World’s most expensive bottle unveiled

Updated on : Friday, November 26, 2010

MEXICO CITY: The Mexican distiller ‘Hacienda La Capilla’ has produced a bottle of tequila that it is expected to fetch £2.2 million at auction, making it the most expensive drink of its kind in the world.

The 1.3 litre bottle is coated in a layer of platinum and studded with more than 4,000 diamonds.

Hacienda La Capilla already holds the Guinness world record for most expensive bottle of tequila, but their previous offering fetched a mere £142,000, a fraction of what the latest bottle is expected to go for.

The bottle will now be going on tour in Europe and the Middle East in the hope of attracting potential buyers.

Record Xmas trees lighted in Mexico

Updated on : Monday, December 7, 2009

MEXICO CITY: It's covered in 1.2 million light bulbs and a mere 80 kilometres of cable. But then this is the tallest Christmas tree in the world and that's official - Guinness Record Book representatives have measured it.

Guinness Records Representative, Carlos Martinez, said: "Today, we took all the official measurements which show a height of 110 metres and 35 centimetres. This is a new record for the world's biggest Christmas tree."

The tree is situated in the centre of Mexico City.

It took 200 people an entire month to decorate and thousands turned out for the tree lighting ceremony.

A local man said, "The tree is really nice and the colours of the fireworks were lovely too."

Brazil has also erected a record breaking Christmas tree. At 85 metres it's not as big as Mexico's but it does sit on water making it the world's tallest floating tree.

It's also the country's third biggest tourist event.

More than a million people are expected to view the structure between now and January 6.

A Rio resident, Moema Garcia said, "The lighting up show is good every year but this year it was particularly beautiful. The rain wasn't a problem and I hope that love remains in everybody's hearts because that's what matters - not the tree itself."

Another Rio resident said, "It's good because it represents a moment of peace in Rio. We see so much war, we live with so much violence - this shows a little bit of the union, the harmony that Rio also has."

Some environmentalists may not be so delighted. But Brazil's tree also wins the prize when it comes to the number of lights.

Three million shine out from the structure - whatever your views on global warming that's an impressive statistic and an impressive sight.

‘Expect unexpected in Pakistan, Ukraine, Russia’: Eurasia

Updated at: 1605 PST, Tuesday, April 28, 2009

LONDON: Pakistan, Ukraine, Russia, Nigeria and Mexico are the places where unexpected political change could have the most impact on world markets in 2009, the Eurasia Group risk consultancy said in a report on Tuesday.

In a special report on the world's top 10 "fat tails", relatively low-likelihood but potentially high-impact events, Eurasia Group identified the chance of a military takeover in Pakistan as the most potentially significant unexpected development that might transform global geopolitics.

Other risks outlined included unrest in Russia, collapse in Nigeria and secularists lashing out in Turkey, almost all made more likely by the impact of the global financial crisis.

"Each of these scenarios remains unlikely," Eurasia Group president Ian Bremmer said.

"None of them represent our "call" for any of these countries. But in each case, the impact of the global economic meltdown, has dramatically increased the likelihood of (such scenarios) occurring from 2 or 3 percent six months ago to 10 to 20 percent, or 30 percent in the case Pakistan, now."

Recent "fat tail" events largely unpredicted by analysts would include post-election violence in Kenya early last year or the August war between Russia and Georgia, both of which had dramatic market impact.

60 Mexico flu deaths raise global epidemic fears

Updated at: 1456 PST, Saturday, April 25, 2009

MEXICO CITY: Mexican authorities said 60 people may have died from a swine flu virus in Mexico, and world health officials worry it could unleash a global flu epidemic. Mexico City closed schools across the metropolis on Saturday in hopes of containing the outbreak that has sickened more than 900.

The World Health Organization was looking closely at the 60 deaths, most of them in or near Mexico's capital. It wasn't yet clear what flu they died from, but spokesman Thomas Abraham said "We are very, very concerned."

WHO raised its internal alert system on Friday, preparing to divert more money and personnel to dealing with the outbreak.