February 8, 2012

Birds of Stann Creek District
Here are some of the birds we had the pleasure of seeing on our trip to Placencia and side excursion to Red Bank. We saw others, of course, but these were the ones we could identify from our photos. Most of these were new on our life lists!

The Bachelor Spoiler: Ben Cancels The Party, Confronts Courtney And Sends Two Home
The pressure mounts on The Bachelor as the crucial hometown dates loom, but first Ben and the remaining six bachelorettes continue their exciting trip around the world to the beautiful country of Belize. Emily is treated to an outing to the majestic limestone coral island of Caye Caulker, where, after a few rocky weeks, she hopes to get her relationship with Ben back on track. Lindzi and Ben attempt to take their relationship to new heights with a spectacular helicopter ride over deep ocean waters before arriving at Belize's famous Great Blue Hole.

FIRST FANTASY FIVE JACKPOT WINNER COLLECTS PRIZE MONEY
Irene Lopez of Dangriga travelled to Belize City today to collect her prize of a hundred and seventy thousand dollars after thirty thousand was deducted for ...

OPPOSITION DISTANCES ITSELF FROM POLITICAL AD
The People's United Party has strongly condemned the airing of a paid political advertisement on Television last night. The caricature purports to depict the Prime Minister engaged in a scene that is distasteful. Attorney at law Lisa Shoman who is the communications director for the People's United Party this afternoon told Love News that even though public perception is that the advertisement originated in the PUP campaign arsenal, the party is in no way connected to the distasteful program.

OCEANA BELIZE FACE NEW OBSTACLE IN REFERENDUM BID
The OCEANA-Belize referendum bid today took another hit when the Governor General turned down a request from the group. In a letter to the OCEANA-Belize ...

HEALTHY REEFS RELEASES RESULTS OF ECO AUDIT
"I m glad that for Belize we could celebrate five out of seven, Belize is ... Looking at marine protected areas, this is one of the areas that Belize has ...

ELDERLY WOMAN ATTACKED AND ROBBED

COROZAL MAN VICTIM OF HIT AND RUN ACCIDENT

INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES JOIN MUNICIPAL RACE

TOLEDO BUSINESS DESTROYED BY FIRE

FOUR PERSONS CHARGED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING

THREE CAYO YOUTH DETAINED FOR ROBBERY

Lake I Division In Play - Will It Be King Or Schackron?
The Lake Independence constituency - most observers agree that it's a wide open race to see who will claim it in the March 7th election after the incumbent Cordel Hyde stepped down last we...

Former PUP Candidate Goes Independent
One PUP who does not have quite that level of team spirit is Alburn Rivero. The former, defeated candidate for PUP standard bearer in Belize Rural Central has announced that he is running as...

Crass Anti-Barrow Ad Pulled; PUP Says:
And moving from candidates to commercials... last night on this newscast, you probably saw a very tasteless one featuring the Prime Minister disrobing in burlesque style. We suspect it wa...

Belize Shows Well In Regional Reef Survey Survey Says Belizeans Believe In Bribes
And from that shot of good, encouraging news to two shots of bad, discouraging news about Belize's international profile. A group called the Latin American Public Opinion Project conducts p...

Survey Says Belizeans Believe In Bribes
And from that shot of good, encouraging news to two shots of bad, discouraging news about Belize's international profile. A group called the Latin American Public Opinion Project conducts public opinion surveys in Latin America and the Caribbean. It has done a survey measuring public opinion about bribes, whether people think they are justifiable.

Belize Downgraded Again On PM's Prompting
And to that other shot of bad news - although this one is seen as good news in some quarters - International rating agency Standard and Poors has downgraded Belize, again. The rating on l...

GG Tells OCEANA No-Go On Referendum Enquiry
After OCEANA and The Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage had their referendum application rejected last week, OCEANA wrote to the Governor General asking him for an explanation of how eig...

GSU Nabs Robbers In Progress
THE GSU nabbed a robbery in progress this afternoon. At about 1:45, the Unit responded to a robbery in progress of a tacos vendor on Partridge Street. When they got to the area, th...

