Speaking to supporters at AmericaFest in Arizona, Trump questioned the current management of the waterway. "Has anyone ever heard of the Panama Canal?" Trump asked the crowd. "Because we're being ripped off at the Panama Canal like we're being ripped off everywhere else."

The strategic waterway, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, enables vessels to avoid lengthy voyages around South America's southern tip by providing a route through the Americas. As Yahoo noted, the canal facilitates passage for approximately 14,000 ships annually and represents about 2.5% of global seaborne trade.

Trump suggested that if certain conditions weren't met, the US would demand the return of the canal, which has been under Panamanian control since 1999. "It was given to Panama and the people of Panama, but it has provisions," Trump said. "If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, quickly and without question."

The comments drew immediate pushback from Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, who issued a strong defense of his country's sovereignty. "Every square metre of the Panama Canal and the surrounding area belongs to Panama and will continue belonging (to Panama)," Mulino stated on social media, also rejecting suggestions of Chinese influence over the canal's operations.

According to Yahoo, while China does not control the canal, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings manages two ports at the waterway's Caribbean and Pacific entrances.

Trump responded to Mulino's statement with a terse "We'll see about that!"

The controversy follows Trump's recent half-joking suggestions about incorporating Canada into the United States, as well as his past expressions of interest in purchasing Greenland during his first term in office.

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For some, coffee is a simple morning necessity. For others, it's a passion that stirs them awake. While many are content with a basic cup of joe, true enthusiasts view each rare bean as a hidden gem worth traversing the globe to taste. If you thought your coffee expenditure peaked with that fancy latte from your neighborhood café, prepare for a reality check. In today's world, where coffee has ascended to an art form, aficionados are ready to part with jaw-dropping sums for the perfect cup – often exceeding the cost of a high-end bottle of wine.

The Best of Panama is an annual competition designed to identify and celebrate Panama's finest coffee. It culminates in a high-profile auction.

August 7 might seem unremarkable to most, but for coffee devotees, it marked a momentous occasion. The coffee world converged at the Best of Panama – an elite auction showcasing the country's finest beans and producers. This year's event set a new benchmark when the prestigious Elida Geisha Natural Torre coffee from the Lamastus Family Estates commanded an astonishing $10,013 per kilogram ($4,541 per pound).

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 Following the auction, the estate took to Instagram, expressing their gratitude: "We extend our thanks to all bidders, with special appreciation to the auction winner, Saza Coffee from Japan. This recognition fills us with excitement and humility." They further reflected, "A century of dedication, spanning four generations committed to this product, has culminated in this remarkable achievement with a company 8,078 miles away in Japan. It's beyond our wildest dreams. Words fail to convey our gratitude on behalf of the Lamastus family and Panama. The $10,013 per kilogram price tag isn't just a record for coffee – it's a testament to the value prestigious global coffee companies place on our Lamastus estate beans."

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What makes this coffee so extraordinary?

The Best of Panama is an annual competition designed to identify and celebrate Panama's finest coffee. It culminates in a high-profile auction.

Established in 2004, the competition aims to spotlight Panama's premier coffee, with particular emphasis on the Geisha variety, renowned for its exceptional quality and distinctive flavor profile. The competition subjects each entry to rigorous evaluation, assessing taste, aroma, and overall quality. The winning coffee is then offered at an exclusive auction, drawing buyers from across the globe eager to secure these elite beans.

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Elida Geisha Natural Torre belongs to the Geisha variety, widely regarded as one of the most sought-after and expensive coffees worldwide. While the Geisha variety traces its roots to Ethiopia, it now thrives primarily in Panama and other South American nations. Celebrated for its complex flavor palette – encompassing notes of fruit, flowers, and spices – and its unparalleled quality, Geisha has earned a devoted following. The Elida plantation in Panama stands as a beacon for cultivating this prestigious variety. Its reputation for producing exceptional coffee has elevated its products to treasured status in the global coffee market. The coffee's hefty price tag reflects both the meticulous care invested in its cultivation and processing and the intense demand it commands among connoisseurs.

