Today in History – Sept. 7

Today is Monday, Sept. 7, the 250th day of 2009. There are 115 days left in the year. This is Labor Day.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Sept. 7, 1940, Nazi Germany began its eight-month blitz of Britain during World War II with the first air attack on London.

On this date:

In 1533, England’s Queen Elizabeth I was born in Greenwich.

In 1825, the Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution, bade farewell to President John Quincy Adams at the White House.

In 1907, the British liner RMS Lusitania set out from Liverpool, England, on its maiden voyage, arriving six days later in New York.

In 1909, film and theater director Elia Kazan was born in Constantinople (now Istanbul).

In 1927, American television pioneer Philo T. Farnsworth, 21, succeeded in transmitting the image of a line through purely electronic means with a device called an “image dissector.”

In 1968, feminists protesting outside the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J., tossed items including bras into a trash can ostensibly for burning, although nothing was actually set on fire. (The winner of the pageant was Miss Illinois Judith Ford.)

In 1969, Senate Republican leader Everett M. Dirksen died at age 73.

In 1977, the Panama Canal treaties, calling for the U.S. to eventually turn over control of the waterway to Panama, were signed in Washington by President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos.

In 1979, cable TV’s Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) made its debut.

In 1996, rapper Tupac Shakur was shot on the Las Vegas Strip; he died six days later.

Ten years ago: Indonesia imposed martial law in East Timor, promising to crack down on rampaging pro-Indonesian militias after the territory’s vote for independence. A 5.9 earthquake in Athens, Greece, claimed 143 lives. It was announced that Viacom Inc. was buying CBS Corp. for $36 billion.

Five years ago: An Associated Press tally showed that U.S. military deaths in the Iraq campaign had passed the 1,000 mark. Former Mississippi Gov. Kirk Fordice died in Jackson at age 70.

One year ago: Troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed in government conservatorship. Hurricane Ike roared across low-lying islands in the Atlantic as a Category 4 storm. Serena Williams outlasted Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 7-5 to win her third U.S. Open championship and ninth Grand Slam title. Hall of Fame basketball coach Don Haskins died in El Paso Texas, at age 78. Mystery author Gregory Mcdonald died in Pulaski, Tenn., at age 71. Astroland, New York City’s world famous amusement park at Coney Island, closed after 46 years. Britney Spears won three MTV Video Music Awards, including video of the year for “Piece of Me.”

Today’s Birthdays: Pianist Arthur Ferrante is 88. Senator Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, is 85. Jazz musician Sonny Rollins is 79. Singer Alfa Anderson (Chic) is 63. Singer Gloria Gaynor is 60. Rock singer Chrissie Hynde (The Pretenders) is 58. Actress Julie Kavner is 58. Rock musician Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) is 56. Actor Corbin Bernsen is 55. Actor Michael Emerson (TV’s “Lost”) is 55. Pianist Michael Feinstein is 53. Singer Margot Chapman is 52. Actor W. Earl Brown is 46. Actor Toby Jones is 43. Model-actress Angie Everhart is 40. Actor Tom Everett Scott is 39. Rock musician Chad Sexton (311) is 39. Actress Diane Farr is 38. Actress Shannon Elizabeth is 36. Actor Oliver Hudson is 33. Actor Devon Sawa is 31. Singer-musician Wes Willis (Rush of Fools) is 23. Actress Evan Rachel Wood is 22.

Thought for Today: “People do not live in the present always, at one with it. They live at all kinds of and manners of distance from it, as difficult to measure as the course of planets. Fears and traumas make their journeys slanted, peripheral, uneven, evasive.

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Holidays in Panama: Plan your visit to celebrate or to relax

Depending on your objectives for a visit to Panama, you may or may not want to visit during major national holidays.
 
Holidays in Panama are filled with music, dancing, good foods, lots to drink, and an overall joy shared by men, women, and children. However, they result in many businesses being closed and somewhat limited transportation (or buses that are filled to the brim as people head to visit family or celebrate in other parts of the country). Depending on the holiday, hotels may be booked full or charge a higher fee to stay the night.

