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Usm Alumni Host Youth Forum

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten -- The "Students Stand Up" Youth Forum was organized by the USM Alumni Foundation on Tuesday evening in order to provide the opportunity for students to voice their perspective and concerns about various situations prevalent throughout St. Maarten.

With youth of various ages in attendance at the University of St. Martin, the Forum provided an outlet for the youth to be involved in the shaping and direction for reform of the education system, labour market, career development, and other pertinent areas affecting the ability for our youth to grow and prosper.

President of the USM Alumni Foundation Stuart Johnson said, "It surely was an informative and interactive session with our special invited guest."

Josianne Artsen, Immediate Past President of USM and Deputy Minister Plenipotentiary gave a comprehensive presentation on education "From the Cradle to the Grave." "I am honored for the opportunity to hear from my youth and to be a guest at this forum," says Josianne Artsen Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The National Alliance (NA) is reminding the public that its final public meeting before Friday's parliamentary election will be held on Scott's Property on the LB Scott Road near the entrance of St. Peters on Wednesday August 27th.

The meeting will be televised live on St. Maarten Cable TV channel 120 as well as broadcast on PJD2 1300am from 6pm.

"We would like to see all of you at the meeting, but if you can't make it NA has made provisions for you to watch the proceedings live on television or listen to it live on radio," NA leader Member of Parliament William Marlin said in a press release.

"This public meeting will be a last chance for the public to hear the plans of the National Alliance before going to the polls on Friday Read more

Masbangu Verdict is an Indictment for the Prosecutor’s Office --- Class Justice is a Crime.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The verdict rendered on Monday by Judge Luijks is indeed an indictment against the Prosecutor's Office. SMN News mentioned in several articles that the prosecutors that come to St. Maarten don't come here to work, instead they are here to enjoy the sea and sun and also become friendly with local politicians in order to layer their own pockets. How is it possible that when these prosecutors come to St. Maarten they refuse to go back to Holland? How is it they are able to build huge houses here and purchase beach front properties? The allegations that they have been seizing boats and other assets from suspects and selling them after business hours should be investigated by the pertinent authorities Read more

Former Democratic Party Number Three Candidate Louis Halley Urges Supporters to Vote Number One on DP Slate.

style="text-align: center;">"Vote for stability and not for political gimmickry and bandwagoneering"

PHILIPSBURG:--- Previous number three candidate on the Democratic Party Slate popular Simpson Bay resident Louis Halley is urging his supporters and the people of St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- As SMN News continues with its review of the last governing term held by three coalition governments it is clear that a certain political party is peeved with the owner of SMN News for doing what we are obliged to do as a media house.
When the first UP/DP government was formed and Rhoda Arrindell was appointed Minister of Education Youth and Sports, she made clear that she was the new "Sheriff" in town, one who will not even consider a drag strip or cricket stadium to enhance sports on St Read more

style="text-align: center;">"St. Maarten's foreign policy cannot be divorced from its national development"

PHILIPSBURG:--- The Democratic Party of St. Maarten over the weekend highlighted its party platform on Foreign Relations, placing both within the context of the development of the St. Maarten Nation and its position within the global and regional community; "Since becoming a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Democratic Party has been working to carve out St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake says he has taken note of the recent story by former Minister of VROMI William Marlin regarding how he should be held liable for 'wrongdoing' in the Vorst land deal.

"The people of the country can see what is going on with William Marlin and the Prime Minister constantly hammering on this issue of the Vorst property that will benefit the people of this country by creating jobs and housing for our young professionals.

"If it is not coming from them, then it's nothing good for the country, basically that is what William and the Prime Minister are saying in between the lines Read more

Minister Lourens embraces MLK’s new uniform --- Minister met with school management.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Recently the Honorable Minister of Education Mrs. Patricia Lourens-Philip visited the various public schools on St. Maarten including the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Primary School. The Minister was accompanied by Secretary General for Education Ms. Joireen Wuite, Division Head for Public Education Mrs. Glendaline Davis-Holiday and her support staff. The Minister took the opportunity to meet with School Management to discuss a variety of concerns and future goals for the school.

