East Midlands Today

A campaign has been launched to try and attract more German tourists to Newark and Southwell.

Discover England is spending £1m creating a 300-mile touring route along the A1, between London and Northumberland, stopping at the two towns.

The group are planning on promoting the route to German markets because touring holidays are popular there.

Councillor David Lloyd, from the district council, said: "We welcome the opportunity to work in partnership with colleagues and make it easier for people to plan and book a trip to eastern England.

"Our district has so much to offer the international visitor and we look forward to the forthcoming developments."

Calum McKenzie
BBC News

Salford City tweets...

Rob Cross and Michael Smith win impressively in Nottingham, while Michael van Gerwen stays top of the Premier League.

Chris Fawcett
BBC News

Various routes have been affected today after East Midlands Trains announced, external that a number of trains needed "essential maintenance" overnight.

The following services have no trains running today:

• Matlock to Nottingham
• Nottingham to Mansfield Woodhouse

There are also a number of routes that have reduced coaches compared to normal:

• Nottingham to Skegness, running one coach instead of two. (11:45, 16:45, 22:26)
• Derby to Crewe, running one coach instead of two. (12:42, 15:42)

The company has apologised for any problems caused and said it is working hard to prevent this from happening in the future. Anyone who suffered delays over 30 minutes may get compensation, the firm added.

Chris Fawcett
BBC News

The time it takes for Derbyshire Police to reach an incident has increased, now that it has to share an aircraft with other forces.

Image source, Derbyshire Constabulary

A report from Derbyshire police says that from the start of this year, the average time for a helicopter to get to a scene in Derbyshire is just over 38 minutes.

With the possibility of it taking longer to reach officers, managers are less likely to use one.

Despite the number of operational aircraft on the decline nationally, the demand is still high, meaning Derbyshire police are looking into other options, such as using drones to look for missing people.

Christian Hill
BBC Radio Leicester Reporter

Market Harborough is the seventh-best place to live in the Midlands, according to the Sunday Times.

The newspaper has just published its annual list of the most desirable places to live in the country.

It looks at a number of factors, from jobs, schools and broadband speed to culture and community spirit.

Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire came out on top for the Midlands.

Namrata Varia
BBC Radio Leicester producer

People in Mountsorrel have been left shocked after the parish council hiked its precept on the council tax bill by 162%.

The rise will see residents of Band D properties paying £199.85 a year towards the parish council's part of the bill in 2018/19, compared to the £75 they were charged in 2017/18.

Mountsorrel Parish Council blamed central and local government cuts for the huge increase, and said the running of services such as the library and the new Mountsorrel Memorial Centre had contributed to the rise.

The total council tax bill for Band D residents in Mountsorrel is £1620.17

Sophie Cook
BBC Radio Leicester producer

Image source, The Y

The Y in Leicester is celebrating 135 years of offering support to homeless people in Leicester.

Opened in 1883 by Mr Thomas Lloyd the aim was to ‘promote the welfare of young men in every possible way’. Leicester YMCA offered many clubs, from literacy and debating and much more.

After 135 years, and the only way Lloyd’s dream has changed, is that The Y (YMCA Leicester) now promotes the welfare of all young people, not just the welfare of young men.

A celebration service at Leicester Cathedral, external will take place on Sunday.

Image source, The Y

Alex Thorp
BBC News

Here's a novel idea...

Dave Wade
BBC News

The culture secretary has said Derby's Assembly Rooms should be refurbished instead of being knocked down.

Matt Hancock made a surprise visit to the venue, which has now been closed for four years after a fire.

Labour, which runs Derby City Council, wants to build a brand new Assembly Rooms.

Derby's Conservatives say they'd reopen the existing venue, using £10m of government money already committed to it.

Now, a senior member of the government has backed their plan.

"It's in good nick you can see there's a brand new acoustic ceiling in the main area," Mr Hancock said.

"And I think the plans to refurb and reopen it look exciting."

Sophie Cook
BBC Radio Leicester producer

Image source, Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust

The first pair of ospreys are back at Rutland Water. The female Maya arrived on Monday and her mate 33 arrived yesterday.

This is the earliest they have ever returned.

You can see the breeding pair at the Lyndon nature reserve.

Press Association

The family of an Egyptian teenager who died after she was attacked by a group in Nottingham have said her death could have been prevented if police acted on an earlier incident.

Mariam Moustafa, 18, died on Wednesday three weeks after the attack.

Her family claim an attack by the same group of people in August - which left Mariam injured and her teenage sister with a broken leg - was not sufficiently investigated by police.

Malak Moustafa, 16, told The Times newspaper, external: "No-one did anything, something could've been done, and if the police did then she would still be here.

"I do think vital warnings were missed, the police should've done something after the first attack, but they did nothing. A complaint was filed and that was it."

Nottinghamshire Police said they are aware of social media posts claiming the attack was motivated by hate and are "keeping an open mind".

A 17-year-old girl has been arrested on suspicion of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and was subsequently released on conditional bail.

Rich Davis
BBC Weather presenter

Could there be more snow on the way?

Dave Wade
BBC News

Happy Friday and welcome to our updates from across the East Midlands.

Calum McKenzie and I will be with you until later with the best of the region's news, sport, weather and travel.