National holidays include:
01 January: New Year’s Day
09 January: Martyr’s Day
Good Friday
Easter Sunday
01 May: Labor Day
15 August: Founding of Old Panama (Panama City only)
12 October: Hispanic Day
02 November: All Souls’ Day
03 November: Independence Day
04 November: Flag Day
10 November: First Call for Independence
28 November: Independence from Spain
08 December: Mother’s Day
25 December: Christmas

Carnaval, which falls the four days before Ash Wednesday in February, also is widely celebrated, with large festivals in Panama City, on the Azuero Peninsula, and (to a lesser extent) in most towns and cities across Panama.

In mid-August the school children have their semester break, which is usually marked by a party and discoteca in each community. Also, at any time a community may have a festival, discoteca, or feria (fair). Take the opportunity to experience the Panamanian culture!

Recently, Panama has become a popular destination for Spring Break (falling some time in March for most US universities). If you plan to visit during this time, make reservations for hotels in Panama City and in major beach areas (Bocos del Toro, Santa Clara, Azuero Peninsula) or you may not find space to sleep!

Come and share in the festivities or plan your trip during a peaceful time and get the most out of your visit to Panama!

Original Story HERE

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Brown Eyes to Blue

Medical Tourism is becomeing a big thing nowadays and panama is no exception below is an expert from world news report of a Britian who under went the procedure in panama beciase of high expensive health care in her own county.

When Shenise Farrell read on the internet about a £5,000 operation which could turn her dark brown eyes light blue, she wasted no time in heading off to Panama.

Less than two weeks later, British surgeons were battling to save her sight.
They had to repair a hole in her iris and remove implants. It is unclear whether she will suffer long-term damage – and her eyes are still brown.

‘It was the biggest mistake I have ever made,’ said the single mother of three from Perivale, West London.

‘To think I could have never been able to see my children again. It was totally reckless of me.’
Miss Farrell is taking a community studies degree at Goldsmiths, University of London in the hope of becoming a social worker.

She is believed to be the first person in the UK to undergo such an operation, which involves inserting a coloured lens inside the eye, over the iris, and is not licensed in Europe.

Miss Farrell called the US number of the New Colour Iris company, linked to a clinic in Panama run by a Dr Delary Kahn.

She was told to undergo five tests with opticians in the UK to check she was suitable and then hand over $3,000 (£1,800) deposit and proof of airfare and hotel.

The opticians advised her not to go ahead with the procedure but she raided her savings and flew to Central America in June, telling family she was off on holiday.

‘I’ve already had breast implants abroad in Bulgaria and had been very happy with that, so it didn’t faze me that I would have to go to Panama,’ she said.

Sight for sore eyes: Shenise after the operation to insert a coloured lens over the irises – but doctors later had to remove them

‘The procedure was unpleasant and painful. I screamed out at one point. But it was over within ten minutes and I was taken back to my hotel with just some eye drops and
told to buy my own painkillers.’

For the next eight days, her vision remained blurred, particularly in her right eye. When she arrived back at Heathrow, she had to be helped through the terminal because her sight was so poor.

Four days later, with no improvement and after developing a painful sensitivity to light, she called NHS Direct who advised her to go straight to the Western Eye Hospital in Paddington.

They immediately referred her to consultant ophthalmic surgeon Mr Ali Mearza at Charing Cross Hospital.

‘She could barely make out the top letter on the eye chart,’ he said. ‘We could have registered her blind.

‘There was no question but to remove the implants which in itself was quite a challenging procedure. I would strongly advise people not to undergo this process.’

Although Mr Mearza managed to save her sight, Miss Farrell might develop cataracts in later life and is at increased risk of glaucoma.

A spokesman for New Colour Iris said that while it sympathised with Miss Farrell, it had carried out more than 600 operations since 2002 with only a handful of complaints.

‘No procedure is perfect,’ he said.

