Congratulations, Dr. Farren Briggs Posted: 02/09/2010 - 11:10 PM Farren Briggs, a native Belmopanese and product of Belize’s public school education has recently graduated from the University of California, Berkeley (Cal) with a Doctorate in Epidemiology. He is the son of Aloma and John Briggs, and brother of Dr. Venetia Briggs, Wildlife Ecologist at University of Florida and Asst. Director of Lamanai Field Research Center. Sustainable Tourism Program promises upgrade for northern downtown area and Tourism Zone Posted: 30/08/2010 - 10:40 PM The Sustainable Tourism Program (STP), managed by the Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture and the Belize Tourism Board (BTB), is kicking into high gear with final consultations prior to the start of the project later this year. Immediate action to fight commercial sexual exploitation of children Posted: 30/08/2010 - 10:33 PM The symposium, at which the issue of CSEC was extensively discussed and recommendations made for action, was held under the patronage of Kim Simplis-Barrow, wife of Prime Minister Dean Barrow and Special Envoy for Women and Children. She told Amandala subsequently that four immediate actions will be undertaken: a sensitization with Ministers of government in Cabinet, a sensitization with the media, meetings with tourism industry stakeholders to see how more people in the industry could join in tackling the problem of child sex tourism, and finally, the release of a small child-friendly booklet with illustrations, targeting primary school-age children countrywide, to educate them on the issue. DR. GAYLE’S RESPONSE Posted: 13/08/2010 - 11:08 AM TO THE RESPONSES TO THE MALE SOCIAL PARTICIPATION AND VIOLENCE STUDY... I want to use this medium to respond to the varied responses to the Report – ninety percent of which have been positive, the other 10 percent ranging from misguided to plain disappointing. I want to inform the 10 percent that most of the very shallow things whispered in Belize about the research reached me within 24 hours from people I have never met – strangely not from my research team (that seems to believe that it is better not to inform me of these things). Caribbean countries need to have a Ministry of Youth: Dr. Gayle Posted: 29/07/2010 - 09:22 PM We need “a very acid and unfriendly examination of ourselves”... In light of the major problems facing young people in Belize and the rest of the Caribbean, Dr. Herbert Gayle, Anthropologist of Social Violence at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica, said on Monday that, “Caribbean countries need to have a ministry of youth.” CitCo unveils plans for new Belize City cemetery at Mile 13, Western Highway Posted: 20/07/2010 - 04:35 PM Lord’s Ridge Cemetery down to final twelve new burial spaces... And while plans have been discussed for new types of burial services and the cemetery crew continues to scramble to find spaces here and there in the existing 21-acre plot, the ultimate aim of the Belize City Council was to find new space. The problem with that is that there are no suitable spaces available within Belize City limits. Suspended administrators of Escuela Mexico seek judicial review of Ministry decision Posted: 09/07/2010 - 11:35 AM Madam Justice of the Supreme Court Minnet Hafiz-Bertram reserved judgment today in the cases of suspended principal and vice principal of Escuela Secundaria Tecnica Mexico (ESTM), Juanita Lucas and Celia Carillo. Oil spill threats require “absolute quick response:” Senator Hulse Posted: 09/07/2010 - 10:11 AM “…our reef is at risk from an oil spill every week of the year”... These are the comments of Senator Godwin Hulse, who on Tuesday night, July 2, pointed out that whereas there are concerns over plans for petroleum exploration offshore Belize on risks that an accident could devastate the world-famous coral reef, “We need to declare that our reef is at risk from an oil spill every week of the year.” Surveillance increased in Toledo, claims BDF Posted: 02/07/2010 - 10:27 AM Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Ganney Dortch, told Amandala Thursday that the Belize Defence Force (BDF) will increase ground and air presence in western Toledo following reports of expanded xatéros activity by villagers of San Jose and Na Lum Cah. Who “may” exercise the discretion? Posted: 02/07/2010 - 10:19 AM It is heart-warming to know that there are people who indeed want to get a full grasp of the provisions in the Constitution. I thank Ivory Kelly for reading the article I wrote in the June 27 issue of the Amandala, and thank her for paying such keen attention to the word “may.” This word in law gives a discretion, and is not mandatory, although in some special but rare circumstances, the court has found it to mean MUST, when the court has been called upon to interpret statute.