One day a year cemeteries in Mexico City burst with life. Jo Tuckman joins locals at one on the outskirts of the capital.

Mexico's president told citizens to stay home from Friday for a five-day partial shutdown of the economy.

The 17th International Aids Conference swung into action in Mexico last week.

Former United States president Bill Clinton was to take centre stage at the International Aids Conference in Mexico on Monday.

Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has left for Mexico City to attend the United Nations XVII International Aids Conference.

A bomb exploded on a street near the security ministry in central Mexico City on Friday, killing one person and wounding two. No group claimed responsibility for the blast and there was no warning. The government is locked in a battle with drug gangs and has yet to catch left-wing rebels who planted small bombs at oil installations last year.

A strong earthquake of magnitude 6,4 shook south-western Mexico on Tuesday, the latest in a series of temblors in recent days, but there were no reports of casualties or serious damage. The quake briefly cut off power in the Chiapas state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez, but officials said checks of dozens of small towns across the state found no damage.

A magnitude 5,4 quake struck very close to the northern Mexican city of Mexicali in Baja California on Saturday morning, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, but there was no immediate report of any casualties or damage. The USGS said the very shallow quake, only 7km deep, was centred 26km south-east of Mexicali.

Mexico City has started a women-only bus service to protect female passengers from groping and verbal abuse common on the city's packed public-transportation system. Millions of people cram into subway trains and buses in the Mexican capital, one of the world's largest cities.

An aspiring writer who left a horror scene of body parts in his apartment was arraigned last Thursday on charges of murder and desecrating a corpse after he allegedly cut up and ate part of his girlfriend's body. But he refused to make a formal plea, saying: "I can't get my thoughts together right now."