Tino Asprilla scored a hat-trick for Newcastle United against Barcelona in 1997 and will be watching on as the teams meet at St James' Park tonight.

Hospitals in Sunderland and South Shields are taking part in a national study of genetic conditions.

Villagers led a huge fundraising effort but are without tenants for the Fishers Arms two years on.

Worcestershire's relegation is confirmed on day three of their County Championship match at Durham after missing out on maximum batting points.

The £33.5m scheme will see derelict buildings near Northern Studios become production facilities.

Martin Emmerson
BBC Radio Newcastle

Image source, Rex Features

Ethan Brookes has become the second Worcestershire batsman to score a century in this game.

Gareth Roderick made 151 earlier, but Brookes has just been bowled on 100 by Matty Potts. He threw the kitchen sink at a ball and lost his off stump. The knock included 11 fours and one six. The only six of the match.

And I have no idea why they have not declared. Tom Taylor has also just reached 50.

Durham didn't bother taking the second new ball until the 164th over with the score 554-8. They have been in the field for 165.4 overs and as a result of that this is their second longest bowling spell in FC cricket.

The longest is 176 overs batted by Yorkshire in 2010 when they made 610 runs.

A 32-year-old is arrested on suspicion of child neglect in Thornaby over the death.

The Liberal Democrat leader says net zero policies were saving money for taxpayers in Durham.

Martin Emmerson
BBC Radio Newcastle

Given the amount of time lost in this game to the weather, I was hoping Worcestershire would pull the plug on their first innings at tea.

The track is flat and slow and Durham don't look like they will bowl them out any time soon.

I can't see the point in them batting on. They can't stay up. They were relegated earlier this afternoon. So why plod on at three runs an over?

If they want to go down fighting their best hope of victory would have been to give themselves four sessions to try and bowl Durham out twice.

Gareth Roderick has 140 and Ethan Brookes 40. But it's all desperately dull.

The groundstaff are now doing a co-ordinated lap of the field, rather slowly, a bit like the pace of this game. Commentator Melinda Farrell says it's a funeral march to commemorate the death of this pitch!

The proposals for a lane on Chester Road will not go ahead after opposition from residents.

The eight-year-old was discovered by ambulance staff at a property in Billingham.

The Metro carriage will help provide "vital training services" for firefighters, Nexus says.

Martin Emmerson
BBC Radio Newcastle

Going into this game Worcestershire needed maximum bonus points from their final two games - and wins - if they were to have any chance of staying up.

They also needed snookers and miracles. And the fact they only managed two batting points means they will be relegated, providing the ECB and the counties do not change the whole structure of the County Championship next year.

This is their seventh relegation and only the second time they have managed to stay up for more than a year. In 2012 they also went down after two years.

They returned to Division One last season, along with Durham, who are currently in the other relegation spot and have not won a Cchampionship match since May.

I am struggling to see where the next win will come from and they could well be playing the Pears again in 2026.

Afghan debutant Shafiqullah Ghafari has just got his first wicket, Ben Gibbon fell lbw for 33.

Martin Emmerson
BBC Radio Newcastle

Durham have lacked a cutting edge with the ball this season and have struggled to bowl teams out.

So it sums up their relegation predicament perfectly, to only gain one bowling point in such a crucial end of season game.

Worcestershire picked up just two batting points as well. It's perhaps a fair indicator of why these two are the bottom sides.

We lost 34 overs today after the morning was washed out, to go along with the loss of day one. But there are still 62 overs to go.

Gareth Roderick began the day on 95 and it took 8.2 overs for him to add another five runs to reach his first century of the season.

Lloyd Kelly lasted just six months at Newcastle - but is threatening to become a cult figure at European superpower Juventus.