2005 – Page 23

The National Choir is closing its 50th anniversary celebrations with a series of Christmas concerts at different locations around Santo Domingo. Hoy reports that the program, which lasts from December 1st to the 18th, will include Christmas carols and will be conducted by Professor Jose Enrique Espin. The choir will perform on Thursday, 1st December, …

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Major reports in all of the nation’s papers are pointing to ever-increasing pressure from President Leonel Fernandez to get the tax reform through Congress. Meeting at the Internal Revenue offices as well as at the Customs Department, together with meetings with congressional leaders all point towards a renewed effort to get the legislation on track. …

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The Director General of the Customs Department ordered all cars that are five years old or older to be returned by their consignees, to their original destinations. If they are not shipped out within ten days the Customs officials will seize the vehicles. The same decree also applies to electric equipment currently at the different …

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Next year, the Dominican government is proposing to spend US$88 billion on social programs, mainly in the health and education fields, as part of its RD$225 billion budget. The projected budget currently being worked on by the Budget Office will be RD$36 billion more than the 2005 budget. In spite of the increase in social …

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The Dominican foreign debt has risen by more than 75% during the last four years, hitting US$6.448 billion during the first half of 2005. This is up from US$3.679 billion in the year 2000. These numbers were released by the Ministry of Finance Department of Public Credit, and show a total increase of US$2.769 billion …

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The application of the terms of the free trade agreement with the United States is likely to adversely affect some sectors of the Dominican economy, but others, such as the forestry sector, could do well. The nation imports US$300 million is forest products each year and the local forestry sector supplies just 12% of the …

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Economist, diplomat and writer Bernardo Vega was in the United States carrying out some speaking engagements in Washington and New York. He watched the exit of Father Ruquoy and the priest’s interrogation by the Minister of the Interior and the Police, Franklin Almeyda. According to Vega, it has been over 40 years since the Dominican …

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The senator for Santiago Rodriguez, Dario Gomez was gunned down at a friend’s house on 11 December 2001, later dying of the gunshot wounds inflicted that night. On Saturday, magistrate Alexis Geraldino sentenced the men who shot Gomez to 30-year jail terms, the maximum allowed under Dominican penal law. The prosecutor also asked for the …

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Lisbet Binet, the woman who gave birth to a set of quadruplets this weekend, had not been treated with fertility drugs, according to her doctor Claudia Rincon Tatis. The physician who attended her during her final three weeks, Dr. Jose Garrido Calderon had spoken to the press about the effects of fertility medication on multiple …

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While baseball teams in the frozen north are busy wheeling and dealing, the Dominican Winter Baseball League is getting hotter and hotter. Last weekend the Aguilas Cibaenas extended their winning streak to four games, shutting out the Tigres del Licey 9-0 in the “Valley of Death”, the Cibao Stadium. The Aguilas starting pitcher was big …

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