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Schools across the country will remain closed on Tuesday as the nation’s teachers continue their strike. After exhaustive meetings over the weekend with no resolution of the impasse between government and the Belize National Teacher Union, president of the BNTU Anthony Fuentes says educators have decided to remain off the job pending further discussions aimed […]
Written on January 31, 2005 | Posted in
Social Issues |
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With me now in studio are two of government?s lead negotiators, Minister Coye and Minister Godfrey Smith. What is the latest after what I know has been a very long weekend? Godfrey Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs ?The latest today is that we met with the National Trade Union Congress comprised of all their various […]
Written on January 31, 2005 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on GOB studies union proposals
Joining me now in studio is the president of the Public Service Union Dylan Reneau and George Frazer, General Secretary of NTUCB. I know you?ve been through a very long weekend. What is the proposal package in your eyes that you?ve presented to government? Dylan Reneau, President, PSU ?Well, the proposal package certainly covered all […]
Written on January 31, 2005 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Unions acknowledge progress, but stick to demands
Belize City chalked up another murder over the weekend. The victim and the alleged perpetrators were, as is all too often the case, young, while the motive, which remains murky, seems to bear little relation to the finality of the crime. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods has more. Rodney Baird, Uncle of the Deceased ?Well it’s […]
Written on January 31, 2005 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Shooting leaves one dead in city
A U.S. citizen has died as the result of a traffic accident in the Corozal District. Forty-one year old Lisa White, a resident of Carmelita, was pronounced dead on arrival at the Corozal Hospital, after the car in which she was riding went off the Northern Highway between miles seventy-eight and seventy-nine near Libertad Village. […]
Written on January 31, 2005 | Posted in
Auto Accidents |
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They received their baptism under fire on Friday, January twenty-first when they were the first to man the front line at the National Assembly in Belmopan. A week later, the men and women of recruit squad number eighty-one stood in formation, not to face sticks and stones but to graduate from the police-training academy. Eighty […]
Written on January 31, 2005 | Posted in
Defense |
Comments Off on Battle hardened police recruits graduate
The following day in Ladyville the leadership of the Belize Defence Force changed hands as Brigadier General Cedric Borland passed the sword and flag of command to the new BDF Commandant, Brigadier General Lloyd Gillett. Speaking at the occasion was Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Said Musa, who expressed great confidence in both the […]
Written on January 31, 2005 | Posted in
Defense |
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“Make Life better for Our People” that is what the community based organisation HANDS Belize hopes will be achieved through a working relationship with the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. HANDS Belize President and Stann Creek West area representative, Rodwell Ferguson, says the organisation which stands for Help, Assistance, Needs, Development and Service is a […]
Written on January 31, 2005 | Posted in
Education |
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A team of medical practitioners from the United States is presently in Belize conducting a series of health clinics. It is the third time that the group has been to the country as part of a medical programme by the Anglican Diocese, PUP Queen Square Committee and Peace Work of Virginia, U.S.A. According to one […]
Written on January 31, 2005 | Posted in
Health |
Comments Off on Free health clinics in city, south
James Adderley, Reporting Good evening I?m James Adderley and you?ve just stepped on board this journey we call Sports Monday. So let?s split to the MCC Grounds where week two in the Regents Cup Tournament found Kulture Yabra hosting Print Belize Griga yesterday. And Yabra goes to work immediately when Jerome James finds Norman Tilliman […]
Written on January 31, 2005 | Posted in
Sports |
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As promised, it was back to the streets again for unionized workers and citizens agitating for financial reform, rollback of recent tax increases and the implementation of promised salary increases for teachers and government employees. Today’s action was led by the Public Service Union which held rallies and marches in Belize City, Orange Walk, San […]
Written on January 28, 2005 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on PSU takes hard line, leads nationwide walkout
For its part the government of Belize has chosen to react to the union and civic action with a deliberate calm and measured response, perhaps in recognition that the current situation amounts to more than just another labour dispute. Speaking to the press this afternoon Minister of Foreign Affairs Godfrey Smith maintained that a methodical […]
Written on January 28, 2005 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on GOB counsels patience, predicts success
In a related bit of news, we take note of the sudden disappearance from the scene of NTUCB general secretary, George Frazer. Frazer, who for years has been the public face of organised labour in Belize, was last heard from in an interview Thursday morning on Love FM. In that interview he offered an optimistic […]
Written on January 28, 2005 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Frazer muzzled for his optimism?
