2008 – Page 157

If you get married, there is a better than 50% chance you will get divorced. According to Father Luis Rosario, the national coordinator for youth guidance for the Catholic Church, more than 50% of those that get married, get divorced, and this does not even count the thousands that live in common law relationships and …

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President Leonel Fernandez met with the Vice President of the Andalucian City Hall, Gaspar Zarrias yesterday. Zarrias is in the DR to donate EU2 million (RD$114 million) for the reconstruction of infrastructure damaged in Monte Cristi during last year’s tropical storms Noel and Olga. The funds were agreed upon after a visit Dominican Vice President …

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The Cuban National Ballet will perform for the festivities marking the third period of President Leonel Fernandez on 16 August, according to the Cuban News Agency. Legendary Cuban prima ballerina Alicia Alonso has prepared a new work as homage to the 145th anniversary of the beginning of the Restoration War (that marked independence from Spain) …

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Luisa Fernandez, director of the National Free Trade Zone Council (CNZFE) announced that Dominican free trade zones (FTZ) will get a big boost as of 15 August when two of the three mechanisms incorporated to enhance their competitiveness under the DR-CAFTA come into effect. The mechanisms are expected to foster growth and help the sector …

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President Leonel Fernandez announced yesterdays that the Comptroller General and the National Treasury will form a commission to temporarily run the Chamber of Accounts, the government body in charge of auditing government departments. The Chamber of Accounts was left without management when eight of its nine presiding members resigned and one was fired after Congress …

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The government has created the Nuclear Regulatory Authority in charge of all things nuclear in the DR. The commission is entrusted with guaranteeing the safe handling of all nuclear goods used in the DR. National Energy Commission (CNE) president Aristides Fernando Zucco says Argentinean nuclear expert Raul Racana leads the team of experts that are …

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Education Minister Alejandrina German continues to make headlines regarding the nutritional quality of drinks her department purchases for public school children. The latest development carried by Hoy newspaper focuses on her criticism to the press for its handling of her statements. But Hoy today stands by what it had published on the minister changing the …

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The National Drug Control Department (DNCD) says that in the past 23 months it has fired more than 5,000 agents who were found to be involved with drugs and other crimes. DNCD president Rafael Ramirez Ferreira that the firings are part of a purge that began two years ago. Ramirez explained the purge is difficult …

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Luis Sanchez Nobel, president of the National Business Council (Conep) Education Commission, questioned the quality of instruction at schools and says that they are graduating students with little skills to show for their degrees. In an interview in Hoy, Sanchez called for a revision of subjects taught at schools. Sanchez feels that schools should be …

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According to Secretary of State for the European Union in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Diego Lopez Garrido the EU has no intentions of mass deporting of immigrants from Spain, or from Europe for that matter. He added that contrary to popular belief, immigrants aren’t going to worsen the situation in Europe. Lopez …

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