SXMElections.com

Attempts To Quell Conflict At Nipa Underway

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The level of concern with developments taking place at NIPA, the National Institute for Professional Advancement, is high.

Information reaching our newsroom paints a picture of conflict at the institution at a time when the institute is trying to move forward and attract more students. The conflict is said to exist between the board of the Institute which is headed by Drs. Marcella Hazel and Mr. Vernon Richards the Director.

The Minister of Education the Honorable Rita Bourn –Gumbs is said to be aware of the problem and so too is MP Christopher Emmanuel Read more

New NAPB President pledges to do utmost to represent members

~ New board, congress sworn in ~

PHILIPSBURG--Newly elected President of the Nationale Algemene Politie Bond (NAPB) St. Maarten police union Jeanine Peterson pledged to do her utmost to tackle the many issues affecting members.

Peterson made the statements shortly after being sworn in during a ceremony at the John Larmonie Center on Wednesday. Also sworn in were members of the union’s Board and Congress Read more

NASA responds to predictions of catastrophic asteroid impact and tsunami near Puerto Rico

LONDON, England--End-of-time predictors have claimed that a massive asteroid hurtling towards Earth will destroy civilisation as we know it in September.

They are predicting a cataclysmic event that will trigger a major earthquake and tsunami and will sound humanity’s death knell in just three months’ time, The Mirror reports.

The rapid proliferation of the prediction has now prompted the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to speak out and dismiss the theory as unfounded.

“NASA knows of no asteroid or comet currently on a collision course with Earth, so the probability of a major collision is quite small,” a NASA spokesperson said.

“In fact, as best as we can tell, no large object is likely to strike the Earth any time in the next several hundred years.”

Conspiracy theorists on numerous blogs and websites have come up with the period between September 22 and September 28 as the likely time frame for the “impending catastrophe.”

Some biblical theorists maintain that the events will initiate the Rapture and the start of the seven-year Tribulation.

Others believe the events will spark the emergence of the so-called Illuminati-sponsored New World Order (NWO), which will take charge of world affairs.

Despite NASA’s dismissal, the conspiracy theorists believe that governments of the world’s leading nations are aware of the “impending disaster” and are keeping the information secret to prevent mass panic.

Veterans Today reports that self-proclaimed prophet Reverend Efrain Rodriguez made the original prediction back in 2010 after getting a message from God.

According to Reverend Rodriguez, the asteroid will crash into the ocean off Puerto Rico during the night, triggering a massive earthquake and a tsunami that will advance at 400 miles per hour, destroying everything in its path.

The tsunami will go on to devastate the East Coast of the United States, Mexico, Central and South America, Rodriguez added, urging NASA to issue an alert “so people can be relocated from the areas that are to be affected.”

US-based Veterans Today noted that such a disaster was “not an end-of-the-world event, but one that would likely kill millions this side of the Atlantic and send the world economy into a tailspin.”

Meanwhile, although the latest claims of a killer asteroid are apparently unfounded, scientists have long said that these space rocks pose a major threat to Earth.

“There is an asteroid with our name on it and it will hit us,” Professor Brian Cox told Britain’s MailOnline.

Earth had a “near-miss” only a few months ago.

“We didn’t see it,” Professor Cox said Read more

Inter Generation Runners wins Semsamar relay race

MARIGOT—The new team Inter Generation Runners captained by Wilfred Sully won Sunday's 9th edition of the Semsamar Inter-Company relay race but did not beat last year's winning time.

Inter Generation were first in 2 hours 9:50, followed by the Gendarmerie team CLSG-Super U in second place in 2:12:45, Avenir Sportif Club Team was third in 2:22:1, Dream of Trails fourth in 2:27:36, and Louis Constant Fleming Hospital fifth in 2:28:22.

The 30K race starting in Lowlands and finishing at La Galion Beach attracted 17 teams Read more

The International Floralies of Martinique, «Caribbean Bouquet »: the first Caribbean project with a promising future.