A suspect has been arrested and charged in the murder of a nine-year-old Dangriga girl. He is seventeen-year-old Dennis Pineda. Sources tell News 5 that on Thursday Pineda, a Honduran national, who is acquainted with the victim’s family, gave a tearful confession to police. Authorities would not comment on a motive but we understand Pineda […]
Written on January 28, 2005 | Posted in
Crime |
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Twenty-three year old Chester Noralez and seventeen-year-old Reynold Michael remain in the Karl Huesner Memorial Hospital recovering from gunshot wounds to their right leg and right side of the neck respectively. Both young men have told police that around eight forty on Thursday night, they were standing on Amara Avenue when two men rode by […]
Written on January 28, 2005 | Posted in
Crime |
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Many Government employees may have been on strike today but that did not mean that the nation’s official business was abandoned. Today the fifth meeting of the Belize-Mexico Bilateral Commission was concluded as the results of the friendly negotiations were presented to the foreign ministers of the two countries. Among the agreements signed were those […]
Written on January 28, 2005 | Posted in
Foreign Affairs |
Comments Off on Mexico and Belize reinforce ties
Despite the upbeat assessment of bilateral relations, both sides acknowledged problems at the border, with Mexican customs officials enforcing strict limits on Mexican purchases in the Corozal Free Zone, the result being a significant drop in Free Zone business. For Derbez, the whole matter can be attributed to overzealous bureaucrats–a situation that will soon, be […]
Written on January 28, 2005 | Posted in
Foreign Affairs |
Comments Off on Mexicans will ease restrictions at border
United we stand, divided we fall. That’s the message Belize’s striking labour unions have been sending out for weeks. But that credo applies far beyond industrial or political disputes. Today a group of well organised tour guides put the ideal of collective action into practice. Stewart Krohn, Reporting If you?ve ever been lucky enough to […]
Written on January 28, 2005 | Posted in
Economy |
Comments Off on Tour guides unite to upgrade vehicles
It represents the vast majority of government employees countrywide, and after more than a week of hard talk, the Public Service Union is walking the walk. In a press release issued this afternoon, the PSU stated that it has: “noted government’s apparent inflexible position and therefore in strong solidarity with the National Trade Union Congress […]
Written on January 27, 2005 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on GOB employees will walk out on Friday
But after late afternoon proposal by the Government of Belize, it appears that the hardliners in the Belize National Teachers Union may be softening their stance. News 5 understands that GOB has put back on the negotiating table the same offer that it shot down on Tuesday when the unions suggested it. The terms include […]
Written on January 27, 2005 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Teachers Union will vote on compromise
In related news, the Belize Medical and Dental Union, which represents employees from the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and district hospitals has announced plans to take industrial action. As an essential service, the doctors and nurses say they will continue to provide adequate health care, however the BMDU says, “in solidarity with the present movement, […]
Written on January 27, 2005 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Hospital workers cancel all elective surgery
The civil strife now affecting the nation tends to push any other news out of the headlines. But while the unions, civil society and government wrangled in Belize City and Belmopan, Dangriga was the scene of a horrendous crime. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods has just returned to our studios with the following report. Jacqueline Woods, […]
Written on January 27, 2005 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on 9 year old girl murdered in Dangriga
If you are a graduate of the University of the West Indies, then the institution wants you…to join its Alumni Association. The first Annual General Meeting of the Belize Chapter the UWI Alumni Association is scheduled for Friday evening at the Radisson Fort George. Resident Tutor Luz Longsworth says this weekend’s reunion is the culmination […]
Written on January 27, 2005 | Posted in
Education |
Comments Off on UWI seeks Belizean alumni
The cargo vessel that went aground on the windward side of Lighthouse Reef several weeks ago has become less of a threat to the environment. Yesterday the two hundred and twenty-five foot freighter “Transfer” had all her diesel fuel removed–over eleven thousand gallons–and today the bilges are being cleaned in preparation for salvage operations. According […]
Written on January 27, 2005 | Posted in
Auto Accidents |
Comments Off on Diesel fuel removed from stranded ship
If what you are hoping for is a successful resolution of the various conflicts now besetting our country then there is some positive news. In a common sense process that seeks to separately address the three concerns of political reform, taxation and salary hikes for teachers and public officers, it appears that the issue of […]
Written on January 26, 2005 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on Talk turns positive as agreement reached on reforms
