A headline in today’s Guardian newspaper indicates that those people involved in the passport scandal may be facing some new heat. Sources close to the case tell News 5 that under the terms of the money laundering act authorities may pursue perpetrators of a number of offences that ultimately result in the conversion of dirty […]
It is one of those bodies you don’t hear much about until the phone company raises rates or the electricity company decides to build a dam, but today the Public Utilities Commission made an effort to assure the public that it is alive and regulating. This morning, representatives of the P.U.C. met with the media […]
While most cruise ship agents in Belize City are eagerly awaiting the opening of the second phase of the Tourism Village, tonight one local restaurateur is seeing red. Carlos Romero, owner of the Wet Lizard, which sits squarely between the two villages, walked onto his veranda this morning only to find construction workers driving piles […]
The body of Agripino Cawich returned home today, arriving at the Philip Goldson International Airport where it was met with military honours. It then travelled by motorcade to Belmopan where it will lie in state at the George Price Centre. Funeral services for the Cayo South representative and Minister of State will take place Wednesday […]
The British High Commission has announced the approval of two grants, totalling over seventy thousand dollars. The first gift of forty-five thousand dollars will help the Pan American Social Marketing Organisation, PASMO, to implement a campaign to change the public’s behaviour with regard to HIV and AIDS. That effort, utilising the local media, is expected […]
Tonight the Skeen family of Ladyville needs your help in trying to locate their brother. On July thirty-first, thirty-eight year old Gregory Skeen went missing from his home and has not been heard from since. Skeen, who has Down’s Syndrome, cannot speak or read and the family is very concerned that his disability will put […]
In the old days the neighbourhood cop on the beat was the very essence of police work. Somewhere along the line we strayed from that concept to the point at which today community policing is viewed as some exotic new weapon in crime prevention. But however you view it, more police contact with citizens can […]
He’s tasked with championing the cause of citizens who feel that public officials have violated their rights, and today Ombudsman Paul Rodriguez released the annual summary of his work over the last twelve months. The report of the Ombudsman, which under law has been tabled in the National Assembly, gives a brief synopsis of the […]
He recently survived the fight of his life to hold on to the presidency of the Belize Cruiseship Industry Association, but Tom Greenwood didn’t miss a beat in his quest to keep control of the tourism village at Fort Point in Belizean hands. In a letter to the owner of the Village, Michael Feinstein, dated […]
Young people from Belize and Mexico will spend the next few days together as part of a youth exchange now taking place in the village of Sarteneja. Inauguration ceremonies were held on Thursday in Corozal Town at which officials from both countries offered their best wishes for the endeavour, which is designed to foster cultural […]
Twenty-four hours after the gun amnesty was launched…the first weapons are in. This afternoon a twelve-gauge shotgun and a thirty-eight special revolver were handed in to the office of Ombudsman Paul Rodriguez. And while critics of the programme are sceptical of its motives, Rodriguez says time will prove the naysayers wrong. Paul Rodriguez, Ombudsman “These […]
On Wednesday night twenty children residing at the Princess Royal Youth Hostel, situated at mile twenty-one on the Western Highway, were overcome by fumes after a truck from the Public Health Bureau had sprayed for mosquitoes. According to Fermin Olivera, Acting Director of the Community Rehabilitation Centre, that manages the institution, they have yet to […]
Since its inception in 1992, the National Organization for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect has been the nation’s most forceful advocate for the well-being of the our youngest citizens. Eleven years later, that voice is about to go silent unless there is some serious infusion of cash to keep its programmes running. According […]
The National Council on Ageing is meeting this week in Belize City to formulate a National Plan of Action for the Elderly. Chairperson of the Council, Kamela Palma, says that the process involves input from institutional care givers and personnel from four relevant ministries. Patrick Jones “Why do we need a plan of action for […]
It had all the earmarks of a hurry-come-up presentation that was not quite ready for prime time. But whatever the Police Department, Ministry of Home Affairs and Crime Control Council may have lacked in advance preparation, they made up in clarity of purpose. The message is that criminals holding illegal weapons are in for a […]
Last September two Toledo villagers were killed and four wounded following a confrontation in which police and forestry officers squared off against an angry crowd of illegal loggers near Otoxha. Today, the commission of inquiry established to investigate the incident submitted its report to the Prime Minister. According to a government press release, the commission […]
Having a relative facing surgery is hard enough, but for many hospital patients and families who live outside Belize City there is the added burden of finding a place to stay. Enter the Lions. Patrick Jones, Reporting Thirty years after they first started serving the community, the Belize City Lions Club is adding one more […]
It was a rare session of the House of Representatives. Instead of the usual all out war, the debate more closely resembled a meeting of the Rotary Club. And why not? Money was at stake…and that meant–for this morning anyway–that the green was far more important than red or blue. News 5’s Patrick Jones reports […]
Belize is not yet at the point were a motorist speeding down the highway need fear that the flashing lights of the highway patrol will suddenly appear in the rear view mirror…but that day may be getting closer. Since early July the Department of Transport has been making a concerted effort to crack down on […]
Call it the Garden City, the City of Promise or just plain Belmopan, the nation’s capital, at age thirty-three, is finally on a roll. Today, as part of its annual celebrations, a new entrance was officially inaugurated. Patrick Jones, Reporting More than just bearing the name of the country’s most influential political figure, the George […]
They were given a one-way ride back to Havana on Thursday, but a group of Cubans who entered Belize illegally did not go without putting up a fight…even in the air. Reports to News 5 are that one of the deportees somehow managed to loosen his handcuffs and caused quite a commotion on the plane, […]
You see them everywhere on the streets of Belize City: young men with big guns. No, not gang boys; we’re talking about the B.D.F…and the concept of soldiers as policemen. Janelle Chanona, Reporting It is perhaps the most visual reminder of the crime situation in Belize…armed police officers flanked by M-16 carrying members of the […]
It was a key plank in the P.U.P.’s successful electoral platform…and while the reality may have fallen slightly short of the campaign promise, today’s delivery of pension cheques marked one of the first concrete fulfilments of the ruling party’s manifesto. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods reports. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting Since it was announced that women sixty-five […]
Fifteen Cubans who had fled their country in boats and washed up in Belize were today deported to Havana. The illegal immigrants, who had been cooling their heels in Hattieville prison, sought political asylum here, but under long standing agreements between Belize and Cuba, they were sent home. This morning the handcuffed deportees were placed […]
After nearly two years of protests and court cases it finally seems that the question of B.T.L. rates is about to get down to the nitty gritty: that is dollars and cents. According to consumer rights activist, Lascelle Arnold, more than twenty-one days have elapsed since the Supreme Court of Belize ruled that the price […]
