Cruise ship Coral Princess is slated to transit the Panama Canal on a voyage from Los Angeles, Calif., to the U.S. East Coast on October 4, 2016, officially kicking off the canal’s 2016-2017 cruise season, which according to the Panama Canal Authority will see more than 230 cruise ships pass through the Panama Canal.
Panama opened the long-delayed US$5.4 billion expansion of its shipping canal amid cheering crowds on Sunday, despite looming economic uncertainty in the shipping industry and a heated battle over billions in cost overruns.
China COSCO Shipping has won the draw for its container vessel Andronikos to make the ceremonial first transit through the Expanded Panama Canal during the waterway's inauguration on Sunday, June 26. The vessel, which has a maximum capacity of 9,400 TEUs, is 48.25 meters in beam and 299.98 meters in length.
By Juan Carlos Varela (*) - The following was published by The New York Times in The Opinion Pages. DESPITE their name, the Panama Papers are not mainly about Panama. They are not even primarily concerned with Panamanian companies. The more than 11 million documents, illegally hacked and released last week relating to previously undisclosed “offshore” corporations, is roiling the world with revelations of the vulnerability for rampant abuse of legal financial structures by the wealthy.
The leak of 11 million documents from a Panama-based law firm offers a glimpse into the shadowy world where the rich and powerful hide their money, raising sharp questions about the use of shell companies that obscure the identities of their true owners, even if they aren’t illegal by themselves.
Panama is holding tough negotiations with cruise lines hoping they will return to the country, using local facilities as Home Port, but government authorities admit that the demands from the companies are too high.
Panamanian officials announced the dismantling of a drug network linking fugitive Mexican drug lord Joaquin El Chapo (Shorty) Guzman's Sinaloa cartel and a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, front.
Addressing the Americas summit in Panama, Argentine president Cristina Fernandez strongly criticized United States policies towards the hemisphere, particularly Venezuela, and expressed 'surprise' at the parallelism between the Caracas/Washington current dispute and the latest round of Falklands' exchanges between London and her government. President Barack Obama was not present during the Argentine leader's speech on Saturday.
US President Barack Obama and Cuba's Raul Castro on Friday shook hands and sat near each other at the historic Panama Summit of the Americas, a new milestone in efforts to shed decades of animosity. Obama and Castro greeted each other as UN chief Ban Ki-moon looked on, before taking their seats with other regional leaders at a Panama City convention center.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez is attending the VII Summit of the Americas in Panama City where she is expected on Saturday to strongly criticize the United Kingdom over the 'militarization' of the Falklands/Malvinas and revelations of massive espionage of Argentina by London.