JD Salinger dies, and other top stories...

The author JD Salinger has died at the age of 91. The reclusive author was best known for his book The Catcher in the Rye, about the exploits of an alienated teenager. He withdrew from public life in the mid-1980s, surfacing only to participate in a number of lawsuits. These involved the blocking of a sequel to The Catcher in the Rye, and of a biography that sought to use quotes from unpublished letters sent by the author. It's rumoured that he accumulated a substantial body of work in his final decades, which could perhaps now see the light of day...

Michael Landy's campaign against bad art has begun with the destruction of works by Damien Hirst, Gillian Wearing and Tracey Emin. For six weeks, his Art Bin at the South London Gallery will enable the public to trash works of their own that they think would be better off in landfill. Not to be mistaken for a condemnation of contemporary art, all works entered into the enormous Perspex box are subject to a vetting procedure by which Landy and his team will assess their (un)worthiness...

Stephin Merritt, one of indie rock's most distinctive talents, is to perform a live score for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1917). He will play before a projection of the film as part of the San Francisco Film Festival, attempting to sync his vocals up with the movement of the actor's lips onscreen. Eat your heart out, Sufjan Stevens. Despite being a silent film, this particular motion picture contains a surprising amount of dialogue. This follows the recent release of his group The Magnetic Fields' entirely acoustic album, Realism...