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Why It's No Longer Raining Cocaine in the Dominican Republic By Ezra Fieser / Santo Domingo Drug cartels often drop their product from small planes for it to be picked up by traffickers on land. But sometimes those air deliveries miss their mark — and until recently, errant bundles of cocaine used to fall from the sky into the Dominican Republic's countryside so frequently that one rural cab driver tells TIME they were like "gifts from God," because residents who found them could sell them back to the narcos for a handsome price. "It paid better than any other job,"...

(English-language translation) A septuagenarian missionary became the first person to import the dangerous cholera bacterium to Puerto Rico in over a century. Confirmation was done by the Department of Health, following protocol which requires that confirmed cholera cases be reported within 24 hours. The man, whom the Department of Health only identified as a missionary who lives in the northern part of the island, traveled to the Dominican Republic two weeks ago to do work in an area where hygienic conditions were not the best. "He is a person who travels to the Dominican Republic frequently," State Epidemiologist Carmen Deseda...

SAN DIEGO, Texas - A reserve deputy driving home from work swerved violently off the road and overturned his car after his headlights revealed the battered bodies of three men on a dark South Texas road. The incident happened about 1 a.m. Tuesday as Duval County reserve deputy Alonzo Zamora was driving along Farm-to-Market Road 1329. Sheriff's Sgt. David Canales says Zamora suffered only bumps and bruises in the crash. Canales says the men were a 30-year-old from El Salvador, a 23-year-old from the Dominican Republic and a 23-year-old from Mexico. Each suffered head injuries, and the Salvadoran also had...

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) sold his villa in the Dominican Republic that played a role in his conviction on ethics charges last year, according to his financial disclosure forms released Wednesday. Rangel received between $250,001 and $500,000 from the sale of his beach villa in Punta Cana. The former Ways and Means Committee chairman was sanctioned for committing 11 violations of House ethics rules, including improperly using his office to solicit donations for an educational center in his name and filing incorrect financial disclosures and tax forms that failed to list income earned on his Dominican villa. The 81-year-old lawmaker...

A Dominican Republic-bound JetBlue flight made a U-turn and headed back to Kennedy Airport after the pilot discovered a scamming TSA screener had sneaked aboard... ... Insisting that he was authorized to use a jump seat in the cabin, he caught the pilot's attention 45 minutes into the flight.

Households headed by immigrants have a substantially higher rate of welfare use than native-headed households, according a report released by the Center for Immigration Studies this week. The report examined census data about the use of welfare programs – cash assistance, food assistance, housing assistance, and Medicaid – and compared usage by immigrant headed households with at least one child – those headed both by legal and illegal immigrants – with usage by native headed households with at least one child. 57 percent of immigrant headed households participate in at least one welfare program, compared to 39 percent of native...

Although it is not in the form of binding resolution, the American push for U.N. action has helped win over a handful of new countries to the cause. A resolution could be brought to a vote later this year. The issue of gay rights has polarized nations at the U.N. for years. And despite growing acceptance for homosexuality in Western nations and parts of Latin America, lawyers say there is still a gap in human rights treaties for the protection of gays against discrimination and mistreatment. "We are very concerned that individuals continue to be killed, arrested and harassed around...

HOUSTON — A truck driver was resentenced to nearly 34 years in prison on Monday after a federal appeals court last year overturned the multiple life sentences he received for his role in America's deadliest human smuggling attempt, which resulted in the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants from Central America. The new sentence of 405 months that Tyrone Williams was given during a court hearing is equal to the longest prison term he previously got in the case, for another count that was upheld on appeal. During the sentencing hearing, prosecutor Daniel Rodriguez made an impassioned plea that despite the...

The United States has signed a deal with Bhutan giving US citizens in the country immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the State Department said Tuesday. The deal with Bhutan brings to 34 the number of countries with which the United States has signed so-called "Article 98" agreements exempting US citizens from the court's jurisdiction, said Lynn Cassel, a department spokesman. Bhutan and Bosnia-Herzegovina both agreed to the pacts on May 16 but the deal with Thimphu was not announced until Tuesday. Washington refuses to support the ICC, arguing that it could become a forum for politically...

Hazleton police cruisers escorted a caravan of sport utility vehicles with whom Dominican Revolutionary Party leaders are calling the next president of the Dominican Republic along North Wyoming Street late Saturday morning. Miguel Vargas Maldonado, the party's president and candidate for the Dominican Republic's highest office, made several stops in Hazleton to talk to his fellow citizens, encouraging them to vote for him and the change he plans to bring to their country. The caravan crawled through town, stopping on Wyoming Street between Maple and Green streets, where Maldonado and those in his entourage got out of their vehicles and...

