Speed cameras have been installed on a stretch of road in Birmingham, where six people died in a crash.

Three men in one car died at the scene and the driver of a taxi and his two passengers were also killed in the collision in December 2017.

Image source, PA

The fixed cameras have been sited along a 2.8km section of road from Five Ways to Haden Circus, covering Islington Row Middleway, Lee Bank Middleway and Belgrave Middleway.

More than 28,000 people backed a petition for safety measures to be installed at the site, including speed cameras and crash barriers.

A spot speed check on the stretch of road on Tuesday found 15 speeding cars, with the fastest travelling at 68mph in the 40mph zone.

Four teenagers have been released on bail after violence which resulted in five boys needing treatment, two for suspected stab wounds.

The incident happened on Wednesday evening on Deakin Road in Chell Heath.

Image source, Google

Staffordshire Police said the four boys from Stoke-on-Trent, aged between 13 and 16, were arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm with intent.

A British yachtswoman, whose boat capsized in a storm in the southern Pacific, has finally made land in Chile after being rescued by a Chinese cargo ship.

Susie Goodall, 29, from Worcestershire, had been competing solo in the Golden Globe round-the-world race.

She was picked up by a Chilean Marine boat and arrived in Punta Arenas today after being rescued a week ago.

The footage shows Viktorija Sokolova heading to a Wolverhampton park where her body was found.

BBC News

Coventry University is informally testing the potential of software using what's called "forensic linguistics" and machine learning in the battle against cheating by students.

A sample of a student's work can be compared with anything submitted which rings alarm bells with the tutor.

"It's like an arms race," says Dr Irene Glendinning, from Coventry University.

"We knew students were plagiarising so we now have sophisticated tools to detect it, so the next thing was ghostwriting and the tools don't detect that."

BBC News has been looking at some of the issued involved.

Kathryn Stanczyszyn
Political Reporter, BBC WM

Bin workers in Birmingham have voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action.

Unite says members in the city have been denied a council payment made to GMB members who did not walk out in the long-running dispute last year.

There was a 73% turnout, the union said, and a total of 93% of those who voted, agreed to take some form of action.

The union said it will start short of strike action, on 29 December but involve a strict work to rule.

The city council has previously denied that the payment made to GMB workers was connected with the strikes.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

Three headlines on the Stoke-on-Trent Live website today:

• Fears teen gang culture is spreading, external
• Warning for freezing rain and ice, external
• Major road shut as man trapped under HGV, external

A main road in south Cheshire has been closed after a man was trapped under a lorry this morning.

Police say the HGV wasn't moving at the time of the incident, which happened on the A51 Nantwich bypass around 11:20.

Investigation work is continuing following the accident.

A helicopter is being used to help restore 150 acres of Staffordshire moorland that was destroyed by fire in the summer.

It is bringing in 800 loads of stone to build dams at the Roaches, near Leek, to stop the unprotected soil being washed away by rain.

The helicopter is being used instead of land vehicles to reduce the risk of damaging the plant life.

Meanwhile volunteers are planting grasses and mosses to attract wetland birds back to the site.

The mother of murdered Viktorija Sokolova has spoken of her sadness her girl will never see adulthood.

A judge has explained that he wants to wait until the new year to sentence the killer of 14-year-old Viktorija Sokolova, because "the court ought to be properly informed about all of the background".

High Court judge Mr Justice Jeremy Baker said the 16-year-old was "still young" and although he faces an automatic life sentence, he would wait until 22 February, to allow a pre-sentence report to be drawn up.

Image source, Google

Viktorija Sokolova had arranged to meet her killer in a pavilion known locally as the black house at West Park one evening in April, the jury heard.

Her spine and skull were fractured during the attack and suffered 21 blows with a hammer-like weapon, the court was told.

Mr Justice Baker said he was "obviously concerned as to the extreme nature of the offences in this case".

The Health and Safety Executive says it is making initial enquiries after a man was seriously hurt in an industrial accident in Telford.

He was working at the GKN Sankey site in Hadley Castle when he became trapped in a press at around 22:00 yesterday.

Image source, Google

The man was freed and given trauma care before being taken to hospital.

The stepbrother of pop star Jamelia has been convicted of murder and will be sentenced next week.

Tafarwa Beckford (pictured), from Duchess Road, Ladywood, was charged with killing Derek Junior Myers, who suffered a fatal gunshot wound in Soho Hill, Birmingham, in October 2015.

Image source, West Midlands Police

Sentencing will take place on 19 October.

A 16-year-old has been found guilty of the rape and murder of schoolgirl Viktorija Sokolova, who was found dead in a park in Wolverhampton.

The trial heard the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, used "horrific" levels of violence in attacking the 14-year-old girl in West Park.

Her body was found in April by a dog walker.

Investigations are under way after the body of a man was found inside a van near Congleton.

Staffordshire Police say the discovery was made following reports of a suspicious vehicle on Mow Lane in Astbury just after 17:00 on Wednesday evening.

Image source, Google

The man is yet to be formally identified, and his death is currently being treated as unexplained.

Guitars and amps belonging to The Roy Wood Rock 'n' Roll Band were inside the vehicle.

Shropshire Star

In the Shropshire Star today:

• Worker trapped in machinery at Telford factory, external
• £1 million study on future of Shirehall, external
• Pair have six months to reopen pub or face eviction, external

The hospitals in Shrewsbury and Telford are second-from-bottom in the latest NHS accident and emergency league table.

The figures for November show only 68% of patients were treated or admitted within four hours of arrival, well below the national target of 95%.

Only the United Lincolnshire Hospitals ranked lower.

The Shropshire hospitals have been struggling to attract enough staff to work in their A&E departments and came close to closing the Telford unit overnight this month, for safety reasons.

The Wye Valley NHS Trust and the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust also appear near the foot of the list of 131 trusts.

A yellow weather warning for snow and ice, external this weekend has been issued for the West Midlands.

Image source, Met Office

The Met Office is warning that a period of freezing rain, between 09:00 on Saturday and 09:00 on Sunday, will lead to dangerous travelling conditions across the West Midlands.

A more serious amber warning for ice has also been issued between 10:00 on Saturday and 06:00 Sunday for parts of Staffordshire.

The gang was armed with hammers and smashed display cases before fleeing with the haul.