Kate Williams
BBC Local Live

Abellio, external has won the franchise, external to continue delivering rail services in the Eastern region for the next nine years.

It has promised to deliver a £1.4bn boost to rail services, and more than 1,000 new carriages. 

This is a long franchise, and it contains some strict requirements on the operator to dramatically improve journey times and the passenger experience, as a result of a four-year campaign by local MPs and the business community. 

It promises to deliver one of the biggest orders for British-built trains - almost £1bn for 660 carriages from the Bombardier factory in Derby - as part of a contract that will secure 1,000 jobs into the next decade.

The group must also stick to tough new targets for operational performance levels.

Georgina Burnett
BBC Weather

It was a touch chilly out there first thing, but temperatures are set to climb through the day to reach highs of 18C (64F).

Dry and bright this morning with light winds, though there is the chance of a shower in a few places. 

Check out the latest forecast here.

Kate Williams
BBC Local Live

Good morning Suffolk. The big news today is that the announcement for the rail franchise for the East has been made, external.

Abellio East Anglia will be overseeing the delivery of a £1.4bn pound boost to rail services - and more than 1,000 new carriages.

We'll be bringing you reaction to the news throughout the morning.

Ben Kennedy's strike sees League Two side Stevenage knock out Ipswich Town and progress to the EFL Cup second round.

That's it for our regular updates for today, this page will continue to feature any major new stories overnight.

We're keeping our fingers crossed for a win for the GB Men's Hockey Team, including Suffolk's George Pinner and Harry Martin, when they face Brazil in the Rio Olympic Games at 22:00. You can catch up on all the latest action from the Games with BBC Sport.

And we're hoping when we come back in the morning at 08:00 that we'll be able to report on victory for Ipswich Town in their EFL Cup tie against Stevenage.

Have a good evening.

Alex Dolan
BBC Look East weather

Rather cloudy with a few showers across the East region this evening but these will tend to fade to leave a largely dry night with clear spells. Lows of 8C (46F).

There's a risk of some early showers tomorrow, but generally a dry day with sunny spells. Maximum temperature: 18C (64F).

You'll find your latest local forecast at BBC Weather.

Graeme Mac
BBC Radio Suffolk sport

After what he has described as "a whirlwind few days" since his loan move, Everton's Conor Grant says he is relishing a full debut for Ipswich Town tonight.

The 21-year-old midfielder will be involved from the start against Stevenage in the first round of the EFL Cup, external at Portman Road.

"It's been nice to settle in and it was important to get the win on Saturday," Grant said. "All the lads have been brilliant with me and it's important now that I repay that on the pitch."

A couple who have been married for more than 60 years have been unable to see each other for nine weeks because of a broken lift at an NHS-owned facility.  

The only lift at Bluebird Lodge Community Hospital in Ipswich has been out of action since 6 June.  

Jane Scoggins, of Ipswich, whose mother has been at the facility since May, said it was a "disgrace".

"It's very, very frustrating. Mum gets very down because she can't actually move out of the room and it is frustrating because we can't take dad to see her," she said.

"Dad's in a different care home and is too frail to use the stairs. He's got dementia and can't understand why he can't see his wife."

Paul Fenton, director of estates at Ipswich Hospital, which runs the facility on behalf of NHS Property Services, apologised to patients and families saying: "The situation is totally unacceptable and we've been trying to resolve it with NHS Property Services for some time."

TWTD.co.uk

Town’s U18s lost 1-0 to AZ Alkmaar’s U19s, external in the second game of their Holland trip this afternoon.

IpswichSpy.com

County councillor Brian Riley, who caused a storm of controversy by emigrating to the USA but refused to stand down from his council seat, has finally quit the Suffolk authority, external, Spy understands.

Firefighters say a blaze which covered about 60 acres of farmland at Bedingfield, south of Diss, may have been started by a spark caused by a stone hitting farm equipment while working the land.

Seven crews from Suffolk and Norfolk were called to the fire just after midday.

It took them about two and a half hours to fight the flames.

The MP for Ipswich says more needs to be done to discourage people from committing suicide on the Orwell Bridge.

Ben Gummer said: "I do not believe we can just say this is inevitable... we must be able to stop people. 

