As we showed you earlier in the newscast, G.O.B. appears to be in a serious cash crunch…so much so that they are trying to raise fifty million dollars from that perpetual cash cow – the Social Security Board. In addition, the pump price for fuel is going up again tonight by a significant amount, always […]
The University of the West Indies Open Campus Belize, in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor, is hosting a three day workshop for stakeholders entitled “Reinventing Collective Bargaining in the Public and Private Sectors”. It’s all about enhancing the relationship between employers and employees, and is being facilitated by regional lecturers in employee relations. According […]
The workshop only caters to a small cross-section of employers, employees and union representatives. So how does the message get from this small room to where it needs to go? Ivan Williams, Labor Commissioner “We’ve already spoken to the University and they intend to continue a process of perhaps ‘train the trainers.’ Here today […]
Results of a study show that as it relates to west, seventy-one percent of the population is thirty-five years and younger. Of that sector, thirty-five percent is less than fifteen years in age. Unemployment stands at thirty-five percent. So what can be done to empower the youth and change the economic status in the west? […]
The Heptathlon is possibly one of track and field’s most gruelling events, testing both endurance and skill. Most athletes are hesitant to compete in more than two or three events during any competition for fear of exhaustion or injury. Heptathletes, as they are called, compete in seven disciplines: the one hundred meter hurdles, the high […]
The IMF Report has been out over a month, but government has yet to respond to what seem to be areas of real economic concern. G.O.B. may not have provided full details, but other entities have weighed in, including the business sector and the Opposition People’s United Party. Today, they were joined by COLA which […]
Brackett says that from their study of the report and other financial indicators, it is clear that the nationalization of B.T.L., particularly, did not have the desired effect. He claims that the arbitrary takeover has negatively impacted the country and the people who are now left with only massive debt to show for it. […]
One year ago, ten year old Jason Pau died near the river in Blue Creek, Toledo. He was part of a group touring a cave system when he disappeared. His body was never found, and it was presumed that he had drowned in the dark waters inside the cave. Tonight there is another death to […]
Today, the Protected Areas Conservation Trust, PACT, hosted a forum intended as an engagement with PACT’s stakeholders to inform them of the organization’s plan of operations for the year ahead. That has become necessary because PACT’s role and function was expanded as a result of an amendment to the PACT Act which passed in October […]
The forum will also provide stakeholders with valuable information on the categories which will be considered for the always coveted PACT grants. Each year the organization provides grant funding to select co-managers of protected areas to be allocated in very specific areas. Young says that this year there are three categories for funding to the […]
The third area being funded is anything related to protected areas management, including assistance to co-managers to meet the requirements of their co-management agreement and protected areas management plan. So where will PACT get the money to feed its newly expanded role and more hands-on management approach? Young explained today that in a recent financial […]
For the next four days, the Belize Red Cross Society will be hosting the sixth annual Regional Exchange Meeting at the Biltmore Plaza in Belize City. It is an opportunity for Red Cross Societies from Belize, Bahamas, Guyana and Jamaica to come together to share experiences on implementing RITA, Resilience In The Americas. The multimillion […]
The RITA Program is being funded through the American Red Cross for the last four years in the Caribbean. The Belize Red Cross, in its program, has been working with eight communities in the north, giving the community members tools, methods and concepts to become reliant. Local Executive Director, Lily Bowman told News Five about […]
There’s also political news coming out of Queen Street. As you know, Guatemala military forces are maintaining a heavy presence in our side of the Sarstoon River. The situation has exacerbated to the point that Belizeans can no longer enter into the river. So far, despite statements by the government to the effect that Belizeans […]
The O.A.S. General Assembly concluded its yearly meeting in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic last Wednesday. The General Assembly passed a resolution and we will come to that later, but days prior to that regional meeting, the opposition representative to that meeting, Lisa Shoman, was told she was no longer required. But the P.U.P. says its […]
At the press conference this afternoon; Party Leader John Briceño also spoke of the resolution that was passed earlier this week at the General Assembly of the O.A.S. That declaration endorsed by member states, urges both Belize and Guatemala to take the territorial, insular and maritime dispute before the International Court of Justice. According to […]
Is the P.U.P. reacting to government’s decision to call them off from the O.A.S. delegation? Well, Briceño says there can be nothing farther from the truth. He told the media this afternoon that its representative will not participate in the Washington trip because the party has been disrespected. Briceño also says that the P.U.P. the […]
Immediately following the Istanbul talks, the government made the infamous public statement that Belizeans have untrammeled access to our side of the Sarstoon. The ink was barely dry on that release when Guatemala declared not so. In fact, Guatemala wrote in a diplomatic note on May twenty-eighth, that there was no agreement of that nature, […]
Earlier this week, Belizeans were treated to an address by Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington in which he informed the members of the O.A.S. in the Dominican Republic that he and Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Raul Morales share an excellent relationship. This afternoon while in San Ignacio, Senator Eamon Courtenay, a former foreign minister, was not […]
Guatemala’s unfounded claim to Belize is nothing new, but what seems to be a consistent policy of aggression is. Currently, as News Five proved again just Thursday, Belizean civilians are unable to enter the Sarstoon River – that prohibition enforced by Guatemalan military force. On one level the situation seems distinctly hostile and uneasy. On […]
Our News Five team was turned back from the Sarstoon on Thursday. They were clearly in what has traditionally been Belizean territory, sticking close to the northern bank of the river when a Guatemalan naval vessel with nine soldiers approached them and ordered them to stop. They didn’t, and motored off, which led to a […]
The daring attempt on the life of Brandon Tillett this morning on Queen Street happened less than a stone’s throw away from Independence Hall, the headquarters of the People’s United Party. Party Leader John Briceño was in office today and while it is not clear whether he was there at the time of the shooting, […]
Another round of village council elections will be held this weekend in various rural communities across the country. While the democratic exercise should be free of political influence, a number of slates are being put together along party lines and the campaigns reflect a partisan slant. Earlier today, P.U.P. Party Leader John Briceño weighed-in on […]
Citizens Organized for Liberty through Action, COLA, has weighed in on the latest development coming out of the O.A.S. General Assembly, as it relates to Belize and Guatemala. Earlier today, the organization issued a release calling on government to clarify specific aspects of the ICJ discussion. According to President Geovannie Brackett, government is trying to […]
Can Belizeans go into the Sarstoon – at least on our side of the river? That’s been the million dollar question since our news team was stopped on May twenty-seventh. Our government says that we can based on an informal understanding reached in Istanbul, Turkey. The Guatemalans have said that there is no informal or […]
