Listin Diario - No comparto la opinión de muchos padres que se oponen a las Pruebas Nacionales que se están llevando a cabo en estos días. Creo que son necesarias para mejorar la formación de nuestros bachilleres. Fui profesora universitaria durante más de diez años y doy testimonio de las lagunas, algunas escandalosas, que padecen alumnos a punto de convertirse en profesionales. Pero tengo un cuestionamiento a las pruebas. Éstas no son justas, ni equitativas, para un sector importante del alumnado: se trata de aquellos estudiantes que sufren alguna discapacidad cognitiva. Hablo de los que padecen trastornos de autismo, como el síndrome de asperger, u otras condiciones más severas como el síndrome de Down. Los padres y maestros que luchamos por sacar adelante a estos niños, tratamos de empujarlos hasta donde sus capacidades lo permitan, pero estas pruebas, hechas partiendo de un perfil de alumno sin sus limitaciones, les ponen un alto, los frenan en su lucha, justa y admirable, por insertarse en la s. . . Read original at Listin Diario.
(Posted 05:36 Wednesday by DRSol NewsHound. Viewed 4109 times.)
Dominican Today -
Santo Domingo. - The country will host the 10th International Mango Symposium from June 6 to 9 in Bavaro, Punta Cana (east), where representatives from 30 countries already confirmed attendance.
The event is expected to draw international attention to Dominican Republic’s mango production, with exports to US$7. 5 million, with Europe as the main destination.
Agriculture minister Luis Ramon Rodriguez announced the activity in a press conference at his offices Friday, adding that this year’s annual Expo Mango is slated for Bani, Peravia Province, staring June 6.
Read original at Dominican Today.
(Posted 16:59 Friday by DRSol NewsHound. Viewed 144 times.)
The Dominican Sun - Across the Dominican Republic in the last 24 hours the highest observed temperature by DRSol was 88 at Puerto Plata International. The coolest reading came from Las Americas with an overnight low of 70. Widely scattered light to moderate showers and thunderstorms were reported, the last in Santiago at 8AM this morning. Skies were generally mostly cloudy. Winds are averaging 10 mph from the SE, with a peak gust to 23 mph seen at 4PM yesterday afternoon at Santiago. By the Numbers DR cities reported rain 21% of the time, and thunderstorms 5%. Average reported rainfall intensity on a scale of 0 to 100 was 42. Cloud cover totaled 61%. Click above to view summaries for the last week or last month. Last updated at 12:28PM. Read original at The Dominican Sun.
(Posted 16:29 Friday by DRSol NewsHound. Viewed 590 times.)
Dominican Today -
Puerto Plata, Dom. Rep- Police on Wednesday arrested a 23-year old man who allegedly admitted having raped 60 women between 16 and 28 years of age, in the resort town of Puerto Plata.
Jonathan Alexander Parra Melo raped the women who mounted his motorcycle taxi, and then took them to secluded areas of the city, according to police.
Local media report that during interrogation, Parra said he was raped and traumatized as a child, so he decided to “get even“ with the defenseless women. “
Although Police didn’t specify the dates of the alleged assaults, Parra had reportedly been committing the crimes during the last two years.
An angry crowd including friends and relatives of the victims awaited outside Puerto Plata’s Police Precinct demanding justice.
Read original at Dominican Today.
(Posted 15:59 Friday by DRSol NewsHound. Viewed 980 times.)
Dominican Today -
Santo Domingo- 20 of the country’s 32 senators on Wednesday said they’ll defend the national interest and asked President Danilo Medina to preserve the mountain Loma Miranda, as heritage of the Dominican people.
“Regardless of any decision regarding Loma Miranda from the report by the United Nations Development Program, we as citizens and senators represent the feelings and aspirations of our communities and a wide swath of the nation, we assume the defense and perpetuity of Loma Miranda as our own and reject any attempt to carry out mining operations there,“ the lawmakers said in a letter to Medina.
They ask that Loma Miranda, including Xstrata Nickel’s planned mining site, be declared a protected area with national park status.
The document is signed by Félix Vásquez, Manuel Paula, Carlos Castillo, Euclides Sánchez, Rafael Calderón, Adriano Sánchez, José M. Sosa, José R. Vargas, Amílcar Romero, Wilton Guerrero, Luis R. Canaán, Juan Mercedes, Charlie Mariotti, Antonio Cruz, Arístides Victoria, Rubén D. Cruz, Ivonne Chahín, Amable Aristy, Eddy Mateo and Manuel Guichardo.
Read original at Dominican Today.
(Posted 15:59 Friday by DRSol NewsHound. Viewed 983 times.)
