The Angry Earth

Mexican landslide may have killed as many as 1,000 people

Up to 1,000 people could have died in a devastating landslide in a remote village in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.

Heavy rain saturated the soil on the mountainside above the town of Santa Maria Tlahuitoltepec, causing it to slip at about 4am last Tuesday. Up to 300 houses with families sleeping inside were swept over 1,300ft in the massive mudslide.

More than a fifth of the world's plant species are under threat of extinction, a global assessment has revealed. The analysis indicates that the estimated 380,000 plant species found on earth are as much at risk of disappearing as the planet's mammals and are more under threat than birds. The Sampled Red List Index for Plants indicates that 80,000 to 100,000 species are under real threat.

New Yorkers are once again on tornado watch. The New York area has seen two tornados this summer. One occurred in July when 100mph winds caused significant damage in parts of the Bronx. Two weeks ago a tornado was responsible for downing hundreds of trees and killing one individual as it raced through Staten Island, Queens and Brooklyn. New York City area has seen more tornados in the last three years than the past 40.

Rains have improved pasture in parts of northern Mali, but livestock is still ill after months of malnutrition. Vets and doctors are working together to improve the situation. Some 40% of cattle, sheep and goats in northern Mali have died as a result of drought this year, the US Agency for International Development estimates.

Go figure

95

Defendants whose trial for property fraud in Marbella, Spain, in the mid-'90s began last week

2,561

Birthday of China's greatest philosopher Confucius

25,000

Award paid, in AUS$, to runner-up of Australia's Next Top Model after wrong winner is announced

The week in laughs

On the day I stole his football, he nationalised my train set

(Labour leader Ed Miliband on his brother David)

Bob Woodward has written a book which states the White House agonised over the decision to leave Iraq. Too bad no one agonised over the decision to go into Iraq

(David Letterman)

Israeli bulldozers mobilised in the West Bank Monday and resumed construction on housing units despite Arab opposition. Palestinian protests now have a better record of creating jobs than the US Congress

(Argus Hamilton)

The National Bureau of Economic Research announced the recession actually ended in 2009. What idiots we were! So that recession you think you're in is as imaginary as the job you used to have

(Jay Leno)

News hound - What it says in the international press

China Daily - Two child traffickers sentenced to death

A court in China has sentenced two men to death for trafficking more than 40 baby boys. The men were members of a gang that stole dozens of infants from their parents in the country's southwest, and sold them for $6,000 each to villagers in Fujian province.

Chicago Sun-Times - Pensioner shoots boy who broke window

A 74-year-old woman shot a boy in his arm after he and other youths threw bricks at her home in south Chicago. The widow, who lives alone, chased the boys before shooting at them when they would not put down their bricks, police said.

Cape Argus - Police arrest alleged rhino poachers

Two alleged poachers have been arrested in South Africa's Kruger national park. The poachers were allegedly found in possession of rhino horns, a source said. "The men pointed guns at police and shots were fired from both sides," the source added.

The Times of India - Games security hit by faulty cameras

Police at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games command centre have complained that most of the 3,000-plus cameras installed at various stadia and venues to keep a hawk-eyed vigil seem to be "out of focus" or pointing in the wrong direction.

Checking out - The people we said goodbye to last week

Tony Curtis (85), Hollywood legend, and star of 100 films, including Some Like it Hot; born Bernard Schwartz of Hungarian parents, he married six times

Gloria Stuart (100), founding member of the Screen Actors Guild, nominated for an Oscar at 87 for her role as Rose Calvert, the elderly survivor from the film Titanic Catherine Walker (65), French-born designer who dressed Princess Diana for 16 years

Sally Menke (56), editor who cut all of Quentin Tarantino's films, while out hiking during an extreme heatwave in LA

Terry Newton (31), British rugby league player banned after taking steroids, suicide by hanging