The Belize International Film Festival officially opens on Thursday. Apart from screening films from all around the world, there will be an award show to recognize the best submissions. This year, twenty-eight films and fifteen music videos are competing for awards, and one of the faces on the jury panel for the best short films […]
And while the Film Festival is a lot about celebrating the best in submissions, it is also looks at how to move the budding film industry forward. At today’s “meet the press,” Whitfield and Fairweather were joined by Hollywood film producer Tracey Bing. The women say that for Belize to attract more interest from international […]
For those who have an interest to break into the film industry, the Hollywood panel told the press that Belizeans need to start telling authentic stories that connect universally. So, if you are interested in the business, here’s their advice. Tracey Bing, Producer “To me festivals are a really good way to share those […]
While some doors have opened, there is still a long way to go for women to ease into the top of businesses. A conference taking place today has brought women from all over the country to focus on ways to uncover their potential through networking and by asserting themselves in the business world. A very […]
A second team of five linemen has been deployed to assist the British Virgin Islands Electricity Corporation with ongoing power restoration on the group of islands. The team, which is comprised of Wayne Lewis, Gregory Kerr, Manuel Lopez, Paul McCalla and George Neal, departed the country on Monday, and will be stationed in BVI for […]
There’s a new leader at the helm of the Young Women’s Christian Association. In the YWCA’s sixty plus years of service to Belize, Deanna Gomez is only its ninth General Secretary. She succeeds Sonia Linares, who is retiring after twenty-six years on the job. Gomez is recognized as a senior executive with twenty-five years of […]
Media personality Alfonso Noble is due back in court on January twenty-fourth, 2018, for a preliminary inquiry into the indictable charges of manslaughter by negligence, among others stemming from a traffic accident on Christmas Eve of 2016. But tonight, News Five understands that a major settlement has been reached with Andrea Myers, the widow of […]
The Opposition People’s United Party announced a week ago tonight that it had filed a motion in the Senate to allow for debate on amending the Maritime Areas Act of 1992. That motion will be officially announced at the next meeting of the Senate by the lead P.U.P. Senator, Eamon Courtenay. The goal is to […]
It was a rare moment at the Supreme Court this morning: Minister of Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington giving the press an interview on issues related to Guatemala, with former Foreign Minister, Senator Eamon Courtenay, appearing to listen keenly in the background. And he surprised the press by going to the Guatemala issue first rather than […]
Senator Eamon Courtenay told News Five that the P.U.P.’s three Senators hope to join with the social partner Senators to get the matter debated in the Senate, preferably with but possibly without governmental support, after which it would go to the House once the motion passes. But the “excuses” raised by Foreign Minister Elrington will […]
As stated earlier by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the issue has come up in cabinet. On Thursday last, deputy Prime Minster Patrick Faber was quizzed about it. He said that the hands of cabinet ministers have been freed for them to vote their conscience. Patrick Faber, Deputy Prime Minister “It is a matter […]
On Monday, we told you that the Guatemalan public awareness campaign as to the March eighteenth, 2018 referendum on settlement of the unfounded claim on Belize at the International Court of Justice re-introduces a rather offensive item. We speak specifically of a map of Guatemala that includes Belize as the disputed “twenty-third province,” with a […]
Similar to Elrington, we posed the question of what can be done to counter the offensive Guatemalan map which affixes Belize as part of its territory to Senator Eamon Courtenay. The former Foreign Affairs Minister first questioned what the Government’s position was, and upon being told there was apparently none, incredulously issued out a laundry […]
The religious community continues to sound off on the issue of marijuana use and decriminalization. Despite having lost ground with the government in respect of its protest to the recent passage of an associated law, the Council of Churches remains vocal in its objection. This morning, Pastor Lance Lewis, the President of the National Evangelical […]
On Friday, Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte called into question the moral authority of the church on the issue of marijuana since it has been accused, and in some instances found guilty, of a number of atrocities. Nonetheless, its representatives firmly believe that within a democratic society they ought to be able to enjoy the freedom […]
The Immigration Department has quickly responded to allegations raised on this newscast on Friday by members of the LGBT community. Director Diana Locke has told executive director of the United Belize Advocacy Movement Caleb Orozco by email that her office has not received any application for visas from any Haitian national other than those attending […]
The World Youth Conference 2017 is being held under the theme, “Globally Running to 2030, Becoming Sustainably Strong.” The three-day meeting of youth leaders from across the world commenced today at the Ramada Belize City Princess. At the end of the conference, the Mahogany Declaration will be signed by all participants, which will lay out […]
Belize’s Customs and Excise Department is meeting with its partners on the National Committee for Trade Facilitation all this week in Belize City to discuss efforts to increase volume of trade. The Brussels, Belgium-based World Customs Organization sent two of its experts to assist with the consultation process. But the Customs and Excise Department has […]
There was further loss of life over the weekend. Two American senior citizen tourists apparently drowned in separate incidents between Friday and Saturday. The incidents took place in the beach corridor of the Stann Creek District, in Hopkins and Maya Beach near Placencia. As police revealed today, both men went off alone, one after socializing […]
News reports say that Guatemala will be reintroducing Belize as part of its official map. This is to take place due to an awareness campaign that is being undertaken in schools across the border in anticipation of their March eighteenth referendum on taking the territorial dispute to the International Court of Justice. The reports say […]
On Friday, Attorney General Michael Peyrefitte took square aim at the church and fired off a salvo of very harsh criticisms, chiding the religious community for its tardy objection to the marijuana law. He even went a step further to challenge the church’s moral authority on matters having to do with individual vices. Well, the […]
The topic of marijuana possession and consumption, in the days following the decriminalization of a small handful, remains at the center of public discourse simply because there are still more questions than answers. Last Tuesday, the church raised serious objections to the passage of the new law, though it was too little, too late. With […]
While the public continues to ask questions, a countrywide education campaign is being held within the Belize Police Department to inform officers of the new law and its parameters. According to attorney Bart Jones, himself a career police officer, it is necessary to teach his colleagues about the law and its regulations, despite their individual […]
One of four murders over the weekend occurred in the Old Capital; and even though the loss of one life is too much, the murder did not occur within any of three zones designated as hotspots in the City. Less than two weeks ago, police rolled out the Addressing Crime Together, which is its latest […]
The World Customs Organization and the Government of Sweden are funding a five-day consultative workshop and national training on the National Committees of Trade Facilitation. In February, the World Trade Organization put its first multilateral deal, the Trade Facilitation Agreement, into effect. Implementation of the agreement, according to the W.T.O., is forecast to slash members’ […]
