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Opposition parties, NA and DP have wasted no time in requesting a meeting of Parliament on the topic of the settlement between the Harbor Group of Companies and Zebec.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The opposition factions in parliament namely the National Alliance and the Democratic party wasted no time in trying to obtain informain on the St. Maarten Harbor Group of Companies and Zebec settlement. In the letter requesting the urgent meeting, the two parties have outlined the reasons for their request as follows:

"The government-owned Harbor Company and its representatives have in the recent past labeled the court action by Zebec against aforementioned company as “wholly without merit” and the claims by the Zebec company as “blatant misrepresentation of facts” Read more

Hundreds Show Up For Job Registration Drive

This 20-year-old job hunter is eagerly awaiting the processing of names and applications. Photo Today / Milton Pieters

St. Maarten – The Department of Labor Affairs and Social Services hosted a registration drive yesterday at the Clem Labega Square in the parking lot in front of the Government Administration Building. The Start Here Campaign: Your Path to Employment and Career Development“, with the theme “Your Path Starts Here” attracted 317 job seekers. Their information will be processed; others can still register today at the labor office on the Pondfill.

The campaign is geared towards boosting economic viability of a large segment of the population while also changing the perception and attitudes regarding the meditative role of the department, in the world of employment Read more

Electrical Draftsman Ernest Sams  Is Minister Of Economic Affairs

The new Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications Ernest Sams. Photo Contributed

St. Maarten – Ernest Sams, who will be sworn in as the new Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication on Monday is a retired employee of utilities company Gebe. He served at the company as its head of the purchasing department, He retired in 2014.

Sams is an electrical draftsman, meaning that he was in the business of drafting technical designs of electrical installations Read more

Twenty Years After Hurricane Luis: “People Started To Cry When They Heard The Sound Of The Wind”

Glen Carty and “Mr. Hurricane” Dennis Richardson. Photo Today / Hilbert Haar

St.  Maarten / By Hilbert Haar – “I did not know what a hurricane was. I was in the radio business and I thought, I am going to drive around. I was on Bush road when at 3 p.m. all hell broke loose. I saw one of those heavy freezers that stand in front of supermarkets twenty meters up in de air.  That’s when I got scared, I thought I was going to die.” It happened on Tuesday, September 5, 1995, tomorrow exactly twenty years ago Read more

Meyers criticizes Mullet Bay state

PHILIPSBURG--It is “a shame” that former Mullet Bay Beach Resort property is still the same way as it was when Hurricane Luis devastated the island 20 years ago, United People’s (UP) party deputy leader Member of Parliament (MP) Franklin Meyers said in the last meeting of the 2014-2015 Parliamentary Year on Monday.

St Read more

New ministers sworn in, Cabinet now complete

HARBOUR VIEW--Almost nine months after taking office, the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet now has the full complement of seven individual ministers with the taking of the oath before Governor Eugene Holiday of new Ministers Ernest Sams and Rafael Boasman. Also retaking the oath to match his newly-assigned ministry was Minister Claret Connor Read more

Achievements and lack thereof highlighted as MPs close year

PHILIPSBURG--The achievements or lack thereof in the first Parliamentary year of the second Parliament came into focus as Members of Parliament (MPs) closed off the 2014-2015 legislative year in Parliament House on Monday. The 2015-2016 year opens today, Tuesday, with much pomp and ceremony.

The call to work together was issued by fraction leaders representing the coalition partners while the two opposition fraction leaders MP William Marlin (National Alliance) and Sarah Wescot-Williams (Democratic Party) were straightforward with their criticism about lack of action by the United People’s (UP) party-led coalition.

Destiny impaired

UP fraction leader MP Franklin Meyers laid the blame for the country’s stagnated growth and development in the past year at the door of The Hague saying that government and Parliament have spent the past year battling instructions and financial constraints due to financial supervision Read more

Trinidadians go to the polls after bitter and “brutish” campaign

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad--More than a million voters are eligible to cast their ballots when polling stations opened at 6 o’clock Monday morning, following what the chairman of the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) described as the “most brutish” campaign he had ever seen.

