Hi °C | Lo °C Archaeologists have found traces of 2,500-year-old chocolate on a plate in the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico in a breakthrough suggesting it may have been used as a condiment or sauce with solid food.
It is the first time they have found ancient chocolate residue on a plate, rather than a cup.
Experts have long thought cacao beans and pods were mainly used in pre-Hispanic cultures as a beverage, made either by crushing the beans and mixing them with liquids or fermenting the pulp that surrounds the beans in the pod. Such a drink was believed to have been reserved for the elite.
Concert star
dies aged 33
Romanian pianist Mihaela Ursuleasa has been found dead in her apartment in the Austrian capital aged 33.
Her agent, Andreea Butucariu, said she died from the effects of a cerebral haemorrhage.
The pianist had recently cancelled two concerts on health grounds.
She began playing the piano aged five and went on to play at New York's Carnegie Hall and with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Eight protesters were shot dead
Eight Sudanese protesters killed at an anti-government demonstration in the Darfur region were shot with live ammunition used in rifles, Amnesty has said.
Police have said they were forced to act when the protest escalated, but exercised only minimum force. They did not say whether they had fired live ammunition.
Church lashed
for racial snub
Mississippi's governor has described the refusal by a predominantly white church to allow a black couple to get married there as "unfortunate".
Phil Bryant said the state should encourage the union of any couple -- as long as they were a man and a woman.
Charles and Te'Andrea Wilson were not allowed to marry at First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs.
The pastor of the church, married the Wilsons at a predominantly black church nearby after protests.
