Drug-related violence in Mexico has claimed 50,000 lives in six years.

A CULT-LIKE drug cartel that challenged a rival gang by rolling five severed heads onto a disco dance floor in western Mexico was so divided and cash-strapped of late that it sought to form an alliance with that gang, police officials have confirmed.

FEARS of a global swine flu pandemic grew with new infections in the US and Canada yesterday and millions of Mexicans hid indoors to avoid a virus that has killed up to 81 people.