Dominican Today -
Santo Domingo- The Executive Branch on Wednesday backtracked and maintained the Antinarcotics Agency (DNCD) under its control, after initially transferring it to the Justice Ministry, in the draft for the National Police Statutory Law.
In a statement, Presidency chief of staff Gustavo Montalvo said that instead of a president in the DNCD, its central director would be from the Police Antinarcotics Council.
Also deleted was the provision which called for the designated Police Director to hold the post for a maximum period of three years.
For promotions in the police the draft calls for the recognition of diplomas from police colleges or foreign universities authenticated by the Higher Education Ministry.
Read original at Dominican Today.
(Posted 15:59 Friday by DRSol NewsHound. Viewed 985 times.)
Dominican Today -
Santo Domingo- While buying ice cream at a store outgoing U. S. ambassador Raul Yzaguirre didn’t notice that several 1,000 peso bills had fallen out of his pocket, when a Dominican waiting in the line picked up the money and handed it to him, without realizing who benefited from his good will.
Yzaguirre, who said it was just one of many gestures etched in his memory as ambassador of the world’s most powerful nation, calls the Dominican idiosyncrasy “a strong human spirit. ”
“To me, that human spirit makes the Dominican Republic a unique place. . . just one example of the kinds of things that happen here all the time. “
Yzaguirre, interviewed by listin. com. do in the U. S. Ambassador’s residence, said Dominicans are “people who care for others and try to do the right thing. “
His praise also reaches Dominicans living in the United States, more than one million, according to his information, who are “an American success story. “
“It really is an impressive group,“ Yzaguirre adds.
The diplomat is credited with being one of the very few U. S. Ambassadors who, according to Colorvision TV producer Dany Alcanta, “didn’t offend Dominicans by interfering in our internal affairs. ”
Read original at Dominican Today.
(Posted 15:59 Friday by DRSol NewsHound. Viewed 989 times.)
Dominican Today -
Santo Domingo- The Emergency Operations Center (COE) maintains seven provinces under alert after Wednesday afternoon’s downpours from a tropical wave now south of Haiti.
The vast area precipitation has drenched most of the country while forecasts call for more rain during the next few days.
COE director Juan Mendez said flash flood warnings continue for the Monseñor Noel, San Pedro, Monte Plata and San Cristobal provinces.
He said the constant downpours this month have saturated the soil and could last another 48 hours.
Mendez said the COE’s contingency plan to deal with emergencies was put into motion yesterday.
Read original at Dominican Today.
(Posted 15:59 Friday by DRSol NewsHound. Viewed 989 times.)
Dominican Today -
Santo Domingo- The Industry and Commerce Ministry posted unchanged prices on all fuels for an unprecedented 5th straight week, so from May 26 to June 2 premium gasoline will still cost RD$249. 70 per gallon and regular will cost RD$229. 70.
Regular diesel remains at RD$205. 70 per gallon and premium will cost RD$212. 40; avtur will cost RD$155. 80 per gallon, kerosene will cost RD$194. 90; propane gas will cost RD$96. 78 per gallon, as well a natural gas, at RD$30. 50 per cubic meter.
The Central Bank’s posted average exchange rate of RD$41. 10 per dollar was used to calculate fuel prices.
Read original at Dominican Today.
(Posted 15:59 Friday by DRSol NewsHound. Viewed 991 times.)
Dominican Today -
Last week, Britain’s Prime Minister, David Cameron, wrote to the leaders of all of the UK’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies*.
The letter formed a part of the UK Government’s attempt to have the leaders of all G8 nations - the grouping that brings together the world’s wealthiest countries - agree a concrete action plan to tackle tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance.
Mr Cameron’s initial objective is to be able to demonstrate by the time of the G8 meeting on June 17/18 in Northern Ireland, that he is getting his own house in order by first bringing the UK’s Overseas Territories and Dependencies into line. His hope then is that all G8 nations, including the US, will agree to adopt similar principles, with the ultimate objective being a changed global approach to taxation and tax information exchange.
As Mr Cameron’s letter states: ‘There is no point in dealing with tax evasion in one country if the problem is simply displaced to another…. I hope others around the world will follow the lead we are setting together’.
The British Prime Minister also made clear that while he respects the right of Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to be lower tax jurisdictions, he believes that that they must change their approach by addressing two key issues: tax information exchange and beneficial ownership.
Mr Cameron could not have been clearer: ‘dealing with tax evasion is not just about exchanging information. It is also about improving the quality and accuracy of that information. Put simply, that means we need to know who really owns and controls each and every company. This goes right to the heart of the ambition of Britain’s G8 (chairmanship) to knock down the walls of company secrecy’.
