Our old chum Major Nelson has updated his Xbox Live-focussed blog with news that Xbox Live Friends lists are once again checkable from MSN Windows Live Messenger, after several months absence for the functionality. Hurrah!
However - *glum face* - apparently the return of this functionality is currently limited to US and Japanese passport accounts, Nelson explaining that "Other regions may have this function, but it is purely up to the regional Windows Live Messenger teams if they want an Xbox tab...the Xbox team does not make this decision."
Meanwhile, he's also mentioned that a demo of Rockstar's Table Tennis "is on its way" to Marketplace. Unfortunately, there's no word on a date for its touchdown but it should feature both single-player and two-player ping pong action - but no Xbox Live play.