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

Island students participate in annual Children and Youth Rally
The Ministry of Education Youth and Sports on Friday September 13th hosted students from across the country to the annual Children and Youth Rally. The event was celebrated under the national September Celebrations theme "Belize in You, Belize in Me - Land of the Free." On Ambergris Caye, the students gathered at the Rafael Angel Nu�ez Auditorium where the atmosphere was very patriotic, and included dances and celebration music. The event was broken down into two segments: the first was the official ceremony and the second part was the fun and entertainment section. During the official ceremony, the students of Ambergris Caye were happy to listen to a 10-minute presentation by Anthony Gill. The 11-year-old Belizean/American is an international motivational and inspirational speaker. His visit with the students of San Pedro Town is part of a countrywide tour and it is his second working visit to Belize.

Ministry of Health issues caution on oral Ketoconazole
The Ministry of Health is closely monitoring new information in regards to the use and efficacy of a well established anti-fungal medication, Ketoconozole, which is currently being used in Belize. The Ministry is aware that in some countries this medication has been banned from further use because of its toxic effects on the liver. Other medications of the same category of drugs have proven to be just as effective with fewer side effects. As such, patients on this medication should consult their doctors at the earliest possible time to seek out the best solution available. Doctors across the country are strongly advised to switch to newer, less toxic medications. The Ministry of Health strongly advises that Ketoconazole be used only for cases where patients are unable to tolerate other therapies or when other medication options are unavailable.

Ambergris Today

New British High Commissioner Makes Courtesy Call to Minister of National Security
The new British High Commissioner to Belize, H.E. Peter Hughes made a courtesy call to Minister of National Security Hon. John Saldivar on Friday, September 13, 2013, in his office at the Ministry of National Security Headquarters in the Curl Thompson Building in Belmopan. The British High Commissioner's visit is part of his familiarization tour, having recently taken up his new position after presenting his credentials to Governor General Sir ColvilleYoung. H.E Peter Hughes started his diplomatic career as Desk Officer in the British Defense Department, and has since served oversees in Australia, the Caribbean, Asia and Afghanistan. Upon his appointment to Belize, Mr. Hughes was quoted as saying he hopes to build on the enduring friendship between the United Kingdom and Belize.

Flashbacks: Patrotism in the 1970's
It is not the size of a parade but the patriotism that goes along with it. These San Pedro kids are displaying a slightly decorated bike but high in the air is the fluttering British flag. Yes, it is definitely before Independence so you will see one or two Union Jack flags, the flag of England around the village. Even the child on the bike has his little British flag ready for the parade. This was the time when Sanpedranos paid tribute to the Queen of England and showed respect to the Governor of England, the British flag and the national anthem, God Save The Queen. It was also the era when the streets of San Pedro were rolling hills of beautiful white sand.

Teen Talk: Why Judging People is Wrong
- by Ryan Ancona, Teen Talk Reporter - In this week's article we will be talking about why judging other people is wrong. I believe everyone is guilty of this at some point of their lives, some more than others. Then there are some people who don't really realize that they are doing it. Why is it wrong you may ask? Well the first reason is more common sense. It is wrong because it can hurt the other person's feelings. Here is an example: there is a girl who instead of wearing usual girly clothes decides to dress with more 'boyish' clothes. Probably as soon as other girls see her they would start laughing because she is different. There are a lot of people who will probably argue that she can't wear boy clothes because she is a girl and that's not right.

Pic of the Week: September Celebrations Inspired Art
'One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure' perfectly describes our Picture of the Week. It took Heider Perez and his children just a little bit of imagination and a whole lot of creativity to put together this awesome yard art as tribute to Belize's patriotic celebrations taking place this month. With bits and pieces of scraps that their neighbors had discarded as trash, the Perez family saw it as treasure and an opportunity to recycle all of it into something colorful and beautiful. An old discarded bicycle frame, bucket covers for the wheels, pieces of PVC pipe, an old basket, scrap plywood and some spare paint was all it took to get it done! "Ok ok... this is how it happened," commented Heider to us. "I was passing by my neighbor's yard when I notice this old bicycle frame. I went home thinking that I can use it somehow. Two days later I decided to take it home... still not knowing what I was going to do with it. I thought to myself that it would be funny to have a Macaw riding it and since we are in the month of September; that just kinda made everything easier. I am painting my house at the moment so I got the bucket covers for the wheels from the buckets of paint and since it's a bird I decided to go with PVC pipe for the peddle since this wasn't an ordinary guy riding the bike. LOL. And the basket...well it so happens I have great neighbors - I also found it on another neighbor's trash. I did the Macaw out of some scrap plywood I had in my yard. A little color and there you have it."

