Sara Blizzard
BBC Weather

After a cold start with some mist or fog it should be a warm day with lots of bright sunshine and highs of 16C (61F).

Ravita Pannu appeased her parents by working in law but gave it up to follow her make-up dream.

It is the third fatal stabbing of a teenager in Birmingham in almost two weeks.

Gary Cunningham was found with several stab wounds in a flat in the Harborne area of Birmingham.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
David Irwin

A petition's been launched by residents fed-up with the "disgraceful" state of a busy road that has attracted fly-tippers.

Campaign group Smith's Wood Litter Pickers say, as well as litter thrown from vehicles, larger items are now also being dumped on both sides of the A452 Collector Road in Solihull.

Image source, Google

About 200 people have signed the petition, , externalwhich calls on the local council to look at installing bins in lay-bys and rebuilding a fence on the embankment.

The local authority says it wants to catch the culprits behind any littering but will consider the petition when it's properly submitted.

Alex Hamilton
BBC Weather

After a sunny start to the week in the West Midlands, tonight is set to start dry:

Get a latest weather forecast for your part of the West Midlands at any other time by heading to the BBC Weather website.

Birmingham City's hearing over a breach of EFL financial rules is put back after a disciplinary commission member reveals a conflict of interest.

A huge grass fire's been tackled at a park in Birmingham this afternoon., external

Image source, West Midlands Fire Service

The fire service said crews were called at around 16:30 to Sutton Park , externaland tongue in cheek suggested it meant "summer must be here".

Erdington Fire station has since said the fire was "mostly out".

Allen Cook
BBC News

A sex attacker is still being hunted by police, four days after he absconded from a prison van while on his way to a jail in Worcestershire.

The Home Office is now taking the lead in searching for Kamil Malag, who was returning to HMP Hewell.

Image source, Warwickshire Police

The 36-year-old escaped near junction nine of the M42 in Coleshill, Warwickshire, on Thursday.

A Home Office spokesperson added that all foreign nationals who were given prison sentences were considered for deportation.

Two Black Country MPs make contrasting moves over Jeremy Corbyn's Labour leadership.

BBC Midlands Today

The death of a man in the Black Country is being treated by police as murder.

Image source, Google

Emergency services were called to house on Hockley Lane, Netherton, Dudley, yesterday morning and found the body of a 48-year-old man.

West Midlands Police says officers are treating his death as unexplained and keeping "an open mind" about what's happened.

They've arrested a 20-year-old man on suspicion of murder and he's still in custody.

Allen Cook
BBC News

A teenager's died after being stabbed in Birmingham this afternoon., external

Image source, Google

West Midlands Police says officers were called just after 14:00 to Norwood Road, Bordesley Green.

They say the boy's thought to be aged 17 and was found seriously injured, but died at the scene.

Officers say they are treating his death as murder and have sealed off the area.

He's the third teenager to be stabbed to death in the city in a fortnight.

About 2,627 homeless people died in England and Wales from 2013 to 2017.

More than 1,500 extra jobs are expected to go at Birmingham City Council over the next four years, budget documents have revealed, and more than 1,000 in the next financial year alone.

The 2019-2023 Financial Plan, external is set to be debated by councillors this week.

The Labour-run local authority has seen 12,000 posts go (48%) go since 2010.

Image source, PA

Some of the budget pressures the city council has faced are outlined in the latest documents, including cuts to central government funding and extra investment needed to modernise some services and underpin improvements in areas such as children's services.

The bin workers strikes, which have seen another resurgence in recent weeks, cost the Labour-run council £300,000 a week at one stage in clear-up bills.

Some equal pay claims against the local authority also remain outstanding almost a decade after a landmark tribunal ruling.

It has previously said the claims were likely to reach £1.2bn and the latest documents show £1bn of those had been settled by the end of the last financial year.

Despite the cuts in recent years, the report said the council had sought to prioritise "the most vulnerable in Birmingham".

Jack Smith from Wolverhampton says his old computer-generated voice was "posh and boring".

Essex Police says because the row was in Spain the Crown has no authority to charge the passenger.

Florin Ion, 31, has pleaded guilty to the murder of Julie Hunt, who died in April 2018.

Jack Smith, 21, says his new voice is "like a dream come true" after he lost his ability to talk.

A new study suggests "ubiquitous" smartphone gambling presents a greater danger to people with addiction problems than fixed-odds betting terminals.

Image source, Reuters

Recent public concern over fixed-odds betting terminals in bookmakers has prompted the government to cut the maximum stake on the machines from £100 to £2 from this April.

But researchers at Aston University said a new study, external, led by head of psychology Professor Richard Tunney, indicated smartphone gambling could be much more problematic for society, due to the ease with which people psychologically predisposed to addiction could access betting games on their mobile phones.

It said the research, published in the academic journal European Addiction Research, found that because users checked their phones frequently throughout the day, mobile gamblers tended to keep placing more bets even in the face of repeated losses.

The parents of two children intervened, preventing the man from allegedly abducting two children.