In other words Britain, and it hopes the G8, will agree that the true owners of any offshore vehicle anywhere in the world should cease to be invisible or by extension be able to be hide their tax affairs behind nominees in on one or multiple offshore jurisdictions.
The path that Britain has now embarked on has significant implications for the future of the BVI and Cayman in particular, but may eventually impact on all Caribbean economies - dependent and independent - that have developed offshore financial services regimes.
What the UK is proposing is that is that its territories and dependencies agree to bring within their government registry details of the ultimate beneficial owners of trust companies, funds and other financial vehicles. It intends that they should move from an opaque to a transparent regime sharing information on nationals of nations with which they have signed tax information exchange agreements.
To achieve this, the UK expects its dependencies and overseas territories to provide for, to quote the British Prime Minister, ‘fully resourced and properly managed centralised registries that are freely available to law enforcement and tax collectors, and contain full and accurate details on the true ownership and control of every company’.
At present the Overseas Territories seem uncertain how best to respond.
They fear they are being caught up in a British domestic political issue that is being driven by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) and the media. They are concerned that any commitment they might make, without the agreement of the US and EU member states to tackle the more questionable aspects of their own tax regimes, or without any indication as to how opaque offshore environments in independent countries will be encouraged to adopt similar principles, will only result in them damaging irretrievably a significant part of their economy.
This is because it is likely a high percentage of offshore companies currently registered in the Caribbean Overseas Territories, as well as the large numbers of resident professional advisers, will relocate to environments where the beneficial owners can continue to retain their anonymity, whether operating legally to minimise their tax bill, or illegally to hide assets questionably acquired.
Speaking in St Lucia last week about the potential dangers the changing global tax environment poses, the Premier of Montserrat, Reuben Meade, pointed out what worries Overseas Territories most is their small size and limited resource base. This means, he noted, they rely totally on tourism and financial services; sectors, he noted that are negatively affected by the global recession and by actions taken globally to combat crime and corruption.
“(Present) actions have serious implications for the territories because their economies are not sufficiently diversified to absorb the fallout from major reductions in income from tourism and financial services. The reality is that their entire economy can become unsustainable from failure or major disruption in these markets”, Mr Meade told participant in a Caribbean Development Bank meeting.
What remains far from clear is how the UK intends taking this issue forwards in the Caribbean.
If it is really its intention to see the principles it wants to apply to its Overseas Territories eventually adopted through a consensus, achieved on a multilateral basis by all nations including those in independent Caribbean, then it needs also to explain in the region how it and other wealthy nations intend supporting the likely transition out of yet another sector that has previously enabled the Caribbean to prosper.
What seems to be happening is that a new global policy, driven by concern about tax arbitrage, tax evasion and avoidance, organised crime, cyber criminality and financing for terrorism, has coincided with domestic lobbying by political parties, the media and NGOs on increasing the tax take at a time of austerity. These factors together are now leading to the promotion of change without any serious consideration being given to the collateral damage in regions like the Caribbean, let alone any understandable basis on which such a policy might be applied globally.
While Mr Cameron, Angela Merkel, Germany’s Chancellor, Mr Obama and others clearly hope that all nations will act in a similar way, in the real world, where large sums of legal and illegal money flow rapidly across the global financial system using multiple jurisdictions, the detail is fraught with problems
As matters stand, the UK is hoping that its Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies will agree to demonstrate publicly at an event on June 15 that they intend making the changes that Britain requires. Under the present poorly defined circumstance, this may be wishful thinking.
*Bermuda; the British Virgin Islands; the Cayman Islands; Gibraltar; Anguilla; Montserrat; The Turks and Caicos Islands; Jersey; Guernsey; and the Isle of Man
David Jessop is the Director of the Caribbean Council and can be contacted at david. jessop@caribbean-council. org
Previous columns can be found at www. caribbean-council. org
May 24th, 2013
Read original at Dominican Today.
(Posted 14:59 Friday by DRSol NewsHound. Viewed 1860 times.)
Dominican Today -
Nearly 6 million people die every year via cancer, heart disease, lung disease and other chronic, long-term health conditions associated with smoking. Over the course of the 21st century, tobacco use could kill up to a billion people unless urgent action is taken.
“Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death. The global tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 600,000 are people exposed to second-hand smoke. Unless we act, it will kill up to 8 million people by 2030, of which more than 80 per cent will live in low- and middle-income countries,” says the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Upper middle to high-income countries are seeing drops in tobacco consumption but lower-income countries are increasing out of control. These countries are at greatest risk due to lack of education, poor legislative oversight and greed by tobacco companies.
31 May marks World No Tobacco Day. The 2013 theme is “ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship”. Only 6 per cent of the world’s population were protected from exposure to the tobacco industry’s advertising, promotion and sponsorship according to the WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic.