Community Bulletin: Saga's Central American Cook-Off
Come and enjoy Saga's Central American Cook-off Block Party at El Fogon on Thursday, September 19, 2013! Saga will be serving up very own purrfect Tropical Sangria. There will be both red and white to choose from with all proceeds benefiting Saga. Saga's Famous Raffle with great prices and plenty of good food to vote for. This fundraiser is to raise money for a SNIP-a-thon that Saga HS will be promoting in October. Saga will also be hosting Helping Paws Across Borders form Oct. 7-11 and Hopkins HS Oct. 19-21. There will be visiting Vets to hold FREE SNIP (spay/neuter) clinics for the community. Saga's goal is to SNIP over 300 island pets.

Misc Belizean Sources

Education in Belize: Breaking Free!
September in Belize is a month for celebrations! Many festivities lead up to Sept 10th to commemorate the "Battle of St. George's Caye", a day that has been celebrated each year, and long before the country achieved self-governing status in the mid 1960's and Independence in 1981. Each September includes many talent competitions throughout Belize, then a festive Carnaval, then the nationwide celebrated Independence Day on Sept. 21st to top a full month of festivities. In our many September celebrations throughout the country, we celebrate many forms of "breaking free", whether from Colonial masters or from whatever may have once held us back -- as a country and as a people. We even broke free from our former name, British Honduras, and have proudly made ourselves known throughout the entire world as: Belize. Certainly, we have every right to celebrate all the changes and advancements in Belize today. It is unfortunate, though, that Belize insists on remaining very disadvantaged as a young developing country, because since gaining Independence we adamantly refuse to break free from adhering to former/existing Colonial (Commonwealth) systems of Education throughout the country.

In Bloom Rocked Orange Walk
In Bloom, one of Cayo's up and coming rock bands, took a road trip to Sugar City this weekend to rock out at their Rock 4 All concert. They had more than a little fun while they were up there sharing the jams. "We Stepped Back To Listen To The Roar of The Crowd, Embrace The Feeling of Love And Support, And Thoroughly Enjoy The Scenery Unfolding Before Our Eyes, Orange Walk Surely Knews How To Make Us Feel At Home!!!! Thanks So Much To The Orange Walk Town Council For Having Us And For Accommodations At Hotel de la Fuente, Orange Walk Town, Belize, German Novelo For Giving Us A Chance To Play, And Macs' Dad For Sponsoring The Drive To and From OW. We'll Be Back xD. In Bloom In Orange Walk For The 'Rock 4 All Vol 5' Concert!!!"

Belize Photography Exhibition
The Benque House of Culture is getting ready for their next exhibition, which will be photographs from around Belize that follow the theme 'Belize: Through My Eyes.' The juried photographic exhibit is open to all amateur photographers. They are accepting submissions through the 25th of October. Call Subrata Basu at 633-8000 for more information.

FCD Presented on Chiquibul to PM
Rafael Manzanero, Executive Director of Friends for Conservation and Development, and the FCD crew, gave a presentation on the Chiquibul Forest Reserve to the PM last week. The Chiquibul is one of Belize's greatest areas for flora and fauna diversity, and a large part of the country's water supply originates there, over 4 billion gallons a year. Save the Chiquibul! "FCD had the opportunity to present their work to the Prime Minister, Dean Barrow on the 11th of September regarding the protection of the Chiquibul Forest. FCD's Director explained the challenges faced to secure the protected area. The reunion was extremely productive and encouraging and the Prime Minister recognized the important work carried out by FCD."

September Criterium Race
Congratulations to Cayo's Oscar Quiroz and Jose Choto for winning the annual September Criterium bicycle race this weekend in the Junior and Masters divisions. For a complete list of winners, go to the Belize Cycling Association page.