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As part of Panama Day, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) will be signed between the Export and Investment Promotion Authority of Panama (PROPANAMA),  and the Israel Export Institute to promote trade relations between the countries, two years after a free trade agreement was signed.

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"Exciting News regarding the commercial and economic ties between Israel and Panama: On December 5, 2022, at the Dan Panorama Hotel in Tel Aviv, a "Panama Day" will be held to strengthen the economic and commercial ties between the countries," a press release said.

According to the statement, the memorandum of understanding (MOU) will be signed with the Israel Export Institute to promote trade between the countries. "The memorandum of understanding is another strengthening step to the free trade agreement signed between Israel and Panama in January 2020. The agreement grants each party preferential access to the export of products to the other party's market and enables a favorable environment for trade and investment between the two countries, promoting economic development and increasing economic cooperation."

The entrepreneur and founder of "CYBERTECH", Amir Rapaport, is expected to announce the CYBERTECH LATIN AMERICA conference, which will be held in Panama in May.

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The 90 meter-long Zelek Star was carrying cement and other goods from Greece to Israel when it was swept away and approached Oranim Beach, officials said. The beach's sandy Mediterranean shoreline is popular with residents and tourists.

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Photos showed locals walking along the beach with the 14 meter-high vessel towering over them in the background, abutting a stone sea wall as shallow waves crashed onto its red exterior.

Captain Yigal Maor, manager of Israel's Shipping and Ports Authority, said there were 12 crewmen onboard the vessel but that it was the responsibility of the ship's owners to ensure their safety.

The ship carries a Panamanian flag and is owned by Turkey-based Fuden Shipping & Trading, according to the website maritime-connector.com. The company could not be reached for comment.

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According to a statement by the Prime Minister's Office, Netanyahu told Ambassador Reda Mansour that the Druze community is "close to our heart," and that he will work to "strengthen our brotherly bond."

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Reda wrote about the extra grilling on Facebook on Saturday.

He described how after learning they were from the Druze-majority town of Isfiya, the airport security guard asked the ambassador and his family to step aside and asked to see their passports.

"Isfiya is not a village in the [Palestinian] territories but the place of the central Druze graveyard. The first fallen soldier was my wife's grandfather who was killed in 1938, before the founding of the state. I recommend you take your security managers for a visit to this cemetery so that they learn what sacrifice is and what statesmanship and courtesy is. Go to hell, Ben-Gurion Airport, you make me sick."

President Reuven Rivlin also spoke with Mansour on Saturday.

"It was important for me to talk to you following the emotional turmoil you have experienced," he told the ambassador. "I read the things you wrote, and one cannot remain indifferent to them."

Rivlin said, "I don't want to get into the details of what happened, and I understand that all of the relevant parties are working on investigating the subject. What is nevertheless important is what you feel, and if you felt that hurt, then it needs to be addressed."

"It is important to me that you know that your long years of diplomatic work are appreciated and important for us as a country, and I am confident you will continue on your path. Our alliance with the Druze community is a covenant of life and not a blood pact. We need to make sure that we are deserving of it every single day, every single hour, and not just in periods of crisis and combat," Rivlin said.

The Israel Airports Authority issued a statement saying, "The security check at Ben-Gurion International Airport is [performed] without regard to religion, race or gender, and in an equitable manner. When you meet over 25 million passengers a year, there are those who will choose to be offended by an encounter with a security guard that is doing her job. Even before the debriefing, and from reading the post, there was nothing improper in the way the security guard did her job. Like your friends and family, my best friends are buried in a military cemetery. I suggest that next time, the ambassador tells his daughter that the security guards do everything in their power to protect her and the country."

Following the ambassador's post, Channel 12 News anchorman Shibel Karmi Mansour, also a member of Israel's Druze community, was asked whether he had ever personally experienced discrimination at Ben-Gurion Airport.

"Yes," Mansour replied, saying, "The decision-makers need to make a decision. As a citizen of the state, I don't need to take this. Either you screen everyone in a similar way as they do in the United States, or you don't."

Israel is home to approximately 140,000 Druze, a secretive sect that splintered off from Shiite Islam in the Middle Ages. Members of the Druze community take great pride in being fiercely loyal to the state of Israel and routinely serve in the military and the Israel Police. Currently, the highest-ranking Druze officer in the IDF is Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rokon, the coordinator of government activities in the territories.

