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Director of Health Services, Doctor Marvin Manzanero, remains subject to the controversial Statutory Instrument 134 which requires him to submit to the Minister of National Security the names of all COVID-19 patients. Failure to do so criminalizes the DHS. Despite concerns being raised about confidentiality between doctor and patient, there has been no directive from […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on DHS Manzanero Still Responsible to Submit COVID List under S.I. 134
Confidentiality aside, the Minister of National Security, who doubles as the Attorney General, also argues that persons who refuse to remain in quarantine or self-isolation are, more often than not, reported to law enforcement authorities. He maintains that the police department is contacted regularly with reports of sightings of persons in open defiance of the […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on A Case for Why Police Need the COVID List
United and American Airlines are set to resume commercial flights beginning this Thursday. More than seven hundred Belizeans and visitors are to land at the Philip Goldson International Airport in the next few days. For months, the industry has been preparing for the day when the tourism industry can begin to bounce back and spur […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Travel |
Comments Off on Is the P.G.I.A. Ready for Reopening? Here is a Look at Protocols in Place
With the reopening of the P.G.I.A. on Thursday, at the start of a new month, there is a general belief that additional measures to accommodate the arrival of visitors to Belize will be introduced. That school of thought has led many to believe that bars, nightclubs and gyms will also be allowed to reopen. If […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Slight Relaxation Come October First
The government has sold the National Fire Services headquarters in Belize City to Atlantic Bank. The sale was approved by cabinet in February of this year and the prime piece of property was sold for two point eight million dollars. But the Ministry of Transport and Minister Edmond Castro will need to relocate the National […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on G.O.B. Sells Nat’l Fire Service HQ, but Construction for New HQ Yet to Commence
Just before daybreak today, two persons attempted to steal a coastguard vessel from where it was moored at the BelCan Bridge in Belize City near a joint posting of Belize Coast Guard personnel and police officers at the substation. Alert officers soon realised what was happening and came up on the robbery in progress. One […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on An Attempted Robbery of a Coastguard Vessel Leads to Shootout
One of the culprits escaped and another was taken into custody and handed over to the Belize Police Department where an investigation is currently underway. The identity of the detainee will not be shared at this time as charges have not been levelled. Lieutenant Kenrick Thomas says that the officers are unfazed by the incident […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on One Robber is Detained following Crossfire
As the People’s United Party gears for national elections to be held sometime in November, it has been releasing its Plan Belize policies. This morning, the P.U.P. unveiled its blueprint for rural development, affordable housing and infrastructure, promising to create the right environment to improve the lives of citizens in rural communities and build ten […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on P.U.P. Unveils Rural Living, Housing, Transport and Infrastructure Policy
Earlier in the newscast we told you about the P.U.P.’s plan to build ten thousand starter homes for first time home owners. That plan will only come to fruition is they are successful at the polls in November. The starter homes will be built in five phases and eligible Belizeans will be given the opportunity […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Julius Espat Explains the P.U.P.’s Housing Policy
Party leader Elect Patrick Faber is set to formally take over the reins of the U.D.P. on October eighth when he will be introduced to the masses of supporters as the official successor to outgoing party leader Dean Barrow who has remained at the helm since 1998. The event will be televised and is also […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Patrick Faber to be Formally Introduced as U.D.P. Leader
Still on the matter of general elections, the Belize Peace Movement says that the Elections and Boundaries Commission is displaying gross negligence. It has launched a case, requesting the court to order the government to carry out a redistricting exercise for fair representation. The B.P.M. says that it had requested annual reports from the Elections […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Julius Still Supports the Need for Redistricting
The Prime Minister is holding the date of elections close to his heart; but he has to announce the date four weeks before the elections are held. He has already said elections are to be held in the first part of November. The day will also likely be a public and bank holiday to allow […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
Health |
Comments Off on COVID Elections and its Process
The number of COVID-19 deaths has inched up to twenty-six. The most recent persons to pass away due to complications of the virus are from Orange Walk, which is the district with the highest number of deaths in the country. Yo Creek resident Edwardo Castillo died on Monday on the heels of the death of […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
