SXMElections.com

Jacobs Supports Recognition Of Local ‘S’Maatin’ English

PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports ECYS Silveria Jacobs on Wednesday expressed her support for the recognition of St. Maarten English – which she spelled as “S’maatin” English.

---

Candidates in this article:

King Of Slot Machines And Former Lawmaker Arrested

Italian News

ITALY – A former lawmaker, known to various professionals working in the sector, has been arrested as part of an investigation of the District Anti-Mafia Directorate in Rome.

Former lawmaker Amedeo Labocetta and entrepreneur Francesco Corallo, the leading international entrepreneur of slot machines and casino king of the Caribbean, were arrested. They include those arrested this morning, Tuesday, December 13, by men of the Guardia di Finanza at the request of the prosecutor in Rome.

As part of the same investigation, concerning a criminal organization engaged in laundering of the proceeds, and for the non-payment of taxes on the online game and video-lottery, Sergio and Giancarlo Tulliani are also being investigated Read more

Sarah: Govt. Needs To Admit It Can’T Handle Dump Alone

PHILIPSBURG--It is time for Government to admit that it cannot handle the situation with the dump alone and it needs to call an international group to assist with the way forward, said Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams during Tuesday’s debate on the draft 2017 budget Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Frans Calls For Legislation To Protect Primary Home

PHILIPSBURG--Protect the primary home of residents via legislation to ensure this cannot be auctioned off by the tax marshal was a proposal United St. Maarten Party (US Party) leader Member of Parliament Frans Richardson made in t Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

[Video] Francesco Corallo And Rudolf Baetsen Arrested At The Request Of Italian Authorities.

Update # 2: Dec 13, 2016 Time: 11:26 AM 

LOWLANDS, Sint Maarten — The searches in St. Maarten that started this morning Tuesday, December 13, 2016 and are being led by the Judge of Instruction are still ongoing. The home of the suspect F.C. (56) born in Italy is one of the premises that is being searched.

The Anti-corruption Taskforce (TBO) of the Kingdom Detectives Cooperation Team has arrested F.C. at the request of Italian authorities. Italy will ask for his extradition Read more

Cuba Signs Deal With Google For Faster Internet Access

HAVANA, Cuba  – Google and the Cuban government have signed a deal allowing the internet giant to provide faster access to its data by installing servers on the island that will store much of the company’s most popular content.

Storing Google data in Cuba eliminates the long distances that signals must travel from the island through Venezuela to the nearest Google server. Washington has no direct data link to the communist island.

US has had virtually no economic ties with Cuba for more than five decades owing to Washington-imposed trade sanctions.

But hopes of better relations have been revived since 2015, when US President Barack Obama re-established diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc, signed the deal with Mayra Arevich Marin, president of state telecommunications monopoly ETECSA, on Monday.

The deal removes one of the many obstacles to a normal internet in Cuba, which suffers from some of the world’s most limited and expensive access.

But the move is not expected to help a significant number of Cubans to have internet access, at least in the short term.

Home connections remain illegal for most Cubans and the government charges the equivalent of a month’s average salary for 10 hours of access to public wi-fi spots with speeds frequently too slow to download files or watch streaming video.

The agreement does not affect Cuba’s antiquated communications infrastructure or broaden public access to the internet, but it could make Google websites such as YouTube or Gmail up to 10 times faster for users inside Cuba Read more

Committee To Review Maritime Transport Functioning In Wake Of Pinel Ferry Strike

MARIGOT--First Vice-President Guillaume Arnell disclosed Monday that a committee will be formed to review, study and address problems associated with maritime transport; in the first instance focusing on transport to the small islands such as Pinel for a duration of three months.

---

Candidates in this article:

Jacobs Outlines Ministry’S Plans For 2017 During Budget Meeting

PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports (ECYS) Silveria Jacobs on Monday outlined some of the ministry’s plans for 2017 at the start of the public plenary session on the draft 2017 budget.

