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The price of oil fell Wednesday after a key inventory report highlighted concerns about waning demand and doubts emerged about the impact of the government’s proposed bailout plan.

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Hikers in eastern California have found identification and pieces of clothing that may have belonged to missing U.S. millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, authorities said Wednesday.

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General Electric said Wednesday it intended to raise $12 billion through a common stock offering, in addition to plans to allow billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to buy up to $6 billion in stock.

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President Leonel Fernandez is traveling to Miami to speak at the Miami Herald-sponsored 12th Annual Americas Conference. This is his second trip to the United States this month. Last week he was in New York, Boston and Rhode Island to attend the UN General Assembly and hold meetings with academia.

Leading business, government and academic leaders are invited to the 2-3 October event to discuss key issues and trends affecting political and economic relationships between Latin America, the United States and the Caribbean. In addition to President Fernandez, other speakers confirmed for the conference are Haitian President Rene Preval and Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca. Also confirmed are Vice President Julio Cobos of Argentina, Vice President Samuel Luis Navarro of Panama and Chilean Economy Minister Hugo Lavados Montes. Florida Governor Charlie Crist will also address the conference.

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The Ministry of Education has signed an agreement with Harvard University’s Wide World educational online coaching program. Education Minister Melanio Paredes was in Boston to sign the agreement. The government will spend US$116,924 to participate in the program. The program is part of the Fernandez administration’s efforts to improve the quality of education in the DR.

According to their website, Wide World builds on thirty years of classroom-based research from Project Zero and the Harvard Graduate School of Education to provide professional development programs that incorporate the essential elements - the DNA - of effective teaching. Their online courses, on-site workshops, and individually designed district plans guide teachers, teacher leaders, coaches, and school leaders on coordinated journeys towards wide-scale improvement in classrooms and schools.

http://wideworld.pz.harvard.edu/

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The Central Electoral Board (JCE) derives considerable revenue from correcting errors in civil documents, mostly made by their own staff. Today’s Listin Diario reports on the costly and time-consuming process that the law requires for correcting a misspelled name or date in a civil document. Most of the errors were committed by JCE staff when the documents were digitalized from hand-written books. Corrections can cost from RD$15,000 to more than RD$30,000 because interested parties need to hire a lawyer for the procedure. Lawyer Zacarias Payano told the Listin that this is a senseless process because it is clear that the errors are the result of the JCE’s own negligence. In his opinion, there should not be a cost to correct the errors and the procedure should be simpler. The newspaper reports that in 2007 alone, 15,618 people requested the costly procedure, and so far this year, 13,543 corrections have [...]

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The main opposition PRD party submitted a proposal to legislators yesterday to modify the Constitution via a special members assembly, known locally as “la constituyente.” When in opposition, President Leonel Fernandez strongly supported this body, a stance that has changed since he was elected President and holds a majority in Congress. President Leonel Fernandez presented an extensive bill with modifications to the legislators on 18 September, to be reviewed by the PLD-majority Congress. The PLD, with the support of the PRSC, would have the necessary votes to modify the Constitution utilizing the “review assembly” mechanism currently in effect. The special members assembly, which would be open to representatives of society other than the legislature and the Executive Branch, would require for the election of experts who would then be entrusted with reviewing and passing the Constitution. The proposal is to create a body of 210 members elected by direct vote.
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During his recent trip to the US, President Leonel Fernandez told audiences that the Dominican economy is “shielded” from the present US crisis. In today’s Hoy newspaper Rosario Espinal of Temple University comments that the PetroCaribe oil agreement with Venezuela that enables the government to postpone payment of the oil bill for 25 years, remittances and foreign investments have helped the DR ride the present crisis. But she states that it is not true that the economy is “shielded.”

Espinal writes that the effects of the crisis will be reduced if the US is able to overcome the present financial crisis without experiencing a strong economic recession. She comments that the remittances have a greater impact on the economy than large investments. She explained these trickle down to middle class and low-income Dominicans enabling them to cover their rising daily expenditures, and Dominicans who live overseas are investors in [...]

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The Department of Migration, now headed by Major General Jose Anibal Sanz Jiminian, has a 24-hour telephone hotline for complaints about inspectors or migration staff. The hotline number is 809 533-8466. Major General Sanz Jiminian said that any inspector, supervisor or staff member from the department could be penalized for extortion or seeking bribes, and that reports would be treated with confidentiality.

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