The bemused property developer calls the plan "just a normal Mediterranean-style house". To a Saudi prince it might be – but the plans for a mega-mansion on a $12m (£7.5m) plot have left even the wealthy residents of an exclusive Beverly Hills community spluttering on their iced teas.

Today: Visit the TNT Travel Show at Earls Court 2 in London, which has all manner of backpacker ideas – and costs only £1 admission, which you can avoid completely by booking online (tnttravelshow.com). Close by, the giant Westfield Mall hosts Greece – part of the premises is being turned into a "Greek theme park" for a week, with food, a spa and "archaeological dig" (uk.westfield.com/London).

A first edition of Jane Austen's classic novel Emma sold at auction for £79,250 today.

As Hollywood said its farewells to Ronni Chasen, the popular publicist who was gunned down at the wheel of her Mercedes as she drove home a week ago from a glitzy premiere party, sombre speculation continued as to whether she was the victim of a random shooting or a contract killing by professional assassins.

She was beloved by all of Hollywood and had just taken her leave from the kind of evening she loved: schmoozing the stars and the media poolside on the roof of a swanky Beverly Hills hotel. Then, on the way home in her new Mercedes-Benz, veteran film publicist Ronni Chasen was shot dead.

The seller of what was once thought to be America's most expensive home has knocked $70m (£45m) off the asking price after filing for bankruptcy protection.

Downtown Los Angeles is not known for much. I stayed at the old Biltmore Hotel there more than 20 years ago and it felt as though I was in a different city, a different state completely. On my first night in LA, I'd taken some friends to dinner in Hollywood and then cockily started driving back downtown, thinking it would take me 10 minutes.

Lena Horne, the jazz singer who became the first black actress to sign a long-term contract with a major film studio, but whose very public opposition to racial segregation slowed her rise to Hollywood superstardom, has died. She was 92.