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Specials and Events

Last night's TV news on Channel 7 and Channel 5
Also with the most recent Open Your Eyes, and the Dickie Bradley Specials


LOVE FM

Belize Celebrates Its Tapir's 30th Birthday
There was a big celebration happening at the Belize Zoo today and it was because April the Tapir is celebrating her birthday. Reporter Hipolito Novelo attended the party and has the details in the following report. HIPOLITO NOVELO "April the Tapir is celebrating 30 years at th...

Territorial Volunteers in Belize Prepare To Plant Mahogany Trees Along Border Line
The Belize Territorial Volunteers will be conducting their second visit along Belize's border line, this time in the northern part of the country. The trip to Aguas Turbias is scheduled for tomorrow Saturday, April 27. A bus will be leaving at five in the morning from the Barracks in Orange...

Belize Chamber of Commerce Holds AGM
The economic constraints have not escaped anyone living in our country, and very few businesses can boast any kind of meaningful profits compared to years gone. But against the odds, the Belize Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting held on Thursday night revealed a few interesting poin...

Award Winning Belizean Reggae Artist Releases Calendar
Award Winning Belizean Reggae and Dancehall Artist, Ras Indio is in town and he doesn't come empty handed. He is promoting his 2013 calendar and today he spoke with Love News and explained why he ventured into creating one. RAS INDIO "Something brand new; something my sis...

Churches Plan Time of Worship To Raise Awareness of Homosexual Lawsuit
Meanwhile, in the City of Belmopan, the general public is called to join in prayer against the homosexual lawsuit. Correspondent Fem Cruz tells us more. FEM CRUZ "The churches in the city of Belmopan and surroundings will be coming together tonight in a time of worship and pra...

Belize City Man Goes Shopping With Forged Cheque
Thirty-one year old Rupert Avila, a resident of Fox Avenue in Buttonwood bay, allegedly tried to purchase items at Benny's Bargain Center with a cheque for five thousand eight hundred and ten dollars. The cheque was not genuine, so he was charged with possession of a false document an...

Blogs

Chaa Creek Fosters "Transformative" Family Adventures
More and more families are stepping outside the box to explore new experiences and grow together by sharing vacations in exotic locations that offer adventurous challenges, according to the owner of a Belizean eco resort specialising in family adventures. Lucy Fleming, the cofounder and GM of the Lodge at Chaa Creek, said that she has been seeing a rise in families taking part in activities and all-inclusive Belize vacation packages such as the Family Adventure package Chaa Creek offers. "Not so long ago, adventure packages and family packages were almost mutually exclusive. Adventure was seen to be the realm of couples, individuals and groups looking to challenge themselves or explore the less travelled parts of Belize, while family vacations were seen more as just getting everyone together.

Recovering from a minor medical emergency and more 6 degrees
A few nights ago I noticed some strange marks on the back of my right leg, and worked it out that it could be 1 of 2 things, bug bites or some sort of rash/ hives. I took some benadryl, put some triple cream on and kept a close watch. By Thurs the marks looked worse, were getting very itchy and starting to spread which made me think it was a rash so I began my search to find out what was going on. I walked to San Telmo pharmacy across from Marina's store to check if the doctor was in and found they had new hours and were on extended lunch. Next stop was Poly Clinic where I got turned away for not having a passport or id to register me to see a doctor, even though I had gone there recently and paid $40 to have a tetanus shot after a dog bite. I walked back to San Telmo only to find out there was no doctor there any longer and my regular pharmacy guy was no longer working there either. The woman I spoke to was very nice and her guess was it looked like poison oak type rash or bug bites. I decided best thing to do was get to Dr Dan in town, hitched a ride with Alex as far as Island Supermarket and walked the rest of the way. I also called Canadian nurse Jo Belize to get her opinion since she was in town.

