SXMElections.com

Sarah queries hold-up of labour law changes

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams has enquired about the status of the draft law to amend the Civil Code and other ordinances to better regulate labour agreements.

She has written to Parliament Chairman Dr Read more

Sarah to lobby opposition for audit chamber investigation

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams said she will be lobbying her fellow opposition members to bring about an investigation by the General Audit Chamber into the security contract between St Read more

Still no consensus on dispute arrangement

THE HAGUE--The four countries of the Kingdom generally agree that the Council of State would be an ideal body to handle the dispute arrangement. However, the negotiations to reach an agreement have not been successful thus far.

Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk confirmed during a debate with the Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Wednesday that no consensus had been reached on establishing a dispute arrangement Read more

Judge pressures State Dept. on Clinton emails release

WASHINGTON--A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the U.S. State Department to produce a plan to release batches of Hillary Clinton's emails from her time there, raising the prospect of months of drip-by-drip disclosures that could plague her presidential campaign.
  U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ordered the State Department to prepare a timetable by next week for the rolling release of the 55,000 pages of emails sent and received by Clinton, according to a court document. It was a rebuke to the State Department, which had said on Monday it might need until January 2016 to produce the emails.
  Republicans want the emails to be made public soon to cast more light on Clinton's term as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, a time when the United States struggled to reset relations with Russia and develop a strategy for Syria's civil war.
  The judge also told the State Department to present a schedule in the coming days for releasing 300 Clinton emails related to U.S Read more

Electoral Council may soon consider penalty for party

PHILIPSBURG--The Electoral Council may soon be forced to consider imposing a financial penalty on one of the eight political parties registered for the 2014 Parliamentary Election that has failed to submit its annual report to the Council.

All registered political parties had up to February 1 to submit all their donation registries and annual financial reports to the Council as required under the National Ordinance on the Registration and Financing of Political Parties. To date, one party is in default of its legal obligations.

Electoral Council Chairman Attorney Bert Hoffman told The Daily Herald the Council would inform the party via letter that it must get its financial business "in order or face penalties." The Council still has to decide on the exact amount of the penalty.

Hoffman declined to give the name of the defaulting party, only saying they know who they are Read more

Ministers to face MPs this week about missing info

PHILIPSBURG--Ministers of the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet are to be called before Parliament's Permanent Committee for Kingdom Affairs and Inter-Parliamentary Relations to provide information the committee has requested for several months.

The committee became displeased two weeks ago with the sluggish pace of government's response and issued a 48-hour deadline for all information to be submitted Read more

Fish Da Megaboss is new Calypso Monarch

CARNIVAL VILLAGE--Fish Da Megaboss was crowned the new Calypso Monarch after ten contestants challenged the reign of 2014 Calypso Monarch Ruminni "The Protége" Rogers in a busy Carnival Village on Saturday night. This is the fourth time Fish Da Megaboss has walked away with this crown. He also went home with the prize money of US $10,000 courtesy of sponsor NAGICO.

The new Monarch had a total of 489 points, with first runner-up and winner of $5,000 King Beau Beau scoring a total of 462 Read more

Sarah: Coalition ‘suddenly lost interest’ in Integrity Chamber

PHILIPSBURG--It appears, said Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams, that the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet and by extension the governing coalition have "suddenly lost interest" in the establishment of an integrity chamber for the country.

"It is revealing that suddenly the urgency is no longer there for our own 'thing,'" the MP said.

She has drawn this conclusion from the response of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs to her inquiry Thursday about the timeframe for the tabling of the draft national law to establish the integrity chamber in Parliament.

Gumbs, in an immediate response on Thursday to Parliament President Dr Read more

Sarah: Bringing ordinance in line with civil code can be done ‘rather quickly’

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams says bringing the National Ordinance in line with the Civil Code to increase the legal drinking age from 16 to 18 can be done "rather quickly."

