There have been constant cries by NGO’s and parents against the sexual abuse of children. Those voices are joined tonight by the cry from a distraught single mother who wants justice for her daughter. On Monday a jury of nine found San Pedro resident, twenty-eight year old Winston Sharshente, not guilty of the Carnal Knowledge […]
According to the victim’s mother, the girl was left traumatized by the horrific ordeal and has been living at a children’s home for months. The mother herself relocated from La Isla Bonita to Belmopan. Mother of Alleged Rape Victim “This year in July she ran away from home because she use to blame me. Although […]
The young girl is being released from the children’s home and will be back with her mother for the Christmas. Mother of Alleged Rape Victim “I would like to plea to those nine persons that was there—I’m talking to individual—please open their hearts and if you make any mistake, please go back and make a […]
The Belize City Council has been mired in numerous controversies of a financial nature. The latest to surface involves employee salary deductions intended for banks, business houses and even the Family Court. The Council employs close to three hundred persons who are the breadwinners for their families, a majority who have authorized the Council to […]
While the politicians had a go at each inside the House, outside temperatures were flaring as a group of protesters continued a protest against the increase in water rates. Two weeks ago, residents of San Pedro took to the streets to protest the decision of the Public Utilities Commission to approve a water rate increase […]
Turning to the hot button issue of the forty-five million dollar loan, last Friday, Prime Minister Dean Barrow and the Minister of Public Utilities signed off a statutory instrument nationalizing the debt, held by Telemedia with the British Caribbean Bank since 2007. The Telemedia Chairman, Net Vasquez, on November thirtieth, declared the debt illegal. The […]
We also asked the Prime Minister about the cash strapped City Council which has been unable to pay for the city’s garbage collection. Suggestions on how to curb expenses and increase revenue collection abound and no other than the P.M. himself had a few. Councilors from the old capital earn more than councilors in other […]
On Monday Smart, a subsidiary of Speednet filed an application for an injunction against the telecoms giant, Telemedia, and today it scored a victory in the courts that will restrain Telemedia, from causing it further disruption… at least in the next few days. Attorneys for Speednet, Andrew Marshalleck and Eamon Courtenay, went to court to […]
Still on the telecoms industry, when the Government expropriated Telemedia in August, it just might have taken on the mother of all legal battles. To add to the slew of cases it is already facing from the nationalization, two additional matters landed before the desk of Prime Minister Dean Barrow last Friday and both are […]
A young mother is claiming that her daughter has a slim chance to live after doctors allegedly punctured the baby’s lungs. Kamecia Shiel says that on November twenty-seventh, she took her two month old premature daughter, Irma, to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital for treatment for a cold. Shiel says that she was told that […]
In the other big story tonight, the long arms of the law caught up with Robert Snyder last Friday in Belize City. Snyder was intercepted when he made it on Americas Most Wanted List, a Television program aired on November twenty-eighth. The Colorado resident moved to Belize last September, less than a month after his […]
The developments in the telecom industry resulting from the expropriation of Telemedia topped the headlines all week. The high point came via a press release from Telemedia declaring that the British Caribbean Bank intends to wind up the company. This assertion was on Monday following a press conference by Telemedia and that’s where we pick […]
The loan of forty-five million dollars which Telemedia got from the British Caribbean Bank in 2007 has been smack in the middle of the controversy and that is because Telemedia is asserting that the Bank loaned the money for the purchase of shares in the telephone company. According to Telemedia Chairman, Net Vasquez, at Monday’s […]
On Wednesday, Telemedia Chairman, Nestor Vasquez, made a number of allegations in respect of the management of the company before it was nationalized by the Government in August. Top among the statements was the issue of a forty-five million dollar loan from British Caribbean Bank to Telemedia for a period of two years. This loan, […]
When the government nationalized Telemedia on August twenty-fourth, Prime Minister Dean Barrow said that would bring an end to litigation. Well that was wishful thinking because the government now finds itself mired in a slew of legal battles; more than it can handle. The latest is over a loan of forty-five million dollars provided to […]
On the high handed disconnection late last week of Smart’s international services which affected its ninety thousand subscribers, Director Carla Barnett said that an offer has been made to SMART. Dr. Carla Barnett, Board member “And the offer that we made to them was something like this—BTL is offering to terminate your calls. We will […]
When we checked with Smart this afternoon, Ian Courtenay, Public Relations Representative, told News Five that the company’s international service was back on stream and that it is further requesting Telemedia to reconnect other fiber circuits that it disconnected last week. Ian Courtenay, P.R. Officer, Smart “Unfortunately, they still have not reconnected our towers in […]
When the Government nationalized Telemedia, it took over a profitable company. But if you are expecting rates to go down, do not hold your breath because there was a different tale sounded today. Chairman Nestor Vasquez told the media that profits have dropped by millions of dollars. Net Vasquez, Executive Chairman, Telemedia “We anticipate that […]
The electrocution of a four year old preschooler on Monday at first blush was an open and shut case. But his aunt has been sounding the alarm to the authorities that while the child was killed by a faulty cord when he was shocked, his life was in a different kind of danger. News Five’s […]
The area between the Las Vegas Casino and the Mexican Border was the scene of a shootout and high speed vehicle chase that ended across the border at Subtiniente Lopez on July thirteenth 2008. Casino boss George Hardie Junior and three members of his Cobra Security team: David Abner Gomez, Martin Miller and Curlin Thompson […]
Since august twenty-fourth, when the government acquired Telemedia, its competitor, Smart, has come under fire. Last week, Telemedia took down Smart’s equipment from towers at Benny’s and in Ladyville, crippling services along the Northern Highway to Ladyville. Telemedia’s Head of Marketing, Dionne Miranda, claimed that Smart had an illegal connection for that area and that […]
In San Pedro Town, residents took a stand today against the Public Utilities Commission’s initial decision to approve a ten point six increase in the cost of water rates beginning next year April. The protestors gathered at the Central Park to publicly register their objection and to sign a petition that will be submitted to […]
There is some good news coming from City Hall. On Monday, the Belize Maintenance Limited, BML, sent home about a hundred of its sanitation workers because the Belize City Council could not cough up the ten thousand dollar weekly payment to the company. Sanitation Councillor, Philip Willoughby could not say when the Council would be […]
International services to the ninety thousand subscribers of Smart continues interrupted. Last Friday, Telemedia removed Smart’s access to the Americas Region Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1); a fiber optic submarine communications cable that links the Americas and the Caribbean. Smart sought another means of achieving international calls and on Sunday it changed its antenna that is […]
In response, Telemedia issued a release after six tonight in which it said that it terminated the unfiltered E1 service to SpeedNet in order to eliminate Telemedia’s significant losses of revenue over arrangements made with SpeedNet in the past. Telemedia viewed Smart’s installation of a satellite on Sunday as a breach of security, so it […]
