■ PERU
Guinea pigs celebrated
Peru's celebration of the guinea pig included contests for the biggest, the best-dressed and the tastiest. The second annual festival of the cuy, as guinea pigs are known in the Andes, was held in Churin on Sunday to celebrate all things related to the furry rodents. Foreigners may cringe at seeing the critters served for lunch, but people came from across Peru to savor the meat and to compete in a cuy cookoff. There was also a competition for the biggest guinea pig; the winner weighed in at 3.5kg of flesh, fat and fur. And some competed in a fashion show of traditional Andean dress, with guinea pigs decked out in fedoras and frilly skirts.
■ UNITED STATES
Mayor bans bottled water
Thirsty San Francisco city workers will no longer have bottled water to drink under an order by Mayor Gavin Newsom, who says it costs too much, worsens pollution and is no better than tap water. Newsom's executive order bars city departments, agencies and contractors from using city funds to serve water in plastic bottles and in larger dispensers when tap water is available. Newsom estimates San Francisco could save US$500,000 a year under his directive, and the measure also addresses environmental concerns over the amount of oil used to make and transport the plastic water bottles.
■ MEXICO
Drug cartels negotiate
Two main drug cartels are reaching out to each other in an attempt to end a recent round of bloody turf battles, Mexican and US officials confirmed on Monday. The officials said talks are aimed at stopping battles to control lucrative trafficking routes to the US market. The circumstances of the negotiations between the Sinaloa and the Gulf cartels -- first reported in The Dallas Morning News on Monday -- were not clear. The gangs decided that the turf battles were costing them too much money and weaponry and too many deaths in their own ranks, leading them to seek a nonaggression pact.
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