Two rare Rothschild's giraffes have given birth within days of each other at West Midlands Safari Park.

Work is due to start next month on a new £5,5m operations communications centre to be shared by West Mercia and Warwickshire Police. 

The hub will be built at the West Mercia Police HQ, just outside Worcester. 

Call handlers at the hub will deal with all emergency and non-emergency calls to both forces. 

The hub will be shared with the local fire service.

New regulations governing cremations in England and Wales will come into effect next month, the government confirms.

A dog who looks like he's unimpressed has earned thousands of pounds for his owner after becoming famous on the internet.

BBC Midlands Today
Hilary McConnell, Producer

Midlands Today will be looking at the issue of organ donation today - we meet a man from Worcestershire who needs a new kidney but faces up to 15 years on the waiting list. He’s hoping to find a living donor match. And we’re meeting a young girl from Warwickshire who’s just returned to school after a liver transplant.

David Gregory-Kumar will be finding out more about this year’s honey harvest. It turns out urban bees are producing more honey than rural hives because there's more diversity of plants and flowers in the town as opposed to the monoculture of the agricultural landscape.

And Jaguar goes back to motor racing, but will Formula E - which is electric car racing - have all the glamour of Formula 1? Dan Pallet finds out. 

We'll also have an update on how our local Paralympics athletes are doing in the Games which start today.

Join us on BBC One from 13:30, 18:30 and 22:30.

Daniel Wainwright
Data unit - English regions

Almost 80,000 people in the West Midlands are on zero-hours contracts, according to the latest official figures.

That number, covering April to June, has stayed roughly the same as the previous year.

Across the UK, the number of those whose main job did not guarantee a minimum number of hours increased to 903,000, a rise of 21% on last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, external.

In the West Midlands there were 79,000 people on zero hours contracts between April and June, representing 3.0% of people in employment.

For the same period in 2015, there were also 79,000 but they made up 3.1% of people in employment.

A charity is trying to trace children who were photographed in the post-war slums of Britain.

Michele Paduano
Health correspondent, BBC Midlands Today

We hear this lunchtime how a health trust is defending a decision to stop children being brought to a West Midlands A&E department by ambulance. 

They say it's better for paramedics to treat youngsters while taking them to specialist care - unions say that longer journey could take 40 minutes. 

I'll have more from 13:30 on BBC One in Midlands Today.

BBC Midlands Today

Public parks in the Midlands are at risk of decline and some of the facilities in them could close, according to a new report by the Heritage Lottery Fund. , external

Findings showed that 78% of councils across the region anticipate budget reductions of 10% or more over the next three years with nearly half their parks expected to deteriorate. 

We now have data examining the impact of the badger cull on the incidence of TB in cattle.

Bidders for the West Midlands rail franchise are being given permission to remove seats and create more standing room to fit more passengers in.

A total of 13 Ministry of Defence sites will be sold to provide land for up to 17,017 homes and raise £225m, the government says.

Peter Plisner
BBC Midlands Today

More commuters could have to stand under plans for rail services across the West Midlands.

Seats could be removed to fit more people onto services on trains currently run by London Midland.

Two groups are bidding to take on the franchise from October next year.

The services include the cross city lines, and trains out of Birmingham to Hereford, Shrewsbury, Stoke-on-Trent, Liverpool, Stratford, Leamington, and down to London.

I'll have more on the Midlands Today on BBC One at 18:30.

Shrewsbury cast aside their early-season troubles by grabbing a victory at Oldham, who end the game with 10 men.

Police forces are criticised for a "complete lack of consistency" over whether officers armed with Tasers are deployed with body cameras.

We'll be back with our usual mix of news, sport, travel and weather from 08:00 on Monday, but keep an eye out here for more updates this evening.

Five people are arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a man is found with multiple injuries in Telford.

Daniel Wainwright
Data unit - English regions

Amelia is the most popular girls name in the West Midlands while Muhammad is the most popular for boys, according to the Office for National Statistics. 

Only London had Muhammad as the most popular choice in 2014 but the new figures show the West Midlands has joined the capital in 2015 for having the most babies with that name. Oliver was most popular overall across England and Wales.

There were 649 Muhammads born in the West Midlands in 2015 compared with 622 Olivers. An alternative spelling - Mohammed - is also in the top 10.

For girls regionally, the top choice, Amelia, was the same as the overall favourite in England and Wales.

The data also shows the West Midlands to have a higher proportion of girls named Jessica than anywhere else. It ranks third for popularity in the region.

We'll be back with our usual mix of news, sport, travel and weather from 08:00 tomorrow, but keep an eye out here for more updates this evening and into the morning.

Nick Owen
Presenter, BBC Midlands Today

On Midlands Today this evening we'll hear about developments in the case of a missing hotelier from the region and his family's search for answers.

We'll also hear about one of the last crops to be gathered in this summer's farming harvest is also one of the newest. 

Those stories and much more, include the latest sports news and weather forecast, all on BBC Midlands Today from 18:30 on BBC One.