Panama removes over 650 ships from registry amid sanctions, stricter rules
File photo of a Panamanian flag flutters with the skyline of the city in the background, in Panama City, Panama. REUTERS/Erick Marciscano
PANAMA CITY - Panama's Maritime Authority has removed from its registry more than 650 vessels since 2019 as part of an effort to fulfill U.S. sanctions and enforce stricter rules for the ships it flags, it said on Monday.
A total of 214 vessels have been withdrawn from Panama's registry, among the world's largest with more than 8,500 ships, since it began implementing measures last year allowing it to act faster to help enforce sanctions, the authority added.
Ships cannot sail under Panama's flag once they are removed from its registry.
Panama responded to criticism by non-governmental organization United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), which last week said Panama had not taken sufficient action against sanction violators and asked it to "immediately cease facilitating Iran's illicit oil trade" and withdraw its flag from all tankers carrying Iranian oil.
According to UANI, nearly one in five vessels suspected of transporting Iranian oil sails under Panama's flag.
"This is not just a failure of Panama's registry. It's a direct threat to global sanctions compliance and regional and U.S. security," it said.
Panama in 2019 signed an agreement with other flag countries including Liberia and Marshall Islands to exchange information about vessels whose registrations were canceled or rejected due to potential sanction violations. It also began implementing measures against ships that deliberately turn off their transponders to avoid tracking.
In May, the authority said it would reinforce controls for ship-to-ship operations by Panama-flagged vessels, following an increase in the use of "dark-fleet" tankers to skirt sanctions or evade environmental requirements.
The U.S. has increased pressure on countries with large vessel registries to help enforce sanctions. U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized the expansion of a dark fleet of tankers moving sanctioned oil and threatened to take over the Panama Canal.
The Central American nation is collaborating with the United States on its registry, the authority said in its press release. — Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
GMA Network
5 hours ago
- GMA Network
Trump's birthright citizenship order to face first US appeals court review
Olga Urbina carries baby Ares Webster as demonstrators rally on the day the Supreme Court justices hear oral arguments over US President Donald Trump's bid to broadly enforce his executive order to restrict automatic birthright citizenship, outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., May 15, 2025. REUTERS/ Nathan Howard The constitutionality of President Donald Trump's executive order to curtail automatic birthright citizenship is set to be considered by a US appeals court for the first time on Wednesday, even as the US Supreme Court weighs his administration's request to let it begin to take effect. A three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals is slated to hear arguments in Seattle in the administration's appeal of a judge's ruling blocking enforcement nationwide of the executive order, which is a key element of the Republican president's hardline immigration agenda. Seattle-based US District Judge John Coughenour issued his preliminary injunction on Feb. 6 after declaring Trump's action "blatantly unconstitutional" and accusing the Republican president of ignoring the rule of law for political and personal gain. Federal judges in Massachusetts and Maryland also have issued similar orders blocking the directive nationwide. Democratic attorneys general from 22 states and immigrant rights advocates in lawsuits challenging Trump's directive argued that it violates the citizenship clause of the US Constitution's 14th Amendment, long understood to recognize that virtually anyone born in the United States is a citizen. Trump signed his order on January 20, his first day back in office. It directed federal agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of US-born children who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or lawful permanent resident, also known as a "green card" holder. The administration contends that the 14th Amendment's citizenship language does not extend to immigrants in the country illegally or immigrants whose presence is lawful but temporary, such as university students or those on work visas. The 9th Circuit panel is scheduled to consider the constitutional questions regarding Trump's action. The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, heard arguments on May 15 in the administration's bid to narrow the three injunctions. Those arguments did not center on the legal merits of Trump's order, instead focusing on the issue of whether a single judge should be able to issue nationwide injunctions like the ones that have blocked Trump's directive. The Supreme Court, which has yet to rule, could allow the directive to go into effect in large swathes of the country. More than 150,000 newborns would be denied citizenship annually if Trump's order takes effect nationally, according to the plaintiffs. Coughenour, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, has presided over a legal challenge brought by the states of Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon and several pregnant women. The 9th Circuit panel hearing arguments on Wednesday includes two judges appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton and one appointed by Trump during his first presidential term. — Reuters
GMA Network
7 hours ago
- GMA Network
Pope Leo, in first month, makes a break in style from Francis
Pope Leo XIV gestures on the day he holds a general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican June 4, 2025. REUTERS/ Guglielmo Mangiapane VATICAN CITY — In his first month, Pope Leo has taken a very different approach to his predecessor Francis. Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, has led some two dozen public events since he was elected as the first US pope on May 8 but not made notable appointments, nor announced plans for foreign trips, nor said where he will live at the Vatican. It's a stark contrast to when Francis, originally from Argentina, was selected as the first pope from the Americas in March 2013. Within a month, Francis had announced he would be the first pontiff in more than a century to live outside the Vatican's apostolic palace, appointed his successor as Archbishop of Buenos Aires and created a new formal advisory group of senior Catholic cardinals. Two of Leo's long-time associates told Reuters they expect the 69-year-old Pope to take a deliberative approach to the challenges facing the Catholic Church and may require months before making major decisions. "Leo is taking his time," Rev. Mark Francis, a friend of the new pontiff since the 1970s, told Reuters. "While he is going to continue in the path indicated by Pope Francis, his disposition is very different." Leo was first appointed a bishop by Francis in 2015 and then chosen by the late pope to take up a senior Vatican