Panama's president has rejected a plan by Donald Trump to "take back" the Panama Canal, telling his US counterpart the key trade route "is and will remain" in the country's hands.
In his inaugural speech, President Trump claimed that Panama had "broken" a promise to remain neutral, alleging that "China is operating the Panama Canal".
President Jose Raul Mulino said he rejected Trump's words in their "entirety", adding there is "no presence of any nation in the world that interferes with our administration".
As one of the first Post-9/11 veterans, I faced a stark choice from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) when I transitioned from military service to civilian life. While attending college, I could opt for the older, less generous Chapter 32 of the post-Vietnam era veterans’ Montgomery G.I. Bill, or I could take advantage of the newer, more robust Chapter 33 post-9/11 veterans’ G.I. Bill. With college prices much higher than the Vietnam Era, like many others, I chose the latter.
But there was a catch: By selecting Chapter 33, I was forced to forfeit the first year of my Chapter 32 benefits. This condition, imposed on millions of veterans, effectively denied us thousands of dollars in educational support. This partly voided the military’s guarantee of free education for military service. Even with this setback, the Chapter 33 benefits were superior — so it was a tradeoff I, and many others, reluctantly accepted...