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The colour and pageantry of the official opening of the Supreme Court is a highlight of the judicial calendar. But as News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports, this year’s event also brought out the fact that the Belizean society is becoming increasingly violent. Janelle Chanona, Reporting Sticking to tradition, this morning’s ceremonial opening of the 2008 […]
Written on January 14, 2008 | Posted in
Crime |
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Good evening I’m James Adderley and you’re certainly welcome to this delivery of Sports Monday. With league leader Wagiya of Dangriga idle over the weekend, Hankook Verdes of Cayo looked to make up some ground as it faced Santels in the San Ignacio derby yesterday on week sixteen of the RFG Insurance Football Cup Tournament. […]
Written on January 14, 2008 | Posted in
Sports |
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Three months after Marion Jones admitted she took performance enhancing drugs, today a U.S. judge has ordered her to spend six months behind bars. Jones, with her husband Obadele Thompson at her side, appeared before Federal Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, New York this morning and was given the maximum sentence of six months […]
Written on January 11, 2008 | Posted in
Sports |
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In news from Belize’s courtrooms, today two men appeared in the Magistrates’ Court to answer to charges of Grievous Harm and Use of Deadly Means of Harm against a Sandhill man. The charges against nineteen year old Marlon Taylor and twenty-two year old Clifford Wade follow an incident on Tuesday in which twenty-six year old […]
Written on January 11, 2008 | Posted in
Crime |
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Tonight another Belizean man is accused of conning gullible citizens out of their hard earned cash. According to police, two years ago, sixty-two year old Berisford Castillo was able to convince at least two people that, for a small amount cash, he could procure a U.S. visa for them. The first person to be duped […]
Written on January 11, 2008 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Latest reported scam involves U.S. visas
In December political parties and the police officially signed a code of ethics, promising among other things, to respect each other’s signs. But since then, billboards, posters and banners of both the People’s United Party and United Democratic Party have been defaced, destroyed, and even burnt. Today, four men accused of such vandalism appeared in […]
Written on January 11, 2008 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on 4 political supporters accused of defacing opponent’s sign
Rounding out our courtroom reports is word that when the new legal year starts next week, Supreme Court Justices will look a little different. According to a press release from the Registrar, “judges will no longer wear wigs in court and in presiding over all cases they will wear black robes with white shirts, wing […]
Written on January 11, 2008 | Posted in
Miscellaneous |
Comments Off on New Supreme Court look to debut at Monday’s opening
It was a busy day at the Social Security Board Belize City office as the fund officially signed a second set of contracts for healthcare under N.H.I. and responded to political accusations of improper service to contributors. News Five’s Janelle Chanona has the details. Janelle Chanona, Reporting Three weeks after contracts between the Social Security […]
Written on January 11, 2008 | Posted in
Health |
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Voter registration is officially over and after more than a week of long lines, tonight employees of the Elections and Boundaries Department are now processing and validating those applications. This afternoon News Five’s Marion Ali sat down with Acting Chief Elections Officer, Ruth Meighan to find out more about this process. Ruth Meighan, Acting Chief […]
Written on January 11, 2008 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on Election officials now verifying new registrations
It’s the second largest income earner in terms of captured fisheries for Belize, but conch is also listed as an endangered species. And while Belize’s management plan for the marine product has been accepted by international regulators, the United States is now implementing measures to ensure that all countries harvesting conch are adhering to their […]
Written on January 11, 2008 | Posted in
Agriculture |
Comments Off on New rule for conch products to affect locals/visitors
As we’ve often noted in this newscast, many organisations depend on charity contributions to make ends meet. Today two such groups received lifelines from a local foundation trying to make a difference. Kendra Griffith, Reporting This morning the LifeLine Foundation donated just under ten thousand dollars to two Belize City N.G.O.s. The Parents Association for […]
Written on January 11, 2008 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on Foundation offers lifeline to separate N.G.O.s
Almost everywhere you look in Belize, it’s apparent that women run things. The universities, government offices, banks … even here at News Five. But the one place you almost never see women is seated in the House of Representatives. It’s a disturbing fact because while many European countries boast legislatures with over thirty percent female […]
Written on January 10, 2008 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on Where are the women candidates?
