Tuesday, September 01, 2009 KUALA LUMPUR: A French climber dubbed "Spiderman" for his ropeless ascents of some of the world's highest skyscrapers scaled a Malaysian tower he had tried to ascend twice before, and was then arrested.Alain Robert, 47, used the cover of pre-dawn darkness to avoid detection from security guards at the 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers, and reached the top floor in around an hour and 45 minutes."I did try twice to climb, and climbing to the top is one of my dreams. It's a bit like a love story, not only about climbing the tallest building to make it official but about completing something unfinished," Robert told foreign news agency ahead of the climb.
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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