At first glance, it seems like just another night on the street in the Old Capital. A group of young men are hanging around and shooting the breeze. Except this street is George Street, and the young men you will see in this video are soldiers of the feared George Street Gang, also known as […]
Seven persons in the City are without a home tonight in the wake of a fire. Shortly before eight-thirty on Friday night, a blaze tore through the wooden home in Taylor’s Alley and destroyed everything inside the two-storey house. No one was injured, but two pets perished during the blaze. Firefighters managed to contain the […]
An ecumenical church service gave way to the traditional opening of the Supreme Court this morning. Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin was joined by other judges, magistrates, attorneys and others in the legal fraternity, as well as spectators, as he inspected the guard of honor that is mounted to mark the solemnity of the occasion in […]
So while the 2018 calendar is off to a solid start, what becomes of the unresolved cases from previous years for which the bar association brought pressure to bear on the Chief Justice to deliver those judgments? It’s a question that we posed to the Attorney General this morning. He says that in spite of […]
Extradition proceedings against Andrew Bennett are set to commence as soon as Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington signs a sheaf of documents presented by Solicitor General Nigel Hawke, on behalf of the United States government. The well-known attorney was a no-show at the opening of the Supreme Court earlier today, amid the scandal that has ensued […]
The Ministers of Works and Home Affairs were put on the spot in the House of Representatives on Friday by Stann Creek West area representative Rodwell Ferguson. Rene Montero was directly questioned about the explosion in the Santa Cruz area of Santa Elena Town in December, which killed a manager for Tiger Aggregates, the company […]
Following the House meeting, Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources Dean Barrow appeared willing to lay all the blame on Tiger Aggregates. While he was not completely clear on the question, he insisted on two things: one, that there could be no arrangement between Belize Roadway Construction and the Works Minister and Cayo Central […]
There were two road traffic accidents in the north, which claimed one life. Around two-forty on Saturday afternoon, police responded to an RTA on the Xaibe-Patchakan Road in Corozal. According to police, fifty-two-year-old Eriberto Tzul was driving a car from the direction of Patchakan heading towards Xaibe when he lost control of the vehicle and […]
There were two separate road traffic accidents in the south and one claimed the life of a fifty-two-year-old Pomona villager. Andres Philip Diego Senior perished after he was knocked down between miles ten and eleven on the Hummingbird Highway. Police say that sometime around six-thirty on Sunday evening Jerry O’hara David was driving from the […]
Like most viewers on Thursday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington was watching the news when he saw the report by the Belize Territorial Volunteers’ leader Wil Maheia. Maheia was accompanying members of a youth basketball team led by Clinton “Pulu” Lightburn on a trip to Sarstoon Island when they encountered members of the Guatemalan […]
Back in December former Foreign Minister Eamon Courtenay demanded that current Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington clashed over the Maritime Areas Act. Courtenay asked Elrington to reveal which legal advisors he and the government have been consulting in the U.K. who suggest that the Act should not be repealed right away, lest it offend Guatemala. Elrington […]
The spectre of loss in aid from the United States hangs over Belize and other countries, one hundred and twenty-eight in total, who voted in favour of a United Nations resolution in December. This resolution opposed the U.S. decision to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv, the national capital, to Jerusalem, the historic […]
The resurfacing of the Caye Caulker airstrip and additional improvements appears to be a done deal. From an initial seven-point-five million contract to Imer Hernandez Development Company Limited, the project will now cost just under four million dollars and be more limited than initially outlined. Responding to a question in the House of Representatives on […]
The United Nations Convention Against Corruption, UNCAC, was all the chatter among the unions and government’s social partners in late 2016, following the eleven-day strike effected by the Belize National Teachers Union that October. The one-year anniversary of signing on to that accord was commemorated in December and strides are being made for government to […]
Just before the Christmas holiday we reported on a blaze at the barracks on Flamboyant Street that left two families without a roof over their head. The fire department reported that a child caused that fire and a candle caused the most recent fire in Taylor’s Alley. Today Assistant Fire Chief Benisford Matura reminded the […]
Good evening, I’m James Adderley and this is Sports Monday. [Highlights of the weekend sporting activities…]
The House of Representatives met today in a chilly Belmopan for the first time in 2018. The widely anticipated 2018 General Revenue Supplementary Appropriation Bill dealing with the UHS judgment was presented for first reading. This follows the arrival of the official certificate of judgment from the C.C.J. on Thursday, which sets the tab at […]
The Prime Minister repeated in greater detail his earlier sentiments from the November twenty-second press conference which seemed to present a legal basis by which Parliament could decide not to pay the judgment. He cited cases, lawyer-style, from other Commonwealth jurisdictions facing similar issues, and even suggested means in which the Crown Proceedings Act or […]
But Opposition Leader John Briceño appears unconvinced by any of it. Following the House meeting he told reporters that none of the Prime Minister’s arguments or those of the attorneys the government has paid over the years have succeeded where it counts; indeed, the only success has been to increase the debt burden. He also […]
The Prime Minister indicated that there will be at least a month’s grace period to the next House meeting when the debate takes place. In that time, the interest continues to accrue. But apart from the legal arguments, the moral question is a much easier one for the Prime Minister to respond to: in short, […]
As noted in our top story, Prime Minister Dean Barrow is going ahead with the Commission of Inquiry agreed on with the National Trade Union Congress of Belize. But before any appointments can be made and a schedule set, the Congress has to draft terms of reference for review by legal authorities. Prime Minister […]
The other major issue debated by the House today is a motion to approve a Taiwan ICDF loan to Belize Telemedia Limited for its Internet program. That loan is to cover ninety-six million dollars for a national broadband program which has already been rolled out to San Pedro. But the primary objection by the Opposition […]
In reply, with assistance from Mesopotamia representative Michael Finnegan, Prime Minister Dean Barrow attempted to show how circumstances have changed. As the P.M. said, B.T.L. is majority-owned by the government and the Social Security Board, and it is a public service. He also noted that such government guarantees are par for the course, and suggested […]
Five days into the New Year, there’s news that consumers don’t want to hear. Fuel prices are going up at midnight so hurry up to the gas station. Today, the Belize Bureau of Standards posted on its website that there will be an increase on all types of fuel, except for regular gasoline, which will […]
George Bull was arrested and charged for the murder of thirty-five-year-old Jaime Pelayo Junior. The Carmelita Village resident was on the run since the second week of December, following Pelayo’s murder, but cops finally caught up with him. Bull was charged for killing Pelayo on December fifteenth in Orange Walk. Pelayo was out socializing with […]
