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THE NEW BIRMINGHAM SUPER PRIX IMPORTANT MAJOR UPDATE Would you like to see THE BIGGEST MOTORSPORT / MOTOR
SPECTACULAR THIS COUNTRY HAS EVER SEEN on the streets of Birmingham?
We have had to have a major rethink of our plans to bring back motor racing, but
have come up with something potentially even more spectacular. We are trying to
bring together as many individuals, businesses and organisations as we can to
try to make this happen again. It could bring huge benefits to the region, but
it needs as much support as possible to make it happen.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE, VIEW VIDEO & PHOTOS FROM THE OLD SUPER PRIX, AND TO SEE
HOW YOU CAN HELP BRING ABOUT THIS SENSATIONAL AND UNIQUE EVENT. QUICK LINKS TO THE SITE NEWS
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CALL FOR M6 TOLL CUTS Birmingham business leaders are urging M6 Toll operators to encourage lorries on to the road by halving the levy. Birmingham Chamber of Commerce says the £10 charge is too high and a cut could boost the numbers using the road. Policy director Jerry Blackett said new figures show the road is getting closer to the number of cars it is expecting to handle a month. BOY, 12, ABDUCTED BY MOTORIST A 12-year-old boy was abducted in Tamworth and driven around in a car for an hour-and-a-half, police have said. The boy was enticed into a burgundy Ford Escort outside the Ellerbeck shops in Stoneydelph. The driver then travelled around the area of the Staffordshire and Leicestershire border before dropping off the boy in Glascote Road, Tamworth. ANTI-WAR PROTESTER ARRESTED A Worcestershire anti-war protester who has been camped outside the Houses of Parliament for nearly three years has been arrested. Brian Haw, 55, of Redditch, was held on suspicion of obstruction and assaulting a police officer after refusing to move and his display was dismantled. He was arrested amid a security alert posed by a car parked nearby. END MISUSE OF POWER: ARCHBISHOP The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham has called on political leaders to stop the "shocking misuse of power" by British troops in Iraq. The Most Reverend Vincent Nichols said nothing could justify the "degrading" abuses alleged to have been committed by both American and British soldiers. The Archbishop also called on ministers to hold a full investigation. ARSON ATTACK ON DERELICT CLUB More than 50 firefighters were called to deal with a severe blaze at a derelict social club in Birmingham. The fire at the club in Hollybank Road, Billesley - which is due to be demolished - was blamed on arsonists. A spokesman said the building had easy access for children and added: "Once again we have an incident of a fire being started deliberately by vandals." FOSTER CARE APPEAL BEGINS An appeal to find long-term foster carers for children across Birmingham is being launched by the city council. The campaign is part of Fostering Fortnight, a nationwide project to raise the profile of foster care and to encourage more people to get involved. According to council figures, there are 200 children in the city waiting for a long-term foster family. CROWD AT POLICE STATION A crowd of people gathered outside Telford police station following an "altercation" with officers making arrests in Wellington. Police said the group assembled after officers held 10 people over burglary and public order offences. The crowd was spoken to by officers after an "altercation" and there were no further problems, a spokesman said. MAN IN 40s FOUND HANGED A man has been found hanged near Ashbourne, police have said. The deceased, who police have not identified, was discovered in Bridge Hill, Mayfield. He is believed to have been in his 40s. A Staffordshire Police spokesman said they were not treating the death as suspicious and a report would be compiled for the coroner. FIREFIGHTERS HELP FLOOD VICTIMS Firefighters were called to help residents whose houses were flooded when a water main burst in Walsall, West Midlands Fire Service said. Crews were called to Sutton Road to help stem the flow and start pumping water out of 10 properties affected by severe flooding. Travelling football supporters were advised to take an alternative route. EXTRA FLIGHTS TO PRAGUE An airline has launched twice-daily flights to Prague from Birmingham International Airport following the Czech Republic's accession to the EU. CSA Czech Airlines said the services would operate on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, with a daily frequency on the remaining days. The airline said changes to the schedule were aimed at business users. PROBE INTO CHILD KILLER'S DEATH An inquest is to be held into the death of an ex-soldier from Birmingham who was found hanged after being jailed for life for the murder of his two sons. Steven Wilson, of Great Barr, was found dead at Blakenhurst prison near Redditch, Worcestershire, on March 30. The inquest into the child killer's death is being held at Worcestershire Coroner's Court in Stouport-on-Severn. HOUSE PRICES