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A portion of the Spanish treasure Fort Pierce salvor Daniel Porter recovered in 2012 from a galleon sunk in 1631 in a hurricane off Panama is back in his hands. Porter, 53, the managing partner of Fort Pierce-based Maritime Research and Recovery LLC, attempted in September to bring home about 100 silver coins and other artifacts with an estimated value of $500,000 when they were seized by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol at the behest of Panama’s government. The items were part of Porter’ share of more than 10,000 such items minted in Peru that were recovered during a...

The hunt is on for billions of dollars in ill-gotten assets accumulated by the family of Saddam Hussein, now believed to be scattered in a labyrinthine network of front companies and secret bank accounts from Panama to Switzerland to Jordan. As U.S. forces moved into Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, investigators reported signs of large sums of money moving from Iraqi government-controlled accounts to private accounts in the Middle East. "People with connections are trying to loot what they can," said one private investigator with access to information about money flows around the region. < SNIP > One of the...

Former president Jimmy Carter on Wednesday will make a rare address to the upper chamber of the British Parliament to draw attention to the eradication of the Guinea worm disease, according to the Associated Press.

A quarter of Republicans think White House hopeful Ted Cruz is disqualified to serve as U.S. president because he was born in Canada to an American mother, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found. Republican voters nearly mirror independents and the broader electorate in their belief that Cruz cannot hold the White House, with 27 percent of all voters and 28 percent of independents responding he should be disqualified. Cruz, a U.S. Senator from Texas who was born to a U.S. citizen mother and Cuban father in Calgary, Alberta, has brushed aside the attacks about his eligibility as pure politics. But...

Precolombian seafarers left what is now mainland Panama to settle on Pedro Gonzalez Island in the Perlas archipelago about 6,000 years ago, crossing 50-70 kilometers (31-44 miles) of choppy seas -- probably in dugout canoes. Dolphins were an important part of the diet of island residents according to Smithsonian archeologist Richard Cooke and colleagues from the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA and Colombia's Universidad del Norte... According to the results of recent excavations, published in Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, 8 percent of the mammal specimens -- bones and teeth -- recovered from a prehistoric scrap heap, or midden,...

The State Department's April 2015 "Country Report on Terrorism" no doubt came as sweet music to the ears of Special Interest Alien (SIA) smugglers. These are the smugglers of migrants from the spawning grounds of Islamic terrorism that, as I have been arguing, American homeland security leaders must strategically target with much greater aplomb to reduce the prospect of a Paris-like border infiltration attack here.The April 2015 report noted that Latin American nations had only made "modest improvements to their counterterrorism capabilities and their border security" from the previous year(s). It noted corruption, weak government institutions, weak or non-existent legislation,...

A delayed opening of the Panama Canal expansion past the April 2016 deadline is looking more and more likely as 2015 comes to a close and work continues to repair a crack that formed in one of the new lock complexes. Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Administrator Jorge Quijano gave an update on the expansion project at an industry event in Panama City on Friday, telling attendees that the project now stands at 96% complete and assuring that delivery is still expected in the second quarter of 2016, even though a final date remains to be determined.

Spanish galleon San Jose sank more than 300 years ago in battle with British, while carrying vast cargo of gold and precious stones Colombia’s discovery of the 300-year-old, shipwrecked galleon San Jose, thought to be loaded with some $10 billion in gold and precious stones, could shed light on an important period in Spanish colonial history but also spawn legal battles over the valuable cargo. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said his country spent two years studying historical maps, meteorology and used the latest sea-searching technology to locate the Spanish vessel, which sank during a battle in 1708 in the...

The Spanish galleon San José was overloaded with 200 passengers and 700 tons of cargo on a summer night in 1631 when it smashed into a rock off the Pacific coast of Panama, spilling silver coins and bars into the Gulf of Panama. More than 400,000 coins and at least 1,417 bars were lost over a 40-mile trail. Four hundred years later, that shipwreck has become one of the latest to land in a legal quagmire over who should have the rights to historic artifacts trapped under the sea. This one involves the United Nations, the United States Department of...

