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Seven people, including three children, have been killed after an out-of-control van drove off a road and plunged more than 100ft into New York's Bronx Zoo. The van had been heading south down the Bronx River Parkway when it suddenly bounced off the central section, careered across two lanes and then hit the guardrail. Police said it flipped over the rail and then landed upside down in an area that is used by the zoo to store its monorail trains, some way from the animal enclosures. All seven people in the van were killed in the accident. They have been...

‘S-HERTOGENBOSCH, Netherlands (Reuters) - When Christianity fades, it doesn't just leave empty pews behind. With each church that shuts, the statues, crucifixes, chalices, paintings or vestments that were part of regular Sunday services suddenly have no liturgical home.In the Netherlands, where faith has faded more dramatically than in many other parts of Europe, two churches close down on average every week. The sacred art left over is piling up in cellars and storerooms around the country.Some congregations elsewhere have the opposite problem. New Catholic and Protestant churches are springing up in Latin America, Africa and Asia, and pastors in eastern...

A Southern Californian man thrown off a Caribbean gay cruise earlier this week has said that that he and his partner were taunted, humiliated and subjected to inhumane treatment when they were arrested for indecent exposure.Dennis Jay Mayer, 53, of Palm Springs said he has no doubt they were arrested in Dominica because they were gay. Police said it was because they were seen having sex in public on the balcony of their ship cabin. Mayer said they were not having sex, but were ‘partially clothed’. (edit) The pastor of Dominica's Trinity Baptist Church, Randy Rodney, praised the police for their...

SNIPPET: "In July, the British government warned that Al Qaeda’s exploitation of social networking websites is on the rise." SNIPPET: "The massive and multifarious network of websites and social media has presented a challenge to authorities in trying to combat it. Additionally, civil liberty concerns have conflicted with government efforts to spy on communications. Reducing terrorist activity on social media sites has been particularly difficult because users have adopted new forms of communication to conform with the new formats. Many Arabic speakers on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other sites use Arabizi, a form of colloquial Arabic written in the Latin...

A Dominican with an anti-American grudge has been busted for building a bomb in his upper Manhattan apartment to blow up a police station, sources said Sunday night. -snip- The suspect was identified through one of the al-Awlaki web sites, where he posted anti-American comments, the source said.

Having tied the knot in a white wedding, a lesbian couple thought the icing on the cake would be a traditional honeymoon along with other young couples. But the trip turned out to be a nightmare after staff at their resort treated them as if it was not a "real honeymoon" and excluded them from special romantic meals and dances. Gemma Harman, 24, and Tamsin Harper, 36, said it was the "worst two weeks" of their lives and the "homophobic manner" in which they were treated was "disgusting". The couple, from Brighouse, near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, decided to go on...

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...

Note: The following news brief is a quote: - In cooperation with various other countries, Dutch authorities have rounded up a big cocaine gang that had links with Hezbollah. Seventeen suspects were arrested on Curacao, the biggest island of the Netherlands Antilles, the Public Prosecutor's Office (OM) has revealed. International cooperation between police and judicial services of the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles, Belgium, Colombia, Venezuela and the US led to the arrest of the 17 suspects by the Curacao police. They are believed to be part of a drugs and money-laundering organisation with international branches, thought to be responsible...

Abortion Permanently a Crime in the Dominican Republic, Pro-life Victory Comes with a Vote of 167 to 32 SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, April 22 /Christian Newswire/ -- In response to recent efforts by international pro-abortion groups seeking to decriminalize abortion in the Dominican Republic, legislators permanently enshrined the right to life for pre-born humans by rewriting the Constitution of the Dominican Republic with the words "the right to life is inviolable from conception until death." The vote of 167 to 32 was held yesterday afternoon and served as a major victory to those working to protect all human life. A...

Note: The following text is a quote: ICE nabs man at LMMIA with 172 fraudulent credit cards SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A 28–year–old man was arrested Monday at the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (LMMIA) for credit card fraud following a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Secret Service investigation. Alexis De Jesus, a United States citizen residing in New York, arrived at the LMMIA from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and was referred to a secondary inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspectors. The search of De Jesus and his luggage revealed 172 fraudulent credit...

Just two days after US President Barack Hussein Obama shared a controversial and landmark handshake with Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez at the Summit of the Americas, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center has released a study analyzing the flowering alliance between the increasingly anti-Western Latin America and the virulently anti-Israel Iran. The study was conducted at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC), a non-governmental organization dedicated to Israeli intelligence and terrorism issues. According to the study, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is using anti-Western Hugo Chavez as a springboard into several Latin American countries, such as Bolivia, Nicaragua, and...

