Page 8 - Min Vos, 24 April 2015
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WORLD NEWSFriday 24 April 2015
Panama acts to clean up reputation for money laundering
JUAN ZAMORANO cial sectors where illicit paign to win a stamp of Argentina, Syria and Zim- tling dollarized economy
Associated Press proceeds from the sale of approval from the world’s babwe that have major at the crossroads of the
PANAMA CITY (AP) — narcotics, corruption and richest nations, which in re- deficiencies in combat- Americas continues to
Panama took a major terrorism have seeped cent years have clamped ing money laundering make Panama an at-
step in an effort to clean into Panama’s booming down on tax havens and and terror financing. tractive offshore banking
up its reputation as Latin economy in recent years. shadow banking centers. Panama’s financial over- center.
America’s premier hub for The landmark legislation, Last year, the Financial sight has strengthened Driven by traffic through
money laundering. which requires everyone Action Task Force, an since the dictatorship of the Panama Canal, eco-
The nation’s legislature from lawyers and real es- inter-government body Gen. Manuel Noriega nomic growth has aver-
late Wednesday unani- tate brokers to casinos representing the world’s during the 1980s, when aged 8 percent annually
mously approved a pro- and construction firms to most-developed econo- the country was a bank- over the past decade —
posed law that will tough- report suspicious transac- mies, placed Panama on ing center for Colombian far outstripping the per-
en supervision of more tions, is the key compo- its “gray list” of 19 finan- drug cartels and corrupt formance of every other
than a dozen non-finan- nent of Panama’s cam- cial jurisdictions including institutions. But a bus- Latin American nation.q
Calbuco volcano erupts in Chile; ash causing concern
LUIS HIDALGO Montt, a city about 14 ed missing since the erup- and Puerto Montt, some photos,” said Daniel Pal-
LUIS HENAO miles (22 kilometers) from tion was located Thursday. 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) ma, a psychologist who
Associated Press the volcano. “Then, at Authorities evacuated south of Santiago. lives in Puerto Varas.
PUERTO MONTT, Chile (AP) around 1 a.m., I heard a 4,000 people as gas and “I was shocked. I had “We woke up today with a
— Twin blasts from the Cal- blanket of fog and it hasn’t
buco volcano in southern Men remove ash from a building’s roof, left by the Calbuco volcano, in Ensenada, Chile, cleared. We have a layer
Chile sent vast clouds of Thursday, April 23, 2015. The volcano erupted Wednesday for the first time in more than 42 years, of smoke above us,” Pal-
ash into the sky, increasing billowing a huge ash cloud over a sparsely populated, mountainous area in southern Chile. ma said, adding that many
concerns the dust could were concerned about
contaminate water, cause (AP Photo/Pablo Sanhueza Gutierrez) the possible effects of the
respiratory illnesses and ash on their health.
ground more flights. loud noise, as if somebody ash continued to spew, just arrived home when I The Chilean national ge-
The volcano erupted ology and mining ser-
Wednesday afternoon for had detonated an atomic and they closed access looked through the win- vice warned that people
the first time in more than should prepare for a third
four decades, spewing out bomb.” to the area around the dow and saw the column and “even more aggres-
a plume of ash more than sive eruption.”
6 miles (10 kilometers) high. No injuries were reported volcano, which lies near of smoke rising up. We President Michelle Bach-
Emergency officials were elet declared a state of
taken by surprise and had and the only person report- the cities of Puerto Varas called our families, posted emergency, saying the
only a few minutes to issue eruption of Calbuco was
an alert. “more serious and unpre-
Calbuco had another dictable” than the one last
spectacular outburst ear- month at the Villarica vol-
ly Thursday with lightning cano, which also forced
crackling through a dark the evacuation of thou-
sky turned reddish orange sands.
by the explosion. “We don’t have any prob-
As the ash cloud spread lems with supplies, water or
Wednesday, “people went sewage up to now. That’s
into a state of panic,” said not the problem,” said
Miguel Silva Diaz, an en- Bachelet, who visited the
gineer who lives in Puerto area Thursday.q
Puerto Rico bank warns of a government shutdown
DANICA COTO House of Representatives. implement measures to does that and presents a U.S. investors overall have
Associated Press “The island’s financial state cut costs and balance the balanced budget, then it known that liquidity is very
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) is extremely uncertain,” the budget. The government can be in a better position low.
— Puerto Rico’s Govern- letter said. “A government had been preparing to is- to issue bonds, said David “What’s a surprise is typi-
ment Development Bank shutdown would have a sue more than $2 billion Chafey, president of the cally one agency of the
warned this week that it devastating impact on the in bonds in the coming bank’s board of directors. government doesn’t write
is very likely the U.S. terri- economy, with salary and months in part to strength- “Time is passing, and it’s to the rest of the govern-
tory’s government could public service cuts, and en debt-ridden agencies. passing quickly,” he told ment in quite this way,” he
be forced to shut down in a long and painful recov- Bank officials said the The Associated Press. “We said in a phone interview.
the next three months be- ery.” government needs to ap- need to provide investors The letter was issued as
cause of a lack of funds. Bank officials said in the let- prove a five-year plan to with some kind of com- Garcia faces opposition
The bank made the warn- ter that the government’s help reduce a $73 billion fort.” from members of his party
ing in a letter made pub- fiscal problems will prevent public debt as well as ap- Economist Charles Blitzer, on a measure that would
lic a day after it was sent it from selling more bonds prove sweeping changes a former World Bank and impose a 16 percent val-
to Gov. Alejandro Garcia in the capital market as to the island’s troubled tax IMF official, said he wasn’t ue-added tax that he says
Padilla and the presidents planned, and they urged system. surprised by the bank’s is needed to help gener-
of the island’s Senate and legislators to immediately Once the government assessment, adding that ate more revenue.q
