GreeceThe Greek island has attracted creatives for over 8o years, from Henry Miller to Leonard Cohen and Jeff Koons Perched on a hillock in Hydra, Jeff Koons’s Apollo wind spinner is hard to miss. The gargantuan sun sculpture welcomes visitors at all hours, its golden rays and face a vibrant (if lurid) reminder that art is alive and well on this Argo-Saronic isle. If the 9.1-metre spinner were not enough, Koons has also turned the slaughterhouse on which it stands into a shrine dedicated to the sun god.

UK newsThree jailed for life for race murder of schoolboy· Asian gang members set fire to innocent youth, 15 · Revenge attack sparked upsurge in racial tensionThree Asian gang members were jailed for life yesterday for the "savage and barbaric" racially motivated murder of a schoolboy in Glasgow who had been singled out because he was white. Kriss Donald, 15, from Pollokshields, was abducted, stabbed repeatedly and then doused in petrol and burned to death by five men of Pakistani descent in March 2004, apparently in revenge for an earlier incident at a city centre nightclub.

Whitney Houston – a life in pictures Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email US singer and actress Whitney Houston, one of the most decorated female artists of all time who sold more than 170m albums during her life, has died in Beverly Hills aged 48 Sat 11 Feb 2012 22.31 EST First published on Sat 11 Feb 2012 22.

Marine life This article is more than 1 year oldAnglers despair as trapped seal eats Essex lake’s stocks like it’s ‘in Waitrose’This article is more than 1 year oldAnimal has been evading capture from Rochford fishing lake since mid-December A seal trapped in a fishing lake has “found himself in a branch of Waitrose” and has no incentive to escape, according to an expert. The animal has evaded multiple attempts at capture since first being spotted at Rochford Reservoir, in Essex, almost a month ago, the BBC reported.

ShortcutsHarry PotterJK Rowling’s wizard tale has been translated into 79 foreign languages, but this new version may just be the best of all Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is not a very good book. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stane is terrific. The Scots version of JK Rowling’s debut, to be published this Thursday by Itchy Coo, is the 80th language into which the novel has been translated. But what is the point?