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Welcome to the Panama Weekly News Roundup! Here’s the latest.

Panama is fighting to save teen lives through Sex Ed

There’s a struggle going on in Panama, right now, to bring quality public sexual education to the nation’s schools. The reason? Panama has an epidemic of teenage pregnancy, as well as potential health risks for an alarming number of its young citizens. Now, they’ve got a bill. The questions is: will it hold up to a vote?

The bill comes at a time when Panamanian youth are facing a sexual health crisis. A 2014 article by : Statistics from the Comptroller General show that 75 percent of children born are outside of a stable relationship, and one in five of those births are to a teenager, while 70 percent of the fathers are over 20 and among those most affected by HIV/AIDS, and the third leading cause of death among adolescents aged 15 to 24 years is AIDS.

While there are some numbers that show the rate of teen pregnancies is declining, HIV infections still remain high, especially among Panama’s indigenous youth. The  found that HIV infection rates have increased in Panama over the past decade.

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Panama receives free air ambulance, ending dispute with Italian firm

This past week, Panama received a gift from Italy in the form of a much needed $8 million rescue helicopter. The helicopter was used as part of a settlement of a dispute that the government of Panama had with Italian firm Finmeccanica.

Vice President and Foreign Minister Isabel De Saint Malo traveled to Milan, Italy, to receive the aircraft on behalf of the Panamanian government.

The helicopter will be used in rescue and humanitarian aid missions, and it is expected to be transferred to Panama at no cost by Agusta Westland, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica.

The air ambulance is part of a deal between President Juan Carlos Varela’s administration and Finmeccanica sealed in February that included the conglomerate’s scrapping of plans to take “legal action against the state” of Panama, the government said.

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Panama to host 2017 CONCACAF Men’s U-17 Championship

Soccer is on par (with baseball) as the most popular sport in Panama, and the country is thrilled with news that they will be hosting an international championship next year.

The two venues for the competition will be Estadio Rommel Fernandez and Estadio Maracana in Panama City, Panama. Panama also hosted the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship in 2013.

“We are pleased to name Panama as host of the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship, which is one of our most important youth development tournaments,” said CONCACAF General Secretary Philippe Moggio. “Panama was an exceptional host of the 2013 Championship. We are confident that next year’s Under-17 Championship will be another unqualified success for fans and players alike, that will help the growth of soccer in Panama.”

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Dispute threatens Panama’s Pacific Alliance hopes

With a vote looming over Panama’s entrance to the Pacific Alliance trade bloc, a tiff with Colombia could either slow down the country’s progress, or keep Panama out entirely.

Panama has been contesting Colombia’s tariffs on textile imports from the Colón Free Zone for years, but Colombia’s refusal to lift the tariffs despite a recent World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling in favour of Panama has added fuel to the fire. “Colombia argues that those imports could constitute illicit trade, that has been the legal claim,” says Diego Moya-Ocampos, senior analyst for IHS Country Risk in the Americas.

Panama doesn’t agree with the argument, and with Venezuela, one of Colón’s major customers, virtually out of business, the government feels pressured to solve the dispute and increase textile exports to Colombia. The latest WTO ruling, which rejected Colombia’s appeal to review a previous decision in favour of Panama, has comforted the country in its opinion. Now various Panamanian officials have threatened to “retaliate” if Colombia doesn’t lift the tariffs by the end of July.

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