Saturday, November 28, 2009 TOKYO: Japan on Saturday launched a next-generation spy satellite as part of efforts to beef up its surveillance system against the threat of North Korea's missiles, officials said.An H-2A rocket carrying the nation's No. 3 Information Gathering Satellite was launched Saturday morning from Tanegashima Space Centre on Tanegashima island, southwestern Japan, the officials said."We successfully separated the satellite from the rocket and put it into orbit," said Toshimitsu Ozeki, an official of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which built the rocket.The government-run satellite will replace the first model, with an advanced optical device to distinguish objects on the ground with a resolution of some 60 centimetres (24 inches), the officials and local media said.The new satellite will undergo a performance trial for about three months before starting fully-fledged operations, Kyodo News reported.The launch is the nation's latest effort to build an intelligence-gathering system following North Korea's missile launch in 1998 over the Japanese archipelago.In defiance of international pressure, North Korea launched again what was believed to be a three-stage Taepodong-2 missile in April, with an estimated range of 6,700 kilometers (4,100 miles).Japan currently operates two optical satellites and a radar satellite, while planning to add another radar satellite by March 2013 to complete the system so that it will be able to monitor designated places on the Earth once a day.The satellite launched Saturday cost about 48.7 billion yen (580 million dollars) for research and development and around 9.4 billion yen for manufacturing and the launch, Kyodo said.
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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