The time is drawing nearer for William Alexander “Danny” Mason and his accused cohorts to learn their fate. A preliminary inquiry into the indictable charges of murder, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit kidnapping in the separate matters of businessman David Dodd and the late Pastor Llewellyn Lucas is scheduled for later […]
The United Democratic Party issued a first salvo on Wednesday of this week against Senator Eamon Courtenay. Today, smack in the middle of an ongoing hearing unearthing corruption in the immigration department, it was the government to tighten the noose. In a release sent out this afternoon via the press office, G.O.B. went on the […]
Try though they might, Financial Secretary Joseph Waight was typically blunt in speaking to reporters today at the conclusion of consultations on the budget with the unions. And Belizeans should get ready for possible increases in taxes – it is something, he said, that is “inevitable.” But where will Government look to for possible increases […]
The Government of Belize has once again extended the Consent Solicitation Offer to bondholders for its terms on the proposed re-negotiation of the 2038 Belize Bonds or Superbond. The offer now expires on the twenty-fourth of February. Financial Secretary Joseph Waight told us that discussions continue and the Government it will make progress – perhaps […]
News Five has seen a copy of the Government’s working document for its ongoing budget consultations with the trade unions, civil society and the business community. It proposes an increase in revenues of up to two percent of G.D.P., on top of the one point five percent obtained last year through increases in import duties […]
Another concern for the business community is the size of Government’s wage bill, bloated by three years of salary adjustment for teachers and public officers, which is now sitting at two-thirds of the expenditure of the administration. While not calling for something as drastic as retrenchment of public officers, Lizarraga tells us serious consideration must […]
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Belize Business Bureau have proposed a raft of ideas to help fix Belize’s economy, including emphasizing economic growth, reducing leakages and holes in tax collection, and righting the Government ship. But despite Government’s noises about change, are they really serious? We asked Senator Mark Lizarraga for his […]
A precedent-setting judgment in the Supreme Court, issued on Monday, has put key restrictions on moneylenders inclined to exact excess monies from their desperate and overburdened customers. Supreme Court Justice Sonya Young has ordered Laura and Julio Blanco of Pay Day and EZY Loans Pawning, located in Orange Walk Town, to return a thirty-acre cane […]
Today’s interview with Perera and Arthurs widely covered the issue of pawnshops’ and moneylenders’ activities in Belize. While so-called “loan sharks” operating without a license are illegal as of law, those operating with licenses are governed by specific rules, which are not always enforced. The attorneys say this is just the start of what they […]
As we told you earlier, the trade unions and civil society took their turn with the Government’s budget team today at the Belize Biltmore Plaza hotel. At its end, the interim president of the National Trade Union Congress of Belize, Jacqueline Willoughby, discussed the union’s stance on planned tax increases and where the Government can […]
In making arguments against the Central Bank (International Immunities) Act, Senator Eamon Courtenay said on January thirtieth in the Senate that Belize did a similar thing to the Accommodation Agreement and Settlement Deed in waiving immunity in court proceedings to the New York County or Manhattan courts. But while conceding that that was standard for […]
Shooting victim, twenty-three-year-old Alrick August remains in a critical condition, clinging to life inside the Intensive Care Unit at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. On Wednesday night, August was shot eight times to the chest, neck and arm on Western Avenue as he headed home from a friend’s house around nine o’clock. It is not […]
Daniele Pistolesi, a former investor in the failed Puerto Azul project, has been speaking exclusively to News Five about his role in exposing it as a massive scam and Ponzi scheme. In January, after a two-year investigation that is still ongoing, twenty arrests were made and millions of dollars in assets recovered. As many as […]
She travelled to the Philippines to compete in the most prestigious Miss Universe pageant, within months of becoming Miss Belize. It has been a journey of immeasurable experiences for the beauty ambassador who returned to the country today and was placed in the pan of a pickup truck for a parade through the city. Rath […]
Attorney-at-Law, Dolores Balderamos Garcia has been appointed Senior Counsel. The appointment came today before the Chief Justice Kenneth Benjamin who highlighted her stellar contribution through her years of practice and also through her public service in the legislature where she led major changes in the law that positively affected Women, Children and Family Law. The […]
On Saturday, the eighteenth of February, the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts will come alive as bodybuilding athletes from across the country will converge to compete in the Spiez Muscle Mania 2017 Competition. The athletes will partake in several divisions including welterweight and heavyweight bodybuilding; as well as men’s physique better known as beach […]
There is an activity to look forward to this weekend. Jamaican artist Da’ville touched down in Belize on Thursday as the featured artist for a concert this Saturday at the B.T.L. Park to mark the three-year anniversary since the public space was renovated by the Belize City Council. The event will also feature a lineup […]
