When helping an accident victim, most Emergency Medical Technicians would tell the public to call 911 and not to attempt to move the injured person. Good Samaritans who want to help can cause additional injuries. But Benque Viejo is facing a dilemma, as it is filled with good Samaritans who have no choice but to […]
Businessman Jitendra Chawla first gained notoriety in mid 2009 when it was revealed that he was developing within a reserve known as the Krooman Lagoon at the entrance to the City on the Western Highway. Public outrage put a halt to the potato chips factory but Chawla is back in the news. A husband and […]
As we reported on Wednesday, the House of Representatives will meet this coming Friday in Belmopan. The Prime Minister will be taking back the Ninth Amendment to the constitution which seeks to entrench government control on utilities. In the ninety days since its introduction, consultations were held nationwide. The atmosphere was extremely political as supporters […]
Aside from the ninth, there is another issue that is becoming controversial and we have not heard the last word on Genetically Modified Organisms. A release from the Scientific Steering Committee of the Belize Agricultural Health Authority on the Importation of GMO Corn Seeds for Trials in Belize, indicates that there might be farmers who […]
News Five has received information that a mix up has occurred with the body of a Belizean who traveled to the US recently. Apparently Edwin Gillett, a former Chief Immigration Officer and a resident of Nurse Seay Street in Belize City, died suddenly in Los Angeles. The family does not know where the mix up […]
If you’re making plans for the weekend, you’ll want to keep it indoors because it’s going to be a wet one. Since Thursday there have been heavy rains in central and northern Belize caused by a lingering weather system that has potential to develop into a tropical depression. The flood prone areas in southern Belize […]
The deluge was heavy on Thursday night and within a couple of hours, numerous areas of the city were flooded. Schools around the city closed today and some streets were completely under water. One of the affected areas is the Jane Usher Boulevard. A resident of the area, who is also the owner of a […]
Investigations are ongoing tonight into the scandalous heist at the B.D.F. compound at Price Barracks, Ladyville. Whether or not there was collusion, the robbery presents a huge embarrassment for the security forces and public confidence is waning. The arsenal of forty-two guns, including the M-4 Carbines and M-16s were jacked from two of five rooms […]
Turning to politics, the National Executive of the People’s United Party met today at Independence Hall with Mark Espat as interim leader. The attendance was almost perfect, except for the former party leader, John Briceño and his brother Jaime who are scheduled to return to the country today. The meeting concluded just before noon and […]
Thirty-one year old Daniel Ku was sentenced to life imprisonment for the December 2006 murder of his common-law-wife, thirty-two year old nurse, Anna Basto in Orange Walk. Basto was stabbed thirty-two times and her throat was slashed three times; a heinous crime that Ku confessed to committing. Still, Ku appealed the decision and today the […]
The unemployment statistics are staggering; almost twenty-five percent of the adult population is without jobs. That dismal figure has contributed to a high poverty rate peaking at forty-three percent. It is contributing to the uncontrollable crime wave as well as other social ills. News Five’s Isani Cayetano takes a look at how families are coping […]
In mid-July 2009, the purchase of nine point three acres of land in the Krooman Lagoon area by businessman Jitendra Chawla, proprietor of Xtra House, sounded several alarm bells as the proposed land development for a chips factory threatened drainage into the catchment basin. Subsequently, Cabinet reclaimed the acreage and a legal battle between Chawla […]
On Wednesday night we reported on a land controversy in Crooked Tree Village. Earlier this week the residents said that Rose Kelly instructed workers to start development on a plot of land adjoining her property. The land she is claiming, according to the villagers, was acquired by government and distributed to them decades ago. Today […]
The mean streets of Belize City may have more to add to its arsenal, which already includes fragment grenades stolen from security forces. A cache of high-powered weapons has been stolen from the Belize Defense Force headquarters at Price Barracks in Ladyville. It’s a huge and brazen heist, in fact one of the biggest at […]
But in addition to a police investigation, the B.D.F. and its ministry is also offering the public a handsome reward for any information that can lead to the recovery of the weapons. Allen Whylie, the C.E.O. in the Ministry of Defense says that the ministry will give thirty thousand dollars for the recovery of these […]
In another story that has become an embarrassment; the Belize Coastguard has confirmed that a skiff was stolen from its compound over the weekend. According to Acting Commander Elton Bennett, sometime around eleven pm on Sunday night, thieves went to the coastguard’s pier at the headquarters at mile three. The thieves swam toward the vessel […]
The dust is beginning to settle following the resignation of John Briceño last Friday as the leader of the People’s United Party that led to the ascension of Mark Espat, as the interim leader. The bid for leadership of Belize Rural North standard Bearer, Arthur Saldivar, has failed to ignite any excitement or following within […]
Public consultations on the proposed Ninth Amendment to the Constitution have concluded. Most will agree that the proceedings were divided sharply along political lines and the independent pulse is difficult to tell. During the raging public debate on the controversial amendment, there were many who felt that the proposed amendment should first be put in […]
The outspoken U.D.P. area representative Marcel Cardona, also a member of FOB, maintains that the recent consultation process did not reflect the true sentiment of the people on the matter of the proposed ninth Constitution Amendment Bill. He says that the majority of the non-partisan public sat out the sessions for fear of victimization. Marcel […]
The sudden resignation of John Briceño as leader of the P.U.P. sent shockwaves through the party and was all the buzz going into the long weekend. Insiders and political observers are still reeling from the resignation that is changing the entire dynamics of the opposition party. Briceño surprised even his closest advisors when he broke […]
With thirty days to go, the Belize Rural North Standard Bearer and political novice, Arthur Saldivar, has promptly announced that he intends to contest the leadership of the P.U.P. Political insiders point out that Saldivar who has won neither a convention nor an election. They see his bid as a transparent move set up by […]
In June, 2010 the Supreme Court delivered a breakthrough decision affirming the ancestral rights of thirty-eight Mayan villages in the south. That decision allows the Maya communities to log and bars the Forestry Department from intervening until the wood leaves the communal area. Containers of the wood are being shipped primarily to China; each container […]
Was it an inside job that caused thieves to pull off a daring midnight burglary at what should have been a highly guarded military compound? Not much has been confirmed, but despite military grade weapons, a successful heist of a Coast Guard vessel was pulled off at the Belize Coastguard Compound on Sunday night. While […]
Belize was blacklisted by the United States in September as one of the countries that play a major role in the transnational movement of drugs. The bad press continued today with an article in the Washington Post which describes Belize as a poorly defended country with sleepy port towns, mangrove swamps and jungle airstrips that […]
The importation and experimental use of GMO corn seeds has stirred controversy. Last week government caused the destruction of a container of the seeds that had been brought into the country reportedly by members of the Mennonite community. In the south, there is strong opposition to the GMOs since it would alter the traditional way […]
