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St. Dominic High School winner Moot Court 2015

PHILIPSBURG--After a Friday afternoon filled with pleadings, arguments and rebuttals in a high-profile and legally highly complicated case involving crimes against humanity and human rights violations, the legal team of St. Dominic High School emerged as winners in the first SXM Moot Court Competition for high school students. They received a trophy from Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs.

Against the opposition of students of Learning Unlimited (LU) Preparatory School, Caribbean International Academy (CIA), St Read more

Sarah questions Govt on integrity protocol

THE HAGUE--"Does the government consider the maintenance of law and the other judicial parts in the document part of the Integrity Chamber? If not, why are those agreements part and parcel of the protocol regarding an Integrity Chamber?" was one of several questioned posed by Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams in a letter to the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet via Chairman of Parliament Dr Read more

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Charlotte Brookson Academy to relocate from USM year end

~ LaBega saddened by MP's remarks ~

PHILIPSBURG--Charlotte Brookson Academy (CBA) of the Performance Arts will be relocating from its current home at the University of St. Martin (USM) to another location at the end of the year.

USM Dean of Academics and Interim President Dr. Francio Guadeloupe said the contract between CBA and USM ends in June and the tertiary institution has given CBA until December to find another suitable location.

CBA has been occupying classrooms at USM since it first opened its doors almost three years ago to provide education for students with a strong interest in the arts and with a strong focus on academics.

A source close to CBA said the intention was never for the school to be permanently housed at USM Read more

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Lake: ‘High time’ for two missing ministers

PHILIPSBURG--United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Lake has issued a call to his coalition partners that it is "high time" the two missing ministers be appointed to the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet "to get this country moving."

The Gumbs Cabinet, sworn in in December 2014, has had two ministers carrying double portfolios Read more

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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

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George wants info about civil servants

PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament George Pantophlet has written to Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs in his capacity as General Affairs Minister enquiring about a number of topics related to civil servants.

Pantophlet wants a list of the vacancies filled in the ministries during the past two years, the names of the people who have taken up those posts and whether they are on government contract or in permanent employment.

In the letter sent to Gumbs via Parliament Chairman Dr Read more

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Putting people first focus of ICG/CARIBE EWS Meeting

 PHILIPSBURG--The need for a paradigm shift in disaster risk management to “put people at the centre” of preparedness, “instead of the last” was expounded on by Christa Hillebrandt-Andrade, Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami and Other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions ICG/CARIBE EWS-X.

Hillebrandt-Andrade, speaking Tuesday morning at the opening in the group’s three-day meeting at Sonesta Great Bay Beach Resort and Spa, added that the community must be kept “front and centre” in preparedness, especially with more and more people moving to coastal areas.

“Tsunami is no longer a forgotten danger in the Caribbean,” she said, calling for “the development of a culture of evacuation” to reduce risks in times of disaster 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

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Confiscation of PCs, phones bottleneck for Police Force

PHILIPSBURG--The confiscation of items such as computers and telephones was cited as one of the main bottlenecks for the Police Force in a Council for Law Enforcement report on the daily confiscation of items by the police.

The report was one of two the Council presented to Justice Minister Dennis Richardson on Friday. According to the report, these items “are not centrally managed or registered. With the absence of an administrator, there is no overview of such items and the storage is scattered.”

The report also said management safeguarded insufficiently the interests of security and transparency in the confiscation of these items Read more

SMART hosts 14th annual tradeshow

MAHO--The on-going fourteenth St. Martin/St. Maarten Annual Regional Tradeshow (SMART), dubbed the most important tradeshow of the Northeastern Caribbean, hosted its main day of activities at Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Casino yesterday, May 14.

Although attendance was not as high as the 2014 event, which boasted one of the best turnouts in years, even participants who did not make any new connections pointed to the importance and usefulness of the annual event that targets local, regional and international tourism stakeholders.

However, noticeable was the lack of participants from South America that had been a major characteristic in 2014, and the non-presence of some regional islands Read more

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Writers from India to Brazil heading for Book Fair 2015

PHILIPSBURG--The thirteenth annual St. Martin Book Fair is set for June 4 to 6, said book fair coordinator and president of Conscious Lyrics Foundation (CLF) Shujah Reiph. Novelists, poets, historians, scholars, drama and performance word artists from India, United Kingdom, Brazil, St. Lucia and the United States, to name a few countries, "are heading our way," said Reiph.

Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs has already extended a welcoming hand to book fair guests and is encouraging the island's people to, "Have a very successful St Read more

Hollande declares Court of First Instance will open January 2016

MARIGOT--President of the French Republic François Hollande made a number of sweeping announcements in his speech to the population of St. Martin at the end of his whirlwind visit to St. Martin last night. Among them were assurances that the social benefit (RSA) would be reformed to be more adaptable for St. Martin with help given to pay off the Collectivité's debt.

