A 24-year-old and 21-year-old are arrested on suspicion of robbery and wounding, police say.

Steven Knight joins a creative team for the 2022 Commonwealth Games opening and closing ceremonies.

Two women and a man died in the four-vehicle collision near Andover on Wednesday morning.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

Coventry’s housing chief has vowed to step up efforts to bring some of the 3,000 empty homes in the city back into use.

Image source, Local Democracy Reporting Service

It has about 1,661 long-term empty dwellings, down from the 3,212 reported earlier in February.

Covid-19 has been partly blamed for recent annual rises in long-term empty homes in Coventry: the city had 1,451 in October 2019. The council (pictured) said many properties had sat empty in recent months while university students remained at home addresses, although some had started to return.

A new five-year strategy will be outlined to councillors on Tuesday. Cabinet member for housing David Welsh said "eyesore" long-term empty properties that have sat vacant for six months or more would be the focus of a new push.

The council wants to increase engagement with property owners to bring homes back into use - or take enforcement action.

The authority wants to step in before properties become hard to handle, with a greater push on its 'Let’s Rent' scheme, which offers guaranteed rent for landlords who let to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

A doctor supporting the new role says odour from a landfill site "really is getting people down".

Jamie Arnold is set to stand trial next year accused of racially abusing the ex-England footballer.

Former Worcester Warriors back row Marco Mama, who was released at the end of last season, announces his retirement.

BBC Sport

Sir Lee Pearson said winning his 12th Paralympic title at the Tokyo Paralympics on a home-bred horse is "literally fairytale stuff".

Image source, PA Media

The Para-equestrian star, who made his debut at Sydney 2000, and his horse Breezer, claimed victory in the Grade II individual test.

Speaking on Channel 4, Pearson said winning was emotional and he was proud of his horse.

"I just feel so lucky I've got horses in my life, They give me their legs, I'm useless at dancing in real life but we can dance here," he said.

The five most promising entries in a National Highways competition to identify new solutions for dealing with graffiti have been announced.

Image source, National Highways

They include a wall-climbing robot (pictured), created by Birmingham-based HausBots, which can apply graffiti-preventative paints.

The winning ideas also include audio sensors detecting the application of graffiti in order to alert authorities and trigger audio and visual deterrents (Innovation Factory) and AI software analysing behaviour to detect vandals at graffiti hotspots before deterrents such as alarms and lights can be activated (Sensing Feeling).

These ideas will each get up to £30,000. The winners will use the money to develop their idea and produce a feasibility study for National Highways, which will decide the most promising products to take forward for using on the road network.

Image source, National Highways

Trials, which took place at Spaghetti Junction in Birmingham, included this system above that blasts off graffiti with recycled glass pellets.

Express and Star

The Express and Star has these headlines today:

• Afghanistan refugees arriving in region as deadline to flee Taliban approaches, external
• Peaky Blinders writer helping to create Commonwealth Games opening ceremony, external
• Storm 'Dudley' set to blow across UK this winter, external

Former England and Sussex captain Ted Dexter has died aged 86.

Image source, Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Nicknamed 'Lord Ted', Dexter was an aggressive batsman and useful seam bowler who played 62 Tests for England and was captain between 1961-1964.

He led Sussex to victory in the first two editions of the limited-overs Gillette Cup and went on to make a surprise two-Test comeback in 1968.

In a statement, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) described Dexter, who lived in Wolverhampton, as "one of England's greatest ever cricketers".

Pop star Ed Sheeran has performed to 700 fans in Coventry to celebrate the opening of HMV Empire in Hertford Street.

Image source, Jamie Carter/hmv/PA Wire

Image source, Jamie Carter/hmv/PA Wire

The concert last night was part of celebrations for the company's centenary, with tickets issued in a free draw.

Those not able to snag a ticket were able to watch Sheeran's set on a live stream in Assembly Festival Garden.

Image source, Paul Greenwood/hmv/PA Wire

Image source, Paul Greenwood/hmv/PA Wire

Among the lucky 700 fans were Margaret, aged 77, who came to the gig with daughter Marie, who had just finished a 12-hour shift on a trauma ward.

Barney Storey says watching his wife win her 15th Paralympic gold medal from home was "surreal".

A food bank opens as a temporary clothing centre for parents in need of uniform.

It has been accused by a council of operating as a hostel without planning approval.

People in Wolverhampton are being warned after 1,000 people tested positive for coronavirus in the past week.

City of Wolverhampton Council said the city's Covid-19 infection rates were higher than any other part of the Black Country and Birmingham.

Latest figures show there were 375.9 new cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people over the past seven days with hospital admissions also rising.

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, it said, currently had about 60 positive Covid-19 patients.

Image source, Getty Images

John Denley, Wolverhampton's director of public health, said the situation was concerning.

“We always knew that, as society opened back up, infection rates would rise and we expect numbers to increase further still when children return to school next month.

"Fortunately, we are also seeing the positive effect that the vaccination programme is having, with hospitalisations and deaths much lower now than they were during the peak of the third wave."

Prof David Loughton, Chief Executive of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, added: “I would encourage all adults to get their vaccine so they can be protected from this deadly virus and please remember to fully benefit from that protection, you must have both doses."

A man who was seriously hurt in a hit-and-run has had an operation, after previously saying he had been waiting for surgery for nearly two years.

Image source, Dominic Allan

Staff nurse at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley Dominic Allan was struck as he got out of a taxi near his home in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in the early hours in May 2019.

The father-of-two has been wearing a protective helmet and an operation to put a titanium plate in his head at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham was cancelled four times.

But surgery has taken place and on Wednesday Mr Allan said he had got a headache but was OK.

Last week University Hospitals Birmingham trust said it was "doing everything possible" to minimise the impact of "pressures".

It stated surgery for some patients may have been rescheduled on more than one occasion "due to rising emergency admissions" and Covid-19 "related pressures on staffing and ICU capacity".

Following the release of the trust's statement, Mr Allan later told the BBC on Thursday that he had a date for surgery.

Mazen Salmou and Charlotte Marsland looked after isolated people in Worcestershire.

Newspapers dating from 1894 are among items ecovered from a time capsule found under a library.

Woodside Library in Dudley is being moved brick-by-brick to the Black Country Living Museum and the capsule was discovered in the process.

So delicate it could only be opened safely by experts, its contents have now been examined by Drakon Heritage.

Image source, Dudley Council

It contained three newspapers, all dated Saturday 1 July,1894, the day the library on Stourbridge Road officially opened.

It also contained slips containing the names of people involved either in building the library or the opening ceremony, a book containing a list of the council committees at the time and a letter written by David Millington, chairman of the library committee, to the Earl and the Countess of Dudley to thank them for attending the opening ceremony.

Image source, Dudley Council

Patrick Harley, leader of the council, said: "This was a fascinating find and only serves to underline the historical importance of the building."

Coventry Live

Here are some of the headlines from the Coventry Live website today:

• The 20 Covid hotspots mapped across Coventry and Warwickshire, external
• Airbnb stay ends in prison for Coventry man as 'beautiful girl' turned out to be 12 , external
• Demolition of inferno-hit Prologis warehouse gets under way, external