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In apparent shot at Trump, Pope says 'builders of walls' sow fear and divide Panama City, Panama (CNN)Pope Francis has taken another shot at wall-building politicians, telling thousands of Catholics in Panama gathered for World Youth Day that "builders of walls sow fear" and "divide people." "We know that the father of lies, the devil, prefers a community divided and bickering," Francis told a crowd of tens of thousands of youth Thursday night at a seaside park in Panama City. "This is the criteria to divide people: The builders of bridges and the builders of walls, those builders of walls...

Pope Francis said Wednesday that fear of migration is “making us crazy” as he began a trip to Central America amid a standoff over President Donald Trump’s promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border and a new caravan of migrants heading north. Francis was asked by reporters about the proposed border wall Wednesday on the way to Panama, where he is looking to leave the sex abuse scandals buffeting his papacy behind. Francis responded: “It is the fear that makes us crazy.” The Roman Catholic Church’s first Latin American pope and the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, Francis has made...

President Donald Trump’s announcement he will withdraw U.S. forces from Syria because the Islamic State (ISIS) has largely been defeated accomplishes two things — neither of which is positive. First, it undermines the security of two of our most stalwart Middle East allies, Israel and the Kurds. Second, it rewards our enemies, of which there are more than we openly acknowledge. Clearly, enemies list beneficiaries include the Iran/Syria/Russia alliance and ISIS... Lt. Colonel James G. Zumwalt, USMC (Ret.), is a retired Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam war, the U.S. invasion of Panama and the first Gulf war...

Bringing it in just under the wire, negotiators representing Mexico, Canada, and the United States announced a new trade deal, to be named the USMCA, on Sunday, September 30, enabling the replacement for NAFTA for which many have long clamored. With the agreement to switch to this new program, the three nations are taking some steps – however small – back in the direction of the goals that Free Trade Agreements have always promised to support, but which have been largely forgotten in the quest for their side effects. Free Trade Agreements, in fact, are not designed to reduce taxes...

MILAN (Reuters) - The Panama Maritime Authority has revoked the registration of search and rescue ship Aquarius 2 in a move that means there will be no charity rescue ships off the Libyan coast in the near future unless the vessel can find a new flag to sail under. Aquarius 2, the one remaining charity rescue vessel still operating in the Central Mediterranean area, is currently at sea with 58 survivors on board. The decision by the Panama Authority (PMA) means that once the ship comes into port it will be deflagged and will not be allowed to operate again...

PANAMA CITY - President Donald Trump's company appealed directly to Panama's president to intervene in its fight over control of a luxury hotel, even invoking a treaty between the two countries, in what ethics experts say was a blatant mingling of Trump's business and government interests. That appeal in a letter last month from lawyers for the Trump Organization to Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela was apparently unsuccessful - an arbitrator declined to reinstate the Trump management team to the waterfront hotel in Panama City. But it provides hard proof of exactly the kind of conflict experts feared when Trump...

Israel is currently holding talks with 10 different nations over the possible relocation of their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely revealed Thursday... Hotovely told American Jewish leaders that Israel is currently engaged in talks with 10 different countries regarding the relocation of their embassies... Hotovely also discussed the politicization of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and the Palestinian Authority leadership's use of what Hotovely termed "fake refugees" as a political weapon against Israel. "For the first time, the Israeli leadership is no longer willing...

Cables Portray Expanded Reach of Drug Agency By GINGER THOMPSON and SCOTT SHANE WASHINGTON — The Drug Enforcement Administration has been transformed into a global intelligence organization with a reach that extends far beyond narcotics, and an eavesdropping operation so expansive it has to fend off foreign politicians who want to use it against their political enemies, according to secret diplomatic cables. In far greater detail than previously seen, the cables, from the cache obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to some news organizations, offer glimpses of drug agents balancing diplomacy and law enforcement in places where it can be...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to Panama John Feeley, a career diplomat and former Marine Corps helicopter pilot, has resigned, saying he no longer felt able to serve President Donald Trump. Feeley’s departure had been communicated to State Department officials on Dec. 27 snip A State Department spokeswoman confirmed Feeley’s departure, saying that he “has informed the White House, the Department of State, and the Government of Panama of his decision to retire for personal reasons, as of March 9 of this year.”

Blair re-elected to Socialist International post amid protests SAO PAULO (AFP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) was re-elected vice president of the Socialist International, drawing protests from delegates who said his support of the US-led war in Iraq (news - web sites) made him ineligible. Socialist parties in Argentina, Chile, Panama, Mexico and Nicaragua sought to derail the re-election of Britain's Labour Party leader. "It is necessary to make a distinction between the Labour party and its place in history and the leadership of Tony Blair, which has been so horrible for world peace," said Hernan...