Still, the members of the Druze community have felt alienated since Netanyahu's government passed a controversial nation-state law in 2018 that emphasized Israel's Jewish character.

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The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said one stowaway was arrested and no casualties were reported in the highly unusual incident, which is not believed to have been terror-related.

According to available details, the MSC Canberra departed Mersin, a port city in southern Turkey, around noon Friday, and was expected to arrive in Haifa on Saturday, before making its way to the Ashdod Port in southern Israel.

Satellite images show that the ship, with 24 people on board, had been at anchor in Israeli territorial waters since Saturday noon, having experienced haphazard movement beforehand.

At around 3 a.m. on Sunday, the ship sent out a distress call, which was picked up by the Haifa Port Control Center, which alerted the police. The Israeli Navy was called in once the complexity of the incident became clear.

A police source said that two stowaways aboard the ship began rioting and had stormed its bridge, where they barricaded themselves and threatened to set the ship on fire.

According to the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, the navy used drones to gather information and monitor the situation and dispatched naval commandos to search the vessel, in coordination with the ship's crew.

Several hours after the incident began, Israeli naval commandos took control of the ship and arrested one of the stowaways, a Turkish national.

The man was transferred to police custody for questioning. The Turkish consul in Israel is expected to meet with him.

Israel is highly dependent on its maritime shipping lanes, as some 90% of its imports arrive via the sea. The INF plays a pivotal role in defending civilian shipping lanes Israel's exclusive economic zone.

The navy is also tasked with securing the offshore natural gas drilling rigs, as they are clear targets for the country's enemies.

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The U.S. Treasury on Friday slapped sanctions on Maj. Gen. (ret.) Israel Ziv and three firms he controls, accusing him of using an agricultural consulting firm as a cover for weapons sales worth $150 million to the South Sudan government while also arming opposition groups there.

In a statement, the U.S. Treasury said that "While Ziv maintained the loyalty of senior ‎South Sudan government officials through bribery and ‎promises of security support, he has also reportedly ‎planned to organize attacks by mercenaries on South ‎Sudanese oil fields and infrastructure, in an effort ‎to create a problem that only his company and ‎affiliates could solve."

Ziv formerly headed ‎the IDF's Operations Directorate, and after ‎retiring from the military, he founded security consultation firm Global CST.

In an interview with Army Radio Sunday, Ziv said he had never trafficked in weaponry and called the charges against him "ludicrous, baseless and completely divorced from reality."

"We have an amazing agricultural project there ... that many communities depend on. Tens of thousands of people are employed through this project and it feeds the South Sudan market. So anyone who claims this project is a cover should come see it," he said.

Under U.S. President Donald Trump, the White House has championed international arms embargoes against South Sudan to pressure President Salva Kiir to end the country's civil war and humanitarian crisis.

Two South Sudanese nationals, Obac William Olawo and Gregory Vasili, were named alongside Ziv in Friday's U.S. Treasury sanctions notice. Neither was immediately available for comment.

"This is not the first time the [U.S.] administration has used sanctions to enforce its foreign policy," Ziv said.

"I am approachable. ... I want to believe in the decency of the administration. And they are welcome to come, to check, to investigate. We will open up everything for them," he said.

The i24 News website reported that Ziv has been on ‎the U.S. Treasury's radar for some time, after being flagged in 2009 over his dealings in Latin America, ‎especially in Colombia, ‎Panama and Peru.

South Sudan, Africa's newest state, ‎gained independence from Sudan ‎in 2011. Just two years later, the country erupted into conflict after Kiir sacked Riek Machar as vice president. Ethnically charged fighting soon spread, shutting down oil fields and forcing millions to flee.

At least 383,000 South Sudanese have died as a result of the war, through combat, starvation, disease or other factors, according to a recent study by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine researchers.

Under pressure from governments in East Africa and from United Nations and Western donors, Machar's group signed a peace accord with other rebel factions and the government in September that will see him restored to the role of vice president in the country.

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