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A Student’s Second Chance

It’s graduation season and all over the country, at various levels of education, students are celebrating their academic milestones. For many, this moment represents the hard work and personal investment paying off; for others, the completion means a little bit more. For persons who repeated and tried again, completion is a celebration of perseverance. In […]

Popular Football Player Detained By Police For Questioning In Imari Galvez Murder

Forty-eight hours have passed since the lifeless body of nineteen-year-old Belmopan resident, Imari Galvez, was found off the Hummingbird Highway. Police are yet to level any charges as the investigation continues. But, on Wednesday night, inquiries led them to a football match in Orange Walk where the captain of Verdes Football Club, Woodrow West, was […]

Allen Felix is Acquitted of Killing Sunset Park Businessman

Forty-five-year-old Allen Felix is one of two men acquitted of murder today for separate incidents they were suspected of committing.  Felix was on remand for the 2018 murder of businessman Mario Guerrero, who was bludgeoned to death with a barstool inside his home at Sunset Park.  This afternoon, Felix appeared before Justice Ricardo O’Neil Sandcroft […]

Antoine Rivero Walks from Murder of Marcia Downs

The other prisoner to be set free today was twenty-five-year-old Antoine Rivero.  He was acquitted of the murder of Marcia Downs who was shot and killed as she exited her residence on Handyside Street in April 2018.  This matter was also heard before Justice Ricardo O’Neil Sandcroft.  Senior Crown Counsel Porsha Staine-Ferguson opened the case […]

Seventeen Persons Rescued at Sea

On Wednesday, information spread quickly of a boat that capsized in the English Caye Channel, just off the coast of Belize City. Seventeen passengers were onboard the vessel travelling from Rendezvous Caye to English Caye when the boat began taking in water.  The Belize Coast Guard received the distress call around five-twenty and quickly deployed […]

Coast Guard Rescue US National Suffering from Bends

A day earlier, the Belize Coast Guard also assisted a U.S. national who had suffered divers’ sickness while diving out at the Turneffe Atoll. Bends is decompression sickness that is caused by a rapid decrease in the air pressure that surrounds a person while he or she is engaged in deep-sea diving.  In this incident […]

International Day for Women in Maritime; “Mobilizing Networks for Gender Equality”.

Today is recognized across the world as International Day for Women in Maritime. The day is being recognized under the theme “Mobilizing Networks for Gender Equality”. First established in 2021, the day celebrates women in the industry and is intended to promote the recruitment, retention and sustained employment of women in the maritime sector. The […]

Central Bank of Belize Fixes Buying Rate of US Dollar at BZ$2.00

The Central Bank of Belize has officially fixed buying rate of the U.S. dollar at two Belize dollars to one U.S. dollar, effective May second. Governor of the Central Bank, Kareem Michael explained the rationale behind the decision, saying that the focus has primarily been on cash instruments, specifically currency notes, which were subject to […]

Commercial Bank Pushed Back on “Harmonization”

According to the Central Bank Governor, the decision of the bank to fix the exchange rate of two Belize dollars to one U.S. dollar will greatly benefit the public. And while that is good news for consumers, Michael says that there was some level of push back by the commercial banks.   Kareem Michael, Governor […]

Bamboo: A New Growth Industry to Replace Citrus?

The citrus industry is all but defunct and stakeholders are now seeking alternative crops to grow on vast acreages that were in use for the cultivation of oranges.  In tonight’s episode of Belize on Reel, News Five’s Isani Cayetano traveled down to Hope Creek where he visited Agricultural Development Services, a business that is expanding […]

Excelsior Graduate Making an Honest Living by Helping People

The Statistical Institute of Belize has the unemployment rate at five percent, but we all know that jobs are hard to find. Harder to find are choice jobs with working hours that fit our own personal schedules. Today, News Five followed a youth who, although he knows what career path he wants, has created his […]

A National Strategic Dialogue on COP27, COP28

Today at the Biltmore Plaza Hotel in Belize City, stakeholders across the public and private sectors were engaged in discussion about climate change and all its facets.  The national strategic dialogue was to discuss the outcomes of COP27 that was held in November 2022 in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt and Belize’s outlook for the upcoming […]