Burials excavated at the earliest European settlement in the New World, established by Christopher Columbus in 1493, have surprised archaeologists by including women and children. It had been thought from documentary evidence that the settlers had all been men. La Isabela, on the north coast of Hispaniola, in what is now the Dominican Republic, was founded by Columbus, pictured below, late in 1493 on his second voyage. The camp at La Navidad, now in Haiti, established on his first voyage in 1492, had been abandoned by the time he got back, and he moved eastwards along the coast of Hispaniola...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0902/090210boston.htm February 10, 2009 Boston area man sentenced to seven and a half years in federal prison for laundering drug money Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents helped crack the case BOSTON - A Boston-area man was sentenced on February 10, 2009 to seven and a half years in prison on charges of money laundering and drug distribution in connection with a Jamaica Plain money remitting business known as Boston Envio. Claudio Tejeda Andujar, 35, (a/k/a Jose Rivera and a/k/a Dagoberto Lazacha) was a partner in Boston Envio that between 2004 and 2006, wire...

A Britten-Norman Trislander, the kind of small aircraft that disappeared off the Dominican Republic Monday with 12 on board. A small Caribbean airplane that vanished into thin air Monday was allegedly stolen by a fired Dominican Navy cadet who may have been trying to carry illegal immigrants to America, the plane’s owner told FOXNews.com. Luis Perez, the Puerto Rico-based owner of the aircraft charter company, said his twin-engine plane was stolen by an unlicensed pilot named Adrian Jimenez. Authorities told him Jimenez was a student of the Dominican Republic Armed Forces and a former Navy cadet. “They took his pilot’s...

As a clerk at the Dominican Republic Consulate in New York, Francisco Estevez enjoyed a number of diplomatic perks, including something any frequent flier would covet: an exclusive visa that amounted to an airport E-ZPass. Mr. Estevez’s diplomatic visa granted him expeditious treatment whenever he went through customs, a perk that was extended to his immediate family members, and one that they apparently used often. In the past year, Mr. Estevez made more than a dozen trips to his home country, often returning to the United States with several people who he said were family members. Except, the authorities said,...

  Jessica Mazzone is recovering from operation by Dr. John Boockvar.   Writhing in pain inside a dilapidated hospital in the Dominican Republic, Brooklyn native Jessica Mazzone didn't think she'd ever walk again.  The 28-year-old flight attendant had fallen three stories from a hotel balcony on the eastern tip of the island, snapping her spine and shattering her left leg.  Local doctors insisted they had to operate on her at the hospital. A journey to the U.S. would almost certainly leave her paralyzed, Mazzone was told. Her family feared the worst until a relative suggested they contact a famed surgeon who...

Quote of the Day? Posted by: Matt Lewis at 9:53 AM “Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, they’d start speaking Spanish." - Rep. Charlie Rangel explains why he failed to pay federal taxes on rental income from his Dominican Republic "villa" ...

The athletic director and a guidance counselor at North Bergen High School were arrested Tuesday in a drug and gambling ring sting that authorities say was controlled by the Genovese crime family. Athletic Director Jerry Maietta and Guidance Counselor Ralph Marino were among 45 swept up in raids that began at 5 a.m. Tuesday. Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli described the two as lower level operatives in an expansive network of bookies, package holders, drug dealers and drug distributors. Mark Iafelice, 49, of Edgewater; Brian DiGuilmi, 48, of Emerson; James W. Skinner, 69, of Allenwood; and his son James J....

Police say up to 1,500 students rampaged through streets yesterday outside Reading High School in an after-school gathering that turned violent as officers arrived to control the crowd. Some students threw rocks and bottles and hit parked cars with baseball bats in the Wednesday afternoon melee that began with an anniversary celebration of the Dominican Republic's independence from Spain. Police Capt. Edward Kosmerl received several stitches for a head injury when struck by a rock. At least a half-dozen students were apprehended. Police say further information about the arrested students wasn't immediately available. Police say the unruly crowd marched through...

The wreckage of a pirate ship abandoned by Captain Kidd in the 17th century has been found by divers in shallow waters off the Dominican Republic, a research team claims. The underwater archaeology team, from Indiana University, says they have found the remains of Quedagh Merchant, actively sought by treasure hunters for years. Charles Beeker of IU said his team has been licensed to study the wreckage and convert the site into an underwater preserve for the public. It is remarkable that the wreck has remained undiscovered all these years given its location, just 70 feet off the coast of...

Catholics in Dominican Republic Plan Offensive Against Abortion 260 Catholic churches will hold anti-abortion protests on same day By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, October 3, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Catholics in the Dominican Republic are planning a large-scale offensive against the legalization of abortion in the Caribbean nation. The campaign will begin this Wednesday at 7 pm, with a speech in the capital city of Santo Domingo by the rector of the nation's Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, Roberto Reyna, who was almost aborted on the advice of his mother's doctor.  The event will also include speeches by several congressmen...

