Spoonaz Café, the well-known and popular business place on North Front Street, Belize City, was burglarized recently and the culprit was caught on a surveillance camera. He has been identified as Derick Garbutt, who was arraigned this evening on a single charge of burglary to which he pleaded not guilty. There was heavy objection to […]
And tonight’s question is: Do you support an amendment of the Referendum Law from the sixty percent threshold to a simple majority of the population to vote? Send your comments and responses using your SMART phones to 8686 or post your vote on our e-poll at channel5belize.com. You can also send an email with your […]
Xunantunich, or Stone Woman, is one of the country’s more popular Mayan sites, located just across the Mopan River in San Jose, Succotz…one kilometer away from the Guatemalan border. Centuries ago it served as one of the more important ceremonial centers of the Mayan Civilization in the region, and today the site is in the […]
Since its establishment in January, the local media has only met with the Toledo Maya Land Rights Commission on two occasions, the second being this morning during a breakfast meeting at the Radisson. An informal gathering, including Chairperson Lisel Alamilla, Queen’s Counsel Anthony Ross and legal draftsman Randal Shepherd, provided an update on progress that […]
The consent order issued by the CCJ in April 2015, has seemingly different interpretations, despite its clarity. As a result, there are mixed messages being spread across the communities. The commission, as part of its public education campaign, has published the order in booklet form and is disseminating that leaflet at its consultations. The underlying […]
The perception, based on recent incidents involving both parties, is that there is an adversarial relationship between the commission and representatives of the Maya communities. However, the directive handed down by the CCJ clearly states that government has to spearhead the order. Anthony Ross, Consultant, Toledo Maya Land Rights Commission “What we are saying […]
According to Alamilla, a string of consultations will commence this weekend and those will be preceded by a round of meetings with government to bring officials up to speed with what has been taking place. Lisel Alamilla, Chair, Toledo Maya Land Rights Commission “Mr. Ross is here this week and we are taking the […]
A vehicle was deliberately set on fire on Monday afternoon; it was the property of businessman Evan Tench of Techtronic’s Communication located on Amara Avenue, Belize City. The vehicle, a Jeep Wrangler, was parked behind the Saint Ignatius Primary School in Belize City, when it was doused and lit. The arson was caught on surveillance […]
The National Fire Service, under the auspices of the Ministry of Works, Transport and National Emergency Management is looking for competent persons to join its ranks as firefighter. Today, Station Manager Orin Smith took the opportunity to invite Belizeans to apply to serve the country. Orin Smith, Station Manager, Nat’l Fire Service “Do you […]
Donating blood may not be an enjoyable experience for many, but knowing the process and the importance can reduce fear. Today was celebrated as World Blood Donor Day; an occasion used to thank volunteer donors for giving that vital fluid. In Belize, a call was also made for new donors to beef up the supply […]
Belize City Police are currently looking for the gunman who brazenly walked onto the basketball court at the corner of Faber’s Road and Central American Boulevard and gunned down Marlon Bonner, thirty-four years of age. It happened at around four on Sunday as Bonner played with friends on the court. It is the same basketball […]
The situation facing Police in the Bonner murder is nothing new. In fact, there are many instances in which broad daylight murders have gone unpunished because witnesses are afraid to come forward. ACP Williams says that is the reality, and there’s actually very little they can do about it because at this time anything resembling […]
Today, the Ministry of Health issued an urgent and scathing release condemning the exploitation of vulnerable persons. It’s a very specific condemnation, referring to a disturbing video which has been making the social media and internet rounds. It shows two persons, allegedly with mental disorders, being instructed to perform sexual acts with the promise of […]
ACP Williams claims that not only because of that video, but because of a general culture of sexual exploitation on social media and the internet, legislators need to be more active in addressing violations in that arena. ACP Chester Williams, Commander, Eastern Division South “I think it is time that we do get legislative […]
There is another illegal Guatemalan settlement in Belizean territory near the border between the countries. That news came via release from the Ministry of National Security in the wake of a month-long operation in the area of Valentin Camp. According to the release, the settlement consisting of twenty Guatemalans was found in the area of […]
In addition to operations on the border, the B.D.F. also conducted a more localized exercise in which eighty-five pounds of processed and parceled marijuana was found on three persons in Patchakan. Acting Deputy Commander Louis Sutherland told News Five that based on information received on June eleventh; they intercepted Edilberto Ku, John Triminio and Gabriel […]
The 2016 P.S.E. results were released late on Friday evening. The Ministry of Education says there is not any marked improvement to those of last year with Math posing a huge challenge in the curriculum of schools. That aside, a number of students and teachers are celebrating the hard work put into preparing for the […]
A total of seven thousand three hundred and ninety-two students registered for the 2016 Primary School Examinations of which seven thousand two hundred and thirty-five candidates sat the exams. The top twenty-five students are a mix bag, most of them representing the district schools. This year, Kenly Young of Saint Andrews’s School in San Ignacio […]
The Ministry of Education today spoke of the results. Head of the Exams Unit, Nelson Longsworth, who annually would crunch the numbers and track improvements in the exams, says that when compared to 2015, the results were similar. While students improved in composition and letter writing, they didn’t score well in the comprehension and multiple […]
A biography of Jamaica’s fourth Prime Minister Michael Manley has been penned by well-known Belizean attorney and author, Godfrey Smith. The life story of the democratic socialist was commissioned in late 2013 and has been long in the making. Manley, one of Jamaica’s most popular prime ministers, comes from a rich background, including the trade […]
The government of Belize has issued a release expressing distress and sorrow over what it calls the senseless killing and injuring of innocent citizens in Orlando, Florida. Forty-nine have been confirmed dead and fifty-three injured in what is being called the worst mass shooting in US history. G.O.B.’s release goes on to state that, “this […]
The shooting stirred comments and condemnation from many quarters. In Belize, an employee of Buttonwood Bay Medical Center, Raynard Humphreys, commented on Facebook, “I know people will hate me for this but I believe the killing of fifty last night in Florida is justified.” He continued, “I’m proud a moral psychopath (if that exists) took […]
San Pedro police have made a series of arrests following anti-drug operations on the island in the past few days. On Thursday, a team of officers visited a residence two miles south of town where they searched an apartment room occupied by Canadian nationals, thirty-five-year-old Sara Christine Brodie and thirty-seven-year-old Matthew George Hoy. Inside the […]
Tonight, a Belize City man is on remand at the Belize Central Prison for allegedly sexually abusing a minor between November 2015 and May 2016. Twenty-seven-year old Burley Kenyon Murphy, an unemployed, was arraigned this morning in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court and slapped with five counts of unlawful sexual intercourse upon a fifteen-year old girl. […]
Today, the U.S. made a significant donation to Belize’s justice system through its Central American Regional Security Initiative, CARSI. The Embassy has been working with the judiciary to overhaul the criminal justice system since 2012 and a significant milestone was reached today. If you’ve ever been in the Magistrate’s Court during a trial, you’ve seen […]
