11/04/2017 Midlands Today

Do we ourselves to be more important than we really are in international

affairs? A Worcestershire charity worker has

turned to crowdfunding, so she can adopt an African boy

she has cared for Emilie Larter was working

for a children's charity in Uganda, when she became the sole carer

of baby Adam - who was She's now trying to raise enough

money to cover the costs of adoption When his mother died, he and six

other children were orphaned. Since then, he's been cared

for by Emilie Larter, who was working for a charity

in Uganda. She's now fostering him,

and plans to adopt. It was more when it came

to leaving him that I realised When I'd spent months working

in England, he was growing up, and I was missing all his first

achievements, like his first steps, and that's when I realised

I wanted to be with him. Emilie's hoping to raise the money

for the adoption online, At her family home in Leigh Sinton

near Malvern, her parents have been Once we realised that there was too

strong a bond created there, we sort We were having to do everything

in stages after Emilie lost the job, but now we can really get on with it

and hopefully get them both home as soon as possible,

which we'd like to do. Emilie has to foster Adam before

she can apply to the Ugandan courts She'll then need to get permission

from the UK to bring him to Britain. I know it's going to be difficult,

but I'm trying to find a compromise on what's best for him,

so I believe the support network of my family and friends

and a mother's love is so important, Already, more than ?20,000 has been

pledged; Emilie hopes to bring Adam A major new Birmingham music

festival has been announced, which it's estimated will bring

30,000 people to the The three-day festival,

called Beyond The Tracks, will feature a number

of bands from Birmingham. But big festivals have failed

in recent years in the city, Ocean Colour Scene,

Editors and The Twang - just three of the Birmingham bands

who'll be taking to the stage at the brand-new

Beyond The Tracks Festival. First time we've played outside

in Birmingham, so yeah, Bill looks great,

hopefully the weather's going to be brilliant,

September time, and we look forward But can a major music festival

be a success in this city? Birmingham's recent track

record isn't very good - despite headliners such

as Ed Sheeran, Fusion Festival failed to make things work

and has moved to Liverpool. Wireless Festival, scheduled

for at least three years in the city, lasted just one,

due to poor ticket sales. The I think a lot of people have

tried to come here to fill the gap. I think with our local knowledge,

we've got a better chance of making it a success.

What's different about this new one, though, is its location -

in the heart of Birmingham, Eastside City Park was the venue for

To the left of me, the main train track in and out of Birmingham.

That's Curzon street, but which will be the home of HS2. And then

further round, Birmingham city further round, Birmingham city

centre itself. On the same side -- the festival

will need similar numbers of people to the Rugby World Cup if it is to

sell its 10,000 tickets per day, and cement a place on the Birmingham

music calendar. A woman has died following a house

fire in Newcastle-under-Lyme, The emergency services were called

to Turin Road shortly after 1:30. A woman was brought out,

but she died at the scene. The online retailer Amazon

is to recruit 800 people later this year, to work

at its new site in Coventry. The new facility will be on the site

of the former Jaguar car factory at Browns Lane -

and will employ a range of staff including engineers, IT specialists,

and warehouse operators. It's more of a problem than heroin -

that's the view of a friend of a man thought to have been killed

by the drug Black Mamba. Last year so-called "legal highs"

were criminalised, leading to a rise Black Mamba is a form of synthetic

cannabis that can kill - and cause extreme anxiety,

violence and leave These chilling pictures show

how potent the drug Black Mamba, or "spice" as it's also known,

can be - users left in a zombie-like In Manchester this weekend,

police were called to no Closer to home in Birmingham,

a homeless man was found dead in Fletcher's Walk on Sunday

after taking it. A shrine has now been set up -

the problem persists. It gets you so high that they don't

really care, you know what I mean? Especially a lot of the homeless

people, they're just taking it cos it knocks them out,

they don't have to worry I mean, it's a bigger problem

than any other drug. It's just cheap and it's

easy to get, you know. Liam from Wolverhampton

couldn't agree more. He got hooked on Black Mamba

in prison, and was filmed as part But today he's clean,

and says he has been for months. His friend Paul has also managed

to stop smoking spice. Does something to your brain

and...just mashes your head, like. I got to the point where I couldn't

do it no more, it was like, At this laboratory at

Birmingham City Hospital, urine and blood samples of addicts

are put into an analyser, to screen But scientists say it's becoming

harder to detect new chemicals since the so-called "legal highs",

like Black Mamba, were They say they need more

samples, to help find We desperately need actually

samples of biological fluids from people that

are using the current substances. We get those when people come

in in an ambulance in a very critically ill condition sometimes,

but we need lots of samples really from people that

are able to provide them, Professor Berg is now trying

to organise a meeting with police, paramedics and homeless charities,

to look at a way forward, and stop "They are our living cathedrals" -

that's how Staffordshire's ancient woodlands have been described,

but they could be under threat. The Woodland Trust is concerned

seven woods could be lost if the proposed route for Phase 2

of the High Speed Rail project The route goes from

the West Midlands to Crewe. Here's our transport

correspondent Peter Plisner. Ancient woodland with a sprinking

of bluebells at Whitmore Wood near Newcastle-under-Lyme -

this rare forest would be destroyed if the current

plans for HS2 go ahead. Ancient woodland is our richest

land-based habitat, with over 200 There are fantastic reservoirs,

there are natural castles - our living cathedrals,

if you like. This area is already something

of a transport corridor, with the West Coast Main Line

over here and a couple of miles Ancient woodland has

survived the construction of both THOSE projects,

but the proposals for HS2 would see major earthworks here -

meaning the trees would have to go. Whitmore Wood is one of seven

ancient woodlands seriously affected by the HS2 line as it tracks north

from Birmingham to Crewe. Local residents are also concerned -

their homes have been affected too, and many have already sold out

to HS2 Ltd. Plans here include two tunnels,

which both the Woodlands Trust and residents like Fred Smith say

could easily be joined together We are disappointed that it wasn't

included in last year's Environmental Impact Assessment

report. HS2 has already changed a route

in Buckinghamshire, where - as this video shows -

the Chiltern tunnel has been extended to protect

another ancient woodland. People in Staffordshire now want

the same to happen here. The Birmingham boxer Tommy Langford

is preparing to fight for the WBO The 27-year-old, who's unbeaten

in 18 professional fights, faces Avtandil Khurtsidze

a week on Saturday. If successful, Langford will become

only the second ever world boxing champion from Birmingham -

following super flyweight I'll leave you with

the weather from Shefali. Good evening. If you thought the

weekend was warm, today was lukewarm but not bad today in Birmingham at

14 Celsius, a couple of degrees above average for the time of year.

Beautiful blood orange sunrise here, and blue skies and sunshine against

-- across many parts of the region. Checking on the progress of the

Easter weekend, this is how it is looking. Cool with some sunny

spells, and rain, -- some rain, but plenty of dry weather around. The

slight change in the weather is being triggered by a weather front,

high pressure will always be dominant to the west but there will

be more frontal pushing into North Atlantic for the rest of the week.

But tonight it is just a drier picture with a lot of cloud, holding

those temperatures up at around eight to nine Celsius. We will have

cloud across the region though for most of the day tomorrow, filling

out to produce a bit of brightness throughout the afternoon. Top

temperatures 14 Celsius. But a notable breeze.

rain but it will be brighter later. On Sunday, on the cool side for East

itself. Good evening. Grace of all it -- it

is greatest of all in Scotland. A weather front is on the move. The

rain edging down into south-western parts of Scotland and northern

Ireland. Much of England and