He also said a Court of First Instance and a rehabilitation centre for the youth (foyer educatif) would be established, and the number of Gendarmes in the territory would increase this July.

Hollande appeared to be decisive and up to speed on the issues plaguing St Read more

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Unprecedented security in place for President François Hollande

MARIGOT--Practically the entire law enforcement detachment of the French side will be on duty for President François Hollande's very brief official visit today, the first for a French President since Jacque Chirac's visit in 2000.

According to reports, 198 Gendarmes will be assuring security assisted by the Territorial Police and officers from Police aux Frontières (PAF). The President will also no doubt have his own security detail close to him.

The Presidential plane is due to touch down at Princess Juliana International Airport at 3:30pm where President Hollande will be welcomed by Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, Governor Eugene Holiday and Chairman of Parliament Dr Read more

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St. Maarten Govt ends S4 services

THE HAGUE--St. Maarten's Government is terminating the service level agreement with St. Maarten Student Support Services S4 in the Netherlands effective July 1, 2015. Two student counsellors will be guiding the new students instead.

St. Maarten's Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Affairs Rita Bourne-Gumbs informed study-financing recipients in the Netherlands by letter on March 19 of her decision to terminate the agreement with S4 and of the consequences this would have for St Read more

Visa lifted for Colombians to visit St. Maarten and Curaçao

~ Aruba, Caribbean Netherlands to follow ~

PHILIPSBURG--Colombians travelling to Curaçao and St. Maarten no longer will need visas as of July 1, 2015. Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and the Netherlands reached an agreement on this in Curaçao on Tuesday.

The four countries decided to grant a visa exemption for Colombia, valid for Curaçao and St. Maarten, in anticipation of a possible future exemption for Europe's Schengen Area and in light of the harmonisation of the Dutch Caribbean visa policy.

The decision to allow Colombians to travel to the two countries will be evaluated in July 2016 Read more

Parliament puts Govt on deadline

PHILIPSBURG--Government has 24 to 48 hours, to provide information to Parliament's Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations and Inter-Parliamentary Affairs or face a summons for ministers to appear before the committee.

Members of Parliament (MPs) serving on the committee and other MPs have had enough of government not providing requested information the committee needs to prepare for the tripartite and Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultation IPKO set for May 25 to 29, in The Hague.

Independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo said in the committee meeting on Tuesday morning, if government continues to miss deadlines Parliament will have no choice but to call in the ministers.

Thus far, only some information has been received from the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labour; however, that information still has some gaps which Marlin-Romeo will attempt to have filled by sending a follow-up to the ministry.

Deputy Committee Chairman independent MP Cornelius de Weever told fellow MPs that Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs had informed him prior to the meeting that his secretary-general will look into the needed information.

De Weever will communicate the deadline as agreed on in the committee to government along with the caveat that if the information is not received, the defaulting ministers will be called before the committee very soon.

In other matters, all political parties that are yet to supply information about its structure, operations and method of dealing with integrity breaches have until the end of this week to submit the information to the committee, said De Weever Read more

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Gumbs apologises for landfill fire nuisance

PHILIPSBURG--Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs in his capacity as Acting Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI issued an apology to residents of Philipsburg and surrounding areas for the intermittent landfill fires that have blanketed the sky with smoke.

The most recent fire was on Saturday, May 2 Read more

Grégoire Ratchel honoured in traditional Fish Day ceremony

MARIGOT--Retired fisherman Grégoire Ratchel was honoured by the Collectivité for his lifelong contribution to the community at the opening of the 13th Annual Fish Day celebration in French Cul-de-Sac on Sunday.

He was presented with a plaque by First Vice-President Guillaume Arnell and Vice-President Wendel Cocks Read more

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Public invited to ceremony today

PHILIPSBURG--The public is invited by government to attend the Remembrance Day ceremony on Captain Hodge Wharf today, Monday, at 9:00am. Governor Eugene Holiday, Parliament President Dr. Lloyd Richardson and Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs are slated to lay wreaths in remembrance of those who fought and died in World War II.

Government will again remember all those – civilians and soldiers – who have been killed or murdered in the Kingdom of the Netherlands or anywhere else in the world in war or during peace-keeping operations since the outbreak of the World War II.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands marks Remembrance Day on May 4 Read more

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Survivors triumphant in Children, Grand Parade

Winning adult troupe Jasmine Philips’ Survivors dance their way through Front Street. (Darlene Hodge photo)

PHILIPSBURG--Survivors by Jasmine Philips won in both sections of the Children and Grand Carnival Parade held Thursday and the Labour Day Parade on Friday. Brightly coloured troupes in elaborate and diverse costumes once again danced their way to Carnival Village in the season’s annual highlights.

“The SCDF [St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation – Ed.] is very happy with the turnout of the Grand Carnival Parade 2015 Read more

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