This news synopsis will be more brief than usual for a couple weeks due to a short period of time constraint.


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Last night's TV news on Channel 7 and Channel 5
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What Britain used to look like from the air
From sprawling factory complexes to newly built suburban streets - by way of some of the UK's top sporting venues and seaside resorts. More than 10,000 images from one of the earliest collections of aerial photography are being made freely available on the web. The Aerofilms Collection is being conserved and digitised by English Heritage and the Royal Commissions on the Ancient and Historical Monuments for Scotland and Wales. Many of the images are instantly recognisable - but the public are also being asked for their help to identify some other locations, and paint a picture of life in the UK between 1919 and 1953. Take a look at some of the photographs with Katy Whitaker from English Heritage.

Major Tourist Mishap On A Catamaran Averted
There almost was a major tourist mishap today - when a Catamaran loaded with tourists started taking on water. At 7:00 am, the 63 foot vessel named Belize Glory was heading to Bannister Caye with 120 Cruise Tourists from the Carnival Dream. But something went wrong and the vessel started taking on water in its engine room. The Captain sent out a Mayday Call at 7:15 am and both the Port Authority and the Coast Guard responded. When they arrived, they got assistance from other cruise tenders in the area to transfer the passengers and get them safely unto the island. All passengers were safely evacuated - enduring only a scare and minor inconvenience. But it's a major safety issue - and the Port Authority has dispatched a team to inspect the vessel to see what went wrong. The vessel was beached on the southside of the island - and according to the Port Authority has three feet of water in the engine room. The vessel is owned by Paradise Limited and according to our records it has been in trouble before. In 2005 it ran aground on the Barrier Reef. Now it is aground at Bannister Caye, awaiting further inspection.

CCJ Frowns On Long Remand
As we reported last night, the judges of the Caribbean Court of Justice held a press conference on Saturday in Port of Spain Trinidad. They were there to familiarize media workers with the workings of the Court - in the hope of creating greater public trust and support in the fledgling institution. One of the judges - from Curacao - did lend his opinion on the extraordinary, punitive periods of incarcerations spent by some who are on remand for murder. Hon. Mr. Justice Jacob Wit "Where I come from Curacao which also part of the Caribbean - any criminal case where an accused is in custody will have to be heard, will have to be tried within 3 months after the arrest. So when I came here and notice that people lingering in prisons for years for example before their cases tried I was shocked and I think we all agree that is something that has to be addressed very severely and we have already criticized several of the courts when they are taking too much time to deliver judgments. It is inconceivable that it takes so much time. So probably that entails a lot of things, you can't blame the judges for everything but it's also about how you deal with cases, how your procedures are etc." "And as a final court of appeal we have something to say on that. As Lord Bingham says Jerusalem will not be ushered in once the CCJ is the final court of appeal but gradually we will be able to improve that." Recently in Belize we saw a case where the accused had been on remand for five years. He was acquitted.

Police Open Up
Last night, we showed you how the police department was trying to build community pride and trust with its community clean-up effort. Well today, they continued their observance of Police Week with an open-day fair at the Queen Street Police Station. Now, the department is usually vilified - and often-times justly so - because of abuses by certain rogue officers. Today, however, we got to see a lighter side of the department as they displayed public relations to the students who attended. Here's what one of the organizer's told us: ASP Diana Hall - Officer Commanding Tourism Police "Today, we have an open day, and we have the different branches displaying what they do. We have invited the schools to come and partake in it." Daniel Ortiz "Can you tell us a little bit about what is being displayed today?" ASP Diana Hall "We have the Anti-Drug Unit. They are displaying the equipment and giving the children pep-talks about drugs and firearms. We have the Community Policing Unit displaying the different types of drugs and firearms as well. We also have Belize Tourism Board, who works closely along with the Tourism Police Unit. We have the Communications Center. We also have Scenes of Crime. We have the Traffic Branch, and we have CIB out here." Daniel Ortiz "What has the response been in terms of turn-out?" ASP Diana Hall "This morning, we had a large turn-out, and this afternoon, some of the students are just coming in." Police week continues until Saturday, June 30.

