2007 – Page 21

The National Drug Control Department (DNCD) is reporting that 68 kilos of the drug haul found at the Multimodal Caucedo port on Tuesday turned out to be fake, which according to DNCD spokesperson Robert Lebron, shows that international drug rings cheat each other. Lebron said that about 488 kilos of drugs were actually genuine cocaine. …

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Sweeping the Latin Grammy awards ceremony wasn’t enough for Dominican singer-composer Juan Luis Guerra. After winning six Latin Grammy awards for his “La Llave de mi Corazon” production, he has now been nominated in the 50th Annual Grammy’s in Category 61, Best Tropical Latin Album. He is up against Cubanismo: Greetings from Havana; Issac Delgado: …

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Behind a strong performance by Jose Reyes, the Estrellas beat Escogido 2-0. In other baseball action the Gigantes beat the Azucareros 3-1 and are now five games away from classifying for the winter league post-season. The victory by the Gigantes pushed them to a first place tie with Licey. Current Standings Team Win Lost Percent …

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Last night President Leonel Fernandez turned on the holiday lights and decorations at the Presidential Palace and sent the Dominican people a message of peace, love, prosperity and happiness for 2008. For the ceremony, the Youth Symphony Orchestra played Christmas carols on the front lawn. A Nativity play was also performed. Fernandez, his wife Margarita …

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President Leonel Fernandez has agreed to hand over 8% of expected 2008 fiscal revenues to the country’s municipalities. According to the law, city governments receive 10% of these revenues. In 2007, city governments received 6.42% of fiscal revenues. The RD$14.9 billion sum is RD$1.3 billion more than was allocated in 2007. Fernandez also instructed the …

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The Ministry of Hacienda has disbursed RD$194.7 million to 250 free trade zone firms acting on instructions in Decree 552-07 that creates the Job Preservation and Creation Fund. Hacienda Minister Vicente Bengoa explained that a first installment of RD$194,754,000 was disbursed on 8 October and that the government will make a monthly RD$2,000 transfer for …

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A Paraguayan delegation of business leaders and Ministry of Industry and Commerce representatives recently visited the DR to study the experiences the country has had in the preparation of the National Competitiveness Plan, which was drafted by the National Competitiveness Council. Carlos Peralta, coordinator of the mission and PYMES (Small and Medium-sized Business) program coordinator …

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Government officials are meeting with an International Monetary Fund mission today to discuss the budget and government spending for 2008. Hacienda Minister Vicente Bengoa said the plan is to present the budget to Congress by next week. Bengoa said that the full amount of the budget would be revealed at some point next week, because …

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The Chamber of Deputies has approved a bill granting government employees an annual “extra” bonus. The additional paycheck is intended for the purchase of children’s school supplies. Diario Libre reports that the bonus will not be taxed. According to the proposal submitted by PRSC Deputy Luis Jose Gonzalez Sanchez, government employees who earn a minimum …

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CNTU union leader Ramon Perez Figuereo has announced that the unions and Ministry of Industry and Commerce have come to an agreement on the distribution of subsidized fuel to drivers, according to the routes they serve and not the unions they belong to. This provides a structure to the one million gallons of subsidized government …

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