Andy Carroll's dream England debut has been cast into doubt after Newcastle sent an e-mail to the Football Association expressing their concern about the player's fitness.

John Wilson and the orchestra which bears his name created a absolute sensation at the 2009 Proms with their celebration of 75 years of MGM musicals.

Nina Raine picked up a couple of "Most Promising Dramatist" awards for her 2006 play Rabbit. She amply fulfils that promise now with Tribes, a fiercely intelligent, caustically funny and emotionally wrenching piece about communication, belonging, and identity. It focuses on Billy (excellent Jacob Casselden), a young man who was born deaf and has been brought up as a lip-reader. Back home from university, he struggles to get a word in edgeways in a household of bickering egotists headed by Stanley Townsend's exuberantly non-PC writer-father and including two fractiously frustrated, unemployed siblings – an aspiring academic (Harry Treadaway) and a wannabe opera-singer (Phoebe Waller-Bridge).

A walker was swept to his death over a 70ft waterfall after he tripped and slipped into the river while admiring the view, police said today.

Newcastle boss Chris Hughton is backing Andy Carroll to bounce back from his England omission.

Tories and Liberal Democrats swapped seats with each other in the latest council by-elections but the vote share surge was to Labour on the eve of its conference and the declaration of a new leader.

Six people have been arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred after footage appeared on the internet apparently showing Korans being burnt.

Evidently, this column needs to reopen its campaign against the empty vogue-word "iconic". Here is the opening sentence of an article about large-scale works of public art, published on Wednesday: "It started with The Angel of the North, Antony Gormley's iconic steel sculpture which looms over the A1 and put Gateshead on the map for the right reason."

The police watchdog said today it was "not even close" to establishing the timeline of events surrounding the death of gunman Raoul Moat after a report suggested he was Tasered after he shot himself.

Three men are being held over the attempted murder of a van driver who was stabbed as he confronted thieves, police said.