Dead manatees in the south
Manatees are an endangered species in Belize and as such are protected by the law. However a very concerned resident of Sittie River in the Stan Creek district informed love news that the irresponsibility of boat owners this weekend led to the death of manatees in the area. The resident says at this point they are just waiting on the authorities to take action but she also wants to let the boat drivers know the damage they are causing to wildlife in the area.

The Jones'; Al and Patrick in morning shootout with police
A high speed chase through the streets of Belize City this morning has resulted in the capture of two men found in possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition. The arrests were made following a brazen shootout with authorities. At around ten a.m. police on mobile patrol in the area of Mosul Street attempted to [...]

Tourists get a scare at sea
The fear felt by the pedestrians in Belize City this morning was also equally felt by a group who faced a different danger at sea. Over a hundred tourists got quite a scare after eight this morning as the Belize Glory, a local cruise tender, started to take in water while en route to Bannister [...]

6 year old killed in fatal highway accident
While the members of that voyage were lucky, the occupants of a vehicle traveling on the highway this morning did not experience the same fate. A six year old boy is dead following a traffic accident on the Northern Highway just before nine this morning. Leron Jacobs was travelling with thirty-one year old Michelle Saldivar [...]

Villager arrested for Rape and Robbery of U.S. National
An arrest has been made regarding the robbery and rape of a US national, which occurred on Sunday morning in Dangriga. According to police, nineteen year old Placido Sho, a farmer of Maya Center Village in Stann Creek has been charged for Rape. The victim, a fifty-four year old woman reported that two men broke [...]

K-9 Dogs, police and customs department to sniff out ammunition and drugs
The police department has taken a battering from the public not only to arrest, charge and convict, but also to prevent crime. Belize City has also taken an international hit as a destination to stay away from. But despite all the bad press and morning show criticisms, the men and women who wear the badge [...]

Should child molesters receive bail?
In the past week, over a thousand persons participated in our e-poll on the question: Do you believe that the penalty for murder convictions should be death by hanging or life in prison? The overwhelming majority, eighty-five percent, voted for hanging convicted murderers while fifteen percent said to lock them up for life. In the [...]

Chamber requests no tax increase at budget hearing
The Belize Chamber of Commerce & Industry says that it welcomes the Government's assurance that there will not be any tax increases in the presentation of the upcoming budge, notwithstanding, pressures from the International Monetary Fund on the need to service the country's debt obligation. The Chamber says that it is welcomed despite the nation's [...]

8 million to take part in Guatemala's ICJ Referendum
Guatemala has begun preparations to organize the referendum on the territorial dispute with Belize. The simultaneous referenda are scheduled for October sixth, 2013 when residents in both countries will vote on whether or not the claim will be taken to the International Court of Justice for a final resolution. According to a report in the [...]

Critical role of Court in CSME
The ICJ is not the only judicial system to which Belize has ties. The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), since its inauguration in April 2005 is the final Court of Appeal. However, the CCJ has resolved fewer than a hundred cases from member-states within its jurisdiction. Belize, which joined the CCJ in 2010, has filed [...]

More people seeking justice at CCJ
While a number of high-ranking, seasoned attorneys have appeared before the bench in recent years, statistically senior counsels have been outnumbered by their lesser peers. There has also been a considerable increase in cases being elevated to the CCJ. In April, the case involving the illegal and discriminatory termination of six employees of Mayan King [...]

Evan Bruhier's case of sticky fingers
The third court, the one most familiar with Belizeans, the Magistrate Court continues to see a long list of burglary and robbery related charges. The son of a policeman was before the court late Monday evening to answer to a charge for allegedly stealing from a bus conductor. The accused man is twenty-three year old [...]

With friends like these; victim robbed by his buddy
Robbery is despicable as it is, but robbing a friend is inexplicable. Another case of robbery came up before Magistrate Hurl Hamilton; it was a man accused of jacking his own friend. According to fifty-two year old Raymond Harris, on June seventeenth he was out socializing with some friends at the corner of Victoria Street [...]