Health |
Comments Off on 2 More COVID-19 Deaths are Recorded in Orange Walk
The numbers show that the new cases are trending up. Fifty-two new COVID-19 cases were recorded overnight, taking the number of confirmed cases up to one thousand nine hundred and forty-three. Those new cases were identified from a batch of two hundred and twenty-four samples that were processed on Tuesday. More than half of the […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
Health |
Comments Off on 52 New COVID-19 Cases; 17 Recovered
The Ministry of Health is also monitoring a number of COVID-19 clusters, primarily in the northern districts of Corozal and Orange Walk. One particular cluster in Orange Walk involves a group of B.D.F. soldiers who have tested positive at a B.D.F. camp. DHS Manzanero says that the entire unit has been swabbed and some are […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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A quarantine facility manned around the clock by military personnel has been opened in Mountain Pine Ridge. Camp D’Silva which has for many years been used as a B.D.F. outpost has been retrofitted to accommodate persons who will be placed in isolation for COVID-19. The facility will now become the nerve centre for all quarantine […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Camp D’Silva is New Quarantine Facility for COVID-19
Last Friday, a group of thirty-seven deportees arrived at the Philip Goldson International Airport on a repatriation flight. They were processed with rapid testing, all returned negative. The deportees were then whisked off to a holding facility in the Mountain Pine Ridge area of Cayo District to the Douglas D’Silva camp which is manned by […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on 37 Deportees at Central Quarantine Facility at D’Silva Camp in Mountain Pine Ridge
The senate met in its final session for this five-year term this morning. Parliamentarians in the upper house bade farewell to each other and President Darrell Bradley, as there is no certainty who will be returning in that capacity following general elections in November. While the atmosphere was lighthearted, the issue of the Land Tax […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Land Tax Amnesty Debated in Senate
In clarifying the purpose of the Land Tax Amendment Bill, Senator Mike Peyrefitte responded to the statement that the revised piece of legislation will only benefit wealthy land owners who simply choose not to pay their taxes. The law, he says, ties the minister’s hands, preventing discretion to be used willfully, except in cases where […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Clarity on Land Tax Amendment Bill
This morning, the upper house also passed the Cyber Crime Bill which was met with unanimity on both sides of the floor. That piece of legislation criminalizes activities online in which persons are targeted using electronic information, including videos and other images, and cyber bullying and online harassment. Osmany Salas, N.G.O. Senator “This, for […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Cyber Crime Bill is Passed in Senate
Brian “Yellow Man” Audinett today threatened News Five’s journalist Hipolito Novelo. The first form of intimidation came via text in which Audinett warns Novelo to not mess with him on the news. The threats escalated over the phone when Audinett threatened Novelo with physical injury before cutting off the call. It is no surprise that […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on “Yellow Man” Threatens News Five’s Journalist Hipolito Novelo
Will there be a prime ministerial debate? Well, there has not been one except for a radio exchange between former prime ministers Manuel Esquivel and Said Musa in 1998. The Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry, believes there will be one, two weeks prior to the date of general elections in November. A release today […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Will There be a Prime Ministerial Debate?
The COVID pandemic continues to batter Belize. The economic figures for August show a significant drop of fifteen point two percent in imports down to one hundred and forty-three point seven million dollars over the same period in 2019. Imports into the ‘Commercial Free Zones’ dropped substantially by forty-two percent from thirty point three million […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
Economy |
Comments Off on The Economic Figures for August
The M.S.M.E. Support Programme was launched on August first to assist business owners who are feeling the economic brunt caused by the COVID pandemic. As of mid September, six hundred and ninety-three grants were paid amounting to one point seven million dollars and loans have been approved for one hundred and ninety-six businesses totalling two […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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Comments Off on An Update on the M.S.M.E. Support Programme
And this news, the Embassy of Mexico in Belize is paying tribute to Maria Luisa Mena de Espat, a well-known Corozal resident. Espat is being awarded the Ohtli 2020 Award in recognition of the long years she has been assisting Belizeans as well as Mexicans on behalf of the Mexican government. “Ohtli” is a Nahuatl […]
Written on September 30, 2020 | Posted in
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