Panama - Religion: 'Repent or die': Panama religious sect kills seven in bizarre ritual

Ten members of evangelical ‘New Light of God’ group arrested as bodies of six indigenous children and one adult found

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Trade and Transportation: Panama Canal turns 100, celebrations marred by doubts

The construction of the 77-kilometer (48-mile) Panama Canal a century ago meant a revolution for international trade because it greatly reduced travel time between the Atlantic and the Pacific.

The channel eliminated the need for ships to go around the wild, southern tip of South America.
A hundred years on, an expensive $5.25-billion (3.92-billion-euro) expansion of the canal is under way which has been marred by numerous interruptions over cost overruns and strikes.

The enlargement will give the canal wider locks with mechanical gates which will reduce congestion and enable it to accommodate far bigger vessels.

Panama Canal Administrator Jorge Quijano acknowledged he would have liked to finish the expansion in time for Friday's centennial. "But we knew from the beginning that a project as complex as this wouldn't necessarily be done on time," he told reporters. The target completion date is late 2015.

Technical delays have not been the only worry. Many economists and government officials in Panama have been gravely concerned about competition lurking just around the corner.

Egypt is embarking on an expansion of the Suez Canal, and a Chinese firm was recently awarded a contract to build a waterway through Nicaragua - the very path originally favored through the central American isthmus by engineers in the 19th century.

For the time being, the threat to Panama failing to reap the full benefits of its current canal expansion may be just on paper. But the country is taking the challenge seriously and has started talking about yet another, fourth set of locks to maintain dominance.

Read more: Panama Canal turns 100, celebrations marred by doubts | Business | DW.DE | 15.08.2

Central America: Panama rejects EU offer to mediate canal dispute

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal Authority continued informal talks with a Spanish-led consortium on Monday, seeking to resolve a US$1.6-billion cost-overrun dispute that has threatened to halt the biggest part of the project to expand the canal.

The consortium, led by Spain's Sacyr Vallehermoso, had given a Sunday deadline for the authority to come up with funds or face a work stoppage. But the project continued at the same 25 to 30 per cent activity level it has seen since the conflict arose in November, said canal Administrator Jorge Quijano.

The canal authority rejected an offer by the European Union to mediate its dispute with the mostly European construction consortium, United for the Canal.

The contract for completing the third set of locks already includes mechanisms to resolve disputes, and none involve third parties, the authority wrote in an email responding to questions from The Associated Press.

The canal-building group said in a brief statement Sunday that a stoppage "is not a scenario being considered at this moment".

Read more: Panama rejects EU offer to mediate canal dispute - Business - Jamaica Gleaner - Tuesday | January 21, 2014

Suriname: US Embassy Says Son of Suriname President Bouterse ArrestedIn Panama - by Danica Coto

The son of the president of the South American country of Suriname( formerly a Dutch Colony)  has been arrested on U.S. drug charges, U.S. and other officials said Friday.

Spokeswoman Virginia Elliott at the U.S. Embassy in Paramaribo confirmed the arrest of Dino Bouterse, but said she could give no details.

A Panamanian and another U.S. official confirmed Thursday's arrest, which apparently occurred in Panama.
Bouterse faces a U.S. federal indictment in the Southern District of New York alleging he worked with a man identified as Edmund Quincy Muntslag to smuggle cocaine into the United States starting in or about December 2011. It also charges him with violating firearms laws by brandishing a light anti-tank weapon during the narcotics offense.

The indictment says Bouterse was involved in smuggling a suitcase filled with 10 kilograms (22 pounds)of cocaine aboard a commercial flight from Suriname to the Caribbean in late July.

A Panamanian government security source said that Bouterse was arrested by international police in Panama and was turned over to U.S. anti-drug authorities. The source, who asked anonymity for lack of authorization to speak on the issue, declined to give more details.

Melvin Linscheer, Suriname's head of national security, said the government would soon issue a statement. He declined further comment.

Bouterse is the son of Desi Bouterse, a former coup leader and also a convicted drug trafficker who was elected president of in July 2010. Shortly after his presidential inauguration, Bouterse appointed his son as director of Suriname's Counter Terrorist Unit, drawing heavy criticism from opposition legislators who expressed concern that no legal framework was created for the unit to operate.

Read more: US Embassy Says Son of Suriname President Arrested - ABC News

Shipping: As Panama Canal expands, Latin America rushes to be ready - by Jim Wyss, Jacqualine Charles, and Mimmi Whitefield

Standing atop a hulking crane at this country’s largest Pacific port, Alejandro Echeverri pointed out scurrying workers below reinforcing pylons, preparing the ground for an extended pier and tending to a dredging boat that has been deepening the harbor.

As the planning director for the Buenaventura Regional Port Authority, Echeverri says his job is to be a “futurologist” and try to stay ahead of the industry. Right now, the industry’s future is high stakes and under the sway of a singular event: the expansion of the Panama Canal, which will make the ships that straddle the seas larger and heavier than these ports have ever seen.

The industry “doesn’t care what ports need to do to be ready or what it costs,” Echeverri said. “If you’re not ready, they’ll simply take you off their route.”

Ports throughout the Americas and the Caribbean are rushing to be ready for the post-Panamax future. Currently, the Panama Canal can handle ships 965 feet long that need a depth of 39.5, a size known as Panamax. Once the expansion is complete in 2015, the canal will be able to accommodate ships 1,200 feet long with a 50-foot draft — and shippers are already building to those dimensions.

Read more: BUENAVENTURA, Colombia: As Panama Canal expands, Latin America rushes to be ready - Americas - MiamiHerald.com