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Belize’s literacy rate has always been the subject of public discussion, initially due to its traditional high level, above ninety percent, and more recently due to its gradual decline to somewhere in the low 70’s. Today I sat in on one effort that seeks to measure–and improve–the literacy skills of Belizean students. Janelle Chanona, Reporting […]
Written on March 13, 2003 | Posted in
Environment |
Comments Off on New literacy test seeks to improve skills
You’d think that a military machine now in its final countdown to war wouldn’t have the time or interest to engage in a minor public relations exercise half a world away from the front…but somehow it does. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods found out this morning that not all U.S. military personnel will be marching on […]
Written on March 13, 2003 | Posted in
Defense |
Comments Off on U.S. military inaugurates “New Horizons”
With war in Iraq perhaps only days away, and Venezuela still reeling from months of political turmoil, it is a worldwide fact of life that petroleum prices are going through the roof. Today, Belize felt the hard pinch of that reality once again as the control price of butane gas took another leap. Here are […]
Written on March 12, 2003 | Posted in
Economy |
Comments Off on Price of butane up; gasoline may be next
Under the constitution of Belize it is the body known as Cabinet that wields the nation’s executive power. But anyone who knows the system can tell you that no matter how smart or well intentioned a Cabinet minister may be, he or she will have little success in the absence of a competent chief executive […]
Written on March 12, 2003 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Cabinet names new slate of CEOs
A Belize City family is anxious tonight to hear news of their loved one, missing now for just over a week. According to Marjorie Foreman, her husband, thirty-eight year old Gerald Foreman, told her he was heading out to the Turneffe Islands on Tuesday, March fourth to take on a job as a watchman. But […]
Written on March 12, 2003 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Wife reports husband missing at sea
It may just be a matter of perception, but it seems that Belize is enjoying one of those rare periods of relative calm in the area of violent crime. But while the madness can, and will, re-emerge when we least expect it, one worry for law enforcement officials that never goes away, is the consistently […]
Written on March 12, 2003 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Violent crime down but guns proliferate
If you are acquainted with anyone who has suffered kidney failure, then you know that the unfortunate victim has two choices: go abroad for regular dialysis treatments or stay home and die. As of last week, however, the prognosis for Belizean kidney patients has markedly improved…thanks to a new service offered by a Belize City […]
Written on March 12, 2003 | Posted in
Health |
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Most citizens of Belize City had partied hard over the long post election holiday weekend and were finally catching up on their rest. But in one southside neighbourhood, this morning’s calm was broken by a familiar calamity. Jacqueline Woods reports. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting Flames, intense heat, smoke and sparks from a downed electrical wire kept […]
Written on March 11, 2003 | Posted in
Disasters |
Comments Off on Fire wipes out Belize City businessman
It is a tragedy that has become far too familiar: a lethal combination involving a baby and a bucket of water. This weekend the scene of the disaster was Ladyville. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting Peaches Angelique Garbutt would have turned two years old in April. But the little girl did not live to celebrate her birthday. […]
Written on March 11, 2003 | Posted in
Disasters |
Comments Off on Ladyville baby drowns in water bucket
Three residents of the Stann Creek District perished after the car they were travelling in over turned and burst into flames. The accident occurred around three Sunday morning near mile five on the Stann Creek Valley Road. According to reports, co-workers, twenty-one year old Royston Castillo and twenty-eight year old Louis Barillas and a friend, […]
Written on March 11, 2003 | Posted in
Auto Accidents |
Comments Off on Three dead as car burns in Stann Creek
After a decisive 22-7 defeat in Wednesday’s election, the Opposition United Democratic Party may be down…but it’s definitely not out. This afternoon I sat down with U.D.P. Leader Dean Barrow to find out where he and his supporters go from here. Janelle Chanona “Following, the United Democratic Party’s National Party Council meeting on Saturday, what […]
Written on March 11, 2003 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on Barrow will continue as U.D.P. Leader
When we last left the flotilla of canoes, they were pulling up to Banana Bank to spend the first of three nights en route to the finish line in Belize City. And it is at the Belcan Bridge where cameraman George Tillett found them on Monday morning. Janelle Chanona, Reporting After four days of aching […]
Written on March 11, 2003 | Posted in
Sports |
Comments Off on H Team wins Ruta Maya