Senior Counsel Courtenay in UK Hip Hop Debate
A first of its kind global debate was held in London today, the hip-hop genre of music and whether it's an art form that gives the street a voice or if it's simply about money, misogyny and materialism. The lineup of panelists included civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, computer scientist and composer Jaron Lanier, hip-hop [...]

New guides for CSEC and Cape students
CXC and Cape Students will now have the opportunity to use student friendly study guides in preparation for their exams. In 2009, Nelson Thornes Limited, publisher of a number of Caribbean publications, including the West Indian Reader, signed a contract with CXC to distribute Caribbean Secondary Examination Council and Cape study materials. 2012 is the [...]

Royalties for local artists? A dream coming true
And after students buy those books and continue with their education, perhaps they too will get paid for producing their own original material. The Belizean Society of Composers, Authors and Publisher (BSCAP) has been around since 2005. BSCAP is a collective management society that administers the copyright of members. There are seventy local members of [...]

F.F.B. gets FIFA instructor to train coaches
The new administration that governs the Football Federation of Belize was installed three months ago on March fifteenth. The future of football was the primary concern of both the president elect and the former president of the F.F.B. So three months later, the organization is seeing some of its commitments bear fruit. The F.F.B. brought [...]

Charlotte's Web on Ambergris Caye? Spider weaves letters in web!
Ladies and gentlemen, it seems that Charlotte, the esteemed spider from Charlotte's Webb has retired to San Pedro. She chose to ignore the beautiful beachfront locales, choosing instead to settle in the corner of a parked golf cart under the home of Gladys Ortiz in San Mateo. (Perhaps it was just perfect and homey, and riding out in an old golf cart was all she ever wanted from retirement?) The San Pedro Sun got a very excited call from Ortiz on Tuesday evening; she stated that they had quite the phenomenon in their home, as a spider had woven what seemed to be, a few letters of the alphabet in its web. Hoping to find the words "Some Pig", or more appropriately, "Some Fish", written out clearly, The San Pedro Sun raced to the home of the excited caller, and found something very interesting indeed. It seems that this particular spider, who we shall call Charlotte II, has been attending classes at Holy Cross in her spare time.

San Pedro receives three additional trained fire fighters
San Pedro recently received the services of three new trained fire fighters brings the fleet to a total of nine fire fighters and around four volunteers. At any given time there will now be two to three fire fighters at the San Pedro Fire Department to operate three shifts: 8am -4pm; 4pm - midnight and midnight - 8am. According to Ernest Dominguez, Senior Fire Fighter and Officer in Charge of the San Pedro Fire Department, the addition was certainly needed and will definitely add to the effectiveness of the Department in responding to fires on the island The three fire fighters were part of the Belize Fire Service's first batch of graduates for the year 2012. On Friday May 25th 24 fire fighters completed an intense 15 weeks of training in Belize City to receive their credentials as official fire fighters. The San Pedro Sun caught up with Irbin Popper and Rudolph Matura, two of the fire fighters deployed to the San Pedro Branch for a little chat. Irbin Popper, 23 years old resident of Orange Walk Town has been deployed to San Pedro. He stated that his reasons for joining the Fire service were to be able to assist in protecting and saving lives and property. Irbin is married and hopes to be of much assistance to the San Pedro Community.

LobSTARS Come out to Party at LobsterFest
Elvi's Kitchen emerged as winner for the Best Lobster Dish at this year's San Pedro Lobster Fest and Caliente/Red Ginger/Blue Water Grill chain of restaurants claimed the Best Lobster Drink making it a two-peat win for both establishments, having claimed the same wins at last year's event. Lobster Fest was celebrated in grand style on Saturday, June 23, 2012, with a grand block party at Central Park. All the LobSTARS came out to celebrate as the ten-day celebration of all things lobster reached its peak this weekend at the Lobster Fest Block Party. Central Park was alive with music, entertainment and most of all filled with the sweet aroma of lobster! For those who did not make it early to the festival, they had to wait in long lines to get their hands on some juicy Caribbean Spiny Lobster. But nobody was complaining because each food booth was serving some of the best lobster dishes on the island and the music and atmosphere made for a great time.