Forest Fires Affecting Entire Central America

Creating awareness on the impacts of climate change at the community level is among the work that government, multinational agencies and N.G.O.’s have been doing. It includes looking at Belize’s resiliency in the agriculture sector and minimizing carbon footprint, as well as the energy sector and looking at renewable energy. But recently there has been […]

Erosion Will Get Worse; Sea Level Projected to Rise

The landscape of Belize has been changing over time as several coastal communities are being washed away. We’ve been documenting the erosion happening in Monkey River, Gales Point, Barranco and other areas along the coast.  It is an issue that is expected to get worse as sea level is projected to increase.  Fisherman and tour […]

Belize City Mayor Proposes To Write Off Property Taxes More Than Five Years Old

The Belize City Council is owed over thirty-three million dollars in property taxes.  Of that figure, twelve million dollars are in sheer penalties. A substantial amount has been owed for over five years, and now the Belize City Council is considering a proposal for central government to write off the total that it simply is […]

Will Mayor Wagner Run in the Next General Elections?

Wagner, who had at one time expressed interest in entering the political arena at the national level, and who had been eyeballing the Albert constituency, seems to have a change of heart at this point in his career. Without specifically answering the question of whether he will run in the next general elections, Wagner said […]

Electric Buses to Arrive in Belize This Year

Climate change has prompted the discussions on cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions and its overall impact on the planet’s health. Those discussions began in Belize in 2018 with the shift from fuel-operated public buses to electric buses. Leading the charge in the discussion is the United Nations Development Programme, which will gift a few […]

Belize City Mayor Assures City Shuttles Won’t Be Undermined

Those at the helm have assured that the transition does not in any way seek to undermine bus operators who have been using fuel-operated buses for decades to transport commuters to their destinations. C.E.O. in the Ministry of Energy and Public Utilities and Belize City Mayor, Bernard Wagner whose Council will have custody of a […]

“Art Under the Stars, Encountering God Through Beauty”, A Mercy Church Concert

The Divine Mercy Church is hosting an art and culture fundraiser on Saturday night inside the church compound in Belize City. The event is called, “Art Under the Stars, Encountering God Through Beauty”.  The funds raised will be used to support the Mother of Mercy Montessori, a private educational institution led by the church here […]

Belmopan Resident Found Dead Off Hummingbird Highway

A family’s worst nightmare was confirmed on Tuesday evening when the decomposing body of nineteen-year-old Belmopan resident Imari Galvez was found. Her body was in some bushes near mile forty on the Hummingbird Highway. She was partially nude. Injuries to her left breast and right leg were observed. Investigators believe she was shot in the […]

David Gonzalez Stands Trial for Murder of His Wife

The murder trial of thirty-two-year-old David Gonzalez, accused of the shooting death of his wife in San Pedro in October 2020, continued today in the courtroom of Justice Ricardo O’Neil Sandcroft. On Tuesday evening, the Crown’s primary witness took the stand and provided the court with critical evidence of what transpired that fateful night on […]

Infamous Elmer Nah Returns to Court

The infamous Elmer Nah returned to the Belmopan Magistrate Court this morning. He stands accused of murdering Vivian, Jon and David Ramnarace on the night of New Year’s Eve 2022. Unlike his previous court appearance, there wasn’t a visible presence of heavily armed police officers. We are told that Nah’s appearance today was procedural, as […]

Agriculture Minister Says Sugar Regulations Aren’t New

The Ministry of Agriculture and A.S.R./B.S.I. are at odds once again. This time it is over what Agriculture Minister Jose Mai says are existing regulations that are now being “operationalized.” As we reported on Tuesday, the government has proposed the Sugar Industry (License to Import/Export) Regulations for 2023. This gives the Sugar Industry Control Board […]

B.S.I. Says SI 62 is G.O.B. Trying to Probe into Its Private Commercial Affairs

This afternoon, B.S.I.’s Director of Finance, Shawn Chavarria said that the company’s interpretation of the changes made by Statutory Instrument Sixty-two of 2023 is G.O.B. trying to probe into the private commercial affairs of the company. It compels B.S.I. to collect and disburse Fairtrade premium, is a process that is currently being carried out by […]

Agriculture Minister Defends Sugar Regulations

Responding to A.S.R./B.S.I.’s concerns today was Agriculture Minister Jose Mai. During our sit down with Minister Mai in Belmopan, we asked him if there is a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest, since he is also a farmer and a member of the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association. Here is […]