Must repay SSB $4 million annually after three years

Tonight Anne Thompson, 32, is lying brain dead in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital after sustaining severe head and body injuries in a traffic accident on Tuesday, February 21.

In a press release issued today, police stated that Henry Lisbey, 68, of San Felipe, Cayo, reported to them that he was driving his Land Rover on Tuesday evening heading from Belmopan to San Ignacio, when upon reaching an area within Esperanza he heard a loud noise at the front of his vehicle and realized that he had hit someone.

The serenity of the pristine Pomona Valley and the heart of a mother were both shattered this week when Lydia Smith, herself a mother of 4, was found lifeless in her own bed. Three of her children, ages 5, 3 and 2, had been locked up in a room nearby while her attacker strangled her to death.

It was Lydia?s mother, Martha Flores, who discovered her lifeless body at about 7:00 a.m. She had abrasions on her neck. There was blood on her nose, as well as on her pillow and sheet.

The 18-year-old youth turned to give the man a drink of water, and in the next second found himself struggling to prevent being raped by a homosexual in broad daylight.

Ironically, it was Valentine?s Day, Tuesday, February 14 - a day of love, of caring, of flowers, chocolates.

Chad Zeilinski, 45, a resident of California who was with a skydiving group called Tsunami Skydivers and considered skydiving as ?Boogie in Belize?, died this morning after his parachutes did not open and he fell 13,000 feet from the sky into the sea outside the Barrier Reef near San Pedro Ambergris Caye.

GOB only bidder - DFC still out $22 million

In streams of blue, yellow and red, masses of relatives, friends and supporters endorsing the 153 candidates for Municipal Elections 2006 swept over the nation?s principal streets and converged on nomination stations countrywide, where candidates were formally nominated to participate in the 2006 Municipal Elections.

Opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) mayoral candidate, Zenaida Moya, declared that the sprint to March 1 is on!

A jury of 4 men and 8 women today found Jermaine Pascascio, 25, guilty of the murder of Inez ?Blankie? Leal, proprietor of Blankie?s Store, who was shot and killed at his place of business, located at #60 Pickstock Street, on September 23, 2004.

The jury deliberated from 1:22 p.m., after receiving instructions from the judge, and returned with the verdict at 3:50 p.m.

Government announced its decision this week to buy over the terminals that now belong to Novelo Bus Line, a company that went into receivership almost two years ago, after the Novelo family were unable to service roughly $50 million in debt?the bulk of it owned to public sector bank, the Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

Edward P. Yorke High School expelled him, but the Ministry of Education ordered him reinstated. In protest, over 30 teachers called in sick yesterday.

Today, 4thform student Karl Tulcey, 18, who had been expelled in early January of this year, is back at school, and so are the teachers.

Frank ?Pawpa? Mena, United Democratic Party Dangriga mayoral candidate for the town council elections slated for March 1, is tonight hospitalized at the Southern Regional Hospital, recovering from multiple superficial first degree burns sustained when a cigarette lighter reportedly exploded in his hand sometime after 7:00 last night.

What was to have been a friendly land transaction between a Cabinet Minister and a Belizean tourism investor has turned into a nasty war of lawsuits that seems to have no early end in sight. Proprietor of Five Sisters Lodge in Mountain Pine Ridge, Cayo, Carlos Popper, came to our offices today to tell us his story of a land deal gone sour. It was much the same story he told to Channel 7 News on Monday?a story which they aired and are now being called upon to retract on the threat of a lawsuit from Hon. Servulo Baeza and Hon. Ainslie Leslie.

A recently established company, Ready Call Center, located on New Road in Belize City where Intelco was located, has come under fire from a group of former and present workers who contend that the company is not properly observing Belize labor laws, limiting them to short 10-and 15- minute breaks instead of their full lunch hour, and requiring them to work on public and bank holidays. Other workers have complained that they have worked holidays and overtime and have still not been paid.