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Panama Canal Expansion: Latin America Benefits

Considered one of the most important public works projects in the world, the widening of the Panama Canal is much more than a source of national pride for Panama. The Canal is the principal economic engine in the Central American isthmus and a pillar of international trade, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans – and, with them, commerce between Asia and Europe. Its importance explains the high profile that the project has had ever since it was begun in a referendum in 2006, when Panama’s population decided that it wanted to carry it out. In 2014, the Canal will open its sluices with a new series of locks, amid events commemorating its centennial.

Vielka Vasquez de Avila, a professor at the University of Panama, notes that currently, “4 percent of world trade” passes through the Canal, and thanks to its widening, “we will be in optimal condition, starting from 2015, to deal with what could be a possible increase of up to 6 percent of world trade through the Isthmus of Panama.”

Increased Capacity

This increase is a response to various factors. On the one hand, the mere announcement of the widening project has already sparked an increase in the capacity of vessels. Ultimately, authorities expect a doubling in the number of tons that will pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific, to reach 600 million tons a year, compared with 340 million today. According to a report by the Panama Canal Authority (PCA), the governmental entity that runs the Canal, this spectacular increase will come thanks to the new series of locks that have been designed to handle the “Post-Panamax” generation of mega-ships, whose enormous dimensions enable economies of scale and, at the same time, reduce operating costs per ship by from 7 percent to 17 percent. (“Panamax” ships are the largest that can fit through the Canal as it currently exists.) Their length of 366 meters is equivalent to more than seven Olympic swimming pools, enabling the vessels to hold up to 12,000 containers.

One of the reasons that Panamanian authorities decided to go ahead with the widening project was the pending loss in the competitiveness of the current infrastructure, which cannot service Post-Panamax ships. Growing demand for these mega-ships will mean they will represent 37 percent of the global fleet of container ships in 2011, which explains the overwhelming need that the Isthmus had for adapting to them. After hundreds of studies, the Panama Canal Authority concluded that widening the canal would mean its market share in the Northern route from Asia to the Eastern United States would increase from 38 percent to 41 percent, compared to the decline that it would suffer if it continued with its current infrastructure. That would have relegated its share of the market to only 23 percent.

MAIN RIVALS

The Suez Canal and the U.S. intermodal system (where ships arrive in port and the cargo is shipped by land across the country) are the main rivals of the Panama Canal. In addition, there could have been new competitors interested in taking the attractive piece of the pie represented by the growing maritime traffic between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Juan Carlos Martínez Lázaro, a professor at the IE Business School who is an expert in macroeconomics, notes, “Mexico and Nicaragua also planned to connect the two oceans through their respective territories.” In Mexico’s case, the model would have been similar to the current U.S. intermodal network. In the case of Nicaragua, the country analyzed the possibility of connecting the two coasts by river canals, with an infrastructure similar to what Panama has.

Although Martínez Lázaro believes that these projects are less interesting as a result of the widening of the Canal, he notes that “trade between the Pacific and the Atlantic is getting more and more important due to the 7 percent annual growth in trade with Asia.” China plays a fundamental role, with its spectacular economic development and its insatiable appetite for energy. Panama could also take advantage of that by providing passage for oil tankers, thus avoiding other alternatives for supply routes. “China is very interested in Venezuelan oil, and there was even a time when it was interested in financing the construction of an oil pipeline that would go into the Pacific through Colombia. But ultimately, it was not possible because of its poor relations with those countries,” adds Martínez Lázaro.

A COUNTRY TIED TO A CANAL

In 1889, Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, an engineer, took control of the canal project, which was launched nine years before specialists at Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique de Panama approached the U.S. government in search of financing. The company wound up buying all the rights of construction and development on November 18, 1903, after getting guarantees concerning the independence of the Isthmus.

The U.S. administration of the Canal lasted for 74 years, until President Jimmy Carter and his Panamanian counterpart Omar Torrijos signed the Torrijos-Carter Treaty, which gave Panama all power over the Canal starting from December 31, 1999. One piece of information, offered by the Canal Authority, highlights the importance that this change in administration has had for Panama: During the 85 years of U.S. presence, the Panamanian government only received $1.9 billion from the Canal, which was practically the same amount it collected during the first six years the Canal was controlled by the PCA.

