2007 – Page 124

The president cabinet changes coincide with the publishing of an August Gallup-Hoy poll that shows the popularity and perception of the Fernandez administration sliding. According to the poll, 31% classed Leonel’s performance over the last three years as positive, but 42% consider it to have been negative. Of those polled, 29% described his presidency as …

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The negative nature of the results of the recent Gallup-Hoy poll on the last three years of President Leonel Fernandez’s presidency weren’t enough to stop Economic, Planning and Development Minster Temistocles Montas from saying that if elections were to be held today, the PLD and its candidate Leonel Fernandez would win. Speaking in San Cristobal, …

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Police Chief Bernardo Santana Paez, who served in the post for two years, was appointed police affairs advisor to the President. In his place, Major General Rafael Guillermo Guzman Fermin was appointed to replace the many times softly-spoken Santana. Diario Libre reports in his first comments after his appointments, Guzman says he is making a …

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The DR was spared the worst of dangerous Hurricane Dean. Life went about as usual in most of the DR and most Dominicans continued with their long weekend vacation plans. Dean did not affect the north and east coasts. In the southeast, some debris was thrown on to beaches in Juan Dolio, but this was …

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The US Trade Representative Office (USTR) has increased the DR’s sugar export quota to 185,335 metric tons per year. This came as the USTR designated sugar quotas for 40 countries for the 2008 fiscal year, which begins on 1 October. Listin Diario reports that the DR and Brazil were the countries that received the highest …

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A group of Dominican legislators have rejected the US Congress’s approval for increasing a new tax on hand-rolled cigars on sale in the US because the move would have an adverse effect on the Dominican cigar industry. Deputies Victor Bisono, Abel Martinez, Dilsio Nunez, Ulises Rodriguez and Marino Collante have sent a letter to US …

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The DR is increasing its regional participation and Foreign Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso will take part in the Third Ministers Meeting for the Latin American-East Asian Cooperation Forum (FOCALAE). During this event the DR will be officially admitted into the interregional organization. The event will take place in Brazil on 22 and 23 August.

Today is the first day of the new school year and an expected 2,463,130 million students will be back in the classrooms. This is a total of 68,756 students less than the 2006-07 school year. President Leonel Fernandez is heading an official opening ceremony at 8am today. In preparation for the beginning of the school …

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The Dominican Postal Institute (INPOSDOM) has received a new X-ray machine from the US Postal Service. The new machine will help increase security when receiving and sending packages. The staff members who will use the machine were also given training on how to operate it. The Real Time Radiography 4 is worth some RD$2 million.

Dominican swimmer Marcos Diaz has achieved what many would consider impossible and took one step closer to becoming one of the greatest open water swimmers of all time. Diaz embarked on the challenge of swimming twice around the island of Manhattan, and completed the feat on Sunday after 22 hours of continuous swimming in the …

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