role two years ago. He has frequently praised his predecessor in his first weeks. He has also repeated some of Francis' main themes, and has echoed the Argentine pontiff's emotional appeals for an end to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. But the two men have different temperaments, according to Rev. Francis, who attended seminary with Leo in Chicago and later knew him when they both lived in Rome in the 2000s. "Leo is much more focused and methodical and not inclined to hasty decisions," he said. Among the challenges facing the American pope is the Vatican's €83-million ($95-million) budget shortfall, which Reuters reported in February had stirred contention among senior cardinals under his predecessor. Other looming issues facing the 1.4 billion-member Church include declining adherence to the faith in Europe, ongoing revelations of clerical sexual abuse, and doctrinal debates over matters such as inclusion of LGBT Catholics and the possibility of women's ordination. Francis, who sought to modernize the Church, did not formally change many doctrines but garnered criticism from conservative cardinals by opening the door to communion for divorcees and blessings for same-sex couples. Rev. Anthony Pizzo, who has known Leo since 1974 when they attended Villanova University outside Philadelphia together, said the pope is someone who listens carefully and seeks to hear many viewpoints before making decisions. "This is going to be his modus operandi," said Pizzo, who leads the Midwest US province of the Augustinian religious order, to which Leo also belongs. "When you first come into leadership, listen well, get to know your constituency … to make a well-informed decision," Pizzo added, describing the pope's thought process. A 'shy' listener Francis and Leo came to the papacy at different ages and with different career backgrounds. Francis, elected at age 76, had been a cardinal for 12 years before ascending to the papacy. He had earlier been a leading contender in the 2005 conclave that elected his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. Leo, seven years younger when he donned the white papal cassock, is a relative unknown on the world stage who only became a cardinal and Vatican official two years ago. He spent most of his prior career as a missionary in Peru. Early in his tenure, Francis told journalists that, due to his age, he expected to have a brief papacy of only a few years. Leo, the youngest pontiff since John Paul II was elected at age 58 in 1978, can perhaps expect a papacy of ten or more years. Among the challenges facing the new pope is a Vatican budget shortfall estimated at 83 million euros, two knowledgeable sources told Reuters. The city-state also has a much larger gap in its pension fund, said to total some 631 million euros by the Vatican's finance czar in 2022 but estimated by several insiders to have since ballooned significantly. In his first weeks, Leo has not addressed the budget issues and has made only a few new appointments to Vatican roles. But he has held formal one-on-one meetings with many senior Vatican officials, which Pizzo suggested the pope could be using to try to learn quickly. Rev. Jorge Martinez Vizueta, who knew Leo in Peru, said he is someone who pays close attention to what people tell him. "He listens a lot, even with a certain shyness," said Martinez, an Augustinian at a monastery where Leo previously was a spiritual advisor. Although Leo has not announced where he will live, more than three informed sources said he is expected to move into the official papal apartments in the Vatican's apostolic palace overlooking St. Peter's Square. Francis shunned the palace in favor of a Vatican hotel. One senior source, who asked not to be identified, said the papal apartments, which have not been lived in since 2013, will require at least 2 to 3 months of renovations. Careful with responses While Francis made some big decisions quickly in his first month, he also took time on other issues. He did not make his first trip abroad until late July 2013, four months into his papacy. Leo's first foreign trip is likely to be to Turkey, to celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of an early Church council with Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Vatican has not announced the trip, but it was previously planned for Francis. Bartholomew told an Italian television station that he and Leo discussed the possibility of the new pope travelling to Turkey in late November. Francis, who often spoke off the cuff, was known for giving freewheeling news conferences on flights home from his trips abroad and frequently responded to queries with an unexpected quip. Asked during his first flight home about a Vatican official said to be gay, Francis famously responded: "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?" Rev. Francis said Leo, who in his first month has largely read from prepared texts, is likely to be more careful with his responses during news conferences. "He won't be shooting from the hip like Francis did while speaking with journalists," said the priest. — Reuters
GMA Network
12 hours ago
- GMA Network
Marcos nominates new envoys to Commission on Appointments
President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. has nominated seven new Philippine envoys, according to Surigao Del Sur lawmaker and Commission on Appointments Assistant Minority Leader Johnny Pimentel on Wednesday. In a press statement, Pimentel said the President had issued the nominations last June 2, and ''all were formally received by the Commission on the same day.'' Pimentel said the nominees are as follows: Evangeline Ong Jimenez-Ducrocq - Philippine Permanent Representative to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta, Indonesia; Bernadette Therese Fernandez - Ambassador to South Korea; Maria Teresa Almojuela - Ambassador to Germany; Alan Deniega - Ambassador to Poland, with concurrent jurisdiction over Lithuania and Ukraine; Gines Jaime Ricardo Gallaga - Ambassador to Bahrain; Marlowe Miranda - Ambassador to Lebanon; and Arvin De Leon - Ambassador to Mexico, with concurrent jurisdiction over the Caribbean nations of Cuba and the Dominican Republic, as well as the Central American countries of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama Pimentel pointed out that unlike ad interim appointments – which take effect immediately pending CA confirmation – nominees cannot assume their posts until they have secured the Commission's consent. The lawmaker added that both the assignment of ambassadors and the promotion in rank of senior foreign service officers require CA approval. The 1987 Constitution states that the 25-member CA is mandated to assess the competence, integrity, and fitness of key presidential appointees, with the authority to either confirm or reject them. "Confirmation hearings serve as an important safeguard, ensuring proper oversight of the President's power to appoint officials to critical diplomatic posts," Pimentel said. The CA is composed of 12 members each from the House of Representatives and the Senate, with the Senate President serving as its ex-officio presiding officer. — Anna Felicia Bajo/RSJ, GMA Integrated News
