Designs for a coronavirus memorial garden have been released by Birmingham City Council.

The council is developing a proposal to work with local communities on a series of gardens across the city, in recognition of how the virus has affected all parts of Birmingham.

The central feature is a pebble bed that would give communities the opportunity to write the name of someone lost in the pandemic on one of the stones.

Image source, Birmingham City Council

Council leader Ian Ward said: "The last year has been a time of grief and heartbreak for too many people in Birmingham as communities and neighbourhoods right across the city have experienced loss and tragedy and it's important to remember and pay tribute.

"Our initial designs are an excellent starting point and will help us develop ideas in partnership with the people of Birmingham."

Joshua Molnar is cleared of having a knife in public after a review of the case by prosecutors.

The convicted youth claimed he acted in self-defence when he killed Nasir Patrice in January last year.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Groundwater levels in Birmingham "will continue to rise" and potentially pose a flooding risk to buildings and graves, a council meeting has heard.

An overview of the city council's flood risk management work was heard at a meeting of the authority's sustainability and transport overview and scrutiny committee on Wednesday.

Image source, David Kukadia

Along with measures being taken to address flooding along Birmingham's rivers and at other locations, it was told groundwater levels were likely to keep rising due to a decline in industry.

The meeting heard last year was in the top 10 lists for wettest, warmest and sunniest years for more than 100 years, with the June thunderstorms causing widespread flooding in the city.

Papers to the meeting state "significant flooding" was noted on Stratford Road, Golden Hillock Road and Percy Road, with flooding in Sparkhill, Acocks Green, Hall Green, Digbeth and South Yardley.

There have been repeated reports of flooding in gardens along Brooklands Road and Silverlands Close, Hall Green.

Birmingham Live

Some of the Birmingham Live headlines today include:

• Huge fire breaks out Taroni's scrapyard on Cheston Road in Aston, external
• Fears over police plan to identify school pupils as potential violent offenders using crime data, external
• 'Cold and calculated' businessman who strangled 'secret wife' to death jailed for life, external

More than 800 weapons have been recovered from surrender bins distributed across the West Midlands.

Knives, knuckle dusters, bullets and even a bayonet have been recovered from the 19 post box-sized containers, which have been placed around the region in an initiative by the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner.

An extra knife bin is due to open in Coventry in the next few weeks.

Police are urging people selling goods online to remain vigilant, after con artists scammed West Midlands residents out of more than £125,000.

Image source, West Midlands Police

People who advertise goods on sites such as Facebook, Gumtree and eBay are being urged to take extra care before handing over items.

It's amid ongoing fraud reports in the last six months, mainly involving high-value goods such as watches and mobiles, West Midlands Police said.

At a meeting someone will inspect an item and agree to pay for it via bank transfer, although a fraudulent cheque will be paid into the victim's account with the funds showing as pending.

The victim will hand over goods thinking a payment has been completed, but the cheque will later bounce back unpaid. Det Con Edward Spokes said: "Anyone selling goods online should check with their banks that any payments have cleared their accounts before handing over goods.

"Funds shown as pending in the account do not necessarily mean that the payment has been completed."

The government announces first stages of plans to get superfast broadband to the majority of UK homes.

"Good progress" is being made by crews tackling a fire at a recycling centre, the fire service has said.

Image source, West Midlands Fire Service

About 100 tonnes of scrap metal is on fire at the scene on Cheston Road in Aston, Birmingham.

Image source, West Midlands Fire Service

Firefighters have prevented it from spreading and the incident is to be scaled down shortly, the service tweeted. , external

Cheston Road and Thimble Mill Lane have been closed during the incident.

At it's height, smoke could be seen billowing from the site.

Image source, Jack Sherriff

Venue operators and concert promoters AEG Presents is to run Wolverhampton's Civic Halls.

It is due to reopen early next year following a major multi-million-pound refurbishment programme, said the council, which stated AEG Presents "beat off premier competition to secure the long-term deal".

The company owns and operates more than 40 venues and the Wolverhampton site would "host leading musical and entertainment acts, business events and conferences", the authority stated.

It added AEG Presents would now bring forward plans for the venue "with bigger and better acts and events" and work on developing the final stages of the transformation of the Grade II listed building.

Council leader Ian Brookfield said it was "a huge coup".

Investigations are underway into the cause of a fire in a commercial building in Shropshire.

Image source, Market Drayton fire station

Crews from Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire fire services were called to assist with the fire in the building in Market Drayton from 23:33 GMT.

The fire was contained to the single story building.

BBC Midlands Today

Hundreds of students joined a protest on Thursday against the treatment of women at the University of Warwick.

The organisers said women on campus felt "unsafe and unheard" and many had been the victim of some form of sexual assault.

They have been demanding changes from the university.

One woman said: "Within my social circle alone I know of four different women who have had extremely traumatising sexual assault issues and attacks."

A man said: "I've had so many friends who have unfortunately been affected by sexual assault."

The university said its policy on sexual misconduct was clear, it would not be tolerated and individuals found to have broken values would face expulsion or some other form of withdrawal from the university.

People had the right to feel safe, it stated.

Nine fire engines have been sent to a blaze at a metal scrapyard in Birmingham.

Image source, @kirbywithteeth_

There have been reports of 100 tonnes of scrap metal on fire at the scene on Cheston Road in Aston.

Thimble Mill Lane has been closed along with Cheston Road.

Two hydraulic platforms have also been deployed, the fire service said.

Talented saxophonist Colton Bryan had been stabbed several times and died at the scene, police say.

Birmingham call the decision to award Tottenham three points after they called off their Women's Super League game a "great disappointment".

Ameen Thabet is told he will serve a minimum of 18 years in prison for the murder of Najeeba Al-Alriqy.

The corporation is to relocate some news services and make more primetime shows in the region.

Evha Jannath's death at Drayton Manor was an "utterly tragic waste of a young life", the judge says.

Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight is teaming up with Sir Ridley Scott for a 10-episode epic, external that will tell the story of World War II, Deadline said.

It added Roads to Freedom would tell the story of the war from several international perspectives, based on Sir Antony Beevor's books.

Deadline said it would "portray the brutal realities from multiple viewpoints, with characters not only from the U.S. and UK but also from Russia, Germany, France and other countries across the globe", including "women, and children struggling to survive".

Sir Ridley plans to direct the launch episode of the series and Knight and Sir Antony would write all episodes, it added.

In January Knight confirmed the BBC's Peaky Blinders would conclude with a film following the show's final TV series.

There could be a spin-off TV series inspired by and including characters from the hit Birmingham crime drama, he said.

Asked by BBC Midlands Today this year if we were talking about a one-off film or a series, he said: "You never know... But we're talking about, (I) don't like the word spin-offs, but TV series that are gonna [sic] be inspired by and include characters from Peaky."

Disabled rower Xander Van Der Poll has been selected for the British Rowing's talent programme