"All the evidence shows if you can prevent people from taking rash, hasty, decisions then you have a real opportunity of helping them back into mental health care."

Mr Gummer has met with Highways England to talk about extra measures that can be taken at the site.

Describing the hunt for his father, Danny Armstrong-Wood says: "We've done 5km, 10km radiuses around every single foot of that walk. It's a complete disappearance. We have searched everywhere. Everywhere.

"We're just drawing blanks. Every day we just get more questions coming unanswered. It's really crazy, it's breaking our heart," he said.

Image source, Danny Armstrong-Wood

David Wood, 61, from Woodbridge, left his holiday home in Marie in the Alpes-Maritimes region last Tuesday, reported The Sun, external.  

Mr Armstrong-Wood continued: "It kills me to think of him being still out here. It tears me apart to be honest. We're clinging on to hope. It's all we've got at the moment."

Paying tribute to the support the family's had from the local community he added: "The village absolutely love my father to bits. He comes down and speaks terrible French to them and they love it."

David Wood, who comes from Woodbridge but has a holiday home at Marie in the French Alps, has been missing for a week since he went for a walk.

His son Danny Armstrong-Wood told us his father would work in the morning and then go for a walk at lunchtime: "Basically this was his routine every day," he said.

Image source, Danny Armstrong-Wood

He continued: "I think this time he decided 'Oh I'll go a little bit further but I'll come back for my conference [call] at 2.30'.

"He left at 12 and certainly after an hour-and-a-half my mum was phoning and saying 'Right, OK, it's about time you came back now'."

Danny Armstrong-Wood, whose father David Wood has been missing from his holiday home in France for a week, says another team of mountain rescue specialists has been out and about in the area this morning.

He says they've been "going over and re-going over all the places that they've been to before, which includes combing all the river areas and all the heavy, heavy dense woodland areas around the mountains."  

Image source, Danny Armstrong-Wood

He adds: "We keep hearing nothing essentially. It's like the mountain's completely swallowed him up.

"It's crazy, because it was such a straightforward walk that it doesn't really make any kind of logical sense at the moment. 

"We have more questions than answers forming every day."

Back now to our story about the stubble fire near Debenham and crews from Diss, Debenham, Framlingham, Harleston and Leiston are tackling the blaze.

Approximately 120 acres of farmland at Bedingfield Hall in Bedingfield is alight. We hope to have more pictures from the scene later.

Speaking after the East of England Ambulance Trust, external were rated as "requiring improvement, external" by the CQC, Ipswich Hospital's chief executive says clearly that's "not where they want to be, it's not where the health and social care system needs them to be".

Referring to the "outstanding" rating given for the care of patients, Nick Hulme added: "To get outstanding for patient care is a real credit to the crews and indeed to the management."

The CQC report stated: "All staff were passionate about providing the best possible service to patients. We consistently observed staff to be caring and compassionate and concerned for the welfare of patients."

Following today's report, external from the CQC saying the East of England Ambulance Trust, external requires improvement - the trust's chief executive has paid tribute to staff and volunteers.

Robert Morton said: "I am absolutely delighted that this report recognises the outstanding care we provide to patients, day in day out... we are the only ambulance service to get an outstanding rating."

He added: "We have made huge steps forward over the last year and this progress is reflected in the report. 

"We know we have more work to do, to move us from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’, and we have in place a plan to address the points raised by the CQC. 

"The report identifies the need to increase our staffing levels so that we can respond to the increases in demand we are seeing... We continue to work with our commissioners and the NHS to discuss and address this issue," he said.

More now on our story about the region's ambulance service "requiring improvement" - the findings of the Care Quality Commission's (CQC) latest inspection.

The campaign group Act on Ambulances, external has criticised the NHS 111 service, external, saying that it isn't "fit for purpose" and that to take pressure off response times by the ambulance service, we have to look at the "bigger picture".

Speaking after the region's ambulance service was rated as requiring improvement, external by the CQC, Denise Burke from the campaign group said: "We need to look at this whole bigger picture of using our GPs better, using local, more cottage hospitals better.

"I would hope the ambulance service now is going to work very closely with its local clinical commissioning groups to try and tackle this problem."