By Jesse Sanchez This week’s MLB Amateur Prospect League showcase in the Dominican Republic features two teams from Puerto Rico and two from Major League Baseball’s Amateur Prospect League, made up primarily of players eligible to sign when the 2014 international signing period begins next July 2, is the culmination of recent initiatives in Puerto Rico. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at MLB
The practice of shipping food abroad to places like Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic has become so common that hundreds of barrels line the walls in grocery stores around the city to be used to send the food.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
Authorities in the Dominican Republic say they have seized more than $3 million in cash and arrested seven suspected drug traffickers, including one of the country’s intelligence officers.
The director of the National Drug Control Agency says the drug money was confiscated at a luxury home in the exclusive community of Casa de Campo.
Agency director Rolando Rosado said Monday that the alleged leader of the group of suspects is a former member of the navy and a current agent for the country’s National Department of Investigations.
More than 200 Dominican military officers, soldiers and police have been accused of drug trafficking since 2009.
Last week, a retired senior official in the country’s anti-drug agency was extradited to New York to face drug smuggling charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/CMA7Q2h8A7A/
A Chilean court’s halt to construction of Barrick Gold Corp.’s $8 billion, border-straddling mine on the high spine of the Andes is only the latest setback in Latin America for the world’s largest gold miner.
Barrick also faces growing environmental resistance in Argentina, which shares the Pascua-Lama mine project, and the Dominican Republic‘s government is insisting on rewriting the royalty contract for its $4 billion Pueblo Viejo mine.
The Canadian company’s troubles reflect increased risks for the industry in Latin America, where authorities are taking a closer look at how mining is regulated and taxed. They are determined to capture more of the profits while protecting natural resources.
In country after country, the world’s biggest miners are facing new environmental standards, confronting changing tax and currency laws and defending long-term contracts they thought were written in stone.
Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp. has seen its $5 billion Minas Conga project in Peru stalled amid violent protests over allegations of water pollution. Brazil’s Vale SA sank $2.2 billion into building a mine, railroad and port in Argentina before bailing out in frustration last month over soaring inflation and restrictive currency controls.
“There are more concerns about standards of living and more concerns about environmental issues. At the same time, there’s pressure on governments to increase mining revenues, improve education, health and services,” said Risa Grais-Targow, Latin American analyst at Eurasia Group.
“Peru has experienced exceptional growth, but many feel they have not benefited and have been left out. Most of the conflict there revolves around water, whereas in Chile there’s a growing middle class concerned about the environment.”
The court ruling against Barrick on Wednesday in Copiapo, Chile, sent shares of the Toronto-based company tumbling 6 percent to a new four-year low. The stock recovered some Thursday, rising 27 cents, or 1.1 percent, to close at $24.73 a share.
Chile‘s environmental and mining ministries are on record supporting the suspension of work on the Andes mine. Critics allege construction has spread dust that has settled on the nearby Toro 1, Toro 2 and Esperanza glaciers, hastening their retreat, and is threatening the Estrecho river, which supplies water to the Diaguita tribe living downstream.
Barrick said it will work “to address environmental and other regulatory requirements” on the Pascua side of the project. But it insisted
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/world/~3/jS1wY6kakOY/
A curtain of sound envelops the two researchers as they make their way along the side of a mountain in darkness, occasionally hacking their way with a machete to reach the mouth of a small cave.
Peeps, tweets and staccato whistles fill the air, a pulsing undercurrent in the tropical night. To the untrained ear, it’s just a mishmash of noise. To experts tracking a decline in amphibians with growing alarm, it’s like a symphony in which some of the players haven’t been showing up.
In parts of Puerto Rico, for example, there are places where researchers used to hear four species at once and they are now hearing one or two, a subtle but important change.
“You are not hearing what you were before,” said Alberto Lopez, part of a husband-and-wife team of biologists trying to gauge the health of frogs on the island.
Scientists report that many types of amphibians, especially frogs, are in a steep global decline likely caused by a mix of habitat loss, climate change, pollution and a virulent fungus. The downward spiral is striking particularly hard in the Caribbean, where a majority of species are now losing a fragile hold in the ecosystem.
Without new conservation measures, there could be a massive die-off of Caribbean frogs within 15 years, warned Adrell Nunez, an amphibian expert with the Santo Domingo Zoo in the Dominican Republic. “There are species that we literally know nothing about” that could be lost, he said.
Researchers such as Lopez and his wife, Ana Longo Berrios, have been fanning out across the Caribbean and returning with new and troubling evidence of the decline. In some places, especially in Haiti, where severe deforestation is added to the mix of problems, extinctions are possible.
It is part of a grim picture overall. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has found that 32 percent of the world’s amphibian species are threatened or extinct, including more than 200 alone in both Mexico and Colombia.
