World Briefs

More than 13,600 people have joined an internet group urging Slovenia's "perennial Foreign Minister", Dimitrij Rupel, to retire from political life.

Mr Rupel, who held the post in several governments after independence in 1991, attracted criticism when he swapped parties to allow him to retain the post from 2004 to 2008, a period that covered Slovenia's presidency of the European Union.

Now, despite being a member of the defeated centre-right Slovenian Democratic Party, his fourth party since 1991, he has been made special foreign policy adviser by the new ruling party, the centre-left Social Democrats.

A day after the announcement, his critics set up the "Together Against Dimitrij Rupel" group on the social networking website Facebook. "We want to organise a larger action that will remove Dimitrij Rupel from his current position... It is our opinion that the time for his retirement has come," the appeal on the website said.

The new Prime Minister, Borut Pahor, made Rupel his adviser after President Danilo Turk refused to approve him as ambassador to neighbouring Austria, saying he did not trust him.

Taiwan ducks are too skinny

One of China's most famous Peking duck restaurants is set to open its first outlet in Taiwan, but the ducks will have to be imported from the mainland because the island's birds are too skinny, state media said yesterday.

Quanjude, founded in the dying days of the last emperors in 1864, will open in the southern Taiwanese port city of Kaohsiung, the official Xinhua news agency said.

"The Taiwan branch would have to source specially fed ducks from the mainland to keep the dish's original flavour, as Taiwan's ducks were not fat enough," company chairman Jiang Junxian said.

But the branch's opening date has yet to be set because agreements on work permits and imports of the needed raw materials have not been signed, Xinhua added.

Quanjude already has branches in Japan, Australia, Hong Kong and military-ruled Myanmar, the report said.

Bull storms shopping mall

A bull bought for the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival charged through a posh shopping mall in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka yesterday, causing panic and damaging several shops. No one was hurt in the incident which took place in the city's Gulshan diplomatic area.

Guards captured the bull in a net and handed it back to its owners, police and witnesses said.

Parts of the Bangladesh capital, a city of 11 million people, have turned into cattle markets ahead of Eid today, when officials say up to 2.5 million bulls and goats would be slaughtered across the city. Slaughtering animals and sharing meat with relatives and the poor are mandatory for every Muslim who can afford it.

Kiss ruptures girlfriend's eardrum

A young woman in southern China has partially lost her hearing after her boyfriend ruptured her eardrum during an excessively passionate kiss, local media reported yesterday.

The 20-something girl from Zhuhai, in southern Guangdong province, went to hospital completely deaf in her left ear, the China Daily said, citing a report in a local newspaper.

"The kiss reduced pressure in the mouth, pulled the eardrum out and caused the breakdown of the ear," the paper quoted a doctor surnamed Li from the hospital as saying.

The woman's hearing would likely return to normal after about two months, Dr Li said.

"While kissing is normally very safe, doctors advise people to proceed with caution," the paper said.

Peruvian chefs serve up world's largest ceviche

Peruvian chefs, elbow deep in almost seven tonnes of diced fish, onions and lime, have smashed the Guinness record for the world's largest ceviche, a Peruvian seafood speciality.

The dish, made from raw fish marinated in lime juice that "cooks" it, weighed in at 6.8 tonnes, more than two tonnes bigger than the previous record.

Some 450 students and chefs worked in an open-air stadium in Callao, the port district of Peru's capital, dicing and mixing white fish with lime, salt, onions and hot peppers.

A Guinness Book of Records representative was on hand to make the count official.

"Today, we have brought together all the people of Callao so that in the name of Peru, we can take back the Guinness record," said Callao's regional president Alexander Kouri, who stood in front of 14 giant metal containers filled with fish.

The previous record for the largest ceviche, weighing in at 4.5 tonnes, was set in Mexico in 2005. Prior to that, Peru held it at 4.1 tonnes.