About a hundred at-risk youths were recognized today for staying the course despite their exposure to crime and other societal ills. Many had been caught up in the cycle of violence but chose to reform and follow a productive path. At a ceremony, held by the Community Rehabilitation Department, they were lauded for having the […]
A Southside family of four received a brand new home from the Hand in Hand Ministries this afternoon. The mother of three children was approved for her new home on her second application to the Building for Change Program. The house was funded by the Vincentian Academy and Charity of Nazareth of the U.S.A Andrea […]
Belize now has some eighty million dollars to work with from the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) for the Caracol Road Upgrading Project. Following approval from both chambers of the National Assembly, Prime Minister Dean Barrow and OFID’s Director General Dr. Suleiman Al-Herbish put pen to paper in Belmopan today. The first phase of […]
It stands alone as Belize’s all-purpose center for special education. But sixty years on from its humble beginnings, Stella Maris School still has many struggles and challenges. While it has produced its share of upstanding citizens, the school has much more it would like to do for its current and future enrollment, but it cannot […]
Blue is a color in Belize mostly associated with the People’s United Party. But it also represents children living with the development condition known as autism. It affects how a person relates to their environment and people. In young people, it is characterized by tantrums, hitting and biting but also in brilliant minds and high […]
Today, visitors at the ITVET, Belize City, got the opportunity to experience the products and services made by students enrolled in the vocational and technical programs. Over four hundred students are studying to become mechanics, cosmetologists, carpenters, front-desk personnel, among other trades, and they took the day hold an open house to show just how […]
It’s an organ that we don’t typically think about. In fact, we only know something is wrong with it when it is severely damaged and usually it’s at its last bit of capacity to function you may begin to experience symptoms. This is why we must know which habits and practices may be affecting its […]
A meeting was held this morning in Belize City between P.U.P. leader John Briceño and Prime Minister Dean Barrow. The rare encounter was at the invitation of the P.M. Though no official statement has been issued, it is known that the two discussed major national issues involving the referendum, re-registration exercise and the general relations […]
Belizean fisherman Iginio Canto Bacab remains behind bars in a detention facility in Livingston, Guatemala, awaiting monies to pay his fines for illegal possessions of lobster and conch out of season. The Caledonia, Corozal native was picked up by Guatemalan authorities a week ago, along with two Guatemalan nationals with product that Guatemalan authorities say […]
The Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital Authority remains in emergency mode according to the hospital’s board. Since mid-March, the national referral hospital had to limit services due to structural damage to the ceiling. A team of visiting Mexican experts evaluated the damages and deemed that the hospital could operate in the areas not affected. Today, the […]
There has been an interesting turn of events within the cycling community, ahead of what would have been elections for a new executive of the Cycling Federation of Belize this weekend. News Five understands that the date for those elections has been moved to May twelfth, to allow for an open process which will see […]
Lionel Arzu from Punta Gorda starts his fourth term as Ombudsman today. Having renewed his contract with the government, Arzu took the oath this morning at Belize House in Belmopan. But there is still no Contractor General since Godwin Arzu’s contract was not renewed. Late last year, his re-appointment was withdrawn from the Senate on […]
In the past five years, with funding from UNICEF and other U.N. agencies, the Taiwanese and U.S. Embassies and others, the RESTORE Belize program has undertaken a long-term project called “Metamorphosis.” As the name suggests, the idea is to transform lives, building resiliency in ninety-two male children at high risk through targeted interventions at the […]
A key part of today’s discussion was the seeming lack of coordination between public and private sector in addressing the crime and youth issues in Belize City and elsewhere. Many hands have pitched in with assistance, but as RESTORE Belize director Mary Vasquez notes, their motives and outcomes are murkier to discern. Nonetheless, the organization […]
A primary finding of the Metamorphosis Project is that it is important to understand how childhood experiences have a long-term impact on child development, even into adulthood. The trauma of losing loved ones to either gun or domestic violence, or run-ins with the police or other issues lead to poorer educational performance and reduced ability […]
The third payment for sugar is looking lower than anticipated, according to industry sources. But today millers up north are finding ways to boost efficiency. American Sugar Refinery and the Belize Sugar Industries Limited, in collaboration with the Sugar Cane Production Committee and participating farmers hosted the media today to a Pre-Harvest Cane Quality Testing […]
Today the Belize Police Department held an award ceremony to recognize the top performing officers and civilian staff of the Eastern Police Division. The event is used to reward those individuals who performed well last year and also to motivate other officers to follow the examples of those doing good work. The Commissioner of Police […]
Between 2011 and 2016, some five point eight million Euros were given out to two hundred and eighty-two companies in the region through a programme called the Direct Assistance Grant. It is an initiative executed by Caribbean Export that provides capital for businesses that are either exporting or building capacity to export. In the last […]
A new facility was inaugurated this morning in the Port Loyola community in Belize City. It was funded by the OPEC Fund for International Development, OFID whose Vienna based Director, Suleiman Jasir Al-Herbish, flew into Belize for the event. OFID, he said, wants to reduce poverty in all sectors so that the centre will be […]
It may be one of the most-recognized and well-known villages in Belize and particularly the Garifuna community. But the southern community of Barranco is fighting a tough battle to get in touch with the times, in the area of economic development. Barranco residents have been forced to look on as outsiders acquire licenses to log […]
The November agreement was approved by a supermajority of attendees at a meeting in Toledo. Among other things, it called for the Barranco village council to be fully involved in the decision-making process for logging concessions and activity in the village. But according to Fabian Cayetano, it has been so heavily flouted as to prove […]
A total of ten applications have been received – five from Barranco residents and five from persons outside the village. Apart from the disallowed concession application of Colon and Rash, there is no indication that any of the other applications are for overlapped areas. The size of the logged area is especially huge – eight […]
Haven House is a non-profit domestic violence shelter. Since 1993, it has been providing support and intervention services for women in crisis and their children. Haven House offers shelter, counseling, court advocacy, referrals and transitional living opportunities to battered women. While the non-profit gets a small subvention from government, it has to generate more funds […]
Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte is off to Taiwan for a three-day international conference on anti-corruption in the Republic of China (Taiwan), representing Belize as focal point for the United Nations Convention against Corruption. He joins colleagues from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Other meetings are planned with counterparts from the Taiwanese Justice Department, […]
Belize’s Under-eighteen Boys Basketball team left the country today to compete in a tournament in Akron, Ohio. The Dru Joyce Classic runs from the twenty-seventh to the twenty-ninth of April and the all-star team is hoping to be scouted by college coaches so that they can get athletic scholarships. The last time Belize participated in […]
