Two giant pandas, goodwill gifts from China to political rival Taiwan, are losing weight since their arrival on the island last week because of a different diet and lack of exercise, a zoo official said yesterday.

Male panda Tuan Tuan had shed about two kilogrammes and female Yuan Yuan nearly three kilogrammes as the natives of the fog-shrouded mountains of southwest China grappled with Taiwan's bamboo shoots and smaller living space, zoo research officer Chin Shih-chien said.

Tuan Tuan weighed 110.2 kg and Yuan Yuan weighed 111.4 kg yesterday, Mr Chin said. The names said together mean "reunion".

"It's not a weight-loss programme, it's that they're not exercising enough," Mr Chin said. "The amount of space isn't what they had before now that they're quarantined. Food is also a factor."

Briton deported over beach sex in Dubai

A British businessman convicted of engaging in sexual acts on a Dubai beach yesterday said he was seeking to return to the Gulf emirate despite being deported last week.

Vince Acors, 34, told a news conference in London his behaviour had been unacceptable, but he denied having sex in public with Michelle Palmer, the British woman also convicted over the incident in July.

"We were obviously on the beach, and the definition of sex in this country is different to the definition of sex in the Middle East," he said. "There would have been some physical contact, but intercourse did not take place."

The pair spent a month in jail in Dubai after being convicted in October on two charges of engaging in sexual activity outside of wedlock, and for doing so in public. Local laws strictly control drinking and ban public displays of affection, although Mr Acors said alcohol was widely available at low prices in hotels.

He said he was not angry over his experience, saying he had been very naïve, and even hoped to turn events to the advantage of his mobile phone text messaging business.

South Korea weapons sales top $1 billion

South Korea's yearly overseas arms sales topped $1 billion for the first time in 2008, a government agency said yesterday, while officials were quoted as saying the country aims to soon be one of the world's top 10 arms exporters.

South Korea's biggest exports in 2008 included self-propelled guns, aircraft and naval vessels with its main customers being Middle Eastern states and ally the US, the Defence Acquisition Programme Administration said in a statement.

South Korea had been increasing its sales to developing countries in Africa and Latin America, the agency said without naming specific buyers.

South Korea is looking to sell $3 billion worth of arms by 2012 and be one of the world's top 10 arms exporters in the next few years, Yonhap news agency reported defence officials as saying. The Defence Ministry would not confirm the report.

Chinese enquire about divorce

Fears of a prolonged recession in China have triggered a sharp increase in divorce inquiries addressed to lawyers and financial advisers, state media reported yesterday, with timing a key issue.

Wealthy spouses were keen to strike a deal while asset values were low, the China Daily quoted the director of the China Divorce Service Centre, Shu Xin, as saying.

"While facing tough financial times is not usually the main reason couples split, it can serve as the last straw for already strained marriages or add new concerns to divorces under way," the newspaper said, quoting "marriage advisers".

Ming Li, who works for China's first marriage and finance firm, Shanghai Weiqing, said: "Many questions are about how to avoid paying off debts after the divorce and the number of such telephone inquiries has increased from 200 to 300 in recent months."

Holocaust memoir cancelled

A publisher has cancelled a Holocaust memoir with an amazing love story publicised by Oprah Winfrey after the writer admitted he made up parts.

Berkley Books, an imprint of the Penguin Group, said it was cancelling Angel at the Fence, The True Story of a Love that Survived after writer Herman Rosenblat admitted to his agent Andrea Hurst that he had invented part of the book.

Mr Rosenblat, 79, appeared twice on Ms Winfrey's TV show to tell a story about meeting his wife when she threw apples to him over a fence at a Nazi concentration camp in Germany but it transpired he made up the story for a newspaper contest about a decade ago.

Ms Hurst said in a statement that the writer had revealed to her he invented the crux of the love story in which he claimed he met his wife when he was a teenage prisoner in a camp at Schlieben, Germany.

He wrote that, after the war, he moved to New York and by chance met Polish immigrant Roma Radzicki who turned out to be the girl who threw him food. They fell in love and got married. Ms Hurst said Mr Rosenblat's story about being in the concentration camps and the survival of the writer and his brothers was true but the retired electrical contractor from North Miami Beach, Florida, had made up the love story that had won such attention.

Hallelujah tops UK singles chart

X Factor winner Alexandra Burke topped the UK singles charts for the second week with her version of Leonard Cohen classic Hallelujah.

Ms Burke's Hallelujah is the fastest-selling single ever by a female solo artiste and was the Christmas number one ahead of another cover of the song by Jeff Buckley. Mr Buckley's version dropped to number seven. Leona Lewis, X Factor's winner in 2006, moved up a place to number two with Run.

Ms Lewis's album Spirit - which has spent 59 weeks in the top 40 - remained at number two in the album charts. Take That held on to the top spot in the album charts for the fourth week in a row with The Circus.