Tuesday, June 02, 2009 MOGADISHU: A roadside bomb and more fighting between insurgents and government forces have killed at least 38 more people in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, a local rights group and residents said on Monday. In the worst fighting this year in the war-scarred coastal city, al Shabaab rebels have been battling Somali police and soldiers in mortar and machine-gun exchanges that have sent tens of thousands of residents fleeing Mogadishu. The battle to control the city is the biggest test to date for the new government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed --himself a moderate Islamist -- which was formed in January under a U.N.-brokered reconciliation process in neighbouring Djibouti. The violence has drawn in several hundred foreign militants, experts say, as well as fuelling a humanitarian crisis, allowing piracy to flourish offshore, and perpetuating a cycle of civil conflict since the 1991 fall of a Somali dictator. In a favoured tactic of the rebels, a roadside bomb on Monday killed at least 10 people, including four officers, police said. "The bomb hit the car badly and some of the dead bodies could not be recognised," said Abdiqadir Odweyne, a senior police officer. The local Elman Peace and Human Rights Organisation said that brought to at least 38 the number killed in the last 48hours in Mogadishu. About 70 have died in the last two weeks. Most of the latest fatalities were combatants, though at least 13 civilians had also died, Elman deputy Ali Yasin Gedi said. "I have seen 10 dead people including government soldiers and militants lying near Yaqshid police station," meat-seller and mother-of-three Halima Ali said. "The fighting started yesterday and continued to this morning. The militants were chased away but they are likely to come back."
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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