Man Sentenced For Manslaughter In West
Yesterday, we told you about the conviction of 22 year-old Estevan Williams, a resident of San Jose Succotz Village. He was tried and convicted of manslaughter in the courtroom of Justice Tr...

Mark And Cordel, The Heady Days
Cordel Hyde and Mark Espat have withdrawn from electoral politics - for the time being at least. Will they re-surface again in public or political life? Who knows? We're not sure that even...

Dream Come Through For Lady Who Wins Fantasy Five
For those with a taste for gambling - Belize offers no shortage of opportunities to part with your money for the chance (but never the likelihood) to win a small fortune. In terms ...

Gas Station Tries A thing With Cheaper Gas
Pump prices are crushing, and vehicle owners have had to curtail their movements and their weekend activities all because the price for a gallon of premium is over eleven dollars. But ...

S&P downgrades Belize over Barrow super bond statement
Agency cites "lower predictability that the government will continue to service its external commercial debt." "...we expect government workers and teachers to demand higher wages once the next budget debate begins"... A report coming out of New York today said that Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has downgraded Belize's credit ratings, over suggestions from Prime Minister Dean Barrow last week that the government would like to restructure the billion-dollar super bond.

Dondre Brannon, 18, dies after being shot
His murder is the 6th since the year began, and the 2nd for February... The family of Dondre Brannon, 18, a student of Gwen Lizarraga High School's Evening Division, is once again grappling with tragedy. Dondre was shot once in the abdomen last night and later succumbed to his injury whilst undergoing treatment at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH). A post-mortem exam showed that he died from internal bleeding.

Barrow's suggestion of super bond restructuring "credit negative": Moody's
A recent pronouncement by the Barrow administration, in its bid for reelection, that it will seek the electorate's instructions on the billion-dollar super bond has caught the attention of a major international ratings agency.

US Capital plans to run seismic in Conejo
Alistair King, representative for US Capital Energy in Belize, told Amandala this evening that the company intends to pursue seismic work in the Maya village of Conejo, Toledo, because 32 of 33 men who work with the oil company have signed onto a letter giving their approval.

United Belize Party forms - 1 candidate to date
The party's chairman and sole candidate to date, Lucilo Teck, today told Amandala that the UBP "is committed to reconstruct the social and economic development of Belize," and would focus on improving quality of life and education, and expanding political and economic opportunities for the masses.

Cordel, Mark out; Yolanda, David in!
The PUP Lake I (Cordel Hyde) and Albert (Mark Espat) resignations follow that of Caribbean Shores (Anthony Mahler)... "The PUP has been in preparation for an early election, and a March 7 election, since December, and with the replacement of Anthony Mahler in Caribbean Shores by Dr. David Hoy now complete, no further shockwaves should hit Independence Hall." (From headline story, "Barrow rolls the dice March 7!" in Amandala #2585, Sunday, February 5, 2012).

Dart "Super Bowl" in Caye Caulker
The Belize National Darts Association held its Super Bowl Dart Game in Caye Caulker yesterday, Sunday, February 5, at the Hypnotic Club and Disco. It was a great day for all players.

Haulover Bridge to Boom Race 2012 Results
Saturday, February 4, turned out to be a beautiful day for paddling, proving weather forecasting is very unpredictable, for the second of its kind Haulover Bridge to Burrell Boom upstream race. The first was held in 2010 where Chris Guydis and the Sanchez brothers were the first victors and set a record of 1:59:55. At just before 9:30 a.m., eighteen canoes set out to try to beat this record, but the river conditions proved somewhat challenging, with a strong current going against them.

Gwen Liz males and females are CSSSA football champions
Semifinals were played last week Wednesday and Thursday in the Central Secondary Schools Sports Association (CSSSA) high school football tournament in both female and male categories. Game 1 of the 2-game Finals series took place on Saturday, and it ended this evening at the MCC Grounds where Gwen Liz won it all.

"One hand kyan clap," football future in crisis
The Premier League kicks off this weekend with match commissioners apparently appointed by the FFB; and, despite the grassroots cry for change in football administration, it seems quite likely that it will be four more years of the same crowd in charge of the sport.

