Heavy rain sees flooding warnings issued for several rivers in the West Midlands.

Andy Giddings
BBC News

We'll be back with the news, sport, travel and weather from 08:00 tomorrow.

Herefordshire sees its rate of new infections more than double in a week.

More flood warnings, external have been added by the Environment Agency this evening.

We now have ones covering the River Frome around Bishop's Frome in Herefordshire and for the River Severn in Shrewsbury.

The Environment Agency said it expected river levels to remain high over the coming days.

An urgent appeal to raise £12,000 to protect the UK's last working Victorian pottery factory has been successful.

Re-Form Heritage, which owns and runs Middleport Pottery, Stoke-on-Trent, launched the campaign two months ago after Covid-19 cut its income from events, tours and school visits.

This week, the charity said, external it had passed the figure and would use the money to cover the costs of volunteering support, cleaning and essential maintenance over the next few months.

At one West Midlands hospital, one crew had to wait seven hours to hand over a patient.

Worcester News

Here are three of the stories from the Worcester News today:

• Flood warning for Worcester, external
• Man found in burnt car named by police, external
• Roads closed due to flooding, external

Allen Cook
BBC News

More than 500 hampers have been given to struggling families in Walsall before Christmas after a campaign inspired by footballer Marcus Rashford.

Image source, Lucie Dennis

Lucie Dennis had the idea at the end of October during the Manchester United player's campaign over child food poverty.

Having initially thought she could help up to 20 families, the idea "snowballed massively" on Facebook.

The mum-of-three said they had now delivered all the hampers with more than 1,800 gifts alongside them.

For the first time since the last lockdown, bell ringers will be returning to Worcester Cathedral, to ring the bells on Christmas Day.

The cathedral is also open for pre-booked Christmas services and will be streaming them online too, for those who can't be there in-person.

The bells will be rung between 10:10 and 10:25 on Christmas Day.

A 15-year-old has been given a surprise award by police after he came to the aid of a boy who was seriously hurt in a crash.

Elijah Rama was in Wolverhampton city centre in November 2019 when Ezekiel Reid, 11, was hit by a taxi while crossing the road and suffered a badly broken leg.

West Midlands Police said, external a large crowd gathered, but the teenager went to the front, comforted Ezekiel and put his coat over him.

He then moved people back so paramedics could help and called the victim's mother.

The force had meant to give him a Chief Constable’s Young Person’s Award this year but Covid-19 prevented a presentation ceremony.

Instead they surprised him with it at his school, King’s Church of England, and Ezekiel and Assistant Chief Constable Mark Payne thanked him for his efforts.

This evening we still have four flood warnings for the River Severn in Worcestershire, with river levels mainly expected to peak tomorrow afternoon.

But in some areas, such as Upton-upon-Severn, the river will continue rising until Boxing Day.

The Environment Agency also has flood alerts for rivers across the West Midlands and it is warning that levels are likely to remain high, with more rain forecast.

BBC Midlands Today

Hampers are being provided to homeless and vulnerable people in Stoke-on-Trent through a church project.

Members of St Michael's Community Church say they have been overwhelmed by donations.

Rita Owusu, from Gambia, has recently been granted asylum in the city with her son.

"I am so delighted to have all this and I love what they are doing and I am so grateful," she said.

The next formal review of tiers in England will take place on 30 December, but the government said it would keep the situation under constant review and may take further action.

Today's announcements were made sooner than planned, because of the rapid increase in cases in the south east of England and the appearance of a new strain of the virus.

The decisions are being based on the rate case numbers are going up or down, the number of cases in the over-60s, pressure on the NHS and other local circumstances.

Political leader Rulda Singh was fatally shot in Patiala, Punjab, in 2009.

Stoke-on-Trent Live

The Stoke-on-Trent Live website is covering these stories today:

• 'Danger zone' Stoke-on-Trent on verge of Tier 4 as household mixing blamed for rise in cases, external
• Gang ringleader rams bike into young couple in terrifying attempted street mugging, external
• Industrial scale five-room cannabis factory had plants growing in the toilet, external

BBC Midlands Today

The Stoke City manager Michael O'Neill says his side will really miss their fans when they host Tottenham in their Carabao Cup quarter-final this evening.

Image source, PA Media

Stoke have been in good form in the Championship with three wins and two draws in their last six league games.

Their opponents are sixth in the Premier League and, due to Covid-19 rules, the Potters will not have their usual noisy fans to help try and get a cup upset.

"It would be a much easier thing for us to do probably if there were fans in the stadium," O'Neill says.

"There will be a number of players obviously in that team that have played at Stoke on many occasions in the Premier League and will know what that is like but unfortunately we will not have the backing of our own supporters."

A Coventry shopkeeper managed to fight off an armed robber last night, using a can of red spray.

The man, who works at Ganatra News on Hollyfast Road was threatened with a knife at around 19:25, but managed to chase him off empty-handed.

Image source, West Midlands Police

West Midlands Police are hoping someone may have seen the masked attacker, who had red dye over his clothing.

Teams of volunteers have delivered hundreds of meals to lorry drivers stranded in Kent.

Members of Maidenhead's KhalsaAid travelled 80 miles (130km) to take food to drivers hit by the travel ban between the UK and France.

On Tuesday, some of the Sikh charity's LangarAid members travelled almost double the distance, from Coventry, to take water and food.

KhalsaAid founder Ravi Singh said everyone was "working together".

Fellow Sikhs from Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Gravesend, Kent, helped cook the meals before volunteers were given a police escort along the M20 to deliver them.

Mr Singh added: "It's horrible for [the drivers], there's nothing here - no food, no shops - it's like a prison for them. We can't sit back and do nothing."

Herefordshire Council's acting director of public health has said the move back to tier two restrictions are "vital" to suppressing the transmission of the coronavirus.

The stricter rules will come in to effect on Boxing Day and Rebecca Howell-Jones added: "We know this decision by government has not been taken lightly."

Image source, Google

Dr Howell-Jones also asked people who have travelled to Herefordshire from a tier four area to behave as if they have the virus and isolate themselves for 10 days.

Matt Hancock has just announced that because of rising case numbers, Herefordshire will have its restrictions raised to tier two and Cheshire to tier three.