2012 – Page 290

The National Business Council (Conep) has criticized the state of the nation address by President Leonel Fernandez at the National Assembly on 27 February for being more of a comparative memoir of his past eight years in government rather than a rendering of accounts, as ordered by the Constitution. Section 128 of the 2010 Constitution …

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The Transport Reorganization Office (OPRET) has announced that the Las Americas highway will be closed from 1 to 4 March between the Juan Carlos Bridge and the toll area. OPRET executive director Diandino Pena said that the highway’s temporary closure would allow work to begin on the elevated section where the Las Americas highway meets …

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The Judiciary Council (CPJ), chaired by recently appointed Mariano German Mejia, has dismissed two of its judges for having committed serious offences in the course of their duties. The judges are Adolfo Oscar Caraballo Merino from Higuey, and Altagracia Sanchez Molina from La Romana. The latter is accused of bribing a British company asking for …

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A prominent Santiago lawyer, Jose Miguel Minier, held an impromptu press conference yesterday Tuesday February 28 at the Palace of Justice in Santiago. He said that Marcos Martinez had told him that a high-level PRD committee had given him the documents with details of a supposed bank account in euros in the name of the …

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Police figures indicate that there were 3,152 homicides during 2011, which include 642 suicides, and that 49,874 people appeared before the courts. As well as the murders and suicides 350 people drowned, 193 were electrocuted and 74 were victims of fire. A total of 6,091 people were injured by gunshots, although that does not include …

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The National Drug Control Department (DNCD) announced yesterday Tuesday 28 February that a French citizen had been arrested with around four kilos of cocaine at the Las Americas International airport (AILA) before boarding a flight to Paris on Monday 27 February. They also announced that a British citizen of Dominican descent, Rosa Olivia Rodriguez, was …

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A US citizen is in jail and awaiting extradition from the Dominican Republic for allegedly defrauding his mother-in-law of more than US$100,000 in 2008, according to media reports and court documents. Agents arrested Kenneth Dale Thomason, 52, in Santiago. Thomason had traveled to the DR after being tipped off by his wife two months before …

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According to Milciades Albert Fiorinelli, president of the Dominican Republic section of the American College of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Dominican adolescents who are sexually active are overusing the emergency contraceptive pill. Listin Diario quotes the doctor as saying that young women are using it too often and to induce abortions, which was not its purpose. …

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The Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism took center stage at the 2012 Red Carpet Celebrity Style Lounge on 22 February 2012 at the L’Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills. Celebrities and VIPs in attendance received lavish gift bags highlighting the Dominican Republic’s coveted Arturo Fuentes cigars and Godiva’s rich Santo Domingo chocolate. Magaly Toribio, Vice Minister …

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More than 180,000 Dominicans go to the US Embassy each year to apply for a visa to travel to the United States, according to El Dia. However, it is not possible to establish how many visas were actually issued. The cost of applying for the visa is US$140, around RD$5,500, not including the cost of …

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