In recent years the Belize Defence Force has taken on new tasks that go beyond the traditional role of a professional army. And with those new duties of law enforcement and disaster relief comes new training–even for the BDF volunteers. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods reports. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting It was the first time that the […]
News 5’s continuing investigation into allegations of corruption in the issuing of Belizean passports has taken a new turn. Since no government official or immigration agent will speak on the record we have decided to seek the truth straight from the horse’s mouth–that is the passport holders themselves. Since all twenty-two of the adult applicants […]
Twenty lives were lost when the diveboat Wavedancer capsized in the middle of Hurricane Iris in the waters of the Big Creek Port. Tonight, the owner of the Wavedancer is back in Belize and in his first television interview since the accident, Peter Hughes offers his company’s version of the events that ended in Belize’s […]
Beginning Monday, Belizean children from the city and San Pedro will participate in a series of basketball camps hosted by the NBA’s Milt Palacio. Palacio will arrive in the country over the weekend and will spend a week teaching boys and girls between ages eight and nineteen how to handle themselves on the court. According […]
When Stella Maris School welcomed its new addition on April tenth, the school’s principal was wondering where the money would come from to furnish the home economics programme and buy supplies for the students. All that worry is now in the past as two Belizean grocery giants: James Brodie and Santiago Castillo, presented a cheque […]
A couple of other generous donations were made earlier this week that we somehow managed to overlook. On Tuesday the Belize City Lions Club was given over eight thousand dollars by the British High Commission. The money will be used to tile the floor of the Lions Training and Resource Centre on Princess Margaret Drive. […]
Meanwhile, not to be outdone, Rotarians in San Ignacio have joined forces with their colleagues in Seattle, Washington to equip two Cayo High Schools with networking computer laboratories. Under Rotary’s “Computers for the World” programme, Eden High and Mopan Technical High School received sophisticated systems including forty-three computer work stations, servers, printers and other accessories. […]
We covered them when they opened, and as several summer camp sessions come to a close, we thought we’d stop back to see how the campers made out. Ann-Marie Williams is up first from the House of Culture in Belize City. Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting After a month-long summer camp at the House of Culture, today […]
Today, students from the Belize, Orange Walk and Cayo Districts participating in a B.T.B. sponsored summer programme, demonstrated what they’ve learnt about the tourism industry. The students were asked to come up with three-dimensional displays depicting what business venture they’d embark on ten years in the future. The ideas ranged from a restaurant with a […]
Over the course of this week we’ve taken a close look at the subject of illegal immigration, specifically allegations that Belizean nationality is being sold by corrupt officials and their partners in the private sector. But not all foreigners in Belize are engaged in passport scams. Some have made substantial investments here…and News 5’s Janelle […]
When we last tuned into the long running soap opera entitled “the selling out of Belize”, we left one Justice of the Peace beating a hasty retreat and another pleading confusion as an excuse for violating his oath of office. Today in our continuing investigation into the illegal sale of passports, News 5’s Ann-Marie Williams […]
It may not rank with the dispute between Israel and Palestine or the controversy over the status of Northern Ireland… but by Belizean standards the battle between the Government and Opposition over the land at the foot of the Bel-China Bridge is just as intractable. Or rather was…because today, in one of those exceedingly rare […]
The land at Bel-China was not the only point of compromise reached this week. Responding to an Opposition initiative, Cabinet on Tuesday agreed to draft a constitutional amendment that would place restrictions on the jurisdiction of the Privy Council as the court of last resort in certain criminal matters. The intent is to restore the […]
One week after she was reported missing, the nude body of twenty-five year old Genovea Campos was found in some bushes in the vicinity of here home. According to police, Campos, who suffered from mental illness, resided with her father nine miles north of San Pedro on the island of Ambergris Caye. On July fifteenth, […]
A Belize City man has been handed a sixteen year prison sentence for the rape of a thirty-two year old woman. A jury of six women and three men found Stanley Lewis guilty after several hours of deliberations, which ran until 8 o’clock last night. Lewis, who only gave a dock statement on the advice […]
In recent weeks we’ve departed from our traditional format of saving sports news for Monday, as crucial semi-pro basketball games rated expanded mid-week coverage. Tonight we do the same, this time for major news from the world of football. James Adderley reports. James Adderley, Reporting Some three months after an altercation at the MCC Grounds, […]
Summer is the time when Belizeans at home and abroad like to travel. But unfortunately, the rigors of numerous delays, jam packed planes and cut rate service often make that trip a monumental hassle. So imagine how News 5’s Jacqueline Woods reacted when she met a frequent flyer who is old enough to remember the […]
It is a scandal that spilled onto the floor of the House of Representatives on Friday and shows no sign of immediate resolution. The subject is passports and it is alleged by the Opposition that although the sale of economic citizenship has been halted by a constitutional amendment, a booming illicit trade in Belizean nationality […]
As for Rudolph Thimbriel, the J.P. who signed sixteen of the twenty-four applications, also at the behest of Affif, Ann-Marie found him at his place of business in Belmopan. Unlike Santos, Thimbriel decided that it is better to run than attempt to explain. Ann-Marie Williams “Afternoon, Mr. Thimbriel here? Mr. Thimbriel, just a minute.” Rudolph […]
On last night’s newscast we reported on the wounding of three innocent victims caught in the middle of a Belize City shooting. Today, relatives of the accused say the police have it backwards. Jacqueline Woods reports. Patricia Usher, Sister “I was very surprised because I know they never had any gun. We noh even have […]
An early morning romp in a Belize City swimming pool has resulted in death by drowning. Around 2:30 this morning, twenty-nine year old Emilio Martin died when he failed to surface while swimming at the Belize Pickwick Club. According to police, they do not know how Martin and a female friend managed to get inside […]
The Belize Tourism Board has embarked on a major promotional effort utilising the internet. The effort, co-ordinated by Naturalight Productions of Dangriga, will include advertisements on major international travel-related websites. Online promotions feature vacation guides, newsletters and a sweepstakes in which viewers can win trips to Belize. The internet advertising campaign will run from six […]
In October 2001, eighteen American tourists and two Belizeans died while aboard the dive boat Wavedancer as it rode out Hurricane Iris in the port of Big Creek. Nine months later, no one has been brought before any court or commission of inquiry to establish whether negligence was to blame in the deaths. But today, […]
But in October of 2001, Angela Luk, the Wavedancer’s assistant cook at the time of the tragedy, told News 5 that the procedure was that the Belizean crew had to stay on board during Hurricane Iris or they would be fired. Tonight, we repeat her dramatic story. Angela Luk, Former Crewmember, Wavedancer “I don’t think […]
This month alone, there have been six reported homicides in Belize City…more grim statistics to add to what is already a long list of deaths that have taken place in only seven months. According to police sources, since January of this year forty-five people have been killed and most of the perpetrators are still at […]
