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Lake urges stakeholders to work out waste-to-energy plant project

PHILIPSBURG--United People’s (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Lake has issued a public call to all stakeholders involved in the stagnated waste-to-energy plant to get to work.

His call comes after Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs said last week that getting the project moving had encountered some difficulties Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---- When the governments of the Netherland and St Maarten fight, it is the citizens of St. Maarten that lose. The Democratic Party advocates that the interests of the citizens of St Maarten should always come first.

As the governments of the Netherlands and St Maarten discuss crime, corruption, transparency and integrity; they should not lose sight of the fact that the interests of the citizens of St Maarten should always remain the priority Read more

Parliament not fully utilizing the forum of its committees to debate matters that affect the people of St. Maarten.

>PHILIPSBURG:---It was a progressive step when the parliament of St. Maarten in its wisdom decided to keep meetings of the parliamentary committees open. However, by not calling meetings of these committees as often as is possible and desirable, the purpose of these committees is defeated, said leader of the Democratic Party and Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams.
The work of these committees is to a large extent determined by the members of parliament who chair these committees Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the Democratic Party and Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams said in a press statement that as a country that has known our share of disasters, it is heart wrenching to see the reports and scenes coming out of Dominica, as this island was battered by torrential rains, flooding and mudslides, associated with TS Erika Read more

Japan student group injects new exuberance into anti-war protests

TOKYO--Wearing shorts and a baggy T-shirt and clutching a microphone, Aki Okuda stands before a crowd, the pyramid-shaped roof of Japan's parliament lit up against the night sky behind him. "No War", "Protect the Constitution", "Abe - Quit!", he chants in a hip-hop rhythm, echoed by the crowd.

Okuda, 23, is a founding member of a group of students that has become a fresh face of protest against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to enact a more robust defence policy - steps critics say violate the pacifist constitution and could ensnare Japan in U.S.-led wars.

Students Emergency Action for Liberal Democracy (SEALDs) is also denting the image of Japanese students as either apolitical introverts, who left protests to their elders, or rightwing geeks Read more

Remembering Frank Mingo: “A Force To Be Reckoned With”

Frank Mingo holding his one of his sons on vacation. Photo contributed

St. Maarten / By Andrew Dick – The late Frank Mingo was a force to be reckoned with says Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs who served with him in the Netherlands Antilles Parliament prior to October 10, 2010.  Born in Aruba on February 1948, Frank Elliot Mingo was also known as Frankie or Pappie, the son of Clara Hunt and Frank Emmanuel Mingo Sr Read more

D66 wants clarity on dispatch of Dutch police to St. Maarten

THE HAGUE--Members of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament of Democratic Party D66 Wassila Hachchi and Magda Berndsen-Jansen want clarity on the reports that 55 Dutch police officers and detectives will be sent to St. Maarten early next year to tackle crime and corruption.

Hachchi and Berndsen-Jansen sent a set of written questions to Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk and his colleague of Security and Justice Ard van der Steur earlier this week following reports in the Dutch media that Dutch National Police Chief Gerard Bouman did not want to work together with the St Read more

Bouman Visit May Have Been Part Of A Greater Plan Ponders Dp Leader

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Leader of the Democratic party of St. Maarten MP the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams this week stated that the visit of the Chief of the Dutch Police Force Gerard Bouman to the island, may have part of a greater plan to paint a negative picture of St. Maarten, giving credence to the perceived view of an urgent need for the creation of an integrity chamber for St Read more

US Senate Democrats stake out both sides of Iran deal

WASHINGTON--Senator Robert Menendez blasted the U.S.-led international nuclear deal with Iran on Tuesday, vowing to oppose it in defiance of President Barack Obama, who picked up much-needed support for the deal from two other Senate Democrats.
  As September voting on the agreement in the U.S. Congress neared, Menendez, a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, became the second senior lawmaker from Obama's own party to announce he would vote to kill the pact with Tehran.
  "I will vote to disapprove the agreement and, if called upon, would vote to override a veto" by the president, Menendez said in a speech in his home state of New Jersey.
  Shortly later, Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, both of Rhode Island, announced that they would support the agreement Read more

Will the UP Faction die standing or will they live on their knees? Coalition buckled to the Dutch instead of safeguarding country’s autonomy.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The United Peoples Party, who has the majority in Parliament seem to have wasted their summer recess to put together some 16 amendments they wanted the Minister of Justice to change in the protocol he signed on June 2nd 2015 to avoid the Kingdom from placing St. Maarten under higher supervision. Based on what transpired in the Parliament of St. Maarten on Monday it is clear that the coalition including the faction leader of the UPP Franklin Meyers chose to live on his knees rather than dying standing when he opted to vote in favor of the draft law that was signed by Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson early June.
SMN News got hold of the draft document containing the amendments the UPP wanted before they vote in favor of the protocol, which they put aside on Monday simply to appease the Dutch Read more

US civil rights leader Julian Bond dies at 75

WASHINGTON--U.S. civil rights leader and former head of the NAACP Julian Bond, who emerged as one of the pre-eminent student activists in America's turbulent 1960s, died on Saturday aged 75.

Bond died in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, the Southern Poverty Law Center said in a statement, without giving the cause of death. Bond was the civil rights organization's first president.

