2004 – Page 175

The Diario Libre reports that the Dominican economy took a step backwards in the month of May due to an increase in current expenses, monetary emissions and money in circulation. According to a report from the Finance Ministry, central government expenses stood at RD$48.5 billion and current expenses were RD$38.08 billion. Financial emissions accounted for …

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The Dominican Republic?s highest Catholic official, Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez, was not a happy person yesterday, as he made a series of statements to reporters from all of the nation?s newspapers. Over the weekend the cardinal was asked to remove his shoes, belt and jacket by security personnel at the Santo Domingo airport …

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The National Emergency Commission (CNE) now confirms in its Bulletin No. 5 that the official death toll due to this weekend?s flooding is greater than the 104 bodies found as of noontime, including adults and children, both Haitians and Dominicans. El Caribe newspaper reports that 95 of the fatalities occurred at around 2:30am on Monday, …

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The National Weather Department predicts that the rains will continue at least through Wednesday. Their report indicates that a low-pressure system located in front of the southern coast of Haiti and a tropical wave have interacted with a large tropical wave that is moving over the Mona Channel between the DR and Puerto Rico. ?These …

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The Diario Libre ?Rosca Izquierda? cartoon celebrates today the virtue of Dominican adaptability and its entrepreneurial spirit. The character Rosca, while holding up an oar with one hand and proudly showing his ?yola? or rowboat, tells his friend, who is using an umbrella to cover from the rain: ?To have success in business one has …

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The confirmed deaths of 19 children under the age of seven due to diphtheria during the first four months of the year points to the breakdown of the governmental vaccination program under Public Health Minister Rafael Soldevila. Diphtheria is a completely preventable disease with aid of a low-cost vaccination. Hospitals nationwide nevertheless say that 35 …

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Hoy newspaper speculates that the reason why the last 39 Dominican soldiers en route home from Iraq are stranded on the small island of Santa Ana, Portugal is because the Armed Forces Ministry lacks the funds to pay for their return tickets. The newspaper says the ministry should start a national drive to raise the …

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With three months to go before the end of his term, President Hipolito Mejia has appointed a new general consul in New York City. Radhames Abreu, the husband of leading PRD leading pollster and full-time re-election political advisor Ana Maria Acevedo, will hold the position from 25 May through 16 August 2004, or until replaced …

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Hoy newspaper spotlights today the name change of the highest peak in the Caribbean, from Pico Duarte to Pico Trujillo, as part of the changes contained in the Sectoral Protected Areas Bill. The bill, while highly controversial for the modifications it makes to the National Park lands, was approved by the PRD-majority Congress, with the …

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While President Hipolito Mejia has stated that he ?is still the President? regarding the signing of the revisions to the Sectoral Protected Areas Bill, he is delegating his responsibilities for the tax reform bill to the next government. This is despite the fact the Mejia government pledged to the IMF it would submit the bill …

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