The nation of Panama has looked at their rising crime rate and increased gang activity, and has decided that the only think that will stop bad guys with guns is law-abiding citizens with guns. Panama’s decision has to be chilling to supporters of citizen control worldwide, as they see another nation embracing the reality that centralized control does nothing to protect the citizenry from crime.

A core sample pulled from the concrete of the Cocoli Locks where cracks and leaks have appeared does not bode well for the Panama Canal expansion project, which is on a strict deadline for completion in April 2016.

As Panama deals with increases in crime rates, forged gun permits, and rising gang activity, the government is set to lift the ban on firearm imports, in an effort to promote personal safety. panama-guns The UNODC estimates that an average of 700,000 firearms circulate within Panama’s streets. (Entorno Inteligente) Public Safety Minister Rodolfo Aguilera said the country will follow in the footsteps of the United States and Switzerland, where the right to bear arms is believed to lead to fewer homicides. “Everything seems to indicate that there is no direct correlation in the aphorism that says more guns mean more...

Panama announced Saturday it is boycotting the Miss Universe pageant — the latest Latin American nation to drop out in protest to Donald Trump's incendiary remarks about Mexican migrants. The Miss Panama Organization and the Telemetro TV station said they wouldn't be a part of the Miss Universe contest, or broadcast it, "in a message of solidarity for our Mexican brothers and sisters." The contest is partially owned by Trump. Trump, a 2016 presidential candidate, has faced searing criticism and lost numerous business deals since his comments about Mexicans during his campaign announcement earlier this month.

To keep conservative rebels in check, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his allies have been doling out punishments at an aggressive clip in the 114th Congress. From kicking unruly members off the Rules Committee and GOP whip team to stripping a lawmaker of his subcommittee gavel, leadership has been growing more comfortable with taking retaliatory measures to try to enforce party discipline. But several Tea Party targets haven’t gone quietly. They’ve been fighting back with help from Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s conservative House Freedom Caucus, which successfully pressured leaders this week to return a subcommittee gavel to one of their...

Sunday, November 02, 2003 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M. Spanish treasure ship missing since 1681 found By Rich McKay The Orlando Sentinel JESSICA MANN / KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS Hired treasure hunter Joel Ruth found a seafarer's map that led to the identification of the Spanish treasure ship Santa Maria De La Consolacion. E-mail this article Print this article Search archive ORLANDO, Fla. — Six pirate ships closed in on the Spanish treasure ship the Santa Maria De La Consolacion as the galleon sailed up the Pacific coast of South America, slow and bloated with silver, gold and gems mined...

In 2011 archaeologists happened upon a stunningly well-preserved shipwreck off the coast of Panama. The wreckage, a mere 40 feet underwater, was untouched by looters and still carrying a full load of tools and weapons. Now, after years of work, scientists finally know the ship's story.

Watch in horror as the left-wing community organizer we are asked to regard as the President joins rabidly anti-American socialist dictators Raul Castro and Nicolás Maduro in bashing America.

BAY COUNTY, Fla. – Two college students are under arrest after police found cell phone video allegedly showing the gang rape of an intoxicated teen outside a popular Panama City Beach bar during spring break. Hundreds stood by in “broad, open daylight” as the 19-year-old woman, who appeared to be passed out on a chair behind the Spinnaker Beach Club, was sexually assaulted by one man after another, Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen told AL.com. Many watched, some recording with their phones — but no one tried to intervene, officials said.

A half-dozen Cuban dissident leaders and American citizens were attacked this afternoon by a group of Castro regime agents in Panama City. The activists were placing flowers at the statue of Cuban independence hero, Jose Marti, when approached by a group of Castro regime agents, who began to violently beat them. Among those attacked were a group of American citizens, including Orlando Gutierrez of the Democratic Directorate, Silvia Iriondo of Mothers Against Repression and Gus Monge. The Cuban dissidents include former political prisoner Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez," his wife Yris Perez Aguilera and Leticia Ramos Herreria of The Ladies...