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PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Finance Richard Gibson Sr. announced on Wednesday at the Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday that he travelled to the Washington United States last week, along with the Minister of Finance of Curacao where they met with the ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands who reported to him that the United States is prepared to work with the Dutch Caribbean Islands in finding a solution to the de-risking issues that are affected by correspondent banking issues mostly known as de-risking that affects the entire Caribbean.
Minister Gibson said in his announcement said that correspondent banks have been terminating their relationships with local banks making it impossible for some countries to make cross-border payments.
Gibson said prior to that meeting they also had a meeting with the department of Justice of the United States, the White House, and IMF and some other departments to discuss the said issues which led to the meeting held last week Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- The contract for the new hospital that was supposed to be signed between the contractor INSO and the director of USZV on August 31st, 2016 is yet to be signed confirmed Minister of VSA Emil Lee. When asked about the signing of the contract Minister Lee said that negotiations are still ongoing especially how to best finance the new hospital.
Asked if there were problems that held up the signing the Minister said that there have not been any problems even though groundbreaking was scheduled for this month Read more

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Update: Frans: Na Manifesto Contradicts Gibson’S Stance On Indirect Tax

PHILIPSBURG--The National Alliance (NA) Manifesto and the stand of its Finance Minister Richard Gibson Sr. contradicts each other on tax reform, said United St. Maarten Party (Read more

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Stop Playacting At Being Mp’S

I read with interest statements from UP Party MP Franklin Meyers that St. Maarten’s citizens have not benefited from the political changes since 10-10-10 and this statement raised my eyebrows. The people did not benefit because every proposal that was submitted by the OSPP to help the people– make them business owners in their country, help them become home owners, put our young people to work, etc Read more

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Telem Group Announces Easy Fix For Self-Block Code Issue!

Pond Island – Some TelEm Group customers have been experiencing problems with the use of their landline phones to which a self-block code feature is attached.

The feature allows customers to prevent unauthorized use of business or residential phones. It also allows customers to block their business or residential phone from making local and/or international calls by using a 4 digit PIN code and a special digit code to activate and deactivate the blocking.

Customers have reported that they cannot make local or international calls because the call block feature is in activation mode since their numbers were transferred to a new Metaswitch last week.

TelEm Group says the problem can be easily resolved by customers themselves, if they have the feature activated and know the 4-digit PIN that goes with their self-block code feature.

To deactivate the Self-block feature:

1)    Dial *351 <Customer’s 4-digit PIN> #.

2)    HANG-UP, PICK-UP the receiver once again and then make all your calls.

To activate the Self-block feature follow this step:

1)    Dial *341

PLEASE NOTE:

Call Barring MUST be Activated AFTER CALLING in order to once again block calls Read more

Frans Calls On Pm To 'Shut Gibson Up'

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Leader of the United St. Maarten (US) party MP Frans Richardson on Monday night urged Prime Minister of St. Maarten William Marlin to finally "put to bed and shut up" Minister of Finance Richard Gibson who, according to Richardson, is "becoming rude and bold in this country."

Richardson tore into Gibson during the USp's public meeting on Monday night, chastising him for not taking care of workers in his places of business for many years, but quick to talk down colleague MP's of the current coalition government Read more

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Telem Group Announces Easy Fix For Self-Block Code Issue

POND ISLAND, St. Maarten – Some TelEm Group customers have been experiencing problems with the use of their landline phones to which a self-block code feature is attached.

The feature allows customers to prevent unauthorized use of business or residential phones.

It also allows customers to block their business or residential phone from making local and/or international calls by using a 4 digit PIN code and a special digit code to activate and deactivate the blocking.

Customers have reported that they cannot make local or international calls because the call block feature is in activation mode since their numbers were transferred to a new Metaswitch last week.

TelEm Group says the problem can be easily resolved by customers themselves, if they have the feature activated and know the 4-digit PIN that goes with their self-block code feature.

To deactivate the Self-block feature:

1)    Dial *351 <Customer’s 4-digit PIN> #.

2)    HANG-UP, PICK-UP the receiver once again and then make all your calls.

To activate the Self-block feature follow this step:

1)    Dial *341

PLEASE NOTE:

Call Barring MUST be Activated AFTER CALLING in order to once again block calls Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- I read with interest statements from UP Party MP Franklin Meyers that St. Maarten’s citizens have not benefited from the political changes since 10-10-10 and this statement raised my eyebrows. The people did not benefit because every proposal that was submitted by the OSPP to help the people-- make them business owners in their country, help them become home owners, put our young people to work, etc Read more

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Frans: Alliance Manifesto Contradicts Gibson's Stance On Indirect Taxation

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Leader of the United St. Maarten (US) party Member of Parliament Frans Richardson on Tuesday said Gibson's so called "watch" should be over since his party didn't agree with him on the issue of tax reform.

