World’s top alcohol consuming countries

Citizens of the post-Soviet Republic of Moldova are the biggest guzzlers of alcohol, gulping exactly 18.22 liters per person every year. They drink nearly three times the global average of 6.1 litres per person per year. The country is a major wine producer, with many people drinking cheap homemade wine, vodka and other spirits and the Moldovan intake was made up roughly equally of wine, spirits and beer.

Sandy forces three carmakers to scrap 15,000 cars

 Toyota Motor, Chrysler, Nissan and Honda plan to scrap about 15,000 vehicles damaged by Hurricane Sandy as automakers and dealers continue assessing the storm's impact, said media reports.

Travis Parman, spokesman of Nissan Motor Co, said late Tuesday it is estimated more than 6,000 Nissan and luxury Infiniti brand cars and light trucks are "un-saleable" due to the storm. As many as 200,000 may have to be replaced, said Larry Dixon, a senior analyst for the National Automobile Dealers Association.

Sandy, the biggest Atlantic storm in US history, impacted New Jersey, New York and the surrounding region, leading to at least 100 deaths, reported Xinhua.

According to the Detroit News, Fisker Automotive Inc., a startup maker of luxury plug-in hybrids, lost 320 of its $103,000 Karma sedans at the port of Newark, New Jersey, that burned in a fire triggered by salt water, said Roger Ormisher, a spokesman for the California-based company.

"We don't have a full estimate of the cost to replace them yet," Ormisher said. The cars were being processed at the port for delivery to Fisker dealers when the storm arrived.

Some 4,000 Toyota and Lexus vehicles were at the company's port facility in Newark when the storm hit, said Jana Hartline, spokeswoman for Toyota's US unit in Torrance, California.

Chrysler lost about 750 vehicles in dealer stock due to the hurricane damage, said Ralph Kisiel, a spokesman for the Auburn Hills-based carmaker that's majority-owned by Fiat SpA. Ford Motor Co.could not immediately provide estimates for storm damage.

Kingfisher Airlines posts net loss; pressure mounts

Debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines put on a brave face on Thursday after announcing a record loss for the second quarter, saying a recovery plan is in the works and its grounded jets will take to the skies soon.

The airline, which has struggled to pay its staff for most of the year and has not flown for over a month due to protests and safety concerns, has never turned a profit in its eight-year history. According to one estimate, it is saddled with roughly $2.5 billion in debt.

The figures got even worse on Thursday for a company that has been on life support for months.

Second-quarter results showed a loss of 7.54 billion rupees, compared with a loss of 4.69 billion rupees a year earlier. Revenue declined 87 percent to 2 billion rupees.

Despite the company's pledge on Thursday to produce a comprehensive recovery plan, some analysts doubt that what was once India's second-largest carrier will fly again.

Creditors have set a November 30 deadline for Kingfisher to bring in fresh equity or an investor, the chairman of State Bank of India, its lead lender, told Reuters. He did not say what would happen if the demand was not met.

"Options? It is already bankrupt, I don't think there is any option," said a Mumbai-based aviation analyst with a local brokerage.

"If a promoter can put in money, then possibly the company can be revived, but we are talking about very large amounts of money, 30-40 billion rupees," said the analyst, who did not wish to be identified because he no longer covers the company.

A Kingfisher spokesman refused to comment.

Kingfisher has been scrambling without success to find fresh investment. No global airline has publicly expressed an interest in buying a stake.

The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation has said a fully funded turnaround for Kingfisher would cost at least $1 billion.