A new Director of the National Sports Council has been named to the post. That office has been vacant for months, following the departure of Ritchel Dominguez, whose contract was not renewed when it expired in January of this year. In the interim months, Charlie Slusher acted in that capacity, but the Ministry of Sports […]
The leadership of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro continues to be tested, the latest challenge being a new round of sanctions being imposed by the United States government. Those restrictions are aimed at eight members of Venezuela’s Supreme Court who are accused of usurping the authority of Venezuela’s democratically-elected legislature. That body of lawmakers is ruled […]
Maduro’s government has been faced with almost daily protests since his Supreme Court signed an order that deprived the Venezuelan congress of its powers in March of this year. The U.S., through its ambassador to the United Nations, has forced members of the UN Security Council to hold a closed-door meeting on Venezuela. According to […]
Hundreds of Belizean children are treated for congenital diseases annually, through the Rotary Club of Belize’s Gift of Life Program. This year, however, the program went a step further and rather than sending patients overseas, the visiting cardiologists from the U.S. successfully performed procedures on three children. It all happened at the Karl Heusner Memorial […]
Pastor, host of Rise and Shine and owner/manager of PLUS TV in Belmopan, Louis Wade, confirmed to News Five this evening before news time that he has been summoned to San Ignacio Town police station on Friday. He is expected to be arraigned on two charges of assault and using indecent words for an incident […]
There is another incident on what is an attack on the media. Sergeant-At-Arms of the House of Representatives, Brian “Yellow Man” Audinett, was a member of the gallery at Wednesday’s Senate Special Select Committee public hearings in the National Assembly chamber. But he became part of the news when he, Allan Kelly, and Chairman of […]
Has the usefulness of the Senate Special Select Committee come to an end? Since November more than fifteen persons have been called to testify, some more than once, but only Elvin Penner was of Cabinet rank at the time and other Ministers of Government whose names have been called in the report have yet to […]
There is condemnation of the attack on the media by political operatives. This afternoon, the People’s United Party condemned the actions of Yellow Man and U.D.P. Chairman Alberto August as well as Allan Kelly. The P.U.P. finds it unacceptable that Chairman Aldo Salazar allowed the disruption to unfold without demanding that Police take control of […]
President of Citizens Organized for Liberty through Action, Geovannie Brackett, is no stranger to the back and forth in the National Assembly. Last September at the height of the wrangle over the Senate Special Select Committee, he and Raymond Rivers verbally targeted Senator for the Churches Ashley Rocke, who sponsored the winning resolution for a […]
There is no love lost between former Minister of State Elvin Penner and Citizens Organized for Liberty through Action. In 2014 and 2015, COLA pressed for Penner to be indicted on two criminal charges related to the Won Hong Kim case. But they got no help from the Police Department, who had a file in […]
The second statement concerns the Integrity Commission, which is now asking for only one year’s worth of declarations from persons in public life including Ministers of Government. It bowed to apparent pressure over whether the law justified having five years’ worth of declarations on the table. But COLA says it believes the law offers no […]
The worldwide community of museums today celebrated International Museum Day, which is recognized annually on and around May eighteenth. Established in 1977 by the International Council of Museums, it is used to increase public awareness of the role of museums in the development of society. This year, the theme is, “Museum and Contested Histories: Saying […]
Belize’s primary schools have, for the most part, standardized textbooks paid for by the Government of Belize. There have been few hiccups in distribution and management but no major complaints. The Ministry of Education has plans to do the same for secondary schools – but with a twist: these books would be on a digitized […]
COLA has broken a lengthy radio silence with a pair of press releases. The first condemns the remarks of President of the Public Service Union, Eldred Neal, and general secretary of the Belize Energy Workers’ Union and former president of the National Trade Union Congress of Belize, Marvin Mora. Speaking with News Five today, President […]
Doctors, Nurses, Technicians and other medical personnel gathered at the Inspiration Center for the first Cuba-Belize medical symposium. The event was put together to mark twenty- six years since Cuba started partnering with Belize for medical work. Since then the assistance extended to Belize has expanded to include scholarships and other forms of medical aid. […]
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, The Environment, Sustainable Development and Immigration is conducting a five-day training program to build capacity for strategic planning and management of natural resources in Belize. The objectives of the training include developing a sustainable training program and materials to facilitate unbiased and cost-efficient assessments of public and private investments; sensitizing key […]
It is Cancer Awareness Month and there is a flurry of activities taking place across the country. In Belize the upcoming two weekends will see two of the Belize Cancer Society’s trademark awareness activities; the Cancer Challenge Ride taking place this weekend and then the Cancer Awareness Walk. Tonight in Healthy Living, we check in […]
For the second week running, former Minister of State for Immigration and Nationality Elvin Penner was the headline witness at the Senate Special Select Committee. After last week’s appearance, any thought that he would be more cooperative was dashed within seconds of his taking the oath this morning. He got into a quarrel with the […]
The Committee’s public hearings were briefly interrupted by an outburst from the public gallery. Its source has been identified as opponents of Senator Eamon Courtenay and supporters of the United Democratic Party, there for the specific purpose of continuing to call him out about his relationship with Lord Michael Ashcroft. The hecklers also turned on […]
The saying goes that a man who represents himself in a court of law has a fool for a client. In the case of former minister Elvin Penner, he claims to have gotten legal advice. But his legal adviser was not present at either of his appearances before the Senate Committee. Two members of the […]
More than two thousand names collected by the Immigration Department are suspected of having obtained Belizean nationality in less than optimal circumstances during the rush to the 2012 general elections. Immigration officials testifying at the Senate Special Select Committee, right up to Director Ruth Meighan, have admitted that the persons registered to vote based on […]
Current systems administrator at the Immigration Department, Georgia Bowen, worked at the Information Technology section of the Department during the time of the Won Hong Kim case. It has been established through prior testimony at the Senate Committee that a ‘picture of a picture’ can be taken and introduced into the system. But how can […]
“Positive Play, Positive Minds, Brighter Tomorrow” was the theme of a two-day early childhood development conference convened by UNICEF and several local ministries. As many as a hundred and eighty stakeholders were present for the event that discussed programs that addressed issues related to child development, literacy, as well as parenting, and specialized services for […]
The Saint Martin De Porres Parish received a twenty-five-thousand-dollar cheque from Rotary. Today, visiting Rotarians from Houston Texas and local Rotarians went to visit the School and handed over the cheque. The money will be invested in the school’s feeding program which assists more than eighty children. News Five’s Andrea Polanco has more on this […]
The Belize City Council has teamed up with the Belize Association of Planners and the Caribbean Network for Urban Land Management to host the 2017 Caribbean Urban Forum. Approximately one hundred and fifty persons will engage in discussions on how to better plan for growing cities and towns. News Five’s Duane Moody was at the Radisson […]
