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“Unfair, inconsiderate and simply distasteful” – strong words used by the Central Medical Laboratory in a letter sent today to the Ministry of Health and Wellness on the way overtime is being calculated. On Thursday, a meeting was held with Central Lab employees on payment of overtime. The new proposed structure was reportedly presented by […]
Written on August 20, 2021 | Posted in
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New COVID-19 regulations will be coming into effect at midnight on Sunday. An official statutory instrument is yet to be released, but today, we learned from the Prime Minister some of what those new regulations will entail. PM Briceño says several of the new regulations will affect the Belize District exclusively. And, if the numbers […]
Written on August 20, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on New COVID Regulations to Take Effect on Sunday; Is Another Lockdown Pending?
Prime Minister John Briceño says his administration is not walking back on its position against states of emergency as a tool to tackle crime. The Briceño Administration has come under criticism since a state of emergency was declared on Thursday. Some are of the view that PM Briceño, who is on record criticizing the former […]
Written on August 20, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Briceño Administration Takes Strong Arm Approach to Gang Violence
From a broader perspective, PM Briceño says his administration is working on keeping children in school and creating job opportunities as an approach to addressing gang violence. Prime Minister John Briceño “But it is more than that. We need to be able to reach out to that community, especially the young children. My appeal […]
Written on August 20, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Education and Employment as a Solution to Gang Violence
There is a state of emergency in effect for ten locations designated as hot spots on the south side of Belize City. It also includes the entire area behind the Charles Bartlett Hyde Building known as Back-a-Lands. It is the neighborhood in which sixteen-year-old Kanye King was executed on Monday morning. Since his death, the […]
Written on August 20, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Two Arson Attempts Succeed Kanye King’s Murder
With a recent spike in violent crimes, including murders, there have been threats of arson, as well as failed attempts to torch the properties of families believed to be involved in those incidents. Earlier this week the residence of Lisa Lauriano was gutted by fire deliberately set by someone in the wake of the stabbing […]
Written on August 20, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Police Department is Aware of Arson Threats
In many of the instances where armed assaults are tied to gang violence, the shooters are often teen minors. In the case of the arson attempts on Park Street, the family, having viewed surveillance footage of the incident, believes that the would-be arsonist is also a minor. ComPol Williams spoke briefly about teen gang members […]
Written on August 20, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Teen Killers, Gang Violence and SOE
Fourteen Police officers have been dismissed from the Belize Police Department for violating the department’s code of ethics. The dismissals come after the Professional Standards Branch concluded internal tribunals and found them to be culpable for the offenses with which they were charged. Those offenses range from excessive absences to drug trafficking. But notably, none […]
Written on August 20, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on 14 Officers Kicked out of the Belize Police Department
There was a high-speed chase in southern Belize on Wednesday evening that led to a shootout between police officers and an alleged gunman, who is now recovering at the Southern Regional Hospital. It began on the Coastal Road and ended in Silk Grass on the Southern Highway, but Mark Waight was shot in the leg […]
Written on August 20, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on High Speed Chase Ends with SSG Member Shot
Shots rang out in the Vista del Mar area of Ladyville on Wednesday night and police later intercepted a truck, driven at the time by Gilroy Usher Junior, the son of the Minister of State, Gilroy Usher Senior. A search of the vehicle led to the discovery of a nine-millimetre pistol with five live rounds. […]
Written on August 20, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Minister’s Son Cleared of Charges
The Ministry of Health and Wellness broke ground on the island of Caye Caulker for a one-point-four million-dollar health centre. The long-anticipated health centre will be equipped will the full amenities of a pharmacy, triage room, treatment room, fifteen beds and other features. A health centre on the island will alleviate the challenges that the […]
Written on August 20, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Groundbreaking held for Caye Caulker Health Centre
On Thursday, the Ministry of Finance introduced its plan for an Investment Summit to be held in San Pedro on November third and fourth. The summit will seek to attract foreign direct investment. And one of the serious policy measures that is being added to complement the ones that already exist is the National Investment […]
Written on August 20, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on New Policy Measure for Investment Strategy
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we do things and for the committee leading the National Queen of the Bay Pageant, it is no different. So, for a second year in a row, the pageant is going virtual. Eight delegates from across the country will be vying for the title of the seventy-sixth national […]
