PANAMA voted yesterday in a referendum backing an ambitious €4.2 billion expansion plan to give its famous canal its biggest face-lift in a move the government hopes will lift the nation out of poverty.

US President George Bush today vigorously defended attempts to interrogate suspected terrorists after the public disclosure of secret CIA prisoner camps in eastern European countries. “We do not torture,” he declared.

Construction workers, teachers and health workers were among thousands who went on strike yesterday in Panama, saying they wouldn’t return to work until the government withdrew a proposal to increase the retirement age.

James Bond no longer has diplomatic status – at least not in Panama.