Tennessee Williams as dance? I do declare! But Scottish Ballet triumphs with a perfectly told tale

The French Quarter of the city was moulded by its history of piracy, slavery, royalty – and ghosts

The furore over the shooting of a 17-year-old African- American on a Florida street one month ago continued to rage yesterday as the victim's parents attended hearings on hate crimes in Washington, and outrage erupted in New Orleans over comments made by a police officer about the case.

Officer suspended and city on edge as murdered teenager's family meet politicians in Washington

Russell Brand has been arrested for criminal damage after police in the US issued a warrant for him.

Hot Wire opens like gangbusters with the one-two punch of "Duty to the Debtor" and "Little Man", surely the best opening ever to a Hue and Cry album; but by the end, the impact has been dissipated by a little too much polemic, a few too many languid funk moves, and a drab attempt at emulating Steely Dan.

The novelist Jonathan Franzen has called Twitter an "irresponsible medium" which has become the enemy of writers and readers.

Before the Twilight series engulfed her, Kristen Stewart was shaping up to be an interesting actress and she's convincing here as Mallory, a 16-year-old New Orleans prostitute in Jake Scott's low-key drama.

Yelena Isinbayeva, the long-time pole vault queen, was in action in Volgograd on Saturday, preparing for the defence of her Olympic crown. She must be worried. A rising young British star is threatening to dethrone her.

A damp squib down on the bayou

The new year has its first great party album: a no-nonsense distillation of the most infectious elements of party funk, with a welcoming approach that emphasises peaceful good times.

Over the past 14 years, Calexico have released eight limited-edition tour CDs, available only at their shows, but now compiled together as a 12 LP vinyl box set, Selections from Road Atlas 1998-2011, of similar scarcity.

In a high-stakes court filing, BP has accused Halliburton of destroying evidence that could be used to show it was partially to blame for the notorious Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

BP is accusing Halliburton of destroying damaging evidence about the quality of its cement that went into the Deepwater Horizon well that exploded, killing 11 people and causing America's worst offshore oil spill.