The government embargo against Channel Five has been lifted. That was the only item in an official statement coming from Cabinet which met in a regular session today. According to the release from the Office of the Prime Minister, “Cabinet has agreed to lift the ban and reinstate normal relations with Great Belize Productions/Channel Five […]
After a hiatus during the holidays, we start the year with an issue affecting the daily lives of Belizeans from all walks of life; the exorbitant prices of fuel that have spiked well past the ten dollar mark. Back in March 2009, when a dollar tax was introduced the Prime Minister promised he would remove […]
Earlier we told you about the uncertainty facing the employees of the National Transport, but that’s not the only trouble in the bus industry. In the City, the well known Lopez shuttle, owned and operated by Carlos Lopez, is suffering its own woes. Lopez claims he is being boxed out of a bus route he […]
In the south, a police officer in Independence Village stands accused of terrorizing the family of Richard Logan on New Year’s night. The cop, Logan claims, was intoxicated and was looking for his nephew with whom he had a confrontation several months ago. The rampage started at the home of his niece, whose house was […]
It’s the first news out of Belmopan for the New Year and confirms what we reported late last week that government intended to appoint Justice Manuel Sosa as the new president of the Court of Appeal. Well, it became official today when Sosa was sworn in by Governor General, Colville Young, at Belize House in […]
There were a number of controversies in cruise tourism when we left off last year. Zoning of the Fort Street Tourism Village and the proposed introduction of cruise tourism in the Placencia Peninsula were the two hot button issues. And to begin our newscast for 2011, we report on another storm brewing for stakeholders in […]
Police detained three men at the close of 2010 for the murder of Nigerian taxi driver, Francis Chukwu. After a weekend in lockdown, Kendal Green, Egbery “Eggie” Daly and Jermaine “Bow Foot” Zuniga, were arraigned today. They appeared unrepresented before Senior Magistrate, Sharon Frazer where they were jointly read a single charge of Murder. It’s […]
On December seventh, government imposed an unprecedented ban on this station. Two weeks later, after discussions, Prime Minister Dean Barrow indicated that at the first meeting of Cabinet for this year, which is on Tuesday, he will prevail on the wisdom of his colleagues to remove the suspension of normal relations. We’re counting down and […]
New amendments to the Crime Control and Criminal Justice Act have now come into effect. The amendments were passed in the House and Senate last December as a way to clamp down on crime and violence. The act has gone through several changes and numerous of the latest amendments, gazetted on December eighteenth, are disquieting […]
The New Year got off to a rocky start for a Belize City couple; forty-nine year old Sherland Sanker and fifty-two year old Conrad Dougal. It’s so bad that Dougal ended up before a Magistrate today to face charges of Aggravated Assault and Grievous Harm. According to Sanker, she went to visit Dougal on New […]
Police believe they have the man who pulled the trigger on Francis Chukwu, a Nigerian taxi driver, who had moved to Belize with his kids to better his life. Kendale Greene aka Gentle, a Belize City tour guide, is being processed for Chukwu’s murder. That was earlier today. But late this evening, thirty-one year old […]
It was the last shopping day for the outgoing year at the new Michael Finnegan Market, formerly known as Queen Square Market. And it did not go down smoothly. The vendors have just moved to the new facilities but it is already overcrowded. Long before the move, the vendors have been engaged in a bitter […]
But according to City Council Market Clerk, Michael Theus, the kinks can be worked out it will take some time. Theus also says the vendors need to abide by the laws and cooperate with authorities to avoid further conflict. The City council is expected to meet with the vendors in the New Year to discuss […]
The Belize Electricity Limited has for years been purchasing power directly from Mexico’s Comision Federal Electricidad. But that can now change since the Government has applied to the Public Utilities Commission for a license to purchase the power for resale to BEL. The new arrangement will be operated under the Ministry of Finance and while […]
But what can Belizeans expect in terms of electricity rates for 2011? Well, that is still up in the air, according to Young, because there are many factors that have bearing on electricity rates, including the skyrocketing diesel prices and an increase in taxes. But if the local supply from the hydro dams and the […]
Yanira Escobar, is a Guatemalan national also known as Dominga Fernandez, who has been in jail since July 2005. Hers is one of the rare cases of a woman being charged with murder. Escobar was initially charged for the stabbing death of Yenesia Judith Salguero in San Ignacio. After waiting three years for trial, the […]
A Belizean who was wrongfully imprisoned returned home today to a warm welcome and just in the nick of time for the New Year. Dennis Gonguez was on an excursion across the border in Melchor when he was detained by Guatemalan police and held for over a month. Gonguez says he was simply at the […]
Many have been left homeless in a spate of fires over the past week. In the latest, a police sergeant and her family were left out in the cold after a blaze swept through their house on Trinity Boulevard on Wednesday night. It is not a good way to start the New Year, for Sergeant […]
In an update to the murder of thirty-two year old Patrick Kerr, the results of a post mortem certify that the cause of his death was Acute Pulmonary Edema, due to multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen. Kerr was gunned down as he waited to have a hair cut at a barber on […]
A group of Cubans who washed ashore near Boca del Rio on Ambergris Caye in the early hours of Wednesday December twenty-ninth was cleared by the Immigration and Nationality Department earlier today to continue its journey across the Caribbean Sea. The seven Cuban nationals who drifted southwest to Belize in a makeshift vessel outfitted with […]
Henry Canton was terminated as the Chief Executive Officer of the Citrus Products of Belize Limited at an extraordinary meeting of the citrus growers on December eighteenth. Canton has maintained that the process was flawed. Today the Belize Citrus Mutual concurred with Canton, saying that the shareholder’s agreement signed between the Citrus Growers Association and […]
Traditionally, the high season in the tourism industry, is well underway at this time of the year. But it has had a disappointing start so far. At the Fort Street Tourism Village, a large number of traders are looking for business among the low number of visitors, even though a cruise ship called on port […]
In mid-December, we reported that the government was in the process of extending by thirteen years the tenure of Justice Manuel Sosa. There is now a change in that initial proposal. The Government now plans to appoint Justice Sosa as President of the Court of Appeal. He will take over from Justice Elliot Mottley who […]
Nigerian taxi driver, Francis Chukwu, was one of five persons murdered over the Christmas weekend. The cab driver was killed by a single gunshot and his body was found in his taxi in the area of the Lord Ridge Cemetery. But who would want him dead? That’s a question that remains a mystery to his […]
It’s the worst time of the year for two families in Dangriga who are tonight homeless. A fire this morning gutted a two-storey structure in the downtown area behind the police station. Despite efforts to contain the blaze, the property was completely destroyed, in the process scorching two other buildings that stood next to it. […]