To help reduce tobacco use, the WHO highlights the importance of counteracting “the deceptive and misleading nature of tobacco marketing campaigns”. Governments and civil society must work together to limit the unavoidable exposure of youth to dangerous tobacco marketing.
Banning of tobacco advertising must include the media such as newspapers, magazines, radio and TV. It must encompass public places that highlight poster and billboard marketing. A comprehensive ban must also include the regulation of ‘brand stretching’. Brand stretching is the use of brand names and logos to indirectly advertise products.
World No Tobacco Day 2013 highlights the failure of the tobacco industry to effectively self-regulate and the ineffective results of partial bans in place. “The tobacco industry uses sponsorship and especially corporate social responsibility tactics to trick public opinion into believing in their respectability and good intentions while they manoeuver to hijack the political and legislative process,” says the WHO.
The true impact of tobacco
Tobacco use is a global epidemic that brings disability, disease, lost productivity and death to entire countries and regions throughout the world. Tobacco continues to be the leading cause of preventable death and currently kills 1 in 10 adults worldwide. It’s documented that tobacco kills up to half of its users.
“The tobacco epidemic is entirely man-made, and it can be turned around through the concerted efforts of governments and civil society,” says Dr Margaret Chan, Director General WHO.
Expensive healthcare costs are just the start to this global killer. It also causes hundreds of billions of dollars of economic losses via diminished productivity, missed workdays, poor morale and the physical, mental and emotional strain that tobacco places on one’s family.
Smoking during pregnancy is far too prevalent and can cause significant harm to the mother and child. Hazardous chemicals such as nicotine, carbon monoxide and a variety of other poisons inhaled during smoking go directly to the baby.
There’s a direct relationship between the amount of cigarettes smoked per day and the chance of severe complications. Smoking during pregnancy has been found to affect the amount of oxygen to organ and brain tissue of the child and mother. Tobacco is a chemical stress that is known to elevate the mother’s heart rate and blood pressure. These two factors are significant risk factors for pre-eclampsia, miscarriage and stillbirth.
Tobacco causes heart disease, cancer and diabetes
Tobacco use is one of the most important risk factors in the development of cardiovascular disease. Statistics show that smoking increases the risk of stroke, coronary heart disease and impotence by 100 per cent and increases the risk of death from undiagnosed coronary heart disease by 300 per cent.
Nicotine, the addictive component in tobacco can accelerates the heart rate and raises blood pressure. It also damages the lining of the blood vessels, increases fatty deposits in the arteries, increases clotting, raises bad cholesterol, reduces good cholesterol and promotes coronary artery spasm according to the World Heart Federation.
Tobacco use is the single greatest avoidable risk factor for cancer mortality worldwide, causing an estimated 22 per cent of cancer deaths per year according to the WHO.
Tobacco smoking causes many types of cancer, including cancers of the lung, esophagus, larynx, mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, pancreas, stomach and cervix. About 70 per cent of the lung cancer burden can be attributed to smoking alone. Second-hand smoke has been proven to cause lung cancer in non-smoking adults as well. Smoking is also a leading cause of allergies, asthma and other respiratory related conditions.
Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing compounds and 400 other toxins. The toxins include but are not limited to nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic and DDT.
Diabetics that smoke have twice the risk of premature death. The risk of complications associated with tobacco use and diabetes in combination are nearly 14 times higher than the risk of either smoking or diabetes alone according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found the risk of Type 2 diabetes rose by 61 per cent in people who smoked 20 cigarettes per day. A similar study found smokers had a 44 per cent elevated risk of Type 2 diabetes when compared to non-smokers. Quitting smoking can reduce the progression of diabetes by 30 per cent.
Benefits of quitting smoking
There are immediate and long-term health benefits of quitting smoking according to the WHO. Within 20 minutes one’s heart rate and blood pressure drops. The carbon monoxide level in one’s blood stream drops to normal within 12 hours. Lung function improves and circulation increases within weeks of quitting.
Quitting smoking for a year reduces the risk of coronary heart disease by 50 per cent in comparison to a smoker. One’s risk of stroke is reduced to that of a non-smoker 5 to 15 years after quitting.
The risk of lung cancer falls to about half that of a smoker after 10 years. Cancers of the mouth, throat, oesophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decreases as well. Quitting for 15 years reduces the risk of coronary heart disease to that of a non-smoker.
Studies show that few people know and understand the specific health risks of tobacco use. Most smokers who are aware of the dangers of tobacco want to quit.
“A comprehensive ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship could decrease tobacco consumption by an average of about 7 per cent,” according to the WHO.
