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style="text-align: left;">PHILIPSBURG:--- NAGICO Insurances recently made a donation to Daniel Tariq Doran, a young local student who has been drafted to play with the Sussex County Cricket team in England.
This donation, which was personally handed over by Chairman of the NAGICO Group; Mr Read more

Ludmilla De Weever to be Appointed Minister of VSA --- Reliable Sources.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The UP/De Weever/LRM coalition will soon appoint the Minister of VSA (Health, Labor and Social Affairs.)
SMN News was reliably informed that Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever has shuffled the pack again since his uncle Petrus Leroy De Weever failed the screening Read more

Ipko Parties Agree On Need To Meet More Often

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Inter-parliamentary Kingdom Consultation involving the parliaments of Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten is well under way in Aruba.

During their first session on Monday, the law makers expressed the need to meet on a more regular basis to discuss issues of importance for the three countries.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Member of Parliament and leader of the Democratic Party of St Read more

Tracking One Of Saba's Rare Birds: Wedrego

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC), in partnership with the Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF), recently completed an island-wide survey for the Audubon's Shearwater on Saba.

The Audubon's Shearwater, also known locally as the Wedrego, is Saba's national bird and it's displayed prominently on the island's crest.

It is notoriously difficult to survey the Wedrego due to its secretive behavior and the steep and dangerous terrain it favours.

This seabird spends much of its time out at sea, feeding out in the ocean during the day, and only returning at night to its breeding grounds on Saba and other islands, where it is believed to nest in underground burrows or similarly concealed locations.

This work was funded by Vogelbescherming Nederland (BirdLife Holland), and is part of a collaborative effort co-ordinated by the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance to learn more about the birds that make their home on and around our islands.

Historically, surveys on Saba for the Audubon's Shearwater have only been successful at determining the continuing presence of Wedregos on island, but it has been difficult to locate nest areas, flight paths, and populations.

This work aimed to fill in some of those gaps.

In conjunction with SCF this EPIC-led expedition, used RADAR, to monitor the status and distribution of of Audubon's Shearwaters (Wedrego) on and around Saba Read more

Minister Connor Pays Tribute To D’Shnay

St. Maarten – Minister of Tourism Claret Connor recently paid tribute to St. Maarten’s reigning Teen Carnival Queen D’Shnay York who won the Haynes Smith Talent Teen Pageant in St. Kitts on December 30. He congratulated her on behalf of his entire Ministry.

The Minister presented D’Shnay with a congratulatory letter from his ministry and hailed her as a true ambassador for St Read more

Port Records More Than 2 Million Cruise Visitors: Research: Industry Overstates Spending Per Cruise Passenger

St. Maarten – On the last day of 2014, the Oasis of the Seas docked in the cruise port, bringing the estimated total number of cruise arrivals for the year 2014 over the historic 2 million mark, at 2,000,864. Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Claret Connor honored John and Marleen Tharpe and their three granddaughters from Columbus, Georgia, as the 2 millionth-passengers Read more

Man Stabbed At Francis Bar

St. Maarten —A “minor misunderstanding” has lead to one man being stabbed in the abdomen on New Year’s Day at a bar on the A. Th Illidge Road, according to information provided by inspector Steven Carty, currently the acting public relations officer for the police.

“On Thursday January 1st at approximately 11:00 am the patrol was dispatched to Francis Bar on the A Read more

Economic Affairs Minister Claret Connor: “Service Levels And Standards Are Important Principles”

St. Maarten – The government will share many ideas and initiatives to trigger tangible economic growth in the first few months of 2015 and most of these initiatives will be done in collaboration with the private sector and non-governmental organizations with a strong focus on service, Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Claret Connor states in a press release issued last night.

Echoing UP-party-leader Heyliger, Connor states that he looks forward to starting his tenure with renewed passion and vision “that will hopefully effect sustainable economic growth for our country and a better quality of life for all Read more

Editorial - Not if, but how

Mention of the counterpart policy in Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs’ New Year’s speech has led to several reactions. The idea for such a mandatory regulation when employing expatriates has been contested from the start, because of the feared detrimental effect on the local business community.

Then again, that the policy would be part of the incoming cabinet’s plans was to be expected, especially as now-independent (former DP) parliamentarian Cornelius de Weever had cited the intention to leave such out of a governing programme for the originally envisioned NA/US/DP combination as his main reason to “jump ship” and support a UP-led coalition instead Read more

Today’S Predictions For The New Year: Still No Waste-To-Energy Plant, No Plastic Bag-Ban, No New Hospital

St. Maarten / By Hilbert Haar – “It seems almost too easy: predict what will and what will not happen in St. Maarten in any given year.” that was the first sentence of the article we published exactly a year ago about our predictions for the New Year – and it is still true. Our headline read “Emilio Wilson estate purchase but no waste-to-energy plant.” Needless to say, both predictions were on the mark.

The Today newspaper made its first predictions in 2010, when we looked ahead at 2011 Read more

New Year’S Address Prime Minister Gumbs: Government Wants To Implement Controversial Counterpart Policy

St. Maarten – In his inaugural New Year’s address, Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs has indicated that his government will make work of implementing the controversial counterpart policy and that it will tackle the gray economy. Gumbs’ address is first and foremost a message that holds the promise of an incorruptible government that takes ingerity serious and that intends “to carry out the majority of the recommendations” from the three integrity reports, produced by the General Audit Chamber, the Bob Wit-committee and PricewaterhouseCoopers Read more

Up-Leader Theo Heyliger: Budget, Economy And Education Are Priorities

St. Maarten – Financial management, education and the economy are three of the priorities United People’s party leader MP Theo Heyliger mentions in his New Year’s address. “Along with my coalition partners I will be working diligently with the government for a more productive, competitive and robust economy,” Heyliger stated Read more

Economic Affairs Minister Claret Connor: “Service Levels And Standards Are Important Principles”

St. Maarten – The government will share many ideas and initiatives to trigger tangible economic growth in the first few months of 2015 and most of these initiatives will be done in collaboration with the private sector and non-governmental organizations with a strong focus on service, Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Claret Connor states in a press release issued last night.