Good evening I’m James Adderley and we welcome you to this latest version of Sports Monday. Baron Bliss became our benefactor by bequeathing us his wealth, and ever since the country of Belize has dedicated the ninth of March to his memory. As usual, this annual holiday brings with it a flurry of activity on […]
Written on March 11, 2003 | Posted in
Sports |
Comments Off on Mexican wins Belmopan Cycling Classic
The voters only went to the polls on Wednesday, but by early next week the wheels of government should already be turning smoothly. News 5’s Janelle Chanona was on hand in Belmopan this morning for the unveiling of the nation’s top executive body…and found that the second Musa administration is no clone of the first. […]
Written on March 7, 2003 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on New 13 member Cabinet sworn in
Fire is an ever-present danger in a city crowded with old wooden buildings…but as we get further into the dry season the probability of a major disaster increases. This afternoon, a rapidly expanding blaze was extinguished, but not before making a number of families homeless. Jacqueline Woods reports. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting The fire burnt four […]
Written on March 7, 2003 | Posted in
Disasters |
Comments Off on Fire burns three Belize City homes
An American tourist visiting Placencia for a sailing holiday appears to have died of a heart attack. Police say that sixty-year-old Richard Fleming of New Jersey, went to sleep aboard a yacht moored just off the tip of the peninsula around ten pm on Tuesday, but when family members went to wake him up early […]
Written on March 7, 2003 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Tourist dies on yacht
A woman from the Cayo District is dead tonight, the victim of a traffic accident on the Mountain Pine Ridge road. According to San Ignacio police, Vidalina Deaupres, a Mexican living in Santa Elena, was out with friends on Thursday morning when the pick up truck she was travelling in overturned. Deaupres, who had been […]
Written on March 7, 2003 | Posted in
Auto Accidents |
Comments Off on Accident claims life in Mountain Pine Ridge
In other news from the west, police sources tell News 5 that western border traffic has been disrupted due to trouble on the Guatemalan side of the frontier. Reports are that a teachers’ strike in process now for several weeks, climaxed in the town of Melchor de Mencos when demonstrators blocked the Mopan River Bridge […]
Written on March 7, 2003 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Turmoil in Guatemala closes border to traffic
We don’t know what the children of Guatemala are doing while their teachers are on strike, but here in Belize it was the students on the march. Jacqueline Woods has more. Jacqueline Woods, Reporting Hey, the heat may have been unbearable for us older folks, but one thousand, five hundred primary school children paraded and […]
Written on March 7, 2003 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Children rally in Belize City
Most of its publicity was drowned out by the noise of the election campaign, but this morning as dawn broke over the Hawkesworth Bridge, you’d never know there was any event this week more important than the big canoe race. News 5’s Stewart Krohn reports from the banks of the Macal River in Cayo. Stewart […]
Written on March 7, 2003 | Posted in
Sports |
Comments Off on 6th annual Ruta Maya kicks off in Cayo
Due to a public and bank holiday on Monday in celebration of Baron Bliss Day, the next newscast will be on Tuesday, March tenth, 2003.
Written on March 7, 2003 | Posted in
Miscellaneous |
Comments Off on Notice to viewers
The victors may be boasting and the losers may be hiding, but today supporters of every political candidate have two things in common. One, they’re all tired from a very late night and two, they are unanimously thankful that the national ordeal called elections is finally over. News 5’s Stewart Krohn recounts the memorable events. […]
Written on March 6, 2003 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on Power to the P.U.P., 22-7
Tonight, although many Belizeans are still recovering from election fatigue, the People’s United Party is preparing get down to the business of governing. The new Cabinet heads to Belmopan first thing Friday morning to be officially sworn in by the Governor General at Belize House. This afternoon, we sat down with party secretary and new […]
Written on March 6, 2003 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on “We had better candidates”, says Fonseca
Elections are about numbers and we would be remiss not to document the final results of election 2003. So here are the details. We’ll begin in the Belize District: In the Freetown Division the P.U.P.’s Francis Fonseca won with 1,154 votes, beating U.D.P. candidate Doug Singh who received 771 votes. In Caribbean Shores incumbent P.U.P. […]
Written on March 6, 2003 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on Details of election results
The counting of ballots was not the only drama unfolding in Belize Wednesday night. While the rest of us cheered for our favourites, one Belize City resident had his life cut short by a bullet. Jacqueline Woods reports. Constance Mae Flowers, Mother “Right now I am very, very upset. My child wasn’t an angel, he […]
Written on March 6, 2003 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on City murder mars peaceful elections
