Long queues have been reported outside Build a Bear stores and its shop in Telford has had to close for the day, after it reported an "overwhelming" response to a "pay your age" offer.

Some people queued from 06:30 in Telford town centre, to take advantage of the deal, with the store offering gift vouchers to people who gave up waiting.

Across the country, nine-hour waits and even fights have been reported, external.

The chain said all its stores around the country were seeing similar crowds.

Shropshire Star

The Shropshire Star website features these top stories today:

• Motorcyclist dies after crash with car on M54, external
• 999 calls spike at World Cup final whistle as violence flares, external
• New Shrewsbury care home to create almost 60 jobs, external

BBC Weather Watchers

The rain has arrived!

Well, there's been light rain in parts of Shropshire this morning at least, according to our BBC Weather Watchers.

Here are three from Liams Eye in Dawley, Bingoswestry in Oswestry and BymsterFromLimster in Ludlow:

Image source, Liams Eye

Image source, Bingoswestry

Image source, BymsterFromLimster

Allen Cook
BBC News

Drivers are being warned roads across the West Midlands could be slippery if there's rain today and tomorrow.

Image source, Met Office

After a long, dry spell, the Met Office says there's now a yellow weather warning for heavy showers and thunderstorms for almost all of the whole region on Friday, from 11:00. , external

Police say that could lead to greasy conditions on roads and are urging drivers to slow down if it rains., external

British citizens Henry Curteis and his wife Shane have been separated from their daughter since May.

The MPs for Shrewsbury and North Shropshire are among the Consevative rebels backing an attempt to amend Theresa May's Brexit proposals.

The eurosceptics are unhappy at the plan, agreed by the cabinet at Chequers last week, saying it will keep the UK tied to EU rules.

They are calling on the government to commit itself in law not to allow a customs border down the Irish Sea.

The government is to publish a White Paper this morning which lays out, in more detail than ever before, how Britain would like to trade and co-operate with the EU after Brexit.

West Midlands Police has urged witnesses to come forward.

Telford and Wrekin Council says it might need to save up to £25m over the next three years.

That's on top of the £117m already saved by the Labour-run local authority since 2010.

Image source, Google

Members of its cabinet, meeting tonight, will be told they've gone over budget paying for looked after children, social workers and some education provision.

BBC News Travel

Chester Street in Shrewsbury is being affected by a water leak in the road, police said.

Severn Trent engineers have been called.

The ambulance service said it dealt with a large number of 999 calls across the West Midlands last night after England's World Cup exit against Croatia.

There was a big increase in reports of assaults and other alcohol-related incidents, West Midlands Ambulance Service said.

It fielded 240 calls in the hour after the match compared with 120 while England were playing.

Sara Blizzard
BBC Weather

Early cloud will break leaving a mainly dry and fine day with long spells of sunshine and highs of 25C (77F).

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Shrewsbury's bus station could be scrapped, as part of an overhaul of the town centre.

The local authority bought the leasehold of Riverside, plus the freehold of the Charles Darwin and Pride Hill shopping centres in January at a cost of £51m.

Image source, Google

Councillor Peter Nutting said towns don’t have old-fashioned bus stations like that now and added he was looking for something "high class and high quality" to replace it.

He also said it could take a "year or two" to put together a plan together and questioned whether one was needed at all, suggesting the town centre could make do with spaces for buses to pull into.

Another river has dried up in Shropshire and the Environment Agency says it's now rescued more than 1,000 fish along the River Teme.

They are being moved downstream and it says it plans to start moving fish from the River Redlake (pictured below), which is connected to the River Club, next week.

Image source, Environment Agency

Image source, Environment Agency

You can't escape Three Lions at the moment, and it seems to be especially popular in schools

These children at St Winefride’s RC Independent School in Shrewsbury broke out into song mid-way through a maths class.

(Although we suspect it may have been staged a little).

Shropshire Star

These are among the headlines in the Shropshire Star:

• Extra police on streets for England's World Cup date with destiny, external
• Missing Market Drayton girl is found, external
• Shrewsbury angler lands this 9ft 4ins monster fish, external

Shefali Oza
BBC Midlands Today

Your bone-dry lawns will probably welcome a bit of rain and there's some forecast later this week.

Heavy showers, likely to become thundery in places, are expected to develop quite widely across parts of the region on Friday.

The Met Office says some of the showers are likely to become focussed into slow-moving bands with some locations receiving around 20mm in an hour.

Image source, Getty

However it says that as is the nature of showers, many places within the yellow warning area of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin will miss them altogether, and have a dry day.

One of Europe's largest cranes will be returning to Telford in September to lift another piece of a railway footbridge into place.

Part of the A442 was closed earlier this month to allow the work to be carried out, and when it returns, Rampart Way will also have to close.

Image source, Telford and Wrekin Council

Once this second span is connected, the old footbridge will be demolished and the new one will open in December.

An area of peat and undergrowth caught fire on the Wrekin in Shropshire earlier.

Firefighters were called out at 05:22 and spent more than four hours putting it out.

They had to stay afterwards to dig up the peat and turn it over, to make sure it didn't re-ignite, and are just about to leave the scene.

BBC News Travel

Rail lines have reopened between Gobowen and Chirk following an incident earlier.

As services return to normal, those between Shrewsbury and Wrexham General will be delayed by up to 15 minutes or revised, the National Rail website reports, external.

There's also delays following a fault on a train at Jewellery Quarter.

Services are returning to normal but some between Birmingham Snow Hill and Stourbridge Junction will be delayed by up to 20 minutes or cancelled.