Cruise tourism is a multimillion dollar industry that is powerful enough to sway the economy. Any major interference such as an international terrorism threat or a natural disaster can topple this important income earner which is a key source of foreign exchange. But this week, the industry had a local controversy that may now create […]
The Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage has garnered support and membership from environmental groups as well as major stakeholders in industries that can be affected by an oil spill. The call to ban offshore drilling has sparked vocal responses at meetings held in Caye Caulker and San Pedro by Oceana, one of the founding […]
The Poverty Alleviation report highlights the southernmost district of Toledo as being the area with the highest number of people beneath the poverty line nationally. But residents of Belize City need to look no further than their neighbors in certain pockets of poverty to witness glaring examples of dire destitution in the Old Capital. Today, […]
Funeral services for fourteen year old Hellen Yu were held today in Belize City. Yu, a second form student of Edward P Yorke, was shot dead last Thursday inside her family’s grocery shop in the Collet Division. The network of Asian owned and managed businesses play an integral part in the supply of goods and […]
The Central American Regional Security Initiative formerly known as the Merida Initiative, a joint effort between countries in North and Central America to combat the flow of illegal drugs and other related transnational crimes, is seeing the Government of Belize working closely with representatives from the U.S. Government in responding to the region’s many threats. […]
The Belize Tourism Board on Wednesday afternoon called a special meeting with stakeholders in the cruise tourism industry to discuss the current state of affairs. In light of public disagreement by FECTAB over the contract awarded to Chukka/Bakabush Tours, BTB has stepped in to mediate the situation. As CEO Mike Singh stated prior to the […]
Kidney patient and activist, Jose Cruz, has been in the public eye since he took a stand to get better treatment for his fellow renal failure patients. We have seen him on bad days when he lost a leg and needed to raise funds to travel to Guatemala for treatment to save the rest of […]
Contention between various stakeholders within the cruise tourism industry over a much debated contract awarded by Carnival Cruise Line to Chukka/Bakabush Tours continued today with the parties involved weighing in their positions. CEO in the Ministry of Tourism, Mike Singh, for his part convened a morning press conference to clarify statements he made to News […]
According to Singh there are several independent tour operators including Cave-tubing.com that are successful at securing business without being contracted to any particular cruise line. However, Yonni Rosado, who owns and operates that company, publicly stated at yesterday’s FECTAB AGM that he is going out of business as a result of the current agreement Carnival […]
The Belize Tourism Board, in light of the ongoing dispute among tour operators, has expressed a need for standards to be implemented which should level the playing field within the industry. This comes in the wake of assertions that there are tour operators that have not been paying fees for the use of NICH facilities […]
If you ever ride on public transportation, you can expect to see buses moving outside their scheduled runs, the aisles filled with standees and no trash bins to place garbage on long journeys. According to the Department of Transport, there are many established regulations that have been broken by several companies. According to the department’s […]
Controversy surrounding the manner in which Bakabush Tours was awarded a lucrative shore excursion contract by Carnival Cruise Line continued today during an annual general meeting held by the Federation of Cruise Tourism Associations of Belize. The organization has expressed its dissatisfaction with what it considers preferential treatment afforded to the tour operator. Today News […]
Two esteemed professionals in their field, Doctor Irvin Gabourel and Doctor John Gough were both charged with Disorderly Conduct at the Corozal Police Formation on August tenth. Prior to their incarceration, the doctors got into a fight outside the custom’s building at the border. Doctor Gabourel has just returned to the country following his scheduled […]
It was once said that faith can move mountains but only knowledge moves them to the right place. Well that statement could not ring more true than in the case of Baby Faith Ortiz who was born in early August with a birth defect. In a story aired on News Five, a tearful mother, Dina […]
Tourism numbers seem to be picking up after a slow season. The livelihood of hundreds depends on the industry and everyone is after a slice of the pie. So a contract awarded by Carnival Cruise Line to provide shore excursions has angered local operators who claim it is preferential treatment. The Federation of Cruise Tourism […]
There is more discord in the citrus valley. Among the many issues affecting the citrus industry, one particular difficulty has been the representation of small growers at the management level of the Citrus Growers Association. On July twenty-fourth the union held its annual general meeting where Norvia Jaime was elected to represent minority growers on […]
A resident of Port Loyola is claiming that Works Minister, Anthony Martinez, gave him a major boot by dismantling his home. The disgruntled constituent of Port Loyola claims he was victimized when Martinez’s Ministry of Works employees disassembled his small wooden structure which he had constructed near the riverside in the Belama Phase Four area […]
A swarm of ants reportedly fed on newspaper vendor, Larry Williams, while he was hospitalized at the Northern Regional Hospital. A visitor to the hospital was shocked to see ants on Williams’ toes. Williams had been hospitalized since March for a broken hip but developed other complications and remained at the hospital until Wednesday. He […]
The murder of Christopher Galvez remains unresolved. On December twenty-third, 2009 twenty-three year old Galvez was murdered execution style at Pipersburgh’s Boatyard near mile two and a half on the Western Highway. He was shot and killed at close range after being picked up from home a little after eight o’clock that night when his […]
Allegations of negligence are commonplace among the nation’s health posts and hospitals, but tonight there is a bizarre case under investigation. The report is that ants were feeding on an elderly patient at the Northern Regional Hospital. A visiting relative of another patient claims that she and a friend detected a swarm of ants feasting […]
The family of a newborn child is in desperate need of assistance. Last Tuesday, Dina Ortiz gave birth to her second child, a baby girl at the Northern Regional Hospital. The joy of birth was short-lived since the child was born without an esophagus. It’s been eight days and the child is in desperate need […]
A mother fears the worst but is hoping for the best in the case of her missing son, twenty-four year-old Leon Torres, a construction worker of Tigris Street. According Cherry Moss, the last time she saw her son was on Friday but since then she has found out that he spent the night at the […]
It was an explosive situation in the west over the past weekend when reportedly drunken B.D.F. soldiers clashed with civilians. From what we have gathered, two soldiers were looking for two alleged ‘contrabandistas’ who had just crossed the river. The men eluded the soldiers and that’s when they allegedly took out their frustration on residents […]
The crime situation as everyone already knows is out of control. The fact that the murder conviction rate being below ten percent, places citizens under siege. Last Friday, Prime Minister Dean Barrow introduced a bill in the house that will not only increase penalties for violent crime but also target gang members and empower the […]
In related news, sexual exploitation and assault of children are offences that have been on the rise over the past few years. But the penalties that accompany crimes have not deterred the criminal element from carrying out their acts. So, now one agency that champions the rights of children is trying to see if it […]