The ultimate goal of World No Tobacco Day 2013 is to contribute to protect present and future generations not only from these devastating health consequences, but also against the social, environmental and economic scourges of tobacco use.
Dr Cory Couillard is an international healthcare speaker and columnist for numerous newspapers, magazines, websites and publications throughout the world. He works in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s goals of disease prevention and global healthcare education. Views do not necessarily reflect endorsement.
Email: drcorycouillard@gmail. com
Facebook: Dr Cory Couillard
Twitter: DrCoryCouillard
Read original at Dominican Today.
(Posted 14:29 Friday by DRSol NewsHound. Viewed 2676 times.)
.png){kind=small}
Listin Diario - No comparto la opinión de muchos padres que se oponen a las Pruebas Nacionales que se están llevando a cabo en estos días. Creo que son necesarias para mejorar la formación de nuestros bachilleres. Fui profesora universitaria durante más de diez años y doy testimonio de las lagunas, algunas escandalosas, que padecen alumnos a punto de convertirse en profesionales. Pero tengo un cuestionamiento a las pruebas. Éstas no son justas, ni equitativas, para un sector importante del alumnado: se trata de aquellos estudiantes que sufren alguna discapacidad cognitiva. Hablo de los que padecen trastornos de autismo, como el síndrome de asperger, u otras condiciones más severas como el síndrome de Down. Los padres y maestros que luchamos por sacar adelante a estos niños, tratamos de empujarlos hasta donde sus capacidades lo permitan, pero estas pruebas, hechas partiendo de un perfil de alumno sin sus limitaciones, les ponen un alto, los frenan en su lucha, justa y admirable, por insertarse en la s. . . Read original at 
Dominican Today -
Santo Domingo. - The country will host the 10th International Mango Symposium from June 6 to 9 in Bavaro, Punta Cana (east), where representatives from 30 countries already confirmed attendance.
The event is expected to draw international attention to Dominican Republic’s mango production, with exports to US$7. 5 million, with Europe as the main destination.
Agriculture minister Luis Ramon Rodriguez announced the activity in a press conference at his offices Friday, adding that this year’s annual Expo Mango is slated for Bani, Peravia Province, staring June 6.
Read original at 
The Dominican Sun - Across the Dominican Republic in the last 24 hours the highest observed temperature by DRSol was 88 at Puerto Plata International. The coolest reading came from Las Americas with an overnight low of 70. Widely scattered light to moderate showers and thunderstorms were reported, the last in Santiago at 8AM this morning. Skies were generally mostly cloudy. Winds are averaging 10 mph from the SE, with a peak gust to 23 mph seen at 4PM yesterday afternoon at Santiago. By the Numbers DR cities reported rain 21% of the time, and thunderstorms 5%. Average reported rainfall intensity on a scale of 0 to 100 was 42. Cloud cover totaled 61%. Click above to view summaries for the last week or last month. 
Dominican Today -
Puerto Plata, Dom. Rep- Police on Wednesday arrested a 23-year old man who allegedly admitted having raped 60 women between 16 and 28 years of age, in the resort town of Puerto Plata.
Jonathan Alexander Parra Melo raped the women who mounted his motorcycle taxi, and then took them to secluded areas of the city, according to police.
Local media report that during interrogation, Parra said he was raped and traumatized as a child, so he decided to “get even“ with the defenseless women. “
Although Police didn’t specify the dates of the alleged assaults, Parra had reportedly been committing the crimes during the last two years.
An angry crowd including friends and relatives of the victims awaited outside Puerto Plata’s Police Precinct demanding justice.
Read original at 
Dominican Today -
Santo Domingo- 20 of the country’s 32 senators on Wednesday said they’ll defend the national interest and asked President Danilo Medina to preserve the mountain Loma Miranda, as heritage of the Dominican people.
“Regardless of any decision regarding Loma Miranda from the report by the United Nations Development Program, we as citizens and senators represent the feelings and aspirations of our communities and a wide swath of the nation, we assume the defense and perpetuity of Loma Miranda as our own and reject any attempt to carry out mining operations there,“ the lawmakers said in a letter to Medina.
They ask that Loma Miranda, including Xstrata Nickel’s planned mining site, be declared a protected area with national park status.
The document is signed by Félix Vásquez, Manuel Paula, Carlos Castillo, Euclides Sánchez, Rafael Calderón, Adriano Sánchez, José M. Sosa, José R. Vargas, Amílcar Romero, Wilton Guerrero, Luis R. Canaán, Juan Mercedes, Charlie Mariotti, Antonio Cruz, Arístides Victoria, Rubén D. Cruz, Ivonne Chahín, Amable Aristy, Eddy Mateo and Manuel Guichardo.
