Wednesday, November 25, 2009 WASHINGTON-While President Barack Obama held talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Kashmiris and Sikhs gathered in front of the White House on Tuesday to protest New Delhi’s repression in the Indian-occupied Kashmir and Punjab.Hundreds of Kashmiri men, women and children living in Washington metro area staged a peace rally to press their demands for a resolution of the decades-old Kashmir dispute. The participants carried anti-India placards reminding the world of the urgency to help resolve the Kashmir conflict.They urged President Obama to persuade New Delhi towards resolution of the lingering Jammu and Kashmir dispute and fulfil his 2008 election campaign pledge.The participants urged an end to human rights abuses in the heavily militarised Indian Held Kashmir.Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, Exective Director of the Kashmiri-American Council, emphasised that the Kashmir dispute remains key to long-term stability in South Asia. He pointed out that this fact about the centrality of Kashmir resolution to South Asian peace has been recognised by all fair-minded and objective international security and political affairs experts.‘Kashmir is one of the oldest disputes recognised by the UN but the Indian leaders don’t want the US President to talk about it — and our peace rally is meant to draw attention to the urgent need for efforts toward a fair settlement’, Dr Fai added. ‘Kashmir is recognised by the UN as a disputed territory whose status is yet to be determined by its people’, he 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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