Tuesday, September 22, 2009 TEHRAN: Iran on Monday welcomed the US move to abandon plans for a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe and denied that the Islamic republic posed a missile threat, Geo News reported."The Islamic republic welcomes any action that serves to decrease arms races," it quoted foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi as saying.US President Barack Obama last week announced he would shelve plans to site parts of a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, and instead deploy more mobile equipment targeting Iran's short- and medium-range missiles.Ghashghavi called baseless and unsubstantiated the idea that the missile plan had been to counter a military threat from Iran."The claim that Iran is a missile threat was made by the United States with political, opportunist and domineering intentions," he said.Ghashghavi put the original shield plan down to "missile competition between Russia and the United States, and in order to expand the big power's penetration into central European countries."On Sunday Obama denied that Russian objections had influenced his decision to abandon the shield plans launched by his predecessor's administration.
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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