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PHILIPSBURG:--- Social & Health Insurances SZV and Government has signed the lease agreement for the new Government Administration building today. Signing the lease agreement was Prime Minister William Marlin and Director of SZV Glen A. Carty.
The lease agreement is for a term of 30 years and effective as of January 1st, 2017. G Read more

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POND FILL:---  In an effort to improve on the current playing fields and by extension the development of Volleyball on St. Maarten, the St. Maarten Volleyball Association (SIMVA), through its affiliation with the Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association received a new court. Following receipt of this new court, it was decided by SIMVA to donate the court to government facilities and installed and lined at the L.B. Scott Sports Auditorium for the use of both volleyball and basketball. The government facility is managed by the FUSF/NSI, which is the executing arm of government with regards to various sports on the island Read more

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Coalition Government seems to be in shambles --- unconfirmed reports

PHILIPSBURG:--- The USP candidate Minister Cecil Nicolas has failed the screening process SMN News understands. Reliable sources within the current coalition said that USP leader Frans Richardson was informed of the screening results on Wednesday Read more

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Alain Richardson Presents Partial List Of ‘Marching Towards Progress’

MARIGOT--Former President of the Collectivité Alain Richardson presented a part of his list on Thursday, ahead of the March Territorial Elections under the heading “Marching towards Progress.”

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Doran-York Cautions ‘Free Movers’ To Prepare Well Before Leaving Home

THE HAGUE--Minister Plenipotentiary Henrietta Doran-York recently addressed the issue of a rise in unprepared “free moving” students who travel to the Netherlands from St. Maarten on their own, not through the Bureau of Study Financing, in an attempt to pursue their tertiary education.

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Ceo Officially Introduces Himself To Smcu President And Board

Pond Island – TelEm Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Kendall Dupersoy, officially introduced himself to the President and board members of the St. Maarten Communication Union (SMCU) during a meeting Thursday morning.

After formal introductions, the CEO and the union briefly discussed some matters the union said has been outstanding for quite a while but had been put aside until the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer for the company.

“I was informed by the union that while some of these outstanding issues have been shelved, some remain that now require my comment and/negotiation, including comment and negotiation on a new Collective Labour Agreement (CLA),” said Mr Read more

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Pond Island :--- TelEm Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Kendall Dupersoy, officially introduced himself to the President and board members of the St. Maarten Communication Union (SMCU) during a meeting Thursday morning.

After formal introductions, the CEO and the union briefly discussed some matters the union said has been outstanding for quite a while but had been put aside until the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer for the company.

“I was informed by the union that while some of these outstanding issues have been shelved, some remain that now require my comment and/negotiation, including comment and negotiation on a new Collective Labour Agreement (CLA),” said Mr Read more

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Admitted that they have made several mistakes and are busy cleaning up to enhance their services.

PHILIPSBURG: --- Management of USZV have started a nationwide campaign in an effort to inform the general public of all their rights and obligation while being insured at USZV. The staff of USZV has embarked on a mass media campaign, they are also going door to door and are prepared to meet with every stakeholder including the SHTA, to inform them that workers on St. Maarten must be insured regardless of their legal status, besides that every insured person must know what they are entitled to and as such USZV is committed to taking all action to fully inform the population.
Managing Director of USZV Glen Carty admitted that the health insurance company does have lots of problems that needs fixing, which he said will take a few years before they are up to par Read more

Marlin: Préfète ‘Apologised’ For Oyster Pond Misunderstanding

POND ISLAND--Préfète Déléguée Anne Laubies has “apologised for actions taken based on a misunderstanding” over the ownership of Oyster Pond, said Prime Minister William Marlin. His statement on Wednesday came after a quadripartite meeting on the impasse that has existed since October 2016.

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Vsa And Actuary Met Stakeholders On Nhi

 

PHILIPSBURG – Last week a number of meetings were conducted with the actuary, Willis Towers Watson, together with the Ministry of VSA.

The group met with a number of stakeholders such as business groups, senior citizens representatives, consumers and unions, to present a preliminary version of an economic model for National Health Insurance.

“The meetings were very open and positive. Many questions were posed and many assumptions were challenged. One of the main challenges is the collection and availability of data Read more

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The First 100 Days Of Parliament?