Dr. Norbert Masson, who has headed the EBC since 2005 and served as a commissioner for several years prior, lamented yesterday that “the environment created by this election’s electioneering campaign was the most brutish, acrimonious, rampageous and vitriolic that I have witnessed in all my years at the Commission”.

The three-month campaign that preceded yesterday’s general election was marked by allegations and counter-allegations of legal and moral wrongdoings and what Masson said was “obscene expenditure on political advertisements” and “a concentration on matters technological and materialistic [that] has led directly and unfortunately to an almost total abuse of moral and ethical values in practically everything we do”.

But the EBC chairman urged voters not to be bamboozled by the electioneering campaign or the foolish antics of those who should know better.

“As you go to your polling station Read more

Obama orders contractors to offer staff paid sick leave

BOSTON/WASHINGTON--President Barack Obama on Monday ordered government contractors to offer their workers seven days of paid sick leave a year and, without naming them, knocked Republican presidential candidates for advocating what he said were anti-union policies.
  Obama signed an executive order on sick leave, which the White House said would affect some 300,000 people, during a flight to Boston, where he spoke at a union event. Starting in 2017, workers on government contracts will earn a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked Read more

Cuba's atheist Castro brothers open doors to Church and popes

HAVANA--Baptized as Roman Catholics and educated by Jesuits, Fidel and Raul Castro turned against the Church by declaring Cuba an atheist state, chasing out priests and shutting down religious schools after seizing power in a 1959 revolution.
  In their old age, however, they have brought the Church in from the cold and are gracious and experienced hosts for regular papal visits Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---- Chairman of Parliament, Prime-Minister, Ministers, Invited Guests, good afternoon and welcome.
And a special welcome to Mr. Rafael Boasman, Mr. Ernest Sams and Mr. Claret Connor for this appointment and swearing in ceremony.
On December 19, 2014, a new team of five of seven ministers were installed with responsibility for the governing of our island Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The Lions District Governor for District 60B Lion Marvin Grant MJF from Tortola along with his delegation paid a courtesy call to the office of the Honorable Prime Minister of Sint Maarten Marcel Gumbs where they had discussions about the work that the various Lions Clubs have been doing around the Caribbean region and also specifically on
Sint Read more

Faction leaders outline their achievement and failures during parliamentary year 2014 -2015.

>PHILIPSBURG:---- Faction leader of the United Peoples Party Franklin Meyers in his remarks during the closing of parliamentary year 2014-2015 said that the moment the UPP and MP De Weever formed the coalition that formed the current government they got all sorts of pressure from the Dutch Government (Kingdom Partners) which includes an instruction Read more

Homeless situation at marina has reached crisis point, says district

~ Authorities given 72 hours to take action ~

MARIGOT--Representatives of District Five and the marina and merchants associations of Marigot have warned they will take matters into their own hands unless authorities take action on the homeless persons’ situation and overall sanitation of the Marina Royale parking area, once and for all.

The merchants association says it is imperative that the situation is dealt with now in low season before the high season starts. Businesses or restaurants have closed in the marina due to the unresolved situation that is negatively impacting tourism and the island’s image.

A press conference at the Marina Royale parking area on the St Read more

Inside Bernie Sanders' strategy to win over organized labour

WASHINGTON--Union activist Cliff Smith once thought of Bernie Sanders as an "obscure" U.S. senator. That changed in August when Smith joined 27,000 people to hear the Democratic White House candidate speak at a Los Angeles sports arena.
  "The other candidates - they talk in these very calculated, milquetoast, vague ways - they just don't come across as human," said Smith, the business manager for Local 36, a branch of a roofers' union. "He just seems like your next-door neighbour."
  Sanders' vow to protect American jobs and rein in big corporations has resonated with union workers such as Smith Read more

Status Quo

Dear Editor,

Another political year comes to an end in Great Bay, and the biggest losers are our people. We would hope that during the meeting closing off the parliamentary year, the fraction leaders can point to something however insignificant they have done to improve the lives of our people. We know for instance that they have not yet dealt with the abuse of the short- term contract. We know that unemployment is out of control and among the youth the word employ does not exist.