>Martinique:--- From June 17th to 21st 2015, Martinique will host the fourth edition of the International Floralies in Trois- Ilets, as part of an innovative concept called «Caribbean Bouquet».

Twenty (20) Caribbean countries including Barbados, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Trinidad & Tobago, French Guiana, Suriname, Brazil, St. Martin, St. Vincent, Guyana, St. Kitts, Grenada, Montserrat and Haiti, will take part in the «grand eco-cultural flourishing garden» to be presented to the Martinican public at the site of the historical La Pagerie Floral Park.

The Floralies Park of Trois-Ilets, dedicated to this vocation since 1979, is spread over three hectares and is located on a portion of the former «Domaine de la Pagerie», property of the family of Empress Joséphine Read more

Ministers Plenipotentiary Fleming-Artsen Discusses Various Issues With Szv

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Minister Plenipotentiary, Hon. Josianne Fleming–Artsen on Tuesday met with representatives of the Social and Health Insurances (SZV) at the Sint Maarten House in The Hague, the Netherlands.

The objective of the meeting was to discuss a number of issues that Sint Maarteners living in the Netherlands and those who travel on a short-term basis are experiencing in connection with certain services provided by the SZV.

The two main issues were pensions; and the transfer of SZV clients to the Netherlands for medical care.

At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that a policy document would be drafted by SZV that would outline its procedures and operational guidelines.

The Cabinet Minister Plenipotentiary would be provided with this document that would facilitate its contact with SZV clients in the Netherlands whereby assistance can be rendered in an efficient and professional manner.

Another point agreed upon, the Cabinet would have an SZV representative in Sint Maarten whereby the former can approach for additional information or advice with respect to SZV matters in the Netherlands.

The SZV delegation comprised of Ruth Boyrard-Brewster, Oriander Rooijer and Carlanie Rombley Read more

Prime Minister Gumbs Administers Oath To Civil Servants. Stresses Integrity And Productivity

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Honorable Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs on Wednesday administered the oath to a number of civil servants in the A.C. Wathey Legislative Hall at the Government Administration Building.

Prime Minister Gumbs spoke to the civil servants about integrity and being productive while carrying out their duties to the n Read more

Marlin: naturalization exam in Dutch is ‘discriminatory’

PHILIPSBURG--“Discriminatory” is how National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament William Marlin has described the naturalization process that requires passing tests in the Dutch language in order to gain Dutch citizenship.

Marlin said in Tuesday’s meeting of Parliament’s Permanent Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Affairs and Kingdom Relations that the situation warrants looking into by MPs possibly at the Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultations IPKO next year.

“It is discrimination that only the Dutch language is applicable Read more

Studying in the Caribbean

Minister Plenipotentiary Josianne Artsen and Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Rita Bourne-Gumbs visited Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science Jet Bussemaker at her ministry in The Hague. They discussed vocational and higher education, accreditation matters, studying in the Caribbean, supervision and inspectorate education, secondary education examination, cultural heritage, monument care, youth employment, Fort Amsterdam and student support services Read more

