Work that will double the capacity of the Panama Canal was halted this week. The canal authority has said it would not accept ‘blackmail’.

Work on the ambitious Panama Canal expansion project has stopped after talks broke down on how to settle a dispute over US$1.6 billion in cost over-runs.

“I don’t even want to suggest that the next steps will be easy or risk-free,” Panama Canal Authority administrator Jorge Quijano said in Panama on Wednesday. “What I do want to make clear is that we will not yield to blackmail.”

From the South China Morning Post