We already are aware of Transparency International’s report that states, among other things, that too many high positions in our public sector are headed by outsiders Read more

Tamara urges SZV to work on local specialists referral

PHILIPSBURG--"It is unacceptable for a visiting specialist, who benefits from the needs of St. Maarten patients, to treat those patients like they are less than human," said United People’s (UP) party Member of Parliament Tamara Leonard in a press statement on Sunday.

The MP said she was outraged about reports she has received from patients, who had appointments with visiting specialist Dr Read more

Group to coordinate elections for representation for Haitians

PHILIPSBURG--A group of St. Maarten-based Haitians who are part of a group called the Permanent Electoral Council (PEC) will be coordinating elections amongst Haitian nationals in the country this October.

Those elected are hoping to represent the interests of Haitian nationals residing in St. Maarten under the auspices of the PEC. Vice President (VP) of the PEC Dominique Vital said Haitians in St. Maarten are dissatisfied with the current Haitian St. Maarten Community Association and stressed that the Association does not represent the interests of Haitians in St Read more

Parliamentary Year opens on Tuesday

PHILIPSBURG--The 2015-2016 Parliamentary Year opens in Parliament House at 10:00am on Tuesday.

Governor Eugene Holiday will deliver his customary opening of the year speech outlining government's plans and programmes for the coming year.

Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs will be present for the ceremony with his cabinet as well as members of the high councils of state, the judiciary and other dignitaries.

Motorists and the public are reminded by Parliament that Wilhelminastraat (in front of the Parliament House) will be closed on Monday, September 7, from 3:00pm to 12:00am in connection with a dress rehearsal of uniformed services for the opening of the new parliamentary year.

Back Street and Front Street will be closed on Tuesday from 6:00am to 2:00pm.

The public session will be live on St Read more

DP calls on Harbour to disclose amount paid in Zebec settlement

POINTE BLANCHE--The Democratic Party (DP) is “demanding transparency” in the out-of-court settlement reached between the Harbour and Zebec Development and wants the Harbour to disclose the amount paid in the settlement.

“Given the seriousness of the accusations and the sizable financial consequences to the Harbour, the DP believes the details of the settlement should be made public, after all if the Harbour had to pay serious penalties for contractual failures, the people have a right to know,” DP Leader Sarah Wescot-Williams said in a press release on Sunday.

In August last year, Zebec Development filed a legal claim for more than US $100 million against the St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:----The Harbor and Zebec have in the recent past publicly leveled serious accusations of breach of contract against each other that included claims of 100 million USD in damages, repeated failure to adhere to contractual obligations, failure of the harbor director to comply with terms of the agreement, frivolous lawsuit and serious misconduct and so forth.
According to the latest media reports, the Harbor and Zebec have now resolved all differences and have settled all issues and damages, however the terms of the settlement have been obscured by a yet another confidential and out of court settlement Read more

>MARIGOT:--- The Health Observatory of St.Martin was created in October 2010 under the leadership of the Collectivité of St. Martin. This project was born of a cooperation between the Collectivité, the Government of Sint Maarten and Louis Constant Fleming Hospital. It is financed with European INTERREG IV Caribbean funds. The general meeting held on Friday, September 4, 2015 helped to formalize the functioning of the association that rules the Health Observatory.

The mission of the Health Observatory is to conduct public surveys and health studies on the both sides of the island in order to inform local institutions on priority needs for the population Read more

The Democratic Party(Dp) Demands Transparency On Harbor And Zebec Settlement

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Harbor and Zebec have in the recent past publicly leveled serious accusations of breach of contract against each other that included claims of 100 million USD in damages, repeated failure to adhere to contractual obligations, failure of the harbor director to comply with terms of the agreement, frivolous lawsuit and serious misconduct and so forth.

According to the latest media reports, the Harbor and Zebec have now resolved all differences and have settled all issues and damages, however the terms of the settlement have been obscured by a yet another confidential and out of court settlement Read more

Mp Tamara Leonard Call On Szv To Work On Local Specialists Referral As Soon As Possible

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – It is unacceptable for a visiting specialist, who benefits for the needs of St. Maarten patients, to treat those patients like they are less than human, says United People’s (UP) party Member of Parliament Tamara Leonard.

The MP is outraged about reports she has received from patients who had appointments with visiting specialist Dr Read more