WASHINGTON (AP) – Three years after Honduras parted ways with Taiwan and forged diplomatic ties with China in hope of economic gain, shrimp farmers in the Central American country are in revolt. Their sales to Taiwan fell to a mere $16 million in 2025, down from more than $100 million in 2022, and the Chinese didn’t fill the void as hoped.
NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks pared their losses on Wall Street as an early spike in crude oil prices eased later in the day. The S&P 500 fell 0.3% after erasing an earlier drop of 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.3%. Markets in Europe and Asia had considerably larger losses, when oil prices were higher earlier in the day.
PANAMA CITY (AP) – Two ports run for years by a Hong Kong-based company at either end of the Panama Canal have thrust Panama into a geopolitical tug-of-war between the United States and China. Even before taking office for his second term, U.S. President Donald Trump complained that China was running the Panama Canal.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sought to reaffirm her alliance with President Donald Trump on Thursday after the president this week seemed to complain that Japan was among the nations that did not join his call to help protect the Strait of Hormuz. Takaichi met with Trump at the White House.
PANAMA CITY (AP) – Panamanian investigators carried documents Thursday out of offices belonging to a Hong Kong-owned company that operated ports at either end of the Panama Canal until its concession was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last month.
WASHINGTON (AP) – In the escalating war in Iran, the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs would ordinarily be at the center of the geopolitical fray. Typically led by a veteran diplomat, the bureau’s role would be to coordinate U.S. foreign policy across an 18-country region, much of which has become a chaotic battlefield scarred by drone and missile strikes.
BANGKOK (AP) – Hong Kong is protesting Panama’s seizure of two ports on a canal vital for global trade that were operated by a Hong Kong-based company for decades, the city’s government said Tuesday. Hong Kong’s Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said in a statement it had lodged “stern protests” with Panama’s consulate.
Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:
PANAMA CITY (AP) – The Panamanian government on Monday issued a decree ordering the occupation of two ports at the entrances of the Panama Canal, a move triggered by a final Supreme Court ruling that declared the operating concession held by Hong Kong-based company CK Hutchison unconstitutional.