Stuart Johnson School Manager of the Dr Read more

style="text-align: center;">Theo should substantiate claim that it won't cost much

PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the National Alliance (NA) William Marlin says dollarization will have serious financial consequences for St. Maarten as the costs to take this route are extremely exorbitant.
Marlin said UP Theo Heyliger's claims during Sunday's debate that it won't cost much is erroneous and intended to sugar coat the real figures and the tremendous loss of seigniorage for the country.
For St Read more

United People’s Party Loses Court Case Against Prime Minister Wescot-Williams and Government of St. Maarten on Voter’s Registry Issue.

style="text-align: center;">Parliament Did Not Change Electoral Laws To Make Release of Voters' Registry Possible

PHILIPSBURG:--- The Legal Case brought by Sylvia Myers-Olivacce as president of the Board of the United People's Party was thrown out of court on Tuesday. The UP Party, represented by Peggy-Ann Brandon and Brenda Brooks, took Prime Minister and the Government of Country St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The board of the United People's Party (UP) says the Judge did not throw out the case initiated by the United People's (UP) Party with respect to obtaining a copy of the voter's registry which has been common practice in the past. The Judge ruled the case inadmissible due to a semantic error where it should have been against country Sint Maarten and not the Government, and therefore it is not perceived as a loss.
The UP will resubmit the case to the Courts soonest after the correction has been made.

The UP Party presented a case with respect to the constitutional voting rights of the people.

You have cases where persons have been stricken from the voter's registry, and you have numerous cases currently in court where the individuals are fighting to have their voting rights restored so they can exercise their right to vote on Friday, August 29.

The UP Party started a case based on the Election Ordinance Read more

>POND ISLAND:--- Packages of backpacks, pencil cases, agendas, coloring books and crayons were presented to representatives of Genevieve de Weever, Dr Martin Luther King Jr, and Academy PSVE schools by TelEm Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mrs. Helma Etnel, during a brief presentation ceremony at the TelEm Group Main building on Pond Island Monday.
A similar package of school supplies was also presented to a representative of the Academy PSVE school also later in the day, Monday.
The items were presented as a corporate gesture after the needs of the schools were made known to TelEm Group shortly before the start of the school term, and since the company's focus this year has been on the youth and community, a special effort was made to see how assistance could be given.
"The school term has already started, but we have been assured by the recipient schools that they will find good homes with the children in the respective schools who are most in need of them," said Mrs Read more

UP’s case to obtain copy of voting register thrown out

PHILIPSBURG--The Court on Tuesday declared United People's (UP) Party Association and its chairperson and Member of Parliament (MP) Sylvia Meyers-Olivacce inadmissible in the injunction it had filed to obtain a copy of the voting register.

Upon hearing the Judge's decision, UP's lawyers Peggy-Ann Brandon and Brenda Brooks announced they would immediately file a new and similar injunction against Country St Read more

Severe drought forces Jamaica to adopt new strategies for start of school term

KINGSTON, Jamaica--Jamaica, suffering from a prolonged dry spell that has affected a number of institutions, says it will adopt new measures to ensure that students returning to school next week for the new academic term are not severely hampered by the lack of water.

"I want to give every assurance that the National Water Commission (NWC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government, will be doing their utmost to supply water to the affected areas, so that the new school term will commence as smoothly as possible," said Minister of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, Robert Pickersgill.

Pickersgill said that information to date from the Meteorological Service suggests that various parishes in the north and south of the country were experiencing severe to extreme drought and the projection is for these parishes to continue to receive below normal rainfall.

"In light of that information, the Ministry is paying special attention to the reopening of schools as schools, as well as hospitals and infirmaries especially in those communities that are adversely affected by the severe drought," he said.

Pickersgill said that the NWC has been assisting some schools in the Corporate Area that are experiencing challenges with their supply, and are without storage capacity, by providing a number of tanks to these institutions.

"However, I am encouraging all schools to establish additional facilities for storage, so that in the absence of regular supplies water may be supplied to them and stored Read more

Poroshenko to seek ceasefire after "very tough" talks with Putin

MINSK--Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised after late-night negotiations with Russia's Vladimir Putin to work on an urgent ceasefire plan to defuse the separatist conflict in the east of his former Soviet republic.

The first talks between the two leaders since June were described by Putin as positive, but he said it was not for Russia to get into the details of truce terms between the Kiev government and two rebel eastern regions.

"We didn't substantively discuss that, and we, Russia, can't substantively discuss conditions of a ceasefire, of agreements between Kiev, Donetsk and Luhansk Read more

Don’t forget us, say fire victims

ST. PETERS--Victims of the St. Peters fire are struggling to get their lives back in order. Although they have received support from individual people, Tzu Chi Foundation and the community centre, organised support from the government has been sadly lacking, other than in the days immediately after the fire, one of the victims complains.