A400M probe focuses on accidental data wipe

PARIS-- A tiny piece of data needed to run the West's largest turboprop engines is at the centre of a complex chain of events under scrutiny following an Airbus A400M military plane crash last month, several people familiar with the matter said.
  The troop and cargo carrier crashed outside Seville, Spain, on May 9 after three of its huge turboprop engines froze just minutes into a routine, pre-delivery test flight, killing four of its six crew members.
  At the heart of the investigation are crucial computer files that tell Europe's new military carrier, developed at a cost of 20 billion euros ($22.50-billion), how to control its four engines, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
  Computers operating each engine cannot work if this data, which is unique to each of the turboprops, is missing.
  Investigations are at an early stage but the key scenario being examined is that the data -- known as "torque calibration parameters" -- was accidentally wiped on three engines as the engine software was being installed at Airbus facilities.
  An Airbus spokeswoman said the investigation was continuing and it was too early draw conclusions.
  "Safety is our first priority and we will do all that is necessary to get the full picture of what could have led to this tragic accident and take the necessary action," she said, declining comment on any of the points in this article.
  European NATO buyers have now been instructed not to use the Airbus computer system that was used to conduct the software installation on the A400M, people familiar with the order said.
  Investigators are poring over maintenance records to see how safety procedures failed to notice the erased parameters.
  But the combination of lost data and incomplete checks may also have exposed a vulnerability in the amount of information provided to the pilots as they prepared for the maiden flight of the plane, which had been sold to Turkey.
  Under the A400M's design, the first warning pilots would receive of the engine data problem would be when the plane was 400 feet (120 metres) in the air, according to a safety document seen by Reuters Read more

France beat England 1-0 in World Cup opener

CANADA- - Speedy forward Eugenie Le Sommer struck with a superb long-range goal in the first half to set up a 1-0 victory for France over England in their Group F Women's World Cup opener in Moncton on Tuesday.
  Le Sommer, the French League's top player, took advantage of a defensive mix-up by Katie Chapman and Laura Bassett and fired in a thunderous shot from the edge of the Read more

UPP, NA AND DP have to return extra monies to donors.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The United Peoples Party (UPP), the National Alliance (NA) and the Democratic Party (DP) were informed by the Electoral Council last week that they have to return the excess monies they received from at least two donors for the 2014 Parliamentary Elections Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Trouble seems to be stirring up in the United People’s Party camp now that it is highly rumored that MP Tamara Leonard is working on forming her own political party which will be called the “Bush Tea Party.”
SMN News learnt that MP Leonard was called in by the UPP board to discuss any grievances the UPP Members of Parliament are having with the party and its leadership Read more

Parliament Authorizes Increases In Passport Fees

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The House of Parliament of St. Maarten met in a public plenary session on Monday, June 8th.

The reason for the meeting was discussing among other matters, the draft National Ordinance to change the Stamps Ordinance for an increase in Stamp fees regarding Passports.

Minister with the responsibility for General Affairs is the Honorable Read more

Former model wrestles personal demons to the mat in yoga book

NEW YORK--A former model uses tales of sex, drugs and rock and roll in a book hitting stores on Monday to introduce the healing power of yoga sequences and demonstrate how the ancient practice of breath and meditation can fortify the mind as well as the body.
  In "Yoga for Life: A Journey to Peace and Freedom," Colleen Saidman Yee, a former fashion model turned yoga teacher, recounts how yoga helped her battle a heroin habit, epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after she was injured in a car accident when she was 15 years old Read more

Editorial - Lesser of two evils

Members of the Permanent Committee for Kingdom Affairs and Inter-Parliamentary Relations are scheduled to meet this morning. Topics include a debriefing on the recent Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultation IPKO in The Hague. Although not on the agenda, the protocol regarding an Integrity Chamber for St. Maarten signed around the same time between Justice Minister Dennis Richardson and Dutch Kingdom Relations Minister Ronald Plasterk is likely to come up. After all, several legislators have voiced their disapproval over this perceived “bypassing of Parliament” in no uncertain terms.

In one case it actually concerns governing partner USP, which was given precisely the Justice portfolio when joining the UP-led coalition in January Read more

Passport fee increase passed retroactively

PHILIPSBURG--Fees for Dutch passports have been increased retroactively by Parliament. The fees are already charged to Dutch citizens applying for new passports or passport renewals since March 10, 2014. Monday’s approval of the amendments to the Stamp Ordinance was only a formality.

The amendments were unanimously passed in a Plenary Session of Parliament with very limited debate between Members of Parliament (MPs) and Prime Minister/General Affairs Minister Marcel Gumbs Read more

Bonaire wants time to hold referendum

THE HAGUE--Members of Bonaire’s Island Council on Monday officially presented a petition calling for a postponement of the amending of the Dutch Constitution to secure the island’s public entity status until after the referendum late 2015.

