“Panama” on The Daily Caller

Women across Panama City Beach, Fla. broke the Guinness World Record Tuesday for the largest ever bikini parade. The mile-long event brought 450 scantily clad ladies to claim the title, according to the event’s Facebook page. (more)

PARIS (AP) — Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega will be extradited to his homeland in the next few weeks, the French Justice Ministry said Thursday. (more)

The recent congressional passage of U.S. free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia has elicited an outbreak of Beltway backslapping. Some congratulations are certainly warranted, but a closer look at just how these FTAs arrived on the president’s desk reveals serious problems with not only the agreements themselves, but also the current state of U.S. trade policy. (more)

Congressional passage of the three free trade agreements Wednesday brings the U.S. one step closer to smoothly exporting American-made gadgets to South Korea, Colombia and Panama. And trade organizations representing high-tech companies are eager to hire Americans to get it done. (more)

The folks at the the Distilled Spirits Council (DISCUS) had reason to celebrate — hopefully with a swig of bourbon — Wednesday evening, following the passage of free trade agreements (FTA) with Panama, South Korea and Columbia. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress approved free trade agreements Wednesday with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, ending a four-year drought in the forming of new trade partnerships and giving the White House and Capitol Hill the opportunity to show they can work together to stimulate the economy and put people back to work. (more)

Three pending free-trade agreements could reach Capitol Hill as early as Monday although no deal has been reached on how to move the accords through Congress. (more)

Congress moved closer to approving new free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea after a procedural vote in the Senate Monday afternoon. (more)

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched a satellite into space. Therefore, taxpayers should give more money to politically favored corporations. This is not a rigorous line of thought. But it was typical of yesterday’s State of the Union address. (more)

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address started out with some promise, but in the end, while it did not necessarily surprise, it did disappoint. (more)

Fifty-two years ago January 9th, Fidel Castro’s rebel army marched into Havana. As Castro addressed thousands of his countrymen outside, an act symbolic of Cuba’s fate played out. (more)

1.) Unethical Google alumnus leaves White House one day after FCC passes net neutrality — Andrew McLaughlin should have left the White House in March, when he was found to be using his personal gmail account while at work, or even in May, when internal memos revealed McLaughlin was coordinating PR with Google’s U.S. public policy director. Instead, the nation’s deputy CTO waited until the FCC passed its net neutrality bill to bid adieu to government life. According to WaPo, “McLaughlin, who previously worked as a Google executive, oversaw many of the White House’s Internet policy initiatives including Internet access regulations, the expansion of broadband connections and global cybersecurity.” Not mentioned in WaPo’s writeup is Google’s ardent support for net neutrality regulations. McLaughlin will dive back into the startup world, creating products for state and local governments. He “also said he will return to teaching law, which he did at Harvard University’s Berkman Center seven years ago.” Interesting factoid: The Berkman center is the far-left think thank that the FCC commissioned to produce objective reports on the apparent need for net neutrality regulations. (more)

President Obama’s approval rating has shown major slippage in recent days and weeks, but has dipped noticeably this week as questions of whether he is anti-business have grown louder. (more)

China has at least $2.5 trillion in foreign exchange and must, due to its own balance of payments rules, invest it all overseas. Most unavoidably goes into American bonds, the only market big enough to absorb it.[1] However, since the beginning of 2005, the PRC has invested almost $200 billion in foreign assets outside bonds. Official Chinese data are unhelpful, but The Heritage Foundation’s China Global Investment Tracker sorts non-bond spending by country and sector. The tracker is current through June 30, 2010. (more)

The idea that President Obama is anti-business broke into the mainstream this week. (more)

The trial of Manuel Noriega on money-laundering charges began in Paris on Monday with lawyers for the ex-Panamanian dictator arguing the proceedings were unlawful and he should be allowed to return home. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. extradited former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega to France on Monday, clearing the way for him to stand trial there on money laundering charges. (more)

Ministers of energy from across the Western Hemisphere will descend upon Washington this week. While they may be able to catch the cherry blossoms, their principal reason for visiting is not tourism. Instead, they have been invited to Washington by Energy Secretary Steven Chu to forge a new chapter in energy cooperation and collaboration in our hemisphere. (more)

Last week, President Obama declared his plans to double domestic exports over the next five years and announced a renewed push on the pending free-trade agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea that are currently pending. (more)

Trade has remained on the back burner this past year while the Obama administration has dealt with domestic issues, especially health care, with the little activity on the issue being largely negative. There was the early caving into pressure from organized labor over allowing Mexican trucks on U.S. roads (part of America’s contractual obligations under NAFTA), and another capitulation in September, when President Obama agreed to slap tariffs on Chinese tires at the behest of the steelworkers. (more)