Read original at 
Dominican Today -
Santo Domingo- The Executive Branch on Wednesday backtracked and maintained the Antinarcotics Agency (DNCD) under its control, after initially transferring it to the Justice Ministry, in the draft for the National Police Statutory Law.
In a statement, Presidency chief of staff Gustavo Montalvo said that instead of a president in the DNCD, its central director would be from the Police Antinarcotics Council.
Also deleted was the provision which called for the designated Police Director to hold the post for a maximum period of three years.
For promotions in the police the draft calls for the recognition of diplomas from police colleges or foreign universities authenticated by the Higher Education Ministry.
Read original at 
Dominican Today -
Santo Domingo- While buying ice cream at a store outgoing U. S. ambassador Raul Yzaguirre didn’t notice that several 1,000 peso bills had fallen out of his pocket, when a Dominican waiting in the line picked up the money and handed it to him, without realizing who benefited from his good will.
Yzaguirre, who said it was just one of many gestures etched in his memory as ambassador of the world’s most powerful nation, calls the Dominican idiosyncrasy “a strong human spirit. ”
“To me, that human spirit makes the Dominican Republic a unique place. . . just one example of the kinds of things that happen here all the time. “
Yzaguirre, interviewed by listin. com. do in the U. S. Ambassador’s residence, said Dominicans are “people who care for others and try to do the right thing. “
His praise also reaches Dominicans living in the United States, more than one million, according to his information, who are “an American success story. “
“It really is an impressive group,“ Yzaguirre adds.
The diplomat is credited with being one of the very few U. S. Ambassadors who, according to Colorvision TV producer Dany Alcanta, “didn’t offend Dominicans by interfering in our internal affairs. ”
Read original at 
Dominican Today -
Santo Domingo- The Emergency Operations Center (COE) maintains seven provinces under alert after Wednesday afternoon’s downpours from a tropical wave now south of Haiti.
The vast area precipitation has drenched most of the country while forecasts call for more rain during the next few days.
COE director Juan Mendez said flash flood warnings continue for the Monseñor Noel, San Pedro, Monte Plata and San Cristobal provinces.
He said the constant downpours this month have saturated the soil and could last another 48 hours.
Mendez said the COE’s contingency plan to deal with emergencies was put into motion yesterday.
Read original at 
Dominican Today -
Santo Domingo- The Industry and Commerce Ministry posted unchanged prices on all fuels for an unprecedented 5th straight week, so from May 26 to June 2 premium gasoline will still cost RD$249. 70 per gallon and regular will cost RD$229. 70.
Regular diesel remains at RD$205. 70 per gallon and premium will cost RD$212. 40; avtur will cost RD$155. 80 per gallon, kerosene will cost RD$194. 90; propane gas will cost RD$96. 78 per gallon, as well a natural gas, at RD$30. 50 per cubic meter.
The Central Bank’s posted average exchange rate of RD$41. 10 per dollar was used to calculate fuel prices.
Read original at 
Dominican Today -
Last week, Britain’s Prime Minister, David Cameron, wrote to the leaders of all of the UK’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies*.
The letter formed a part of the UK Government’s attempt to have the leaders of all G8 nations - the grouping that brings together the world’s wealthiest countries - agree a concrete action plan to tackle tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance.
Mr Cameron’s initial objective is to be able to demonstrate by the time of the G8 meeting on June 17/18 in Northern Ireland, that he is getting his own house in order by first bringing the UK’s Overseas Territories and Dependencies into line. His hope then is that all G8 nations, including the US, will agree to adopt similar principles, with the ultimate objective being a changed global approach to taxation and tax information exchange.
As Mr Cameron’s letter states: ‘There is no point in dealing with tax evasion in one country if the problem is simply displaced to another…. I hope others around the world will follow the lead we are setting together’.
The British Prime Minister also made clear that while he respects the right of Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to be lower tax jurisdictions, he believes that that they must change their approach by addressing two key issues: tax information exchange and beneficial ownership.
Mr Cameron could not have been clearer: ‘dealing with tax evasion is not just about exchanging information. It is also about improving the quality and accuracy of that information. Put simply, that means we need to know who really owns and controls each and every company. This goes right to the heart of the ambition of Britain’s G8 (chairmanship) to knock down the walls of company secrecy’.
In other words Britain, and it hopes the G8, will agree that the true owners of any offshore vehicle anywhere in the world should cease to be invisible or by extension be able to be hide their tax affairs behind nominees in on one or multiple offshore jurisdictions.
The path that Britain has now embarked on has significant implications for the future of the BVI and Cayman in particular, but may eventually impact on all Caribbean economies - dependent and independent - that have developed offshore financial services regimes.
