Updates from Monday 8 July to Sunday 14 July
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BBC Sport
The fixtures for the new Rugby Union season have just been published and Worcester Warriors will start with a home game against Leicester Tigers on 19 October.
Wasps will open their season the following day against newly promoted London Irish.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe Premiership will start later than usual this season, to avoid a clash with the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
The 2019-20 Premiership season will start with Bristol hosting West Country rivals Bath on Friday, 18 October.
Read MoreTwo vaping shops have opened at hospitals in the West Midlands as part of efforts to stop smoking on the sites.
Image source, PA MediaLast week, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trusts went smoke-free with people including staff facing fines if they are caught lighting up.
Vaping is still allowed and now the retail outlets have opened along with a small number of smoking shelters remaining for vapers.
Public Health England has campaigned for smokers to switch to e-cigarettes, with one independent review concluding they are 95% less harmful than tobacco products, external.
However, Prof Martin McKee, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, says the UK is out of step with other countries and that there were "enough grounds for serious concerns" about e-cigarettes.
Remi Carty, Shaun Barnhurst and Kyle Esty are jailed for drugs and guns offences in Birmingham.
Read MoreBBC Sport
Women's Super League side Birmingham City will face Everton, West Ham United, Reading, Manchester City Women and Liverpool in their first five games of the new season.
The Football Association has released the full WSL fixture list, but details of potential double-headers with men's games are yet to be confirmed.
The FA is keen to build on the "momentum" of the Women's World Cup after England reached the semi-finals and the BBC recorded huge television audiences watching the tournament in France.
BBC Midlands Today
The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham has said it will ban safari hunters from next year's Great British Shooting Show after pressure from an online petition.
There were going to be some stalls allowing people to sign up to safari hunting holidays but more than 33,000 people signed a petition against it.
The NEC says its business is built around its customers and it understand their concerns., external
More than 1,500 people have signed a petition against plans for a new McDonald's in Worcester and another 350 people have written letters of objection to the city council.
They're unhappy because the drive-through would be built just yards away from the new North Worcester Primary School, which opens in September.
Image source, Getty ImagesMcDonald's says the new restaurant would create 65 new jobs and bring new investment to the community.
Worcester City Council is due to make a decision on the plans in the autumn.
Albert Adomah joins Nottingham Forest on a two-year-deal after being released by Aston Villa following their promotion.
Read More
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Alex Moore
The independent inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Telford will now examine cases back to 1989, at the request of victims.
The original terms of reference, drafted by the inquiry chair, Tom Crowther QC, had suggested it should focus on cases between 1995 and the present day.
A group set up to represent victims, known as the Survivors Committee said that starting the inquiry at 1989 would make it match up with the introduction of the Children's Act, which introduced public bodies' duty of care towards children.
Telford and Wrekin Council's inquiry advisory group approved the change last night.
Lee Thomas
Newsreader, BBC Radio Stoke
A boy who was hit by a car this morning is not believed to be seriously hurt, the ambulance service has said.
Leek Road, between Stoke-on-Trent and Leek, was shut from 08:25 after the collision in Endon, Staffordshire Police said.
The route's reopened , externalafter the boy, thought to be in his early teens, was taken to hospital.
BBC Midlands Today
There are fears a unique collection of prototype MG cars could be destroyed, following a decision by the company to move its staff out of Longbridge.
The cars are part of a collection, which also includes several classic Austin and Rover models.
Chinese-owned MG has refused to comment on what will happen to the collection.
Keith Adams, editor of Parkers Car Price Guide, said the prototypes are a "really important" part of MG's history.
Stoke-on-Trent Live
The Stoke-on-Trent Live website's headlines today include:
BBC Sport
Worcestershire will be hoping Callum Ferguson and Ben Cox can build on their 108-run partnership today against Derbyshire.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe visitors were bowled out for 377 yesterday, setting the Pears 373 to win, but the home side then collapsed to 48-5.
Then Ferguson and Cox put on their partnership to give Worcestershire an outside chance of forcing an unlikely victory.
You can follow today's play via BBC local radio or the BBC Cricket website.
BBC News Travel
A boy has been been hit by a car in Staffordshire.
Police said it happened at about 08:25 on Leek Road, Endon, between Stoke-on-Trent and Leek, , externaland they have closed the route in both directions.
The boy's thought to be in his early teens but his injuries haven't been revealed.
Victoria Derbyshire
Opposition is growing to a government policy to charge overseas patients upfront for NHS care in England.
Last December, Nasar Ullah Khan was receiving end-of-life care in Birmingham when he was handed a bill for £16,000 in his hospital bed.
He had suffered heart failure - but was ineligible for a transplant because he was not in the UK legally and had tried and failed to legalise his status. He died in February.
His family were posted another bill for £32,000, and another for £23,000, which Birmingham GP Liz Bates said had caused them deep stress and was "totally unnecessary" because Mr Khan would never be able to pay the bills.
A spokesman for University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust said it was obliged by law to implement the charging regulations.
The British Medical Association has called for the charging policy to be abandoned completely while several other health groups have written to ministers urging them to suspend the system.
The Department of Health said the charges had raised £1.3bn since 2015, adding "importantly, our guidance is clear that urgent treatment must never be withheld, if someone cannot pay."
BBC Shropshire
A man who completed a flight across the length of Britain strapped to a "fan-powered" paraglider says he will "never, ever" do anything like it again.
Estate agent James Du Pavey, from Market Drayton in Shropshire, set off from Land's End on Monday morning and completed the charity bid in John O'Groats on Tuesday afternoon.
He hopes the flight's timeframe will be confirmed as a new record.
Mr Du Pavey admitted he'd had three crash-landings, flown with jets and eagles and through rain and huge headwinds.
He was fundraising for the Donna Louise Children's Hospice in Stoke-on-Trent.
Quote MessageI am never, ever, ever doing anything like this ever again. If anyone wants that record they are welcome to it."
James Du Pavey, Estate agent
BBC WM
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have clashed over the future of the high-speed rail project HS2.
Image source, ReutersMr Hunt gave his full support to the development which eventually will go to Manchester and Leeds, saying it was needed to bridge the north-south divide.
But Mr Johnson said the scheme should be reviewed as "it's extremely expensive", adding that he wanted to know if the money could be better spent elsewhere.
Construction of the first phase of the £56bn rail network project between London and Birmingham is currently under way.
In a lively debate on ITV last night, the two candidates outlined their cases for why they should become the next Tory leader and therefore prime minister.
BBC Sport
The New Saints conceded two late goals at home against Feronikeli to leave their Champions League first qualifying round tie hanging in the balance.
Image source, PA MediaThe Welsh took control when Greg Draper drew a foul from Lapidar Lladrovci to win the penalty he then scored.
Aeron Edwards doubled the lead when he poked home from Joash Nembhard's flick.
But in the final moments Mevlan Zeka headed in a cross for the Kosovans, before Astrit Fazliu scored from the spot after Simon Spender's handball.
With those two away goals conceded at Park Hall, the pressure is now on Saints to try and win the return leg in Pristina on 16 July.
The Express and Star's headlines include:
BBC News Travel
A fly-over remains shut this morning on a main route due to "safety concerns".
Image source, GoogleThe A53 in Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, was shut in both directions yesterday afternoon for inspections.
The city council has not revealed what the concerns are but both lanes remain shut this morning.
