Word: vodka
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...most popular pastimes is chewing kat, small leaves from a mildly narcotic and addictive plant. Strict laws forbid the sale except on two-day weekends of the so-called Yemeni vodka, which has a disastrous effect on productivity. Women are free from most Islamic restrictions, able to choose the chador or the dress. In fact, the country adheres little to either Muslim or Marxist strictures. Liquor is sold, and the Communist Party numbers only 20,000 members...
...bring much improvement in economic conditions, with worsening shortages of food and consumer goods. The economy is afflicted by a $58 billion budget deficit, a $12.8 billion cleanup bill after Chernobyl, and serious losses in revenues from declining oil prices and the enforced drop in vodka sales. Now the billions of rubles that will have to be spent on reconstruction of an area about the size of Maryland must be figured in. Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov admitted last week that the Soviet leadership "made a mistake" when it estimated the cost at only 5 billion rubles (about $8.4 billion...
...charter plane (only $4,800 a head) for the Moscow-based press corps to follow Mikhail Gorbachev on his latest round of international travels. But the lumbering Ilyushin-62 jet, dubbed "Glasnost One," proved how far Gorbachev has to go to turn his promises into practice. Caviar and vodka helped while away the 14-hour flight, but the Soviets missed the opportunity -- so dear to U.S. officialdom -- to "spin" the news when they provided no briefings for their captive audience. On the ground in New York City, Soviet good intentions faltered as reporters were dumped unceremoniously on the pavement outside...
...costs for the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster swallowed 8 billion rubles, about $12.8 billion. This year the Soviet budget is already expected to run a 36 billion-ruble deficit. The government has also suffered falling revenues from declining international oil prices and from its campaign to crack down on vodka consumption. Now the country faces a sizable loss of income from Armenia, important for its manufacture of technical and electronic equipment...
Philip Morris hopes Kraft will not be as resistant to a takeover as Pillsbury, which is fighting a $5.2 billion offer from Grand Metropolitan, a British liquor conglomerate (J&B Scotch and Smirnoff vodka). Last week the company took out full-page newspaper ads that showed the normally cherubic Pillsbury Doughboy with a grim expression and wearing boxing gloves. Warned the ad: "We're not going to sit idly by while an opportunistic British liquor and gambling company tries to buy respectability...