MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s Investigative Committee said on Saturday that 18 people have died from alcohol poisoning in the city of Yekaterinburg. The investigators found the victims had drunk liquor containing methanol, a poisonous alcohol usually used for industrial purposes. As a result, 18 people died from consuming mentioned liquid, the committee, which looks into major crimes, said in a statement. The incident follows the opening of an inquiry last week into a suspected mass poisoning linked to illegal alcohol in southwest Russia in which 34 died. The probe in Yekaterinburg found the victims had bought alcohol between Oct. 7-14 from a group of people, two of whom have been detained, the investigative committee said. Cases of alcohol-related mass poisoning have shocked the country in the past. In 2016, 77 people died in Siberia from drinking bath oil laced with methylated spirit. (Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Mike Harrison)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The death toll from a mass poisoning linked to illegal alcohol in southwest Russia rose to 34 on Sunday, and 24 more people were being treated in hospital, local authorities said. Investigators in the Orenburg region opened criminal cases after people began dying of alcohol poisoning this week. Police have since detained 10 people in probes into the production and sale of illegal alcohol, TASS news agency reported. There are 67 known victims of surrogate alcohol in the region, 34 of whom have died, Orenburg s local government was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. Seven of the people being treated in hospital were in a bad condition and four of them were on ventilators, it said. Police seized 2,000 bottles of alcohol on Saturday and said they had identified methanol, which is toxic. Mass cases of alcohol poisonings have shocked the country in the past. In 2016, 77 people died in Siberia from drinking bath oil laced with methylated spirit in search of alcoh
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The former chairman of China s top liquor maker, Kweichow Moutai, was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison for taking bribes, China s official Xinhua news agency reported. Yuan Renguo was sentenced by the Intermediate People s Court in Guiyang, the capital of the southwestern province of Guizhou, for accepting cash and properties worth more than 112.9 million yuan ($17.48 million) while working at Kweichow Moutai between 1994 and 2018, the report said. Kweichow Moutai, China s largest company by market capitalisation, has seen its shares tumble more than 20% this quarter, hit by investor jitters over regulatory clampdowns. ($1 = 6.4590 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Andrew Galbraith; editing by Richard Pullin)
By Philip Blenkinsop GRIMBERGEN, Belgium (Reuters) - Priests of Belgium s Grimbergen Abbey have begun brewing for the first time in more than two centuries, with a microbrewery making special editions of the mass-market beer bearing their abbey s name. The abbey, whose emblem is a phoenix with the Latin motto Ardet nec consumitur (Burned but not destroyed), was twice burned down and ransacked by French troops in 1798, ending a tradition of beer-making dating back to the 12th century. Karel Stautemas, the white-robed abbey sub-prior who is on the verge of completing brewing studies, said beer-making was a second life for Belgian abbeys and the community of 15 Norbertine canons was enthusiastic about its return. The core business was religion, but brewing was necessary because water at the moment in the Middle Ages wasn t drinkable and also it was a kind of payment, he said. The abbey, founded in 1128, has been tied to commercial brewers since 1958 when local firm Maes paid the monks to
Space-aged Bordeaux wine offered for private sale by Christie s
This content was published on May 5, 2021 - 05:09
May 5, 2021 - 05:09
By Steve Gorman
(Reuters) - A space-aged bottle of fine French wine, part of a case of Bordeaux that was literally matured in Earth orbit for 14 months, is being put up for private sale by Christie s, and the auction house estimates it may fetch up to $1 million.
The unprecedented offering of the 2000 vintage Petrus, an exclusive, world-class red produced from Merlot grapes in the Pomerol wine-growing region of Bordeaux, was announced in London on Wednesday. This bottle of Petrus 2000 marks a momentous step in the pursuit of developing and gaining a greater understanding of the maturation of wine, Tim Triptree, international director of the auctioneer s wine and spirits department, said in a statement.