Jack Davenport and Andrew Lincoln are among the British actors wowing audiences in the US. By Sarah Hughes

Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) shares yesterday tumbled more than 16 per cent after the emerging-markets telecoms firm warned that its business in Panama "has not progressed as planned".

Buckingham Palace has a terrible sense of timing. As the latest figures show unemployment reaching the highest level for 17 years, one group of plucky Brits can look forward to a spot of sun and fun in 2012, and, even better, they won't have to pay: the hard-up British taxpayer will. Lavish plans to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee were unveiled last week, just as the number of women out of work passed a million, just slightly more than the number of jobless young people. Given that Great Britain plc is staring at the very real possibility of a double-dip recession, and personal debt is higher than ever, you might think the bureaucrats who organise events for the Royal Family would have some sense of appropriateness, of adapting to straitened times. Sadly, not.

A larger part of the estate left by the bandleader Eric Delaney must be his drum kit, which was large enough to cover the flight deck of a small aircraft carrier. It had a 10ft gong at its heart, and yet its owner moved it not only around the UK, but also countries around the world. It included drums, tympani, military side drum, tubular bells, Chinese gongs, symphonic cymbals, sleigh bells and tam-tams. To his regret he couldn't block the highways with the vibraphone and glockenspiel that he also played. He used a drum kit with double-bass drums set on a revolving pedestal and three tunable timpani.

Hurricane Irene began lashing the east coast with rain with the potential to cause billions of dollars in damage along a densely populated arc that included Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. At least 65 million people could be affected.

Thousands of holidaymakers on the US east coast have been ordered to head home as Hurricane Irene approaches after pounding the Bahamas islands chain.

Hurricane Irene strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane over the Bahamas yesterday as it roared up from the Caribbean on a path expected to swipe the east coast of the US at the weekend.

Punishing winds from Hurricane Irene howled over Turks and Caicos and the sparsely populated islands of the south eastern Bahamas as residents huddled in darkened homes, hotels and public buildings.

A rapidly strengthening Hurricane Irene is heading towards the Bahamas and threatening to become a monster storm.

Hurricane Irene cut power to more than a million people in Puerto Rico, downing trees and flooding streets today, and forecasters warned it could be a major storm as it threatens Florida and South Carolina by the end of the week.

The power struggle to take over the FIFA vice-presidency vacated by Jack Warner has taken another twist after the world governing body announced today they have again banned Lisle Austin from football-related activities.

The legal furore surrounding this watercolour has fascinated BBC viewers, but the story of the family it portrays is even more gripping, says Patrick Cockburn, grandson of the sitter

Sounds romantic, doesn't it, Amaranto? Somewhere between amorous and Esperanto, which is pretty apt for a low-lit, high-gloss new restaurant in an international hotel chain. But despite a setting as red and plumptiously padded as a Valentine's card, we didn't find much romance in the air in this swishy Italian newcomer on Park Lane, part of the lavishly refurbished (to the tune of £125m) Four Seasons Hotel.

The My Life in Travel column is produced in association with Andalucia Tourism. See <a href="http://www.andalucia.org" target="new">www.andalucia.org</a>