ALEXANDRIA: Egyptian police on Thursday arrested 64 members of the opposition party Akhwan-ul-Muslimeen for organising protests against the siege of the Gaza Strip.The arrests were made during dawn raids in the northern city of Alexandria, the Suez Canal town of Ismailya and other governorates in the Nile Delta, the website of Akhwan-ul-Muslimeen said. It was not immediately possible to confirm the number of arrests with security officials.Earlier this week, police arrested 28 Brothers "for membership of an illegal organisation and possession of banned literature," a security official said.The Muslim Brotherhood (Akhwan-ul-Muslimeen), which calls for an Islamic state in Egypt through peaceful means, is officially banned by the government but fields independent candidates in parliamentary and municipal elections.The movement won a fifth of seats in the 2005 parliamentary election, which observers said was marred by police intervention and fraud.Police have arrested dozens of the Islamists this year and also barred some of their leadership from travelling abroad.
Sunday, February 28, 2010 HAVANA: Hundreds of wealthy merchants and cigar aficionados from all parts of the world gathered in Havana this week to bid high stakes for humidors full of premium cigars. Cuba's annual Habanos festival ended on Friday night with an auction of ornate humidors of cedar and mahogany stacked with hand-rolled stogies that raised 800,000 euros ($1.09 million dollars). Habanos S.A. executives this month said cigar sales fell 8 percent to $360 million in 2009, so they have created the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, aimed specifically at female smokers. Women now make up only 5 to 10 percent of customers for Habanos. But even with the creation of the Julieta, Garcia said Habanos has only modest hopes for 2010 sales, due largely to a weak economy in Spain, the biggest market for Cuban cigars. The flavor of premium tobacco relies on the soil and climate in which it is grown. The western province of Pinar Del Rio, famous fo...
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