Drug-related murders in Mexico have already exceeded last year's total despite the deployment of 30,000 troops to tackle the issue, media reports say.

The Mexican newspaper, El Universal, said 2,682 people across Mexico had been killed since the start of this year, compared to 2,673 in 2007.

The northern state of Chihuahua on the US border was by far the worst hit.

President Felipe Calderon pledged to curb drug-related killings when he came to power in December 2006.

bbc.co.uk Tijuana: In the cartels' shadow

One of the driest deserts in the world, the Saharan Tenere Desert, hosted at least two flourishing lakeside populations during the Stone Age, a discovery of the largest graveyard from the era reveals.

The archaeological site in Niger, called Gobero, was discovered by Paul Sereno at the University of Chicago, during a dinosaur-hunting expedition. It had been used as a burial site by two very different populations during the millennia when the Sahara was lush.

Careful examination of 67 graves - a third of the 200 plots on the site - has uncovered unprecedented details about the lifestyles of the people who inhabited the green Stone Age "desert", says Sereno.

newscientist.com

To say that the airwaves are saturated with Olympics coverage here doesn't quite capture the feeling. Several of China Central Television's channels, as well as the local Beijing and other provincial channels, have given themselves over to 24/7 coverage of the games. Weeks before Friday's Opening Ceremony, we'd already seen endless rebroadcasts of the monthslong torch relay. Watch Torchbearer 61, a pudgy local government official, pass the torch to Torchbearer 62, a tall gangly European man from the United Nations! See the torch in the streets of Chengdu! And Tianjin! And in the outer Beijing Suburbs! And in Tianjin—again!

slate.com

Automatic cameras have captured images of a clouded leopard in Borneo's Sebangua National Park, an area where the cats have not been recorded before.

Researchers say confirmation of the leopards' presence highlights the need to protect the region's habitat.

bbc.co.uk

Funniest bit was just as they left - there was guy of about 17 or so standing just behind them & he turned to me & said 'he was just, like, *there!*' in a thunderstruck voice.

Terry loved the Pratchgan - he said it must have taken a thousand seamstresses a long time to make. He said it's outrageous & over-the-top & brilliant & he's gonna put it on his bed. Just before he left he said '& I still aten't dead' :0D

woolly-knit-bits.blogspot.com