Prime Minister Dean Barrow today announced cosmetic changes to his Cabinet. The Ministry of National Security has been split in two and is replaced by the Ministry of Police and the Ministry of Defense. According to the Prime Minister, the changes are necessary in the face of the sweeping crime wave. Tonight’s question is: Do […]
Shortly after eight last night, Attorney Rodwell Williams, the law partner of the Prime Minister was shot as he exited the law firm on Albert Street. Williams was rushed to the Belize Healthcare Partners Hospital and underwent surgery for gun shot wounds to the abdomen. Early reports indicate that two shots were fired, one of […]
For two weeks there have been no reports of murders in our daily newscasts. But that brief spell was broken over the weekend when a women and a man were murdered. Both cases did not have the usual element of gang warfare but instead are described as crimes of passion that occurred in the north […]
The weekend’s other murder occurred in San Ignacio where a man was allegedly killed by an enraged lover of a woman he was romantically involved with. Thomas Logan admitted to his common-law-wife only three weeks ago that he was having an affair, but before the weekend was over his body was found close to Sacred […]
While police have their prime suspects in the homicides in the north and west, the investigation into the sudden death of a man from Belmopan may be more challenging to solve. That is because a post mortem, which is scheduled for Tuesday, will determine whether the victim was murdered or was accidentally run over by […]
The Primary School Examinations are not necessarily the only prerequisite for acceptance to high schools, but they are surely an indicator of how the nation’s young minds are performing in English, Math, Social Studies and Science. This year’s results showed a modest improvement over last year’s results in the four areas and it also showed […]
The statistics show an improvement over last year with national increases in all subject areas. Sixty-six point five percent of the candidates had satisfactory to excellent performances in English. Seventy seven percent of candidates also had satisfactory to excellent performances in Science. Sixty-five point three percent of candidates had satisfactory to excellent performances in Social […]
One week ago, on Friday, the United Democratic Party’s Ethics and Integrity Committee took the decision to expel the city’s first female mayor. Zenaida Moya Flowers’ sin was an explosive interview she gave in which she use colorful language directed at Prime Minister Dean Barrow. Moya Flowers has not given any comments since her expulsion […]
As we told you, Housing Minister and Mesopotamia Area representative, Michael Finnegan is back in the Jewel. Finnegan was gone for at least two months for treatment for prostate cancer at the Harper University Hospital in Detroit. Since he was diagnosed with cancer, Finnegan has been publically speaking about this deadly disease. When he touched […]
Harold Crooks, he is the man who was commissioned to evaluate the local police force and wrote the famous Crooks Report between June and November 2008. He is also the man who once headed the Jamaican Special Constabulary Force, but fell from grace when it was disclosed that he was wanted by Jamaican police for […]
Operation Jaguar will be two weeks old on Monday, and it has generally reduced violence on the City’s streets after months of urban terrorism. There was one shooting, however, on Monday night which has left a man still clinging onto life. News Five’s Marion Ali reports. Marion Ali, Reporting Thirty three year old Melvin Rodriguez […]
Official results for the Primary School Examinations have been released and the scores are considerably better in English, Math and Science. Six thousand, six hundred and sixty-one students sat the exams this year. The lengthy release from the Ministry of Education was released late this evening and a quick peruse of the nineteen page document […]
From conference rooms to dinner tables, the discussion continues to rage about oil drilling since it was made public that eighteen licenses have been awarded for exploration offshore and on land. Environmental NGOs want a ban, but GOB is not of the same mind. On Thursday night, we asked: Do you believe that economic benefits […]
Two cases involving the nationalization of Telemedia were heard today in court. In the first, there was positive news for the Ashcroft Group when the Court of Appeal lifted an injunction previously granted to the government of Belize. Seven appellants successfully appealed the injunction granted by Justice Samuel Awich because it would bar them from […]
Meanwhile in the Supreme Court, Justice Oswell Legall heard submissions regarding another case involving the nationalization of Belize Telemedia. The British Caribbean Bank and former B.T.L. CEO, Dean Boyce are challenging government’s take over and compulsory acquisition of Telemedia. The arguments were based on several grounds, chief among which was the issue of proportionality. Attorneys […]
The prospect of offshore oil drilling has raised strong emotions in the environmental community. On Wednesday, PM Dean Barrow publically said that he wouldn’t put a stop to oil exploration. Within hours of that statement, another group, Healthy Reef Initiative, joined APAMO in opposing offshore oil exploration. Melanie McField, a renowned marine biologist, says we […]
For its part, APAMO, the Association of Protected Management Organization, which is the umbrella organization for all related environmental groups, reiterated its point in spite of the P.M.’s statement. Edilberto Romero, APAMO’s Chairman, went one step further today and indicated a protest is a possibility to pressure the government to step in line with the […]
Our blog has been overflowing with reaction from viewers on the position taken by Prime Minister Dean Barrow on offshore oil exploration. The PM said on Wednesday that he won’t stand in the way of progress referring to the eighteen concessions granted for exploration on land and sea. We ask viewers: “Do you believe that […]
Belize City Mayor, Zenaida Moya Flowers is offering no comments on her expulsion from her party. That decision was taken last Friday by the U.D.P. Ethics Committee for her explosive outburst after she was arraigned on criminal charges last October. This morning, however, Prime Minister Dean Barrow said the party acted because he was aggrieved […]
Licenses issued for offshore oil exploration have stirred up environmentalists. So far eighteen companies have been granted concessions to search for petroleum on land and sea. Some of the concessions are more controversial than others because they overlap areas that contain fragile ecosystems. The Belize Barrier Reef, a World Heritage Site has been parceled off […]
Still on oil, the Prime Minister’s law firm, Barrow and Williams, has been named as having a vested interest in one of the eighteen companies which have concessions to drill offshore for oil. Rodwell Williams, the lead partner of Barrow and Williams is a director in Princess Petroleum Limited, a company related to the proprietors […]
About seventy B.D.F. soldiers, thirty police officers and a smaller number of Coast Guard personnel are deployed to conduct Operation Jaguar. The financial costs are not known but the operation is taking place around the clock in the hot spots of the City. We asked our viewers on Tuesday night: Do you think Operation Jaguar […]
At only seventeen years old, Kareem Francis was charged in 2007 for the murder of fifteen year old Jomo Lamb. Today, three years later, Francis walked free of the charge because of a 2009 change in the Indictable Procedure Act which now allows for testimonies to be read in court if the witness is afraid […]
There is a major political development to report tonight. News Five has been reliably informed by an impeccable source that Mayor Zenaida Moya Flowers has been expelled from the United Democratic Party following a decision by the three member Ethics and Integrity Committee. The Mayor’s troubles with PM Dean Barrow are well known and were […]
But in the Caribbean, latest reports say that the death toll in Jamaica stands at over thirty persons including civilian and security personnel. The violent outbreak is a reaction to Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s decision to begin the process for the extradition of Christopher “Dudus” Coke. Coke has been described as one of the most […]
