The shooting murders of Eugene Flores and Roberto Torres as they rode home with friends on Valentine’s Day made big headlines. Police were quick to arrest four people, including one of their own, Constable Gilbert Hyde, Jr. But today Hyde is a free man as the Director of Public Prosecutions, Lutchman Sooknandan, directed that the […]
Police in the far west have apprehended a suspect wanted in the far north. Twenty-four year old Enrique Gonzalez, wanted for a burglary in Corozal that netted over ten thousand dollars in cash and jewelry, was spotted by cops from Benque Viejo Wednesday afternoon in the vicinity of the Guatemalan border. He was detained and, […]
A man whose sentence was originally life imprisonment will now get a chance to live a normal life, that is after he serves eighteen years behind bars. Thirty-one year old Jesus Olivarez, whose appeal was allowed yesterday, had his murder conviction reduced to manslaughter by the Court of Appeal. The sentence will take effect as […]
Belize is the only place where police shoot criminals caught in the act, right? Wrong, of course, and this week one of Belize’s most well known cops learned that fact first hand. According to reports in the U.S. media, Assistant Commissioner Allen Whylie, in Los Angeles this week attending an international conference on gang violence, […]
In 2001, the government of Belize signed onto a United Nations General Assembly Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. But in 2007, the Alliance Against AIDS wanted to find out what has been accomplished in the six years since the signing, specifically with regard to the sexual and reproductive health rights of young women and girls. […]
Today Belizeans from all sectors of society hit the road during a torch run from mile twenty-one on the Western Highway to Belize City’s Constitution Park. The event was one of several efforts by WIN Belize during Women’s Week. This particular event, however, was meant to raise awareness on H.I.V./AIDS and violence against women, particularly […]
Competitions involving the nation’s primary and secondary schools are nothing new, dating back at least as far as the heyday of Radio Belize and extending through the Coca-Cola spelling bee and Social Security’s Math Olympiad. In recent years another contest has been gaining popularity, with the distinction of having an international component. News Five’s Marion […]
It had been rumoured ever since the new government released a letter from the Venezuelan government asking what happened to a ten million U.S. dollar gift given to Belize just prior to the February seventh election. Today, under increasing pressure to account for the funds, former Prime Minister Said Musa finally came clean and admitted […]
The last few days in Belize City have not seen a homicide but that doesn’t mean the bullets have stopped flying. Two families escaped serious injuries Tuesday morning when a barrage of lead penetrated the walls of their houses, missing a three year old boy by inches. The gunshots rang out around seven-thirty on Haulze […]
A farmer from the Stann Creek district is tonight on remand at Hattieville Prison following a shooting incident last week in the Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary. In a press release issued by the sanctuary’s co-manager, the Belize Audubon Society, on February twenty-sixth their rangers accompanied by police officers from Hopkins Village, conducted a joint patrol […]
The unidentified skeletal remains of a human have been unearthed off the Coastal Road. Details are in short supply but police report that acting on information brought to their attention, on Monday afternoon they visited a site between the road and Runaway Creek, where the decomposed body was discovered in a shallow grave. A post […]
A suspect has been arrested in the weekend rape of a San Ignacio woman. He is forty-three year Rolando Castillo of George Price Avenue in Santa Elena. The victim told police that at around two-thirty Sunday morning she got into what she thought was a taxi outside a nightclub. The driver, however, is alleged to […]
His nickname is “Possum” but tonight twenty-three year old prison inmate Kevin Dawson isn’t out of jail because he played dead; it’s because he pretended he was someone else. According to court reports, Dawson, who is serving a five year sentence for burglary, was to appear in court this morning on a charge of Drug […]
The new government has decided to continue the much appreciated practice of issuing a written press release following each session of Cabinet. In his first such briefing, Cabinet Secretary James Murphy reports that a team from the Ministry of Education has concluded a visit to Escuela Secondaria Mexico in the Corozal District, to assess a […]
And in what promises to be another regular feature of Belizean media life, the Prime Minister’s press secretary, Delroy Cuthkelvin, held the first of what he assured will be many press briefings. Although nothing of particular note was revealed today, Cuthkelvin did call on the press to be vigilant and help keep the government honest. […]
Following our story on shark feeding in the Blue Hole on Tuesday’s newscast, this afternoon, officials of the Forest Department told News Five that they are now planning to launch a public awareness campaign against the activity. According to Deputy Chief Forest Officer Marcelo Windsor, in a move similar to what happened following the publicity […]
Today the female complement of the Police Department made their presence felt during Women’s Week. The occasion was an award ceremony at the Police Training Academy in Belmopan where three women were recognised for their service to the Department. This was one occasion when Acting Commissioner, Maureen Leslie got the chance to mix humour with […]
In another event connected to Women’s Week today WIN Belize displayed a quilt and circulated an accompanying booklet entitled, Quilters: A weaving of the Women’s Movement in Belize”. The publication features eight women who played their part in the struggle for basic rights. Carolyn Reynolds, Executive Director, WIN Belize “Some of these women, one of […]
Health care is a subject never too far from the thoughts of most Belizeans. And while we recognize that in many critical areas the level of treatment available locally may be lacking, that system is supplemented by visiting specialists, often volunteers, who help fill the gap. News Five’s Janelle Chanona reports. Janelle Chanona, Reporting It […]
Three more police officers are in trouble tonight, accused of planting drugs on a businessman and trying to shake him down for a bribe. The man who blew the whistle is a Taiwanese Belizean of St. Mark Street in Caribbean Shores. He reported to the police Internal Affairs Department that around five a.m. on February […]
A man who stole a safe containing forty-three thousand dollars has been sentenced to five years in jail. Thirty-four year old Ernest Gladden pleaded guilty to the burglary, which occurred in May of last year at the office of Hugh Parkey’s Dive Connection at seventy-one North Front Street in Belize City. Gladden also pled guilty […]
The Development Finance Corporation has five new board members. The appointments by Prime Minister Dean Barrow in his capacity as Minister of Finance, were announced today in a release from the Belize Press Office. The three new non-government directors are Perla Perdomo, Pamela Joan Neal and Karim Berges. They join ex-officio appointees Yvonne Hyde, who […]
The government of Cuba has announced the award of scholarships to twenty-one Belizeans to study medicine in that country. According to a release from the Cuban Embassy, the students were selected following a series of interviews with officials in the ministries of Education, Health, and Foreign Affairs in addition to the embassy. They will begin […]
In line with the Women’s Week motto of “Women: Equal Partners in Belize’s Development,” on Thursday night, eight women will be honoured for the contributions they have made to their organisations and community. This afternoon one of those Outstanding Women shared her story with News Five’s Kendra Griffith. Kendra Griffith, Reporting Meet forty-eight year old […]
Three Belizean organisations have been awarded grants to enhance sustainable tourism around the barrier reef. The Toledo Tour Guide Association, Green Reef Environmental Institute and Belize Audubon Society were singled out by the Friends of World Heritage for assistance in promoting projects that will raise income levels in communities surrounding the World Heritage sites while […]