Amandala Editorial: Lebensraum?
"For what it considered its own national interest, Mexico was against Belize giving up any land or sovereignty to Guatemala, and provided Belize 'with maximum diplomatic support, viewing such support as a necessary counter-balance to what it considers to be U.S. support for Guatemala.'"

Amandala: From The Publisher
I left you last weekend where I had decided, in a desperation no doubt immature, that I had to go to New York City to see the Freedom Committee after the ruling PUP smashed the NIP/UBAD coalition in the December 1971 Belize City Council elections.

Minor drowned, but did phone tell a different tale?
Was a seventeen year old in San Antonio, Cayo District, murdered or did he fall in a well and drown? The family of Dimitri Mena believes he was killed and thrown in the well. About a week ago, Dimitri's body was recovered after he did not venture back to his family house in the village. ...

Robbers put elderly woman's bar on fire
Up north, an elderly woman, sixty-four year old Petrona Leal, proprietor of Pasos Bar in Libertad Village, is tonight lucky to be alive following a brazen home invasion. Leal, who was at home alone, was choked unconscious by one of three men who stormed into her house. The assailants then ransacked her belongings and stole ...

Is Rural Central ready for Dolores?
It's political season and on the campaign trail today we caught up with Dolores Balderamos Garcia as she prepares for the March seventh elections. Dolores is a former area representative and minister of government. She is among four women on the P.U.P. ballot for the upcoming general elections. In Belize Rural Central, a constituency which ...

Was signature disqualification deliberate?
Tonight's question is: Do you believe that it was deliberate to disqualify eight thousand signatures to prevent the referendum on oil exploration? Send your comments and responses using your SMART phones to 8686 or post your vote on our e-poll at channel5belize.com. You can also send an email with your comments to [email protected].

Independent Candidate for Cayo North
In the 2012 elections, there is a burst of independent candidates in the political arena. While the polls have been showing that they are not a factor, their numbers have been on the increase. This morning in San Ignacio, Marcel Bedran, a businessman threw his hat in the ring. Bedran will face the incumbent, Salvador ...

Paid loan also written-off loan!
Remember the write-offs from the Ministry of Housing last year? About sixty million dollars were written off in delinquent loans, but tonight News Five has obtained copies of letters issued by Housing and Planning Department in December that are raising serious questions. Corozal resident, Jorge Escalante is the recipient of one such letter, informing him ...

10 years for Pint-Bottle Manslaughter
Estevan Williams, a teenager found guilty of the 2008 manslaughter of Jerson Paguada Hernandez, was today sentenced to ten years in prison. On Friday, a unanimous decision was handed down by a twelve member jury in which Williams was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of the lesser charge for fatally stabbing Hernandez, a ...

Stolen girlfriend translates in Aggravated Assault
A bar room brawl over a woman ended up before the courts and today forty-five year old Shawn Hyde was convicted of Aggravated Assault. The Mahogany Heights resident was charged on July tenth, 2011 after an altercation with Lyndon Murillo. Reports are that the two had an ongoing dispute because Hyde stole Murillo's girlfriend. So ...

Conejo wants fair negotiation with Oil Company
Twenty-three Conejo Villagers were fired by U.S. Capital Energy, the company that his hoping to strike oil in the southern most part of the country. The mass firings came soon after village leaders became aware that the oil company was illegally conducting groundwork pertaining to seismic testing on lands protected by a court judgment. U.S ...

G.G. tells Oceana to negotiate with Minister
Another issue that is simmering is the referendum. Over twenty-thousand signatures were collected to propel a vote on oil exploration. Eighteen thousand were required but last week, the Elections Boundaries Commission said eight thousand had been rejected since the signatures could not be verified because of poor penmanship. The signatures were presented to the Governor ...

But Government rejected Referendum
The intention of the Coalition was to have the referendum on March seventh to coincide with the elections. But at a press conference last week, Prime Minister Dean Barrow out rightly rejected the poll. Dean Barrow [File: February 1st, 2012] "I assume of course that the verification exercise that the chief elections officer is doing ...