RISE BY 16.12% House prices in the West Midlands have risen by 16.12% in the last year, figures from the Land Registry show. Overall house prices in the UK are 14.06% higher - with the average cost rising from £145,897 to £166,404. The South East saw the lowest house price rises with an 8.22% increase. Wales experienced the greatest gains with a 27.15% increase. DRIVER DIES AFTER ACCIDENT A motorist has died of his injuries after his car left the A5190 near Burntwood in Staffordshire. Police said the red Vauxhall Cavalier, driven by a local man, was travelling towards Burntwood when it left the road between Pipehill and Hammerwich. A spokesman said the driver had died and his passenger was taken to hospital, but had since been released. SOCCER CHANT LAUREATE CHOSEN A Birmingham City fan from north London has landed the football supporter's dream job after being chosen as England's first Chant Laureate. Jonny Hurst, 37, from Wanstead, will be paid £10,000 a year to tour Premiership stadiums and compose chants on the 2004/5 football season. Mr Hurst was picked after a six-month search that attracted 1,500 entries. CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY CODE EXPERTS SEEK HOLY GRAIL Codebreaking centre experts are visiting Staffs to try to solve 250-year-old inscriptions rumoured to point the way to the Holy Grail. The team from Bletchley Park is to visit Shugborough, ancestral home of the Earls of Lichfield, to try to decipher etchings on a garden monument. The Shepherd's Monument displays an inscription that has not been cracked. OWEN BUILDER 'WAS BROKEN MAN' A Shropshire builder who was in a legal fight with England striker Michael Owen was left a "broken man" by court proceedings, an inquest has heard. Michael Flynn, 51, of Stoke Heath, near Market Drayton, had his assets frozen in the £1.2m dispute over work done at Owen's home in Flintshire, Wales. His widow told an inquest in Telford that her husband left a suicide note. MAN ACCUSED OF RAIL LINE DEATHS A Birmingham man accused of driving a minibus into the path of a train near Evesham told police he could not read English road signs, a court has heard. Adnan Kadir Karim, 25, is charged with three counts of manslaughter over the collision on the unmanned crossing near the village of Charlton in July, 2003. Karim has pleaded not guilty to the charges at Wolverhampton Crown Court. MAN IN COURT OVER WIFE'S DEATH A Keele University graduate facing financial ruin murdered his British wife to collect a £280,000 life insurance payout, a US court heard. New Yorker Eric Rose, 46, shot his wife of 22 years before telling police she committed suicide in a delusional rage, Suffolk County Court was told. Rose denies killing his wife Wendy, originally of Kidsgrove, north Staffs. YOUTHS QUIZZED OVER ZOO DEATH Three youths have been quizzed by police after thugs broke into Dudley Zoo and kicked a baby wallaby to death. Chief executive Peter Suddock said the animal had been hurled into a pool before its body was thrown into a shelter at the West Midlands site. Mr Suddock said the incident - which was captured by CCTV cameras - had left staff at the zoo sickened. TYRES OF 30 CARS SLASHED Vandals have slashed the tyres of 30 cars parked in the Courthouse Green area of Coventry, police said. Some vehicles had all four tyres slashed in the attacks, which caused thousands of pounds worth of damage. The roads affected were Achilles Road, Heyward Close, Cheswick Road, Mulberry Road and Nuffield Road. Police have appealed for witnesses. COLLYMORE 'THREATENED WIFE' Ex-Aston Villa star Stan Collymore has been charged with threatening to kill his estranged wife, reports claim. Collymore will face Mid-Staffordshire magistrates next Monday charged with four offences after an alleged attack on his wife Estelle's Mini Cooper. Staffordshire Police would only say a 33-year-old man from the Cannock area was arrested at his home and bailed. GUN FOUND IN BRAWL AT HOSPITAL West Midlands Police found a gun outside a Birmingham hospital after arresting three men in a fight. The weapon was recovered from a car parked near City Hospital's A&E Department, where the brawl took place. Police said the three men are being questioned about the incident and the firearm. No shots were fired during the incident at the Winson Green hospital. POLICE SEEK OAP RAPIST A rapist attacked a Stourbridge OAP in her home after befriending her while she was gardening, police have said. The 78-year-old woman was tending her garden when the man started talking to her. He then returned to her home the following evening and raped her. The offender is described as black, aged about 50, with greying hair, of average height and stocky build. M-WAY REPAIR CHAOS 'NECESSARY' An impending summer of motorway misery is an "unwelcome but necessary" price to pay to get the West Midlands moving again, business leaders have conceded. Birmingham Chamber of Commerce has backed plans to "condense" resurfacing of the M6 and A38(M) into this summer. The bulk of the maintenance work will begin on June 7, with three projects