Saturday, June 13, 2009 WASHINGTON: The launch of space shuttle Endeavour has been cancelled due to a hydrogen leak, Nasa officials have announced.Endeavour was due to take off from Cape Canaveral with seven astronauts at 0717 local time (1117 GMT), but was cancelled several hours beforehand. The problem was discovered during fuelling, before the astronauts had donned their spacesuits. The shuttle was to deliver equipment for space experiments, as well as drop off a new station crewmember. The ship would have taken three days to reach the International Space Station, where six astronauts work. It was to deliver the final components of Japan's Kibo laboratory.
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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