What do Belizean businesses want most for Christmas, other than good sales? That would be an ease with taxes. In these hard times, every penny counts for businesses of all kinds. Belize City Mayor Darrell Bradley has been a consistent proponent of trade license and ease of business reform, and today he had an update […]
Exercise Tropical Dagger Sixteen came to a successful end today at Camp Belizario in the Cayo District. The four-week exercise is a Canadian initiative to beef up security in the region. The Belize and the Jamaican Defense Forces honed their skills to respond to international criminal activity that is threatening peace in the region. According […]
The Salvation Army’s north side offices in Belize City suffered some eighty-eight thousand dollars in damage from a fire on November seventh which also destroyed two adjacent houses. The organization moved promptly to assist fire victims. The Salvation Army’s service to the community continues throughout the busy Christmas season. The congregation, according to Regional Commander […]
While we were with the Salvation Army, we got an update on its Christmas Kettle Appeal which is underway. Your coins and paper bills donated to the church are used to help those less fortunate have a brighter Christmas, whether through the children’s lunch or food baskets. Major Joliker Leandre, the Regional Commander, is grateful […]
The current Belize City Council administration has embarked on an ambitious program to upgrade Belize City streets. Results have held up for the most part, but concreting costs money and with most of its guaranteed funding locked up in the Municipal Bond, the Council is on the lookout for ways to partner with affected communities. […]
Believe it or not, Christmas di come! The year has certainly flown by, but the Belize City Council is looking forward to the holiday season, not just for goodies and giveaways – although there will be plenty of those – but also for opportunities for the Council itself to do charity throughout the Old Capital. […]
A major decision was handed down this afternoon by the Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin. The Belize National Teachers Union, led by President Luke Palacio and Adelaida Guerra, took the government to court seeking to stop a decision by the Ministry of Education to dock the salaries of teachers who went on strike for eleven days […]
B.N.T.U. returns to court on December sixteenth, when it is expected that the substantive matter, a claim that the decision to deduct teachers’ salaries is unconstitutional, will be argued before the Chief Justice. The teachers union is challenging the validity of that decision made by the Ministry of Education. It is also prepared to argue […]
Before the decision was handed down, Leader of the People’s United Party, John Briceño wrote to Prime Minister Dean Barrow asking him to reconsider the Government’s position on deducting from salaries of teachers. According to Briceño, the letter is a result of last week’s meeting with the Union’s executives, held before they filed for an […]
The Prime Minister disclosed two weeks ago that the superbond is being renegotiated for the third time because the economy had underperformed. There were not much details available, but today, we spoke with the Special Advisor to the Coordinating Committee of Bondholders via phone. Charles Blitzer says that stockholders are uneasy going into a third […]
A security guard went missing at sea after the boat he was traveling in capsized near Tobacco Caye. Around two-thirty p.m. last Thursday, a skiff transporting Corporal Carlos Galvez, Police Constable David Mejia, George Lopez as well as Linsford Joseph Locayo, and his common-law wife and their nine-month-old daughter capsized one mile from the Tobacco […]
The Guatemalan Armed Forces continue to operate freely in the area of the Sarstoon River, within Belizean territory. Ernesto Vasquez, who works out of the office of the Prime Minister and is a co-host of Love FM morning show, confirmed to News Five his recent experience in the area. He visited the Cadenas post, run […]
In the late 1970’s and 1980’s, Carlton Bowers was Belize’s welterweight boxing champion. He was a local hero and entertained hundreds in fights at the Bird’s Isle for many years. It has been some time since we’ve last heard from the popular Belizean boxer since he retired from the sport and he now sells paletas […]
In the past month and a half, we’ve reported on four children murdered in Belize City. Three children, eleven year old Aaron Gabourel, six year old Empress Hamilton and four year old Ian Sambula, were all killed in an arson on Aloe Vera Street. The most recent and tragic murder is that of seven year […]
Following two recent incidents – the kidnap of Belizean fishermen and the menacing of patrols from the Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management – the Belize Territorial Volunteers are calling on Government to properly address the ongoing intimidation of Belizean citizens in the Sarstoon River area. Guatemala’s forces are now openly escorting Belizean citizens in […]
The Territorial Volunteers are also calling for the further internationalization of the unfounded Guatemalan claim on Belize. Many have complained that Belize cannot count on the support it had at the time of Independence from the majority of world leaders and organizations because we have failed to keep up appearances on the world stage and […]
Gender based violence is a major public health issue and one of the most widespread violations of human rights, but cases are highly unreported and victims continue to suffer in silence. A forum today provided a platform for eight students from four high schools in Belize City to report on their research and experiences with […]
This past Saturday was Garifuna Settlement Day, celebrated annually on the nineteenth of November. It is a national tradition, as all of Belize pauses to celebrate with the Garifuna their rise into a people integrated and contributing to Belizean society. In Belize City and across the country, Garifuna and others observed three traditional pillars of […]
Garifuna Settlement Day leads right into the Christmas Holidays. The season is just a few weeks away and lights have started going up on houses and businesses. The Fire Service says that as the season kicks in, we must be careful with electrical wires and cooking in our homes so as to avoid fires. While […]
The Belize Police Department welcomes another attorney into its ranks. This morning, well-known officer Bart Jones was officially called to the bar. Jones, who has diligently worked his way up within the hierarchy of the law enforcement agency, joins Assistant Commissioner of Police Chester Williams as inductees of the Bar Association of Belize. In a […]
On hand for the induction of attorney Bart Jones was Minister of Police Elodio Aragon Junior. He spoke about the role of the police department and the relationship it shares with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, as it concerns the pursuit of legal action in criminal matters. Elodio Aragon Jr., Minister […]
Chief Executive Officer of the state-owned Belize Telemedia Limited, Anwar Barrow, is on his way out of that post. But he has not yet formally stepped down, according to a statement issued by B.T.L. The company states that Barrow holds the post going into the New Year, 2017; however, B.T.L. has started the succession process […]
As requested by the Government of Belize, representatives of key holders of the U.S. Dollar 2038 Bonds, the Superbond, have agreed to form a committee to discuss the restructuring of the more than five-hundred-and-thirty-million U.S. dollar package. A statement on behalf of the bondholders notes that the restructuring completed in 2013 has provided more than […]
Hundreds of residents—youths and adults—including the grieving mothers from the Hamilton family and other concerned Belize City residents, gathered at the B.T.L. Park for a candle light vigil organized by Shakera Young, the mother of another slain child, Tyler Savery. The seven-year-old student at Saint Joseph Primary School was murdered in cold blood exactly one […]
In health news, international reports say that the World Health Organization earlier today declared an end to its global health emergency over the spread of the Zika virus, prompting dismay from some public health experts still wrestling with the epidemic. An agency advisory committee said it ended the emergency — formally known as a Public […]
