News – Page 5977

The New York Daily News reports on the first Dominican casualty in Iraq. According to the newspaper, on June 28, the US army confirmed the death of Dominican-born Cpl. Ramona Valdez. Valdez, who was born in the Bronx, was one of six US military personnel – four of them women – killed in Iraq when …

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Senator Hernani Salazar gave testimony yesterday at the attorney general’s office and said that he did not know or have any ties to Quirino Paulino Castillo or Bladimir Garcia, the accused drug traffickers jailed and awaiting trial in New York. He also said that he knew nothing about the sale of the Colibri helicopter that …

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Former Police lieutenant Luis Ricardo Reyes Mendoza appeared before the Southern District Court of New York yesterday. A note from the prosecutor’s office says that the officer used his high position in the Customs Office to determine in a corrupt way if the Dominican police and the Drug Enforcement Administration of the US were following …

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The Dominican Republic is on the Foreign Policy magazine’s list of countries in real danger of becoming “failed nations.” In the Western Hemisphere, only Haiti and Colombia are on the list of 20 nations that Foreign Policy and the Peace Forum consider as being at risk of failure. According to these sources, unequal development is …

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For the very first time two Dominicans have been selected in the first round of the NBA draft. Charlie Villanueva, who played for Connecticut at the college level, was selected number seven by the Toronto Raptors. Francisco Garcia, who played for the Louisville Cardinals in the NCAA, went in the 23rd spot to the Sacramento …

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President Leonel Fernandez is traveling to Puerto de la Cruz, Venezuela tomorrow to attend a meeting with President Hugo Chavez and other Caribbean heads of state, in which petroleum will be the main item on the agenda. This “Petro-Caribbean Summit” aims to form an energy alliance in the Caribbean, in response to the recent oil …

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The president of the Senate’s Commission on Industry and Commerce has announced that the government’s economic team and the Senate will debate the Dominican Republic – Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) tomorrow, according to Listin Diario. They will be looking at compensatory measures for the protection of the country’s productive sector. Meanwhile, several Congress …

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Franco Uccelli of Bear Stearns reports today that the Dominican Republic reopened last night its recently completed bond exchange offer in hopes of securing a higher rate of participation among holders of the old, exchanged bonds. He explains that the principal objective of the reopening is to help the country narrow its financing gap for …

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Diario Libre reports that the Civil Aviation Board is studying claims by airlines that Dominican airspace is risky due to a series of reported near-misses that have occurred. The Dominican Association of Air Traffic Controllers (ADCA) admits that there have been “some errors” but that DR airspace is safe and reliable. Meanwhile, Aerodom, the company …

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Activities at Santo Domingo’s Herrera Airport should cease on 15 July when the new airport at La Isabela begins its operations. But the president of Air Century, Omar Chain Lama, warned that the airlines would stay at Herrera until they are paid RD$25 million in compensation, as reported in Hoy. Chain Lama said that authorities …

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