SXMElections.com

>PHILIPSBURG:--- This Saturday March 14, 2015 in collaboration with Club de Gym Saint Martin, The National Institute of the Arts
(NIA) will be holding the first island wide gymnastics competition at the Asha Stevens Campus in Cay hill.

Grattiene Riom, the Director in charge of the trainer course and technical component training is supported by teachers Doris Barbes from Club de Gym Saint Martin and Peggy Oulerich Head of the Dance Department at NIA.
The purpose is to further develop the sport of gymnastics on the island between the French and Dutch sides.

The competition will involve 40 students under the age of 12 and are judges representatives from the Comité Régional of Guadeloupe (Gymnastics Local Commitee of Guadeloupe) Read more

>PHILIPSBURG: --- Several veteran and long standing police officers who have been waiting for their promotions are now peeved at the police management team whom they said are handpicking persons that are not qualified for top positions while officers of the force have been waiting for years to get their promotions.
Some of the officers spoke to SMN News on the condition of anonymity on Friday said that Jadira Gjisbertha, a scale 9 officer was chosen to take up a scale 12 position which was vacated by Pico Simmons who went on pension Read more

OSPP IS REPEATING ITS’ CALL FOR AN URGENT OPERATIONAL AUDIT TO BE DONE AT THE HARBOUR GROUP OF COMPANIES.

>Pointe Blanche:--- We have been following with keen attention all the activities that have been taken place at the harbour group of companies over the last couple of years. In a media report some time ago the CFT stated that the Harbour Group of Companies refused to open its books for the government of St. Maarten, the shareholder of the company. Based on the 2013 financial statements acquired by one of the dailies many irregularities were mentioned in the article. Perhaps it is time for us to revisit that article again Read more

NASA confirms ocean on Jupiter moon, raising prospects for life

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida--Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed that the Jupiter-orbiting moon Ganymede has an ocean beneath its icy surface, raising the prospects for life, NASA said on Thursday.

The finding resolves a mystery about the largest moon in the solar system after NASA's now-defunct Galileo spacecraft provided hints that Ganymede has a subsurface ocean during exploration of Jupiter and its moons from 1995 to 2003 Read more

Islands blamed for foiling cooperation in healthcare

~ Minister Schippers to attend Aruba health congress ~

THE HAGUE--Closer cooperation in healthcare in the Dutch Caribbean is possible and desirable, but is frustrated by developments in especially Curaçao and St. Maarten. The latter country is accused of obstructing the medical evacuations from St. Eustatius and Saba.

Dutch Minister of Public Health, Welfare and Science Edith Schippers sent a letter to the Dutch Parliament on Thursday, in which she confirmed her attendance to the Kingdom Health Congress which will be held in Aruba from June 1-4.

The letter was accompanied by a five-page paper on healthcare containing advice, an analysis and strategy for the Aruba congress as well as the Kingdom Congress, which will take place in Curaçao probably on June 16, where healthcare will be on the agenda as well Read more

SMHDF finance manager questions investigation

~ Says wrong persons investigating ~

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) Finance Manager Emilio Kalmera – in the midst of negative publicity, a court case and questions being posed concerning his credibility – has issued a press statement too long for The Daily Herald to print in its entirety that highlights what he calls questionable actions and says, “The reasoning for all this fiasco is more personal than anything else.”

Amongst other concerns, Kalmera said someone had been assigned to the board on the same day he and his colleagues were suspended; the audit was being carried out and supervised by the wrong persons; and former Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI Maurice Lake had not stopped the investigations by Government Accounting Foundation SOAB.

Kalmera said he wanted to clear the air, especially after the March 11 article in this newspaper with the headline “SMHDF dumps Lynch for financial mismanagement” was published based on a press release by SMHDF attorney Jairo Bloem in which he announced that Director Henry Lynch’s service agreement had been dissolved as of February 4 Read more

D66 chapters champion voting rights of Dutch nationals abroad

THE HAGUE--Various chapters of the Dutch Democratic D66 party will submit a motion to party members at the April 18 D66 congress, to arrange the voting rights of Dutch nationals in the Caribbean Netherlands and abroad through an Electoral College.

Persons with Dutch nationality living outside the Netherlands, and those residing in the Dutch public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba are currently excluded from active voting rights for the First Chamber of the Dutch Parliament, the Senate.

This is an unfair situation that needs to be changed according to the D66 chapters in, among others the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, and also the D66 chapters in The Hague, Maastricht-Heuvelland, Sittard-Geleen, Nijmegen and the Foreign Region chapter.