Richardson, whose party was the first to propose tax reform that would lead to indirect taxation, noted that the National Alliance included indirect taxation in its manifesto released on Monday Read more

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Frans: Alliance Manifesto Contradicts Gibson's Stance On Indirect Taxation

Press Release  ~ "Is Gibson's watch now over?" ~

Leader of the United St. Maarten (US) party Member of Parliament Frans Richardson on Tuesday said Gibson's so called "watch" should be over since his party didn't agree with him on the issue of tax reform. Richardson, whose party was the first to propose tax reform that would lead to indirect taxation, noted that the National Alliance included indirect taxation in its manifesto released on Monday Read more

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Frans Calls On Pm To ‘Shut Gibson Up’

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Leader of the United St. Maarten (US) party MP Frans Richardson on Monday night urged Prime Minister of St. Maarten William Marlin to finally “put to bed and shut up” Minister of Finance Richard Gibson who, according to Richardson, is “becoming rude and bold in this country.”

Richardson tore into Gibson during the USp’s public meeting on Monday night, chastising him for not taking care of workers in his places of business for many years, but quick to talk down colleague MP’s of the current coalition government Read more

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Frans: Alliance Manifesto Contradicts Gibson’S Stance On Indirect Taxation

~ “Is Gibson’s watch now over?” ~

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — Leader of the United St. Maarten (US) party Member of Parliament Frans Richardson on Tuesday said Gibson’s so called “watch” should be over since his party didn’t agree with him on the issue of tax reform. Richardson, whose party was the first to propose tax reform that would lead to indirect taxation, noted that the National Alliance included indirect taxation in its manifesto released on Monday.

Gibson in late August went on record in the media to state that indirect taxation would not be implemented “under my watch”, prompting Richardson to dub Gibson as completely out of touch with the realities of St Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the United St. Maarten (US) party MP Frans Richardson on Monday night urged Prime Minister of St. Maarten William Marlin to finally "put to bed and shut up" Minister of Finance Richard Gibson who, according to Richardson, is "becoming rude and bold in this country."

Richardson tore into Gibson during the USp's public meeting on Monday night, chastising him for not taking care of workers in his places of business for many years, but quick to talk down colleague MP's of the current coalition government Read more

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Not Even The Closing Of Parliament Is “Neutral Ground” For Mp De Weever

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — It is ironic that MP de Weever, who had just finished his own parliamentary year-end presentation with a call for unity, could not allow the Chairlady of Parliament (DP faction) to make her year-end presentation uninterrupted.

It should, however, surprise no-one. This has been the “style” of this MP from day one – disrespectful and rude – especially towards the female chairperson of Parliament.

Is it really that MP de Weever does not know better? Hard to imagine for someone who had just, moments before his interruption of the Chair, boasted of his accomplishments as an MP Read more

Toastmasters Table Topic-A-Thon With New Political Candidates

PHILIPSBURG – Soualiga Corporate Toastmasters Club on Wednesday, September 7, in the evening held a session with the new political candidates on the different party lists for the upcoming election.

The University of St. Martin (USM) was the venue for this event. The parties contesting the upcoming election had the opportunity to send a candidate on their list that will participate for the very first time in the election process.

The following parties were represented: Help Our People Excel (HOPE) Mercedes van der Waals-Wyatt; United St Read more

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Thank You For A Successful Back-To-School Drive

It goes without saying that the support of a community in uplifting the youth is a significant task which yields monumental results. When 15-year-old Learning Unlimited student Ki-Mani Olivacce set out on his benevolent endeavor to start a back-to-school drive for the less fortunate youth of St. Maarten, he never imagined the extent of the outpour of support he would receive. With the culmination of the drive, Ki-Mani would like to take the time and extend his gratitude for the tremendous show of support for his undertaking.

Due to the donations of a remarkable estimated 400 school bags and school supplies, Ki-Mani was able to supply numerous foster homes, non-profit organizations, and social services with supplies that were provided to the youths they oversee Read more

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2017 Calypso Registration Closed 23 Calypsonians Registered.