Independent MP Cornelius de Weever suggested that the legal age for cigarettes should also be addressed and not just that of alcohol.

The MPs were speaking during a session of Parliament's Permanent Committee of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Affairs (CECYSA) on Thursday Read more

Procedure started to hear VDC informants

THE HAGUE--Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP) wants to start the procedure to get informants of the Curaçao Security and Intelligence Service VDC to The Hague for a closed-door hearing.

Van Raak submitted a request on Wednesday during a procedural meeting of the Second Chamber’s Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations to start a written procedure to get the input of other committee members on his proposal.

Van Raak wants the support of the Second Chamber to send a request to Curaçao Prime Minister Ivar Asjes, under whose authority VDC resorts Read more

Sarah opts out of Parlatino meetings

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams has "opted out" of attending meetings of the Latin American Parliament Parlatino slated for May.

Wescot-Williams said at a DP press conference at Parliament House on Monday that she had decided not to attend the meetings.

She called for Parliament "to discuss the effectiveness of the meetings" and the benefit to the country Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament representing the Democratic Party faction Sarah Wescot Williams and the party's advisor Emil Lee told reporters on Monday that they are not amused by the request sent by the State Council to St Read more

> PHILIPSBURG:--- Democratic Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams has dispatched a letter to the Council of Ministers through the chair of Parliament on the draft integrity law that was discusses last week in a central committee of parliamemt. Below is press release from the DP MP along with the letter sent to the Government of St Read more

A Peculiar Request By The Council Of State Of The Dutch Kingdom...

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Much of the past weeks has been spent deliberating the draft national ordinance to establish an integrity chamber for St. Maarten.

While some have argued against this draft ordinance (law), stating to be in favor of our "own thing", fact is that the draft as presented to Parliament and dealt with in central committee meetings of Parliament is "our own".

It is totally up to the Parliament of St. Maarten to reject, amend and or pass this law, if a majority of the 15 members wishes to do so.

The draft ordinance establishing an integrity chamber for St Read more

US lawmakers' bill holds key to Pacific trade deal

WASHINGTON--Senior U.S. lawmakers reached agreement on Thursday on a bill to give the White House "fast track" authority to negotiate a trade pact with 11 other Pacific nations that is central to President Barack Obama's strategic shift toward Asia.
  The agreement, over six months in the making, sets the stage for a tough legislative battle over the rules for Obama's proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The pact would connect a dozen economies by cutting trade barriers and harmonizing standards covering two-fifths of the world economy and a third of global trade.
  The bill gives lawmakers the right to set negotiating objectives, but would restrict them to a yes-or-no vote on trade deals such as the TPP, a potential legacy-defining achievement for President Obama.
  The Obama administration announced in late 2009 that it was entering TPP negotiations with Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam Read more

Sarah calls for govt’s stance on CBCS issue

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams has issued a call to the Marcel Gumbs' Cabinet "to show leadership by providing government's stance" on the halting of renovation work on the Central Bank of Curaçao and St Read more

Parliament Adjourns Meeting About Integrity Chamber

Minister Richardson: “Passing this law strengthens our position”

St. Maarten– The parliament is dragging its feet, or at least taking its time, with the handling of the draft ordinance for the establishment of the Integrity Chamber. Yesterday’s continuation of Wednesday’s meeting was adjourned until Monday morning at 10 a.m. at the request of coalition members Tamara Leonard, Cornelius de Weever and Johan Leonard.

Justice Minister Dennis Richardson warned the parliament to move forward with the legislation, Next week Sunday Richardson and Prime Minister Gumbs travel to the Netherlands for discussions with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Kingdom Relations Minister Ronald Plasterk about the looming instruction.

“It could come to the point that Rutte pushed the instruction, even if we get an advice from the Council of State that is positive for St Read more

Obama concedes Congress role on Iran deal

WASHINGTON--U.S. President Barack Obama conceded on Tuesday that Congress will have the power to review a nuclear deal with Iran, reluctantly giving in to pressure from Republicans and some in his own party after they crafted a rare compromise demanding a say.

