The government has reached an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with a commitment to moderating its own spending and restraining the electricity subsidies, as reported in Diario Libre. Murilo Portugal, deputy managing director of the IMF made the announcement after a meeting with Central Bank governor Hector Valdez Albizu, Economy, Planning and Development Minister Temistocles Montas and Hacienda Minister Vicente Bengoa. Portugal spoke of a gradual fiscal consolidation and efforts to maintain domestic demand for sustainable growth, as reported in Diario Libre.
He said that the authorities would sign a Letter of Intent to be presented to the IMF Executive Board for consideration.
The IMF had issued a statement on 20 August saying that more efforts needed to be made in taxation and reducing the electricity subsidy.
The IMF has observed that the economy has recovered and grew 7.5% in the first half of the year, with inflation below the Central Bank target of 6-7%.

The Chamber of Deputies has passed an amendment to the loan contract for the Palomino Hydroelectric Dam, increasing the loan from US$50 million to US$130 million. PRD deputy Hugo Tolentino Dipp said that the increase raises some doubts, as reported in Diario Libre. PRD block spokesman Nelson Arroyo criticized what he called "a race to indebtedness by the government that has mortgaged the future of our children and grandchildren."
The project is estimated to cost US$400 million and is about 80% completed with resources from loans negotiated with the Central American Bank of Economic Integration (BCIE).
The Palomino Hydroelectric Station is located in the in southwestern province of San Juan de la Maguana, where the Yaque del Sur River meets the Blanco River. The project has been assigned to Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. Its promoters say it will supply 80 megawatts to the national electrical grid.

Santo Domingo Hotels Association president Roberto Henriquez is confident that efforts will soon be made to restore the Malecon to its former glory. The Malecon is the 14-km seafront boulevard that links the west and eastern ends of Santo Domingo. It recently was voted one of the city's seven leading tangible cultural heritage attractions.
Henriquez reported that a meeting held yesterday with the Santo Domingo city government had produced positive commitments. He said the Ministry of Tourism has taken responsibility for the Malecon and the Colonial City to restore them to their rightful place as leading attractions in the city. "Instructions were given and we should see the results in the next few days," says Henriquez. Actions will be taken to improve the lighting, security and harassment by prostitutes on the main streets.

The Metropolitan Transport Authority says it has collected RD$215 million for the government during Major General Jose Anibal Sanz Jiminian's first five months at the head of the traffic police corps. AMET agents have issued 198,387 tickets for violation of Traffic Law 241. 25,477 tickets were issued to motorcycle drivers for not wearing any or the adequate helmets. Another 17,249 were fined for crossing a red light, 16,414 for not wearing a seat belt, 13,445 for driving without a license, 13,170 for driving with an expired license, 12,950 for talking on a cell phone while driving, 12,197 for driving in the wrong direction, 8,804 for traveling on public transport vehicles without adequate identification, 6,228 for driving without insurance and 5,888 for driving with tinted windows.
Penalties range from RD$900 to RD$1,500, as reported in Diario Libre.
There are 2,400 AMET agents. They work in two shifts: from 5:45am to 2pm, and from 2pm to 10pm.
Today's Diario Libre editorializes on the AMET agents' inability to bring order to the current traffic chaos. "The main problem is that there appears to be no plan," comments the newspaper.
While AMET is doing well collecting fines, traffic chaos in Santo Domingo is at an all-time high. Road improvements, excess of vehicles, violation of traffic laws and lack of maintenance of traffic lights are some of the reasons for the chaos. But drivers are also criticizing the Amet agents' lack of efficiency in reducing the gridlock.

Hoy reports today that the annex of the Los Mina maternity hospital has seen four governments go by, two majority political parties in government, and five ministers of public health, but it has yet to be finished. The construction of the much-needed maternity ward annex was begun at the end of the first Fernandez government (1996-2000). Since then, public health ministers Altagracia Guzman Marcelino, Juan Octavio Ceballos (PLD), Jose Rodriguez Soldevila (PRD), Sabino Baez and Bautista Rojas Gomez (PLD) have not been able to conclude the work.
Hoy reports that all these ministers promised that the annex would be completed. In 2005 a RD$60 million budget was needed.
Now, Hoy reports the government will pass the remodeling on to Carimex, the private company that was entrusted with the Ciudad de la Salud health complex, and for which costly commercial loans were secured.
Hoy reports work has advanced at other hospitals such as Dario Contreras, Vinicio Calventi, Marcelino Velez, Luis Eduardo Aybar and Cecanot in response to headlines in the press. The report by Altagracia Ortiz mentions that meanwhile, the maternity hospital is forced to allocate two women to each bed due to the severe shortage.

