Prices for all forms of gasoline – regular, premium and diesel – are up again following a slight reprieve lasting a little over a week. News Five understands that after several weeks of prices for regular and premium gasoline being the same, the price of the latter has shot up past ten dollars, with the […]
Twenty-year-old Zachary Knox, a Belizean/American, is serving the first night of a six months sentence handed down this morning by Magistrate Carlin Mendoza for shooting at Assistant Commissioner of Police Chester Williams. Knox is convicted for committing an aggravated assault upon ACP Williams as a result of a shooting which occurred on May twelfth, 2016 […]
A seventy-one-year-old resident of Santa Elena, Toledo is out on bail tonight after more than six months on remand at the Belize Central Prison accused of sexually abusing a child, on more than one occasion. The abuse started when the child was eight years old and continued until she was eleven. Pedro Pop Ico appeared […]
Mere days after the Central Bank of Belize (International Immunities) Act and the Crown Proceedings (Amendment) Act were rushed through their stages at the National Assembly; they are under challenge from one of the two companies it is believed are targeted by their implementation. Caribbean Investment Holdings Limited (C.I.H.L.), previously known as B.C.B. Holdings, issued […]
Gun violence in the area of Conch Shell Bay in the Old Capital has seen a sharp spike since the start of the year. Murders and shootings connected to feuding gang factions in a drug war have placed the community under the microscope so much so that police plan to beef up their presence in […]
As we said, on Monday night, twenty-one-year-old Jaheel Goodger was shot during a brazen attempt on his life as he rode through Conch Shell Bay. His assailant has since been identified as a sixteen-year-old minor and has been charged in connection with the incident. But what was Goodger, a resident of Slaughterhouse Road, across town, […]
The Opposition People’s United Party was first off the mark in condemning a proposal by the Elections and Boundaries Commission to postpone the timing of re-registration of voters to after the 2018 municipal elections, but to conduct a re-districting exercise before then. One argument by the United Democratic Party is the cost, but today, P.U.P. […]
A court ordered mediation between the Belize National Teachers Union and the Ministry of Education has concluded. Although the outcome of that process will not be made public, News Five understands that both parties are yet to return to the Supreme Court to provide Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin with an update. The union and government […]
A senior drug operator for the Sinaloa cartel controlled by the ‘El Chapo’ Guzman has been caught by Mexican police. Roberto Najera Gutierrez, a.k.a. ‘La Gallina,’ is said to be the man charged for the trafficking and distribution of drugs in Southern Mexico and the northern area of Belize. A report in Por Esto newspaper […]
Miss Belize Universe Rebecca Rath…does she deserve to be gifted a brand new late model vehicle, despite not placing in the recently held Miss Universe Pageant? It’s an initiative that is being met with mixed reactions. The brainchild of well-known automotive salesman Emil Torres is for fans of the beauty ambassador to raise funds to […]
The Senate Special Select Committee sought to call three witnesses to today’s public hearing at the National Assembly in Belmopan. But only one made it – the former Office in Charge of the Nationality Section of the Department, Gordon Wade. We’ll tell you why the others – Ady Pacheco and Edgar Cano – were not […]
Won Hong Kim, the South Korean fugitive, who started the entire current Immigration saga, is hardly forgotten though his ultimate fate after a desperate bid to dodge extradition by claiming the nationality of the Jewel is not known. Kim was granted both passport and Belizean nationality through the machinations of former Minister of State for […]
Senior Immigration Officer Gordon Wade, who has been working with the department for twenty-seven years, also added layers to established testimony that Ministers of Government were in and out of the Immigration Department’s offices doing “business” on behalf of their constituents and favorites. While Prime Minister Dean Barrow has said that these appearances so far […]
Last week, ex-Director of Immigration Ruth Meighan sidestepped questions of whether she was a “rubber stamp” for final approval of applications for visas, passports, and nationality certificates. But she repeatedly made clear over her two appearances for testimony that she trusted her senior officials to ensure that what landed on her desk represented the complete […]
But what did Wade really see in those many files passing over his desk during those two years he was in charge? He said that a completed file with the relevant documents was presented, with the certifications from the accepting officers that the documents they received were true and correct. But something went wrong, somewhere. […]
Auditor General Dorothy Bradley made one major correction to her audit report of the Immigration Department – that former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Michael Peyrefitte, was allowed under the law to make a recommendation as an official for a passport. Other than that, she has said on the record, she stands by her […]
Turning to the courts….a sixteen year old has been charged for the most recent shooting incident in Conch Shell Bay area of Belize City. On Monday night, sometime after eight o’clock, twenty-one year old Jaheel Goodger was shot to the right leg as he rode his bicycle on West Collet Canal. He reported that one […]
Another massive credit card scam has been uncovered in the local banking system and police are on the lookout tonight for a pair of thieves who have withdrawn an undisclosed sum of money from ATMs across Belize City. It’s a high-tech scheme which involves the use of an electronic device that is able to read […]
At this hour, a meeting of the Election and Boundaries Commission is taking place. It was called by Chairman Doug Singh to discuss several proposals related to conduct and practice for general elections. Singh and his Government colleagues are proposing to once again postpone re-registration of Belize’s hundred-thousand-plus voters to after the 2018 municipal elections. […]
The P.U.P. also says that it denounces any attempt by the Commission to carry out a re-districting exercise before a re-registration exercise, since such an exercise, in its view would be giving validation to the out-dated, fraudulent and padded voters’ list. The last re-districting took place before the 2008 general elections and saw shifts in […]
The voter’s identification card carries none of the shine of the passport, or Social Security card or driver’s license. Indeed, its sole use seems to be to identify a voter on Election Day. But that may soon be a thing of the past if the Elections and Boundaries Commission has its way. The Commission is […]
The Opposition People’s United Party is planning a press conference on Thursday of this week. On the agenda is a frank discussion of the revelations coming out of the Senate Special Select Committee and in particular from former Director of Immigration, Ruth Meighan. The most damaging of those statements is her admission that of the […]
While the party awaits its turn to address the single biggest revelation coming out so far from the Senate Special Select Committee, deputy leader Kareem Musa offered some general observations of the Committee and its work in our interview with him this evening. For Musa, it is confirmation that the Government was an active participant […]
A custody battle is brewing in Belmopan where a San Martin family is before the courts fighting to regain care of their eight children. According to Santos Fermin Sagastume, back on December nineteenth, he and his wife authorized a US couple from River of Life, Camalote Village, as legal guardian of their eight under-aged children […]
Following the special session of the House of Representatives on Friday, the nation’s upper chamber was convened to further progress the Central Bank of Belize (International Immunities) and Crown Proceedings (Amendment) Bills, 2017. According to the Government, the new legislation is intended to serve as a firewall, protecting Belize’s assets from the imminent threat of […]
