Sirius Minerals, the company behind plans for a £4bn potash mine, in North Yorkshire is considering a takeover bid.

Image source, Reuters

The mining giant Anglo American said it was in advanced talks about a possible offer of 5.5p per share.

It would value Sirius Minerals at £386m, but mean a significant loss for thousands of smaller shareholders.

The future of the mine has been in doubt after Sirius failed to raise cash to unlock funding.

It had hoped to raise $500m (£403m) with a bond issue in September to enable it to borrow $2.5bn (£1.9bn) from banks.

A spokesman said: "Anglo American identified the project as being of potential interest some time ago, given the quality of the underlying asset in terms of scale, resource life, operating-cost profile and the nature and quality of its product."

Shares in Sirius rose by 33% to 5.4p on the news of the offer, however that is significantly lower than the 22p shares were worth a year ago.

The business has thousands of small shareholders, many of whom live in the area the mine is being built.

One person is being treated for minor injuries after a police vehicle and car were involved in a collision in Halifax this morning.

Image source, Zoe McManus

The incident happened on the junction of Pellon Lane and Miall Street.

West Yorkshire Police said a member of the public is receiving treatment for their injuries.

The force said Pellon Lane is due to remain closed until the vehicles are recovered.

Image source, Zoe McManus

An inquest is due to open today into the death of a pilot from East Yorkshire - who was killed when the helicopter he was flying crashed in North Yorkshire almost four years ago.

Image source, Feetham Family

Nigel Feetham, 36, from Hedon, was killed and four others were injured when the helicopter they were in came down at Breighton Aeredrome near Selby in July 2016.

Following an investigation the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said the aircraft exceeded the 1,361kg limit by nearly 15kg.

The Leader of Leeds City Council is calling for immediate action to improve rail services in the North of England after weeks of cancellations and delays on Northern and Transpennine Express services.

Image source, KATIE MAY LEES

Judith Blake says: "We have many dissatisfied passengers across the north at the moment on Northern and Transpennine Express, people subjected to real misery, on a daily basis and we want to see action."

Cancellations on Transpennine routes in the north-east of England will continue until the end of January, the firm has said.

A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: "We understand how deeply frustrating this is for passengers and we will not tolerate continued significant reductions to services."

Transport Minister Chris Heaton-Harris is going to be in Leeds later today at a Transport for the North meeting, to discuss what's been described by Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, as "unacceptable" problems on rail services in the north.

A South Yorkshire council has been awarded gold status in LGBT charity Stonewall’s first ever Children and Young People’s Champion Awards.

Image source, Sheffield City Council

Sheffield City Council received the recognition for its work supporting the inclusion of LGBT+ young people.

Sarah Rose, Senior Children and Young People Programmes Manager at Stonewall, said: “Sheffield City Council has worked hard to put LGBT inclusion at the heart of all that they do."

The award also recognises the charity SAYiT, a Sheffield LGBT+ young people’s charity.

Its CEO, Steve Slack, said: “We are absolutely delighted that Stonewall has recognised the excellent work being undertaken in Sheffield to support LGBT+ young people with this prestigious award.

“We are very proud of our organisation’s working partnership and collaboration with Sheffield City Council and the positive differences we are able to make to young people’s lives.

“We applaud the Council for its support for us, for the work we do and for their continued commitment to improving the lives of LGBT+ young people."

Police have issued an appeal to find a man wanted on recall to prison after breaking the terms of his release.

Image source, WEST YORKSHIRE POLICE

West Yorkshire Police have appealed for help to find 29-year-old Daniel Lomas, from Wakefield.

The force say Lomas has links to Manchester, Lancashire and London and is believed to have recently been in Blackburn.

Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact police.

A boy from Sheffield who lost a fishing magnet given to him by his late father in a canal has been reunited with it after it was fished out of the water.

Image source, Leeds Magneteers

Harry Scott, 12, lost the magnet, used for trawling trawling for metal objects, in the canal at Woodlesford, near Leeds, on Thursday when the rope slipped from his hands. It was of sentimental value as his father Mike had died in October.

Leeds Magneteers saw an appeal and recovered it the next day after about 90 minutes using magnets.

Harry said he had been disappointed and upset when he lost his magnet but felt "really happy and very good" after its return.

Harry and his best friend James were on a magnet fishing trip in the canal at Lemonroyd on 2 January.

When the magnet slipped in the water James' dad, Kevin Harrison, helped the boys search unsuccessfully for an hour.

"I initially just contacted the group for advice on finding it," Mr Harrison said, "but I was inundated by people offering to come and help."

Lisa Gallagher
Weather presenter, BBC Look North

It's going to be dry and bright for most of us today with temperatures up to 10C or 11C.

However, as we head through the evening a band of rain will start to move in from the south bringing some heavy showers with it:

BBC News Travel

If you're making a journey on the rails in Yorkshire this Wednesday morning, most services appear to be generally running on time.