---

Candidates in this article:

Gibson Aims To Make The Country Debt Free

PHILIPSBURG--Finance Minister Richard Gibson has set his aim on making the country completely free of its past debt by 2018. He told Parliament on Monday afternoon after he tabled the 2017 draft budget for approval that on the current trajectory the pending NAf Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Foul Play Ruled Out In Case Of Body Floating In Lagoon

PHILIPSBURG--Foul play has been ruled out as the cause of death of the man, whose body was found floating in the Simpson Bay Lagoon on Sunday, December 11, around 9:30am.

The body of the man - a British national named Russell Frank Hodgson, born on November 30, 1945 - was found in the Simpson Bay Lagoon near Pink Iguana Restaurant on the Airport Boulevard. The lifeless body of the man was pulled out of the lagoon with the assistance of the Coast Guard.

Acting Police spokesperson Steven Carty said in a police press release on Monday that the body was confiscated for further investigation after it had been examined by a forensic doctor Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

*Update* Two Rob Ballerina Jewelry On Frontstreet

UPDATE: POLICE REPORT

Jewelry store robbery

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — On Saturday, December 10, at approximately 12:25pm, a jewelry store, located on Front Street in Philipsburg, was robbed. An armed man ran into the establishment and grabbed several gold chains from behind the display case, and fled the scene as quickly as he had entered it.

No one was hurt during this robbery Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Franklin Meyers used most of his speaking time during the budget debate to speak out against the constant arrests taking place on St. Maarten. Meyers said right now only the “blacks” on St. Maarten is being targeted. He mentioned the names of the various owners of houses of repute that were arrested even though the government is making monies from the “girls” that comes to the island to work Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Who Scammed Government For Government Building Decorations?

PHILIPSBURG: --- Since the budget debate started last week there have been a war taking place on Facebook regarding the cost to decorate the New Government Building for the upcoming holiday season. On the social media various amounts are being mentioned, some persons stated and even newspapers stated that government paid $80,000.00 for the decorations all of which will remain government property. However, SMN News learned that the amount spent on the decorations amounted to $78,000.00. Indeed, the amount is far too much especially when the country has financial constraints and Ministers were forced to cut their budgets and spending in order to meet the requirements of the CFT Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

William Attends South Reward Association Community Meeting

SOUTH REWARD--Prime Minister William Marlin on Thursday, December 8, attended the St. Maarten Community Collective South Reward public meeting held at Milton Peters College (MPC).

---

Candidates in this article:

Ccj Pioneers New Tech To Improve Court Performance

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – A suite of new high-tech court management systems will be adopted by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

The CCJ will be one of the first adopters of a set of technology-enabled systems for electronic filing of court documents, case management and court performance measurement, according to a release dated December 9.

The region-wide initiative aims to ensure that courts across the Caribbean have access to the software and training needed to strengthen their operations and improve service delivery, the release said.

A pair of pilot projects are scheduled to take place soon in Belize and Grenada, the release said.

It announced the establishment of a not-for-profit corporation called Advance Performance Exponents Inc Read more

Info Session On Istep For Public School Management

BELVEDERE – The Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport held an information session on iSTEP (Inspiring Students with Technology in Education Project) for the school managers, adjunct managers and student care coordinators of all public schools on December 1.

The session was facilitated by Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Silveria Jacobs, the iSTEP Team and head of Division for Public Education (DPE) Glenderlin Davis-Holiday.

Presenters informed the managers and student care coordinators of the project, its objectives, implementation phases and most importantly, introduced them to the ICT devices that will be implemented in the classrooms.

Presenters also stressed to the managers that they are a vital part of the success of the project and will need to champion the initiative in their respective schools.

The session concluded with a Q&A segment where the managers posed questions about the project to the team Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Caft Chairman Age Bakker: “Keep Doing The Utmost To Meet Deficit Norms”

ORANJESTAD, Aruba – During a recent visit to Aruba, the Board of Financial Supervision for Aruba (CAft) indicated that the utmost must be done in order to meet the maximum acceptable deficit norm.

At this moment, particularly the indirect tax income is lagging well behind under the influence of low economic growth. In contrast, the reopening of the oil refinery will result in additional income for the government. The estimated direct tax revenue of Aruba for 2018 represents a 22% rise Read more

Prime Minister William Marlin Attends South Reward Association Meeting

SOUTH REWARD – On Thursday evening, December 8, Prime Minister William Marlin attended the St. Maarten Community Collective, South Reward Public Meeting, which took place at the Milton Peters College (MPC).

