FOR TODAY'S BELIZE WEATHER, CLICK HERE

Click for our Daily Tropical Weather Report.

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


The San Pedro Sun

Los Yonics brings out a large crowd to Costa Maya Festival
The island was packed on Saturday August 3rd as the International Costa Maya Festival continued. The highlight of course was the international concert by Mexican artists Jose Manuel Zamacona Y Los Yonics. Sharing the stage for the night was Belize's Tanya Carter and Grupo Crash from El Salvador. Visitors began invading the festival grounds early and they enjoyed the entertainment before the main performance. Tanya Carter's smooth vocals and fun performance was well recieved and Grupo Crash brought street dance alive on stage. The much anticipated concert attracted a large crowd from all over the country who wanted to see Los Yonics perform live for the first time in Belize. The band members were greeted on the festival grounds by the Minister of Tourism and Culture Hon. Manuel Heredia Jr. and Mayor of San Pedro Town Daniel Guerrero. Following a short chat with the Mayor Guerrero and Minister Heredia, the group took their spot on stage entertaining their audience with some of their best music.

Ambergris Today

Costa Maya Festival Rocks San Pedro Weekend
The San Pedro International Costa Maya Festival did it once again for San Pedro, Ambergris Caye and Belize; it managed to jam-pack the island with visitors from around the nation and around the world. Its popularity has become synonymous with a party weekend at the island for many Belizeans and a full line up of fantastic performances at the festival grounds. The San Pedro International Costa Maya Festival kicked off of August 1, 2013, with the Reina de la Costa Maya Pageant in which Miss Belize Destinee Arnold brought the crown back home after six years. The pageant always brings much hype and attention to the festival with the participation of eight gorgeous beauty contestants from around the Latin American region. The second night of the festivities saw the participation of international performers that included the Ballet Folklorico de Quintan Roo. that conducted the traditional flag dance, the always energetic dance presentations by Grupo Crash with their mix of cultural and modern dances and comedic show of Juan Manuel, both from our neighboring El Salvador.

Puma Donates To Belize National Football Team
On July 2, 2013 Puma Belize embarked on a fundraising venture to assist the National Football Team "Belize Jaguars" who were on their way to the 2013 CONCACAF GOLD CUP. Puma's ten branded service stations countrywide participated in this initiative by donating $0.05 from every gallon of fuel sold during the period of 2nd -16th July, 2013. A total of BZD$12,000.00 was raised from this initiative. Puma Belize Corporate Office also donated $5,000 to the Belize Jaguars. On July 30 Mr. Freddy Flores, Deputy General Manager for Puma Energy Belize, presented a check for a total of $17,000 to President of the Football Federation of Belize Mr. Ruperto Vicente and Senor Vice President Mr. Sergio Chuc.

Flashbacks: Simplicity San Pedro Style
When Al Felly took this shot in 1971, he was impressed by the simplicity of Island life in San Pedro. All of the fishermen and tour guides carried small locally built mahogany skiffs powered by small outboard engines. So simple that they could leave their skiffs moored at the hotel pier and nobody would bother them except for children who begged for leftover sardines for their own fish bait. Life was so simple and safe that you could leave your day's catch on the pier and go take a shower and return to clean your fish. So simple that five gallons of gasoline could take you to your fishing grounds and back and everything you caught was prepared for your evening supper at Holiday Hotel. And look at the native Island boys paddling their canoe for a joy ride, a refreshing swim, or to go fishing right in front of the village. This dory ride was quite likely without mom's permission, but who cared? After all they were in San Pedro in all its grandeur yet simplicity. This is the life of San Pedro that has won the hearts of our visitors over the years.

25 Years Ago: Strange Belize Home Remedies for Portuguese Man of War, Warts and Hiccups
AGUAMALA (Portuguese man of war) If there is one thing San Pedro children and fishermen and tourist guides also are almost sure to encounter once in their lives it is an encounter with a jellyfish (pica pica) or a Portuguese man of war (aguamala). Years Ago when there were no swimming pools, man of war attacks occurred even more frequently because children swam in the sea a lot. So what do you do when you get stung by a man of war? Doctors today recommend flushing the area where the venom was injected with alcohol, vinegar or even meat tenderizer. But who in the world goes swimming and take these things along with him? What to do? It is hurting! Well pee on it. That is what we did 25 years ago in San Pedro. It helped of course and now we learn that the urea in urine contains some form of ammonia and that is another recommended remedy for a hurting sting of a jellyfish or a Portuguese man of war.

