And while the public anxiously awaits that access to vaccines, Belize passed another sombre milestone on Thursday; there are over twelve thousand confirmed COVID-19 cases. Today’s report appears promising with only five persons testing positive out of the three hundred and fifty samples. However, there are one hundred and sixty persons under investigation. No one […]
The nine men nabbed following the drug plane landing on February fifth today received Supreme Court bail. The men were charged with possession of a controlled drug with the intent to supply after being found with two bales of cocaine. They were also charged for breach of curfew. Special Patrol officer Tyrell Talbert, Police Constable […]
And while those nine accused were receiving bail, elsewhere in the country, police were destroying almost a ton of cocaine from that very same drug plane. News Five’s Duane Moody reports. Duane Moody, Reporting The sweltering heat emission from the burning pile could be felt from afar. This man-made pit was set up by […]
The presentation of the 2021 budget by the Briceño administration is still a few weeks away, but putting together the financial plan, despite severe austerity, is well underway. Earlier this week, Prime Minister John Briceño and Minister of State Christopher Coye, along with several other government officials, sat down with the business community to discuss […]
The outlook for the upcoming financial year is not promising. The Government of Belize has been operating in the red before the COVID-19 pandemic, which has only made matters worse for our local economy. A new fiscal calendar will be rolled out on April first, but there won’t be any celebration. Those twelve months will […]
The perpetual albatross that is the Super Bond also stands at roughly one point two billion Belize dollars, with an interest payment of twelve million dollars due in May. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began affecting the government’s bottom line, the Barrow administration turned to bondholders seeking permission to capitalize interest on five hundred […]
The Public Accounts Committee will be expanded to include three social partner senators. The government will introduce a statutory instrument to reconstitute the membership in parliament on Friday. The Public Accounts Committee will now be comprised of four members from government, two members from the opposition and three social partners to be nominated by the […]
With a new constitution of the Public Accounts Committee, it is expected that the working group will hit the ground running. But where does it begin and what is the scope of its responsibilities? It’s a question that the incoming chairperson is also openly asking, in the context of moving forward with the work of […]
In our ongoing series on K.H.M.H.’s response to COVID-19, as Belize’s only national referral hospital, we have covered several areas, including the establishment of a COVID Unit. We have also focused on the use and surcharge for personal protective equipment. Tonight we look at critical care and the cost of being admitted to the ward […]
Over the weekend, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize held its annual general meeting virtually under the theme “N.T.U.C.B.: Overcoming the Challenges, Living our Purpose, Realizing Meaningful Reforms.” A new executive team was announced with Luis Martinez as the president, while Miguel Aguilar was elected as the second vice president. Martinez says that one […]
Senior customs officer Ian Haylock is suing Prime Minister John Briceño and challenging Estelle Leslie’s appointment as Comptroller of Customs. Haylock strongly believes that he was overlooked and deserves the post based on seniority and experience. In a three and a half-hour virtual session this afternoon, Haylock was represented by former Prime Minister Dean Barrow […]
Several patients who’ve accessed the healthcare system to treat COVID-19 infections are up in arms over the cost of P.P.E.s being tacked onto their bills. Personal protective equipment, as they are otherwise known, are a staple in the medical profession, especially during the pandemic. Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital has come under fire recently for charging […]
There are two hundred and fifty-nine active cases of the coronavirus spread across the country as the number of confirmed cases is nearing the twelve thousand mark. There are three hundred and six deaths recorded since March 2020, of which two hundred and one are men and the remaining one hundred and five women. Eleven […]
A third wave is possible, especially with the new COVID variant detected in the region; the UK variant has been identified in Mexico. Meanwhile, in Belize, we are still awaiting results from samples sent to Baylor College and Caribbean Public Health Agency, CARPHA, to determine if any of the new variants are in the country. […]
The next round of municipal elections is exactly one month away. And while it doesn’t normally attract the level of campaign fanfare and prominence as the general elections, these local elections are important as they directly impact the quality of life of those who live in urban areas. According to the Elections and Boundaries Department, […]
A new Elections and Boundaries Commission held its inaugural meeting today, despite its members not being formally sworn-in to office. As we reported on Tuesday, the E.B.C. is being chaired by Senior Counsel Oscar Sabido who replaces fellow attorney Estevan Perrera in that post. Joining him as members of the newly formed Commission are Orlando […]
Two Corozaleños were busted with a stash of drugs at a checkpoint on Monday evening. Around five o’clock, cops at the Manatee Lookout stopped a pickup truck with Orange Walk license plate driven by Herman Friesen of Little Belize and passenger Gerardo Lino of Progresso Village. The police officers searched the vehicle and discovered one […]
Police have reported that a man died by shooting himself in what they call a shooting death. It was not a case of suicide. On Tuesday evening, the farmer, Alfred Bernard Junior, from Old Mullins River Road in Stann Creek accidentally shot himself. He was found dead sometime after five p.m. with gunshot wounds to […]
Like the brazen killing of shopkeeper Abel Bardalez last Friday, on Monday night armed, masked thieves entered the home of a Belizean tax collector on Monday night not only ransacked the place, stole jewellery and a gun, but also tied up the family and attempted to kidnap Nan Cheng’s, one-year-old baby. Cheng managed to escape […]
On Monday, Attorney Dickie Bradley and attorney Leeroy Banner represented nine men from rural Belize District, who appeared in the Orange Walk Magistrate’s Court, after police intercepted them inside a boat on Hill Bank Lagoon. Bradley told the media that his clients were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when police caught […]
Prime Minister John Briceño today announced his picks for diplomatic posting. Ambassador-designate Lynn Young will be posted in the United States of America and serve as Belize’s Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States. Belize City Councilor Oscar Arnold has been chosen as ambassador-designate to the United Mexican States. The former C.E.O. in the […]
Senior Counsel Oscar Sabido has been appointed as the new chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission. He succeeds fellow attorney Steve Perrera who demitted office recently amid pressure from the People’s United Party government, which called for his resignation from the post following his party’s defeat at the polls during the November eleventh general […]
The appointment of Deputy Comptroller of Customs Estelle Leslie to the highest office within the Customs and Excise Department hasn’t been without its share of controversy. Leslie, who succeeds Colin Griffith as Comptroller of Customs, was selected by the Briceño administration in a process that also saw senior customs officer Ian Haylock applying for the […]
It is no secret that over the years members of the Belize Police Department, at various ranks, have been accused of being involved in narco-trafficking. Whether facilitating the landing of drug planes or acting as mules transporting quantities of marijuana across the country. Several officers have been arrested and charged for their roles in illicit […]
The cost per gallon of regular gasoline is inching up by another fifty-one cents on Wednesday when it goes from nine dollars and twenty-seven cents to nine dollars and seventy-eight cents. If it’s any comfort to consumers, the prices for premium gasoline, kerosene and diesel remain unchanged at nine dollars and eighty-nine cents, six dollars […]
