The owners of 12-week-old Mitch are "devastated", say police.

BBC Midlands Today

Aston Villa head to Southampton on Friday evening hoping to end a sequence of four straight league defeats.

Villa's run has seen them slip down to 15th in the Premier League, just three points above the relegation zone.

They have had to deal with injuries to key players and some controversial refereeing decisions.

But head coach Dean Smith (pictured) said he was coping with the pressure.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

A new cross-border strategy is needed to clean up pollution in the River Wye, Hereford and South Herefordshire PM Jesse Norman has told Parliament.

The river “is being undermined by dreadful phosphate pollution” from sewage discharges and animal waste spread on nearby fields, he said.

Last week’s Budget and spending review did not go far enough in meeting a call he and neighbouring MPs had made to the Treasury to fund concerted action to clean up the river, he added.

He urged Natural Resources Wales, Natural England and the Environment Agency to talk more about the issue.

North Herefordshire MP Bill Wiggin added there was “not a cigarette paper” between his and Mr Norman’s views on how to address pollution in the Wye.

In response to Mr Norman's pleas, environment minister Rebecca Pow said the government had provided additional funding to increase farm inspections and "extra catchment-sensitive officers" to look at agricultural land use.

Last month local councillors voted to seek designation for “appropriate stretches” of the Wye and Lugg rivers as bathing water.

Ms Pow said that if a site were to receive designation, the Environment Agency was enabled "to spring into action" and look at what was needed to improve water quality," she added.

About 40 firefighters have tackled a fire at a row of shops in Solihull.

Image source, West Midlands Fire Service

Ten appliances and a hydraulic platform were dealing with a "severe fire" at a commercial property in Monkspath, the fire service has said.

The blaze was under control on Thursday and the service stated it would be at the scene until Friday, making further investigations into how it broke out.

It will be a rather cloudy day, but with a few breaks in the cloud yielding some sunny spells. It will be largely dry, with just some patchy light rain possible within the thickest cloud. Highs of 7C to 10C (45F to 50F).

This evening and tonight: It will be mainly cloudy with some patches of light rain. Overnight, winds increase and rain will become steadier and more persistent from the west. Lows of 6C to 9C (43F to 48F).

Local Democracy Reporting Service

West Mercia Police has gained more than 220 new officers since government plans to employ more officers was brought in in 2019, the force says.

Asst chief constable, Rachel Jones, said the recruitment campaign gave a "once in a generation opportunity" to improve diversity in policing.

There are more ethnic minority officers employed across forces than at any other time in the country’s history, the force said, confirming it had reached its highest ever level at 3%.

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Amy Taylor, 21, says she is shocked to have been targeted with a needle at a university event.

Demonstrators block gates at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern.

Conservative colleagues in the resigning MP's constituency share views on his departure.

The market usually attracts about five million visitors but was cancelled in 2020 due to Covid-19.

The site is being developed on a former landfill next to the Wolverhampton hospital.

That's all for our live coverage today.

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

Police say no further action will be taken after investigations into how land was bought and sold.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

The leader of Telford and Wrekin Council leader wants Shropshire politicians to come together to propose a single £1bn “super hospital” to serve both the main towns.

Under plans approved in 2019, emergency medicine will move to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, with Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital focussing on planned care and seeing its consultant-led Women’s and Children’s Unit repurposed.

But delays have meant Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski has written to Health Secretary Sajid Javid MP, asking when the first phase of funding will be released and what the likely timetable is for consideration of the business case.

Image source, SATH

But Shaun Davies, leader of Telford & Wrekin's Labour administration, said at a cabinet meeting today the plans did not make sense for Telford, "the largest town in the whole country", to not have a fully functioning A&E and "to close the Women’s and Children’s Unit which is located in this town based on clinical need and demand".

He said he had written to the county’s five MPs and Shropshire Council leader – all Conservatives – asking them “to join me in a round-table meeting to put forward a proposal”.

"He said it was not about "a battle between Telford and Shrewsbury".

"It’s actually much wider than that. It’s about Telford and Wrekin residents and fairness but also it’s about this side of the county as well."

Her urged people to be "bold" and work together across parties to put an offer to the government about securing £1bn investment for "a single-site super-hospital, a world-class hospital fairly located between Telford and Shrewsbury which will serve this county for a generation to come.”

Three men have been arrested on suspicion of forced labour and human trafficking offences.

Sohail Ali died from multiple stab wounds after he was attacked in Winson Green last December.

Warwickshire County Council has pledged to plant one tree for every person who lives in the county - upwards of half a million people.

Image source, Warwickshire County Council

The local authority has been awarded £212k from the Forestry Commission to make a start on its extensive planting programme which it said would be carried out over the next few years.

The trees will be planted to restore lost wooded areas such as the Forest of Arden which once covered much of the county as well as parts of Staffordshire and Worcestershire.

The council will also work with the West Midlands Combined Authority’s Virtual Forest Platform, which will allow anyone who plants a tree to register it online.

Paedophile Barry Bennell wore the club's colours while coaching at a Butlins camp, a court hears.

More than 500 workers at a car parts factory in Birmingham feel they have "little option but to accept a redundancy scheme," a union said.

Image source, Google

GKN Automotive announced plans to close its site in Erdington, which supplies car parts for Jaguar Land Rover, earlier this year, risking 519 jobs.

Since the announcement, Unite the Union have been working to strike a new deal with owners Melrose however representatives say these have so far been unsuccessful.

“For 10 months our members at GKN have fought hard to save this plant but it is apparent that GKN Melrose was never prepared to reconsider its original decision," Unite national officer Des Quinn said. He called on the government to intervene to protect jobs.

Melrose has not responded to the BBC's request for comment.