Two Middle East immigrants in the United States have been arrested in connection with terrorist activities after the FBI found out their chilling ties to the terrorist organization known as Hezbollah. This is a wake-up call to every American. According to a news release from United States Attorney’s Office, District of New York, “Ali Kourani and Samer El Debek, a/k/a ‘Samer Eldebek,’ were arrested on Thursday, June 1, 2017, on charges related to their alleged activities on behalf of Hizballah[sic], a designated foreign terrorist organization. “ Kourani was reportedly living in the Bronx in New York, while Eldebek was living...

George Soros is a resident of New York state and a wealthy political donor. But the Panama Papers show his money resides elsewhere. Soros Holdings Limited was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. Soros Capital in Bermuda. And Soros Finance Inc. was set up in Panama. It's there that the law firm Mossack Fonseca helped the rich and powerful avoid taxes and hide their wealth. http://www.aol.com/article/2016/05/17/george-soros-panama-papers-hillary-clinton/21379016/

Car bomb kills journalist behind Panama Papers offshore tax evasion investigation 'days after she received threats to her safety' (Full Title) A journalist who led the Panama Papers offshore tax evasion expose was killed today when a bomb blew up her car. Investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia - dubbed a "one-woman WikiLeaks" - was killed as she was driving near the village of Bidnija in northern Malta. She had filed a complaint to police a fortnight ago after receiving personal threats to her safety, local media said. Caruana Galizia ran a hugely popular blog relentlessly highlighting cases of alleged corruption,...

Hezbollah is a greater and more longstanding foundational threat to our homeland than ISIS. This was brought to the forefront last week when two Hezbollah operatives were arrested on charges of surveilling targets for the Iranian-backed terror group on our own soil. They were also naturalized citizens who were admitted from Lebanon as immigrants years ago. Sadly, this story received very little media coverage. President Trump would be wise to give a televised address making the case for his immigration moratorium and travel ban by using this case as a perfect case study for the need for smarter vetting and...

Political legend Roger Stone appeared before the House Intelligence Committee today during a closed hearing intended to tackle the allegations of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, but rather than Roger standing trial, he flipped the script in proper Stonean fashion and put the entire committee itself on trial. In an exclusive interview, a TGP sat down with Mr. Stone and discussed some of the finer details of the hearing and also touched briefly on the Alabama senate race, the slippery, snakelike DNC operative John Podesta, and the much gossiped about Guccifer 2.0. What follows is a penetrating looks at...

A ship bound for Syria from North Korea and detained in Cyprus on an Interpol alert for suspected arms smuggling was carrying an air defense system, Cypriot authorities said. The shipment was billed as weather-observation equipment on the freight manifest of the Panamanian-flagged Grigorio 1. The ship was carrying 18 truck-mounted mobile radar systems and three command vehicles. "The radars on the 18 trucks appear to be part of an air defense system," a police spokeswoman said.

A previous version of this article identified the location of the incident as Colombia, based on information from three U.S. defense officials. A defense official later told NBC News that the incident occurred in Panama. WASHINGTON — The U.S. military detail assigned to Vice President Mike Pence’s communications team has been removed from White House duties after being caught on video bringing women back to their hotel in Latin America, according to three U.S. defense officials. The service members — who were from the Army as well as one from the Air Force — didn't register the women when they...

Manuel Antonio Noriega, the brash former dictator of Panama and sometime ally of the United States whose ties to drug trafficking led to his ouster in 1989 in what was then the largest American military action since the Vietnam War, has died. He was 83. President Juan Carlos Varela of Panama announced Mr. Noriega’s death on Twitter early Tuesday morning.

Lately, Chavez declared himself a member of a charismatic congregation, thus allegedly belonging to his country's fastest-growing branch of Christianity. But then he angered the country's National Catholic Bishops Conference by communing at a Mass organized by a priest of pro-Communist leanings. Should you have any doubt that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez is in serious decline, consider this: His bust is being removed from the altars of his country's popular religion, a renowned anthropologist told United Press International on Monday. Less than four years ago, the syncretistic Maria Lionza cult celebrated Chavez as the reincarnation of Simon Bolivar, (1783-1830),...

Beth Wilkinson (NBC, David Gregory's wife) is a partner at Latham & Watkins in Washington. A top counter-terrorism official in the Justice Department during the Clinton administration.