In other news…A reform in the trade license fee is expected to be rolled out across the country in 2020. The legislation has been completed and according to Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner, it has the full support of all municipalities. Mayor Wagner says that businesses of all types will benefit from the reform. […]
Next Tuesday at eight p.m., Channel Five will be launching “Mapping the Guatemalan Claim: a News Five Flashback.” The series will run through to the April tenth referendum and is part of our coverage of this historic event. As Belize prepares for the referendum, Channel Five is producing a limited season retrospective of our news […]
On Friday night at the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts, well-known anthropologist Doctor Herbert Gayle delivered a public lecture entitled Failure of Suppression. Breaking down crime and violence into dollars and “sense,” Doctor Gayle spoke of how the system has failed to reduce crime nationally and regionally and looks at ten basics for a […]
According to Doctor Gayle, the region has only one violence reduction success and that is through the concept of community policing. He is of the belief that hard-line policing is failing the region. It is best to focus on education for boys, empowerment for girls and community-based initiatives tied with violence interruption groups. Dr. […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s statement aimed at Justice Courtenay Abel at last week’s business forum, has been met with dismay. The People’s United Party is first to publicly interpret it as contempt of court. The party equates the statements as a scandalous and contemptible attack against a sitting justice deliberately designed to interfere with cases […]
Councilor Micah Goodin has been benched from his responsibilities with the Belize City Council, following an altercation during which he dressed down City Administrator Stephanie Lindo-Garbutt, before leaving City Hall in a fit of rage. Goodin had gotten a budget green lighted for a pending sporting initiative which he had proposed to caucus the night […]
News Five’s Andrea Polanco and Duane Moody clinched the first and second prizes in a competition by the International Organization of Migration. The results were released over the weekend by the I.O.M. Andrea and Duane were among a number of reporters who attended a training programme by the I.O.M. and went on to submit stories […]
An electrician lost his life on Sunday morning when he was shocked to death while welding. William Vasquez accidentally made contact with a high voltage wire and was electrocuted. According to police, the thirty-one-year-old was in the company of another man when the incident happened in Benque Viejo Town. Here’s more on what happened. […]
Ground was broken today for a new headquarters for the Scout Association of Belize. The Taiwanese Embassy in Belize handed over a cheque of two hundred thousand Belize dollars that would go towards the construction of the headquarters. The building will include state of the art facilities including conference rooms and a computer laboratory which […]
Belize City resident, Wilmore Joseph needs your help. The sixty-seven-year-old man is suffering from several health complications which you would find in many men around his age in Belize. But for Joseph, his health challenges get more complicated because he is alone. He currently suffered a stroke, which caused him to fall and suffer a […]
Founding member of the Belize Audubon Society Alice Margaret Craig passed away this morning. Craig, who is also the sister of the late George Cadle Price, played a critical role in the evolution of B.A.S. She was the Vice President of the Board of Directors from 1970 to 1987. She was also a member of […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow hosted the 2019 Prime Minister Business Forum today. About three hundred guests from the private sector were at the Civic Centre when the PM used the platform to take unprecedented shots at the judiciary and in particular, a Supreme Court Justice. During his keynote address, PM Barrow touched on central government […]
Imer Hernandez is not only a relative of the former Deputy Prime Minister, but also a very vocal and strong supporter of the United Democratic Party so it is no surprise that the opposition, People’s United Party, became outraged after Hernandez was awarded another multi-million dollars road works contract. While the rehabilitation of a portion […]
As it relates to the recent contract that Imer Hernandez was awarded by the Inter-American Development Bank, Prime Minister Dean Barrow says that the tender process is done pursuant to the procurement policies of the I.D.B. PM Barrow says that all requirements are set by the I.D.B. and Hernandez will be subject to rigorous supervision […]
In the absence of a Contractor General, contracts awarded by the Government are currently being sent to the office of the Solicitor General for revision. Godwin Arzu’s contract was not renewed following complaints made by not only the Opposition but by Social Partner Senators. Arzu had failed to submit six yearly reports during his tenure. […]
Attorneys Anthony Sylvestre, Richard ‘Dickie’ Bradley, and Kareem Musa say the 2008 Special Agreement is invalid. The trio of lawyers published a thirty-eight-page Joint Legal Opinion that calls into question the legality of the Compromis. According to the lawyers, the Joint Legal Opinion sets out the legal bases why the Special Agreement is unlawful and […]
Aside from an appeal of the Belize Bank ruling by Justice Courtenay Abel, Prime Minister Dean Barrow says that the government also has plans to challenge lawsuits filed by tour operators against the Commissioner of General Sales Tax. In November 2018 the House of Representatives passed an amendment to the General Sales Tax Act following […]
The appointment of Nigel Hawke as Solicitor General of Guyana was short-lived. Hawke served in that capacity here in Belize for about four years, exiting the post in December of last year. Reports from Guyana say that Hawke resigned abruptly on Wednesday and with immediate effect. It happened after Court of Appeal Judge Rishi Persaud […]
P.U.P. Councillor Micah Goodin was allegedly involved in a kerfuffle on Wednesday night at City Hall. Reports are that the young councilor allegedly aggressed the City Administrator and had to be removed from the premises by force. We were told that the argument was over the slow processing of funds for a sporting event. Goodin […]
Since 2008, we’ve been reporting about the Lionfish. And if you’re wondering why ten years later we are still talking about – well, that is because this fish is impossible to eradicate. You will recall in the last five years there have been sustained campaigns to raise awareness and promote the culling of this venomous […]
It took years to move from the drawing board to its ground breaking, but the Stake Bank project is finally on its way. On Wednesday, the symbolic launch of the multi-million dollar investment got underway at its unique location just outside Belize City. With an injection of eighty-two million dollars, the cruise port facility is […]
The scandal involving well-known Catholic priest Oliver Smalls has taken many by surprise, including those in his flock who attend service at La Inmaculada Parish in Orange Walk. Smalls is facing allegations of sexual abuse of minors in the U.S. While the disgraced minister has reportedly left the country, the debate rages on as to […]
As it concerns the church-state system of education, Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber has also weighed in to say that while there are merely allegations being made against Father Smalls; government is concerned for the safety of children who interact with priests in the school and church settings. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education “I […]
The wholesale distribution of pornographic images over the weekend on social media has raised the issue of cyber bullying and the urgent need for legislation to be passed to combat the malicious spread of damaging material. Those laws have been long in the making, despite the constant flood of lewd and sexually explicit material being […]
A thirty-eight page document presented as a Joint Legal Opinion on the legitimacy of the Special Agreement signed between Belize and Guatemala in 2008 has been put forward by a trio of venerable attorneys. Kareem Musa, Anthony Sylvestre and Richard ‘Dickie’ Bradley have examined the validity of the Compromis through their legal lens and have […]
