Friday, September 04, 2009 BELGRADE: Explosions ripped through a munitions factory in northern Serbia on Thursday killing seven people and injuring 14 others, officials said."Seven employees, six women and one man, were killed in the explosions" that rocked the Prvi Partizan plant in Uzice, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said on a private television after visiting the scene.Fourteen people suffered light injuries and had been taken to hospital, he added. The cause of the explosions has yet to be determined, said Dacic.The bodies were pulled from the debris, said police official Predrag Maric, adding that firefighters had put out the resulting blaze."A more serious catastrophe was avoided as some 100 people were located in the factory at the moment of the explosions," he said.
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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