“Everywhere we are seeing declines and it’s severe,” said Jan Zegarra, a biologist based in Puerto Rico for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Frogs may be less charismatic than some other troubled species, but their role in the environment is important. They are consumed by birds and snakes and they in
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Venezuelans complain that what goes into their Sunday dinner plate comes from abroad: Steak, from Brazil; plantains, the Dominican Republic; rice, South Africa; Parmesan cheese, Uruguay; oats, Chile. Even coffee, in a country famed for it, often is Colombian.
It’s a complaint heard often these days as Hugo Chavez‘s hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro, seeks election against opposition candidate Henrique Capriles. Under the socialist government, shoppers cannot count on finding sugar, cornmeal for Venezuela‘s beloved arepas and other goods when they go to market.
Those shoppers will be casting ballots Sunday in an election in which food security is a key issue, along with crime and power outages.
“You can’t find anything,” said Ermis Rodriguez, a 76-year-old retiree who walked away from the chicken legs on offer at a meat stand inside Caracas’ bustling Guaicapuro Market. “I voted for Chavez, but I’m not voting for Maduro. Things are getting worse.”
Chavez, who died March 5, made agrarian reform a pillar of his “revolution” and vowed to turn Venezuela into a self-sufficient, food-exporting power. His government expropriated 2.3 million hectares (5.7 million acres) of farmland over the last 12 years that he said were misused. He nationalized food-producing companies whose owners he claimed were gouging the people, conspiring against his government, or both. For some products such as rice and coffee, the government-controlled market share has ranged from 40 percent to 75 percent.
For the past seven years, Venezuela, a major oil exporter, has seen sporadic shortages of some basic foods like milk and butter. The country of 30 million people still imports nearly 70 percent of its food. And it has to import products it did not need to before Chavez, including beef, coffee and rice.
While Venezuela was nearly self-sufficient in beef 15 years ago, it now imports nearly half the beef it consumes, said Manuel Cipriano, president of the national cattle ranchers’ association. The government and some pro-Chavez agricultural groups dispute that figure but still put it at least 30 percent. Last year alone, frozen beef imports increased nearly 150 percent, according to government figures posted on the ranchers’ association’s website. That has pushed up beef prices.
Gerardo Barreto, president of the Chamber of Industry of the central state of Carabobo, said Chavez gutted Venezuela‘s coffee industry by expropriating its major players, in one stroke diminishing and degrading the product as companies with decades of know-how were replaced by state conglomerates lacking expertise.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
IZOD
Focuses on Golf: Brings New Multi-Year Platform to Year’s First Major Golf Tournament
IZOD Sponsoring “MAXIM Clubhouse” and Unveiling Social Media Hub Live from Augusta
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– PVH Corp. [NYSE: PVH] is taking its IZOD brand back to its roots in golf. The IZODGolf platform includes a new ad campaign, multi-year sponsorships of three “Team IZOD“PGA TOUR golfers, and multiple sponsorship activations planned throughout the season. Fans will see several manifestations of the platform in connection with this year’s first major tournament, the Masters, including sponsorship of the “MAXIM Clubhouse”; a robust IZOD social media presence; a launch party on April 10; a building wrap at Washington and Berckmans Roads; and advertising across TV, print and digital.
“We are thrilled to bring golfers the new world of IZODGolf – with a new voice and new mindset,” said Mike Kelly, Executive Vice President of Marketing, PVH. “IZOD is putting a new take on an old American tradition as we look to reach our target consumers, who are the younger golf nuts. Fans will see a strong emphasis on social media at the forefront of all of our activations.”
IZOD‘s sponsorship of the “MAXIM Clubhouse” in Augusta is a first for the brand. IZOD will transform the back patio of the clubhouse into the “IZOD Social Media Hub,” where there will be dedicated workstations for both media and brand partners, including PGA TOUR and SB Nation; Google + Hangouts will take place from the hub, as will fan giveaways; and live feeds of golf conversations on various social media networks will be streamed. IZOD will officially open its Social Media Hub with a kickoff party on the night of April 10.
In 2012, IZOD signed three PGA TOUR players—reigning U.S. Open Champion Webb Simpson, two-time PGA Tour winner Scott Piercy and rising star Spencer Levin—to multi-year partnerships to form “Team IZOD.”
