25/10/2016 Midlands Today

A supersonic boost - that's how leaders in the rdgion see

the economic potential of expanding Birmingham airport.

The Government's decision to back a third runway at Heathrow,

with no mention of regional airports, has led to a fierce back

Our political editor Patrick Burns has been following today's dvents.

With London's airports full up, why not Birmingham?

It could handle more than twice the 11 million passengers

High-speed rail would eventtally connect it both north and south

So would today's announcement of the Government's "preferred

option" for London also recognise Birmingham in the strategic mix

Labour wanted to know if major regional airports were being

There's no mention of greatdr utilisation of our

What message does that send to Stansted, Manchester, Birmingham,

East Midlands about the govdrnment's commitment to the so-called

Northern Powerhouse or the Midlands Engine?

And one of our local Tories had a pointed question, too.

Why can we not still be talking about expansion at Birmingh`m

But the Transport Secretary repeatedly avoided what he called

Even though the chairman of the Airports Commission Sir

Howard Davies has said this week high-speed rail would make

Birmingham a more attractivd proposition for expansion

It's all been seized on by the three main parliamentary parties'

candidates fighting to be elected West Midlands "metro

They all want Birmingham to be allowed to expand into glob`l

But the Green party candidate for metro mayor warns expansion

I think it is the wrong way to go here.

Becoming more reliant on ovdrseas investment to prop up the economy

We need to be about building a home-grown resilient economy based

on growth areas like low-carbon rather than second runways.

Airport managers say in a statement tonight,

they are pleased ministers recognised the role they can play

The Polish ambassador says the British government must offer

assurances and guidance about the future of Polish

He was speaking on a visit to the West Midlands,

home to 90,000 people with Polish nationality or heritage,

some of whom now wonder if they re still welcome here post Brexit.

He's new to the job and this is a new landscape.

Poland's ambassador to the TK, Arkady Sherkosky, knows this

Among those eager to meet hhm, a teacher from walsall with Polish

The increase in hate crime and issues related

to modern day slavery, human trafficking, homelessness

These are all issues affecthng a lot of migrant communities.

The ambassador's visit to Birmingham's Polish commtnity

There have been 35 suspected hate crimes against Poles

in the UK since Britain voted to leave the EU.

There is a real increase after the Brexit referendum,

but on the other hand there are still incidents

and we are always underlining there is huge support from British

society, a lot of letters that the embassy has receivdd,

Estimates vary but there are certainly more than 50,000 Poles

across the West Midlands, with a big population

This centre opened in january to help them.

Its manager says Poles need to know whether they have a future here

Point by point say, if you `re here, this long, you can stay,

if you are not, you are not working, you need to move.

Polish people want assurancds about their place in this

What success are you having talking to the British government?

We are working on common medtings between our ministers,

but still the situation is tnclear and it is not good for Brithsh

economy and it's not good for Polish communities.

They're allies ages old with shared history.

All of sudden, though, the focus is all about the future.

A man is critically ill following a stabbing

The 21 year old was found with multiple stab

wounds after police were called to Raddlebarn Road in Selly Oak

He's being treated in hospital for life threatening injurids.

A man has been convicted of murdering a teenager, shot dead

next month for killing Kenichi Phillips in Ladywood.

He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of `nother

man and firearms offences - after firing into a parked

A woman who was abused as a child by an Imam

says she's been let down by the system.

Hafiz Rahman was able to leave the UK the day

He was found guilty of sexually assaulting two

sent to him for religious ttition in the 1980s in Cradley Heath.

He's now believed to be in Bangladesh.

One of his victims has given her first interview

He would stroke my hair, stroke my back.

That would, over the months, that went gradually on to hhm

Nabila Sharma - not her real name - was just seven when the abuse began.

There was this one time, he had grabbed me and

And he was trying to get my clothes off and I know for sure

if he wasn't interrupted, he would have raped me.

Her abuser was this man - Hifiz Rahman.

He was the Imam at the Queens Cross mosque in Cradley Heath

when the assaults took place in the 1980s.

He is no longer involved with the mosque.

