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Central Bank Governor Hector Valdez Albizu underwent surgery earlier this week at the New York Hospital in New York City. Valdez was admitted after doctors detected a growth in his brain. A biopsy revealed that the growth was benign. Doctors Anis Vidal and ophthalmologist Ramon Valdez Albizu accompanied him to New York. Listin Diario reports that the CB governor is recovering at a hotel in New York and will return to the DR shortly.

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Eight members of the Dominican Medical Association (CMD) administrative board staged a hunger strike yesterday on the second floor hallway of the Ministry of Public Health. The CMD has spent months battling the government that instead wants to peg public hospital doctor wages to productivity and not give an overall wage increase. CMD president Waldo Ariel Suero was joined by the Dominican Institute of Social Security medical association president Jesus Maria Guerrero and other CMD leaders. Hoy reports that Public Health Minister Bautista Rojas did not meet with the CMD reps and instead promptly left the premises. He did eventually return, but never left his office. Hoy also reports that police were dispatched to the headquarters. At 2am the six remaining CMD reps were forcibly removed. Mediator Monsignor Agripino Nunez Collado met with the doctors for over two hours, to no avail. Suero threatened a weeklong doctors’ strike at public [...]

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Santiago based leather-goods manufacturer Teneria Bermudez has been fined RD$300,000 for environmental damage. The Ministry of Environment discovered that the company was dumping its residual waste into the Yaque del Norte River, polluting the river. Environmental prosecutor Jacinto Mejia said that the company needed to install a residual waste treatment plant. The company was closed on 5 February after it was proven that it was dumping its untreated waste in the river. Mejia said that the Santiago Water and Sewage Corporation (Coraasan) is permanently monitoring river discharges.

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Criminal judges in La Vega are requiring Senator Euclides Sanchez to show evidence of supposed complicity between members of the La Vega judiciary and drug traffickers. Judge Mario Mariot Torres said that the statements by Sanchez are irresponsible, defamatory and intend to stain the honor and good name of the judges in La Vega. He said that Sanchez’s statement was general, vague, imprecise and abstract, and he did not point to which decisions, judgments or judges can be accused of complicity.

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The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Caribbean Corridor Initiative (CCI) have announced the seizure of approximately 1,930 kilograms of cocaine with a street market value of US$58 million on board the Panamanian-flagged vessel Megan Star.

The Dominican National Drug Control Department (DNCD) provided “significant” assistance leading to the confiscation. DNCD spokesman Roberto Lebron said that the ship had left Santo Domingo’s Sans Souci dock and was suspected by local authorities that tipped off the DEA. The 10-member crew of the ship, composed of nationals from Costa Rica, Ecuador, India, Nicaragua and Spain, was arrested at sea after it was ascertained that it loaded a shipment in Colombia. The CCI monitored the route taken by the boat that was intercepted by a US Coast Guard law enforcement detachment on board the USS Farragut Navy vessel in international waters near Puerto Rico.

The successful seizure was part [...]

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The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) says that in 2008, for the first time in a decade, Latin America and the Caribbean will experience a decrease in remittances. The expected decrease will result from the economic crises in the US and Spain, inflationary pressures and the weak dollar. The IDB’s report indicates that families and friends will send back more than US$67 billion in remittances in 2008, an increase from last year’s 66.5 billion. But if adjusted for inflation it is 1.7% less than 2007 figures. The trend can already be seen in Spain where the Banco de Espana says that remittances during the first half of the year totaled EUR1.7 billion, which is 7.3% less than the first half of 2007. Remittances are a leading source of hard currency in the DR.

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Businesses in Chinatown are not happy with a city ordinance that prohibits parking in that part of town. Business owners say that being open with no parking is the same thing as being closed. Businesses closed from 10am to noon yesterday to protest the ordinance. A large sign was displayed in Chinatown, reading, “Without parking Chinatown will die.” Business owners say they don’t have the money to build parking spaces and claim that their businesses are only now just recovering from the lengthy four-year renovations that took place for the creation of Santo Domingo’s Chinatown district.

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Officials at the Plaza de la Salud have announced that “Operation Walk” will provide patients with free hip and knee replacements, beginning in March 2009. Foreign and Dominican doctors will perform the operations. Doctors will begin evaluating patients on 7 October and those interested should call (809) 565 - 7477 ext. 3000. Thomas Thornhill, who participated in the first Operation Walk, will once again be performing the procedures. On average these surgeries cost between RD$150,000 and RD$200,000 and the insurance providers rarely cover them.

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The bodies of four men killed in a plane crash last week have been returned to their families in Colombia. The bodies Rodolfo Sanchez Quintero, Jairo Jasin Chaica, Hector Ivan Osorio and Ricardo Losano Tangarice were all prepared at the Blandino funeral home. Listin Diario reports that powerful drug traffickers are actually behind the repatriation efforts of the remains, but lawyers for the families have not confirmed this. The four men were killed when their plane, which was carrying cocaine, crashed in Pedernales.

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Reggie Jackson may have to find a new nickname. Dominican slugger Manny Ramirez has become the new “Mr. October,” after hitting a home run in Los Angeles’ playoff opening win against the Chicago Cubs. The dinger was Ramirez’s 25th post-season swat, most all time, and gave him a whopping 11 homeruns in a divisional series, also a record. In other baseball news, the beloved Boston Red Sox beat the Anaheim Angels 4-1 aided by a Jason Bay two-run homer. Readers may remember that Bay and Ramirez were traded for each other before baseball’s trade deadline. Also, the Phillies pounded the Brewers 3-1.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=…

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