RUSSIA: 10 TONS OF COLD ONES Ten tons of beer trapped under a frozen Siberian river were finally recovered after a weeklong operation, the Itar-Tass news agency reported. A truck carrying the beer sank as it drove over the Irtysh River in the Omsk region. The driver escaped. Divers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations and workmen armed with saws struggled to free the bottles and kegs in temperatures of minus-16 degrees Fahrenheit. A modified T-72 tank was brought in, and the beer was rescued. The truck was left in the river. Itar-Tass reported that the brewery said the beer could still be sold, since it had been kept cold. Sophia Kishkovsky (NYT)
and then, there’s this:
INDIA: DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH Dilubhai Rajput, a diamond merchant, hid a bag of more than 1,700 small diamonds worth $900 in a pile of hay at his home in Gujarat State. A cow ate them, and the merchant has since been feeding it a diet of grass, grain, fruit and laxatives. So far, he has recovered 300 diamonds in three days. (Reuters)