The director of the Department for the Persecution of Administrative Corruption, Hotoniel Bonilla said that the justice system is not made out to punish corrupt politicians. He said in the last 10 years, RD$104 billion has been embezzled in known corruption cases. As reported in Diario Libre, Bonilla estimates that 95% of the corruption cases filed since 2000 have gone unpunished. He says the people who have been convicted are "the little fish."
He said the cases of alleged corruption are investigated by his department and turned over to the Justice Department.
"The state of law supposedly conceived in the Constitution has an original mistake. And that is that the citizens of this country are not all equal, not even we officials are all equal," he said.
Bonilla has been in the job for six years.
"When we send an official to the courts, if he is of a lower rank, the evidence is sufficient, the appeals are declared unacceptable and he serves his time," he commented.
But he warned that "when the officials are among the powerful, there is no way to convict them."
As reported in Listin Diario, Bonilla said: "The political system has a great deal of influence on the judicial system, including the prosecutor general, the Police and all investigative bodies".

Hoy columnist Claudio Acosta observes today that contrary to what his mother, Vielka Conception, prosecutor of the Court of Appeals of Santiago, has said, her son does work in the Santiago Customs Department. Acosta says that journalists from several media outlets have been able to confirm from the Customs Human Resources Department that Reyes Concepcion has worked in the Warehouse Department of Alma Norte, Santiago (Departamento de Almacen Fiscal Alma Norte) for three and a half years, earning a monthly wage of RD$20,482.
Acosta writes that prosecutor general Radhames Jimenez says that Concepcion did not consult him when arguing that the accusation needed to be one of a simple economic crime. Acosta says that Jimenez pointed out that she ignored the accusation made by the prosecutors who also looked into serious crimes such as international trafficking in weapons and association with criminals.
"Put all that together (in context, as we journalists say), and remember the strong pressures that have been exercised on the prosecutors in Santiago since the scandal was exposed to "leave that as it is", and you will have reasons enough to have a good laugh at the statements of Reynaldo Pared Perez, president of the Senate, who says the government has nothing to do with the surprising release on bail of the former officials," he writes today in Hoy.
The three arrested in the Santiago Customs case are said to have ties to high-ranking PLD politicians.

Taiwan's First Lady Chow Mei-ching is visiting the Dominican Republic on a two-day humanitarian tour, following an earlier stop in Haiti. She is accompanied by her daughter. In the DR she was recognized as a distinguished visitor of Villa Altagracia. The First Lady is an ambassador for non-governmental child sponsorship organization World Vision. She sponsors two Dominican children and visited the World Vision offices in Villa Altagracia.
She also visited the community of La Caleta, Boca Chica to observe the Dominican Red Cross disaster prevention work.
She met with First Lady Margarita Cedeno during her visit. This is her second visit to the DR.

Firefighters have extinguished a fire at Torre MM, an upscale office building at Av Gustavo Mejia Ricart and Filomena Gomez de Cova, near Abraham Lincoln Avenue in Santo Domingo. Several economic consulting, legal and engineering and architectural firms are based in the building. General Oscar Guillermo Garcia of the Santo Domingo fire service said that the fire began in the underground parking area. He said that the fire had affected 15 vehicles, three of which were totally gutted. They have not yet identified the causes of the fire. Luis Miguel de Camps, spokesman for the owners of the building, said that one building staff member had to be taken to the Dr. Abel Gonzalez hospital. Employees and firemen rescued Gisela Herrera who suffered a panic attack on the 4th floor and did not evacuate the building, according to reports.
Hoy reports that the firefighters suspect that a gas tank in a car parked in the basement caused the fire. There were no injuries. The fire caused major bottlenecks on the busy street.