On Monday we reported that police were looking for a man who allegedly received money from two people to buy vehicles for them but never returned with the cars or cash. Today that man, twenty-eight year old Robert Villanueva of Calle al Mar in Belize City, appeared in Magistrates’ Court where he was charged with […]
Written on January 10, 2008 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Dangriga robbery suspect arrested and charged
It’s a startling but not necessarily unusual sight in Belize to see a house traveling down the road on the back of a flatbed trailer. It’s an art perfected largely by the Mennonites and those prefabricated wooden homes made in Spanish Lookout and elsewhere have come to be known generically as “Mennonite Houses”. Now we […]
Written on January 10, 2008 | Posted in
Miscellaneous |
Comments Off on How not to transport a house
They had to wait almost five years but on Wednesday, Belizean men finally achieved equality with women … at least in the eyes of the Social Security Board. The occasion was the launching of the non contributory pension for men sixty-five and over. Women who did not qualify for a regular Social Security pension began […]
Written on January 10, 2008 | Posted in
Social Issues |
Comments Off on S.S.B. inaugurates non-contributory pensions for men
The transfer of resources continued this afternoon in Belize City’s Freetown division where instead of cash, it was land being delivered. News Five’s Kendra Griffith was on hand for the now familiar process. Kendra Griffith, Reporting Minister of Natural Resources Florencio Marin and his staff had a whole lotta signing to do this afternoon as […]
Written on January 10, 2008 | Posted in
Uncategorized |
Comments Off on Titles handed out for Belama Phase Four
It may not have been a politically motivated event but progress is welcomed whenever and wherever you find it. Today an improvement in education took the form of the dedication of a new science laboratory at St. Johns College High School. According to S.J.C. president Frank Garbutt, the value of the new facility is not […]
Written on January 10, 2008 | Posted in
Education |
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If you are watching this newscast and have not yet registered to vote for the upcoming election you’re pretty much out of luck. But the unregistered appear to be in a minority as citizens all over the country descended on Elections and Boundaries offices in preparation for February seventh. News Five’s Marion Ali canvassed the […]
Written on January 10, 2008 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on Cayo candidates help voters with last minute registration
On successive days this week we have seen Said Musa present his party’s thirty-one candidates and Dean Barrow introduce his party’s slate of equal number. Today it was the turn of Vision Inspired by the People, a Belmopan based third party that after contesting three consecutive municipal elections in the nation’s capital, believes it is […]
Written on January 9, 2008 | Posted in
Politics |
Comments Off on V.I.P. presents slate of ten candidates
Just in case you had your doubts about the evacuation of Guatemalans from the illegal settlement of Santa Rosa, the Organization of American States has confirmed what our own Foreign Ministry has been saying since last week. That is, on January fourth the first eight families began to move to new homes in Guatemala near […]
Written on January 9, 2008 | Posted in
Uncategorized |
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Exact numbers are still hard to come by but word out of the capital city tonight is that the wave of people lining up to become Belizeans continued today. According to reporters at Plus TV in Belmopan, the crowd was only slightly smaller than yesterday but we can confirm that the applicants are being brought […]
Written on January 9, 2008 | Posted in
Uncategorized |
Comments Off on Crowds still seek citizenship in Belmopan
It may be Belize’s first murder of the year, but for now we’ll wait and see as Corozal police are trying to ascertain the identity of what appears to be charred human remains found in a burnt cane field about a mile north of Xaibe Village. On Monday January seventh, police were called to the […]
Written on January 9, 2008 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Charred remains in canefield may be year’s first murder victim
Less than two months ago Therese Felix lost her second of five sons to gun violence. Today a third son is recuperating from bullet wounds in the second attempt on his life. The incident occurred sometime after nine last night while twenty year old Kenroy Bennett was at a friend’s house on Jane Usher Boulevard. […]
Written on January 9, 2008 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Two sons already killed, third Felix son wounded
He was originally charged with extortion and today a second charge was laid against thirty-three year old Lionel Castillo. Castillo, who is the former Investigator in the Office of the Ombudsman, appeared in Magistrates’ Court on a charge of Agreement for Influencing an Officer. The allegation is that on June seventeenth, 2007, Castillo accepted five […]
Written on January 9, 2008 | Posted in
Trials |
Comments Off on Second charge levelled at Ombudsboy may be thrown out
Thirty-two year old business man Ellington Ottley Sr., who was charged with Drug Trafficking on Monday, was back in court today for a similar offence. Ottley and a sixteen year old minor were charged in connection with four hundred and sixty-seven grams of cannabis that police reported they found at Buy Low Fashion Boutique on […]
Written on January 9, 2008 | Posted in
Crime |
Comments Off on Second weed charge means no bail
