Both Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruise lines have agreed to, for now, to hold back on a new policy on tendering. How long the delay will last is not known, what is, is that there is bound to be displacement after the new policy kicks in. That’s the message Prime Minister Dean Barrow brought back […]
While P.M. Barrow was not sure whether the former CEO knew of the change in policy well in advance, EuroCaribe Shipping Services, the agent for Carnival in Belize, has come forward to say that they only just found out of the changes. Today News Five spoke off camera with the Director of Maritime Estates Ltd. […]
Late this afternoon, both the Fire and Police Departments headed to West Landivar where a boat was on fire. The signs all point to arson and according to boat owners, other vessels moored in the area have been targeted. But why and by whom? There is some speculation, yet no one has been held responsible. […]
The future of boat tenders hangs in the balance. As we mentioned on Thursday Prime Minister Dean Barrow is heading a delegation of four including Tourism Minister Manuel Heredia Jr., Chief Executive Officer Lindsay Garbutt and Director of Tourism Seleni Matus to deliberate with cruise line representatives in Miami on their new tender policies. Both […]
As we said, talks are going on in to stem a proposal that could affect the livelihood of over one hundred seafarers. The Carnival Cruise Line’s new proposal can be costly for tender operators, who will have to invest millions of dollars to acquire new vessels to transport tourists to the mainland if they want […]
She lost her husband less than a month ago and now Mileni Cruz, the widow of kidney patient and activist, Jose Cruz, is facing the possibility of being left without a roof for her herself and her two daughters. Just before the Christmas, Cruz, who lives in a government house in Central Farm, received a […]
There is some good news coming from the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. Earlier today a ceremony was held to show off the newly renovated medical ward. The work started six months ago and it will provide patients with some degree of comfort in a more pleasant environment. The Ministry of Health teamed up with Belize […]
Three cruise ships called on port today: Carnival’s Valor and Legend and Aida Luna, a German outfit. Several thousand visitors were transported to shore and back to the cruise lines by the local boat tenders. Business was brisk, but how long will it last? That’s what a top heavy delegation will find out in the […]
As we told you on Wednesday night, the one dollar tax on fuel imposed in March 2009 by the government is not about to be removed any time soon even though the prices of premium and regular gasoline at the pumps are well over ten dollars. Not far from the issue of fuel prices is […]
The Harpy Eagle is the most powerful bird of prey in the Americas, but it is classed as “Near Threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and as “critically endangered” in Belize. That is why it is major news that, for the first time locally, an active Harpy Eagle’s nest with a chick […]
The Belize Shipping Agents Association has already said it objects to the takeover of the tendering operations by foreign interests. Today other organizations also say they are on the side of the local tender operators. The opposition People’s United Party says that G.O.B. must act decisively to ensure that the livelihood of local operators is […]
The body of a cruise ship visitor to Belize has still not been found. According to Margarita Sandini Tello, while aboard Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas in Belizean waters, her son went missing. She reported the incident on January fifth that her son twenty-one year old Jose Miguel Pietri Tello, a Puerto Rican student […]
This week, two known criminal attorneys, Dickie Bradley and Anthony Sylvestre raised concerns over the ramifications the recently passed amendments to the Crime Control and Criminal Justice Act will have on citizens. Both Bradley and Sylvestre say that the nine amendments are so draconian and sweeping that they infringe on the rights of persons arrested […]
Since former Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh was retired in late 2010, the position has been temporarily filled by Justice Samuel Awich. There was a lot of huffing and puffing about whether or not the Bar Association would have been part of the selection process for the new CJ but cooler heads prevailed and its members […]
Prime Minister Dean Barrow hasn’t had a press conference for some time, but he had a mini one this morning. After an appearance on Love FM, members of the press met the PM. He was questioned on a number of hot button issues that range from the BTL shares to the new CJ and those […]
An amnesty program for twenty thousand immigrants is now off the radar, at least for the foreseeable future. That’s what Prime Minister Barrow said today. Under the programme, the illegal immigrants would have been able to attain permanent residency status in Belize. It was to take effect this coming April, but the prime minister has […]
Just one day after his Cabinet announced resumption of normal relations with this station, the PM was on Love FM’s Morning Show jabbing at Channel Five while confirming that, indeed, “normal” relations had been restored with this station. In defending his government’s decision to freeze out Channel Five from ministerial and public officers’ interviews, the […]
Earlier our viewers polled that fuel prices should be brought down as promised by the prime minister. Prices for premium and regular gasoline are now over the ten dollar mark, but the PM says he is not about to revisit the one-dollar tax that he imposed a few years ago and promised to revisit. The […]
There is never a dull moment in the transportation industry. Recently, National Transport went into receivership and bus operators are fighting over routes. But wait… there’s more; even employees from the different companies are bucking heads. A Belize Metro bus driver and his conductor spent the night in lockdown and were criminally charged today following […]
If you look hard enough, you’ll find business opportunities just around the corner. Author, sculptor and now businessman, Stephen Okeke has started what has turned out to be a flourishing chain of Fresh Juice joints. News Five’s Jose Sanchez has the story. Jose Sanchez, Reporting Sculptor and businessman Stephen Okeke’s new venture is transforming the […]
There’s a crisis looming for small boat operators in cruise tourism. We can confirm tonight that an exclusive contract to a foreign owned company can wipe out local tenders who ferry visitors to and from Norwegian, Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruise ships. That’s because, as we told you on Monday night, the three cruise lines […]
Earlier we told you about the uncertainty facing the employees of the National Transport, but that’s not the only trouble in the bus industry. In the City, the well known Lopez shuttle, owned and operated by Carlos Lopez, is suffering its own woes. Lopez claims he is being boxed out of a bus route he […]
In the south, a police officer in Independence Village stands accused of terrorizing the family of Richard Logan on New Year’s night. The cop, Logan claims, was intoxicated and was looking for his nephew with whom he had a confrontation several months ago. The rampage started at the home of his niece, whose house was […]
On Monday night we heard the concerns that two attorneys raised over the new amendments to the Crime Control and Criminal Justice Act. Attorneys Dickie Bradley and Anthony Sylvestre say that the stringent law not only infringes on the rights of the accused, but also places a heavy burden on their family because meeting bail […]
It’s the first news out of Belmopan for the New Year and confirms what we reported late last week that government intended to appoint Justice Manuel Sosa as the new president of the Court of Appeal. Well, it became official today when Sosa was sworn in by Governor General, Colville Young, at Belize House in […]
