And while the water rate was the prime focus of the Public Utilities Commission?s press conference, Chairman Dr. Gilbert Canton took time out to address issues affecting the telecommunications sector. According to Canton, it is the view of the P.U.C. that B.T.L. continues to charge illegal rates to consumers, but a recent court ruling dismissing […]
The National Drug Abuse Control Council, NDACC, has released the results of the latest survey of Belizean high school students… and the news is not good. A sample of second and fourth year students revealed that a startling twenty-five percent of those surveyed, or one in four of the students, reported consuming more than six […]
Anyone interested in the history of the Belize-Guatemala territorial dispute will welcome a new publication by former Ambassador James Murphy. “The Guatemalan Claim to Belize: A Handbook on the Negotiations” gives a concise account of the efforts to end the claim in simplified language. Murphy spent the last year and a half researching archival material […]
If you listened last night on this broadcast to the Minister of Finance, you’d think that the action by consumers to collect millions of dollars in allegedly illegal overcharges by B.T.L. was a dead issue. And as far as the Supreme Court is concerned, it is…but one man who is not about to give up […]
Two years after Care-Belize was launched, the non-governmental organization now has a permanent headquarters from where it will be able to better provide rehabilitation services for persons with physical disabilities. The office is located on Gabourel Lane and that is where News 5 caught up with Care Belize field officer, Roxanne Jones and volunteer physical […]
Since April fifth, when U.D.P. Leader Dean Barrow released the text of the agreement between Government and Innovative Communications Corporation for the sale of majority ownership in B.T.L., both the Opposition and a wide range of independent critics have been vocal in their denunciation of the deal. For its part, save for a few innocuous […]
A petroleum haulers strike couldn’t have come at a worse time, just as thousands of Belizeans are hitting the highways and waterways to get away for the Easter weekend. But although the Belize Petroleum Haulers Association were adamant about their refusal to continue working without a contract with Shell Belize, a meeting convened by Minister […]
Until a cure or vaccine for AIDS is discovered, the only hope in stopping the pandemic is behaviour change through education. And that’s exactly what a group of young people were promoting this week in Belize City. Patrick Jones reports on the latest effort to keep Belizeans free of the deadly virus. Patrick Jones, Reporting […]
The World Health Organization reports that each year road traffic injuries kill one point two million men, women and children around the world. The problem has become so great that for the first time in its history, WHO has dedicated its annual World Health Day to highway safety. In Belize, the occasion was marked by […]
A day after Opposition Leader Dean Barrow released what he claims is a copy of the agreement signed between Government and Innovative Communication Corporation for the sale of B.T.L., the reviews are still coming in. Most criticism of the deal involves what has been called a government guarantee of a fifteen percent return on I.C.C.’s […]
Classrooms across the country may be empty for the Easter break, but truancy officers get no such breaks. School Community Liaison Officers today began a house-to-house survey in the Port Loyola area of Belize City to collect vital information for the Ministry of Education to determine how best to assist needy children. Monitoring Officer, Marva […]
Crime is a concern of every citizen, and often we are the eyes and ears of the police. But just about everyone who picks up the phone to call in with information worries about the confidentiality of that call. Well, the Rotary Club of Belize wants to help us rest a little easier on that […]
The new owners of Belize Telecommunications Ltd. spent their first full day in charge getting acquainted with the company’s staff and operations, but the Belizean public is still in the dark on the details of the deal. The plot thickened today with the release of a statement by Michael Ashcroft that could only be described […]
It’s a process that started in 1999, and today the Ministry of Labour completed a series of nationwide consultations designed to formulate new legislation regarding health and occupational safety for the country’s workforce. Author of the draft legislation, Canadian Consultant Doctor Shal Gewurtz, today sat down with over fifty representatives of workers, employers, and government […]
Judging from the number of complaints about police behaviour, it’s clear that some additional training in public relations is not a bad idea. According to Assistant Commissioner of Police, Maureen Leslie, the recent donation of a laptop computer by Tenchtronics and a projector by FedEx and Western Union will make those upcoming training sessions more […]
And while police officers get to sit through PowerPoint presentations, the Youth Cadet Corp will be receiving some much needed funds from an upcoming event in Miami. This morning the Vice President of the Belize Florida Cultural Park Fest Foundation handed over a plaque and a promise to Police Commissioner Carmen Zetina in appreciation for […]
Days after it was confirmed that Jeffrey Prosser’s Innovative Communication Company has purchased seventy-eight percent of Belize Telecommunications Limited, details of the agreement are still hard to come by. Amidst speculation that the public may not like the fine print, Prime Minister Said Musa today offered little more information about the deal, preferring instead to […]
There are too many workshops, planning committees and seminars, and not enough work being done in Belize. That’s just one of the latest findings from the civil society organisations of Belize. Armed with U.N.D.P. funding and following a series of consultations, today SPEAR presented the P.M. with the study, which will hopefully improve mechanisms for […]
For better or for worse, children often figure prominently in the Belizean media scene. Sometimes for their proud accomplishments, but all too often as victims or perpetrators of crime or serious accidents. Today, journalists and those involved in the protection of children gathered to work out some kind of ground rules for press coverage. Jacqueline […]
There are a lot of misconceptions about mental illness and the people who live with mental conditions. To help health care workers provide better care and to better educate the public, the Ministry of Education is holding a two-day training session. News 5 was there for the opening this morning. Vildo Marin, Minister of Health […]
It appeared ominously as a quarter page ad in newspapers today, but if the threat of legal action by the Princess Cinema against persons who rent or sell illegal copies of box office movies is carried out, perhaps we’re in for another epic battle in the courts. General Manager of Princess Cinema, Doncho Donchev, says […]
The National Occupational Health and Safety Committee is holding an entire week of consultations beginning next Monday to get feedback from the business community on the draft for a new law which will govern occupational safety and health in Belize, something we currently do not have. News 5 spoke with Phillip Waight, a member of […]
Over the last month we have presented a series of stories on children in need of adoption, but while adoption is the goal in some cases, a more common measure is foster care. Today a campaign was launched to get more families involved in the programme…and News 5’s Jacqueline Woods was there. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting […]
They are the next generation of women who will carry on the work of the Young Women’s Christian Association. And today, as the “Y” celebrates nearly fifty years of service, children from the Y.W.C.A. preschool entertained a group of visiting officials from the city of Evanston, Illinois. According to President of the Y.W.C.A., Dame Elaine […]
The world of university education is changing. What was once considered a cloistered life in an ivory tower has now become an interactive experience in the real world…a world that for the students in our next story includes Belize. Jacqueline Woods reports from Gales Point. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting Ideally, every student who gets the opportunity […]