NEWARK — Two New Jersey men intent on killing American troops were arrested Saturday as they boarded flights to link up with a virulent jihadist group in Somalia, authorities said. The men, both North Jersey residents, were charged with conspiring to commit an act of international terrorism through a group tied to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network, according to officials familiar with the details of the arrests. Mohamed Hamoud Alessa, 20, of North Bergen, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 26, of Elmwood Park were apprehended at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens before they could board separate flights to...

Conservationists are in the Dominican Republic attempting to save one of the world's most strange and ancient mammals - the Hispaniolan solenodon. While trying to track down one of these creatures, The Last Survivors team is also trying to find out exactly how this animal has been able to survive for a remarkable 76 million years.

I received a text from the USGS (as i usually do when there is a mag 6.0 or above in the world) indicating there was a 8.0 earthquake in the DR. I went online to the USGS site but couldnt find anything. However, it also indicates that there hasnt been a single earthquake in the last hour anywhere in the world. The site is probably down or something, but has anyone else heard about an earthquake in the DR?

Six women have been hospitalised in New Jersey after they had their buttocks injected with a non-medical-grade silicone commonly used to waterproof bathtubs. The Newark women had apparently been injected with the silicone by unlicensed beauticians, the Newark Star-Ledger reported. The non-medical silicone caused severe infections in the women, who had agreed to be injected with the intention of enhancing their rear ends. "What we've been hearing from the hospitals is that these women are presenting with deep tissue infections and skin infections," New Jersey Health Department epidemiologist Tina Tan said. "Abscesses form in some cases." Although only six cases...

Oh, where do I start without writing a book? Rather than me giving the details of yesterday's Pepe Lobo/Mel Zelaya/Dominican Republic deal, let me direct you to these articles for the background: Zelaya Will Travel to Dominican Republic as "Distinguished Guest" First of all: Dominican Republic? Why? The Dominican Republic, or at least its president Leonel Fernández, has been one of the major and rudest critics of Honduras (next to Chávez and Arias), not to mention the DR's strong connection with Chávez. The DR doesn't have exactly a stellar reputation in the field of diplomacy, and in fact has a...

Note: The following text is a quote: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEThursday, December 17, 2009 Guyanese National Charged with Smuggling Indian Nationals to the United States A Guyanese national has been indicted on charges of conspiracy and alien smuggling in connection with her role in the smuggling or attempted smuggling of four Indian nationals to the United States. Annita Devi Gerald, aka Annita Rampersad, 52, was charged in a nine-count indictment returned yesterday by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Texas. Gerald was arrested by ICE special agents in Houston on Nov. 17, 2009, and has been held without...

Those who know Angel Villalona are stunned that the young San Francisco Giants minor league prospect - who they say is afraid of dogs and even carnival rides - has been charged with murdering a man in a bar in his native Dominican Republic. Villalona, a first baseman with what scouts have described as enormous power potential, won a signing bonus of $2.1 million from the Giants in 2006, just four days after his 16th birthday. It was the most the team had ever paid for an amateur.

SANTO DOMINGO, September 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Dominican Republic has given the final approval to a constitutional amendment protecting the right to life. "The right to life is inviolable from conception until death. In no case can the death penalty be established, pronounced, nor applied," the amendment states. The vote, which took place last night in a constitutional assembly created to revise the nation's charter document, was an overwhelming 128-34, despite heavy campaigning by international pro-abortion groups and rumored pressure from the United States. Dr. Gene Antonio, a Dominican pro-life activist, told LifeSiteNews in early August that "The White...

August 14, 2005 -- LONDON — The $21.3 billion United Nations oil-for-food scandal has now widened to include the brother of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Kobina Annan, the Ghanaian ambassador to Morocco, is said by investigators to be "connected" to an African businessman at the center of the scandal. The probe into Kobina's dealings are at an early stage and he has not been interviewed. However, investigators are understood to suspect that Michael Wilson, an African businessman, and Kobina had a business relationship at the time of the scandal. A source close to the investigation said: "We believe Kobina Annan...

Note: The following text is a quote: June 24, 2009 46 street gang members and associates arrested in New Jersey-wide operation ICE works with local law enforcement agencies to make arrests NEWARK, N.J. - Forty-six gang members and associates were arrested as a result of a statewide public safety initiative in New Jersey led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of Investigation in Newark. The operation ended June 20. Each of those arrested were targeted for their membership, participation or association with violent street gangs. The success of the operation dubbed "Community Shield" was the result of an...