Next week it will be a month since the fire in Magnolia Drive, which is mainly remembered as the fire where a group of brave young men worked together with fire officers to ensure the damage was minimised.

A number of people were made homeless and lost everything apart from the clothes on their backs Read more

US Party candidates call voters ‘to make a change’

CUL DE SAC--Voters were urged to head to the polls on Friday and make a change by voting for the United St. Maarten Party, headed by independent Member of Parliament Frans Richardson. The party leader and thirteen other candidates shared first final messages of campaign for Parliament at the party's final public meeting at the party's headquarters on Tuesday.

Richardson told supporters, "We are ready for change in this country." He called on voters "to send a message" to the "expired politicians" that the "time has come to get out of office."

He criticised the plans of the United People's (UP) party to build a new hospital as expensive and burdensome for the people as it will cost about US $300 million Read more

Judge allows witnesses to be heard in Bada Bing case

PHILIPSBURG--Judge Koos van de Ven has allowed a number of witnesses to be heard on behalf of the defence in the so-called "Orca" case. The Court announced its decision on a number of the defence's requests for additional investigations and the hearing of witnesses during a brief session on Tuesday morning.

The suspects did not appear in Court, but were represented by their respective lawyers. It is not known when the actual court case will be heard, most likely in March or April 2015.

In the trial, Member of Parliament (MP) Patrick Illidge (48) will be charged with accepting bribes from Bada Bing and Lunteren N.V Read more

NA: Dollarization could sink country

PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) leader Member of Parliament William Marlin says dollarization will have serious financial consequences for St. Maarten, as the expenses to take this route are extremely exorbitant. He called on United People's (UP) party leader MP Theo Heyliger to substantiate his claim that the switch from the Netherlands Antilles guilder to the US dollar would not cost the country much.

Marlin, whose party is not in favour of dollarizing the economy, said such a move comes with "tremendous loss of seigniorage" for the country.

To dollarize, the country would have to purchase stocks of currency equivalent to the value of the total stock of guilders in circulation Read more

Van Raak, Bosman shocked by ruling in vote-buying case

THE HAGUE--Members of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party and Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP) said on Tuesday that they were shocked by the decision of the Court in St. Maarten's vote-buying case.

The Court of First Instance on Monday declared inadmissible the Prosecutor's Office's cases against five persons who were allegedly involved in the selling and buying of votes on behalf of the United People's (UP) party in the September 2010 election.

"I am truly shocked by the Court's decision," Van Raak told The Daily Herald in a reaction Read more

Party Leaders Avoid Laser 101 Debate: Rhoda Arrindell (Up): “Stupid Grievances Downed First Wescot-Williams Cabinet”

St. Maarten – Party leaders declined to take part in what would have been the last political debate before the elections on Friday yesterday. Radio station Laser 101 had invited UP-leader Theo Heyliger, DP-leader Sarah Wescot-Williams, NA-leader William Marlin and USp-leader Frans Richardson Read more

Ministry of Health to establish Ebola Incidence Management Team. Meetings with stakeholders continues.

>GREAT BAY:--- The Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour (Ministry VSA) is in the process of establishing a "Sint Maarten Ebola Virus Disease Incidence Management Team" (SXM EVD IMT), and is continuing to meet with stakeholders as part of national preparedness according to international health regulations and requirements for every country around the world.

Ebola virus disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a severe, often fatal illness in humans.
This EVD outbreak has a fatality rate of 54% Read more

PM: Integrity Commission and Monitoring Committee to be Established.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams gave an update on the release of the Integrity Report and the reaction of Government on the content of the report. The PM also explained what the next steps with respects to the integrity investigations will be and the consequences it will have for all parties involved, including the establishment of a so-called integrity commission within Government; "It is important to state that this report is the report that has been compiled by the commission that has been established by the Government of St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Lawyers and the three living suspects that were involved in the Masbangu investigation namely Carolina, James and Roy Heyliger escaped slightly on Monday when Judge C.T. M Luijks deemed the entire case inadmissible because he felt that the main suspect Theodore Heyliger was not charged and taken before him. Judge Luijks said based on what he has seen the Masbangu case created what can be considered as "class justice" and the Landsrecherche along with the Prosecutor's Office are holding their hands over Theo Heyliger's head Read more