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Parliament still have the right to either accept, reject or make changes to the Integrity Chamber Protocol. Signed Protocol Eliminates Higher Supervision – Minister Dennis Richardson.

style="text-align: center;">Should a motion of no confidence be brought against Minister of Justice then it’s a motion of no confidence against the Council of Ministers--- PM Gumbs.

PHILIPSBURG: --- At a press conference held by Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson on Sunday on the protocol Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson signed two Saturday’s ago in the Netherlands on behalf of the Prime Minster Marcel Gumbs, both Ministers said that the Parliament of St Read more

10 Civil Servants Complete National Database Training Workshop

GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – Ten civil servants from the Government of Sint Maarten has completed five days of training in a Basic User and Database Administration workshop.

The workshop started June 1st and concluded on June 5th.

Organized by the National Development Plan (NDP) team from the Department of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BAK), the implementing agency for NDP project, the 10 civil servants now have the knowledge to work with the country databases SintMaartenInfo and CensusInfo Sint Maarten.

A follow-up training will be the next step – training the trainers – that will enable the 10 civil servants to assists others in learning how to utilize the database system.

Representatives from the Department of Statistics will also in the near future travel to the United States (New York) for a more advanced training at a Learning Lab.

Representatives of the various ministries now know how to create and manage databases within their ministry and how to upload their processed data into SintMaartenInfo for all stakeholders inside and outside of government to use - search for data, produce objects like tables, graphs and maps for presentations and reporting purposes to regional and international entities.

The Secretary Generals of the seven ministries were given a presentation on Wednesday morning and they were pleasantly surprised by what SintMaarteninfo looked like and the amount of data that was already in the database.

The information included Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) data as well as population and housing census data Read more

Prime Minister Gumbs Attends 16Th Annual Walk For God’S Mercy And Protection

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – Prime Minister Hon. Marcel Gumbs on Saturday evening attended the 16th Annual ‘Walk for God’s Mercy and Protection’ that was organized by the St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in collaboration with the Divine Mercy Charismatic Prayer Group.

Citizens of the country took part in the walk which was organized in connection with the 2015 Atlantic Hurricane Season and any other disaster or calamity that may occur during the remainder of the year.

Prime Minister Gumbs told the gathering during the praise and worship session to stay focused on God; to pray for tranquillity and stability; to always be civil with one another; and to seek God’s protection for the hurricane season and any other disaster that may occur.

Participants met at the Cyrus Wathey Square in front of the Courthouse in Philipsburg.  After praise and worship, those in attendance walked through Front and Back Street and back to the Square.

In Photo: Prime Minister Hon Read more

Dp Leader Prefers Integrity Chamber Created By St. Maarten

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Would the Parliament of St. Maarten prefer to have an Integrity Chamber created by the Dutch Government as opposed to creating one themselves?

Leader of the Democratic Party of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot-Williams stated that they are in support of an Integrity Chamber created by the Parliament of St Read more

Council Of Mnisters Stands Behind Integrity Protocol Says Pm

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Council of Ministers is standing behind the Minister of Justice and the protocol he signed with the Dutch government for an Integrity Chamber.

The Prime Minister the Honorable Marcel Gumbs stated that if the Parliament of St. Maarten gives the Minister of Justice a vote of no confidence based on the Int Read more

Collectivité convenes its annual hurricane preparedness meeting

MARIGOT--The annual hurricane preparedness meeting took place in Hotel de La Collectivité Friday morning with all the relevant persons and departments to assess the readiness of the territory in the event of a hurricane strike.

The meeting was presided over by President Aline Hanson, the Préfecture's Chef de Cabinet Emmanuel Effantin and for the Collectivité, Charlotte Terrac, in charge of the crisis unit for natural risks.

The objective was to assess the current resources available to deal with a hurricane strike and the needs of each department Read more

No decision by USP to remove minister

PHILIPSBURG--United St. Maarten Party (USP) has not made a decision to remove Justice Minister Dennis Richardson from his post.

Instead, party leader Member of Parliament (MP) Frans Richardson is set to meet the Justice Minister next week to discuss the agreement signed by the Minister with the Dutch Kingdom Government on the establishment of the Integrity Chamber for St Read more

style="text-align: center;">Where is the Supervisory Board?

