2006 – Page 49

President Leonel Fernandez inaugurated the first annual Dominican Film Festival at the Eduardo Brito Hall at the National Theater yesterday, and commended the works of many artists who have contributed to the Dominican community through cinema. Fernandez was accompanied by his wife Margarita Cedeno, actors Judge Reinhold and Andy Garcia, and Dominican actress Zoe Saldana, …

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The IMF has recommended that the Dominican government increase the ITBIS (VAT) tax from 16 to 18%, tax all bank money withdrawals, and tax almost all goods including fuel, fertilizers, laboratory pharmaceutical acquisitions, books and magazines. The IMF also suggested a 15% tax on money received, 2% on the value of imports, and an increase …

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A part of the IMF agreement, the National Organizer for European Development Funds (ONFED), Presidential Office for Information Technology and Communications (OPTIC), and National Office for Administration and Personnel (ONAP) will all have to be eliminated. Listin Diario writes that their responsibilities will be transferred to the new Planning and Development Ministry, which will be …

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An article published in today’s Hoy newspaper says that the DR industrial market’s competitiveness has deteriorated over the last six or seven years due to increases in the costs of energy, transitory taxes, and five fiscal reforms that have weighed heavily on the industrial sector. Rafael Alvarez Crespo, president of the Haina Business Association, said …

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The date set by the Contract Renegotiation Committee has come and gone for the energy distributors to decide whether or not they will renegotiate the Madrid Accord, and only 4 of the 10 energy companies have submitted a response, leaving the process temporarily stalled. Committee coordinator and Dominican Electricity Company (CDEEE) vice president Radhames Segura …

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Diario Libre is reporting that the Department for the Prevention of Administrative Corruption (DEPRECO) will handle the pension theft case that was reported on Tuesday. DEPRECO Director Octavio Lister announced that his office will take control of the case in which staff at the Pensions and Retired Persons Office were caught stealing pensions totaling over …

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In spite of strong opposition from students and a tense situation on campus, teachers and employees at UASD began a 72-hour work stoppage yesterday at the nation’s oldest university as a response to the administration’s failure to find a solution to the health insurance issue. Dean Roberto Reyna described the teachers’ decision as “irresponsible” and …

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The National Drug Control Department (DNCD) have announced another round of mass staff dismissals. Since August 16 they have removed 600 officers from duty for various infringements of the law. DNCD head Rafael Ramirez said that illegal behavior will not be tolerated at the DNCD and is quoted in El Caribe newspaper as saying that …

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A delegation of Taiwanese reporters has arrived in the country, and the group paid a visit to Chief of Police Bernardo Santana Paez yesterday, to discuss the murder of two Taiwanese students in the DR over the weekend. The two students, Hoo Cheng Yin (22) and Gon Cheng Juey (19), were murdered last Saturday, and …

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The French government has donated EUR750,000 to the Dominican government for development projects in the province of Elias Pina that is on the border with Haiti. Presidential Technical Secretary Temistocles Montas accepted the funds on behalf of the state from French Ambassador to the DR Cecile Pozzo di Borgo during a ceremony at the Hermanas …

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