The Senate handles affairs that touch Dutch citizens abroad, including the Dutch Caribbean countries and in the Caribbean Netherlands, yet these nationals have no say in that same Senate, Secretary of the D66 Foreign Region chapter Arthur van Benthem stated in a press release Read more

Parliament approves 2011 annual accounts

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament unanimously approved the 2011 Annual Accounts of Government on Thursday. The approval comes three years after the period the accounts cover and well past the deadline stipulated by law.

The late tabling of the accounts was due to a severe backlog in the Finance Ministry; that backlog has since been cleared by current Finance Minister Martin Hassink who was at the plenary session of Parliament.

Hassink told the Members of Parliament (MPs) the backlog in the annual accounts is now a thing of the past Read more

Sarah questions reason for counterpart policy meeting

PHILIPSBURG--“Will we be discussing the relevant law, and if so, with what objective? Is the meeting only informative? Then what is new?” These were some of the queries raised by Democratic Party leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams in a letter to Parliament about the meeting of Parliament’s Permanent Committee for Public Health, Social Development and Labour on the pending counterpart today, Friday.

She asked what was expected of the committee, as it relates to the agenda point Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---  St. Maarten needs airlift. The island cannot be dependent upon North American traffic anymore..." This is according to Olivier Arrindell, Chairman of AVA Airways.
Recently Mr. Arrindell and The President of AVA Airways Mr. Giovanni Atalita presented AVA Airways plans to the Ministry of Transportation, Civil Aviation and Economic Development, "One of our main objectives is to learn from the past and to propose a bold new direction for commercial aviation in St. Maarten Read more

Philipsburg- Windward Islands Bank employees received their USM specialized certificate “Towards an Associate of Arts Degree in Business Management for St. Maarten Professionals”.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The University of St. Martin (USM) collaborated with the Windward Islands Bank Ltd. (WIB) to offer its Middle Management employees a set of academic courses with the objective to update their skills in Business Administration, and offer them the opportunity to gain a USM's Associate of Arts degree.
The program for the WIB employees, which consisted of the components, Business and Marketing, Business Communication, Management and Human Resource Management, Accounting and Finance, was held at the training facility of the bank Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams has dispatched a letter to the chairman of Parliament regarding what she termed as the mis-use of Parliament by members of the Council of Ministers. MP Wescot Williams reffered specially to the meeting that is called for Friday. Below is the letter sent to the Chair of Parliament. The MP also sent a second letter to the chairman of Parliament requesting information and clarity on the TEATT meeting that was held last week and adjourned Read more

The Yacht Club Isle de Sol Conducts ISPS Security training at NIPA

>PHILIPSBURG:--- On Friday February 27, 2015 in accordance with the International Ship and Port Security (ISPS) Code, The Yacht Club Isle de Sol, an IGY MARINAS Destination, provided their contract Security staff of INSEMA Group NV with a scheduled ISPS Code training. The training was facilitated by local Recognized Security Support Organization (RSSO) OSSEM Solutions NV at the National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA) in Cay Hill Read more

Wib Middle Management Employees Move Closer To Obtaining Associate Of Arts Degree At Usm

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Windward Islands Bank employees received their USM specialized certificate "Towards an Associate of Arts Degree in Business Management for St. Maarten Professionals".

The University of St. Martin (USM) collaborated with the Windward Islands Bank Ltd. (WIB) to offer its Middle Management employees a set of academic courses with the objective to update their skills in Business Administration, and offer them the opportunity to gain a USM's Associate of Arts degree.

The program for the WIB employees, which consisted of the components, Business and Marketing, Business Communication, Management and Human Resource Management, Accounting and Finance, was held at the training facility of the bank.

The USM instructors of the Hospitality and Business Divisions, Dr Read more

Upgrade Dutch Quarter Delayed, Not Forgotten

European subsidy-millions remain available until December 5

St. Maarten – What happened to the European funds St. Maarten supposedly received for the upgrading of Dutch Quarter? Former Vromi-Minister William Marlin announced at a “simply yet significant signing ceremony” on the De Weever property on June 25, 2012 that the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) had committed €4.75 million ($6.1 million) to the project and the government put up an additional 1,73 million ($2.25 million) Read more

Freedom Salsa Delivered To 18 Primary Schools

St. Maarten – The book delivering festivities at the Sint Maarten primary schools has come to an end. Between January and the first week of March the Beyond Writing Foundation has visited eighteen primary schools to present and delivered boxes containing 25 copies of the book Freedom Salsa.

