Saturday, November 28, 2009 BEIJING: Ten passengers died on Saturday when a bus caught caught fire in China's northeastern province of Heilongjiang, a local news agency reported. The agency cited emergency officials in Zhaoyuan county as saying the driver of the bus had detected something wrong and stopped the vehicle before the blaze broke out. Seven people managed to escape the bus, which had been in operation for only one month. It was the latest in a series of bus disasters in China. On November 13, 13 people were killed when a tour bus veered off a bridge and plunged into the sea in the eastern province of Shandong. In June an unemployed 62-year-old man set fire to a bus in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, killing 27 passengers and injuring 74, state media reported.
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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