China is dealing with the “Panama Papers” scandal in a predictable fashion: by censoring online discussion of the revelations that top Chinese officials have been salting away huge fortunes through overseas shell companies.
The UK Guardian describes the trove of confidential data stolen from Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm that specializes in administering offshore accounts, as “the biggest data leak in history.”
Contents: Central Americans reach agreement on letting Cuban refugees reach the US; ISIS may be linked to massive suicide bombing in northwest Pakistan
It has long been known that Colombian terrorists produce roughly half of the cocaine that enters Mexico en route to the US. Panamanian authorities have recently revealed that the Sinaloa Cartel has had a direct presence in Panama for years—including most-wanted kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán himself.
On September 17, the Bisbane Times published a video interview with Richard Dean Anderson—star of the hit 1980’s show MacGyver—in which Anderson talked about how he is not proud of the USA when it comes to the country’s gun culture.
With crime rates and gang activity that no law has been able to fix, Panama’s Public Safety Minister Rodolfo Aguilera says his country is ready to follow in the U.S.’s footsteps and make it easier—rather than harder—for citizens to carry guns on their persons for self-defense.
That figure only accounts for those who have been apprehended by Panamanian authorities. When apprehended by Panamanian border agents, the immigrants are not deported. They are allowed to pass through instead. The illegals spend no longer than a week in Panama.
A Costa Rican journalist reports that Cuban dictator Raúl Castro claimed at the Summit of the Americas this past weekend that he will step down as head of state in 2018 and implied that Cuba may hold elections to replace him.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made public suggestions as to how a “bad deal” on Iran’s nuclear program could be improved. He suggested shutting down all of Iran’s underground facilities, and lifting sanctions only when Iran stops carrying out terror and aggression in the region. It was at least the fourth time Netanyahu had proposed clear alternatives to the Iran deal–though U.S. President Barack Obama persists in pretending he has never proposed any.
Last week, the White House promised that President Barack Obama would engage in an “interaction” with Cuban dictator Raúl Castro at the Summit of the Americas. The summit begins officially Friday, and more details have surfaced on what that interaction will entail: the two leaders, who shared a phone conversation Thursday night, will share the stage at the summit Friday.
A group of Cuban dissidents invited to attend events at this weekend’s Summit of the Americas were insulted and physically assaulted by a swarm of dozens of communist Cuban officials and supporters in Panama on Wednesday.
The Summit of the Americas begins tomorrow, but the presence of dictatorships at the table with the rest of the Western Hemisphere’s democratic nations has already begun to cause havoc. On Wednesday, representatives of the socialist governments of Venezuela and Cuba walked out of the pre-Summit Forum on Civil Society due to the presence of pro-democracy activists.
The government of Panama has announced that it will become the first Latin American nation to join the United States-led coalition against the Islamic State in the Middle East. The nation did not specify how it would aid the coalition, a particularly curious question given that Panama has no standing military force.