GSU catches some robbers
A trio of stickup artists was busted in the act of robbing a fast-food vendor this afternoon on Partridge Street. Eighteen year old Adam Joseph, eighteen year old Clifford Lorenzo and twenty year old Stanley Moore were attempting to flee the scene of the crime when a team of GSU officers descended upon them. The ...

Health of the Mesoamerican Reef is failing
A recent eco-audit commissioned by Healthy Reefs Initiative shows that the health of the Mesoamerican reef is failing and that at least seventy percent was in poor condition in the 2008 and 2010 report cards. The audit found that while there is progress, the condition of the reef is declining at a faster speed. The ...

And the latest lotto winner is�
A winning lottery ticket that was purchased in Des Moines in December 2010 is now at the center of a criminal investigation in Iowa, USA and it has ties to Belize. The back story is that the winner of the sixteen point five million dollar jackpot didn't surface until December 2011, just two hours before ...

KTV Latino; Hottest Show in the Land begins
It's finally here; the first live show of KTV Latino Season Three. We showed you the auditions by almost fifty singers from across the country and only twenty-two of them have made it through the first cut. But they haven't secured a spot just yet. Tonight those twenty-two hopefuls will face a live audience and ...

Dead Body Of Well Known Orange Walkeno Found Floating In The Rio Hondo River
Many of you living here in Orange Walk may have heard of a man known as "Mad house". He was constantly seen around town selling pepitos among other things. That mans real name is Eduardo Garcia and tonight we report that his body was found floating in the waters of the Rio Hondo River near the community of Blue Creek. Up to news time police have not been able to ascertain whether Garcia drowned or was murdered.

Sister Of James Jackson Charged For Pergury
On Monday January 30th thirty nine year old James Jackson who was on trail for the murder of his common-law-wife Estela Amador was found not guilty of murder after Judge Dennis Hanomansingh instructed a jury of 12 to find Jackson not guilty due to insufficient evidence.

PUP Holds Rally In Altamira Corozal
The temperature of the election fever has reached a boiling point with rallies and conventions held by both major political parties. And while the U.D.P is trying to win voter support by offering pre-election gifts, the Peoples United Party is hitting the campaign trail meeting with the Belizean People talking about the solutions the party has to the many problems the country is facing. With elections

Home Invation And Arson Takes Place In Libertad
Tonight while one woman recuperates from a frightful ordeal, Corozal Police have their hands full as they investigate a home invasion and arson that occurred in the Village of Libertad in the Corozal District. Last night Perfecta Leal was inside her business establishment when she was attacked by five armed mask men who robbed her of an undisclosed amount of cash and jewelry.

Standards And Poor Rates Belize From A B- To A CCC+
Standards and Poor is a United States based company that rates borrowers on a scale from triple AAA to D. If a country receives an investment rate of three AAA's it means that the Government of the day has extremely strong capacity to meet its financial commitments. So what grade did Belize receive? Well, Standards and Poor cut Belize's long term ratings from a B- to a CCC+

Fuel Prices Increase For The Third Time In Less Than A Month
In these days when the price for a gallon of fuel is above $10.00 and the cost of living is sky high, owning a vehicle has practically become a luxury. And if previously you found the need of parking your vehicle at home and only using it when necessary, then tonight there is more bad news for consumers.

G.G. Tells Oceana To Follow Protocol
On a letter dated February 2nd, Oceana, the non-governmental organization which is against offshore drilling, sent a letter to the Governor General requesting that a full scale enquiry into the matter regarding the rejection of over 8000 signatures by the Elections and Boundaries Department be launched. Yesterday, the Governor General Sir Colville Young responded to Oceana's letter

Agriculture Sector Number One Priority For Jose Abelardo Mai
In Orange Walk South, P.U.P Standard Bearer Jose Abelardo Mai has been working overtime ensuring that he meets with all voters of the constituency. During his house to house campaign Mai has been listening to the concerns of residents of the area who for the past three years and a half have been neglected by Mark Pech. Under Pech's term the South saw no progress and today residents are questioning where he was when onion producers lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and one of the country's major rice producers closed down for business

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