Police say they are investigating a comment by the Conservative candidate for Ludlow as a possible "hate incident".

Philip Dunne has been criticised for telling Labour candidate Kuldip Sahota he was "talking through his turban" at a hustings debate in Church Stretton this week.

West Mercia Police said it was responding to a complaint made by several people.

Mr Dunne has since apologised for the remark, but Mr Sahota said, "to insult my turban is to insult my faith. This is extremely insulting to the Sikh community".

Mr Dunne has been the MP for the constituency since 2005 and is defending a majority of 19,286.

BBC News Travel

Drivers are being advised to avoid the M6 northbound in Birmingham.

An earlier crash has closed three lanes between J5, for Castle Bromwich and J6.

Coventry Observer

Some of the Coventry Observer headlines today include:

• Men called 'danger to the public' by judge sentenced for knife attack, external
• Drugs claim lives of more than 50 people in Coventry over two years, external
• 'Conflict of interest' denied over Wasps' Henley base plan , external

In case you missed it, this is what the demolition at Rugeley Power Station looked like yesterday, courtesy of Staffordshire Police.

The site closed in 2016 and it's being cleared so more than 2,000 homes can be built.

Yesterday's demolition brought down the turbine hall and other buildings with the main cooling towers, chimney and rest of the boiler house set to be demolished next year., external

An exclusion zone will be set up on the day the Ironbridge cooling towers are demolished, to keep people at least 350m away from the site.

It will mean a number of homes will have to be evacuated and the Buildwas Road will be closed off.

Image source, Harworth Group

The site owner, Harworth, said it appreciated the demoliton would be "of significant interest to local people", but there will be no viewing area on-site for safety reasons and no parking near the site.

It also said the demolition was likely to create dust which may extend beyond the exclusion zone and warned people with respiratory conditions to stay well back.

BBC Shropshire

It's been announced that the cooling towers on the former Ironbridge Power Station site will be demolished next Friday at 11:00.

A cordon will be put in place, with road closures and people asked to leave their homes while preparations are made.

The site is being cleared by its owners, the Harworth Group, to make way for housing.

Seven officers were injured during disorder at the Star City entertainment complex at Birmingham.

Three call centres face closure under a restructuring plan that unions called a "cruel blow".

Babies and mothers died amid a "toxic" culture at an NHS hospital trust stretching back four decades.

Shropshire Star

Here are three of the headlines from the Shropshire Star today:

• Report says progress in hospitals improvement plan, external
• GP growth plan as another surgery is axed, external
• Crash victim's partner tells of '18 months of hell', external

Three more men have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, following an attack in Worcester last weekend.

The men, aged 21, 23 and 25, all from Worcester, are in custody with two other Worcester men and another from the Sparkhill area of Birmingham.

The 22-year-old victim was attacked in the Wylds Lane area and West Mercia Police said he suffered potentially life-changing injuries.

BBC Sport

Arsenal have sacked manager Unai Emery after a run of seven matches without a win, with Nuno Espirito Santo 11/10 favourite to replace him.

Image source, Getty Images

The Wolves boss was initially linked to the Arsenal post as pressure on Emery began to mount during a string of poor results.

Nuno did a fine job in taking Wolves back to the Premier League and then qualifying for the Europa League at the first attempt, establishing the West Midlands side as one of the "best of the rest" in the top-flight.

The 46-year-old, has previous experience of managing at Valencia and Porto but did not enjoy lengthy, successful spells with either and his credentials at a top club remain untested.

You can follow live reaction to the sacking here.

More than 50 drain covers have been stolen in Walsall, the council says.

As well as costly to replace, the local authority said the drains had been left in a dangerous state, particularly at night, with some holes more than a metre deep.

Image source, Walsall Council

The thefts started in Aldridge and Clayhanger on Wednesday afternoon with witnesses reporting they saw thieves using a red people carrier.

It's thought that the covers have been taken to be sold as scrap metal.

Council workers have been deployed to make each location safe and replacement covers will be installed over the coming weeks.

A fresh appeal for witnesses to come forward has been issued by officers investigating a mass brawl involving machetes at a cinema complex.

Seven West Midlands Police officers were hurt while attempting to disperse the fighting at the Star City site in Birmingham on Saturday evening.

Six people, aged between 13 and 19, were arrested and released on bail, said West Midlands Police. , external

A 15-year-old boy was voluntarily interviewed by officers on suspicion of violent disorder on Thursday with two interviews planned with other boys also aged 15.

Det Sgt John Mawhinney said: “We’ve already gathered a large amount of pictures and video from social media and CCTV, but we are now really interested in hearing from members of the public who were there and saw what happened.

“Even if they can’t identify anyone who was involved in the trouble, it’s important that we build a picture of exactly what happened and exactly what people experienced."

Birmingham Live

Some of the Birmingham Live headlines today include:

• Family scrapyard business saved after striking deal with HS2, external
• Two guilty over terrifying armed raid, external
• Birmingham crime gang stashed heroin and cocaine in chicken, external

BBC Business News

Npower is set to close its three big residential customer service centres in the UK by the end of 2021, the BBC understands.

The centres at Worcester, Houghton le Spring, just outside Sunderland, and an office in Hull are under threat from the announcement.

There are around 2,500 jobs at Houghton le Spring, and more than 1,200 at the Hull and Worcester offices.

The company say that they will enter into negotiations with the unions in the coming weeks.

Npower’s business focused division is set to be saved from the job cuts as it stands.

The shop's assistant manager initially thought the item was "junk" and it was set for the bin.

Fog is likely to cause some travel disruption overnight and into Saturday morning, the Met Office is warning., external

Image source, Met Office

The yellow warning is in place from 01:00 to 11:00 on Saturday.

BBC Sport

Warwickshire's Chris Woakes took two New Zealand wickets on his return to the England side in the second test match in Hamilton.

He had both Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor caught by Joe Root as the hosts reached 173-3 at the close of day one.

Image source, Getty Images

His Warwickshire team-mate Dominic Sibley is also in the side.

Coventry Live

These are some of the Coventry Live headlines today:

• Five days of shame as four stabbed in Coventry, external
• Claims commuters use road as free car park, external
• Woman suffers facial injuries in Bedworth robbery, external