2007 – Page 19

The Education Ministry has announced that beginning on Tuesday the DR will be hosting the eighth annual Hispanic American Spelling Bee. Twenty countries will take part in the competition and will be taking place at Santo Domingo’s UASD University.

Several months after journalist Luis Eduardo “Huchi” Lora caused a stir by asking the Transport Reorganization Office (OPRET) to hand over the studies for the Santo Domingo Metro Project, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Lora and is forcing OPRET to release all documents about the Metro’s construction. Hoy writes that OPRET, and …

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According to a new study by civic group Participacion Ciudadana, the Dominican public feels that the National Police and the political parties are the country’s most corrupt entities. The Armed Forces, National Congress and Judicial Branch of government follow in the perception of most corrupt. The study found that 59% of Dominicans believe that corruption …

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PRD secretary general Orlando Jorge Mera is criticizing comments by Senate leader Reinaldo Pared Perez and Attorney General Radhames Jimenez about the Sun Land case, saying that their statements demonstrate that both are acting according to the wishes of President Leonel Fernandez. The PRD accuses the government of violating the Constitution by taking on a …

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Former PRSC presidential candidate and current Fourth Way presidential hopeful Eduardo Estrella has spoken out against the government’s plan to subsidize diesel for selected unionized transporters. Estrella was reacting to yesterday’s news that select drivers’ unions will now receive subsidized fuel depending on their routes. Each driver will pay RD$102 per gallon of fuel and …

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Although President George Bush vetoed a bill aimed at taxing tobacco importation and promised to veto any similar bills in future, politicians in the US have not given up on taxing tobacco as a way of funding a child healthcare program. Listin Diario reports that politicians now intend to propose a one-dollar tax on imported …

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Javier Aisa, director of the Dominican National Brewery (CND), says that accumulated sales of beer in October show that the CND has 92.34% of the total market share while Ambev has 7.19%. Imported beers make up just 0.47% of the total market share. Nonetheless in October Ambev recorded a record 11.5% of the market share. …

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The Ministry of Foreign Relations is denying reports that an advisor to the Dominican Embassy in Haiti and Consul to the Plateau Central based in Belladere, Andres Bocio Fortuna, was relieved of his diplomatic duties two months ago after an investigation revealed that he was suspected of forging visas used to traffic Haitians across the …

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The National Drug Control Department (DNCD) is reporting that 68 kilos of the drug haul found at the Multimodal Caucedo port on Tuesday turned out to be fake, which according to DNCD spokesperson Robert Lebron, shows that international drug rings cheat each other. Lebron said that about 488 kilos of drugs were actually genuine cocaine. …

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Sweeping the Latin Grammy awards ceremony wasn’t enough for Dominican singer-composer Juan Luis Guerra. After winning six Latin Grammy awards for his “La Llave de mi Corazon” production, he has now been nominated in the 50th Annual Grammy’s in Category 61, Best Tropical Latin Album. He is up against Cubanismo: Greetings from Havana; Issac Delgado: …

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