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Ministry Of Health To Establish Ebola Incidence Management Team. Meetings With Stakeholders Continues

GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – 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

US moves to ensure birth control access

WASHINGTON--The Obama administration will ensure access to birth control coverage for employees of closely held companies that object on religious grounds to contraception, one of the health benefits mandated by the Affordable Care Act.

The move follows a Supreme Court ruling in June that allowed certain for-profit companies to refuse to cover contraceptives due to the religious beliefs of their owners. It provides for insurers to offer contraception to employees through separate coverage.

President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law requires companies to provide free birth control coverage as a preventive service included in their health plans Read more

Colombia army, rebels meet face-to-face at talks in Cuba

HAVANA--Colombian military officers and leftist guerrillas met face-to-face on Friday for the first time in their 50-year war, starting talks on a ceasefire that would take hold should the government and the rebels reach a comprehensive peace agreement.

The government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the Marxist-inspired Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have been engaged in peace talks in Cuba for nearly two years, reaching three partial agreements on their five-point agenda.

The two sides recently opened talks on another key point, that of reparations for war victims, and began hearing testimony from those who have lost loved ones or been displaced by Latin America's longest-running conflict, which has killed more than 200,000 people since 1964 Read more

Atletico's Mandzukic strikes early to clinch Super Cup

SPAIN-- Atletico Madrid striker Mario Mandzukic's early goal secured a 1-0 win over Real Madrid and a 2-1 aggregate success to clinch the Spanish Super Cup and gain some revenge for last season's Champions League final defeat.
  Croatia striker Mandzukic, who joined Atletico in the close season from Bayern Munich, fired into the corner of the net from the edge of the area after Read more

Galisbay Port bidding process ‘legal and fair’

GALISBAY--A bidding process for the restructuring of the Port of Galisbay was legal and fair, managers of the port stated yesterday.

They called the press conference in response to allegations that were made by a company that appeared on a local radio station, claiming that the opportunity to bid had not been published sufficiently in the media in French St. Martin, not offering local companies a good enough chance to compete for the contract, and suggested that a bribe may have been accepted before the contracts were given out.

Only one of the three companies bidding to complete the restructuring was based in French St Read more

Court orders government to purchase Vorst property

PHILIPSBURG--The Court of First Instance on Thursday ordered Country St. Maarten to honour the agreement closed between Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure VROMI Maurice Lake and members of the Vorst family to purchase their property in Cay Hill against payment of US $5.5 million.

Six members of the Vorst family had initiated summary proceedings against government on June 5, because it had failed to adhere to several agreements to purchase their property.

The Vorst family, represented by attorney-at-law Jairo Bloem, had requested the Court to order Country St Read more

Judge to decide Tuesday on Bada Bing witnesses

PHILIPSBURG--Judge Koos van de Ven decided on Thursday to adjourn the preliminary hearing in the so-called "Orca" trial until next week Tuesday, to consider requests of the defence for additional investigations and the hearing of witnesses.

It is not yet known when the actual court case will be heard, but in any case not before mid-January 2015; 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

Arnell receives Knight of National Order of Merit

MARIGOT--Territorial Council First Vice-President Guillaume Arnell was the latest recipient of the Knight of the National Order of Merit medal at a ceremony held in his honour at the Chamber of Commerce, Concordia, Thursday evening.

As has been customary at these ceremonies, a number of speeches were made before the award was bestowed upon Guillaume Arnell by Préfet Philippe Chopin.

President of the Association of the National Order of Merit in St Read more

Pantophlet resigns as PSS board chairman

PHILIPSBURG--Vice Chairman Stuart Johnson has been appointed Interim Head of the Supervisory Board at Postal Services St. Maarten N.V. (PSS), after Chairman of the Board Hubert Pantophlet officially resigned from his position Read more

Dutch, French to do joint health study, launch health observatory

~ 'Diseases don't stop at the border' ~

CONCORDIA--Dutch St. Maarten and French St. Martin health officials launched a regional Health Observatory on Friday and announced plans to embark on a joint public health study to assess the health situation amongst the population on both sides of the island.

Some work has already begun under the Health Observatory, which is based initially at the Louis Constant Fleming Hospital in French St Read more

Na Youth Wing 'Preparing To Lead' Youth Conference Postponed 'Looking Forward To A Bigger And Better Event'

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Board of the National Alliance Youth Wing regrets to announce that its upcoming 'Preparing to Lead' Youth Conference has been postponed.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, conflicting schedules and considering the threat of the impending weather, we have decided to host the event at a later date.

We are getting great responses Read more

Like Four Years Ago – The Results Next Friday Could Be Different: Today Newspaper Poll Gives Up Majority Of Votes

St. Maarten – The votes are in, and boy, did Chippie-users grab the opportunity to make their political preference known. Today’s partner in this project, telecom provider UTS received no less than 1,269 text messages from Chippie-users who responded to the poll.

While the pie charts show the results from different angles, it is important to read this figures in their correct context. For this, we will also use the results of an identical poll Today organized using the Chippie-network in 2010.