Written on August 20, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Meet the Delegates of the 76th National Queen of the Bay
Southside Belize City is on thirty days of lockdown. The Governor-General of Belize declared that effective today, August nineteenth; a public emergency exists in that part of the city. This latest S.O.E. was proclaimed as a result of increasing gang violence in the city, particularly gang-related shootings. Commissioner of Police Chester Williams says the department […]
Written on August 19, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Public Emergency Declared for Southside: Gang Members Rounded Up
ComPol Williams says the cabinet agreed that the best option to deal with the spike in gang-related crimes is to instate an S.O.E., considering the fact that the police have been unable to gather sufficient evidence through witnesses and victims for arrests to be made. But, the Briceño Administration has long criticized using state of […]
Written on August 19, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Cabinet Agrees to State of Emergency
Earlier today, word spread like wildfire that the national referral hospital was at and above capacity for critical patients. The information being posted on social media was that all intensive care units were full; that the COVID units overflowed and that the surgical ward was full and overflowing to the medical ward. There was also […]
Written on August 19, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on K.H.M.H. Clarifies Position to COVID-19 Response
The number of COVID-19 cases now stands at over eight hundred as the positive cases are being identified across the country. The Belize District alone is responsible for almost half of that number. Today, News Five spoke with Deputy Regional Health Manager of the Central Health Region, Doctor Melissa Diaz-Musa about the COVID-19 spread. […]
Written on August 19, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Almost Half of COVID-19 Cases from Belize District
While it has been confirmed that there are multiple COVID-19 variants in Belize, the delta is sixty percent more transmissible. There is significant spread among households and at workplaces. Doctor Melissa Diaz-Musa says that there is a range of symptoms that residents should make note of. Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Deputy Regional Health Manager, Central […]
Written on August 19, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Varied Range of COVID-19 Symptoms
On Wednesday, Belize received one hundred and eleven thousand one hundred and fifty doses of Pfizer vaccine courtesy of the U.S. Government. Plans are already in place for administering it to children from ages twelve to seventeen. In the Belize District, there are sixty primary schools and eighteen high schools, and consent forms are being […]
Written on August 19, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Central Health Region Ready for Pfizer Adolescent Roll Out
In Orange Walk, Muffles College students will be among the first to be vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine during a vaccination drive for their students on Monday. News Five spoke to Vice-Principal Maria Urbina about the effort to get their students back into the classrooms. Maria Urbina, Vice Principal, Muffles College “We are working […]
Written on August 19, 2021 | Posted in
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Comments Off on Muffles College Mobilizes to Vaccinate Students
Vaccinations for minors from ages twelve to seventeen are to commence on Monday. Parents accompanying their children to the various vaccinations centers across the country will have to submit a consent form in order for their kids to get their COVID jabs. According to Chief Executive Officer Dian Maheia, a schedule will be released so […]
Written on August 19, 2021 | Posted in
Education,
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Comments Off on Student Vaccinations Begin on August twenty-third
The academic year 2021 is set to commence later this month, with high schools and primary schools reopening on August twenty-third and thirtieth, respectively. The Ministry of Education, on the advice of health officials, has called off the return to face-to-face instructions until the number of infections can be stemmed. Until then, students will be […]
Written on August 19, 2021 | Posted in
Education,
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Comments Off on MoECST Explains Return to Distance Learning
Minister of Education Francis Fonseca empathized with teachers and students who had been anticipating their return to the classrooms this semester. While in-person classes have been called off, the Ministry of Education expects that face-to-face instructions will resume within the first week of October. Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education “We understand and appreciate that […]
Written on August 19, 2021 | Posted in
Education |
Comments Off on Back to In-Person School Returns by October
The number of secondary school students that will not be returning at the start of the new academic year is alarming, particularly on the south side of Belize City where the dropout rate has been rather high. Since the beginning of the week, several meetings have been held with teachers and principals at high schools, […]
Written on August 19, 2021 | Posted in
Education |
Comments Off on Re-recruiting High School Dropouts on South Side Belize City
This morning at the House of Culture, the Ministry of Education, now formally known as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology, unveiled a new strategy and direction for the next four years. The course of action encapsulates several different strategies, including the Plan Belize manifesto which seeks to address specific areas of academic […]
Written on August 19, 2021 | Posted in
Education |
Comments Off on Ministry of Education is Rebranded