EXEMPLARY ADMINISTRATION

As Vásquez de Ávila notes, “The Canal has played an important role in the development of the country. Today, after the transfer of the Canal to Panama, it contributes important sums of money to all national development projects. Under the administration of President Torrijos, the government set a fixed amount of millions of balboas that must be used for the development of communities, and for projects that are created by those communities. In addition, the widening of the Canal will enable important boats to cross, which would not have been able to do so before. This will lead to an increase in traffic and to greater revenues for the country. As a political concept, I believe that the administration of the Canal has been exemplary; it is something fundamental for us because the transparency of the Canal is recognized not only by Panamanians but also worldwide. People recognize that Panama has demonstrated its capacity to administer and to exceed the expectations about the Canal that existed when it was under the control of the United States.”

The PCA now estimates that over the 11 first years of the widened Canal, it will raise some $30.6 billion. This figure is six times greater than the $5.2 billion that the Panamanian government has designated to pay for the entire expansion project, which includes a provision of $785 million for possible mistakes and delays. In addition, so that the population does not feel any resentment about the project, the business model designed by the authorities involves financing the project with the activity of the Canal, by increasing the tariffs that users will pay for using the infrastructure.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Marco Fernández, a Panamanian who is a visiting professor of economics at Incae, puts all of this investment in context. “When you analyze how big this project is, you wonder: What is its real size in relation to the Panamanian economy? The answer is that over the next seven years, it is going to represent about 35 percent of all public investments, so it is a manageable project. It is like adding one-third more to a good year of public investments.” In exchange, this project will enable the country’s GDP to grow by 1.3 percent a year. And, most important, it will attract foreign investment and industrial development focused around the maritime sectors. “The benefits of the Canal don’t come so much from what the infrastructure represents per se, but by its collateral businesses…. In fact, many foreign investments are already coming as a result of the positive perceptions that companies around the world have about this project. All of the activity that is complementary to the Canal will have a truly big impact, and it will be begin to be felt within seven years,” adds Fernández.
The international contest held by Panamanian authorities to award the construction of a third series of locks is the most important part of this project, awakening interest among the big construction and infrastructure companies around the world. Ultimately, only three consortia were invited to present a definitive offer: one was Spanish; another was led by Bechtel from the U.S.; and a third group was Spanish and Italian. The last of the three, called United by the Canal, was the winner. Managed by Span’s Sacyr, in alliance with Italy’s Impregilo, Holland’s Jan de Nul and Panama’s Constructora Urbana, it earned the highest technical rating, while also making the most economical offer, with a budget of $3.2 billion. That was $280 million less than the initial budget laid out by the PCA.

THE REFERENDUM

The transparency of this entire project has its roots in the referendum called by president Martin Torrijos in October 2006, five months after the project was officially launched, following 120 studies made over the five previous years. The project was backed by 78 percent of those Panamanians who voted, although abstention was the dominant trend, since barely 42 percent of the population went to the polls. After announcing the expansion, and setting a completion goal of 2014 — the Centennial year for the Canal — the government kicked off the international competition. The tender offers were carefully watched over by the Bank of Panama in order to guarantee that there would be no leaks. “This has really been a very transparent process, in which the leadership of Spanish infrastructure companies has once again been made clear; they played a role in two of the three [final bids] in the competition, walking off with a victory in one of them,” notes Martínez Lázaro.
Beyond the international showcase that this process has created for the country, the Canal project will bring significant economic benefit. During the construction period alone, forecasts call for the creation of 40,000 jobs, of which 7,000 will be directly related to the construction work, according to the PCA. By the time the third series of locks is operational, the number of jobs that will go hand in hand with the project will vary between 150,000 and 250,000. “The economic impact of the widening of the Canal will benefit not only Panama, but also all of Latin America, because it will attract industry and will feed commercial activity in the region,” notes Fernández.

