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P.M. Says Hold Off on U.H.S. Debt Payment until House Meets Next

The last House of Representatives meeting for 2017 was more even-tempered than usual, perhaps reflecting the current season. Members debated two motions and passed four outstanding bills, including the legislation for the oil moratorium. But while it only got passing mention in this gathering, the Universal Health Services debate still hangs over the National Assembly’s […]

Thumbs Up for N.T.U.C.B.; Down for Chamber, Belize Bank

All this week News Five has been covering the various reactions from across the political spectrum, including from the vaunted “social partners” of the Government. They have all told the Government to do its best to pay off the money and avoid further crippling interest or even litigation. The Prime Minister reiterates that the final […]

Why Franz Parke Had To Go

Jamaican-American attorney Franz Parke’s brief second tenure as a Justice of the Court of Appeal of Belize came to an end earlier this week. In the days since his departure, startling allegations regarding his personal and professional conduct since moving to the U.S. in 1980 have emerged. Parke chose not to fight the court case […]

Marilyn Williams Moving Up to Supreme Court

In other judicial news, the complement of the Supreme Court is to increase by two starting in January. One of the appointees is none other than attorney Marilyn Williams, a former political candidate for the ruling United Democratic Party in the Albert division in 2003. Since then Williams has ascended the ranks, being a Senator, […]

Hold Up at Gas Depot Caught On Camera

Sometime around two o’clock on Thursday afternoon, a pair of armed men entered a compound near mile two on the George Price Highway and proceeded to hold up employees of the gas depot at gunpoint.  The thieves reportedly came under the guise of customers wanting to purchase butane, riding in on bicycles carrying a small […]

Accused Killer, Accomplice Surrender to Police

Twenty-six-year-old Rasheed Hyde is in custody tonight after surrendering himself to police earlier today.  The Georgeville resident has been charged with attempted murder, dangerous harm and use of deadly means of harm, following a failed hit on Russell Hyde Junior, a close relative of his.  On Sunday night, Hyde Junior was called out to a […]

Accused Murderer of Felix Ayuso Nabbed in Mexico

He has been on the run for more than six months, but tonight wanted man Vildo Westby is in police custody. Westby was the prime suspect in the murder of HIV/Aids activist Felix Ayuso Junior, stabbed to death inside his home in San Pedro in February of this year. Police had issued a wanted poster […]

Senior Citizen Loses Home to Fire for Second Time

A sixty-one-year-old Belize City woman managed to get out of her burning house on Allenby Street at about midday today. A fire spread quickly and could not be contained destroying all the belongings of Thelma Ariolla. The home owner sustained a small injury, but was left pretty shaken up by the disaster and says it […]

Ambassador Rowan Comes Home; Gets Big-Up in House

Rowan Garel is the new Caribbean Adventure Ambassador for the region. Garel was among several other persons shortlisted by the Caribbean Tourism Organization and after a voting period, the inspiring visually impaired youth—who is currently studying at a New York university—came out on top. His name was submitted by the Belize Tourism Board following his […]

Auditor General and Colleagues at War; Can P.M. Intervene?

Auditor General Dorothy Bradley appears to be at war with her own colleagues in the Supreme Audit Institution. Today, News Five received reports that employees staged a “sick-out” in protest of the alleged heavy-handed ways of the top watchdog. Her office has been in the spotlight in recent weeks for its handling of audits in […]

The Oil Moratorium is in Effect

Seven years of work has resulted in an overturn of the status quo ante regarding offshore petroleum operations in Belize’s marine territory. With little debate and bipartisan support, the National Assembly passed the Petroleum Operations (Offshore Zone Moratorium) Bill, 2017 this morning.  Opposition Leader John Briceño made note of the importance of the reef to […]

Taiwan Comes Through Again – US $40 Million over 4Years

The eagerly-awaited motion on Universal Health Services was not tabled today, but another money-related motion was. A forty-million U.S. dollar motion for a loan from the Export-Import Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) was tabled in the House. The loan is to be disbursed in four equal annual instalments between 2017 and 2020, while […]

The Last Gasp of Petrocaribe in the House

The Government also introduced the third General Revenue Appropriation Supplementary Bill of 2017, concerning the last of the Petrocaribe funds spent by Government. After several years of riding high on the funds obtained through Venezuela to spend on everything from sports stadia to tacos and pibil, the funds slowed to a trickle and the program […]

Can Police Turn Over a New Leaf?

On the adjournment, a variety of topics were raised, usually about outstanding current issues. One is the ongoing battle between police and citizens, exemplified in the recent death of Edwin Antonio Baires Hernandez on Sunday afternoon in Teakettle Village. Police pursued the twenty-year-old Salvadoran national, following a suspected robbery and shot him in the right […]

Christmas Wishes and Cheer from Belmopan

Our last story from the House of Representatives is a positive one, and may even be anticipated in some quarters. There were wishes of goodwill from both sides of the lower house in anticipation of the Christmas season. And to make that season a little brighter, Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced that even with the […]

Special Olympians in Action

The Special Olympics games culminated Disabilities Week today. Over three hundred athletes converged at the Marion Jones Stadium in the city; the largest contingent came from Orange Walk, and the top performers will advance to the World Games in 2019 in Abu Dhabi. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.   Duane Moody, Reporting Disabilities Week concluded […]

Anniversary and New Offices for Civil Aviation Department

The Government of Belize and COCESNA have invested roughly thirteen million dollars for better management and security for the airspaces within Belize. Today the Department of Civil Aviation officially opened the Approach Control Center at the Phillip Goldson International Airport.  The state-of-the-art equipment features an upgraded radar head, which provides information on aircrafts flying over […]

Honoring Relationship between CARICOM and Cuba

The Sixth CARICOM Cuba Summit took place in Antigua and Barbuda, where Belize is being represented by Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber.  The top-level diplomatic conference is held triennially and assesses cooperation between Cuba and the CARICOM member states.  Since its establishment fifteen years ago, the summit is taking particular focus on two regional projects, […]

University of Belize Debuts MBA Program

The first graduate’s program was launched at the University of Belize this past Thursday, opening new opportunities for Belizean students to pursue higher education here at home.  The first program is for a master’s in business administration; it is being hailed as major accomplishment for the national university. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.   Isani […]

A Mom’s Life with Disabled Kids

Raising children with disabilities is a challenge for any family. Tonight, through the National Resource Center for Inclusive Education of the Ministry of Education, we go inside the home of a single mother who raised not one, but two children with disabilities.  Despite enduring a slew of struggles, the brothers are growing up to accomplish […]

Please Keep Giving to Salvation Army

It’s Christmas time and the bells are ringing – that’s the salvation army kettle bells. If you are going about the city, you are bound to see the season’s symbolic red kettles used to collect monies for charity projects throughout the year. Salvation Army’s District Commander, Major Joliker Leandre, told us that the collections are […]

Bodybuilders Off to Central American Games

A team of Belizean bodybuilding and fitness athletes is getting ready for the Central American Games. After three rounds of vetting, Mister Belize Clayton Greenidge, and four other well-known bodybuilding competitors were selected to represent the country in Nicaragua on the eleventh and twelfth of this month. The team departs Belize on Saturday, but we […]

Capturing the Impact of HIV/AIDS in Art

Five young artists used their talents to create works of art to show why HIV/AIDS patients have a right to medical access.  On Thursday, the National AIDS Commission donated the paintings to five partner organizations: UNDP, UNICEF, B.C.C.I., Digicell and the Special Envoy for Women and Children.  News Five’s Andrea Polanco tells us more about […]