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Préfecture takes measures to fight Sargassum weed

MARIGOT--The Préfecture announced Friday it has created a brigade of twenty workers who will be solely charged with removing Sargassum weed from beaches and returning beaches as much as possible to their original state.

These workers will be employed by a local company and paid by the State and Agence de L'Environment et de la Maitrise de L'Energie (ADEME). They will be given all the necessary equipment to work with.

In addition, a committee of observers to monitor the movements of the weed was also installed.

The decisions were made following a meeting on Thursday between Préfète Déléguée Anne Laubies, President of the Territorial Council Aline Hanson, and various services and partners concerned with fighting the Sargassum weed invasion.

A protocol was signed between the State, Collectivité and ADEME Read more

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Plasterk mum on St. Maarten

THE HAGUE--Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk remained mum on the outcome of Friday’s Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting and a possible decision regarding the Integrity Chamber for St. Maarten.

Plasterk would not confirm or deny whether a decision had been taken to impose the Integrity Chamber for St. Maarten through a General Measure of the Kingdom Government (“Algemene Maatregel van Rijksbestuur” AMvRB), a move that had been anticipated.

“I have very little to say on this matter at this time Read more

The opposition should talk less and focus on working together

Dear Editor,

The governing of this territory is the responsibility of the Island Council with the executive council tasked with the execution. That there is an overall concern since the instruction of BZK is understandable. The coalition government is surely taking this instruction seriously. What is a pity, is the fact that DP Statia is trying to prey on this instruction for political traction, which is understandable seeing their desperate need to govern, with the goal of executing the will of The Hague Read more

Five years since the world’s worst oil accident

~ Examining one habitat's demise ~

By Lisa Davis-Burnett

In 2010, prior to the April 20 blow out of Deepwater Horizon, British Petroleum's (BP) offshore drilling rig, the wetlands of the Louisiana and Mississippi coastline supported a web of wildlife. Innumerable tiny islands created a unique latticework of life supporting structures. The habitat was a haven for birds, fish, shellfish, reptiles, amphibians, and innumerable microscopic flora and fauna upon which the food chain is dependent Read more

Editorial - Calm and stability

No news is good news, it is often said, and one can only hope that will prove the case for Friday's meeting of the Kingdom Council of Ministers when it comes to St. Maarten. After all, there was concern that a possible advice from the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT for a "targeted instruction" on settling the arrears to Social and Health Care SZV and the general pension APS would be acted on.

On top of that, some had expected the withdrawn draft general measure of kingdom governance to impose an Integrity Chamber on St Read more

Notices July 11

Volunteers Needed

St. Maarten AIDS Foundation is now registering volunteers interested in becoming facilitators for their Girl Power and Real Talk youth programmes. These programmes require that volunteers interact directly with students in a school environment. For more information call 588-1401 or Read more

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Court of First Instance project delayed, to start January 2016

MARIGOT--The project to create a branch of Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe's, Court of First Instance (Chambre Detachée) in St. Martin will not start until January 2016 with a forecasted opening in October 2016 due to the preparation of a decree, it was disclosed Thursday. General preparations are ongoing however.

Originally the plan, according to President François Hollande's announcements during his official visit on May 8, was for the project to start this July with an intended opening in January 2016.

The Court of First Instance annex will be located in the former Municipal Library, at the rear of the court house in Marigot.

President of the Territorial Council Aline Hanson met with Basse-Terre Prosecutor Samuel Finielz on Thursday to discuss the project's progress Read more

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Independent Foundation calls for boycott of Dominican Republic

PHILIPSBURG--Independence for St. Martin Foundation (ISMF) has called for a boycott of travel to and importation of goods from the Dominican Republic, as it condemned the plight of loss of rights to citizenship and the stripping of citizenship going back some five generations from Haitians, and people of Haitian descent living in that country.

   Governments on the Dutch and French sides of the island are urged by the foundation, headed by rights activist José Lake Jr, “to condemn the atrocities that are being perpetrated in the Dominican Republic.”

In its press statement issued on Thursday, the foundation said it has aligned itself with the growing international call for a boycott of the Dominican Republic for travel and the importation of products made in that country.

The foundation urged the Caribbean Community CARICOM, the Organization of American States (OAS), the United Nations (UN) and other national and international bodies “to impose sanctions against the Dominican Republic until it reverses its ill-conceived policy of mass deportations of undocumented Haitian immigrants and of Dominicans of Haitian origin.”

The decision to approve the condemnation of the denationalization and forced deportation of tens of thousands of Dominicanos of Haitian descent was made in the foundation’s meeting of June 30.  

The foundation has been following “with great regret and outrage” the “unfolding human tragedy” in the Dominican Republic” brought about by “a misguided decision” of that country’s highest judicial entity, its Constitutional Court, in 2013.

“Contrary to what the government of the Dominican Republic is claiming, this whole issue has been one of human rights from the very start, and not of the sovereign rights of the country to regulate immigration,” said the foundation.

Unfortunately, the key legal points of the court decision “have disappeared in the current debate.” One of those points of the decision being retroactive to 1930 that gives “a perverse interpretation of the term ‘in-transit’ to mean anyone, who has been residing in the country without the necessary documents since 1929, and its defiant ignoring of the ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on a similar case,” said the foundation Read more

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Sarah concerned about Connor’s move from Tourism Ministry

PHILIPSBURG--A pending shuffling of portfolios in the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet, particularly the move of current Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Minister Claret Connor to the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI and the appointment of a new minister in Connor's place, has drawn concern from Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams.

She has termed the pending shuffle as "cabinet shake-up." She based her position on comments made by United People's (UP) party faction leader MP Franklin Meyers recently in a television interview.

Conner's post is tipped to be taken by a minister candidate proposed by coalition member independent MP Leona Marlin-Romeo Read more

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General: Russia top US national security threat

WASHINGTON--Russia presents the greatest threat to U.S. national security and its behaviour is "nothing short of alarming," Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford told lawmakers on Thursday as they weighed his nomination to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Dunford also added his voice to those Pentagon officials who have supported providing lethal arms to Ukraine to help it defend itself from Russia-backed separatists, a step that President Barack Obama has so far resisted.

"My assessment today, senator, is that Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security," said Dunford, the Marine Corps commandant, who is expected to swiftly win Senate confirmation to become the top U.S Read more

Editorial - Reserve judgement

The UP-led coalition submitted its governing programme “Ready to Work for You” on Thursday. Better late than never, considering that it comes almost seven months after the Gumbs cabinet took office.

The question is also to what extent the policy intentions can be achieved in light of the current financial situation, with a looming instruction from the Kingdom Council of Ministers to settle the arrears totalling 189 million guilders to Social and Health Insurance SZV and the general pension fund APS Read more

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Notices July 10

Volunteers Needed

St. Maarten AIDS Foundation is now registering volunteers interested in becoming facilitators for their Girl Power and Real Talk youth programmes. These programmes require that volunteers interact directly with students in a school environment. For more information call 588-1401 or