Channel 7

Concrete, Actionable Allegations of Corruption At SIF: Board Sanctions Terminations
Tonight, SIF, the Social Investment Fund is reeling after mass terminations - resulting from concrete, actionable allegations of corruption. 7news has confirmed that the Board of Directors had an emergency meeting at 2:00 this afternoon in Belmopan and highly placed sources tell us that they took the decision to terminate as many as four employees, while also asking Executive Director Daniel Cano to resign. According to a release issued a few minutes ago, quote, "The meeting is still in session and a statement will be issued tomorrow morning detailing the outcome. " The meeting had key input from the contractor general who has been investigating allegation of corruption at SIF for some time, too long a time, according to some. We say that because those concrete allegations were made 7 months ago by a contractor SIF had retained to build the New Dangriga Town market. He is Kennard Smart, and tonight, we'll look at those allegations of corruption:...

Soldier Beaten By Cops
And from that scandal to a recap of the weekend's news. Considering all the drinking and wild revelry that happened, we're glad to report that no one was killed. But that doesn't mean there wasn't violence - in fact, there was quite a bit. The most disturbing case is one involving a BDF Corporal who was beaten unconscious by police officers. Now, usually, these lawmen work together, but Cayo police say when they responded to a disturbance at Blue Angels Club on Sunday morning at 3:45 am, they found 27 year old BDF Corporal Keith Pinnix "without shirt, screaming and shaking the metal gate to the entrance of Blue Angels Night Club on Hudson Street, San Ignacio Town." Pinnix had apparently left a bag with important personal documents in the club and they didn't want to let him back in to get it. Police say they told him to conduct himself appropriately but he continued. They then put him under arrest for disorderly conduct. That's when the cops say Pinnix punched a police officer, knocking him off his feet. They say Pinnix launched another attack, throwing several punches. Police say they had no choice but to respond with force, clubbing Pinnix with the baton. They hit him so hard that they allegedly broke the baton in the process.

Carnival Craziness Leads to Crime
And while that was Cayo - in Belize City there were two violent events - both resulting from the Carnival. The first occurred early in the morning at around 4:00 am during the Wet Fete - an event that precedes the jouver't - where, as the name implies everyone is sprayed with freezing cold water. This was staged at the MCC Tennis court on front of the Princess. As you might be able to imagine, the event was quite wild and being held at four in the morning it quickly unfolded into chaos - as revelers - along with more than a few drinkers - mounted the sound system truck and refused to get off to make space for the deejay. Police had to be called - which meant the involvement of the GSU which is headquartered right around the corner near Renaissance Towers. While police used "stunners", referred to locally as "tasers" to get the crowd off the truck, rocks and sticks started to be thrown by the mob at the police. The GSU fired warning shots in the air with their MT-9 machine guns to disperse the mob. IT was effective, but then when a man was injured in the head, the story went out that the GSU had shot him in the head. But that's not so. It turns out that 18 year old Rudolph Ramsey was injured by a rock and not a weapon. He was not at the KHMH and best information is that he discharged himself.

COLA Gets On The No Bus Ban Bandwagon
On Friday you saw expert protestor Phillip Fawda Henry come out against the City Council's plan to ban public buses from Albert Street. Well today, he was joined by advocacy organization COLA - which issued a release asking, quote, "Where is the consultation�that this Council promised City residents when they came into office last March?" To that, they add, dramatically, "Man does not live by concrete alone, but by the sweat of his brow eats bread." We'll have to figure that one out, but for context we spoke to COLA President Geovanni Brackett today:.. Geovanni Brackett - President, COLA "We believe that this new decision of the Council maybe in fact unilateral and a decision that is inconvenient and unsafe for the commuters."

Man Charged For Golden Corn Robbery
On Friday, 7News told you about the robbery which was stopped as it was happening at the Golden Corn Tortilla Factory on Central American Boulevard. As we reported, at around 4 on Friday evening, 3 men, one of whom was armed with a .38 pistol, barged into shop, stole money from the cash pan, and grabbed a cell phone from one of the workers. One of the owners tackled the man with the gun, causing it to fall to the ground. This gave the other workers time to subdue him, until the police arrived and arrested him. His other accomplices ran off and escaped. Police arrested and charged 21 year old Joseph O'Brien was charged with robbery, five counts of aggravated assault with a firearm and keeping an unlicensed firearm when he appeared before Magistrate Dale Cayetano today.

