It’s the first reported shooting for the year…the victim is twenty-four year old Kyle Edwards of a Reggae Street address in Belize City. Around six-thirty on Thursday night, while Edwards was riding on West Canal, a lone gunman on bicycle, fired several shots at him. Edwards was injured to the arm, shoulder and head and […]
Stories of death and devastation continue to pour in from Haiti where a powerful earthquake struck the island flattening its capital, Port au Prince. Relief supplies are beginning to arrive and aid workers are experiencing a difficult time reaching those in need and trapped under the rubble. Latest reports now put the death toll at […]
Up north, Corozal police have teamed up with their Mexican counterparts to investigate a burglary at a store at one of the shopping plazas in the Corozal Free Zone. And while the incident occurred over the Christmas holidays, it is only now being reported and both Free Zone and police authorities are no closer to […]
The traffic inconvenience is a minor sacrifice pedestrians and motorists seemed prepared to endure in exchange for better streets in the old capital. That is what News Five discovered when we visited three of the areas that the Belize City Council said earlier this week it would upgrade. Work is well underway on Wood, Johnson […]
And on Regent Street, a building sitting at the corner with South Street is in danger of collapsing. Its owners, the Eusey Family, are fighting its demolition because that would leave them homeless. Last Thursday, the city engineer informed the Belize City Council of the imminent collapse and that portion of South Street was blocked […]
An audit of the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association (BSCFA) in July of 2009 pointed to gross mismanagement and irregularities. That resulted in a suspension of the B.S.C.F.A.’s certification for funding from Europe, known as FLO-CERT and Certification for Development. Millions of dollars were put on hold that would have otherwise benefited farmers and the […]
The devastation caused by an earthquake measuring seven point zero on the Richter scale, that rocked the island of Hispaniola on Monday continues to unfold. The picture that is emerging is one of massive destruction in Haiti. Its President Rene Preval said earlier today said that he feared that as many as one hundred thousand […]
As far as we have been able to ascertain, no Belizeans have been injured in the earthquake and communication with the honorary consular representative in Haiti could not be established during the course of the day. We have, however, learnt that the offices located in Petition-Ville were damaged. The representative, Didier Gardere, was unharmed. This […]
Two industries, the source of major foreign exchange earnings, are experiencing setbacks; that’s the citrus industry in the south and the sugar industry in the north. Caneros are irate over the slow processing of sugarcane at the mill of the Belize Sugar Industries Limited at Tower Hill. The farmers say that for the past four […]
City hall announced on Tuesday that it will be doing something about the Belize City streets. There’s another problem that the city is now attempting to cope with… garbage. There are many empty lots where garbage is constantly dumped under the cover of darkness. It’s an old problem that the Belize City Council has tackled […]
Five men charged with a sensational murder at La Isla Bonita are free tonight after the charges against them were withdrawn earlier today in the San Pedro. The men were charged in connection with the shooting murder of twenty-eight year old John Paul Saldivar, a tour guide who worked at Patajos in San Pedro Town […]
The New Year is eleven days old and there are no deaths by bloodshed as yet. But there was a grenade explosion that rocked the morning quiet, and while it did not cause any injuries, this sixth blast did send a clear message of war and terror on the city’s south side plagued by gang […]
So what’s behind the recent blast? Commissioner Jeffries says it’s anybody’s guess. He says it appears there’s a power struggle between rival groups in the streets. Jeffries assures that while police will not be abusive, they will not be laid-back in their investigations. Crispin Jeffries, ComPol “Six groups that we considered loosely fit themselves together […]
While the grenades that have ended up in the wrong hands were stolen from the British forces, another high powered weapon now on the streets is a deadly M-4 carbine rifle that has gone missing from the Belize Defense Force. The rifle was stored in the B.D.F. guard room and it was only on Sunday […]
With the streets becoming more dangerous every day, the People’s United Party issued a release today about the alarming crime situation. The Leader of the Opposition, John Briceño, in an interview with News Five said that his party is willing to work with the government on a solution to decrease what he calls urban terrorism. […]
An accident on Northern Highway on Friday night caused traffic congestion on that main artery, but fortunately there was no loss of life. It involved thirty-seven year old Colin Mejia, a construction worker and a thirty-seven year old nurse, Christine Young. It was a close call and it landed Young in the hospital. According to […]
There have been reports of a downed plane somewhere near the Belize Mexico border in Orange Walk since Wednesday morning. But several fly-overs by the Belize Defense Force and Belize Police Department have yielded nothing. News Five spoke today with the B.D.F.’s Chief of Staff, Colonel Ganey Dortch. Via Phone: Lt. Col. Ganey Dortch, Chief […]
An independent expert has been appointed to analyze the initial decision of the Public Utilities Commission in the Full Tariff Review Proceeding (FTRP) for the Belize Water Services Limited (BWSL). The PUC’s decision was to grant a ten point six percent rate increase as opposed to the twenty-five percent hike that BWSL had requested. But […]
The Belize City Council has been unable to balance its accounts in 2009. There were several protests staged by workers of the garbage companies in front of City Hall after the council fell behind on regular payments. In February of 2009, the council’s overall outstanding debt to Belize Maintenance Limited (BML) alone was estimated at […]
The jury is still out on whether or not the councilors will accept the prime minister’s suggestion of cutting their hefty stipends to minimize spending. However, another issue is literally rising off the pavement and beckoning at the councilor’s feet. And that is the condition of the city’s streets. The major streets in the city […]
Tension was high on Thursday at the Fort Street Tourism Village when around seventy tour guides were suspended from operating on the compound. According to Operations Manager of Fort Street Tourism Village, James Nisbet, the conflict—between the Belize Cruise Ship Tour Guide and Taxi Association and the management of the Tourism Village— started as a […]
Despite the disagreement and the financial cost yesterday, Nisbet says the actions taken were necessary and he is hopeful that when the next cruise ship docks, each and every tour guide, who works on the compound, will have a clear understanding of what they are permitted to do and not do. James Nisbet “Everybody has […]
A wave of shootings and murders over the past month culminated with a grenade explosion that killed a minor just before the New Year. Most of the violence is believed to be the casualties of street wars between rival gangs from George Street, Kraal Road, Supal Street, St. Martins and South Side Gangsters. The leaders […]
While the gangs have agreed to a truce, there is still the lingering fear that grenades will continue to pop up in the city streets. Police have arrested and charged their main suspect in connection with the latest grenade blast two weeks ago that claimed the life of fourteen year old Rudolph Flowers. That explosive […]
While the British Forces do their best to secure their weapons cache in Belize, the shockwaves from a verbal explosion by Foreign Minister Wilfred ‘Sedi’ Elrington while at the Organization of American States headquarters in Washington, are still agitating the public. Members of the opposition and others have called on the Prime Minister to remove […]