clashing from July to September. PRAISE FOR REGENERATION WORK Regeneration minister Keith Hill has praised Walsall and Sandwell for their efforts to create jobs and revamp the environment. He said the success of England's 16 Urban Regeneration Companies, including the two West Midlands boroughs, meant more such bodies would be created. The minister said they were a fantastic tool for regeneration in urban areas. INQUEST HELD INTO PRISON DEATH An inquest has been held into the death of a former soldier from Birmingham who was found hanged after being jailed for life for the murder of his two sons. Steven Wilson, 44, of Great Barr, was found dead at Blakenhurst prison near Redditch on March 30 last year. The jury at Worcestershire Coroner's Court in Stourport-on-Severn took 15 minutes to return a verdict of suicide. AGENCY WARNING OVER POLLUTION The Environment Agency has threatened to punish careless companies after a Stoke-on-Trent chemical firm killed nearly 4,000 fish by polluting a river. Johnson Matthey plc was fined £75,000 after allowing diluted caustic soda to seep into the River Blithe near Meir. The firm pleaded guilty before magistrates in Newcastle-under-Lyme under the Water Resources Act 1991. RIDDLE STUMPS CODE-BREAKERS The meaning of a 250-year-old cryptic inscription in Staffs said to point to the Holy Grail is a mystery despite efforts to solve it by code-breakers. Experts from Bletchley Park gathered at the Shepherd's Monument at Shugborough, the ancestral home of the Earls of Lichfield, to decipher the letters. The marble slab - featuring the letters D.O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.M - dates from 1748. UNLICENSED VEHICLES TARGETED West Midlands Police have become the first force in the country to take on new powers devolved from the DVLA to tackle unlicensed vehicles. The force welcomed the new powers allowing officers to seize cars being used without insurance or tax. Ch Insp Steve Palmer said: "This power should greatly assist our aim of denying criminals use of the roads." COUNCIL TACKLES FLY-POSTING Walsall Council's campaign against illegal fly-posting has seen corporate giant Ticketmaster forced to remove hundreds of adverts from the streets. The firm arranged for them to be taken down after being threatened with a £25 fine for each offending poster. A council spokeswoman said: ""We aren't going to stand for this anti-social behaviour any more." CADBURY'S WORKERS GO ON STRIKE Ten workers from Birmingham's Cadbury World visitor centre are going on strike over a pay dispute. Staff, with the backing of the Transport and General Workers' Union, will picket the entrance to the popular visitor attraction in Bournville. They are demanding the same wages as staff in the factory next door, saying their colleagues get £2 an hour more. FOOTPATHS TO BE CLOSED OFF Walsall Council has moved towards permanently closing rights of way along six footpaths which have been plagued by robbery and vandalism. The council's Planning and Highways Committee has given the go-ahead to close off the trouble spots. Under the Countryside Rights of Way Act 2000 local authorities can close off crime-hit footpaths. JOBLESS TOTAL FALLS BY 6,000 The jobless figure for the West Midlands fell by 6,000 in the three months January to March, compared with the previous three months. The number of people out of work stood at 143,000, according to the latest official figures. The unemployment rate was 5.5%. The number of people out of work nationally stood at 1,410,000. ORCHESTRA TAKES TO THE SKIES Seven hot air balloons have taken to the skies over Birmingham playing special music aimed at giving sleepers sweet dreams. The Sky Orchestra floats low over homes piping out a dawn chorus of music devised by sleep psychologists. It marks the launch of the city's bid for a share in a £15m Arts Council fund for promoting cultural events. REGISTRATION SERVICE EXPANDED Worcestershire County Council has expanded its Registration Service to include child naming ceremonies and wedding vows reaffirming events. The new services, which have no legal status and are purely celebratory, will be available at all nine Register Offices in the county. The service also expanded its capacity for civil marriage ceremonies. OAP STUDIES FOR DEGREE An 87-year-old great-grandfather from Wednesfield is proving it is never too late to learn by taking a degree at the University of Wolverhampton. Second-year sociology student William Cooper is the university's oldest student and is encouraging other pensioners to try higher education. The retired wages clerk said: "I have met lots of new people." ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST HELD An animal rights protester who defied a ban on publicly displaying images of holocaust victims has been arrested in Birmingham city centre. Andrew Butler was held as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals held its Holocaust On Your Plate rally. The charity was told by the council not to display the images, comparing the Nazis' genocide with factory farms. COLLYMORE 'WILL DENY CHARGES' Former Aston Villa star Stan Collymore will deny criminal charges brought by his ex-wife, his agent has said. Collymore, 33, of Cannock, will face Mid-Staffordshire magistrates next Monday charged with four offences, including making a threat to kill. Simon Kennedy said: "Stan is adamant that he is innocent of all the charges and is happy to prove it in court." MAN SOUGHT OVER ABDUCTION Detectives have issued a description of a motorist wanted over the abduction of a 12-year-old boy in Tamworth. The youngster was snatched from a car park in Ellerbeck, Stoneydelph, driven to a McDonald's on the M42 and dropped off in town an hour later. The man is described as being white, aged 30-50, 5ft 5in with short, messy brown hair with grey in it. VILLAGE PROPOSAL REJECTED A council planning committe has turned down proposals for a purpose-built village for more than 1,000 migrant strawberry pickers near Leominster. Herefordshire county councillors voted by 18-1 to turn down an application by fruit grower S&A Produce to build facilities at Brierley Court Farm. The vote followed opposition to plans for 300 mobile homes and amenities. FORMER DETAINEES 'ABUSED' Two West Midlands men released from the US camp at Guantanamo Bay have said interrogators forced them to strip and chained them to a floor for hours. In an open letter to the US President, Shafiq Rasul, 25, and Asif Iqbal, 20, both from Tipton, also said deafening music was used to extract confessions. They added they were banned from using the toilet in 12-hour interrogations. MAN CHARGED OVER KILLING A man has been charged with the murder of a teenage boy who was stabbed to death outside a takeaway in Coventry. Sixteen-year-old Thomas Gourley suffered multiple stab wounds in an altercation outside Woks Wagon in the Willenhall area of the city. The 38-year-old is to appear before Coventry magistrates in connection with the killing on April 29. MAN DENIES THEFT AND MURDER A Worcester financial adviser seduced a "lonely" elderly spinster to con her out of £280,000 and then murdered her, Chester Crown Court has heard. Father-of-three Peter Crittenden, 64, from Worcester, denies murdering Joan Beddeson, 71, in November 2002 by smothering her with a pillow. He also denies three counts of theft from her, amounting to £279,250. MAN QUIZZED OVER SEX ATTACK Detectives hunting a sex attacker who abducted a 12-year-old boy in Tamworth have made an arrest, police have said. The 47-year-old suspect was detained at a house in North Leicestershire and is being questioned by officers at Burton-on-Trent police station. The victim was subjected to a sexual assault in a field in Twycross after being enticed into a car in Tamworth. THREE IN COURT OVER BOAT DEATH Three people are due in court accused of causing the death of a woman after she was trapped in a capsized pleasure boat in Stourport-on-Severn, Worcs. Two women and a man, who have not been named, are to face Kidderminster magistrates accused of the manslaughter of tax worker Jane Turner in September. Mrs Turner, 45, of Birmingham, died after the boat sank during a festival. POLICE TARGET NUISANCE BIKERS Police in Bedworth have launched a campaign to take nuisance motorcyclists off the roads following complaints. Officers are to make use of new powers enabling them to seize motorbikes and prosecute riders who cause trouble or may be riding illegally. So far, a 14-year-old boy has had his motorbike seized due to complaints about his behaviour when riding it. AFGHAN DEATH INQUEST ADJOURNED An inquest into the death of a Warwickshire man killed while working in Afghanistan has been adjourned. The hearing into the death of Leo Ryan, 35, from Leamington Spa, was postponed while Warwickshire coroner Michael Coker examines the case. It is understood that Mr Ryan was shot along with another British man while they were working in Kabul on May 5. CADBURY STAFF IN PAY STRIKE Staff from the Cadbury World visitor centre in Birmingham have struck in a row over pay that threatens to disrupt the firm's entire operation. The 10 employees at the shop picketed the entrance to the Bourneville factory site following a two-year deadlock over wages. The TGWU warned that the strike could escalate to other Cadbury operations. SWIMMERS FORGET FALSE LEGS A total of 10 artificial legs and arms were left in lockers by forgetful swimmers at a Staffordshire water park last year, bosses have revealed. An audit of the 3,000 belongings left at Water World in Stoke-on-Trent revealed the number of limbs that were left, although all were later claimed. A spokeswoman for the park said she was "flabbergasted" at the figure. BALLOONS PLAY DAWN CHORUS Hundreds of householders have enjoyed a dawn chorus played by a fleet
of seven hot air balloons which drifted over homes in the suburbs of Birmingham.
The Sky Orchestra took off near Birmingham city centre and floated low
over suburbs playing special music designed to stimulate sweet dreams.
Birmingham is bidding for a share of £15m of Arts Council event
funding.
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