In March, IZOD debuted its “Living the Dream” commercial featuring Simpson as part of its comprehensive golf-inspired campaign, which includes on-air, print and digital advertisements that are running across NBC Sports, Golf Channel, Golf Digest, Golf Digest Stix and MAXIM. The commercial was filmed at Punta Espada Golf Club in Cap Cana, Dominican Republic.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Lyle Spencer The World Baseball Classic was unforgettable for players and fans who took the ride to the exhilarating finish in San Francisco. Now it’s back to the real world and grind of a long season, after what Edinson Volquez of the champion Dominican Republic referred to as “another World Series.” …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at MLB
By Jason Beck A reunion between Jose Valverde and the Tigers is still characterized as highly unlikely, despite the team’s current closer situation. But Valverde has thrown bullpen sessions for scouts from multiple teams in recent days in the Dominican Republic. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at MLB
President Obama will travel to Mexico and Costa Rica May 2-4. This trip is an important opportunity to reinforce the deep cultural, familial, and economic ties that so many Americans share with Mexico and Central America.
In Mexico, the President looks forward to meeting with President Peña Nieto, with whom he spoke by telephone today. The President welcomes the opportunity to discuss ways to deepen our economic and commercial partnership and further our engagement on the broad array of bilateral, regional, and global issues that connect our two countries. In Costa Rica, the President looks forward to the opportunity to meet with President Chinchilla as well as heads of state of the other Central American countries and the Dominican Republic, whom President Chinchilla has graciously offered to host. The trip will be an important chance to discuss our collective efforts to promote economic growth and development in Central America and our ongoing collaboration on citizen security.
…read more
Source: White House Press Office
By Dick Kaegel Carlos Fortuna passed away on Sunday in the Dominican Republic, where he was born in 1990 at La Romana. He never won a game in the Major Leagues, but he had a major effect on those who knew him. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at MLB
Filed under: Debt, Shopping, Fast Money, Spending
By David Porter
PASSAIC, N.J. — The winner of a $338 million Powerball jackpot told several media outlets Monday that his first priority will be helping his family.
Pedro Quezada, 44, entered Eagle Liquors store, where the ticket was sold, late Monday afternoon. The Passaic store owner ran Quezada’s ticket through the lottery machine to validate that it was a winner as a newspaper and television outlets recorded the moment.
The New Jersey Lottery confirmed that the winning ticket was validated at the store at 4:30 p.m. Monday, but officials said they didn’t yet know the winner’s name. Quezada, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, told reporters in Spanish that he was “very happy” and that he intends to help his family.
His wife, Ines Sanchez, told The Record in Bergen County that Quezada called her with the news Monday afternoon. “I still can’t believe it,” she said. “We never expected it but thank God.”
The numbers drawn Saturday were 17, 29, 31, 52, 53 and Powerball 31. A lump sum payout would be $221 million, or about $152 million after taxes. It’s the fourth-largest jackpot in Powerball history.
The family’s apartment sits at the end of a short dead end block that abuts a highway in Passaic, 15 miles northwest of New York City. Neighbors spoke with pride that one of their own had struck it rich.
Eladia Vazquez has lived across the street from Quezada’s building for the past 25 years. The block has a half-dozen three-story brick apartment buildings on each side, and Vazquez says it’s a neighborhood where everyone knows everyone, including what car they drive and what parking space they use.
Vazquez described Quezada and his wife as “quiet and not overly talkative” but sensed that they seemed to be working all the time.
“This is super for all of us on this block,” she said. “They deserve it because they are hardworking people.”
Alberto Liranzo, who lives two floors below Quezada, said the lottery winner has five children and owns a bodega in Passaic. Dominican immigrant Jose Gonzalez said he barbecues and plays domino with Quezada in the summers in a backyard on their street.
“He sometimes would work from six in the morning to 11 at night, so I did not see him much,” Gonzalez said in Spanish. “I am happy for him. … I don’t know where he is now but I imagine he will drop by to say hi to his friends.”
Richard Delgado, who lives down the block from Quezada’s building, also described Quezada as “a hard worker, like all of us here. We all get up in …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Just a little over a year ago, I brought to your attention the screwing of the American worker in Wichita, Kansas by the Iran-friendly Brazilian government; a Sparks, Nevada front company; and our friends in the Obama Administration.
At issue was a contract to send a half a billion dollars worth of light attack aircraft to our “friends” in Afghanistan (at our expense, of course).
It seems that despite the fact that the United States Government and its allies already own about 750 Beechcraft AT-6 aircraft proudly manufactured in Wichita by union machinists, the Obama Administration seemed hellbent on sending the new contract to a company called Embraer, which, despite a company in Sparks, Nevada fronting for them, is largely subsidized and formerly owned by the Iran-friendly Brazilian government.
Last year, the contract was re-examined.
But the Obamaites don’t quit.
Shortly after President Wonderful was re-elected, the folks in Wichita found out that elections did, indeed, have consequences.
You know all those things President Wonderful said about jobs? He meant Brazilian jobs. Certainly not Kansas jobs. Kansas is a red state. Interestingly, the new plane is supposed to be produced largely in Florida. Again, elections have consequences.
