SXMElections.com

>AIRPORT:--- The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams bid farewell to local young promising cricketer Shaquille O'Neil Martina at the Princess Juliana International Airport on Wednesday. Martina is on his way to Barbados where he was offered a full-ride scholarship to play on the University of the West Indies' Combined College Campus Team, one of the premier cricket training teams in the world Read more

‘Janchi’ re-elected, in spite of tie with Buncamper-Molanus

PHILIPSBURG--Incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) Johan "Janchi" Leonard (United People's (UP) party) can be considered the big winner after the validation of the votes from the August 29 Parliamentary Elections by the Central Voting Bureau on Wednesday. Leonard was short two votes to be re-elected to Parliament. He received those votes when the bureau reviewed ballots deemed invalid by the polling station on election night.

Leonard (UP #7) is an MP-elect for UP, in spite of the tie with former Minister Maria Buncamper-Molanus (UP #21), because of his placement on the party's list of candidates Read more

Council approves one tablet per child project

PHILIPSBURG--The Council of Ministers has approved the "One tablet per child" project aimed at providing elementary school pupils with a tablet, starting with those in public education which fall directly under the ministry.

A total of NAf. 4,277,775.46 has been secured from the division of assets from the Antillean Bureau of Telecommunications and Post for the initiative. The St. Maarten Development Fund will manage and supervise the disbursement of the funds for the project.

Education Minister Patricia Lourens-Philip said on August 26, she had presented the Council of Ministers with several policy documents to ensure that the project was embedded in an Information Communication Technology (ICT) Policy in Education in general and in particular in an ICT policy for the schools.

"The preparation of this project took several months to be completed because I wanted to ensure that everything would be in place to guarantee the sustainability and continuity of the project after the transition of government," Lourens-Philip said in a press release on Wednesday Read more

Iran, US meet as search for nuclear agreement intensifies

GENEVA--Iran and the United States met in Geneva for bilateral talks on Thursday as international diplomacy intensifies to end a decade-old dispute over Tehran's atomic activities by a new deadline in late November.

The office of European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton confirmed Iran and six world powers would hold their first negotiating round since they failed to meet a July 20 target date for an agreement in New York on Sept. 18. The deadline was extended until Nov. 24 after six months of talks because wide gaps persisted over the future scope of Iran's uranium enrichment programme, which can have both civilian and military applications.

The six powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain - aim to persuade Iran to scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for phasing out sanctions that have severely hurt its oil-dependent economy Read more

Ukraine and rebels back peace plan, ceasefire from Friday

NEWPORT, Wales/DONETSK, Ukraine--Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the main pro-Russian rebel leader said they would both order ceasefires on Friday, provided that an agreement is signed on a new peace plan to end the five-month war in Ukraine's east.

The breakthrough came after a week in which the pro-Moscow separatists scored major victories with what NATO says is the open support of thousands of Russian troops Read more

St. Eustatius mourns former senator and council member

ST. EUSTATIUS--Kenneth "Wompie" van Putten passed away unexpectedly in St. Eustatius on Thursday. He was 77 years old. Residents had heard the wailing of sirens in the lower part of Oranjestad as the ambulance came through, but it was too late for Van Putten.

Van Putten was a Democratic Party member and leader for many years. He worked on the island- and central level of government Read more

NATO, wary of ceasefire talk, lambasts Russia over Ukraine

NEWPORT, Wales--NATO demanded on Thursday that Moscow withdraw its troops from Ukraine as U.S. President Barack Obama and his Western allies vowed to support Kiev and buttress their own defences against Russia in the biggest strategic shift since the Cold War.

NATO leaders made clear at a summit in Wales that their military alliance would not use force to defend Ukraine, which is not a member, but planned tougher economic sanctions to try to change Russian behaviour in the former Soviet republic.

The two-day meeting was marked by the most serious east-west standoff since the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago and the collapse of the Soviet bloc, as well as alarm at territorial gains by Islamist insurgents in Iraq and Syria Read more

Frans and Leona to address ‘rumours’

PHILIPSBURG--United St. Maarten Party leader Member of Parliament Frans Richardson and MP-elect Leona Marlin-Romeo are to hold a press conference at Parliament House today, Friday, at 10:00am "to address the rumours" circulating in the community about Marlin-Romeo leaving the party to go independent.

Richardson told The Daily Herald about the press conference last night Read more

Editorial - Good advice

With all the excitement over the elections, comments in Monday's paper by the St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) on the proposed change in the Civil Code to tackle the abuse of short-term employment contracts should not go unnoticed. SHTA says this will prohibit practically all defined-term contracts and only make the labour market more rigid.

Candidates of various political parties campaigned on the issue, including current Minister of Health, Labour and Social Affairs Cornelius de Weever (DP) Read more

WICLU: GEBE elderly relief is discriminatory

~ Says all consumers deserve relief ~

PHILIPSBURG--Windward Islands Chamber of Labour Unions (WICLU) wants utilities company GEBE to provide non-discriminatory relief across the board to all of its consumers instead of just a select few.

