Scores of journalists have died in a country gripped by violence that has claimed an estimated 60 000 lives since 2006.

Eyelids closed, I clutched a fistful of marble-white sand, fine as flour, then opened my palm to feel the warm sea breeze blow it gently away. I squinted into the sunlight, across the iridescent white, the palm-lined shore, out to the aquamarine ocean, the azure sky. Here I am, in the place with the most poetic name in the world, writes Ed Vulliamy.

Tinseltown's icons are flayed alive by Basic Instinct scriptwriter Joe Eszterhas in his incendiary new novel, which melds politics and entertainment, writes Ed Vulliamy.

He may be bidding farewell to the White House this weekend, but as a force on the global stage, Bill Clinton is here to stay.

Mexico's drug cartels are actually pioneers of the global economy in their business logic and modus operandi.

"I think you'd better wake up," said a voice in my left ear. "The World Trade Centre's on fire." It was very decent of my partner to stir me.

Scores of journalists have died in a country gripped by violence that has claimed an estimated 60 000 lives since 2006.

Eyelids closed, I clutched a fistful of marble-white sand, fine as flour, then opened my palm to feel the warm sea breeze blow it gently away. I squinted into the sunlight, across the iridescent white, the palm-lined shore, out to the aquamarine ocean, the azure sky. Here I am, in the place with the most poetic name in the world, writes Ed Vulliamy.