(Variety) Panama has joined the foreign language Oscar race for the first time ever with, moreover, an acclaimed film which, as the U.S. considers sending ground troops to Iraq, takes a questioning stance on the efficacy – plus humanity – of American armed intervention in foreign lands. Panama’s first Oscar submission for the Academy Awards foreign-language category, Abner … [Read more...]
Panama Uses Biofortification of Crops to Build Food Security
(Inter Press Service) Panama is the first Latin American country to have adopted a national strategy to combat what is known as hidden hunger, with a plan aimed at eliminating micronutrient deficiencies among the most vulnerable segments of the population by means of biofortification of food crops. The project began to get underway in 2006 and took full shape in August 2013, … [Read more...]
New Copa Airlines flight from Panama to Santa Clara, Cuba
(Havana Times) The Panamanian carrier Copa Airlines announced Monday a new flight from Panama to the Cuban city of Santa Clara, reported Prensa Latina. The new link will begin on December 9, and will feature two weekly flights (Tuesdays and Saturdays). According to the note, this will be the first scheduled flight of an international airline to a city in the interior of … [Read more...]
Plants and animals protected along Panama Canal Expansion
(Miami Herald) Rocks and earth aren’t the only things being moved around during the mega-project to expand the Panama Canal. Animals, birds and even a few insects — rare ones — have been trapped and relocated before the excavators and earth-moving equipment arrive. Thousands of seedlings also have been planted in communities around Panama to take the place of trees that were … [Read more...]
Panama Canal turns 100 years old
(The Maritime Executive) August 15 was the 100th anniversary of the official opening of the Panama Canal. SS Ancon was the first ship to pass through the canal on that day. However, the First World War meant there was almost no commercial traffic on the canal for its first six years. Today, jokes The Economist, canals are worse than buses: wait 100 years and three come along at … [Read more...]