Mary Tate of the Sister Cecilia Home for the Elderly celebrated her one hundred and fourth birthday today in grand style. She was serenaded by the other residents, ate birthday cake and spent time with her granddaughters. We found her in high spirits and full of energy. Tate told us that she lived on Pickstock […]
There is good news coming out the country’s largest referral hospital, the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. That is that the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit is finally in operation. It’s been two years since the official handing over of the completed unit took place. In tonight’s Healthy Living, we find out what caused the delay and […]
A thirty-three-year-old resident of Saint Matthew’s Village, Cayo District, is in custody tonight as investigations continue into the murder of Israel Perez. Earlier today, Cruz Castillo was arraigned for handling stolen goods including a power wash machine and a vehicle belonging to Perez. But was he involved in the murder? That’s what police are trying […]
Tariq Cano is a youth dreaming of a better future in the sport of cycling. Long glamorized by the Holy Saturday Cross Country Cycling Classic and later by other races, cycling has had its share of internal struggle. Now there is trouble brewing between Cycling Federation of Belize president Dion Leslie, who is also U.D.P. […]
Is the matter of the age-old territorial dispute with Guatemala and a pending referendum to determine whether the unfounded claim should be taken before the International Court of Justice, being used as a political football? In the south, there are at least six Mayan communities that think so. They have raised concerns about house-to-house visits […]
Alcaldes, as well as traditional leaders, are being urged to rebuff any effort to politicize the territorial issue. Despite acknowledging the importance of the campaign, Pablo Mis notes that it is imperative that the process is to be conducted in a fair, objective and independent manner. Pablo Mis, Program Coordinator, MLA “Given the magnitude […]
The concerns of the Maya community were presented to Prime Minister Barrow in writing in October of last year. His response, according to MLA Program Coordinator, Pablo Mis, failed to address those fears. Pablo Mis, Program Coordinator, MLA “At the beginning of 2017, the newly elected seventy-eight alcaldes passed several resolutions. One of them […]
Earlier we heard Tariq Cano questioning the delay in elections at the Cycling Federation. President Dion Leslie did not wait long to respond. News Five received a communication from attorney Bryan Neal this afternoon, addressed to Hector Guerra as Cano’s attorney. Neal says his clients have told him that Cano is not even a member […]
The Police Department appears not to be taking the bait of the Ahmad family in relation to some of the key pieces of evidence being used to support a murder charge against one of their own, Woman Police Constable Michelle Brown. Fareed Ahmad was shot inside his car on December twenty-seventh in Hattieville; he died […]
One of the many red flags in last July’s Trafficking in Persons report issued by the U.S. State Department, which rated Belize at tier three, is the practice of police officers working as private security at establishments where human trafficking is alleged to be taking place, among wait staff and others. The Attorney General, Michael […]
While several current Belize City councilors will be sweating it out on the night of March seventh to see whether they will still have jobs at City Hall, City Administrator Candice Burke is sitting pretty. In fact, her latest contract extension, for four years, will outlast the council to be elected on that Wednesday. It […]
Mayor Bradley admitted that he had given contracts to city directors who are not covered for tenure by the Municipal Services Regulations. He says that standardizing and streamlining the administrative posts in all municipalities is needed to provide a “public service” for municipalities which acts much like that established by the central government. Darrell […]
If you travel through the southernmost town of Punta Gorda, you are likely to be hit by the unsightly accumulation of garbage. Solid waste management is an issue that plagues the residents. The tons of garbage are simply disposed of in an area of town where it is dumped along a feeder road. Tonight, News […]
Relations between the Belize City Council and Belize Maintenance Limited as well as Belize Waste Control went from peak to ebb during Mayor Darrell Bradley’s two terms in office. Who can soon forget how employees of BML rioted in front of City Hall in 2015, forcing the central government to intervene and the eventual takeover […]
A six-point-four magnitude earthquake struck on the coast of Taiwan very late on Tuesday night, about ten minutes before midnight local time. Centered on the eastern city of Hualien, about a hundred miles south of the capital Taipei, seven deaths have so far been reported and more than two hundred persons left injured. There are […]
In recent years, there has been a big push to curb childhood obesity. The Ministry of Health and other local stakeholders have been working on a comprehensive plan to take on this growing public health challenge. Back in October, we showed you how government officials and representatives from a wide cross-section of agencies and partners […]
Over the years, the Belize City Council and its City Emergency Management Organization has become the leading face of emergency management. The annual symposium hosted by CEMO for the last six years has covered topics from road safety to fire management. But Belize’s and the City’s primary threat remains hurricanes, and even though the council […]
The body of a missing Immigration Officer was found today at Harmonyville, off the George Price Highway. Israel Perez, a resident of Saint Matthew’s Village and father of a young boy, had been missing for days and this morning, his family, friends and colleagues had the most difficult time coming to terms with his brutal […]
There is another murder for which a motive has still not been established. It is now six weeks since the popular barber, Fareed Ahmad, was murdered in his car on December twenty-seventh, 2017. A female police constable with him at the time is behind bars charged with his murder, but as far as we know, […]
Twenty-one-year-old Hezron Parks is making the headlines in the U.S. where he shot and killed an Arizona fire captain. According to international media, Parks faces second-degree murder charge and was given a three hundred thousand dollar cash bail and put under electronic surveillance because he is considered a flight risk. U.S. media says that Parks’ […]
2017 ended as one of the most murderous years with one hundred and forty-four homicides. This January, there have been as many as fourteen murders, topping the statistics for the same month last year. This morning, the Ministry of Home Affairs launched a two-year anti-crime strategy. First and foremost, police want to reduce the murder […]
So what is the fate of Operation ACT now that a National Crime Fighting Strategy has been introduced which will remain in effect for the next two years? The campaign has been ongoing since late October and while it covers three specific hotspots in Belize City, it has also expanded to other areas of the […]
The scandal that is the forty-million-dollar loan to the former Universal Health Services, compounded with interest of more than fifty million dollars, continues to reverberate in the public consciousness. The government is making a last-ditch effort to stave off potential payment by taking a pair of arguments to the Caribbean Court of Justice which ordered […]
The Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry issued two separate statements this afternoon. The first concerns the launch of the first San Pedro Town chapter of the business organization. It is scheduled for next Tuesday, February thirteenth at the Mahogany Bay Resort, on Sea Grape Drive in San Pedro Town. It is a partnership with […]
It’s definitely election season, but not much has been heard from the third party-alternative camps apart from Belize City’s mayoral candidate Ernesto Torres. That is until today, when the Belize Progressive Party held a low-key launch of its countrywide municipal slates. Eighteen candidates will contest, including a full slate in Punta Gorda, the stronghold of […]