On February 7, 2017, Parliament celebrated one hundred days in office. It is customary to evaluate a government’s performance, after they have been in office for one hundred days.

Parliaments, however, are generally overlooked when it comes to such an exercise. Seeing that St. Maarten got a most “unusual” parliament after the September 2016 elections, I became interested in wanting to know how effective this parliament has been during its first one hundred days, from October 31, 2016 to February 7, 2017 Read more

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Committees Of Parliament To Tackle Outstanding Matters

PHILIPSBURG – The chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the parliamentary committees were recently elected to guide the work of these committees on behalf of the Parliament of St. Maarten.

Chairlady of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams has facilitated the work of these committees by providing all the committee chairpersons with the matters, which have been referred to the committees Read more

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Dr. Simmonds Guest Speaker At Mjp’S Congress

MARIGOT, Sint Martin — Dr. Keith Simmonds, professor in political science at Florida A&M University will be the guest speaker at the Movement for Justice and Prosperity (MJP) first party congress on Saturday, February 18, said Louis Mussington president of MJP.

Under the theme “People First” the congress will be held at the Chamber and Commerce building in Spring Concordia, Marigot, with an opening reception at 6: 30pm, followed by a presentation of the party’s program to be outlined by the various candidates.

“Our focus in this campaign is to put serious emphasis on the needs of the people,” said Mussington who will be heading the MJP’s list in the March 19, territorial elections.

“We are very much concerned about the various challenges our collectivity is confronted with, high unemployment rates among our young people, the deplorable failure rates in our educational system, the economic downturn, the lack of housings and environmental planning,” said Mussington.

MJP party who presented their full slate of candidates to the press on Friday, is inviting the general public to come meet and greet the men and women at the congress Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- On Wednesday February 15th, Minister Plenipotentiary sat with her staff, to once again address the issue of rise in the unprepared “Free moving” students, (students that travel on their own, and not through the Bureau of Study financing), to The Netherlands, in an ambitious attempt to pursue their tertiary education.

For the past months, the cabinet of the Ministry Plenipotentiary in The Hague has been encountering numerous troubling situations with youngsters from Sint Maarten, who for whatever reason, have decided to take this route.

The Minister took note that while the students, making the choice to travel to the Netherlands on their own is on the rise, quite often the necessary preparations in terms of housing, the acceptance and enrolment into schools in particular, among other things, is not completed before these ambitious students leave Sint Maarten.

Being that they independently make contact with schools in The Netherlands, they are not in contact with the Study Financing Department on Sint Maarten, and therefore do not participate in the trainings offered that help the other students prepare for among other things, the change in the social and cultural landscape of the Netherlands to which they must adapt.

In most cases, this results in these students facing insurmountable issues, where they struggle to get a grip of the situation they are in Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- Members of the Sint Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) registered 9 separate power cuts in Sint Maarten districts at various moments over the past month. According to World Bank figures, that makes Sint Maarten's electricity infrastructure currently rank between the monthly average of the African countries of Tanzania (8,9 power cuts per month) and Burkina Faso (9,8).

As of 2017, the Sint Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association has started monitoring power cuts within country Sint Maarten Read more

Theo Questions Why Regatta Has Not Received Any Funding

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, one of the country’s premier events, is fast approaching and organisers are still waiting on funding from government for promotion and marketing. The reason for “de-funding” has been questioned by United People’s (UP) party leader Member of Parliament (MP) Read more

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Striking Teachers Take To Streets Of Marigot

MARIGOT--Many teachers and Parents Association members took the streets on Tuesday morning to protest National Education’s proposed budget cuts that are going to affect schools in St. Martin for the return to school in September.

The protest followed some two weeks of unrest, mainly at Collège Soualiga and Collège Mont des Accords. Teachers unions are protesting the proposal to reduce the number of teachers and increase the number of pupils in a class to 30. Instead of two teachers to teach 15 each, one teacher would teach 30 pupils.

The Préfecture declined to give teachers permission to hold a protest march on a different route due to concerns of creating more traffic jams.