Echoing UP-party-leader Heyliger, Connor states that he looks forward to starting his tenure with renewed passion and vision “that will hopefully effect sustainable economic growth for our country and a better quality of life for all Read more

Editorial - A bit of balance

The Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultation IPOK takes place this week in Aruba, starting with today's preparatory tripartite session between the Parliament Presidents of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten. While the first six agenda points for this IPOK are from the last meeting in June, five more have been added that very much relate to current events.

It is obviously with this in mind that Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and Justice Minister Dennis Richardson met with St Read more

Colts roll past outmanned Bengals for wildcard victory

INDIANAPOLIS - Quarterback Andrew Luck led the Indianapolis Colts to a 26-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC wildcard game on Sunday to set up a divisional round clash with Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.
  Luck, who was drafted to replace Manning at the Colts, threw for 376 yards and one touchdown on 31 of 44 passing in a game in which the Colts rarely looked in danger of losing.
  The Indianapolis quarterback was particularly impressive on a 36-yard pass on the run to Donte Moncrief for a decisive third quarter touchdown as the Colts prepared to meet the Broncos for the second time this season next Sunday.
  Denver won the first matchup 31-24 at home in the season-opener.
  "He was outstanding," said Colts head coach Chuck Pagano said of Luck Read more

Arnell: ‘We need to reduce labour cost in hotel sector’

MARIGOT--President of the St. Martin Chamber of Commerce Jean Arnell disclosed he has asked the Minister of Overseas Territories George Pau-Langevin to look into creating a sector policy to reduce labour costs, specifically in the hotel sector.

"She is committed to it, together with the tourism minister," Arnell indicated. "For example the ratio of labour cost to sales in St. Martin is 48 per cent and in France it's 34 per cent. We're looking at reducing that ratio to make our hotels more competitive in this region where we are competing against other destinations that have a significant number of flights from the continental USA.

"That's where unqualified labourers registered at the unemployment office will find work when we build more hotel rooms, and around that more jobs will come from the related service sectors."

Arnell said it is essential to build more high-end hotel rooms for stay-over tourism and market the cruise ship companies more to capture a slice of the two million cruise ship passengers coming to the island.

"The economic impact of stay-over visitors is undeniable Read more

Integrity committee one of main priorities for DP

PHILIPSBURG--Electoral, financial and tax reform, and having an integrity committee of Parliament are amongst the priorities the Democratic Party (DP) will champion this year.

In the party's New Year message issued on Sunday, DP Leader Sarah Wescot-Williams said the vision of the party is for Parliament to become more in tune with the realities of what is taking place in the community Read more

Ferrier wants PM to explain how counterpart policy will be applied

~ 'It will stifle economic growth' ~

PHILIPSBURG--Businessman Michael Ferrier is looking forward to an explanation from Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs on how the counterpart policy will be applied in St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- A delegation of six Members of Parliament (MPs) will be representing Sint Maarten at the Inter-parliamentary Kingdom Consultation in Oranjestad, Aruba from January 6 to 9.

On Monday, January 5, the Presidents of the three parliaments within the Kingdom of the Netherlands will have their Tripartite Meeting at the House of Parliament of Aruba, namely Aruba's President Hon. Marisol Lopez-Tromp, Curacao's President Hon. Marcolino 'Mike' Franco, and President Hon. Dr. Lloyd Richardson representing Sint Maarten Read more

>My Fellow Citizens,

Once again another year has come to end and a new year has begun. Over the past year of 2014, it was not without the many challenges, which we had faced. As the people of St. Maarten; we have experienced a lot of setbacks and by speaking out on those issues that had affected us the most; it didn't yield any sort of positive results or outcomes.
The cost of living, here on the island continues to rise with no limit in sight. Those, who are in authority has repeatedly shown no type of effort or indication towards the citizens that any plans would be set in motion for a relief in the coming new year Read more

style="text-align: center;">"Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us". (Hal Borland, American author and journalist)

This, in the opinion of the Democratic Party (DP) of St. Maarten is an apt description of where we find ourselves today as a political party.
Determined to carry on, but with much wisdom and humbleness from our experiences, especially those of the year just behind us.
The past year however, was also the closure of a unique and unforgettable chapter Read more

style="text-align: center;">Recalls Brooke as 'a friend to St. Maarten'

PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, on behalf of the government and of St. Maarten, extended heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke who passed away on Saturday. He was the first black in U.S. history to win popular election to the Senate Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson met with Parliament's Permanent Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Affairs and Kingdom Relations in Parliament House on Friday morning. The meeting was called on the request of the Prime Minister to brief the committee on the current state of affairs with the integrity issue between St Read more

Minister Connor pays Tribute to D’Shnay.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Tourism & Economic Affairs Claret Connor recently paid tribute to St. Maarten's Reigning Teen Carnival Queen D'Shnay York who won the Haynes Smith Talent Teen Pageant in St. Kitts on December 30. He congratulated her on behalf of his entire Ministry.

The Minister presented D'Shnay with a congratulatory letter from his Ministry and hailed her as a true ambassador for St Read more