Four teenagers have been arrested following a series of robberies on taxi drivers in the West Midlands, police say.

Five robberies and three attempted robberies have been carried out in the last 48 hours in the Dudley and Sandwell areas.

A boy aged 17 and two girls, aged 16 and 17, have been arrested on suspicion of robbery.

A 15-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery.

All of them remain in police custody, said West Midlands Police.

Hereford Times

These are some of the stories making the headlines on the Hereford Times website today:

• Pensioner jailed for sexually assaulting eight-year-old girl, external
• Almost one in five Year 6 children in Herefordshire are obese, external
• M50 closures due to bridge repair, external

BBC Shropshire

The leader of Shropshire Council is calling for the merger of the county's two clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).

Image source, Getty Images

The CCGs are GP-led groups which decide how to spend NHS funds on local services, from hospitals to community-based clinics.

The CCGs say there is no plan to merge the organisations and the leader of Telford and Wrekin Council has told BBC Shropshire that he believes any such move would be a disaster.

James Pearson
Political reporter, BBC Hereford & Worcester

A campaign's begun to bring a 50m Olympic-sized swimming pool to Worcestershire.

Image source, Google

Pershore Swimming Club and Pershore High School want to build a £4m competitive pool to give local swimmers and students the chance to compete at an elite level.

The plans would also see 400 seats for spectators, with the school keen to have it built in its grounds.

BBC Hereford and Worcester's been told by the club and school that they're now looking to have a feasibility study carried out before going any further.

The owners of the former Ironbridge Power Station say they've spent the last three months developing plans for the site.

Two options have now gone on display, showing slightly different visions for the land, which was bought by the Harworth Group earlier this year, after it stopped generating electricity in 2015.

Image source, Harworth

Both layouts contain a mix of homes and businesses, along with a school, hotel, sports pitches and a centre for the new village.

They vary in where the homes and businesses would be located, and one has the village centre closer to the river than the other.

Image source, Harworth

The Harworth Group says it will be gathering people's opinions in this public consultation before working up future planning applications.

Dudley Zoo teaches chimps simple signs to identify parts of the body to help perform health checks.

The Court of Appeal rejects a call for a judicial review into the sale of the Ricoh Arena by Coventry City's owners Sisu.

Rebecca Wood
BBC Midlands Today

It should be a mild but very windy night, with occasional rain and lows of 16C (61F).

A yellow weather warning for wind remains in place until midnight.

Allen Cook
BBC News

The A45 has been shut westbound between Coventry and Birmingham after a serious crash.

Police say it's happened at Meriden, external and there's a lot of debris across the carriageway which may "take some time" to clean up.

Image source, West Midlands Police

Allen Cook
BBC News

People in parts of Shropshire and Herefordshire are being warned of potential flooding as Storm Callum continues to sweep across the region.

The Environment Agency's issued a flood alert for the River Arrow in Herefordshire,, external saying levels near Leominster are slowly rising.

There's also a flood alert for the Upper Teme near Ludlow , externalwith the waterway expected to peak tomorrow.

A group of Birmingham head teachers are to meet the education secretary face-to-face to demand better funding.

They're expected to tell him their budgets are stretched to breaking point.

One school is supporting the needs of children who speak 42 different languages.

Vicky Nussey, head teacher at Paget Primary in Erdington, said the decision about what to cut at the school, would be "one of the hardest I'll ever have to make".

You'll be able to see more on this story on Sunday Politics Midlands on BBC One at 11:00 on Sunday.

Worcester News

The Worcester News has these headlines today:

• Nursery worker force-fed toddler until she was sick, external
• Giraffe auction smashes target for hospice, external
• Arsonist tried to set fire to pub in Worcester with intent to endanger landlord's life, external

Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke

It's been confirmed one of the two men found dead in Stoke-on-Trent yesterday was a teenager., external

A murder investigation has been launched by Staffordshire Police after the pair were discovered less than half a mile apart in Burslem.

Officers say the first body found was of a man in his 50s, while the second was of a male in his late teens.

They're still at one of the locations, on Barnfield Road, working with forensic teams to work out what happened.

Emergency staff in Worcestershire say they're working to clear a number of trees which have been brought down in the high winds from Storm Callum today.

The county council says crews are dealing with cases including in Worcester, Broadway and Belbroughton., external

While West Mercia Police says it's had reports of trees down on the B5024 in Rochford, near Tenbury Wells,, external and on the A44 in Leominster., external

Dealers from Merseyside and the West Midlands are believed to be transporting drugs to Shrewsbury.

Vicky Breakwell
BBC Hereford and Worcester

An auction of dozens of giraffe sculptures, which formed an arts trail across Worcester this summer, has raised £210,400 for a local hospice, organisers say., external

A total of about 60 statues were on display on streets in the city from July until September as part of the Worcester Stands Tall project.

The smaller "calves" were returned to the schools that designed them, while the larger statues, which measured 8ft (2.4 metres) tall, were auctioned in aid of St Richard's Hospice.

The highest bids were for Girafficorn and Giraffsy Graffiti which were sold for £15,000 each., external

Abigail Smith stole a £70 moisturiser from Selfridges in Birmingham, a misconduct hearing hears.

BBC Business News

Cafe chain Patisserie Valerie has been saved from collapse after entrepreneur Luke Johnson, who owns 37% of the company, offered up to £20m in loans to the struggling chain.

The Birmingham-headquartered firm employs about 2,500 staff in all.

Image source, Getty Images

Mr Johnson has offered £10m in a three-year loan to owners Patisserie Holdings PLC, which the company said would provide "immediate liquidity".

He has also offered a further bridging loan facility of up to £10m.

The firm is also looking to raise another £15m by issuing new shares.

The cafe chain is fighting for survival after revealing on Wednesday it had uncovered "significant, and potentially fraudulent, accounting irregularities".

BBC News Travel

Rail services in Shropshire and near Stoke-on-Trent are being disrupted this afternoon in two separate incidents.

Arriva Trains Wales says there's been a points failure at Craven Arms, meaning some lines are blocked and services may be cancelled or delayed by up to 60 minutes., external

While National Rail Enquiries says a broken-down train near Alsager is blocking all lines between Crewe and Stoke-on-Trent., external

There are hundreds of homes and businesses without power this afternoon across the West Midlands.

They include 542 in the Tunstall area of Stoke-on-Trent, with Western Power saying it could be 18:00 before they get electricity back. , external

There are also 144 without power in Telford.