Flames consumed two houses over the weekend; one in the City and the other in Lord’s Bank. The blazes are both believed to have been deliberately set but fortunately no one was injured. A total of eight persons lost all their belongings. We start in Belize City, where Sunday night’s fire followed a quarrel between […]
The second house that went up in fire over the weekend belonged to a single mother, Maria Rodriguez of Lord’s Bank. Rodriguez now has to rebuild a house for her six children, some of whom are of school age. News Five’s Delahnie Bain found out that the family was in the City when the structure […]
It is the close of January and so far there have been seven murders for this month, statistically it is one more than last January. While the victim is from the San Martin area of Belmopan, his body was found all the way near Arenal, the famous village that separates Belize and Guatemala. It is […]
OPIC, the state owned Taiwanese company, recently announced that it had given up the second largest exploratory concession for oil that stretched across the Belize Barrier Reef. The environmental N.G.O. community applauded the OPIC decision and APAMO today took it one step further. It called on the government to persist from the issuance of any […]
The more things change, the more they stay the same. That’s the general feeling environmentalists have tonight as on the heels of one victory, they suffer a major blow to their anti-drilling campaign. Earlier in the week we reported that the Taiwanese State owned oil Company, OPIC, gave up its rights to the second largest […]
Environmentalists believe that the devil is in the details of the Petroleum Act. Oceana’s Vice President for Belize, Audrey Matura Shepherd, a trained attorney, believes that the legislation needs to be amended to allow for transparency and to limit ministerial interference in the bidding process for these exploratory contracts. Audrey Matura Shepherd, VP, Oceana Belize […]
Another issue that is having major ramifications has to do with cruise tourism. Tender operators are at a breaking point; the unresolved boat tendering issue has taken a toll after weeks of back and forth and still no solution. On Thursday, the Belize Tourism Board said that it supports local tender operators. BTB has gone […]
Carnival Cruise Line is not backing off from its demand on tender operators. The next move will now be determined by the operators. On Thursday night we asked if the Cruise Lines should be allowed to continue calling in Belize. Sixty six percent said no they need to pack up and go while thirty four […]
The Grim Sleeper is the U.S. based serial killer who has caught plenty attention in the U.S. media and has also been featured by News Five. Lonnie Franklin has been arrested for numerous murders dating back to the 1980’s. Franklin is called the Grim Sleeper because U.S. investigators believed that he went long years in […]
Octogenarian Olivia Supal perished in a fire at her residence on G.S. Street, an offshoot of Jane Usher Boulevard, on Tuesday night. Despite an attempt by fifteen year old Julian Diego to save the elderly woman, she, along with the contents of her home, was consumed by the blaze. Supal’s completely burned body was discovered […]
A former accountant from Five Sisters Lodge is in serious trouble with the law after he allegedly embezzled over thirty thousand dollars from them. According to Carlos Popper, who owns the lodge, the theft occurred between February twenty-fifth, 2010 and January sixteenth of this year. Police have identified the accused as Antonio Madrid, who allegedly […]
The crisis in the cruise tourism industry broke on January third, when tender operators first heard that Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian wanted bigger tender operators to ferry tourists to shore and at a lower price per head. Normally at least three large ships could be seen on the horizon with thousands of tourists ready […]
Importers of butane have now agreed to a new price formula depending on the grade of the gas. On Wednesday, however, representatives from the Liquid Petroleum Gas importers, at a press conference, alleged that their competitor, Belize Western Energy Limited, was selling inferior quality butane because the company mixed imported product with the cheaper product […]
So why wasn’t BWEL a part of the press conference called by the importers? Via Phone: Jose Mai “We felt that this movement was headed by the two local companies which are Belize Gas and Western Gas, owned by a father and son. They were being premature in threatening government with a strike for today […]
In the courts, Acting Chief Justice Samuel Awich today dismissed an application for judicial review filed by brothers David and Tony Novelo in November, 2008. In his decision Awich cited that the Transport Board was not given sufficient notice of intended action by National Transport. The proprietors of National Transport were seeking a revision of […]
Tonight’s question is: Given the stand taken by Carnival Cruise Lines in respect of the cost per head to ferry visitors to shore, should the cruise line be allowed to continue calling in Belize? Send your comments and responses using your SMART phones to 8686 or post your vote on our e-poll at channel5belize.com. You […]
It’s not unusual to hear about problems with Belize City’s drainage system, but today we met one resident who has been constantly affected by poor drainage for years. Dona Cayetano lives at the corner of Oleander and Zacaranda Streets and she says that whenever it rains, her house floods. Cayetano’s frustration reached boiling point after […]
Turning to the Magistrates Court, a local musician has been charged for allegedly raping a fourteen year old girl. The minor alleges that she was playing video games at the home of twenty-two year old Kevon Bardalez when he offered her a ride at around three p.m. last Friday. She says she went with Bardalez […]
A house fire broke out at G.S. Street off Jane Usher Boulevard; normally the story is about a family that needs a place to stay since beds and furniture are often lost. But sadly this fire ended tragically for an elderly woman. Eighty-one year old Olivia Supal lived alone in a small green wooden two […]
Cooler heads prevailed today and a scheduled shutdown of butane depots did not take place after all. Instead four major importers, Grupo Tomza, Z Gas, Western Gas Company and Belize Gas Company met with the Belize Natural Energy and government representatives. This follows a meeting in Cabinet on Tuesday where it was agreed that the […]
Mark King, the former Belize City Councilor who got into trouble with his own party, may be in the U.D.P.’s bad books once again. King was out of the spotlight and could not participate in the last Belize City Council elections because he was sanctioned for talking boldly about the problems of mismanagement and corruption […]
The debate on the retail of butane gas is raging. So does the public prefer to purchase butane directly from B.N.E. or the importers? The difference is over the price which can be had from B.N.E. for at least thirty percent cheaper. On our poll, by a wide margin most consumers prefer to get their […]
Arguments in two appeal cases on the nationalization of Telemedia continued today. British Caribbean Bank and former BTL Chairman Dean Boyce filed suit against the Attorney General and the Minister of Public Utilities. The BC Bank and Boyce are challenging a July 2010 ruling by Justice Oswell Legall that government’s compulsory acquisition of BTL was […]
Oceana has scored a major victory in its battle to preserve the Barrier Reef. There have been about seventeen companies which have been granted concessions to explore for oil on land as well as deep in our terrestrial waters. But today the N.G.O. announced that the second largest holder of a concession has backed off […]
Orlando Wade, a thirty-two year old Sandhill resident, was convicted of murder last Monday and reappeared in court today for sentencing. And it wasn’t good news for Wade because Justice Adolph Lucas decided on a sentence of life imprisonment. Attorney Kevin Arthurs had asked for mercy on Wade’s behalf, requesting a sentence less than twenty […]
