With the public perception that violent crime is out of control it was only a matter of time until government officially reacted. At its Tuesday session of Cabinet the nation’s leadership approved a set of strict measures that they hope will arrest and reverse the climate of fear felt in many quarters of the country. […]
Another aspect of the criminal justice system is the right of every defendant to a lawyer. In this case lawyer Barrow has taken up the cause of high profile drug suspects Robert and Hadrian Hertular. And today he succeeded in springing them from Hattieville. Dean Barrow, Leader of the Opposition “I applied for bail yesterday […]
While the latest session of Cabinet focussed on the crime problem, that body also took some other decisions that will have major impact on the nation’s future. It was confirmed that the Belize City port, long rumoured to be the next candidate for privatisation, will in fact be put on the block. Government will retain […]
There will also be some changes made in the government owned lottery. In the face of a six percent annual decline in revenues over the past seven years and stiff competition from the privately operated Lotto and Bel-3 draws, Cabinet has agreed to two recommendations: one that the daily boledo and weekly lottery be developed […]
It was an event that lit up switchboards at police stations and media houses all over the country. Sometime after 9:00 Tuesday night, Belizeans witnessed a rapidly moving object streaking across the sky followed by a plume of white smoke and accompanied by what sounded like a massive thunder clap. Explanations for the UFO ranged […]
In a move that has put Belize at the forefront of the region’s legal systems, all nine volumes of Belize’s substantive laws are now available on CD ROM. At this morning’s media launch, Attorney General Godfrey Smith told reporters that the new electronic copy contains all the laws of Belize updated through December thirty-first, 2000. […]
It’s that time of year again, when the island of Ambergris Caye comes alive with the sights and sounds of our neighbours on the American mainland. The tenth annual Costa Maya Festival kicks off on August sixteenth and runs through the nineteenth. One highlight of the event is the Reina de la Costa Maya Pageant […]
They are the descendants of what was at its peak one of the most advanced civilisations on the planet. And today some of Belize’s Maya inhabitants are using the latest technology to tell their story to a world which has grown accustomed to accessing information at the click of a mouse. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods […]
Relations between the Police Department and residents of some of Belize City’s most heavily patrolled neighbourhoods continue to deteriorate as officers have once again been accused of reckless and indiscriminate shooting in pursuit of a criminal suspect. The latest incident occurred Monday night sometime after nine…and this morning News 5’s Jacqueline Woods was out looking […]
“There is no need for the public to be afraid of the police.” That was the response made by Senior Superintendent of Police Crispin Jeffries when asked by News Five about recent accusations of the use of unnecessary force. Jeffries says the incidents in which the police have used their weapons are being thoroughly investigated […]
While police have not been able to make an arrest in the Friday the thirteenth jacking on Coney Drive, they have recovered the car used in the robbery. The blue Mitsubishi Galant was found abandoned on Dickenson Street in the Yarborough area of Belize City. Police continue to search for the two robbers who wrestled […]
A traffic accident on Friday night has claimed the life of twenty-three year old Francisco Aldana, a labourer of Calcutta Village, Corozal District. Police say eighteen year old Ivan Castillo, son of Minister of Labour, Local Government and Sugar Industries, Valdemar Castillo, reported that around 9:30 he was on his way to Corozal town in […]
Last weekend Belize’s Jehovah Witnesses held the first of two conventions on the grounds of their Ladyville Assembly Hall. Over fourteen hundred people turned out for a series of symposiums, lectures, baptisms and religious ceremonies. This coming weekend the scene will be repeated, only this time for Spanish speakers. World-wide, Jehovah’s Witnesses number over six […]
The United Nations Development Programme has release its annual “Human Development Report.” That study, presented yesterday to the Prime Minister, ranks 162 countries according to a set of criteria, which includes standard of living, life expectancy and education. Belize, ranked at number 54, is slowly moving up in the world as last year we came […]
The project has been talked about for years, but it has taken a five medal Olympic performance by a daughter of the soil to send it toward the finish line. That project is the installation of a world class synthetic track at the newly named Marion Jones Sporting Complex and the vehicle by which the […]
It may have been another weekend of shootings, stabbings, jackings and carnage on the nation’s highways…but we’ll open the week with some positive news as top educators from around the region gather in Belize City. Ann-Marie has the story. Over fifty principals representing the English speaking Caribbean, all members of the Caribbean Association of Principals […]
This afternoon Attorney General Godfrey Smith handed over to Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh electronic court reporting equipment that should expedite trials in the Supreme Court. The Lanier Advocate V recorders will provide up to six hours of unattended four-channel recording and allow judges to focus on the case instead of taking notes. The Attorney General […]
On Friday night much of Belize was unable to watch this newscast–or anything else requiring electricity–due to a massive blackout…and now Belize Electricity Limited is explaining why it happened. According to a B.E.L. release the problem can once again be traced to Mexico. Around four-thirty a substation at Xul-Ha near Bacalar shut down due to […]
A suspect has been arrested in Friday’s robbery of a Western Union branch in Belize City. Police believe that twenty-two year old Jason Kuylen of Dangriga is one of two men who held up the Western Union Office on Freetown Road at Cambranes Store. Four thousand, four hundred dollars was taken after one of the […]
The search for Jason Kuylen on Friday night led to a conflict between police and a group of youths in a Southside Belize City neighbourhood. When it was all over Kuylen was apprehended but another man was wounded by what he claims was a gunshot fired from a police revolver. News Five’s Jacqueline Woods investigated. […]
In other crime news Belmopan was the scene of an armed robbery on Saturday night. Two men, one of whom brandished a pistol, held up the New Capital Restaurant for a thousand dollars in cash and then escaped. On Friday afternoon Independence Village was the scene of a similar crime, only a knife was the […]
Two people are dead and two more have been injured in separate traffic accidents on Saturday night. In Orange Walk, Juan Blanco Junior was killed after falling out of the back of a pickup truck as it drove down Riverside Street. According to the driver, Wilhem Lodge, Blanco was drunk and sitting on the edge […]
While the daily litany of media reports may sometimes make us feel that the crime problem is insurmountable, government continues to seek solutions and upgrade the quality of law enforcement. As a result of a trip last week to the United States by National Security Minister Jorge Espat, Police Commissioner Hughington Williams and Chief Forensic […]
James Adderley Good evening I’m James Adderley and you’ve locked in to another serving of Sports Monday. This weekend’s semi-pro basketball at the Civic Centre matched San Cas UB against Orange Walk Music Centre as both try to make the four team playoffs. Mark Bainton of the Super City Team shows why he is called […]
In an age when a stranger can tell your lifestyle by looking in your garbage, it’s a good idea to keep it locked away. That goes double for a hospital whose medical waste may pose a grave danger to a curious public. Today News Five was called out to the yard adjacent to the Central […]
