Miren Gutiérrez

By Miren Gutierrez*

ROME, Oct 23 (IPS) - In a referendum Sunday Panama unequivocally said ‘yes’ to a massive canal expansion at a cost of half its gross domestic product, maybe more, in investments. With most of the votes counted, about 80 percent of Panamanians seemed to have approved the mega-project.

The winning line of the argument — that of the Panama Canal Authority (PCA) – is that the future of this maritime route depends on the deepening of the navigation channels, the construction of two sets of locks at both ends of the canal, and of a third lane capable of handling large container ships, bulk and gas carriers, and tankers that have previously been too wide. The canal handles nearly 5 percent of international trade.

However, not everyone is happy with the result.

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By Sabina Zaccaro and Miren Gutierrez*

ROME, Feb 13 (IPS) – Abu Omar apparently never knew he had been tailed, so he did not notice that the Italian political crime investigation unit, DIGOS, had stopped following him. But the head of the Central Intelligence Agency in Milan Robert Seldon Lady knew that DIGOS had aborted the chase, and that facilitated the abduction of the Egyptian cleric.

That at least is what beleaguered former intelligence boss Nicolò Pollari says now in an attempt to extricate himself from the kidnapping.

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