2014 – Page 126

In a reversal of last year’s downward trend, the deaths at the hands of state security forces, popularly known as “exchanges of gunfire”, increased in the first half of the year. A report by the Public Safety Observation Commission, released yesterday, Thursday 31 July 2014, found that in the first six months of this year, …

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The National Drug Control Agency (DNCD) says a modern helicopter with an infrared system will join the local fight against drug traffickers. The Bell Huey Super Plus is an old army helicopter that was refitted with new turbines and high technology at a cost of US$1.8 million. The DNCD contributed US$724,000 and the Army made …

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Business advisor Luis Alvarez Renta was released from jail yesterday, Thursday 31 July 2014 by the Supreme Court of Justice that accepted that he had already served his 10-year jail sentence in the Baninter banking fraud case. The Second Penal Chamber of the Supreme Court agreed that the time he had been hospitalized should be …

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A tropical storm with maximum winds at 75kph and moving at 31kph is expected to affect the east, northeast and northern coasts of the Dominican Republic on Sunday. A watch has already been issued for neighboring Puerto Rico. Moving on a west-northwest track, Tropical Storm Bertha would be the first to affect the Dominican Republic …

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33-year old Dominican tennis player Victor Estrella (ranked 87th) failed to reach the quarter-finals on Thursday, 31 July 2014 after losing 6-2, 6-0 to 34th ranked Santiago Giraldo of Colombia. Estrella had won his two previous games. http://www.atpworldtour.com/share/event-draws.aspx?year=2014&eventid=418&draw=ms

With the 2014-15 school year scheduled to start on 18 August, President Danilo Medina is stepping up the pace of formal inaugurations of schools nationwide. Yesterday, Wednesday 30 July 2014 he was in the northeast, where he attended the formal opening of 108 classrooms at extended day schools in Samana and Maria Trinidad Sanchez (Nagua) …

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Minister of Environment Bautista Rojas Gomez says that most of the fire affecting mountain forest areas near Constanza has now been extinguished. The Minister visited the area on Wednesday, 30 July 2014 and was satisfied to report the fire team work had extinguished the blaze earlier than expected. “The situation is very favorable and we …

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Poverty levels in the Dominican Republic have dropped from 42.2% in 2012 to 36.2%, according to findings of a study just released by the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development. Minister Temistocles Montas announced the results of the study, “Update of the Official Estimates of Monetary Poverty in the Dominican Republic” to the press yesterday, …

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The Minister of Defense Admiral Sigfrido Pared Perez said that in the first seven months of the year more than 130,000 Haitians have been deported to their country for illegal entry. A common practice by Haitians who have entered the country illegally is to request deportation in order to get free transportation to Haiti. He …

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The Dominican Association of Courier Companies (Asodec) has described as illegal and irregular the 29 July 2014 notice from the Customs Agency stating that as of 15 August 2014 they will be taxing purchases made by Internet of goods costing less than US$200 that until now have been authorized to enter duty free. The notice …

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