There were a number of controversies in cruise tourism when we left off last year. Zoning of the Fort Street Tourism Village and the proposed introduction of cruise tourism in the Placencia Peninsula were the two hot button issues. And to begin our newscast for 2011, we report on another storm brewing for stakeholders in […]
On December seventh, government imposed an unprecedented ban on this station. Two weeks later, after discussions, Prime Minister Dean Barrow indicated that at the first meeting of Cabinet for this year, which is on Tuesday, he will prevail on the wisdom of his colleagues to remove the suspension of normal relations. We’re counting down and […]
New amendments to the Crime Control and Criminal Justice Act have now come into effect. The amendments were passed in the House and Senate last December as a way to clamp down on crime and violence. The act has gone through several changes and numerous of the latest amendments, gazetted on December eighteenth, are disquieting […]
There were two drownings reported since the start of the New Year. One happened in a lagoon at the Country Side Park in Spanish Lookout community around three on New Year’s Eve. It claimed the life of twenty nine year old Eddy Dueck, a visiting Canadian who was jet skiing in the lagoon. Police reports […]
This year’s first newborn at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital is from up north. At eight minutes after three o’clock on January first, Refina Tun of Chan Chen Village in Corozal, gave birth to a baby girl. There were delivery complications but Tun was able to deliver a healthy eight pounds, two ounces bouncing baby. […]
It was the last shopping day for the outgoing year at the new Michael Finnegan Market, formerly known as Queen Square Market. And it did not go down smoothly. The vendors have just moved to the new facilities but it is already overcrowded. Long before the move, the vendors have been engaged in a bitter […]
But according to City Council Market Clerk, Michael Theus, the kinks can be worked out it will take some time. Theus also says the vendors need to abide by the laws and cooperate with authorities to avoid further conflict. The City council is expected to meet with the vendors in the New Year to discuss […]
The Belize Electricity Limited has for years been purchasing power directly from Mexico’s Comision Federal Electricidad. But that can now change since the Government has applied to the Public Utilities Commission for a license to purchase the power for resale to BEL. The new arrangement will be operated under the Ministry of Finance and while […]
But what can Belizeans expect in terms of electricity rates for 2011? Well, that is still up in the air, according to Young, because there are many factors that have bearing on electricity rates, including the skyrocketing diesel prices and an increase in taxes. But if the local supply from the hydro dams and the […]
Cilantro, cabbage, tomato and even pumpkins are usually bought at the West Collet Canal market. But because of a greenhouse project, the Liberty Children’s Home in Ladyville will have the fresh produce right in their backyard. Twenty volunteers from a US university teamed up with the children of Liberty and completed the project in three […]
It’s New Year ’s Eve and in Belize City many are preparing to say goodbye to the economic woes of the past year. We took to the streets to find out what’s the number one wish for the coming year. After a year of unparalleled crime, many residents want peace in the Jewel and hope […]
A Belizean who was wrongfully imprisoned returned home today to a warm welcome and just in the nick of time for the New Year. Dennis Gonguez was on an excursion across the border in Melchor when he was detained by Guatemalan police and held for over a month. Gonguez says he was simply at the […]
Many have been left homeless in a spate of fires over the past week. In the latest, a police sergeant and her family were left out in the cold after a blaze swept through their house on Trinity Boulevard on Wednesday night. It is not a good way to start the New Year, for Sergeant […]
A group of Cubans who washed ashore near Boca del Rio on Ambergris Caye in the early hours of Wednesday December twenty-ninth was cleared by the Immigration and Nationality Department earlier today to continue its journey across the Caribbean Sea. The seven Cuban nationals who drifted southwest to Belize in a makeshift vessel outfitted with […]
The list of holidays for 2011 is now available. There are thirteen public and bank holidays, starting this Saturday with New Year’s. There is only one holiday in March, which on Monday, the seventh celebrated as National Heroes and Benefactors Day. Easter next year falls in late April, which means that Good Friday through to […]
Traditionally, the high season in the tourism industry, is well underway at this time of the year. But it has had a disappointing start so far. At the Fort Street Tourism Village, a large number of traders are looking for business among the low number of visitors, even though a cruise ship called on port […]
In mid-December, we reported that the government was in the process of extending by thirteen years the tenure of Justice Manuel Sosa. There is now a change in that initial proposal. The Government now plans to appoint Justice Sosa as President of the Court of Appeal. He will take over from Justice Elliot Mottley who […]
It’s the worst time of the year for two families in Dangriga who are tonight homeless. A fire this morning gutted a two-storey structure in the downtown area behind the police station. Despite efforts to contain the blaze, the property was completely destroyed, in the process scorching two other buildings that stood next to it. […]
Seven Cuban refugees drifted onto the shores of Ambergris Caye at around two o’clock this morning. They arrived in a small boat, which carried mechanical equipment, as shown in these pictures provided by the San Pedro Sun. The Cubans came on shore in the Boca Del Rio area of the island where they were picked […]
We’ll have more on this story on the Caribbean Newsline, but the international press today reported that a passenger on board an American Airlines flight that landed at the Miami International Airport on Tuesday morning is in custody pending charges that could land him in jail for up to five years. The thirty-seven year old […]
There are huge celebrations being planned countrywide for this Friday night to welcome the New Year. But one party in Belize City is facing a major obstacle. Promoter, Keith Yearwood, came to our studios to complain that he submitted a request to the Traffic Department to get permission for his new year’s block party on […]
At midnight on Monday, when most were in deep slumber, the prices of fuel went up again for umpteenth time this year. The increase is merciless and has sent prices soaring well above the ten dollar mark. So to greet the New Year, premium went up by forty cents and is now selling at ten […]
In other news, BCB Holdings and the Belize Bank today reacted to a major victory against government, in which Justice John Muria enforced an award of over forty-three million dollars from a settlement deed signed in 2005. That judgment was handed down within days of the Christmas and today, the BCB’s Chief Executive Officer, Lyndon […]
A fast food restaurant on La Isla Bonita was gutted by fire on Boxing Day. The blaze erupted at around four-thirty in the afternoon and is believed to have originated in the kitchen of Judy’s Fast Food and Bar. This video, which was posted on YouTube, shows the San Pedro Fire Department hard at work […]
But on the Western Highway near its junction with the Spanish Lookout Road, traffic was restored late in the afternoon. Explosives expert David Jones of the Belize Defense Force responded to an area near the entrance to the Spanish Lookout community this afternoon where a canister suspected to have been a live hand grenade was […]