The community meeting was held with the intention of gathering members of the South Reward Community as a means to inform on current works that’s in progress by the association as well as to have an open floor allowing attendees to voice their concerns on various community issues, contribute their ideas and/or opinions of possible solutions, and togetherness in building a much stronger and better South Reward.

Concerns made by residents were noted by the Prime Minister’s team with the intention to further investigate to gain deeper understanding of the matters in order to better resolve them Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Prime Minister William Marlin Attends South Reward Association Community Meeting

SOUTH REWARD, St. Maarten  - On Thursday evening (December 8th) , Prime Minister William Marlin attended the St. Maarten Community Collective, South Reward Public Meeting which took place at the Milton Peters College.

The community meeting was held with intentions of gathering members of the South Reward Community as a mean to inform on current works that’s in progress by the association as well as to have an open floor allowing attendees to voice their concerns on various community issues, contribute their ideas and / or opinions of possible solutions and an all togetherness in building a much stronger and better South Reward.

Concerns made by residents were noted by Prime Minister’s team with intentions to further investigate to gain deeper understanding of the matters in order better resolve Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

PHILIPSBURG:---- I must commend our parliamentarians for raising the budget debate in the Central Committee a notch higher this year. Compared to the debate on the 2016 Budget, Parliamentarians were better prepared to deal with details, to ask critical questions and to consequently carry out one of their very important functions, namely to control and monitor Government.
Parliamentarians were in their right to call out the NA-DP-USP-Lake-Matser caretaker Government and Ministers on the 2016 expenditures of the country Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

SOUTH REWARD:--- On Thursday evening (December 8th) , Prime Minister William Marlin attended the St. Maarten Community Collective, South Reward Public Meeting which took place at the Milton Peters College.

The community meeting was held with intentions of gathering members of the South Reward Community as a mean to inform on current works that’s in progress by the association as well as to have an open floor allowing attendees to voice their concerns on various community issues, contribute their ideas and / or opinions of possible solutions and an all togetherness in building a much stronger and better South Reward.

Concerns made by residents were noted by Prime Minister’s team with intentions to further investigate to gain deeper understanding of the matters in order better resolve Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Caft Chairman Age Bakker: “Keep Doing The Utmost To Meet Deficit Norms.

Oranjestad:--- During its most recent visit to Aruba, the Board of financial supervision for Aruba (CAft) indicated that the utmost must be done in order to meet the maximum acceptable deficit norm. At this moment particularly the indirect tax income is lagging well behind under the influence of low economic growth. In contrast, the reopening of the oil refinery will result in additional income for the government. The estimated direct tax revenue of Aruba for 2018 represents a 22% rise. This is such a strong increase that the CAft is not sufficiently convinced of the long-term sustainability of the Aruba public finances.

Budget implementation in 2016
The implementation report for the period up to the third quarter shows that the deficit of the public sector over this period amounted to 1.5% of GDP Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- At a ceremony on Friday, two sites on St. Maarten were awarded the Blue Flag eco-label for the fifth year in a row. The Blue Flag has bestowed annually on beaches and marinas throughout the world that meets strict environmental and safety criteria. Divi Little Bay Beach Resort and Yacht Club Isle de Sol were commended for their standards of excellence and voluntary efforts towards environmental sustainability.
Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC), which organized the event, is the National Operator for the Blue Flag Program on St Read more

---

Candidates in this article:

Caribbean Court Of Justice Pioneers New Technology To Improve Court Performance

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — A suite of new high-tech court management systems are to be adopted by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

The CCJ will be one of the first adopters of a set of technology-enabled systems for electronic filing of court documents, case management and court performance measurement, according to a release dated December 9.

The region-wide initiative aims to ensure that courts across the Caribbean have access to the software and training needed to strengthen their operations and improve service delivery, the release said. 

A pair of pilot projects are scheduled to take place soon in Belize and Grenada, the release said.

It announced the establishment of a not-for-profit corporation called Advance Performance Exponents Inc Read more