It seems that despite a three year battle, the Air Force (read that the Obamaites in DoD) has decided to use the same sort of sleazy lawyer tricks to go ahead and get started building the Brazilian planes despite a Government Accountability Office stop work order on the contract while it investigates.
This is apparently what President Wonderful meant when he talked about “spreading the wealth around.”
To refresh your memories, the Beechcraft plane is already widely used by our armed forces and our allies. The Brazilian plane is used by (hold your breath) Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia.
It might even be a good plane.
But it’s certainly not built in Wichita, Kansas by highly skilled American workers.
And its purchase in bulk benefits a nation that has a trading relationship with the same clowns who are building a nuclear weapon and who want to wipe our best ally, Israel, off the face of the Earth.
We have put sanctions in place against Iran. Brazil has not. Why should we support directly or indirectly a regime that trades with people who make improvised explosive devices used against Israel and our own troops in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Wouldn’t a better method of getting what we want from Iran be making their friends and trading partners know that actions have consequences?
Buying the Embraer plane is wrong on so many levels that only an administration as amateurish and incompetent as Barack Obama’s would even consider it.
I know that I’m going to take a load of crap from the Nevada front company for the Brazilians, Sierra Nevada Corporation. They are a large local presence, but they happen to be in bed with the wrong people in this case. Nothing personal, guys. But if you were fronting for Boeing or General Dynamics or …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism
By Corey Brock Pitcher Edinson Volquez didn’t just return to Padres camp Friday after his World Baseball Classic stint with the Dominican Republic. He jumped right back into action. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at MLB
By Thomas Harding The circus came to Bonao, Dominican Republic, and set up beyond the outfield fence of a baseball field — but not far enough. That’s because an 11-year-old named Wilin Rosario was representing a team from his neighborhood in a city tournament. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at MLB
A Dominican prosecutor said Friday that a local attorney told him someone claiming to work for the conservative website The Daily Caller paid him to find prostitutes who would lie about having sex with U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez.
Jose Polanco told The Associated Press that attorney Melanio Figueroa said he was promised $5,000 by someone named “Carlos” to find prostitutes. Polanco said Figueroa told him in an interrogation late Thursday that he was only paid $2,000 after finding the prostitutes.
Daily Caller Editor Tucker Carlson categorically denied the allegations in a statement Friday.
“It seems clear to me Figueroa is under pressure to change his story,” he said. “What I know for certain is this claim is a lie. The Daily Caller never paid anyone, was never asked to pay anyone and of course never would pay anyone for this story.”
Polanco said authorities will review footage from surveillance cameras in areas where the man identified as Carlos supposedly met with Figueroa to try to identify him. He said Figueroa described the man as tall and white, with blue eyes and brown hair and between 28 and 34 years old.
The announcement comes days after police said the prostitutes lied about having sex with Menendez. Police spokesman Maximo Baez has said the women were hired by a Dominican attorney to make videotaped statements. Two of the women received about $425 and the other was paid about $300, he said.
Police are still investigating the source of the allegations that Menendez had sex with prostitutes while in the Dominican Republic with his friend and campaign contributor, Dr. Salomon Melgen, a south Florida doctor, and with Vinicio Castillo Seman, an attorney whose family is politically prominent in the Dominican Republic.
Menendez and Castillo, who is Melgen’s cousin, have denied hiring prostitutes.
Two of the videotaped interviews with the women were published on The Daily Caller’s website as Menendez ran for re-election in November. Federal agents later searched Melgen’s office, and the senator was compelled to reimburse $58,000 for two flights on Melgen’s private jet for trips to the Dominican Republic.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that a Miami federal grand jury is investigating Menendez for his role in advocating for Melgen’s business interests.
By Rhett Bollinger Right-hander Samuel Deduno is back in Twins camp after helping to lead the Dominican Republic to the World Baseball Classic title, and said he’s scheduled to start on Sunday against the Blue Jays. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at MLB
Anne Reynolds and her daughter, Stephanie, put boots on the ground in Haiti in the year 2000, quite accidentally. They were vacationing in the Dominican Republic and inadvertently crossed the border into the western half of the island of Hispaniola, which they found a great deal more difficult to depart than to enter. So, while biding time until their documentation was cleared, they decided to explore the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, which has groaned under an eerie cloud of systemic dysfunction for most of its recorded history. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Chris Haft At his Scottsdale Stadium dressing stall, Santiago Casilla displayed a glittering gold medal for participating on the Dominican Republic team that won the World Baseball Classic. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at MLB
By T.R. Sullivan Nelson Cruz was a key member of the Dominican Republic team that won the World Baseball Classic, and he’s now back in Rangers camp and focused on getting ready for the regular season. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at MLB