Pic of the Week: Lemonde Anyone?
The weather has been really heating up on Ambergris Caye lately and everybody is looking for ways to keep cool. On this week's Pic of the Week you can see these island kids coming together during their summer break to make a little cash by selling some delicous cold lemonade. We see some young entrepreneurs in the near future.

Belize: A Nation at Risk
My favorite and most often used Chinese proverb reminds us simply that a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Thirty years ago the Education Department of the United States of America published a report, "A Nation at Risk", to urge an overhaul of how/what their young people were taught in schools. Why? Data gathered over many years showed that young students in that country were "behind" where they should be in Education. The Report was a "wake-up call" for the country. As of today, educators in that country are still working to keep the spark alive of that school reform movement. It has been more than 30 years since Belize achieved its Independence. What has Belize (Education Department) done to make its schools its own - instead of keeping the exact system of Education used under Colonial Masters before 1981?

Misc Belizean Sources

NTHU Visits Xunantunich
The Taiwanese student group from NTHU took a day off from visiting local primary schools to visit the Xunantunich archaeological site. They had a great time exploring the site, which should be seeing the opening of its new visitor's center soon.

Belmopan Day Chess Tournament
Belmopan celebrated it's 43 anniversary this weekend with their Belmopan Day. The East Cayo Chess Association had a chess tournament there. "Yesterday there was a chess tournament in Belmopan that included young children all the way up to adults. This was the first tournament held exclusive by the East Cayo Chess Association and it went very well - big congrats to the 20+ participants and, in particular, all those that volunteered to make it happen."

Channel 7

Khaled El Turk Escapes Extradition, Court Rules
After almost 10 months on detention and facing extradition to the United States, 36 year-old Lebanese Belizean Khaled El Turk is a free man tonight. Viewers may remember that he was detained on October 18 last year on a warrant from the United States for the pseudoephedrine importation into the US. He's been strongly resisting the extradition request in the Magistrate's Court, and today, he got the best news. After being brought in court in shackles for the past 10 months, the Chief Magistrate, Anne Marie Smith handed down her final decision that El Turk should be freed because the Government of Belize failed to establish a prima facie case for his extradition. It is a most unexpected turnaround, and today 7News spoke to his attorney, Anthony Sylvester, who explained the Chief Magistrate's written judgment after months of tedious litigation. Anthony Sylvester - Attornet for Khaled El Turk "The decision of the Magistrate is that Mr. El Turk is discharged and he is free to go. The decision was made after consideration of the arguments put forward by both the attorneys for the Government of the United States and Mr. Flores (Senior Counsel) and on behalf of Mr. El Turk.

GOB Engages Buckley To Talk Compensation, He Wants 2 Mil
Steven Buckley has been much in the news recently - after the KHMH sent him a bill for services he received after police wrongfully shot him in the head. The story has great poignancy because here's a man who was so badly injured that he lost his ability to work; police gave him no compensation and now he has to pay his own medical bills!? It's an outrage which seems to speak to everything wrong at so many levels of officialdom - but with mounting public pressure - something is finally being done about it - more than three years after he was shot in the head. After the media put that to Prime Minister Dean Barrow last week Friday, he agreed that Buckley should be compensated, and he promised to intervene to expedite the process. Well today, the next available weekday, representatives of the Government of Belize met with Buckley, his wife, and his attorney Dickey Bradley at the Racoon Street Police Headquarters. The media was out there in full force, and after the meeting, Dickey Bradley told us that GOB has decided that they will settle this matter outside of a civil court, and Buckley will be compensated. According to Bradley, Buckley and his family will get a large sum, as part of a partial payment before the end of the week.

Samer Akil, The Salvadorean Bust And The Corozal Free Zone
Tonight, there is more information about the major drug bust made in El Salvador and its connection to Belize. As we reported on Friday, the drugs were destined for a company called Grupo Sol, registered in the Corozal Free zone. Well, local authorities did not want to release the name of the registered owner of those companies, but it is all over the Mexican news. He is Samer Akil Ralda, and, it turns out, he's a big name in the Corozal Free Zone - so much so that up until May of this year, he was on the Zone's Board of Directors. In fact, he's still pictured on the Zone's website as a Director - mugging for a photo along with leading public officials such as the Comptroller of Customs and the Commissioner of Labour. He was recently voted off the board, but now Mexican Media reports that he hasn't been seen in the zone for two weeks sicne the bust was made. Our local information say that he is the owner of two companies in the Zone, Grupo Sol and Excel, while Mexican media reports that his stories are named Sol Fashion and Cargoyo. Both the stores and their warehouse were searched last week - when a shipment of frozen pineapple came from Costa Rica.

