When will Belize City get a functioning cruise port? It has been a favourite question of tour operators who see potential in the cruise product whether at Stake Bank off the north coast or in Port Loyola on Southside. The former has been at a standstill since developer Michael Feinstein asked for an exclusive contract […]
Still on the tourism industry…Is the honeymoon over for Norwegian Cruise Lines? Their Harvest Caye project was intended as an exclusive footprint in Belize for the cruise line, which shared the Belize City port with rivals Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines among others. But the company has, for unknown reasons, reduced its port calls […]
An American national lost his life on Tuesday evening when he drowned in Placencia. Fifty-three-year-old Steven Gail Wine, from his hometown of Erie, Colorado, was vacationing on the peninsula when he decided to go swimming. Sometime around six-thirty p.m., Wine left his common-law wife Annie Berrardi and other members of his family at the Barefoot […]
Back to the senate hearings…The second witness at today’s public hearing, Francisco Gonzalez, was a busy man for most of 2013 and early in 2014. He was point man for the Audit team investigating the Immigration Department for their special audit and had been working with them around the clock as a database administrator with […]
Gonzalez spent most of the session leading Senators through an explanation of how technological failures with the machine readable passport system were an underlying cause of the problems within the Immigration Department at the time of the audit report. With news of the Government’s plans to purchase a new machine and the concurrent problems with […]
The village of Biscayne stretches for five miles on the Philip Goldson Highway. Anyone travelling on the highway will detect the hustle and bustle among the population of over seven hundred. But the villagers have had one major setback…for decades they haven’t had potable water. This morning, a water system was finally inaugurated which brings […]
To raise awareness of the rights of consumers, March fifteenth is set aside to commemorate World Consumer Rights Day. Since the early 1980’s, the day is celebrated annually to instigate action among citizens for the international consumer movement. It provides a platform for consumers to voice challenges they face and ensures that their rights are […]
On Monday, Prime Minister Dean Barrow said that Superbond Three point Oh was a done deal. Financial Secretary Joseph Waight this evening confirmed to News Five that some eighty-seven percent of bondholders have now subscribed to the new terms and conditions. The custodian of the offer has so informed, but Waight says that a formal […]
News Five has begun its review of the 2017-2018 General Revenue and Appropriations Bill, also known as the Budget, which is scheduled to be debated on the second reading on Thursday, March twenty-third and Friday, March twenty-fourth. The Government of Belize is projecting a primary surplus for the first time in several years of just […]
Is the Government conceding that the former owners of Belize Telemedia Limited have triumphed in relation to the second payment of the B.T.L. settlement? It is due later this year and part of the hefty price tag has to do with the Accommodation Agreement scorned by Government. There is a dispute as to the actual […]
It has not been officially announced, but the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro arrives in Belize this Thursday. This is Almagro’s second visit to Belize, the first was last April when he was present for the program for Promoting a Culture of Peace facilitated by the O.A.S. Peace Fund in […]
The huge expanse of the Chiquibul National Park has been under continuous threat for all sorts of illegal activities over the years. The protected area has an abundance of highly sought natural resources by persons from across the border. Tonight, the news is that the harvesting of xaté and the poaching of the scarlet macaw […]
As we first reported last week, the Government is demanding ten percent of the revenue of statutory bodies to go into the Consolidated Revenue Fund. A Cabinet committee is reviewing the performance of statutory bodies to see where they can improve their performance, with the ultimate plan of regulation by Government through financing. According to […]
Three witnesses are to be called for Wednesday’s public hearing of the Senate Special Select Committee. But the testimonies of former Deputy Mayor of Belize City, Eric Chang, and former Financial Controller of the Belize City Council, Patrick Tillett, delivered last Wednesday, still resonate. While both men deny untoward involvement in Immigration activities such as […]
It may be a while before any Ministers of Government are called before the Senate Special Select Committee on Immigration, but quite a few, past and present, have had to sweat out recent weeks as their names were called in relation to overweening influence in the activities of the Department. Belize Rural South representative and […]
Exit Dean, enter Shyne? The entertainer-turned-aspiring politician has made no secret of his plans to succeed uncle and mentor Michael Finnegan, who recently announced plans to step down as area representative of Mesopotamia division. After deportation from the U.S., Prime Minister Dean Barrow’s first-born son was appointed as Music Ambassador under the National Institute of […]
Re-registration of voters will be put off until 2018, but the Prime Minister has committed to having it happening before re-districting of electoral boundaries and a referendum on the International Court of Justice, as requested by various parties including, in the House of Representatives on Monday, Cayo South area representative Julius Espat. Prime Minister Barrow […]
The Ministry of Education kicked off its two-day consultation workshop with principals, heads of school boards, and other education partners to engage in a discussion on how curriculums can be streamlined to improve education offering through content and delivery. This is being done to ensure that students who graduate from high schools are adequately prepared […]
Reef Week kicked off last week with a number of activities and it continued over the weekend with a ride, cleanup effort and a swim challenge. News Five tagged along with the folks from the World Wildlife Fund out to Goff’s and English Caye for the yearly reef swim challenge. It is a challenge – […]
The much anticipated 2017-2018 Budget was considered a crossroads for the Government and people of Belize. The country faces heavy external debts including the Belize Telemedia Limited settlement and arbitration awards as well as a weakened economy and low investor confidence; not to mention, the costs of the re-negotiated Superbond and the need to meet […]
His formal remarks will be made in the coming Budget Debate, but today Leader of the Opposition John Briceño offered his first review of the Prime Minister’s Budget, and to say the least, he found it unbelievable. Barrow, Briceño said, offered no explanation for how the Government is able to achieve a primary surplus of […]
Those who enjoy the vices of beer and cigarettes will have a bone to pick with the Prime Minister. But what could cause a potentially larger problem is the reduction of the threshold for payment of the General Sales Tax on electricity bills. Presently, the twelve-and-a-half percent tax is payable on bills above two hundred […]
It’s now official: Superbond 3.0 is a go. Though the Consent Solicitation Offer has been extended to Wednesday of this week, Prime Minister Dean Barrow confirmed that a three-quarter majority of bondholders agreed as of Friday to the new terms – just under five percent interest semi-annually and five soft bullet payments due between 2030 […]
As part of his Budget address, Prime Minister Dean Barrow gave an update on the continued wrangles with the former owners of Belize Telemedia Limited and the owners of the various arbitral awards. He hinted that Government may again go to the Caribbean Court of Justice concerning the second portion of the settlement award for […]
Could today’s Budget presentation be the last for Prime Minister Dean Barrow? He has committed to stepping down as leader of the United Democratic Party at their next convention prior to the 2020 General Elections. But persistent reports have him possibly leaving much earlier, with deputy Patrick Faber waiting in the wings. Though he made […]