Teachers and parents gathered outside Hotel de La Collectivité and a delegation of 10 persons representing the teachers and five from the Parents Association was granted a meeting with the Director of General Services (DGS) and representatives of the Collectivité’s education services.

“The parents find this is totally unacceptable, as most of the students speak English and in order to educate them properly in the French language we need to have not more than 15 in a class so they can get adequate attention to learn in the right way,” said teacher Etina Mussington Arnell Read more

Mr. And Ms. Psve Pageant Participants Present Themselves

EBENEZER – The candidates of the very first ever Mr. and Ms. PSVE pageant presented themselves to the student body of the St. Maarten Academy PSVE at 9:30am Tuesday, February 14.

The 9 contestants (3 boys and 6 girls) gave brave and memorable introductions before an illustrious panel of judges in the persons of Anna Rabess-Richardson, President of Posh Productions; Sharon Layne, former Miss Mature 2012; and Sidney de Weever, pageant and music enthusiast.

After this first round of competition, the playing field is now levelled with three boys and four girls advancing to the final show to be held later this year Read more

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PHILIPSBURG:--- The candidates of the very first ever Mr. and Ms. PSVE pageant presented themselves to the student body of the St. Maarten Academy PSVE at 9:30 a.m. today, February 14th, 2017. The 9 contestants (3 boys and 6 girls) gave brave and memorable introductions before an illustrious panel of judged in the persons of Mrs. Anna Rabess-Richardson, President of Posh Productions; Ms Read more

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Opposition Leader Denies Involvement In Alleged Plot To Overthrow The Government

ROSEAU, Dominica  –  Opposition Leader Lennox Linton Monday denied any involvement in an alleged plot to overthrow the Dominica government and says he fears he could be arrested on trumped up charges to that effect.

In a posting on his Facebook page, Linton said that a number of “Dominican patriots” will be at the police headquarters to “monitor events” surrounding the question of economist Dr. Thomas Fontaine, an opposition member of the United Workers Party (UWP) who was detained for several hours by police following his radio show on Sunday.

Linton said that while, Fontaine, a former employee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was due to return to the police station on Monday for further questioning, “I am hearing the plan is to have me arrested today.

“I am hearing as well that they are going to arrest me in connection with the bogus story that (Prime Minister Roosevelt) Skerrit told about overthrowing the government of Dominica.

“Now… let me be very clear, I know absolutely nothing about any coup or any attempt to overthrow the government apart from what I heard Roosevelt Skerrit say in his address to the nation.

“It is Roosevelt Skerrit who has this story Read more

Marlin Expected Back From Colombia Today

POND ISLAND--The country has been in the hands of Deputy Prime Minister/Justice Minister Rafael Boasman (United St. Maarten Party) for the past week due to Prime Minister William Marlin seeking medical consultation in Colombia.

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Minister Jacobs Attends “Shing Din” For Special Needs Citizens

ST. LOUIS, Saint Martin – On Saturday, February 11, Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Affairs, Silveria Jacobs attended the first annual “Shing Din” at the cultural site of St. Louis.

The “Shing Din” was an event put together by the Rambaud-St. Louis Fete Association and hosted the special needs citizens of both the French and Dutch side Read more

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Minister Jacobs Attends “Shing Din” For Special Needs Citizens.

St. Louis:--- On Saturday, February 11th, 2017, Minister of Education, Culture, Youth, and Sports Affairs, Silveria Jacobs attended the first annual “Shing Din” at the cultural site of St. Louis. The “Shing Din” was an event put together by the Rambaud-St. Louis Fete Association and hosted the special needs citizens of both the French and Dutch side Read more

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Is St. Maarten Against Refugees? A French Asylum Refugee Is Being Deported To Venezuela

1 in every 113 people on earth is an asylum-seeker, internally displaced, or a refugee. How many people do you know? Stand #WithRefugees pic.twitter.com/JAIhpGAMBu

— UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) February 13, 2017

~Immigration is aware of 4 individuals who want to asked for asylum in St. Maarten~

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – About three weeks now Kleyber Jose Garcia-Arias (30) from Venezuela, has been incarcerated at the police station section of the Immigration Department, after he and his companion had a domestic dispute at an address on the Dutch Side Read more