Friday, September 04, 2009 HILLA: At least five people were killed and nearly 100 were wounded in a swathe of attacks across Iraq on Thursday, police said. Three worshippers died and 51 others were injured when a bomb exploded at a Shiite tomb in Musayyib, 55 kilometres (34 miles) south of Baghdad in Babil province, said a police officer based in provincial capital Hilla. At Mahauil, 80 kilometres south of the capital, a booby-trapped car near another Shiite tomb killed two people and wounded nine others, the officer said. Eight people were hurt when a bomb went off at a market in Aun, a small community near the holy city of Kerbala, 110 kilometres south of Baghdad. In Baghdad's Sunni neighbourhood of Azamiya a bomb targeting Sunni Sahwa militia men wounded four of them and four civilians. A car bomb at Dora on the southern edge of the city injured a Sahwa officer and four of his bodyguards. Five civilians were hurt in a bombing at Kasra in northern Baghdad. In Baquba ten people including two children were wounded when a booby-trapped car exploded in the town centre as a police patrol went past, police 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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