BBC Entertainment and Arts

Motown icon Diana Ross has announced her first UK tour in 15 years.

The former Supremes star's six-date tour will follow her Sunday "legends slot" at next year's Glastonbury Festival and will see her visit the Birmingham Arena on 6 July., external

Image source, Getty Images

The Diamond Diana Top of the World Tour shows will also be her first live appearances in this country since 2008.

Ross, 75, who had solo hits with Upside Down, I'm Coming Out and Endless Love, described her return to these shores as "like coming home".

Sarah Robertson
Journalist, BBC Radio Stoke

An independent cinema's reopening today, eight months after the previous owners closed it.

Image source, Google

The venue in Stafford on Newport Road first opened in the 1930s and has three screens, but has struggled for several years to stay afloat.

At the end of 2017 it closed, but was then rescued a year later before shutting again in February.

Cinema enthusiast Sam Lavington, 72, has now taken it on, external despite the competition of an Odeon Luxe complex with six screens in the town.

He told BBC Radio Stoke he was confident it would survive and that there was "enough population in town to give both cinemas a decent audience".

CCTV images have been released by police investigating an armed robbery at a shop.

Image source, West Midlands Police

On Sunday, a man stole alcohol and cigarettes after threatening a worker with a knife at the store on Flaxley Road, Stechford, Birmingham.

West Midlands Police say they want to speak to the man in the images in connection with the robbery., external

Beth Finn said knowing Isabelle, 13, would get the cystic fibrosis drug was "life changing".

The UK's four main mobile phone companies and the government have set out a £1bn plan to banish so-called "not-spots", areas of poor network coverage in rural areas.

The deal - which includes EE, O2, Three and Vodafone - aims to get 4G coverage to 95% of the UK by 2025.

Image source, Getty Images

The government is looking to match the contribution from business, but says it is not yet a "done deal".

We'd love to hear your experiences of mobile coverage in rural areas.

Worcestershire chief executive Matt Rawnsley steps down as chief executive at New Road.

Dudley News

Today's top stories from the Dudley News include:

• Taxi driver had licence revoked after driving on pavement, external
• Dudley polio survivor thanked for help in eradicating disease, external
• Rental housing plan for Rowley Regis flats site, external

BBC Business News

Jaguar Land Rover has returned to profit after higher wholesale sales, which rose 2.9%, it has said.

Second quarter pre-tax profit was £156m, compared with a pre-tax loss of £90m the year before.

Image source, PA Media

Total retail sales fell 0.7%, but China sales rose by just less than a quarter. China is an important market for every car manufacturer.

Meanwhile, JLR owner Tata Motors reported a smaller-than-expected loss in the second quarter.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Kerry Ashdown

Nearly 20 people have been taken to court this year for misusing blue badge parking permits in Stoke-on-Trent, it's been revealed.

Image source, Getty Images

The city council's counter-fraud team disclosed the figure in a report to the authority's Audit Committee this week.

In all the cases, they said it wasn't the badge holder but somebody else using it, including family members. A further 11 cases of misuse were settled with a formal caution.

The report also revealed nearly £1.7m was saved in six months from a total of 23 cases of housing tenancy fraud, fake claims for Right to Buy discounts and a wrongful claim for social care funding.

Councillors heard the team was now planning to launch a campaign to make residents aware of the different types of fraud.

Gareth Barry's return to West Bromwich Albion following his release in June is delayed by a potential payment to previous club Everton.

A man has been sentenced to life in prison and will serve a minimum of 17 years after admitting the murder of his ex-partner at a flat in West Bromwich.

Michael Foran, 32, was arrested after a police manhunt following the discovery of June Jones's body at her home on New Year's Eve.

Image source, West Midlands Police

Police believe Ms Jones, 33, was subjected to a "brutal assault", and was killed weeks before she was found.

Another man, Keith O'Dwyer, 34, of Beaconview Road, West Bromwich, was jailed for 16 months for assisting him.

The Met Office has extended its yellow warning for heavy rain to the whole West Midlands., external

It said the warning would be in place for the rest of today and tomorrow and explained it meant there was a small risk of flooding to property, disruption to public transport and the possibility some roads could be flooded.

Image source, Peter Steggles

Flood alerts have been issued for parts of Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Birmingham and the Black Country, with heavy rain forecast today and overnight.

The Environment Agency said there was uncertainty over the amount of rainfall and the alerts were a "precautionary measure", but warned there could be flooding around rivers and surface water flooding.

Image source, Environment Agency

Stoke City full-back Tom Edwards signs a new four-and-a-half-year deal with the Championship club.

Shropshire Star

Here are three of the main stories featured in the Shropshire Star today:

• Chance to influence how £25m will be spent in Telford, external
• Hundreds of new homes planned for former mining site, external
• Campaigners call for improvements along 'death road', external

Facebook

Plenty of you have had your say on the BBC Midlands Facebook page on the subject of smart motorways and how safe they are.

The transport secretary has said they're going to be reviewed following concerns, adding: "We know people are dying on smart motorways."

There are two types of smart motorway in the UK: The first is where the hard shoulder is opened to traffic when it is busy, and the second is where the hard shoulder is open all the time.

Image source, Gov.uk

On Facebook, Justyna Machaj posted:, external "I use the M6 every day and I don't find it confusing at all - it's very convenient when it is busy and the hard shoulder can be used as an additional lane."

But Mark Brindley wrote, external: "Hard shoulder should NEVER been taken away. In busy times we need it for what they were designed for emergency use only."

Matthew Ashton added, external: "Not saying I'd of died but the hard shoulder saved my life when I had a bad crash on the M6 as the emergency services could attend quicker.".

Paul Snape typed, external: "Smart motorways are fine until you break down and are then stranded in lane one, which used to be a hard shoulder. Until the cameras notice you and chuck the lane closure in, you’re incredibly vulnerable."

The rapper has moved his Revenge is Sweet tour dates from November to January

Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish says he wants to "get into the England team" following an impressive start to the Premier League season.

The moment Isabelle Finn's mum shares the news has been watched thousands of times on social media.

A man has been jailed for 20 years after a woman was found stabbed outside a church.

The woman, in her early 30s, was found outside St Margaret's Church in Coventry with a knife wound on 8 April.

Yosief Weldemaryam, 28, of no fixed abode, was sentenced at Warwick Crown Court on Thursday after admitting attempted murder at the court on 17 July.