2007 – Page 24

Potatoes growers in the DR are asking negotiators to keep potatoes out of the negotiations for a free trade agreement with Canada. Trade negotiations with Canada are to begin between 10 and 15 of December in Ottawa. Hoy explains that the growers want high duties on vegetables, and potatoes in particular, since Canada is considered …

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The SACTP transport union is threatening a work stoppage if the companies that contract their services don’t raise salaries to RD$15,000 and give drivers 40% of commissions per trip. Hoy writes that the transport of liquid propane gas (GLP) is at a standstill throughout the country. SACTP secretary general Clemente Morillo Uribe says that the …

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Abraham Lincoln Avenue, one of Santo Domingo’s busiest thoroughfares, is being repaved this week. The work is part of a city- wide effort to repave roads and a special schedule has been put in place to prevent large traffic jams. Public Works Minister Victor Diaz says that the paving began before Tropical Storm Noel and …

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Today, Hacienda Minister Vicente Bengoa will meet with Shell Oil Company executives to continue discussing the sale of Shell’s 50% share in the Dominican Petroleum Refinery (REFIDOMSA). Diario Libre says that three Shell officials have arrived in the DR and initial reports indicated that the sales tag for Shell’s shares was US$183 million.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) has begun the second stage of its International Child Labor Eradication Program in the DR. The ILO has a RD$25 million budget, which will go towards helping an estimated 5,100 children who are forced into child labor. Program coordinator Elias Dinzey explained that the second phase includes education services, vocational …

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Over 14 months after the Blacksmith Institute’s report placed Paraiso de Dios, Haina as one of the world’s 10 most polluted places on earth, nothing much has been done to tackle the situation. Diario Libre writes that Blacksmith, the Public Health and Environmental Ministries have met with the manufacturing plant Metaloxa on several occasions to …

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The PLD is asking the Central Electoral Board (JCE) to reject the request by the PRD and PRSC to formally launch presidential campaigning in December. Electoral Law 275-97 establishes that the JCE will open the electoral campaign “no later than 90 days before election day.” The presidential elections are set for 16 May 2008. The …

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Former Vice President Milagros Ortiz Bosch has announced that she is joining Miguel Vargas Maldonado’s presidential campaign. Ortiz Bosch, a former rival for the PRD party presidential nomination had challenged Vargas Maldonado’s victory in the primary. She was appointed to head the Presidential Commission for Campaign Support and Follow-up in the National District, and the …

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Marianne Cruz Gonzalez was crowned Miss Dominican Republic 2008 last night and will go on to represent the DR in the Miss Universe pageant. This year she was chosen from eight finalists who competed in a televised show. Miss DR was the runner up in last year’s contest. Twenty-two year old Cruz was representing the …

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Some of the country’s best and most authentic arts and crafts are on sale starting today at a crafts market in Parque Colon, opposite the Santo Domingo Cathedral in the Colonial City.