The second suspect in the highly publicized murder of Canadian missionary, Brian Townsend has been found….not alive, but dead. On Christmas Eve night, Townsend, a Valley of Peace resident, was abducted from his home in the village. He was brutally murdered and his body dumped in the Mopan River on the border with Guatemala near […]
The Elvin Penner fiasco broke back on September nineteenth, but except for administrative investigations in the Nationality and Passport Sections of the Immigration Department, there has been no criminal investigation. But now, the People’s United Party has issued a rare ultimatum to Commissioner of Police, Allen Whylie. If Whylie does not commence a criminal investigation […]
The letter to ComPol Whylie, delivered on Monday, gives a deadline of seven days by which he is asked to take action. The timing is critical because there is a statute limitation of six months for the summary offence of which Penner is being accused. Legal Advisor Anthony Sylvestre told the media today that the […]
The P.U.P. has come out with legal guns blazing and former Minister of State Elvin Penner locked firmly in the crosshairs. There is some urgency in the matter, because the matter for which the Party wants charges brought against Penner is a summary offence. That means that criminal proceedings must be initiated within six months, […]
On Monday, B.T.L. introduced a new element to its Digicell service, particularly its 4G platform in which it is no longer adding onto its system cellular phones that aren’t directly compatible with its existing settings. Simply put, if you’re planning on purchasing or unlocking a phone made specifically for international GSM carriers such as AT&T […]
To address their fears, a meeting was held with various distributors in Belize City this afternoon. B.T.L. called a late evening press briefing saying that they are working together to find an agreeable outcome. The discussion, says Miranda, was productive. FOR VIDEO CLICK HERE. Dr. Dionne Miranda, General Manager of Customer Service, B.T.L. “These phones […]
There was another issue that came up in the P.U.P.’s press briefing earlier today. It involves the Elvin Penner recall petition put in motion by the Party, but rejected on December thirty-first by the Elections and Boundaries Office. The rejection came on the basis that it did not meet the threshold of valid signatures. The […]
In this newscast, we often report on armed robberies, but a brazen armed attack on a priest on Sunday night, is a new level of crime. A pair of criminals attacked the Saint Martin de Porres priest, Father Brian Christopher as he walked from the church to the rectory. The priest was carrying the collection […]
While the assault and robbery of a priest is a new low, there are unnerving allegations being made against a popular musician in Dangriga tonight. Three standard two students alleged that they were molested on Thursday morning by one of their teachers. According to the girls, the teacher escorted the class to the church where […]
The resurrected Integrity Commission as promised by the government is in its infancy, and already there has been a significant wrench thrown into the works. A release from the Office of the Prime Minister this afternoon confirms that two persons have indicated that they will not be able to accept their appointment which went before […]
According to Minister of Immigration Godwin Hulse, there is no update on the multiple investigations allegedly ongoing at the Immigration Department. Three persons – Sharon Neal, Omar Phillips and Erwin Robinson – employed in the Passport Section have been on suspension since September, while two public officers – Gordon Wade and Ady Pacheco – employed […]
A hearing by the Public Service Commission was scheduled for Tuesday, but is now postponed to next week Tuesday. The three employees of the Immigration Department who have been on suspension since September, 2013, will have their day before the Services Commission. Those public officers: Sharon Neal, Erwin Robinson and Omar Phillips will answer to […]
There is a most unusual incident to report tonight. It happened in the village of Douglas in the Orange Walk District last week. Felipa Sanchez died at the age of eighty-seven back in 1994…so if you do the math, that is twenty years ago. But her family tonight is deeply disturbed that her tomb has […]
A meeting was held between the Solicitor General and a group of residents of the village of San Jose Nueva Palmar in Orange Walk. The visit came after a story we covered that close to a million dollars are unaccounted for from the sale of lands in the village by the Lands Advisory Committee. The […]
Karen Bevans, the Chief Operations Officer of the country’s largest telecommunications provider, Belize Telemedia Limited, has announced her resignation, effective the end of March. All indications are that the news came as a surprise to her colleagues and staff at B.T.L. Bevans has enjoyed long tenure at the company, enlisting in 1989. In 2009, Telemedia […]
Following several meetings, press releases and interviews with both the Belize City Council and the Christian Workers Union, the issue of the redundant security workers has degenerated into little more than a ‘he said she said’ emotional back and forth. It’s actually become difficult to separate the emotion from the facts, as both sides keep […]
The B.T.L. Park is very near completion and it is extremely impressive. Take wide open spaces, full-time Police presence, colorful booths, adequate seating and aesthetics, fashionable and functional bandstand and the view, and what the Mayor has is a certifiable hit. But there are always nagging questions which accompany all major projects, like nepotism in […]
On December thirty-first, the Elections and Boundaries Department rejected the Elvin Penner recall petition submitted by the P.U.P. Of two thousand and two signatures presented for scrutiny, only one thousand, six hundred and sixty-five were accepted, meaning that the petition fell short by seventy-nine signatures. The decision by the Elections and Boundaries Department unleashed a […]
On Thursday night, we reported about a land grab in the Orange Walk East constituency. Tonight, there is another story which also involves land and money; plenty missing monies. On Thursday, we sat with an ad-hoc group from San Jose Nuevo Palmar, which is also in Orange Walk East. To understand the magnitude of this […]
The issue of revising the existing gun laws, in light of the recent conviction of police corporal Gino Peck for possession of unlicensed ammunition, has taken center stage in recent weeks. Peck’s case is frequently compared to that of GST Supervisor Reynaldo Verde, whom it is alleged that an unlicensed firearm was discovered by police […]
The Occupational Safety and Health Act 2014 was tabled in the House of Representatives on January twenty-ninth after pressure from the National Trade Union Congress of Belize to have the proposed law presented in parliament. While the bill remains to be passed and will have to go through nationwide consultations, the Belize Chamber of Commerce […]
This morning, a team from the Belize City Council met with CWU President Audrey Matura-Shepherd and the Labour Commissioner in downtown Belize City. The issue on the table remains the declared redundancy of twenty-six workers in the Council’s Security Department. This is the second meeting since the union took charge of the matter in late […]
As recent as two weeks ago, we reported that the Guadalupe Park in the Orange Walk East constituency ended up the hands of Adin Aragon, the son of the former area representative, Elodio Aragon Senior. In the days leading up to Sunday’s convention for the constituency, contested by the other Aragon, Elodio Junior, the prime […]
From Orange Walk, we head south. The illegal logging of rosewood appeared to have cooled down that is until this week when SATIIM rangers on patrol in the Sarstoon Temash National Park detected a well organized operation along the Belize/Guatemala border near Black Creek. On Wednesday, the rangers found thirty-eight flitches of rosewood that […]
The meeting between the Labor Commissioner, the CWU and the Mayor concluded a little while ago at the office of the labor Commissioner. Word to News Five is that the commissioner declared that the redundancy of twenty-six security workers is to be put off until next week Wednesday and not this Friday. The Labor Commissioner, […]
