Wednesday, October 21, 2009 VIENNA: Nuclear talks between Iran and world powers here are "making progress," albeit "slower than expected" but a deal was "possible", UN watchdog chief Mohamed El-Baradei said Tuesday."We spent the whole day today in bilateral and trilateral consultations," ElBaradei told reporters after around an hour of talks. "We still hope to be able to reach an agreement. It's a complex process," he said. "There are technical aspects, many technical issues that we have to hammer out. It is of course a question of confidence buiding, of guarantees. "I think and I believe that we are making progress. It is maybe slower than I expected but we are moving forward and we are going to meet tomorrow at 10:00 am."
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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