"The country has lost one of its most passionate and eloquent voices for the cause of justice," said Morris Dees, the founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Bond was president of the SPLC from 1971 to 1979 Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:---  St. Maarten businessman and former Minister of Finance of the Netherlands Antilles, Mr. Frank Mingo passed away 11:00 pm Friday night at the Pablo Tubon hospital, Colombia, at the age of 68.
He was being treated at the hospital overseas for several weeks after taking ill on St. Maarten.
His children Brian Mingo, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of TelEm Group and Mark Mingo, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Harbour Group of Companies and Notary Marlene Mingo, have all expressed extreme sadness at the passing of their father Read more

Democratic Party Back To School Message

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Democratic Party takes this opportunity to extend best wishes to all students at the start of the school year 2015-2016.

We encourage students to start the year vigorously and remain focused throughout. Don't dwell on what was or could have been last year, but rather give this year your very best. Education should always remain your number one priority.

Parents, your child's success depends for a great part on the role you play in their lives, at home and at school Read more

NA and DP Requested that second agenda point be added to Monday's Public Meeting.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The Democratic Party Faction and National Alliance submitted a request to the chairman of Parliament requesting that he place a second agenda point be placed on Monday's meeting. In a joint press release issued by both factions states the following they submitted a  request was made today (Friday) by the opposition factions NA and DP Read more

Dp Reflects On The What To Do Next: “Crime Has Broken This Island”

From left: Hasani Ellis, Sarah Wescot-Williams and Emil Lee at yesterday’ press conference Read more

DP: Govt misleading MPs, public on pension age hike

PHILIPSBURG--The Democratic Party (DP) has sent a letter to Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs on the increase of the pension age to 62.

In a press release on Wednesday, DP Leader Sarah Wescot-Williams said the party believes government is misleading parliament and the people of St Read more

Bouterse sworn in for second term as Suriname’s president

PARAMARIBO--President Desi Bouterse was sworn in for a second term in office on Wednesday. Shortly after accepting the presidential sash from National Assembly chair Jennifer Geerlings-Simons, the president swore in his fifteen-man team of Ministers. “For the first time in our political history, the people of Suriname have given Government to a political belief that considers ethnicity as a source of wealth and not as the basis for disparity and powerlessness,” the President said in his maiden speech afterward Read more

Harper unaware of payment made to quiet ethics scandal

OTTAWA--Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper did not know that in order to quiet an ethics scandal his former chief of staff had secretly repaid expenses claimed by the senator at the heart of the affair, the ex-aide testified on Wednesday.
  The trial of Conservative Senator Mike Duffy, who is accused of receiving a bribe and abusing expense claims, comes as Harper campaigns ahead of Canada's Oct. 19 election. Opposition parties say the affair shows voters should end the Conservatives' near 10-year grip on power.
  Nigel Wright, Harper's former chief of staff, told an Ottawa courtroom that he decided in early 2013 that the only way to kill a raging scandal about Duffy's expense claims was to secretly give the senator his own personal check for C$90,000 ($69,400) so Duffy could repay the money Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- In a letter dispatched to Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, the Democratic Party points out what in the party’s belief is a case of misleading parliament and the people of St. Maarten.
The decision to raise the pension age to 62 has been taken quite some time ago by the
(former) government of St Read more

Democratic Party Questions Government On The Pension Age Increase To 62 Years

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - In a letter dispatched to Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, the Democratic Party points out what in the party's belief is a case of misleading parliament and the people of St. Maarten.

The decision to raise the pension age to 62 has been taken quite some time ago by the (former) government of St Read more

Wescot-Williams About Tourism Authority: “Government Believes It Can Fool All The People, All Of The Time”

St. Maarten – Is a letter Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Claret Connor sent to parliament on June 22 “a scam”? Democratic Party MP Sarah Wescot-Williams asks that question in a press statement about the fledgling St Read more

Mike Ferrier About The Aftermath Of The Shooting: “Hopefully, Parliament Will Get A Grip On Reckless Spending”

Michael Ferrier. File photo Today / Leo Brown

St. Maarten – Businessman Michael Ferrier, a former president of the Democratic Party – as party he left in disgust last year – analyzes in this article the situation the country finds itself in in the wake of the shooting that cost sergeant Gamali Benjamin his life.

Last week’s shooting of a police 0fficer by a coward with a gun has brought our once tranquil “Friendly” Island to an all-time new low in societal behavior Read more

DP supports call for statue of slain cop

~ Weighs in on crime ~

PHILIPSBURG--The Democratic Party (DP) supports a call made by the general police union NAPB for a statue to be erected of bike patrol officer Gamali “Benji” Benjamin, who was gunned down at the scene of a robbery at a Front Street jewellery store on Wednesday, August 5 Read more

DP and NA say meeting on crime should not have been closed door

~ Concerned about financing for proposals ~

PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) and the Democratic Party (DP) said in a joint statement on Tuesday that the information shared during Monday’s urgent meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament on crime did not warrant a closed-door session.

NA and DP said they had not immediately protested the calling of the meeting in a closed door session to give Government “the benefit of the doubt” as it pertains to the sensitivity of the information being shared and possible ramifications it might have on the outcome of the case.

The parties noted that the “information shared by the Council of Ministers, however, was not such that the public needed to be sheltered from the reality.”

The two parties said there had been repeated calls on Government for open communication with the public to put an end to speculation Read more