GSU Makes Plentiful Busts In The West
Between Thursday and Saturday, the Gang Suppression Unit conducted operations in Central Belize, and their efforts led the arrest of 9 persons in relation to drugs and firearm offences. Just before 10 on Thursday morning, GSU searched the house belonging to 37 year-old Eddy Rowland of the Another World Area in Roaring Creek. The officers found him digging up the ground in his back yard, and this led the officers to search the location. They found a small glass bottle which contained 25 small pieces of crack cocaine to a total weight of 1.6 grams. Rowland was arrested and charged with drug trafficking.

Minister's Warehouse Burglarized
And while police have made arrests for those crimes, they continue to investigate a burglary which happened at the warehouse belonging to Minister of Immigration, Godwin Hulse. He told police that sometime between 11 p.m. on last Thursday and 8:30 on last Friday, someone broke into his warehouse at his home on the Western Highway and stole 1 welding machine, 6 electric motors and 2 blue phase machines, all to a total of $10,000.

Expo 2013 Was A Smash
This weekend, the 17th Annual Expo Belize Market Place was held at the ITVET Compound, and Channel 7 in collaboration with Belizean to the Bone had live coverage throughout. But if you didn't make it there or catch it live, our Daniel Ortiz was there and he put together this report: Daniel Ortiz reporting The 2013 Expo Belize Market Place drew an impressive 19,000 visitors over the weekend, one thousand more than last year, and a huge success for the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry. But while that is the bottom line, a major consideration for all the participating companies was the fact that 2 of the major events of the September Celebrations schedule clashed on Saturday: carnival and expo. No one knew what effect that would have on the event, but it did change the approach some businesses took: Karan Sabnani, Co-owner, Cellular World "This year we were all a bit shaky about it due to the carnival, but we've gotten a great response. What we did was make life convenient for people. We did our Expo deals along the carnival route and we also reduce the prices on our products. Normally at Expo we have a set price range that we work with but this year we drop it a bit to attract people to skip carnival and actually come into expo."

Warrior Accused of Armed Robbery
19 year-old Jamal Warrior is in jail tonight after he was accused of an armed robbery in Belize City. Nadine Pelayo reported that on last Wednesday, she was on Coney Drive when someone attempted to rob her with a gun. She reported it to police who went back to search the area on Thursday, and they recovered a black .38 Special Smith and Wesson revolver and five live rounds of .38 ammunition. This morning, Warrior appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith where he read charges of attempted robbery, keeping an unlicensed firearm, keeping unlicensed ammunition and two counts of aggravated assault with a firearm on Nadine and Paul Pelayo.

Man Shot During BTB Robbery Takes A Guilty Plea
So, while those 2 are awaiting trial, 22 year old Clarence Lamb changed his 10 pleas from "not guilty" to "guilty" when he appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith this morning. Lamb was shot in the right foot after he and another person robbed the Belize Tourism Board of $1,732 dollars. They were armed with a knife and a gun when they stormed the Regent Street office on January second of this year, and robbed the cashier, of two cash pans which contained the money. Only Lamb was apprehended after Edwin Torres, the security officer at BTB, shot him while he and his accomplice were trying to flee the scene. The two cash pans and the firearm were recovered from the scene as well. Lamb was arraigned on January 7, and had to be assisted in and out of the court as he was still recovering from his injured right foot. He had pleaded not guilty to the charges, and had been set for trial today.

Jouver't to Carnival Was turned Up to The Max
In our top segment we told you about some of the chaos that unfolded in the periphery of the carnival revelry. But, when you consider how many people were out from three in the morning until six in the evening, and how much alcohol was in circulation right after payday - it's fortunate that worse didn't happen. So, there's still a lot to celebrate - and the revelers turned it up to the max on Saturday. 7news was there from the jouver't at dawn to the carnival in the afternoon - and here are the highlights:.. Daniel Ortiz, reporting As you heard, the revelers from the J'ouvert Splash Down converged in front of the San Cas Plaza, for the continuation of the party which started 7 hours earlier. They formed a massive throng - a swarm of humanity, which shows how much Carnival spirit there is in the city. And the numbers just kept increasing, every time they passed our cameras, thousands of people, a mash up of bodies, mud, music, dancing and the chaos called the carnival mood.