Dominican citizen Bernardo Gonzalez Garcia faces up to 25 years in jail for attempted smuggling of nearly 30 pounds of cocaine and heroin into John F Kennedy International Airport on 7 August. The shipment was detected by the airport's drug dog patrol (K-9). The drugs with an estimated market value of US$1.4 million were concealed in cooking pots and sneakers.
A US Customs and Border Patrol spokesman said the CBP canine alerted to a suitcase owned by Gonzalez who had arrived on a flight from Santo Domingo. Upon opening the luggage, the officers noticed several pots and sneakers with unusually thick soles. A more intensive inspection revealed a brown powdery substance contained within the soles of the shoes, which tested positive for heroin. A subsequent examination revealed a white powdery substance, which tested positive for cocaine, within the base of the pots.
"CBP is committed to protecting the American public from any type of threat," stated Robert E. Perez, Director, Field Operations, New York Field Office. "CBP K-9 teams in the greater New York area are some of the best trained and most successful in detecting and intercepting contraband items, despite many cunning concealment methods."

A robbery at a Los Rios gas station was thwarted by the Police yesterday. The Police identified Ramon Vallejo Medina, who was injured in his left knee by a police agent. Others accused of the robbery and arrested were Silverio Adames (26), Luis Alberto Pineda (35), Carlos August Garcia Fernandez (30), Jose Maria Alcantara (33) and Victor Alfonso Evangelista (20). The Police confiscated a gun, a rifle, and a Toyota Camry that they planned to use in the robbery.

The DR has cleared the first week in September, with Weather Department reports that the named storm Gaston has weakened and will not affect the island. Forecasts are for exceptional summer weather into this weekend.
September is the peak month for tropical storms and hurricanes in the Caribbean. The storms develop off the west coast of Africa and make their way into the Caribbean Basin.
For updates, check out the latest weather posts at www.dr1.com/forums/weather-beyond/102242-h-season-outlooks-2010-a-45.html

Be amazed, awed and enjoy the extraordinary and many Photo Imagen exhibitions all around the city this month. More than 30 photography exhibitions are taking place in September as part of the PhotoImagen event, organized by Dominican photographer Mayra Johnson with the support of the Ministry of Culture. Delegations of photographers are coming from Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico. For the calendar of exhibitions see
www.photoimagenrd.com/photoimagen/eventos.html
For more on other events, see http://www.dr1.com/calendar

Santo Domingo.- The Cisneros Organization, through her global entertainment company Venevisi�n Continental, presented its new international TV channel project in the country Venevisi�n +Plus Dominicana, initiative developed especially for the Dominican Republic.

As this is being written six Caribbean tourism ministers are preparing to travel to London. There they will meet with the British Government, the regions travel industry and aviation partners, and consult with the Caribbean Diaspora and diplomats from other nations.

San Fernando, Spain. - The Dominican music icon Juan Luis Guerra, accompanied by his group 440, will headline the macro-concert in October organized by the MTV television network.

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. - The Punta Cana International Airport donated two UM motorcycles to the Police precinct in the town Ver�n, through the Puntacana Foundation.

Santo Domingo. The increase in malaria cases could be linked to the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, Dominican health authorities said Friday.

SANTO DOMINGO.- The Chamber of Deputies yesterday approved 88 votes for and 9 against the amendment to the loan contract to build the Palomino Hydroelectric Dam, raising it US$80 million, from US$50 million to US$130 million.

WASHINGTON.- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Dominican Government yesterday agreed to bolster the efforts to obtain revenues, contain the electricity subsidy and curtail other expenses.

SANTO DOMINGO.- The head of the Governments Anticorruption Department (DPCA) affirmed Thursday that the justice system isnt able punish corrupt politicians, because in the last 10 years RD$104.0 billion have been embezzled just in the major cases.

SANTO DOMINGO.- A fire charred most of the basement parking area of the building MM located in the Mej�a Ricart street between Lope de Vega and Lincoln avenues Thursday afternoon, panicking many in the sector upscale Piantini and causing a major traffic jam which hampered the arrival of the Santo Domingo Fire Department.

Santo Domingo.- The Santo Domingo Hotels Association and the Tourism Ministry announced Wednesday that the streetlights along the seaside boulevard Malecon will be restored, as well as the relaunch of the Colonial Zone and the shopping street Conde Peatonal.

Santo Domingo.- The nonprofit group Citizen Participation (CP) today submitted before the Supreme Court (SCJ) a Constitutional challenge to Law 5796 on the deputies and senators open tax exemptions to import vehicles.

Santo Domingo.- The Santiago Appellate Court Penal Chamber subpoenaed that citys ex mayor Jose Enrique Sued to appear at 9 a.m. September 6, to face charges of violating several articles of the Laws on the Environment and on Health.