NABLUS: Three Palestinian police officers and one Hamas militant were killed in an exchange of gunfire on Sunday in the northern West Bank town of Qalqilya, Palestinian police said.The policemen were killed while they were attempting to arrest Mohammad Yassine, a member of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, who had barricaded himself in his home. Two other police officers were killed in the exchange of gunfire. A curfew was imposed on the town following the incident, said the police. Hamas, a bitter rival of the Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, violently ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip in June 2007, effectively limiting Abbas's rule to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
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...
Comments