The role for the Republican-controlled Congress injects a new element of uncertainty into the delicate final stages of negotiations between major powers and Iran aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Since a preliminary agreement was reached in Switzerland on April 2, the White House had stepped up its lobbying to persuade Democratic senators not to support the bipartisan bill that would give Congress oversight of a final deal, saying it could threaten what Obama hopes will be a legacy-defining foreign-policy achievement Read more

Broad support for corruption probe Curaçao, St. Maarten

THE HAGUE--The Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament voted on Tuesday for the motion by Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP) and André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party calling for an investigation of the flow of money between criminal organisations and the governments of Curaçao and St. Maarten.

A broad majority of the Second Chamber voted in favour of the motion, which Van Raak presented during a short follow-up meeting last week Wednesday, following the general debate with Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk on March 31 about the level of governance in the Dutch Caribbean countries.

The motion called on the Dutch Government to facilitate an investigation into the (illegal) flow of money between the under- and upper-world in Curaçao and St Read more

Guenter Grass, author of The Tin Drum, dies at 87

BERLIN--German novelist Guenter Grass, the Nobel Prize-winning author of "The Tin Drum", an epic treatment of the Nazi era, died on Monday at the age of 87, his publishers said.

A broad-shouldered man with a drooping moustache, Grass spurned the German tradition of keeping a cool intellectual distance, insisting that a writer's duty was to be at the frontline of moral and political debate. For many, he was the voice of a German generation that came of age in World War Two and bore the burden of their parents' guilt for the atrocities of the Nazis.

The independent German Cultural Council called him "more than a writer .. Read more

MPs still have reservations about Integrity Chamber

~ Meyers: Independence only choice ~

PHILIPSBURG--Several Members of Parliament (MPs) made it crystal clear on Monday that if the proposed Integrity Chamber stagnates the growth of the country and hampers St. Maarteners from prospering, the law to establish the chamber will not receive their support.

Chief among those speaking out about the draft law was coalition member MP Franklin Meyers (United People's (UP) party) Read more

St. Maarten should seek to have its own Attorney General --- Current Attorney General does not work in the interest of St. Maarten --- Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson.

style="text-align: center;">Ruling Majority totally against draft ordinance.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson did not mingle with words on Monday morning when he was responding to questions regarding the draft ordinance to establish the integrity chamber on St. Maarten.
On the question as to who is responsible for justice on St. Maarten, Minister Richardson said that the Minister of Justice is responsible for justice in each country, however, he made clear that St Read more

Nigerians vote for powerful governors in state elections

LAGOS--The final stage of Nigeria's election will begin on Saturday with state governorship polls, two weeks after a presidential vote saw an incumbent leader unseated at the ballot box for the first time.
  The 36 governors are among the most powerful politicians in Africa's biggest oil producer and top economy, controlling budgets larger than those of small African nations and wielding influence that can decide who goes on presidential tickets. Voting starts at 8 a.m.
  With so much at stake, candidates in past polls have often played dirty, snatching ballot boxes, manipulating voter turn-out and engaging in thuggery and intimidation.
  Muhammadu Buhari beat President Goodluck Jonathan last month with 15.4 million votes against 13.3 million, in a vote that was considered free and less violent than past polls Read more

Integrity chamber law now to be handled on Monday

PHILIPSBURG--Parliament will continue its handling of the draft national ordinance to establish an Integrity Chamber on Monday starting at 10:00am. The Central Committee meeting resumed on Friday morning after its suspension on Wednesday evening, but was suspended again after coalition Members of Parliament (MPs) requested time to compare the draft law with the version suggested by the Dutch Government.

MP Tamara Leonard (United People's (UP) party) made the request for time to review the two versions to Parliament Chairman Dr Read more