They thought he was God, which they do.

That is how we are taught, as well, that he is

the imam at the mosque and you do as you are told.

It's a story that's all too familiar to those who work

There is a cultur of silencd across all Asian communities

because of the notion of honour and people don't like to talk

about it, they don't like to admit it is happening in their colmunity

because it is seen as being quite shameful.

Rahman was eventually chargdd with sexually assaulting two girls.

He claimed he was too ill to attend the end of his trial

here at Wolverhampton Crown Court earlier this month and was

I've been through so much to get to this point

Somebody needs to come forw`rd and take responsibility

Wolverhampton Wanderers are looking for a new manager - again.

The club sacked Walter Zenga this afternoon -

less than 3 months after he took over at Molineaux.

He's the sixth manager to ddpart the Championship club

He wasn't number one for very long and now he's gone.

When he arrived in the summdr, Walter Zenga's CV revealed lany

But he insisted Wolves would be different.

Do you believe you will be here for the long haul?

But the axe fell after just 87 days, 17 games, seven defeats,

Wolves legendary manager St`n Cullis was born on this day

He was manager here at Molineux for 16 years, including 672 league

There are no plans to erect a similar statue to mark thd brief

Yet only ten days ago, Zenga had acknowledged he ndeded

My job is under pressure and if you are thinking

there is someone in two months can make everything perfect 100$,

please, give me his phone ntmber because I have to call him `nd ask

In Wolverhampton city centrd today, fans had a mixed reaction

I'm surprised he lasted this long, to be honest.

I thought it was a bit of a ridiculous appointment

It's his own fault because he had the money and after Saturdax's

result, I think it was a no-brainer.

I think Zenga has been harshly dealt with and he's had a lot of bad luck.

So less than three months after believing Walter Zeng`

was the right man for the job, Wolves are, tonight,

looking for the next right man to get the club

Just one football result tonight, in the National League.

Solihull Moors lost at home to the leaders Forest Green 1-0

it was an own goal and they had a player sent off.

And just a reminder, if you're planning to travel

by train between Bromsgrove and Birmingham in the morning,

there will be a bus replacement service in placd

I'll leave you with the forecast from Shefali.

Good evening. It was a reasonable day and a good example of what we

could see later in the week. It was foggy and misty to start with that

that lifted into some glorious sunshine, more so across thd north

of the region, and through the through the day the cloud thickened

up but it stayed largely drx. It's dry and settled because of this high

pressure which is situated to the south of the country and because of

that, it will be drawing in winds from the south-west by tomorrow In

summary, this is how the relainder of the week is looking. It will be a

bit misty during the mornings and the nights, but we could sed settled

conditions with the best of the sunshine in the south and it will be

milder. Let's take a look at tonight, there is a lot of that

cloud from this afternoon lhngering through the night and in thd breaks

we will see Mr Fogg develophng quite widely, but also low cloud.

Temperatures gradually rising that still around seven Celsius `round

the south-west, a bit cooler in the countryside. In the morning

tomorrow, mist and fog if Dhng and dispersing quite quickly under a

moderate south-westerly bredze but otherwise nice and sunny and largely

drive. settled and on the mild side. Nick

now has all the national weather. Hello. Autumn is the season of

change, most noticeably with those autumn colours on display today in

Buckinghamshire, as photographed by one of our weather watchers. Always

helps when there is blue sky above. Our weather is always changing

regardless of the season. One of those changes is taking place, we

are losing last week's Easterly winds and now a westerly wind. That

means it's turning milder by day and night but it does mean the return of

Atlantic weather fronts, especially to north-western parts of the UK.

The reason, high pressure in Germany and low pressure Iceland. Here is

the first of those weather fronts for Scotland and Northern Ireland

through the night, the first part of tomorrow. There isn't a huge amount

of rain associated with this. Could see rain over the hills of northern

England and Wales as the night goes on. The odd shower clipping Sussex

and Kent. A lot of dry weather for England and Wales. It's mild here,

it's milder across the northern half of Britain compared with last night.

But the further south you are the closer to that area of high

pressure, and we are