Tuesday, September 01, 2009 LOS CABOS: Hurricane Jimena grew into a highly dangerous storm as it raced toward Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Monday, scaring tourists, prompting residents to sandbag homes and disrupting a top-level finance conference. Jimena's winds strengthened to nearly 155 mph (250 kph), almost reaching the threshold of a deadly Category 5 storm, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Category 5 hurricanes are the top of the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale and can be devastating if they hit land. Caterina Acevedo in Los Cabos, a lively resort area at the tip of the peninsula. "This one is really scary but when I tried to leave there were no seats on the planes," she added. Much of Baja California is sparsely populated desert and mountains that are popular with nature lovers, surfers, sport fishermen and retirees. Los Cabos, which is more built up,attracts tourists to its golf courses, resorts and beaches.
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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