The National Organization for the Prevention of Child Abuse, NOPCA, continues its campaign for children who are abused whether it be physically, sexually or emotionally. This month the organization is holding a series of volunteer training programs in an attempt to improve its human resource base. NOPCA realizes that to continue its work, the implementation […]
Earlier in this newscast we reported on the settlement of a labor dispute in Pomona Village between the Citrus Company of Belize and its employees. While the issue in Belize City revolves around the subject of labor, the steps being taken now are intended to keep the next generation of employers and workers in school […]
They say no news is good news – but don’t tell that to striking workers of the Citrus Company of Belize in Pomona. Industrial action against the company by over a hundred of its employees continued for a fourth day today as executives of the company and the Christian Workers Union are yet to come […]
The development of children and the protection of their rights are issues that have long been the focus of much public discussion and debate. And will continue to be… at least for the next thirty days as Jacqueline Woods found out. Advocacy groups, including kindergarten and primary schools countrywide are gearing up for a month […]
Reports from Pomona say the strike involving grove and factory workers employed by the Citrus Company of Belize is far from being over. Late report Wednesday is that both sides were close to a settlement. The C.C.B. had reportedly accepted all the demands of the union, and the workers are said to have been ready […]
The protest action against the Citrus Company of Belize by a handful of its workers continued for a second day today in the Stann Creek Valley. While the placard bearing men and women braved the hot sun outside the company’s compound, union officials and management of the C.C.B. were feverishly working on a settlement behind […]
With prices barely beginning to recover from their lowest level in a decade the citrus industry was not in exactly great shape. Now there’s more bad news as one of the two processing companies, C.C.B., has been hit with a strike. According to James McFoy, President of the Christian Workers Union, around three hundred employees […]
Fifty new justices of the peace have been appointed for Belize City. They were sworn in on Sunday at the Supreme Court in a ceremony presided over by Senator Wilfred Elrington, Justice George Meerabux and Solicitor General Gian Ghandi. While we do not have space to name each one of the new J.P.’s we will […]
It’s called the people’s manifesto and it was created by a number of civil society organizations after nationwide consultations. The manifesto consists of eighteen specific commitments spread over the five key areas of political reform, social and economic justice, education, land and youth empowerment. While the recommendations, which focus on greater political participation and increased […]
To back up his assertion that any decertification would be for reasons unrelated to drugs, Barrow also cited statistics showing significant improvement in the quantity of drugs confiscated by police in 1997. The biggest jump was in cocaine, attributable largely to the two record busts of high powered Colombian skiffs off the Belizean coast. Where […]
What should have been a day of revelation in the continuing saga of Carlos Seguro has instead become bogged down in official red tape. Director of Health Services Doctor Michael Pitts told News Five that he did not want to become involved in a matter that has already violated the principle of patient confidentiality. He […]
Yesterday it was the government of Japan handing over checks for worthy projects. Today it was the turn of the O.A.S. and the beneficiaries were some deserving women. There was hardly enough space to move around on the first floor of the Department of Women’s Affairs, as it was stocked with twenty thousand dollars worth […]
It was a report that touched the nation when it first hit the airwaves less than two weeks ago…and shocked viewers last night when it was revealed that a prisoner at Hattieville, pardoned due to his impending death from AIDS, apparently doesn’t have the disease after all. Yesterday I visited the free but suffering man […]
As non-governmental organizations continue to struggle for financial sustainability, any assistance, from whatever source is always good news. Today three grassroots N.G.O.’s got a helping hand from the Government of Japan as that country’s Ambassador to Belize, Terusuke Terada, signed three separate contracts for grassroots projects totaling over sixty six thousand U.S. dollars. The biggest […]
It was not a story we covered on Channel Five but it was an interesting piece of news nonetheless. Carlos Seguro, a prisoner who was three years into a five year sentence at Hattieville Prison, was pardoned by the Belize Advisory Council at the request of prison authorities. The reason was that he had AIDS […]
If you tried to take a shower this afternoon and got only hot air you were not alone. Thousands of city residents were left high and dry for several hours when the Water and Sewerage Authority interrupted service for what a spokesperson says were emergency repairs to the main transmission line on the Northern Highway. […]
A broken pipe was not the only problem on the Northern Highway as motorists continue to complain of danger caused by tons of clay which have been spilled on the asphalt surface by careless trucks. For the past week dump trucks have been filling several acres of land near mile four. Drivers arrive either too […]
The Society for the Promotion of Education and Research, SPEAR, has teamed up with the Virginia based “For Children Incorporated,” to undertake a program of assistance to local Non-Governmental Organizations. Under the program, says SPEAR’s Support Director Dean Roches, used computers are re-built in the states and sent down to Belize fully equipped. After initial […]
And speaking of special events, the Ministry of Human Resources has appointed the September Celebrations Committee, whose job it will be to come up with a big bash for the bicentennial of the Battle of Saint George’s Caye. The committee is chaired by Janine Sylvester while Ewart Robateau is the first deputy. If the Government […]
The Old Testament tells us that the ancient city of Sodom was reduced to rubble when the lord could no longer tolerate the licentiously wicked ways of its sexually uninhibited inhabitants. Twenty four hours after the visit of some nine hundred so called sodomites, Belize City is still standing. The M.S. Leeward dropped its anchor […]
With only two days left before the arrival of the M.S. Leeward, the general attitude seems to be one of watchful waiting. After an initial venting of homophobic steam an increasing number of liberal voices have been raised in defense of civil rights for homosexuals and the nine hundred or so visitors on the cruise […]
The Christmas spirit evaporated long ago; January was short on both money and fun… But don’t worry, February is almost here and some colleagues of ours on Freetown Road have an idea. Brian Mossiah, Project Coordinator, Love F.M. “And don’t forget the feeding program starts on February second where we will be in Punta Gorda, […]
One look at Belize City is enough to convince most observers that the word “planning” has definitely been left out of the Creole dictionary. But hope springs eternal and it was at full bloom this morning at a workshop on the subject which opened at the Biltmore Plaza Hotel. When the phrase, “failing to plan […]
For many motorists the activity of driving on smooth pavement in Belize City is the shock of a lifetime. Well, if you haven’t yet recovered from that experience, this one just may send you to the emergency room. I first saw it while driving through town earlier this week…and quickly called for a cameraman. Traffic […]
Not all of today’s news revolved around the weighty occurrences at the Supreme Court. The ever popular issue of the gay cruise ship remained hot as one more Belizean organization felt compelled to put forth its views. The Belize National Teachers Union has issued a release condemning what it calls the unnatural practice of homosexuality […]