Island Council Members Robby Beukenboom of the Bonaire Democratic Party and James Kroon of the UPB Party handed over the petition to Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk at a reception on Monday, marking the start of the so-called Caribbean Netherlands Week in The Hague.

The petition, which was recently approved by a two-third majority of the Island Council, has also been sent to the First and Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Read more

Préfète Anne Laubies begins first day of her new posting

MARIGOT--New Préfète Déléguée Anne Laubies, who succeeds Philippe Chopin, began her first day of work on Monday by laying a wreath in the garden of Hotel de la Collectivité, the traditional signalling of the changeover of Préfets, and was introduced to the Territorial Council and separately to the press.

Prior to arriving in St. Martin she had been Secretary-General of the Préfecture of Pas-de-Calais since 2013.

She told reporters she was happy to be nominated the Préfete for St Read more

Cuba Inc. open to foreign capitalists, but within limits

HAVANA--Communist Cuba's newfound interest in foreign capital has its limits, as Philippe Pouletty found out.
  A French doctor, venture capitalist and founder of biotech company Abivax, Pouletty is working with Cuba's Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology to develop a therapeutic vaccine to treat chronic Hepatitis B that could be on the Asian market in two years and in Europe after that Read more

The dump’s smoke is killing us and no MP cares

Dear Editor,

The dump (aka Mount Garbage) caught fire on May 2nd, 2015, and since then it has been emitting toxic smoke every day. That is well over 1 month (!) ago. Like many persons living and working in the greater Philipsburg area, I have also been suffering from frequent headaches and sore throat since the big fire. Depending on the wind direction, it can affect the entire Philipsburg area. On bad days, the smoke can even be smelled as far away as Caribbean Cinemas in Cole Bay/Simpson Bay.

It's therefore mind-boggling (but very telling) that up to now, no MP has raised the issue in Parliament and earmarked it as priority number one, as the smoke is poisoning a large part of the St Read more

>GREAT BAY(DCOMM):--- Ten civil servants from the Government of Sint Maarten has completed five days of training in a Basic User and Database Administration workshop. The workshop started June 1st and concluded on June 5th.

Organized by the National Development Plan (NDP) team from the Department of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BAK), the implementing agency for NDP project, the 10 civil servants now have the knowledge to work with the country databases SintMaartenInfo and CensusInfo Sint Maarten.

A follow-up training will be the next step – training the trainers – that will enable the 10 civil servants to assists others in learning how to utilize the database system.

Representatives from the Department of Statistics will also in the near future travel to the United States (New York) for a more advanced training at a Learning Lab.

Representatives of the various ministries now know how to create and manage databases within their ministry and how to upload their processed data into SintMaartenInfo for all stakeholders inside and outside of government to use - search for data, produce objects like tables, graphs and maps for presentations and reporting purposes to regional and international entities.

The Secretary Generals of the seven ministries were given a presentation on Wednesday morning and they were pleasantly surprised by what SintMaarteninfo looked like and the amount of data that was already in the database.

The information included Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) data as well as population and housing census data Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---  United People’s (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Hon. Maurice Lake, visited grade 5 students at the Sister Magda Primary School last week Friday as a guest speaker.

Sister Magda Primary School Grade 5 students were given an educational tour of the Parliament Building Read more

Arts and crafts find home on Front Street

PHILIPSBURG--Our Creations St. Maarten Arts and Crafts Foundation has found itself a home on Front Street 121A. At this address, no fewer than sixteen artists and crafters are displaying and selling their pieces of art and creative products to residents and tourists. Our Creations Arts and Crafts Home, which is a welcome addition to Front Street's selection of stores, was officially opened by Minister of Economic Affairs, Tourism, Traffic and Communication Claret Connor late Saturday afternoon.

It is the aim of Our Creations to promote and assist local entrepreneurs in St Read more