Benque's First Murder In Two Years Is Vicious
There was a murder in Benque Viejo this weekend - where a 51 year old was apparently beaten to death. It is the first murder in the quiet western town in two years - and it's an especially vicious one. But as Monica Bodden found out when she went west today, the victim Pedro Antonio Vasques had a history of violence against him- Monica Bodden reporting The body of 51 year old Guatemalan National Pedro Vasquez was found lying on this side of the road with 2 large cut wounds, one on the left and one on the right side of his forehead. Also a deep punctured wound on the left side of his nose. Still breathing but barely holding on to life, his body was discovered around 4am on Sunday morning on the side of Churchill Street. He was rushed to the San Ignacio Community Hospital but died shortly after. Assistant Superintendent, Denzel Thompson - Officer In charge, Benque "What it appears so far is that yes he was inflicted with some blunt object, however, at this present moment - the body is in Belize City, a post mortem is being carried out and it should be concluded sometime today. That should be able to determine what has caused the death and at that time it could give us areas to continue to follow in the investigation. We have questioned a couple of people who we believed could have assisted us in the investigation but nothing has been coming in so far other than the ones questioned. He was a Guatemalan, 51 year old and he was living in Benque Viejo at the time of his death."

Customs Officer Caught On A Contraband Move
Police have an operation called "U-Turn" - they won't say what it's about, but we do know that it turned up a nice stash of contraband - and a customs officer in the mix! On Saturday morning at 11:00, police stopped a Plymouth Grand Voyager minivan with three men inside. Police found it stacked with boxes of contraband vodka, namely: 15 cases of Absolut Vodka and 1 case of Grey Goose Vodka - all liter bottles. Each case of Absolut contained 12 bottles and the case of Grey Goose Vodka contained 6 bottles - so that's a total of 186 bottles of top shelf vodka. The three men were detained pending investigations - and they remain held tonight. 29 year-old Carlton Humes, a resident of Iguana Street; 25 year-old Rondale Bailey, a Customs Officer from Hattieville, and 21 year-old Davon Bailey, a student of Raccoon Street, are awaiting an arraignment at the Magistrate's Court on contraband charges, specifically, acquiring possession of unaccustomed goods, and reckless concern in carrying unaccustomed goods. The cargo is valued at $15,862, and as a result, the men were charged with 3 times that value, a total of $47,586.

"Lucas Magnus" For Cayo Central?
He's not what you would call a top draft pick - but Luke Espat is a die-hard PUP, and now the long time behind the scenes orchestrator is getting into the forefront of electoral politics - and he's going to do it in Cayo Central. Espat told a gathering of the Cayo PUP committee leaders on Saturday that he's officially offering himself as a candidate. Today he told us that he did his homework and of the 17 available seats in the PUP, he decided to go, quote, "where the most work was needed." As for Senator Collet Montejo, who is the current divisional caretaker and came within 44 votes of beating UDP incumbent Rene Montero, Espat says he consulted with everyone - and they told him to, quote "do his thing." We aren't quite sure what that "thing" is - since, politically, Espat is untested, and he has a less than stellar public image - after various legal and business entanglements, most recently with the Belize Bank. He promised us an interview tomorrow�.

Chamber Supports Hon. Julius' PAC Plan
Last week, 7News told you about the motion which the PUP's Julius Espat wants to table at the next House Meeting, scheduled for Wednesday. As we've told you, he wants to remove majority control of the committee from the ruling party in Government, which hold 4 seats, while the Opposition holds 2. He wants to restructure it so that Government gets 2 seats, Opposition gets 2 and 3 come from the Senate. Prime Minister Dean Barrow has told us that he will make procedural objections if Espat attempts to bring it to the House Meeting, but the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry is hoping that the PM will change his mind. In release today, the Chamber agrees with Julius Espat in principle saying quote, "The current structure of the PAC undermines its purpose as control of the PAC ultimately rests in the hands of the majority of the House of Representatives - the very body responsible for approving the country's budget." The BCCI continues, "In effect, the Government's spending of public funds is therefore being scrutinized by a Government-controlled PAC. This is particularly disconcerting since Ministers who are in the Cabinet are bound by the principle of collective responsibility and so cannot go against any decision of Cabinet."