The raw numbers look like this: United People’s party 452 votes (55 percent), Democratic Party 143 votes (17 percent), National Alliance 119 votes (14 percent), United St Read more

style="text-align: center;">Ministry of VROMI has to provide suitable and affordable homes for fire victims

PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Social Affairs Cornelius de Weever announced on Wednesday at the Council of Ministers weekly press briefing that the Department of Social Affairs will pay the St. Peters Community Council for six weeks for the fire victims that sought shelter there Read more

South Reward Community Council General Meeting a Success!

style="text-align: center;">Minister will look into Community Center with playground for the South Reward Residences

SOUTH REWARD:--- The general meeting for the South Reward Community Council held last week August 13th, 2014 was a great success. This meeting had nothing to do with Politics that night. It was about the community and the concerns of the residences.
The attendee's of the meeting were Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon Read more

style="text-align: center;">Emphasizes Social Cohesion as a Core Value

PHILIPSBURG:--- The Democratic Party of St. Maarten released its National Platform on Nation Building on Wednesday, highlighting the DP's accomplishments and vision for developing the nation and national identity of St. Maarten. The platform states that the common thread through its manifesto is the concept of nation building; building a strong nation and a strong national identity; "The 'Red Thread' throughout this manifesto is nation building Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- President of Parliament Hon. Gracita Arrindell on Monday received a courtesy call from Indian Ambassador Smita Purushottam at the House of Parliament.

Ambassador Purushottam's visit is of a courtesy nature to meet the Governor, President of Parliament and Prime Minister as well as to meet with Indian nationals.

President Arrindell stated on Tuesday that the Ambassador is stationed in Venezuela.

"The Ambassador's visit was to acquaint herself with the institutions of the country Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams told members of the media on Wednesday during the Council of Ministers weekly press briefing that the Government of St. Maarten (both her and the Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson) would like to thank the person or persons who leaked the Integrity Report given by Judge Bob Wit and his team Read more

Medical centre outlines expansion plan details

CAY HILL--St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) has provided Health Minister Cornelius de Weever with details of its expansion plan. The expansion plan is based on the NAf. 30-35 million government has allocated in its budget for the institution, SMMC Board of Directors Chairman Kees Klarenbeek said in a letter to De Weever dated August 13.

The plan contains four phases Read more

Ministers agree with most of integrity recommendations

PHILIPSBURG--Government "embraces" the recommendations of the Wit-Samson Report on Integrity in Government to "99.9 percent," says Justice Minister Dennis Richardson. "In general, I can say we have embraced that report nearly in its entirety. There are a few issues that need further study," he said.

The Council of Ministers has formulated its response to the forty recommendations from the Wit-Samson Committee and is expected to publish this soon.

Richardson said Government is satisfied that the report found "no connection" between government and the "underworld," which was one of the concerns and motivations for the Kingdom Government to instruct Governor Eugene Holiday to conduct a similar integrity investigation into the workings of government.

One of the most important recommendations is the establishment of an integrity chamber Read more

Doing The Right Things Right: Wit-Committee Presents 40 Integrity-Recommendations

St. Maarten – Doing the right things right, the final report from the Committee Integer Public Administration chaired by Justice Bob Wit, was leaked to the media yesterday morning from the email-address integritysxm@gmail.com. The leaked version, an 80-page report containing forty recommendations for improving integrity in the government and the civil service, does not contain the comments from the government to the findings.

In March of last year, this newspaper received two press statements from the interim faction leader of the United People’s party, Sylvia Meyers-Olivacce Read more

Aruba, Curacao And St. Maarten Take A Stand: “No Government Can Be The Judge Of Its Own Actions”

St. Maarten – The Presidents of the Parliaments of Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten and their respective committees for Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations adopted two resolutions during their meeting on Monday. Yesterday they presented the resolutions during a press conference at the parliament building in Philipsburg.

One resolution urges the governments of the three countries to approach the Council of State for an advice about the instruction the Kingdom Council of Ministers gave in September of last year to Governor Drs Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Members of the Democratic Party announced loud and clear on Tuesday at a press conference that they have not signed any pre-election agreement with the United Peoples Party. The DP leader Sarah Wescot Williams distanced herself and her party from the banner that is being circulated via the social media Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams, the founding member of the St. Maarten Development Fund (SMDF) Richelda Emanuel and Director of SMDF Keith Franca signed a funding agreement on Tuesday.
Wescot Williams said the SMDF was established in 2013 when AMFO was shutting down leaving several NGOs in the air Read more

style="text-align: center;">Written by: Denicio Richardson

PHILIPSBURG:--- Having been in courts already three (3) times to defend myself on the matter surrounding my settlement package as the former Director for Postal Services St. Maarten NV (PSS) Office, both Government and PSS are taking me back to courts for a fourth time. To date I have been able to win all the preceding cases, with favorable rulings in the first two cases outright, and with the third case, a silent victory, as it was dropped at the eleventh hour prior to the deadline for submitting pleadings, as both Government and PSS realized they could not win and did not have a case to make or defend in the appellate court against my person Read more