigners say, external
• Former Whitchurch care home could be turned into flats, external

The leader of City of Wolverhampton Council has voiced serious concern about the impact on the city's main hospital when Telford's emergency unit closes overnight.

Last week the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust board ruled the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford would suspend services overnight because of staff shortages.

New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton has already taken on extra patients after Stafford closed its A&E from 22:00.

Roger Lawrence said the extra burden wasn't fair on staff and could impact on patient care.

Birmingham’s role in World War One, and the impact it had on the West Midlands, is the focus of a new exhibition.

Voices of the First World War, at the Library of Birmingham, brings together work carried out by community organisations around the region.

It began as a series of projects four years ago to tell untold stories and share new research findings.

The specific smells that belong to the Black Country, from Banks's Brewery hops to "groaty pudding", are to be explored in a new research project.

The University of Wolverhampton project called Snidge Scrumpin, will look at the unique smells and tastes of the region that trigger different memories.

Image source, University of Wolverhampton

In Black Country dialect, "snidge" means nose and "scrumpin" is foraging.

It's hoped the pilot scheme could expand into the creation of a UK map of smell and memory.

Events are being held at the Black Country Living Museum, external and Wolverhampton Art Gallery as part of the Being Human Festival. , external

West Bromwich Albion's head coach Darren Moore says the winger Harvey Barnes would fully deserve a call up to the England under 21 squad.

Image source, Getty Images

The 20-year-old is expected to be named in the party for the European Championship qualifiers against Scotland and Andorra.

Barnes has scored four goals for the Baggies since moving to the Hawthorns on loan from Leicester City.

Express and Star

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

• How Black Country fuels Colombian drugs war between vicious cocaine cartels, external
• Peaky Blinders' Cillian Murphy saddles up for new series, external
• Councillors in Staffordshire question their own budget to save £35m, external

This is the first image released from the set of Peaky Blinders, where filming has begun on the fifth series.

Image source, PA

The drama will be moving to BBC One from BBC Two after series four attracted a consolidated audience of 3.3 million viewers.

Cillian Murphy reprises his lead role as mob boss Tommy Shelby in the new Birmingham-based series, which will see the family thrown into difficult times following the financial crash of 1929.

Creator Steven Knight said: "Tommy Shelby faces the darkest force he has ever faced and his struggle is as relevant today as it was then."

Hospitals in Birmingham are preparing to provide a "game-changing" new cancer treatment to some NHS patients.

A deal between NHS England and manufacturer Gilead Sciences means up to 200 adults a year with a type of lymphoma will be able to receive CAR-T therapy.

Image source, Getty Images

A separate deal was secured last month to make a form of CAR-T therapy available to children with a rare type of leukaemia.

CAR-T is a way of treating cancer that is "personalised" to the individual patient, and would normally cost nearly £300,000 per person.

Hospitals in Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, London and Newcastle are preparing to provide CAR-T therapy in the future.

Three police officers have been assaulted after disturbing a garage burglary in Bloxwich, Walsall.

Image source, West Midlands Police

West Midlands Police tweeted, external that one officer was head-butted, one punched in the head and another pushed to the floor, causing a minor head injury.

The ambulance service was called, but "fortunately" there were no serious injuries, it said.

"One officer has a lump to the back of her head but she's already back at the station helping with the handover," police said.

Birmingham's new £50m wholesale market officially opens today.

The site in Witton is one of the largest in Europe with 78 units selling everything from fruit and vegetables to fish and flowers.

It supplies restaurants, hotels and fast food outlets across the Midlands and Wales.

Rich Davis
BBC Weather presenter

Any early areas of mist and fog will clear leaving a dry and fine day, with highs of 19C (66F).

Officers investigating the death of a woman in Stoke-on-Trent say she had suffered multiple stab wounds, said Staffordshire Police.

Avan Majmadeen, 32, was found at her home on Glebedale Road, Fenton, on Monday.

A 35-year-old man is being questioned on suspicion of murder.