2007 – Page 120

President Leonel Fernandez’s eldest daughter Nicole Fernandez was admitted to intensive care at the Gynecology and Obstetric Clinic yesterday. Fernandez went to the clinic emergency room complaining of a sharp pain. No official word from family members or doctors on Nicole Fernandez’s condition has been given, despite requests from the press. Diario Libre reports that …

Read more…

Julio Cesar Castanos Guzman, president of the Central Electoral Board (JCE) warns that political parties are turning into big bureaucracies. As reported in Hoy, he said that the time would come when a cap to the amount of money that parties receive will need to be imposed. If not, they will get “astronomical sums.” Political …

Read more…

In today’s El Caribe columnist Miguel Guerrero comments on how Dominicans have consistently been known to cast their votes against candidates, instead of in their favor. He mentions that Dominicans voted for Guzman to get rid of Balaguer, and then went on to re-elect the latter, when wanting to rid the nation of the PRD. …

Read more…

Last week, the town of Las Galeras in Samana became the first part of the DR to benefit from clean electricity generated by wind power, according to Jose Oscar Orsini, president of Luz y Fuerza de Las Terrenas, C. por A. power company. The operation of the country’s first commercial wind-powered generator, a 60KW generator, …

Read more…

Haitian Ambassador Fritz Cineas has told Hoy newspaper that trade between Haiti and the DR is up this year. He said that official records show that Haiti imported US$147.9 million from the DR in 2006. This year, he expects imports to increase to US$160 million, given that the half-year figure is around US$75 million. He …

Read more…

In the continuation of the state prosecutors’ closing arguments in the case against Baninter executives and advisors, Judges Antonio Sanchez Mejia, Pilar Rufino and Esmirna Giselle Mendez heard lawyers Lorenzo Fermin and Ramon Pina Acevedo, who represented the state monetary and financial authorities and rejected conclusions presented by prosecutors yesterday calling for 20- and 6-year …

Read more…

US Coast Guard authorities have announced that anyone who enters the US illegally will be sentenced to 20 years in jail and a maximum fine of US$250,000.The Coast Guard says that since it implemented a bio-metric identification system, 42 small vessels have been intercepted and data on 1,134 people has been recorded. Since the program …

Read more…

Dominican-Haitian Women’s Movement (MUDHA) coordinator Sonia Pierre doesn’t agree with recent statements by Haitian Ambassador to the DR Fritz Cineas, who told Hoy newspaper that children born to non-resident Haitian parents in the DR are Haitians, not Dominicans. She says that the Haitian Constitution doesn’t have jurisdiction in the DR and that the Haitian constitution …

Read more…

The discovery of an “exquisitely preserved orchid pollinarium attached to an extinct stingless bee preserved in a piece of amber, has led scientists to conclude that the flower is older than once believed. The discovery of the bee and the pollen indicates that orchids could have been around during the time of dinosaurs, 80 million …

Read more…

Education Minister Alejandrina German has defended the quality of the Dominican educational system, saying that the improvements are due in part to the government’s efforts. German says that the quality of education has improved also due to long-standing strategic alliances between several business institutions and Dominican civil society. German, responding to criticisms about the deficiencies …

Read more…