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Mexico's drugs war: Lessons and challenges   Troops have been deployed in different Mexican states since late 2006 MEXICO'S DRUGS WAR For the past five years, Mexico has been engaged in a bloody confrontation with drug gangs. Mexican political scientist Eduardo Guerrero Gutierrez looks at how the struggle is going and the implications for Mexico's presidential election in July. The past year has been one of light and shade in the fight against organised crime in Mexico. The violence of the drug cartels, against one another as well as against the security forces and innocent citizens, continues to dominate the headlines. Five years after President Felipe Calderon launched his crackdown on the gangs, there have been some 50,000 drug-related killings. The number of murders in 2011, estimated at around 16,700, is 9% up on the total for 2010. However, a more detailed analysis suggests that the level of violence has stabilised, especia

31 December 2011 Last updated at 22:16 GMT First of Nasa's Grail gravity twins enters Moon orbit Measuring the Moon's gravity The Grail satellites measure the distance to each other as they circle the Moon, pole to pole Flying over gravity variations will induce tiny acceleration changes in the spacecraft twins Making the measurements requires the satellites to carry very precise timing devices The survey will probably continue until the end of 2012 if the pair survive an eclipse in June Nasa has succeeded in putting the first of two gravity mapping satellites in orbit around the Moon. The Grail-A spacecraft fired its main engine late on Saturday (GMT) to slow itself sufficiently to take up an elliptical path around the lunar body. Its twin, Grail-B, will attempt exactly the same manoeuvre on Sunday. Together, the satellites will make measurements that are expected to give scientists remarkable new insights into the internal

Europe leaders warn of difficult 2012     German Chancellor Angela Merkel heads Europe's largest economy European leaders have warned of a difficult year ahead, as many economists predict recession in 2012. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe was experiencing its "most severe test in decades" but that Europe was growing closer in the debt crisis. France's President Sarkozy said the crisis was not finished, while Italy's president called for more sacrifices. Growth in Europe has stalled as the debt crisis has forced governments to slash spending. The leaders' new year messages came as leading economists polled by the BBC said they expected a return to recession in Europe in the first half of 2012. The cost of borrowing for some of the eurozone's largest economies, including Italy and Spain, has shot up in recent months as lenders fear governments will not be able to pay back money they have already borrowed. With growth

Jagjit Singh - Zindagi Yun Hui Basar

Job listings give a view into company strategy and the direction of the overall market. Indeed is a job listing service that provides excellent analysis of top job skills. For our purposes, we looked at Indeed’s top 10 listings to give a glimpse into the top 10 developer and engineering skills that employers are looking for going into the new year. HTML5 MongoDB iOS Android Mobile app Puppet Hadoop jQuery PaaS Social Media HTML5 Employers have 183 job postings for Web developers. Microsoft and Amazon have the most jobs posted. HTML5 is still in its infancy but should remain the #1 most popular job for 2012. Employers are weaving in HTML5 as a requirement for both developers and engineers. Web developers, Web designers, front-end developers and software engineers  have the most job postings. Here are the preferred qualifications for a software development engineer to build Web apps for the Kindle Cloud Reader team: Experience building complex software systems

Qatar flexing muscle in changing world By Michael Buchanan BBC News, Doha   Qatar's military joined the Nato-led intervention in Libya, training the rebels On a recent Sunday afternoon, the normally sober, orderly centre of Doha was transformed into a triumphant melee of noise and colour as thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate Qatar's National Day. This year has been something of a coming of age for this small Gulf nation. It strongly backed the rebels in Libya and has led regional criticism of the crackdowns on protesters by Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh. "We have to contribute with whatever we have - politics, money or by supporting military action, whatever it takes to support other nations," said one Qatari reveller. At the state-of-the-art studios of Libya TV in Doha, they know all about support from Qatar. Libya TV i

The hunt for Mokele-mbembe: Congo's Loch Ness Monster By Cordelia Hebblethwaite BBC World Service Explorer Adam Davies explains why he went in search of the Mokele-mbembe (drawing by David Miller, courtesy of Brill publishers) The search for Scotland's Loch Ness Monster is world famous. Far less well-known is the hunt for a similar creature, Mokele-mbembe, which is reputed to live in the remote north of Congo-Brazzaville. But how strong is the evidence? "I checked maps, and the data on the maps was white. It said, 'insufficient data to delineate terrain'. Well that got me!" says Dr Roy Mackal, a retired biologist from the University of Chicago. "It's the end of the world. It gives you a feeling of a surviving prehistoric time." In the 1980s, Dr Mackal led two expedition teams to the vast Likouala swamp and rainforest area of the Congo which is inhabited by pygmies,