After more than two weeks in trial, the case of thirty-year-old, Brandon Taylor, charged with the May 2012 shooting murder of Kaylon Matura, came to a close. And it is the second time that Taylor has beaten a murder rap. Matura was shot on Central American Boulevard, Belize City, not far from his home. Taylor was […]
Two young men from the village of Teakettle are facing charges of murder in connection with the brutal slaying of eighteen-year-old Keonia Ara over the weekend. As we’ve reported, the charred remains of the teenager were discovered on Saturday afternoon by a watchman at a dumpsite approximately four miles outside of Belmopan. The body remained […]
There have been two fires in the past two days in Belize City, one of which was fatal for an elderly woman. The most recent fire occurred just after one a.m. today as members of an Iguana Street household were in slumber. The fire started within a small wooden structure at the back of the […]
The other fire occurred on Wednesday morning on Price Street in downtown Belize City. Sometime after seven o’clock, Arilee Scott and her four-year-old grandson were inside the two storey wooden structure when a fire broke inside a bedroom on the upper flat of the building. According to Scott, the minor said that he was simply […]
The first serious objection to the bundle of tax measures introduced by Prime Minister Dean Barrow and the government at Monday’s budget presentation was raised by the Belize Tourism Industry Association a day later. They and the Association for Protected Areas Management Organizations argue that the Protected Areas Conservation Trust needs the money to urgently […]
News Five has uncovered information of an unreported, unexpected increase in the excise tax on rum, reported to us at as much as a hundred-percent increase. It has been proposed to raise the tax from ninety to one hundred and eighty dollars. News came as late as Wednesday when the Customs Department was handed an […]
Rodolfo Bol is the Immigration Department’s former System Manager, and current I.T. Manager. He has been with the Department since 2004. He manages the passport machine system and border management system, as well as the Department’s internal network which connects the regional offices and international embassies from the U.S. to Taiwan. But Auditor General Dorothy […]
Bol was also questioned on the most infamous example of how the Belize Passport and Information System was breached during the tenure covered by the Auditor General’s Report from 2011 to 2013. That is South Korean fugitive Won Hong Kim, who made a desperate bid to obtain Belizean nationality and a passport to claim citizenship […]
The family of eighteen-year old Keonia Ara of Blackman Eddy continues to reel over her gruesome murder over the weekend. Ara was stabbed multiple times, her throat slit and then her body set on fire at the Belmopan dump. A second post mortem is to be held since it is suspected that she was also […]
On Monday, the Prime Minister presented the new budget. For the first time, the Government is proposing to collect over one billion dollars in tax revenues, an increase of eighty-eight million dollars from last year. To improve revenue, there has been some tightening of the belt with cuts here and there in ministries. But we […]
The Belize Tourism Board has been asked by industry operators to account for its sizable income and revenue, especially as it relates to tourism marketing. So, what would a cut into the B.T.B.’s income mean for the work that they do for the tourism industry? Executive Director Burgos says that they are unclear about the […]
The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation is reporting minimal cuts in its budget for the fiscal year. However, there has been increased taxation on the industry in the form of the environmental tax on imported goods and the increase in departure tax for visitors. The Tourism Board, despite the Prime Minister’s commendations in an […]
Two of the scheduled three witnesses for today’s public hearings of the Senate Special Select Committee on Immigration testified. They are current information technology manager Rodolfo Bol and former database administrator, now Acting Director of the Central Information Technology Office (CITO), Francisco Gonzalez. Bol, as former systems administrator for the Department, was in charge at […]
Bol disputed the Auditor General’s assertion that inactive users were not removed from the system under his tenure. He pointed out that he and his successor as Systems Administrator, Georgia Bowen, held sole power to change the passwords and user roles of fellow Department employees, but in practice they only changed passwords and occasionally user […]
We reported on Tuesday night, that the O.A.S. Secretary General Luis Miguel Almagro arrives in Belize on Thursday though the nature of his visit has not been confirmed. A number of high-level meetings are on the agenda for the overnight visit, including one with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister. Almagro is heading here […]
The identity of a female who was stabbed multiple times, her throat slit and then set on fire has been determined. Her body was found over the weekend at the Belmopan dumpsite by a caretaker. She had been burnt beyond recognition, but tattoos on her arm have led police to her identity. News Five’s Duane […]
On Monday, Prime Minister Dean Barrow said that Superbond Three point Oh was a done deal. Financial Secretary Joseph Waight this evening confirmed to News Five that some eighty-seven percent of bondholders have now subscribed to the new terms and conditions. The custodian of the offer has so informed, but Waight says that a formal […]
News Five has begun its review of the 2017-2018 General Revenue and Appropriations Bill, also known as the Budget, which is scheduled to be debated on the second reading on Thursday, March twenty-third and Friday, March twenty-fourth. The Government of Belize is projecting a primary surplus for the first time in several years of just […]
Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin has reserved judgment in the case of the Belize Bank Limited and the Government of Belize after hearing submissions from both parties. A second day of litigation resumed this morning in the Supreme Court where a cadre of lawyers, led by senior counsels Eamon Courtenay and Denys Barrow, concluded their arguments. […]
The question of whether or not the case is deliberately being retried is also central to the argument. According to Barrow, government decided at the eleventh hour to challenge the enforcement proceedings. Despite being able to mount a successful legal challenge, the Ashcroft Group is seeking enforcement in another jurisdiction. Barrow says that is a […]
Is the Government conceding that the former owners of Belize Telemedia Limited have triumphed in relation to the second payment of the B.T.L. settlement? It is due later this year and part of the hefty price tag has to do with the Accommodation Agreement scorned by Government. There is a dispute as to the actual […]
The much anticipated 2017-2018 Budget was considered a crossroads for the Government and people of Belize. The country faces heavy external debts including the Belize Telemedia Limited settlement and arbitration awards as well as a weakened economy and low investor confidence; not to mention, the costs of the re-negotiated Superbond and the need to meet […]
His formal remarks will be made in the coming Budget Debate, but today Leader of the Opposition John Briceño offered his first review of the Prime Minister’s Budget, and to say the least, he found it unbelievable. Barrow, Briceño said, offered no explanation for how the Government is able to achieve a primary surplus of […]
Those who enjoy the vices of beer and cigarettes will have a bone to pick with the Prime Minister. But what could cause a potentially larger problem is the reduction of the threshold for payment of the General Sales Tax on electricity bills. Presently, the twelve-and-a-half percent tax is payable on bills above two hundred […]
It’s now official: Superbond 3.0 is a go. Though the Consent Solicitation Offer has been extended to Wednesday of this week, Prime Minister Dean Barrow confirmed that a three-quarter majority of bondholders agreed as of Friday to the new terms – just under five percent interest semi-annually and five soft bullet payments due between 2030 […]