However:

• The 08:21 service from York to Edinburgh is running about 13 minutes late
• The 08:37 service from Sheffield to Lincoln has been cancelled
• The 09:03 service from Doncaster to Sheffield has been cancelled
• The 09:04 service from Doncaster to York is running about 11 minutes late
• The 09:05 service from York to Liverpool Lime Street is running about six minutes late

For all the latest live updates from the county's main railway stations, click on the links below:

• York Station, external
• Leeds Station, external
• Sheffield Station, external
• Hull Station, external
• Doncaster Station, external
• Wakefield Westgate, external
• Bradford Interchange, external
• Bradford Forster Square, external

Andy Kershaw
BBC Radio Sheffield News

A teenager has been taken to hospital after being stabbed in Sheffield city centre overnight, say police.

The incident happened at about 03:30 on West Street, according to South Yorkshire Police.

Officers say an 18-year old man was taken to hospital with stab wounds and is in the process of being discharged. No arrests have so far been made.

Part of West Street was cordoned off while police dealt with the incident between Rockingham Lane and Rockingham St.

An area by a bus stop outside the job centre was cordoned off to allow forensic teams to carry out investigations.

West Street has now reopened and all traffic and trams are running freely again.

Doncaster climb to within two points of the League One play-off positions with a comfortable win over Shrewsbury.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Taxi drivers and hotel staff in Sheffield have been trained to spot signs of child exploitation.

Image source, Getty Images

Training was given to 1,167 people about how to recognise signs of children being groomed for crime and sexual harm.

Sheffield Safeguarding Children Board said participants had responded well, saying: "There is evidence to suggest that licensed premises in the city are overall sustaining good safeguarding standards, making safer environments for children and young people."

The Swift Group - the UK's largest manufacturer of touring caravans - has announced it will be closing its Mexborough site.

Image source, Google

The manufacturing site based on Meadow Way will shut following a review in November.

"We were not able to identify any viable business solutions to maintain production", the group said in a statement.

It is not currently known how many redundancies there will be, but a small number of colleagues will be transferring to their other site in Cottingham.

The firm added they had accepted "a number of voluntary redundancies" in Cottingham.

Professor Karen Bryan OBE has been appointed as the next Vice Chancellor of York St John University.

Image source, YORK ST JOHN UNIVERSITY

She previously held the position of Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Greenwich from 2017.

Professor Bryan said she was "honoured and excited" about joining the institution.

Chair of Governors at York St John, Ann Green CBE said: “We are absolutely delighted to be welcoming Professor Bryan to our University community.

"We know she will build on our positive achievements as an inclusive, ambitious institution where higher education transforms the lives and careers of our students”.

Plans to build 437 homes on the former Vickers works in Leeds are deferred by Leeds City Council.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Thousands of people have signed a petition to stop Sheffield Council building motorway services through ancient woodland.

Image source, LDRS

Plans to build on the 850-year-old Smithy Wood in Ecclesfield were submitted in 2014.

If approved, a hotel, filing station, parking and a picnic space would open off Junction 35 off the M1.

The campaign to Save Smithy Wood has been ongoing for more than half a decade, with more than 2,200 people signing a petition to halt the council's decision.

Woodlands' Trust said the space was a "irreplaceable resource".

"It cannot be re-created and cannot afford to be lost", the trust's lead campaigner Oliver Newham added.

Sheffield Environmental said their ultimate aim is to take it on as a community woodland.

Rail services between Leeds and Wakefield Westgate have been cancelled, due to the line being blocked.

Image source, Google

A train has broken down on the route, affecting Northern and LNER services from Leeds towards Doncaster, Sheffield and Knottingley.

Replacement buses are running between Leeds and Doncaster.

Disruption is expected until rush hour begins.

Please check your operator for amended timetables.

Three men and a woman were all part of a "fellowship of hate", a court is told.

Seven men deny grooming and sexually abusing two teenage girls in Huddersfield over a 10-year period.

Tom Burridge
Transport correspondent, BBC News

The government has threatened to take action against another rail company in the north of England.

Image source, Danny Lawson/PA Media

TransPennine Express, which runs services to Sheffield, Leeds, York, Hull and Scarborough, is under scrutiny following cancellations and delays.

Ministers are already set to make a call on the fate of the Northern franchise in the coming weeks.

A roll-out of new trains for TransPennine Express has taken longer than expected, with Downing Strreet saying cancellations had been "totally unacceptable."

Things were so bad that a few days ago it removed a number of services from its timetable.

Now it says it will compensate season ticket holders so their fares don’t go up this year.

Leo Goodwin, Managing Director for TransPennine Express said bringing in new trains had an impact on schedules, with an amended timetable running throughout January.

He said: “I am truly sorry for recent disruption that our customers have been experiencing.

"I understand the frustration that our customers have as our current performance is not acceptable and we are working hard to fix this.”