What the UK is proposing is that is that its territories and dependencies agree to bring within their government registry details of the ultimate beneficial owners of trust companies, funds and other financial vehicles. It intends that they should move from an opaque to a transparent regime sharing information on nationals of nations with which they have signed tax information exchange agreements.
To achieve this, the UK expects its dependencies and overseas territories to provide for, to quote the British Prime Minister, ‘fully resourced and properly managed centralised registries that are freely available to law enforcement and tax collectors, and contain full and accurate details on the true ownership and control of every company’.
At present the Overseas Territories seem uncertain how best to respond.
They fear they are being caught up in a British domestic political issue that is being driven by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) and the media. They are concerned that any commitment they might make, without the agreement of the US and EU member states to tackle the more questionable aspects of their own tax regimes, or without any indication as to how opaque offshore environments in independent countries will be encouraged to adopt similar principles, will only result in them damaging irretrievably a significant part of their economy.
This is because it is likely a high percentage of offshore companies currently registered in the Caribbean Overseas Territories, as well as the large numbers of resident professional advisers, will relocate to environments where the beneficial owners can continue to retain their anonymity, whether operating legally to minimise their tax bill, or illegally to hide assets questionably acquired.
Speaking in St Lucia last week about the potential dangers the changing global tax environment poses, the Premier of Montserrat, Reuben Meade, pointed out what worries Overseas Territories most is their small size and limited resource base. This means, he noted, they rely totally on tourism and financial services; sectors, he noted that are negatively affected by the global recession and by actions taken globally to combat crime and corruption.
“(Present) actions have serious implications for the territories because their economies are not sufficiently diversified to absorb the fallout from major reductions in income from tourism and financial services. The reality is that their entire economy can become unsustainable from failure or major disruption in these markets”, Mr Meade told participant in a Caribbean Development Bank meeting.
What remains far from clear is how the UK intends taking this issue forwards in the Caribbean.
If it is really its intention to see the principles it wants to apply to its Overseas Territories eventually adopted through a consensus, achieved on a multilateral basis by all nations including those in independent Caribbean, then it needs also to explain in the region how it and other wealthy nations intend supporting the likely transition out of yet another sector that has previously enabled the Caribbean to prosper.
What seems to be happening is that a new global policy, driven by concern about tax arbitrage, tax evasion and avoidance, organised crime, cyber criminality and financing for terrorism, has coincided with domestic lobbying by political parties, the media and NGOs on increasing the tax take at a time of austerity. These factors together are now leading to the promotion of change without any serious consideration being given to the collateral damage in regions like the Caribbean, let alone any understandable basis on which such a policy might be applied globally.
While Mr Cameron, Angela Merkel, Germany’s Chancellor, Mr Obama and others clearly hope that all nations will act in a similar way, in the real world, where large sums of legal and illegal money flow rapidly across the global financial system using multiple jurisdictions, the detail is fraught with problems
As matters stand, the UK is hoping that its Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies will agree to demonstrate publicly at an event on June 15 that they intend making the changes that Britain requires. Under the present poorly defined circumstance, this may be wishful thinking.
*Bermuda; the British Virgin Islands; the Cayman Islands; Gibraltar; Anguilla; Montserrat; The Turks and Caicos Islands; Jersey; Guernsey; and the Isle of Man
David Jessop is the Director of the Caribbean Council and can be contacted at david. jessop@caribbean-council. org
Previous columns can be found at www. caribbean-council. org
May 24th, 2013
Read original at 
Dominican Today -
Nearly 6 million people die every year via cancer, heart disease, lung disease and other chronic, long-term health conditions associated with smoking. Over the course of the 21st century, tobacco use could kill up to a billion people unless urgent action is taken.
“Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death. The global tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 600,000 are people exposed to second-hand smoke. Unless we act, it will kill up to 8 million people by 2030, of which more than 80 per cent will live in low- and middle-income countries,” says the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Upper middle to high-income countries are seeing drops in tobacco consumption but lower-income countries are increasing out of control. These countries are at greatest risk due to lack of education, poor legislative oversight and greed by tobacco companies.
31 May marks World No Tobacco Day. The 2013 theme is “ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship”. Only 6 per cent of the world’s population were protected from exposure to the tobacco industry’s advertising, promotion and sponsorship according to the WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic.
To help reduce tobacco use, the WHO highlights the importance of counteracting “the deceptive and misleading nature of tobacco marketing campaigns”. Governments and civil society must work together to limit the unavoidable exposure of youth to dangerous tobacco marketing.
Banning of tobacco advertising must include the media such as newspapers, magazines, radio and TV. It must encompass public places that highlight poster and billboard marketing. A comprehensive ban must also include the regulation of ‘brand stretching’. Brand stretching is the use of brand names and logos to indirectly advertise products.