PHILIPSBURG:--- The September 9th, deadline to register for the 2017 NAGICO Calypso competition has passed. The RAW Promotions Foundation is proud to announce that 23 calypsonians have registered and signed up to compete in the 2017 NAGICO Calypso competition.
"It is pleasing to see that some of the calypsonians who have been away from competition for years, have signed up for 2017 competition, among them, King T-Mo, Ricky Da Phox, the Mighty Magic, The Mighty Carlix and the Mighty Dando Read more

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More Fun With More Technology, More Creativity And Innovation, And More Local And International Presenters

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The C-TEC organizing committee is gearing up for the 2016 conference that will take place in the Hillside Christian School (Asha Stevens Campus) and the adjoining NIPA building, on October 23 to 25.

The initiative for the C-TEC conferences springs from the activities of the Foresee (4C) Foundation, a project organization aimed at bringing twenty-first century learning to St Read more

2017 Calypso Registration Closed, 23 Calypsonians Registered

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The September 9th, deadline to register for the 2017 NAGICO Calypso competition has passed. The RAW Promotions Foundation is proud to announce that 23 calypsonians have registered and signed up to compete in the 2017 NAGICO Calypso competition.

"It is pleasing to see that some of the calypsonians who have been away from competition for years, have signed up for 2017 competition, among them, King T-Mo, Ricky Da Phox, the Mighty Magic, the Mighty Carlix and the Mighty Dando.

Familiar faces such as Kaiso Brat, King Baro, His Majesty Baker Jr and Fish the Mega Boss are still on board Read more

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Up Board Questions Accomplishments Of Education Minister  

Philipsburg — “It is evident this current Minister of Education Silveria Jacobs has failed on all fronts and will continue to misuse this sector as her voter base,” said the UP Party Board.

“What has she done?” questioned the UP Party board.

“Teachers in public education pleaded for support and yet again the minister has delivered nothing tangible in results to improve the situation.”

Our schools remain in a deplorable state while the Minister herself came from within the ranks of Public Education Read more

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The rate of change in the world today conceivably has never been faster. Many of the old systems applied to growth and development are rapidly changing into new forms too different to be fully understood.
The old pattern of a few countries mining the rest of the world for raw materials and reseeding just enough with goods and services to successfully repeat the cycle has been replaced by something else. Global growth and development are no longer almost solely reliant upon the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and one or two other global financial institutions; it now includes significant support from developing countries that once were the countries being mined as a raw material resource.
China is perhaps the indisputable leader of this new growth and development group Read more

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Justice Workers Questions Insurance Policy --- Nagico Called Off Information Session.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Representatives of NAGICO insurances had to cancel their second day information session they arranged to bring justice workers up to speed with the insurance policy that was taken out for them earlier this year when the Minister of Justice got the various unions representing justice workers to seek out the insurance companies and to choose a good and affordable package to cover justice workers.
The unions chose NAGICO insurance where Justice workers have to pay NAF 15.00 per month while the government will pay NAF10.00 for the NAF 25.00 policy per employee.
While the name of the company was never revealed, NAGICO insurances organized a two-day information session which was to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday last week Read more

Unions Gave Minister Of Justice Ultimatum Until Tuesday September 13Th To Provide Answers And Safety And Security Of Prison Guards.

Unions refused to speak with Prime Minister even though he is responsible for safety and security.

PHILIPSBURG: ---- The three unions namely, NAPB, ABVO and WICSU/PSU that called all prison guards to a meeting on Thursday which was held at the office of the WICSU/PSU gave the Minister of Justice an ultimatum which expires on Tuesday, September 13th, 2016.
According to well-placed sources the letter the unions deposited at the department of General Affairs on Thursday for the Minister of Justice Edison Kirindongo who was off island at the time gave the Minister until Tuesday September 13th to either provide solutions or give them answers to regarding the safety and security of their members working at the Pointe Blanche house of detention.
According to information SMN News received is that the prison guards are also demanding that the director of the prison Edward Rohan be removed from his position since he is not able to properly manage the prison neither does he have a proper working relationship with his subordinates Read more

PHILIPSBURG:--- More and more the people of St. Maarten are saying openly that they will not vote, some of them have expressed their decisions on various social media. It is clear that the people of St. Maarten is either fed-up or lacked confidence in the politicians they chose to vote for during the last election or elections prior to this one.
It is also clear that the politicians that made promises especially to the younger generation abandoned them the day after the election and the only thing they were left with is either the false promises or the few bucks they got for their vote the last time around Read more