Airport:--- Ten more days to go and the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIAE) may have to face serious penalties if they defaulted on the bonds they have secured for various projects. The bonds SMN News understand stands at $160M which had to be used up since 2014, but the lack of the building permits for the Food Based Operations (FBO) and fire station may well place the government owned company in a real predicament. One of things that can happen the bonds can be recalled because the funds were not used during the time frame in which it had to be used and PJIAE will also have to pay the interests and face a penalty while losing its financial credibility.
According to information SMN News received PJIAE signed a number of agreements and concessions with several stakeholders in order to recoup the cost of the FBO project Read more

style="text-align: center;">Party remains steadfast on their decision to remove Minister of Justice from Office

PHILIPSBURG:--- The members of the USP board headed by MP Frans Richardson have decided that the party leader MP Frans Richardson will meet with the Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson early next week as SMN News reported earlier Read more

EXCLUSIVE: Politicians wanted Justice Minister to Rent Certain Buildings in St. Johns (UPDATED)

style="text-align: center;">Minister of Justice took seven months to respond to proposal that was submitted to his Ministry.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Indebt investigation as to really why certain politicians wants to get rid of the current Minister of Justice showed that certain politicians wanted the Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson to rent some buildings that are being constructed in St. Johns area.
SMN News learnt that the politicians that were behind the Minister of Justice to rent these buildings that presently being constructed were to house the MOT, National Archives, a Police Sub-station and the Landsrecherche.

Further research showed that the developer was supposed to construct a building on a parcel of land that belonged to Claudette Labega on L.B Scot Road which is located opposite the De Weever’s property Read more

Emil Lee Attending Cto Meeting In New York

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The President of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) Emil Lee is currently in New York.

The tourism executive is there for meetings of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) aimed at strengthen their private/public sector relationship.

The meetings are also taking place at a time when Car Read more

Editorial - Hands-off approach

It may not seem that important, but two Supervisory Board members at Curaçao’s ABC Bus Company were ordered to pay back an allowance they had given themselves to take over the daily management (see related article). They had done so after the director suddenly died in January, leaving the government-owned entity without a Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The duo reasoned that as a result of Corporate Governance it would take quite some time before a successor could be appointed and the work had to continue in the meantime Read more

Heated public transport feedback leaves TEATT ‘a lot to work with’

PHILIPSBURG--Thursday night's stakeholder consultation on public transportation aimed at taxi and bus drivers was jam-packed and showed pent-up frustration on the side of attendees in the question and answer section, which took up the majority of time.

However, Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Claret Connor concluded by saying the team had been given "a lot to work with, which was needed for more than one reason" and called it an "opportunity .. Read more

Book Fair opens with presentation of authors

MARIGOT--The 13th Annual St. Martin Book Fair with the theme this year “The Word” opened at the new media library in Concordia last night with a captivating address by keynote speaker Tishani Doshi, the award-winning Indian author, poet, novelist, dancer and journalist.

Her study on the way we use words, their meanings, their impact, brought them to life in a rich, poetic way that was enlightening and insightful. She is also the first author from India who has been published by House of Nehesi Publishers.

“We become strong by our words even though in life we may be sick or weak Read more

Semsamar managing directors past and present under judicial control

MARIGOT--Director General of Semsamar Marie-Paule Bélénus-Romana and her predecessor Jean-Paul Fischer were taken into 48-hour custody in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, on Monday, where they were placed under judicial control and "mise en examen."

On Wednesday, they appeared before a Judge of Instruction. The Judge's decision was based on "suspicion of conflicts of interest, misappropriation of funds and favouritism."

The development is the latest in a three-year investigation into the operations of Semsamar, and follows various revelations that emerged from the so-called Milos report and audit of the company Read more

Pentagon chief gathers diplomats, brass for Russia strategy talk

STUTTGART--U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Thursday the situation with Russia had taken a "sad turn" and he was gathering U.S. military leaders and diplomats to assess the effectiveness of NATO strategy toward Moscow in response to the Ukraine crisis.
  The gathering of two dozen U.S. military leaders and ambassadors based in Europe will take place on Friday in Stuttgart at the headquarters of U.S Read more

