Prime Minister Dean Barrow has met with the three unions to discuss delaying the final salary adjustments for teachers and public officers as agreed to by the Joint Negotiating Team back in 2014. This meeting took place on the heels of the two-hundred million dollar payment made by government as part of the compensation package […]
According to former Ministry of Foreign Affairs official and journalist Trevor Vernon, he was denied entry to Canada on Saturday after border authorities there reportedly declared that his passport was not genuine and that he did not have a Canadian visa. This comes as Belize deals with the Immigration Audit Report which details multiple irregularities […]
Guatemala today officially, but not surprisingly, rejected the report of two independent experts in respect of the shooting death of fourteen year old Julio Rene Alvarado Ruano in the Chiquibul last April. Even though Guatemala was first to call for an independent investigation and Belize agreed to it, President Jimmy Morales told the media in […]
A U.S. registered vessel was grounded on the barrier reef in the area of Hatchet Caye located east-northeast of Placencia over the weekend. Eight persons were onboard the civilian vessel: three Colombians, four Guatemalans and an American national. Guatemalan authorities have confirmed that the vessel left the Port of Livingston heading to Big Creek in […]
Carnival 2016 is getting off to an excellent start and it all reads up to the highly anticipated road march on September seventh. The number of bands has increased this year and the costumes are looking more elaborate and glamorous. On Saturday night, the King and Queen competition took place at the Marion Jones Stadium. […]
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and this is Sports Monday. Infotel went into Game II of the BDBA Firms Division 3 game Champion Series needing only a win to own the 2016 title as they faced the Belize Bank Bulldogs inside the BES Gym Friday night. The opening minutes displayed the tension in the […]
An infant was kidnapped last week from his home in the village of Bella Vista in southern Belize. There was little information to go by at the time because the mother of the child, Yosselyn Ordones, did not want to aggravate the abductors. All that was known was that the kidnappers grabbed the child when […]
The Belize Bus Owners Cooperative (BBOC) and ADO bus company of Mexico have escalated a rivalry over a key bus run in the North of Belize. Beginning this morning, ADO, which runs a special night service between Belize City and Cancun and Merida, Mexico is operating an eleven a.m. run on the same route; but […]
The driver faces charges of obstruction, assault of a police officer and disorderly conduct. Senior Superintendent Dawson explained that apart from transport issues, the police were mostly interested in restoring order to traffic in the busy area and he believes the situation could possibly have been handled differently. Sr. Supt. Alden Dawson, Dep. Regional […]
The Senate on Wednesday rejected a motion for a senate select investigation into the Immigration scandal. On Thursday, the Prime Minister announced that the Chamber of Commerce would support a bicameral investigation. The N.T.U.C.B., however, says it was taken by surprise when it found out that the business community has opted for a Joint Select […]
Trade unionist Elena Smith is the last senator standing among her social partner colleagues, based on an informal process of elimination conducted by Prime Minister Barrow on Thursday. During a press conference to discuss the Auditor General’s report, PM Barrow disregarded senators Ashley Rocke and Mark Lizarraga as potential chairs of the Joint Select Committee. […]
Senator Ashley Rocke has come under intense scrutiny from the churches, whom he represents in upper parliament, since voting against the Senate Select Taskforce. In the aftermath of that critical vote, other organizations, including the N.T.U.C.B. continue to criticize the embattled pastor for his reversal in the vote. While President Mora admits that the matter […]
News Five tried today to seek comment from the Office of Auditor General Dorothy Bradley concerning the Immigration Special Audit Reports. But she was unavailable. However, we have received reliable information which suggests that she is seeking legal advice based on the comments made by Prime Minister Dean Barrow and Minister for Immigration Senator Godwin […]
The People’s United Party has reacted to the Prime Minister’s press conference held on Thursday. The P.U.P. had tabled a motion for a Senate Select Committee to investigate the Immigration and Nationalization scandal, but it was defeated five vote for and seven against. A release from the P.U.P. says that what the Auditor General’s report […]
The Government, in a press release this evening, announced it has reached agreement for the continuation of emergency services by BERT. G.O.B. has committed to grant Belize Emergency Response Team forty-five thousand dollars per month for the next six months while the two sides continue negotiations over the long-term financial sustainability of BERT’s land ambulance […]
Today, Brigadier General David Jones, Commander of the Belize Defence Force, issued an update to last night’s report about a group of soldiers who went to verify that Guatemalan citizens had obeyed an order to depart Belizean territory where they had established a settlement and walked into gunfire which they returned. The shooting took place […]
In the village of Crooked Tree, Belize District, health authorities had to take matters into their hand when part of the building housing the clinic caved in. The facility was built years ago and had deteriorated considerably. On Wednesday, the verandah came crashing down. A six year old was playing under the verandah, but fortunately […]
Back in December 2012, David Taylor, a naturalized Belizean was accused of molesting four young boys in Placencia. Tonight, he is behind bars serving a two-year prison term imposed upon him by Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith in the Independence Magistrate Court. The trial against Taylor began four to five months ago, but on […]
Also behind bars tonight is nineteen year old Stephen Mejia, an unemployed resident of Antelope Street Extension, after being busted on Thursday with a nine millimetre pistol loaded with nine live rounds of ammunitions. The bust was carried out by officers of the Strike Team, who were on mobile patrol on Dunn Street, Belize City. […]
Back to the N.T.U.C.B…..an internal memo criticizing the General Council of the Congress for its style of management was leaked to the media earlier this week. In the communiqué, signed by presidents of the Belize Communications Workers Union and the Belize Water Services Workers Union, General Secretary Rebecca Suazo is chided for incompetence and unproductively. […]
Immigration Minister Godwin Hulse insists his troubled department has not tried to keep its records secret in relation to the issuance of visas, especially to Chinese nationals. It turns out that, according to Hulse, the Chinese paid more for their visas than all of the others issued visas in the same time period. Now, the […]
The Immigration Minister also defended the purpose of recommendation of persons to receive visas. He says it’s about who knows you, not who you know. Senator Godwin Hulse, Minister of Immigration “So this issue, that somebody would recommend somebody in China to come here and they don’t know somebody; when you ever recommend somebody […]
Thursday’s three-hour press conference included a live walk-through presentation by Immigration Officer Diego Bol covering the entire immigration process from start to finish. It was not taped, but it was intended to show the many failsafes put in place in the wake of the Special Audit Report. However, many of the names called in the […]
It’s been exactly one month since Hurricane Earl hit south of Belize City and swept through Belize and Mexico. While there were no casualties in Belize, in Mexico up to fifty persons perished due to the storm and thousand were affected. Today, a donation of fifty thousand U.S. dollars for hurricane relief was handed over […]
According to Ambassador Quesnel, the amount was determined following assessments from the Government and the Belize Red Cross. The Red Cross has helped approximately five hundred families across the Belize District and Director General Lily Bowman says that the financial assistance forms part of the Belize Disaster Risk Emergency Fund. The money will be disbursed […]
