The March 17th, 2013 issue of The STAR (Cayo) is online HERE

This Week's Stories:

  • Police Kill Two Robbers:
    Preparations are being made for the burial of two young men who were reportedly shot by police as they fled the scene of a robbery in San Ignacio shortly after 12 noon on Tuesday, March 12, 2013. San Ignacio police reported receiving an emergency call via the 911 line of a robbery in progress at Roses Chinese Restaurant & Store located between miles 67 and 68 on the George Price Highway on the western outskirts of San Ignacio town. It is reported that a team of policemen rushed to the scene where in the area they came upon two male persons, one of whom was seen with a blue rag concealing his face while the other wore a black stocking over his face and toting a sawed-off shot gun.
  • Fully Equipped Resource Center For Arenal Village:
    A spanking new resource center will soon be constructed in the western village of Arenal, Cayo. The fully furnished 30 x 60 feet building will be constructed at a cost of $250,000. The furnishings will include computer equipment and furniture. The building will be located in a spacious new area of the village alongside a new football field. Daniel Cano, Executive Director of the Social Investment Fund, informed that the design for the new building will be completed within the next two months. He told the gathered villagers that bids for construction will be invited thereafter. The building is expected to be completed before the end of this year.
  • Cayo's Oscar Quiroz Is The Cyclist To Watch On Holy Saturday:
    Oscar Quiroz, the junior cyclist who has recently graduated into the major leagues will be the cyclist to watch in the March 30, Annual Holy Saturday Cross Country Cycling Classic. The rising young cycling star who participated in the Smart Belmopan Cycling Classic on March 10, shocked the crowd when he captured the top prize in the junior league category by crossing the finish line one minute and forty seconds ahead of the second place finisher. Quiroz has dominated the junior league since exploding onto the scene back in March 2010 when he competed in the Junior Cross Country Cycling Classic placing 9th in this prestigious race, an excellent feat by any standards for a first time rider.
  • A New Basketball Court For St. Andrews Anglican Primary School:
    Thirteen students from Toronto District Christian High School in Canada arrived in Belize on March 5, 2013; sleeves raised and ready to work on constructing a new basketball court for St. Andrews Anglican Primary School in San Ignacio Town. Country coordinators Richard Zul and Lucille Sosa explained that works on the basketball court took a total of four days, which included preparation of the building site, laying stone ground work, and pouring of the concrete slab. During their spare time, members of the visiting team visited classrooms, entertained students, painted hopscotch on the cemented courtyard, leveled out the school grounds and prepared new garden beds.
  • D'bi.Young Anitafrika performing live at the Bliss:
    The Institute of Creative Arts (ICA) and the Winsom Foundation in collaboration with Women's month presents for the first time in Belize, African-Jamaican- Canadian dubpoet, playwright, monodramatist and educator D'bi.Young Anitafrika. She is internationally celebrated as a visionary storyteller, a passionate humanist and a leader in the development of arts education. She will be performing one of her eight plays 'Blood Claat', specializing in what she terms biomyth monodrama, D'bi. writes one-person theatre plays comprised of music, poetry, dance, and drama that chronicle the stories of global peoples and our quests for self-actualization. She has recently completing her third global tour, performing and teaching, D'bi. has shared the stage with many renowned names such as legendary American poet Saul Williams, and world renowned singers Alicia Keys, Angelique Kidjo, Annie Lennox, and Sarah Maglachan.
  • Pope Francis Warns Church Could Become 'Compassionate NGO':
    Pope Francis has warned the Catholic Church would become "a compassionate NGO" without spiritual renewal. In a Sistine Chapel Mass with cardinals on his first day as Church leader, the pontiff said: "If we do not confess to Christ, what would we be? "We would end up a compassionate NGO. What would happen would be like when children make sand castles and then it all falls down." Francis is the first Latin American - and the first Jesuit - Pope. The BBC's David Willey, in Rome, says the 76-year-old has already been swift to stamp his style on the papacy. Pope Francis is regarded as a doctrinal conservative, but he is also seen as a potential force for reform of the Vatican bureaucracy, analysts say.
  • Early HIV Drugs 'Functionally Cure About One In Ten':
    Rapid treatment after HIV infection may be enough to "functionally cure" about a 10th of those diagnosed early, say researchers in France. They have been analysing 14 people who stopped therapy, but have since shown no signs of the virus resurging. It follows reports of a baby girl being effectively cured after very early treatment in the US. However, most people infected with HIV do not find out until the virus has fully infiltrated the body. The group of patients, known as the Visconti cohort, all started treatment within 10 weeks of being infected.
  • China Confirms Li Keqiang As Premier:
    China's leaders have named Li Keqiang premier, placing him at the helm of the world's second-largest economy. Mr Li, who already holds the number two spot in the Communist Party, takes over from Wen Jiabao. Mr Li was elected for a five-year term but, like his predecessor, would be expected to spend a decade in office. On Thursday, Xi Jinping was confirmed by legislators as the new president, completing the transition of power from Hu Jintao. Li Keqiang's widely-signalled elevation was confirmed by 3,000 legislators at the National People's Congress, the annual parliament session, in Beijing, by 2,940 votes of 2,949 cast.
  • Brazil Outrage Over Sao Paulo Cyclist's Lost Arm:
    A road collision in Brazil has caused outrage after police said a motorist drove off with a cyclist's severed arm attached to his vehicle. The driver, who later turned himself in, told Sao Paulo police that he had dumped the limb in a stream. The arm has not been recovered but doctors believe it could have been reattached, police told local media. The cyclist - a window-cleaner on his way to work - is said to be in a stable condition in hospital. The accident that saw the cyclist's arm torn off took place on Sunday morning on Avenida Paulista, one of Sao Paulo's busiest streets.
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