Brenda Goh reports from Shanghai for Reuters. Chinese state firms have expressed an interest to develop land around the Panama Canal, the chief executive of the vital trade thoroughfare said, underlining China’s outward push into infrastructure via railways and ports around the world. The Panama Canal Authority will officially open a tender to develop about […]
Rómulo Bethancourt, one of Panama’s organized crime prosecutors, gives a press conference. Image: Ministerio Publico de Panama Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the heart of the Panama Papers affair, sold shell companies and held bank accounts that were used to help conceal bribes paid across South America, a Panamanian prosecutor alleged at a press […]
Camilo Mejia Giraldo reports in MongaBay that Panama will give its Barro Blanco dam an operational green light within weeks, defying decisions by indigenous authorities to block the project’s completion. For nearly a decade, Panama’s Barro Blanco dam has met with strong opposition from indigenous Ngäbe communities. It has also generated violent suppression from government forces, […]
Panama’s president on Friday presented a new elite counter narcotics police unit to combat smuggling of increased cocaine production in neighboring Colombia. The Eagle force, as it is called, consists of 300 officers with access to intelligence. They are tasked with cracking down on drug-related criminal activity in Panama City and the major Atlantic coast […]
Elida Moreno and Marianna Parraga report for Reuters of this new investment by Shell. Royal Dutch Shell agreed to lease capacity at a large oil terminal in Panama that has been used by U.S. refiner Tesoro Corp , sources involved in the deal told Reuters, gaining much-needed storage for its crude operations. The facility, designed […]
Ministry of Economy and Finance will expand the financial services offered by Panama with 11 new products, including new FinTech initiatives and a proposal for the establishment of a “Bank of Banks” As part of the Panamanian Government’s commitment to uphold international transparency standards and strengthen its service-sector offerings, the Ministry of Economy and Finance […]
With the expanded Panama Canal nearing its first full year of operation, some ports are already benefiting as a result, particularly those along the US east coast, according to a Panama Canal Authority (ACP) report. According to Shipping Gazette, January 2017 was also a record month for many US east coast ports, including the ports […]
Panama’s Maritime Authority has started accepting applications for its approval of ships’ Ballast Water Management Plans (BWMPs). Since 15 March, shipowners have been able to upload their BWMPs to the authority’s website for approval. A certificate will be provided electronically that should be placed on board the ship. Full details are included in the authority’s […]
Tulane University and the Panamanian Ministry of Education have collaborated to form one of the largest language policy initiatives ever attempted. The Panama Bilingüe program, a creation of the government of Panama, is designed with a goal of making the entire country bilingual in Spanish and English within a single generation. “They are sending all […]
Former Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega remains unconscious in a Panama hospital after brain tumor surgery. Doctors say his prognosis is not good. Noriega is 83 and he’s serving a prison sentence in Panama for murders he ordered during his military dictatorship in the 1980s. Until 2010, he was in a prison in Miami – where […]