On our last newscast before the Christmas break, we told you how Belize joined 128 countries at an United Nations General Assembly vote to pass a resolution rebuking US President Donald Trump. 

Guatemala was among the 8 nations which sided with the US in the UN vote, and international news reports say that Guatemala will be the first to follow the US.

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales is quoted on his official Facebook post as saying that he has spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; and he instructed Guatemala's foreign ministry to "initiate the process to make it possibleâ€￾ for them to move their Israeli Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He also said, quote, â€œWe spoke about the great relationships we have had as nations since Guatemala supported the creation of the State of Israel. One of the most relevant topics was the return of the Embassy of Guatemala to Jerusalem.â€￾

As we told you, it’s a mark of respect for the very fragile state of affairs in Jerusalem that none of the world’s nations currently have their Israeli Embassy in Jerusalem. All of those embassies are currently located in the Israeli City of Tel Aviv. 

 

One Mall, One Robber

On Friday we told you about the robbery at the new One Mall store outside of Corozal Town.  Today police told us they are seeking one suspect:

ACP Joseph Myvette - Head National Crimes Investigation

“I know that several leads are being followed and the police was looking for one person.â€￾

Reporter

“Camera footage, it said that there are several cameras in that area and that the robbery occurred, is that the case?â€￾

ACP Joseph Myvette

“Yes but the police was in the process of reviewing the footage which is not of the best quality.â€￾

Reporter

“So is it indeed the case that it was more than one person involved in that robbery?â€￾

ACP Joseph Myvette

“Yes it was.â€￾

Reporter

“Have the other people been caught already? You said only one person is being sought after.â€￾

ACP Joseph Myvette

“Well the lead is showing one person is particular that’s why we are seeking one person, we don’t know how the others are.â€￾

The wash man at the store - says 3 men held him hostage and forced the storeowner to hand over $7,000.00 dollars in cash, one Cell phone and then drove off in the owner’s vehicle, a red 2014 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab truck valued at $42,000.00 dollars.

Another Corozal Robbery

And there was also another armed robbery at a business in Corozal town.  This one happened on Boxing Day.

ACP Joseph Myvette - Head National Crimes Investigation

“Sometime yesterday morning shortly after 9:00 AM Shanti store located at 4^th Avenue Corozal Town was robbed by 2 male persons, one who was brandishing a firearm of an undisclosed amount of money. The persons then made good of their escape, some of the monies were recovered during the pursuit and police are seeking one known suspect in regards to this investigation.â€￾

Jules Vasquez

“Sir are you all alarmed by the number of armed robberies in the Corozal area?â€￾

ACP Joseph Myvette

“Well it is of concern, I know for certain that the police have stepped up their strategies including foot and mobile patrols.â€￾

A Deadly Christmas Weekend

As head of National Crime Investigations, We also asked Myvette for his view of 4 day Christmas weekend - where 8 lives met traumatic ends. He says that, major crime was relatively low, while road accidents were very very high:

Unemployment Figures Down

And finally tonight, there are new unemployment figures to report. This evening, the Statistical Institute of Belize issued its preliminary results from its September 2017 Labour Force Survey.  

It shows that the national unemployment rate for that month was 9.7 percent, a decline of 1.4 percentage points from 11.1 percent in September 2016. A release says “this fall in the unemployment rate can be attributed for the most part to an increase in the number of employed…urban femalesâ€￾. Meanwhile, the rate of joblessness among males inched up from 6.9 percent to 7.1 percent, while it fell by a full 4 percentage points among females from 17.6 percent to 13.6 percent. 

We’ll have more on this tomorrow.

7News for Wednesday, December 27th, 2017 from 7News Belize on Vimeo.