Exeter Chiefs number eight Thomas Waldrom is to leave the club at the end of the season to return home to New Zealand.

Recruitment to farms in Cornwall has become more difficult since Brexit, research suggests.

Torquay United climb off the bottom of the table as they end a run of 10 matches without a win by beating Barrow.

Luton strengthen their position at the top of League Two with a crucial win over fellow promotion-chasers Exeter.

Blackburn drop to third in League One as their 18-game unbeaten run is ended by Plymouth Argyle at a rainy Home Park.

From sports grounds mascots to railway station mousers - the roles fulfilled by felines.

BBC Radio Devon

In Exeter, the A377 Alphington Road is partially blocked by an accident at the Seven Stars traffic lights. There's congestion to Church Road.

BBC Weather

Saturday will start cloudy and wet with outbreaks of rain for many.

There's a risk of some heavy bursts at times in the west.

The rain will ease late in the afternoon, with some drier and brighter spells expected.

Maximum temperature: 7C (45F).

Hayley Westcott
BBC News Online

Image source, CORNWALL AIR AMBULANCE

The Cornwall Air Ambulance and its crew carried out 74 missions across the county in January - 24 more than the same month last year.

Throughout January, a total of 47 missions were flown in the air ambulance helicopter and 27 were carried out using the charity's critical care cars.

Medical emergencies accounted for 46 missions, including 30 people suffering from heart-related problems, and there were also 28 missions to people who suffered serious injuries.

Cornwall Air Ambulance paramedic Tom Hennessey-Jones said: "It has been busier this year so far, with 13 road traffic collisions which is higher than average. Do take care when you’re out on the roads, especially in wet conditions."

BBC Radio Cornwall

In St Austell, Bodmin Road is blocked in both directions after a "serious" crash between a car and a motorbike near Trethowel Woods, police say.

Devon and Cornwall Police said the road may be closed into the evening while accident investigation work takes place.

Hayley Westcott
BBC News Online

A 23-year-old man has gone missing from Torquay, police have said.

Gregory Rendle was last seen at about 20:20 on Thursday when he headed from Belgrave Road towards Torre Abbey Green.

He is described as a white male about 5ft 7in tall with ginger hair and was last seen wearing blue jeans, a beige top and dirty trainers.

Anyone who has any information is being asked to call Devon and Cornwall Police via 101.

Devon and Cornwall's police and crime panel has backed proposals for a new county police headquarters for Cornwall in Bodmin.

The councillors approved the budget from Devon and Cornwall's Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez, which will increase the police part of council tax by £12 a year - and provide 575 new frontline police officers over the next four years.

Ms Hernandez says the chief constable is aware of the need to connect better with rural communities: "Instead of people thinking everything is focused in Exeter we are looking to create a county headquarters in Bodmin.

"We've got a fairly new station there that we now we can expand on. And we'd really like to work with partners, especially fire and ambulance, if we could get it to be more of a partnership approach it would be even more exciting."

BBC Radio Cornwall

Fire crews managed to put out a fire on a 32-tonne lorry near Probus.

It happened soon after 13:00 this afternoon on the A390.

A crew from Truro and another from St Austell attended and found the lorry well alight.

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used two jets to put it out.

BBC Radio Devon

• In Newton Abbot, Brunel Road is partially blocked by a crash between a car and a cyclist near Forde Road - close to the recycling centre
• In Dawlish, there are reports of an accident on the A379 Teignmouth Road near John Nash Drive

From the fight for equal pay in football to tours of North Korea - the clubs crossing frontiers to reach the Women's FA Cup fourth round.

Ben Woolvin
BBC South West Home Affairs correspondent

The prominent Plymouth businessman and former Royal Navy officer Charles Howeson has been told he will be tried for a sexual assault on a male under the age of 21.

Mr Howeson, of Craigie Drive in Plymouth, faces two alternative charges relating to a single incident which is alleged to have taken place in the late 1980s.

The 68-year-old appeared before Bristol Crown Court. His trial will take place at the same court on 4 June.

A driver was trapped in a car which was in a "precarious position" after it left the road and ended up on its side in a garden in Cornwall.

Firefighters feared the car might "roll further" down a slope at Lanhydrock View, Bodmin.

After arriving at 10:00 firefighters "immediately secured the vehicle using a winch" and the person was treated by paramedics.

A woman has been seriously injured after a vehicle drove over her foot.

The woman, who is in her 40s, was waiting at a bus stop in Plymouth.

Police were called to Pomphlett Road on Tuesday at 09:40.

The woman was taken to Derriford Hospital. Police are appealing for witnesses.

Representatives of the Eden Project have signed a deal with a developer in China, moving a step closer to creating a park in the city of Qingdao.

The agreement with China Jinmao Holdings Limited sets out terms for design, construction and operation of the attraction.

Image source, Grimshaw

The signing ceremony took place at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Beijing as part of the trade delegation travelling with the Prime Minister.

Work is due to begin this year and should be completed by 2020. It will cost £150m and will feature a 50m (160ft) indoor waterfall, the world's largest.

Plans to develop a new police headquarters in Cornwall have been revealed.

The Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Comissioner, Alison Hernandez, included the plans after a meeting to agree an increase in the policing precept by about £1 a month.

Miss Hernandez said: "The chief constable has assured me this money will go directly to policing where it is needed most - in communities."

Image source, PA

Among the budgetary plans for the next year are:

• an increase in police officers to 3,015 by 2019/20
• recruitment of 20 joint funded blue light officers to focus on delivering neighbourhood functions in rural communities
• development a county police headquarters for Cornwall similar to the current work underway in Exeter
• invest more in technology to drive efficiencies and productivity
• roll out of body worn video (BWV) which will protect officers and victims, catch criminals and provide transparency to the public