The thorniest aspect of this project has been its potential environmental impact. This is a stumbling block that has been addressed by numerous studies that have wound up endorsing its viability. As Vásquez de Ávila notes, “Every project of this sort is going to create an environmental impact because when you build a third set of locks, you are going to change what they call the ‘natural scenery.’ This change in the natural landscape will mean that much of the land will be flooded, with a resulting environmental impact. But the fundamental thing is that this impact, according to all reports made by Panamanians and foreigners, is minimal in comparison with the great benefits that the Canal can bring.”

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7 steps to Panamanian Cultural Immersion

There are many ways to enjoy this country which connects South America to North America, occupying the isthmus which forms the land bridge. It is bordered in the northwest by Costa Rica and in the southeast by Columbia. The Caribbean sea lays to the north of this thin country and the Pacific Ocean to the south. It has much to offer visitors from its ecology to its pre-Columbian historical sites. It is an adventure waiting to happen and there are some things you can do to make the most of your experience to immerse yourself culturally.

1. To immerse yourself into the Panama culture you need to experience some of its past. The best way to learn about Panama’s past is to visit some of the historical locations that are available like San Jose Church and Casco Viejo, The Old City. These places will give you a good starting point for your immersion into Panama culture.
2. The second place to continue with your Panama culture immersion is to experience the natural preserves that can be found in Panama. Experience your natural surroundings and embrace the natural beauty of Panama’s Metropolitan National Park, located outside downtown Panama City featuring hiking trails and plant species and wildlife. Also not to be missed is Gatun Lake, the world’s largest man made lake, after Lake Mead, which forms the central part of the Panama Canal. Getting to know your environment better is essential to getting to know exactly how the Panama people interact with different parts of their environment.

3. Continuing your immersion into the culture of Panama it must be remembered that history and nature are only a start. Hungry by now the next place on our agenda is a stop for food, for some authentic traditional food. Panama is an ideal place to enjoy local cuisine, which varies from region to region. Some of the local dishes include sancocho de gallina (chicken stew), carimañolas (deep fried meat-filled yucca rolls). Fish and seafood are prevalent in several areas. This is an excellent way taste the cuisine of Panama.

4. If you travel to Panama be aware the season runs from mid December till mid April (Summer), and it rains very little during this time and the vegetation browns. The rest of the year is the rainy season and this is when the forest is the lushest and the tropical experience at its height. So when you go depends on what you want to do on your trip, but either way you will be immersed in Panamanian culture and to time your holiday for the carnival in February with its fireworks, music, dancing, drinking and the parades truly showing you how the Panamanians celebrate their holidays and immerse you further into their culture.

5. In modern Panama as well as in the past communities gathers near the town squares during the weekends and holidays to display their wares, handicraft items, clothes, food with cafes and shops busy. Walk through the markets and take in the sights and sounds of what is on offer. With everything you touch or taste and smell you will find yourself wanting to see what more there is round the corner.

6. Another step to immersing yourself in the culture of Panama is to meet people, talk to them about their lives, making new friends in the process. The markets and the local shops perfect for this. You can meet local artisans in their shops, learn about their family’s roots and their ancient traditions first hand. This is a good way to relax and unwind, a good time to mingle in an unstressed atmosphere.

7. A final way to immerse you in the culture of Panamanian is to volunteer in one of the programs from around the world that take annual trips to Panama. Panama has a problem with poverty, the victims a lot of the time children and there are charities that help bring medical supplies, education, and food to those less fortunate in this country. One such non government organization is Bruce.Org which is bringing education to the street kids and bringing them hope and this would be a fantastic opportunity for you to experience Panama as tourists rarely get the opportunity to do so.

Any of these steps above is the perfect opportunity to truly immerse you in a foreign culture. To see the world through the eyes of the inhabitants of that country is often an eye opener, yet a great experience. However you choose to do it you will be forever changed by your experiences. So plan your trip carefully, making sure you make the most of the time there. Following these guidelines will help make your trip to Panama unforgettable.

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