Labor Day - A Belizean Holiday
Labor Day is a holiday appreciated by so many and yet understood by so few. Each year, we look forward to the well-deserved holiday; however, many Belizeans do not truly understand why it is that Labor day holiday is so significant. On Labor day either the Prime Minister or the Labor Minister gives a formal address live. We also look forward to the different activities that are held by the City and Town Councils, business establishments or family members. Amongst all this, we never really stop to think of how far we have come as a working class people. If asked, many older folks will be happy to mention the actions of Samuel Haynes, Antonio Soberanis and the Belize Labor Movement. Antonio Soberanis was a model activist who pushed Belizeans to fight for fair wages and lived by the motto that he would rather be "a dead hero than a living coward". But why was it so necessary for Antonio Soberanis to take such a firm stand? How bad were the labor laws in our country? It all began in the early 1800s, when the British were looking for workers in the settlement. Many Belizean men were not able to own land and had to resort to logging. For more than a century, workers were paid no more than $15 monthly plus rations (28qts of flour and 16lbs of pork) for their work. In some cases, advance salary was given and paid back immediately upon returning to work. Workers were responsible to pay employers if they were sick, late, lazy or disrespectful and often owed employers money at the end of contracted work which meant having to sign up for another term of work. In the late 1800s, even stricter penalties became evident. Workers would be imprisoned for not attending work and could even be dragged to the work site if an employer so chooses. In 1894 theBelize dollar devalued and an already small pay became even smaller. The after shocks of The Great Depression and the 1931 Hurricane only made matters worse, resulting in such a high unemployment rate that Belizeans had to survive on boiled rice and breaking stones for 25 cents a day.

"Wish I Could Fly" in Ambergris Caye
Yesterday was much the same for me as every Saturday during the football (soccer for American readers) season is - me on the sofa glued to the TV. This Saturday my football gluttony consisted of Manchester City v West Ham, followed by an intense (well for me anyway) period of switching channels frequently to keep in touch with the Barnsley v Hull and Wigan v Spurs' games (with Spurs unfortunately scoring an equaliser to snatch a point). I then watched the Southampton v West Brom game. And, as if that wasn't enough I then saw some of the Newcastle v Liverpool match. Good job Rose doesn't mind football! In between I managed to fit in breakfast and a snack for lunch. With the football 'out of the way' Rose and I settled down with our tile catalogues and the photos we have taken to try to make our selections. After much deliberation we have chosen the tiles for the Ground Floor self-contained apartment and have narrowed down the 'beauty parade' for the main areas of the First and Second Floors to five tiles. The plan now is to reduce the list of five to one and make the choices for the veranda areas and our respective bathrooms by Monday.

International Sources

From 1 battlefield to another: US tries 2 new aerial tools to search for drugs in Caribbean
Drug smugglers who race across the Caribbean in speedboats will typically jettison their cargo when spotted by surveillance aircraft, hoping any chance of prosecuting them will vanish with the drugs sinking to the bottom of the sea. That may be a less winning tactic in the future. The U.S. Navy on Friday began testing two new aerial tools, borrowed from the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq, that officials say will make it easier to detect, track and videotape drug smugglers in action. One of the devices on display aboard the High Speed Vessel Swift is a large, white balloon-like craft known as an aerostat, which is tethered up to 2,000 feet (600 meters) above the ship's stern. The other tool on board for tests in the Florida Straits is a type of drone that can be launched by hand from the deck. Together, they expand the ability of Navy and Coast Guard personnel to see what's beyond their horizon, according to officials from both military branches and the contractors hoping to sell the devices to the U.S. government. The devices should allow authorities to detect and monitor suspected drug shipments from afar for longer sustained periods, giving them a better chance of stopping the smugglers. They also should allow them to make continuous videotapes that can be used in prosecutions.

Video: A Minor Nurse Shark Bite During Belize Spearfishing Trip
Here's an informative video involving a spearfishing shark bite incident that recently occurred in Belize. The video details what precipitated the bite and explains that although nurse sharks may appear harmless, they can become aggressive when searching for food. On this dive with Captain Shark's Marine Center and Boatyard, one of the divers is bitten on the hand by a nurse shark while spear fishing. It is noted that at the time of the bite, the diver was holding the speargun by the point and the shark most likely confused her hand with a fish. Following the bite, the video explains how to treat the wound and when to seek further medical assistance. The video was posted by CaptainSharksBelize and is 4:53 in length. The bite occurs at around the 2:50 mark but I highly recommend watching the complete video as they do an excellent job of pointing out the Dos and Don'ts of diving/fishing in the vicinity of sharks.

HEZBOLLAH JOINING CARTELS IN MEXICO'S WAR
The Mexican Drug War has killed an estimated 60,000 people since 2006, but the violence has stayed out of the minds of most US citizens. That is about to change as Islamic extremist groups setting up shop in Mexico. The House Committee on Homeland Security released a November 2012 report that reveals Islamic terror organizations and networks are indeed exploiting profits from narcotics, and the ease of weapons attainment, and the vast technological abilities of Mexican and other southern cartels that are thriving in Mexico's lawlessness, along with other southern regions. The report, titled A Line In The Sand: Countering Crime, Violence, and Terror at the Southwest Border, details the growing involvement of Iran and Hezbollah in Mexico and other countries south of the southern US border.