The festivity was organized by school representatives together with the project manager of BWF, Ingrid Holaman.  Each school put another accent to the program Read more

Mp Tamara Leonard Calls On Women To Make It Happen

St. Maarten – United People’s party MP Tamara Leonard says the theme of International Women’s Day “Make It Happen” is a call to women on St. Maarten and all over the world to make more happen in their communities and a call to all women to strive for even more Read more

Large Field For Soca Rumble

St. Maarten – The Soca Rumble “Battle of the Best” on April 25 will feature 24 soloists and three groups or bands that will be competing in Power Soca and Groovy Soca. The winner of each section takes home $10,000.

The deadline for participants to submit their music via email is Friday. “We are trying to raise the level of Soca music. St. Maarten by now should be included in the conversation of great Soca music in the Caribbean. We have some talented artists. We ho Read more

Editorial - Lost opportunity

Once again Parliament was unable to meet due to the lack of a quorum (see related story). It regarded a plenary session to discuss ongoing issues at St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF), for which Prime Minister and interim Housing Minister Marcel Gumbs had been present along with several officials.

It was thus a waste of valuable time for them, the seven legislators who were in attendance and all those wanting to follow the proceedings either in person or via electronic media Read more

Cuba gives its ‘unconditional support’ to Venezuela against United States

HAVANA, Cuba--Cuba offered its "unconditional support" to Venezuela on March 10, after US President Barack Obama authorised new sanctions against senior officials of the South American oil producer, Havana's closest ally.

An official statement published in the island's state-run media called Obama's executive order implementing the sanctions "arbitrary and aggressive."

"Cuba again reiterates its unconditional support and that of our people for the Bolivarian Revolution, the legitimate government of President Nicolas Maduro, and the heroic brotherly people of Venezuela," the statement said.

The Cuban reaction marked its first public confrontation with the United States since the two countries began discussions in December on fully restoring diplomatic relations.

In Caracas, meanwhile, President Nicolas Maduro, who recalled his envoy to Washington, denounced the US action as "the most aggressive, unjust and harmful blow against Venezuela."

In activating the sanctions, Obama called the situation in Venezuela "an extraordinary threat to the national security" of the United States.

The sanctions targeted Venezuelan officials who the US said were linked to human rights abuses, including a crackdown on anti-government protests last year that left 43 people dead.

"No one has the right to intervene in the internal affairs of a sovereign state or to declare, without foundation, someone a threat to national security," Cuba said.

It said the US measures were "in reprisal for the measures adopted [by Venezuela – Ed.] in defence of its sovereignty in the face of meddling acts by the governmental authorities and Congress of the United States."

Cuban leader Fidel Castro congratulated Maduro on his "brilliant and brave" stance against the US in a letter also published Tuesday by the Cuban press.

"Your words will go down in history as proof that humanity can and must know the truth," Castro wrote Read more

No quorum stalls housing meeting

PHILIPSBURG--The discussion in Parliament about developments at St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) was stalled on Wednesday after insufficient Members of Parliament signed in for the meeting with ad interim Housing Minister Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs. The meeting will be reconvened at a later date.

Six of the seven United People's (UP) party MPs were not present for the meeting.

Only seven of the 15 MPs serving in the legislature signed in for the meeting Read more

Police to issue fines on the spot during carnival

~Fail to pay; get locked up~

PHILIPSBURG--Police will be sending a firm message to troublemakers and law breakers during the carnival period.

The police will be issuing fines on-the-spot for a number of offenses during the carnival season, Chief Public Prosecutor Ton Maan told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.

The intention is to let the public know that causing trouble or committing certain offenses will hurt you in your pocket. "We are doing this to let people know that misbehaving will cost them money," Maan said Read more

Lynch dismissal letter cites brothel expenditures with SMHDF money

PHILIPSBURG--Former managing director Henry Lynch's violation of the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation's (SMHDF's) entertainment allowance by more than NAf. 35,000 for the year 2014 included numerous brothel visits.

The full redundancy letter to Henry Lynch, served to him by SMHDF attorney Jairo Bloem on February 4, has come to light via an anonymous source, resulting in the emergence of more details about his actions used to justify the foundation's dissolving of his service agreement.

Details left out of a press release by Bloem based on said letter include examples of wrongful behaviour and excuses that were found not to be credible Read more

The Government of Sint Maarten remains committed towards its vision for a “one-stop shop” concept for its products and services!

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The Department Head of the Public Service Center, Emilia Thomas recently returned from a working visit to the Netherlands, where she visited the public service centers in the Municipalities of the Hague, Zoetermeer and Stichtse Vecht. The purpose of the visit was to (re)-establish working rapport with said municipalities in view of Government's commitment to improve its efficiency and vision to further expand its services to the public by creating a "one-stop shop" operation. The visit to the Netherlands was co-coordinated by Mr Read more