The hot weather is cyclical and every year around April/May, the heat is on. But if the days seem warmer to you, it is because the temperatures are in the hundreds and the breeze doesn’t help. The heat wave won’t let up until Thursday when it is expected to rain in some parts of the […]
Although we are in the dry season, Gordon says that it cannot be described as a drought because the analysed data indicates this type of weather will continue up to end of May, early June. While rains are expected for Thursday and Friday in the south, by Saturday, we will be back to the dry […]
While the Met Service is urging people to stay hydrated, people’s need for water during this heat may be partly to blame for a shortage of five-gallon water bottles and refills. Today, Crystal Bottling Company acknowledged there are shortages in some parts of the country, causing some customers to have long waits for this size […]
The Belize National Beach Soccer Team has begun preparing for the 2021 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championships to be held in Costa Rica between May seventeenth and twenty-third. The Belize team is going up against two top ranking teams in the region, but they are not fazed and are readying themselves for the competition. As News […]
It is official – Buckingham Palace has approved the appointment of Froyla Tzalam as the next Governor General of Belize. Over the weekend, News Five spoke with Tzalam who was on a tour with officials from the Ministry of Human Development, Families and Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs in the south. The former executive director of the […]
Today marks the second week of industrial action by the Belize National Teachers Union and the final day before the Public Service Union begins a strike of its own. As we have been reporting, members of the joint unions are taking industrial action against government’s ten percent salary cut for public officers and three-year increment […]
As the twenty-one-day industrial action notice from the P.S.U. elapsed today, on Tuesday public officers will not be reporting to work. News Five spoke with P.S.U. President Gerald Henry about the decision to move forward with the strike. Paul Lopez “Your members keep the government system up and running; them being out of office […]
Late last week, the Belize Energy Workers Union issued a release to say that their members stand in solidarity with the joint unions but urged all parties, including the government to go back to the table. The release says that the B.E.W.U. has been following the developments closely, but believe that mediation is an option […]
The joint unions have been called for a meeting with the government on Tuesday afternoon. That meeting, the unions are hoping, will be the start of negotiations to settle the impasse that has come out of the consultations over the past few weeks. P.S.U. President Gerald Henry says that the government negotiating team requested the […]
While News Five’s attempts to get comment from several ministers of government about the Tuesday meeting with the unions went unanswered, today, during an interview with the press today, Minister Dolores Balderamos-Garcia said as tough as it is to take the pay cut, the decision is good for the country, given the economic reality. […]
Senior officials from the Ministry of Human Development and Families and Indigenous People’s Affairs met with its staff in the south as well as residents. There is need for infrastructure, basic equipment and other resources to facilitate the work of the department in the south. But among the many issues that came up during the […]
The tour took Minister for Indigenous People’s Affairs Dolores Balderamos-Garcia and Minister of State Gilroy Usher Senior along with C.E.O. Tanya Santos-Neal and Commissioner of Indigenous People Gregory Ch’oc into communities in rural Toledo over the weekend. Their visit included a meeting with villagers as G.O.B. executes a consent order issued by the Caribbean Court […]
The Ministry of Youth, Sports and E-Governance, through its Department of Youth Services, has amalgamated youth services providers under one umbrella program called the National Belize Training Institute. The Gateway Youth Center, The Belize Youth Cadet Corp, the Frank Lizama Training Center and the National Four-H Agriculture Development Center have all been streamlined under the […]
San Pedro based marathon runner Ian ‘Lion’ Gordon has completed an eight-day marathon across Belize. The challenge was to run thirteen miles every day around various municipalities. Gordon began in the Corozal District on April twenty-sixth then did his second leg on Tuesday from the Queen Elizabeth Park in Orange Walk Town. Several athletes from […]
Today, May third is World Press Freedom Day. While journalists in Belize do not face the same risks as our counterparts in Mexico, it may surprise you to learn Belize is not among the top ten, or even top fifty countries with the strongest press freedoms. In fact, on the 2021 World Press Freedom Index […]
At midday today, public officers across the country walked out of their respective government buildings and took to the streets in the various municipalities in anticipation of strike action that is to take effect next Tuesday. News Five’s Duane Moody was out on Freetown Road where teachers joined public officers and paraded through the streets […]
The Joint Unions Negotiating Team met in a marathon session on Thursday evening to devise a strategy going forward, as public officers are set to commence a strike on May fourth. According to P.S.U. President Gerald Henry, the imminent industrial action will see the operations of some government departments grinding to a halt in the […]
While the Public Service Union will be leading the charge this time, Henry says that the P.S.U. enjoys the full support of the Belize National Teachers Union and the Association of Public Service Senior Managers. On the Phone: Gerald Henry, President, Public Service Union “Certainly, I can safely say that they are in full […]
During Monday’s Senate Budget Debate, Senator Eamon Courtenay raised the issue of the U.D.P. administration’s waiving taxes on land purchased by the Nature Conservancy for a period of fifty years. According to Courtenay, this would have yielded over three hundred million dollars in revenue to the government of Belize. He referred to the arrangement as […]
During today’s U.D.P. press conference, Leader of the Opposition Patrick Faber also responded to reports that under his leadership, funds were used from the National Institute of Culture and History to pay off a Social Security debt for a staunch U.D.P. supporter. Faber confirmed that one hundred thousand dollars from NICH’s account was used to […]
Was the former Minister of Education Patrick Faber double dipping from public funds while operating in the capacity as Deputy Prime Minster? Last week in the House of Representatives, the Minister of Education Francis Fonseca, accused the former administration of entering a two year rent contract valued at three thousand dollars monthly to house the […]
Embattled former Minister of Works, Rene Montero will find out soon what charges, if any, the state will bring against him in connection to allegations of corruption made against him. The Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl-Lynn Vidal has indicated that she is in receipt of additional material that she had requested of the police so […]
This week, Cabinet gave its approval for the Ministry of Labour to proceed with the development of a national child labour plan. The last one was developed back in 2009, but was never implemented. This time around, the ministry says they have done the necessary ground work and created achievable targets to push Belize towards […]
Sir Colville Young officially left the Office of the Governor General today at an official ceremony held to honor his life of service to the people of Belize. The Governor General handed in his resignation last month after almost three decades as the representative of Queen Elizabeth the second. Andrea Polanco, Reporting As he […]
The Joint Unions Negotiating Team met this afternoon in an extended virtual session, following the passage of the 2021 Budget in the upper house on Wednesday. The way forward for the Belize National Teachers Union, the Association of Public Service Senior Managers and the Public Service Union is uncertain. Wednesday’s vote in the Senate has […]
