BBC Midlands Today

Roads were closed and residents told to keep doors and windows shut after fire broke out at a warehouse earlier.

West Midlands Fire Service was called at about 04:00, external to the Bodyart Warehouse, Sparkbrook, on the corner of Highgate Road and Stratford Road.

HIghgate Road was shut at the junction of Stratford Road althought the road has since reopened.

The fire service said it had been worried the building contained asbestos.

By 06:30, it said they were starting to scale down the number of fire engines there from eight to four., external

BBC News England

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a body was found at a property.

Image source, Google

Police were called to Broad Street in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, at 22:45 BST on Thursday after reports of a man had been found dead.

It said the death of the man, in his 40s, is being treated as suspicious, and its investigation is continuing.

A 48-year-old man from the town remains in police custody.

Allen Cook
BBC News

The education secretary has said it's 'unacceptable' a Birmingham school is closing early today ahead of a planned protest over LGBT relationship education

Image source, PA

There have been protests outside Anderton Park Primary School for seven weeks.

Protesters argue pupils are "too young" to understand LGBT relationships through storybooks.

The council said the decision to close at lunchtime on Friday was "not taken lightly".

Education Secretary Damien Hinds says he wants the protests to end as pupils are missing out on their education because of the threat of them.

Allen Cook
BBC News

Two spider monkeys have been saved by firefighters after a fire at their enclosure., external

Image source, West Midlands Fire Service

The fire was in the monkey house at Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park and the building has been damaged. The cause is now being investigated.

West Midlands Fire Service said two fire crews were called to the park in Cannon Hill.

Sara Blizzard
BBC Weather

This week's set to end with more dry, warm, sunny weather - here's your full forecast:

You can get a latest forecast at any other time by heading to the BBC Weather website.

Allen Cook
BBC News

Welcome to our live service for Friday.

We'll be bringing you all the news, sport, travel and weather for the West Midlands.

We love to hear from you so share your news, thoughts and photos of the area with us via email, Twitter, external and Facebook., external

A 48-year-old man remains in custody after the body was found at a property in Kidderminster.

Andy Giddings
BBC News

We'll be back with the news, sport, travel and weather from 07:00 tomorrow.

BBC Radio Stoke Sport

Port Vale manager John Askey says he wants Danny Pugh signed up as his first team coach as soon as possible.

He said "Danny helped us a lot" as player-coach last season and that he "gets on well with players and works hard".

Image source, Getty Images

Askey also said he thought Pugh would make a "really good coach".

Coventry Observer

Some of the headlines on the Coventry Observer today are:

• Answers sought over return for suspended councillor after Muslim tweets row, external
• Therapy dog Harry Potter set to cast a spell on MPs, external
• Severe staff shortages lead to hospital nurses being recruited from India, external

Shefali Oza
BBC Midlands Today

It will be a dry night with clear skies and lows of 5C (41F).

Protests at Birmingham's Anderton Park Primary have "escalated significantly", the council says.

Wasps Netball trio Jade Clarke, Rachel Dunn and Fran Williams (pictured left to right) have been named in the England Roses World Cup squad.

Image source, Clive Jones

Shooter Dunn, 36, returned to the England Netball set-up for January's Quad Series after missing out on the gold medal-winning Commonwealth Games team in 2018.

Clarke, 35, has been selected for their fifth World Cup, with BBC Sport columnist Serena Guthrie named as captain.

The tournament begins on 12 July.

England's first game of the competition is against Uganda on the opening day: Friday, 12 July at 19:00.

The family of man who died after accidentally getting his head trapped underneath a cinema footrest say he was "always happy, positive and took every day as it came into positive light."

Ateeq Rafiq, 24, died a week after he got stuck reaching for his possessions under the seat at Vue Cinema in Birmingham's StarCity.

Returning a ruling of accidental death, the jury foreman said there had been "missed opportunities to undertake comprehensive safety checks of the chairs".

Image source, Google

The cinema chain said "Everyone at Vue was shocked and saddened by this tragic accident" and said it would reflect on the findings of the inquest.

"Health and safety inspectors from the council’s environmental health team continue to investigate this matter to establish whether there were any breaches of health and safety legislation and, if so, what action should be taken," the city council said.

The singer serenaded a fan in Birmingham after she got her Dad a ticket but couldn't go herself.

A driving instructor who raped a girl has been jailed for 13 years.

At Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court earlier, Martyn Rees, 37, of West Avenue, Stoke-on-Trent, was also sentenced to five years on extended licence over a raft of serious sex offences; 14 of which he was convicted of in March, having pleaded guilty to another nine in 2018.

In addition to rape and two counts of sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl, he's also guilty of other sexual assaults, attempted sexual assaults and multiple counts of making indecent images, and possession of extreme pornography.

Image source, Staffordshire Police

Police said the offences happened in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Cheshire and Manchester between 2015 and 2018.

The Staffordshire force said video footage seized from Rees showed a teenager who was unconscious while he sexually assaulted her.

A CSE trial hears he believes her to have been 16 when they had sex.

A swan has been shot seven times with a pellet gun while looking after her eggs at a lake near Shrewsbury.

The RSPCA said it was alerted after a fisherman noticed she was struggling, but she died on her way to get treatment.

Image source, RSPCA

The swan’s mate is still at the lake but the eggs on the nest have been disturbed and are unlikely to hatch.

Inspector Nayman Dunderdale said it seems that whoever did enjoyed torturing the swan.

A former professional footballer, who campaigned to bring a sex attacker to justice, died months before his abuser was convicted.

Former youth football coach, Bob Higgins, has been found guilty of indecently assaulting young trainees.

Image source, Solent News and Photo Agency

He sexually touched and groped 24 boys, mostly trainees at Southampton FC and Peterborough United, between 1971 and 1996.

Ex-Coventry City footballer Billy Seymour was the only alleged victim in the trial to waive his right to anonymity.

He gave evidence at last year's trial but was killed in a car crash in January before he could give evidence at the retrial.

A jury at Bournemouth Crown Court found Higgins guilty of 45 counts of indecent assault.

He was cleared of five counts of the same offence. The jury failed to reach a decision on a further count.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Part of the A4440 southern link road into Worcester will be closed for two days next month to allow a bridge to be installed.

The first closure, from 19:00 on Saturday 1 June to 19:00 on Sunday 2 June, will allow the main beams of the bridge to be put in place.

The second closure, on the night of Saturday 23 June, will allow for concrete to be poured in.

The section to be affected will be the stretch between the Whittington and Norton roundabouts, in both directions.

Further closures are likely to install the Crookbarrow Way footbridge at some point in the future.