Saturday, October 10, 2009 LAGOS: Between 70 and 80 people were killed when a fuel tanker truck exploded after hitting a pothole on a road in southern Nigeria, several newspapers said on Saturday.The truck overturned and exploded after hitting a pothole on Friday on the road between Onitsha and Enugu, witnesses and police told the papers, torching vehicles including five packed minibuses. Anambra state road safety director Ben Ekenna admitted local roads were in a bad state and was quoted as saying that "if something isn't done quickly, tragedies like this will happen again." Accidents on Nigeria's poorly-maintained inter-city roads are common.
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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