Ukraine’s president warns of Russian invasion threat

KIEV--Ukraine's president told his military on Thursday to prepare for a possible "full-scale invasion" by Russia all along their joint border, a day after the worst fighting with Russian-backed separatists in months.
  His address in parliament was one of the first times Petro Poroshenko has used the word "invasion" to refer to Russia's behaviour since the start of a separatist rebellion in the east in which the United Nations says more than 6,400 people have been killed.
  Referring to a 12-hour firefight involving artillery on both sides on Wednesday when Ukraine says the rebels tried to take the town of Maryinka, Poroshenko said: "There is a colossal threat of a renewal of large-scale military operations from the side of the Russian-terrorist groups."
  "The military must be ready as much for a renewal of an offensive by the enemy in the Donbass as they are for a full-scale invasion along the whole length of the border with Russia Read more

The horse behind the cart, again!

Dear Editor,

I read in the newspapers some days ago that SCDF has decided that from Carnival 2016, international bands will no longer be allowed to play on the road during the Jouvert Morning jump-up parade. This will be left for the local bands only. As a matter of fact, they intend to have two Jouvert morning jump-ups. At first this may sound like good news for the ears of all Jouvert lovers, and one might even think that we are moving forward, but we are simply putting the horse at the back of the cart again.

First of all, depriving the international bands from playing on the road during the Jouvert morning jump-up leaves less choice of bands for the revellers to jam with Read more

Government remains unresponsive to questions from the members of Parliament and from the public at large.

>PHILIPSBURG:---- Given this fact, I have now turned to the Chair of the Parliament for his intervention. Make no mistake, the Chairperson of Parliament was appointed to serve in that position as part of the political agreements between those parties and factions that support the government. That is an acceptable practice.

However, once in that position, the chairperson represents the entire parliament and should in my opinion act as a bridge between Parliament and the Government. The Chairperson of parliament should also guide and provide leadership to Parliament.

I have therefore turned to MP Dr Read more

EXCLUSIVE: Removal of Justice Minister Dennis Richardson will bring possible Shake up in Government

style="text-align: center;">Will Council of Ministers be getting a motion of non-confidence?

PHILIPSBURG:--- The removal of Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson by Member of Parliament Frans Richardson will bring about a possible shake up in the five member Government. SMN News has been reliably informed that Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs already indicated to several persons that should Minister Richardson be removed from office he will tender his resignation Read more

>DAWN BEACH:--- Last month, Princess Heights Luxury Boutique Hotel (www.princessheights.com) in St. Maarten was officially awarded the “Certificate of Recognition for Exceptional Guest Ratings and Reviews” by the international online travel agency Hotels.com, part of Expedia Inc., one of the most important online travel corporations in the world.
This certificate recognizes accommodation properties which receive the highest guest reviews and ratings as part of the feedback that guests leave at Hotels.com regarding the service provided by the property they booked.
“This latest award is an affirmation of the commitment and dedication of every staff member at Princess Heights Read more

EXCLUSIVE: Politicians wanted Justice Minister to Rent Certain Buildings in St. Johns

style="text-align: center;">All got negative advice, rent increased by 40% -- thus Minister of Justice must go

PHILIPSBURG:--- Indebt investigation as to really why certain politicians namely, MP Frans Richardson wants to remove Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson showed that certain politicians wanted the Minister of Justice to rent some buildings that are being constructed in St Read more

Minister Of Education And Youth Affairs Bourne-Gumbs Reports On Child Rights In Geneva

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – On May 27, 2015, the Committee on the Rights of the Child considered the fourth periodic report of the Netherlands on its implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its initial report under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict.

Due to the absence of Dutch State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport Hon. Martin van Rijn as delegation leader, Sint Maarten's Minister of Education, Culture, Youth & Sports Affairs Hon Read more

Ceo Uts Eastern Caribbean Carty Introduces 4G Lte Plans To Minister Of Telecommunications Connor And Btp-Sxm

GREAT BAY, St. Maarten - On Thursday morning, Glen Carty, UTS Eastern Caribbean Division Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Brad Xuan, President of Carrier Business Huawei Caribbean, gave a presentation to Minister of Telecommunications Hon. Claret Connor and representatives from the Bureau Telecommunications and Post St. Maarten (BTP-SXM) at UTS Headquarters in Philipsburg, regarding the company's move into 4G LTE technology for enterprise and consumer business on Sint Maarten/St Read more