World No Tobacco Day 2013 highlights the failure of the tobacco industry to effectively self-regulate and the ineffective results of partial bans in place. “The tobacco industry uses sponsorship and especially corporate social responsibility tactics to trick public opinion into believing in their respectability and good intentions while they manoeuver to hijack the political and legislative process,” says the WHO.
The true impact of tobacco
Tobacco use is a global epidemic that brings disability, disease, lost productivity and death to entire countries and regions throughout the world. Tobacco continues to be the leading cause of preventable death and currently kills 1 in 10 adults worldwide. It’s documented that tobacco kills up to half of its users.
“The tobacco epidemic is entirely man-made, and it can be turned around through the concerted efforts of governments and civil society,” says Dr Margaret Chan, Director General WHO.
Expensive healthcare costs are just the start to this global killer. It also causes hundreds of billions of dollars of economic losses via diminished productivity, missed workdays, poor morale and the physical, mental and emotional strain that tobacco places on one’s family.
Smoking during pregnancy is far too prevalent and can cause significant harm to the mother and child. Hazardous chemicals such as nicotine, carbon monoxide and a variety of other poisons inhaled during smoking go directly to the baby.
There’s a direct relationship between the amount of cigarettes smoked per day and the chance of severe complications. Smoking during pregnancy has been found to affect the amount of oxygen to organ and brain tissue of the child and mother. Tobacco is a chemical stress that is known to elevate the mother’s heart rate and blood pressure. These two factors are significant risk factors for pre-eclampsia, miscarriage and stillbirth.
Tobacco causes heart disease, cancer and diabetes
Tobacco use is one of the most important risk factors in the development of cardiovascular disease. Statistics show that smoking increases the risk of stroke, coronary heart disease and impotence by 100 per cent and increases the risk of death from undiagnosed coronary heart disease by 300 per cent.
Nicotine, the addictive component in tobacco can accelerates the heart rate and raises blood pressure. It also damages the lining of the blood vessels, increases fatty deposits in the arteries, increases clotting, raises bad cholesterol, reduces good cholesterol and promotes coronary artery spasm according to the World Heart Federation.
Tobacco use is the single greatest avoidable risk factor for cancer mortality worldwide, causing an estimated 22 per cent of cancer deaths per year according to the WHO.
Tobacco smoking causes many types of cancer, including cancers of the lung, esophagus, larynx, mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, pancreas, stomach and cervix. About 70 per cent of the lung cancer burden can be attributed to smoking alone. Second-hand smoke has been proven to cause lung cancer in non-smoking adults as well. Smoking is also a leading cause of allergies, asthma and other respiratory related conditions.
Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing compounds and 400 other toxins. The toxins include but are not limited to nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic and DDT.
Diabetics that smoke have twice the risk of premature death. The risk of complications associated with tobacco use and diabetes in combination are nearly 14 times higher than the risk of either smoking or diabetes alone according to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF).
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found the risk of Type 2 diabetes rose by 61 per cent in people who smoked 20 cigarettes per day. A similar study found smokers had a 44 per cent elevated risk of Type 2 diabetes when compared to non-smokers. Quitting smoking can reduce the progression of diabetes by 30 per cent.
Benefits of quitting smoking
There are immediate and long-term health benefits of quitting smoking according to the WHO. Within 20 minutes one’s heart rate and blood pressure drops. The carbon monoxide level in one’s blood stream drops to normal within 12 hours. Lung function improves and circulation increases within weeks of quitting.
Quitting smoking for a year reduces the risk of coronary heart disease by 50 per cent in comparison to a smoker. One’s risk of stroke is reduced to that of a non-smoker 5 to 15 years after quitting.
The risk of lung cancer falls to about half that of a smoker after 10 years. Cancers of the mouth, throat, oesophagus, bladder, cervix, and pancreas decreases as well. Quitting for 15 years reduces the risk of coronary heart disease to that of a non-smoker.
Studies show that few people know and understand the specific health risks of tobacco use. Most smokers who are aware of the dangers of tobacco want to quit.
“A comprehensive ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship could decrease tobacco consumption by an average of about 7 per cent,” according to the WHO.
The ultimate goal of World No Tobacco Day 2013 is to contribute to protect present and future generations not only from these devastating health consequences, but also against the social, environmental and economic scourges of tobacco use.
Dr Cory Couillard is an international healthcare speaker and columnist for numerous newspapers, magazines, websites and publications throughout the world. He works in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s goals of disease prevention and global healthcare education. Views do not necessarily reflect endorsement.
Email: drcorycouillard@gmail. com
Facebook: Dr Cory Couillard
Twitter: DrCoryCouillard
Read original at 