A $2 million grant approved by the United States will go towards supporting a comprehensive program of labor rights projects in six partner countries that are party to the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-Dominican Republic) signed with the United States. To be implemented by the Organization of American States (OAS)-affiliated non-profit Trust for the Americas, jointly with the OAS Department of Social Development and Employment (DSDE), the 24-month initiative involves Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. The grant agreement is part of a larger United States government commitment of some $40 million per year for...

Cardinal Denounces Proposal to Legalize Abortion in the Dominican Republic Says Supporters of the Measure Are Either "Sick", "Hypocritical", or "Comedians" By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, September 10, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com)--The Cardinal Archbishop of Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, lashed out last week at politicians and groups agitating to legalize abortion in the country. When asked  about a recent proposal to legalize abortion for "therapeutic" purposes, he shot back: "No, no abortion, there is nothing more to say." "No one has the right to kill anyone and some of us are sick, some are hypocrites, some comedians who are...

LIMA, Peru -- Ten Iraqi citizens with forged passports are in a Peruvian prison after an apparent bid to enter the United States on a flight to Los Angeles, officials here say...One of the men arrested is thought to have links to al Qaeda, said Peruvian National Police Col. Roberto Lujan...The plot unfolded June 21, when three Iraqis entered Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima attempting to board a flight to Los Angeles. Airline officials alerted police after two of the men holding Dutch passports could not speak Dutch. Citizens of the Netherlands are not required to hold a visa...

Dominican Republic Protest Against Attempt to Legalize Abortion Although abortion currently illegal in island nation, law is rarely enforced By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman SANTO DOMINGO, August 24, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- Citizens of the Dominican Republic protested both inside and outside of the country's Chamber of Deputies (lower house of congress) against an attempt to legalize "therapeutic abortion" in the island nation last Wednesday. Protesters outside of the building held signs that included statements such as, "Yes to life, no to abortion", "We are in favor of life", and "Abortion is murder". "If the legalization of abortion is approved, the Dominican...

A Massachusetts woman who was arrested after she used an anti-ulcer drug to kill her unborn child talked about her decisions. Amber Abreu, 18, used the drug to cause an abortion even though its maker warns it shouldn't be utilized for that purpose. She now regrets her decision. "If I could turn back the clock, I would do things differently," Abreu told the Eagle Tribune newspaper in an interview. "Those people who judge me don't know what I'm feeling inside." After using the drug, which failed to kill the child immediately, Abreu gave birth to a baby girl January 6...

SANTO DOMINGO.- As evidenced in the last Latin American electoral processes, it’s probable that Hugo Chávez’s political hand is already maneuvering in the Dominican Republic’s 2008 presidential elections. Normally, Chávez’s until now disguised affections have been centered in emergent figures and not in professional politicians who postulate equal or similar ideas to his in the context of the present process of changes in Latin America regarding its dependency on the United States. After Fidel Castro’s handicap in Cuba, the leadership of a new exciting and contagious left seems to a large extent, to be under Chávez’s wing and he has...

JUPITER, FLA. — He has been named a National League All-Star at three positions, and he has won a batting title, a Most Valuable Player Award and a Gold Glove. Now, for the first time, Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols will report to spring training as a U.S. citizen. Pujols, 27, a native of the Dominican Republic, officially became a citizen Wednesday when he was sworn in by U.S. District Court judge Richard E. Webber. The ceremony at the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse culminated a nearly yearlong process. Pujols received a perfect score on the oral and written exam,...

Transcription from radio/internet broadcast: Pro-life advocates are decrying a grisly new outrage in Europe: Face lifts and cosmetic surgery using tissue from aborted babies are being offered at clinics in places such as Moscow and Rotterdam, and women from around the globe are flocking. In many cases women in third world nations are being paid up to $200.00 US to carry babies up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, when the unborn children are aborted and sold to the cosmetic clinics. An increasing number of these facilities are now springing up in popular vacation spots including Barbados and the Dominican Republic...

Indiana University archaeologists are confident they are closer to discovering some of Christopher Columbus' lost ships -- and the answer to a 500-year-old mystery, "What was on those ships?" "The discovery of a Columbus shipwreck, let alone the finding of the flagship Mariagalante, would be a tremendous contribution to maritime archaeology," said Charles Beeker, director of Academic Diving and Underwater Science Programs in IU Bloomington's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. "Perhaps more important would be the cargo. Were the ships laden with native Taino Indian artifacts heading to Spain? Such a find would shed new light on the...

LONDON – Britain's secret intelligence service, MI6, has established the first proof al-Qaida is playing a major role in the new Cold War between North and South America – with Osama bin Laden's terror network seeing itself in league with Mexican subversives in infiltrating the U.S. border. The evidence emerged as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez swash-buckled into London after scoring a win in yet another venomous battle with Washington for influence and economic advantage across the Latin American continent. Chavez is in London to meet the capital's anti-Bush mayor, Ken Livingstone, and other prominent British opponents of the war in...