WICLU First Vice-President Claire Elshot said that while the temporary six-month relief GEBE offered qualifying senior citizens was "all good and well," this approach was discriminatory. Elshot contended that GEBE's concession stipulated that it should not have discriminatory practices.

She said many consumers were in need of relief and urged GEBE to extend non-discriminatory relief to all workers, who are also consumers Read more

Editorial - No-brainer

Several votes registered as invalid in Friday’s election were declared valid on closer examination Wednesday. It directly impacted the final outcome, as Johan “Janchi” Leonard ended up with two more votes and tied Maria Buncamper with 204 votes, but because he was higher on the UP list (#7), he now will go to Parliament instead of her, as she was #21.

Candidates of all parties except OSPP had requested recounts during the Main Voting Bureau’s public meeting, to verify the results, but it was decided to review only the invalid votes Read more

Delinquency among several topics discussed by Préfet

MARIGOT--Préfet Philippe Chopin, at a press conference Wednesday, disclosed an inspection mission had been requested through the Préfète of Guadeloupe Marcelle Pierrot and the prosecution service to study St. Martin's effectiveness in fighting delinquency, to evaluate policies for combating delinquency, and evaluate the extent of the circulation of weapons.

The mission comprised eight persons: two from Inspection Générale de L'Administration (IGA) from the Ministry of the Interior; two from Inspection Générale of the Gendarmerie Nationale (IGGN); one from Inspection Générale de la Police Nationale (IGPN); two from Inspection Générale des Services Judiciares (IGSJ), and a Préfet from the Cabinet of the Prime Minister specialised in delinquency prevention.

Although a meeting was held in the Préfecture with the delegation on Monday, September 1, it was not clear how long the mission had been in St Read more

Johan Leonard Squeezes Past Buncamper-Molanus Into Parliament

“Mister 7-UP” sends rival home

St. Maarten – Maria Buncamper-Molanus will not become a member of the new Parliament after all. After the Central Voting Bureau had scrutinized yesterday all the ballots the twenty polling stations had deemed invalid, it found two valid votes that went to Johan Leonard Read more

Central Voting Bureau Meets, Friday's Invalid Votes Recounted

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Main Voting Bureau meet on Wednesday morning at the Government Administration Building to conduct an analysis of Friday's voting exercise.

The members of the Bureau recounted the votes cast on Friday during the first Parliamentary Election for Country St. Maarten.

This was based on numerous complaints filed by candidates of the various political parties that took part in the Parliamentary elections with the exception of the OSPP party.

MP Johan "Janchie" Leornard of the UP party and Jacinto Mock of the Social Reform Party, filed official complaints with the Central Voting Bureau.

During the recount session on Wednesday there was a fierce race between former Minister Maria Buncamper Molanus and MP Johan "Janchie" Leonard Read more

Nia Set To Open School Year With New Classes

PHILPSBURG, St. Maarten — The National institute of Arts (NIA) reopened for the 2014-2015 school year on Monday, September 1 with a full roster of established and new classes at the John Larmonie Center.

Classes being offered for the new school year include Ballet, Modern, Creative, Jazz, Musical Theatre, Afro-Caribbean, African, Folk Dance, Hip Hop, Modern, Brain Dance, Yoga, Pilates, Conditioning, Bharatanayam, Belly Dance, Capoeira, Zumba ,Sound Engineering, Art of Laughter, Performance Skills, Drummer, and Choir Read more

Pregnancy Market 2014

~ Focus on the fathers ~

In an effort to encourage, motivate and support fathers in their parenting role, the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development, and Labour (VSA) will be hosting its third Annual Pregnancy Market on Saturday, September 6, at National Institute for Performance Arts (NIPA) in Cay Hill next to Asha Stevens Hillside Christian School from 10:00am to 3:00pm.

This year's Pregnancy Market will be used as a vehicle to highlight and emphasize the importance of a father's involvement in the life of a child from the onset of pregnancy and beyond Read more

Parliament urged to handle budget matters

THE HAGUE/PHILIPSBURG--The Committee for Financial Supervision CFT has urged the Parliament of St. Maarten to make haste with the handling of a number of budgetary documents, including the first amendment of the 2014 budget.

In a letter to St. Maarten's Finance Minister Martin Hassink dated August 26, CFT Chairman Age Bakker pointed out that Parliament for a while now has had various budgetary documents in its possession, but that these were "not given priority for reasons unknown to the CFT."

These documents include the first 2014 budget amendment and the annual accounts 2010/2011 and 2012 Read more

Parliamentary year closes on Monday

PHILIPSBURG--Parliamentary year 2013-2014 will close on Monday with a plenary meeting of Parliament starting at 10:00am in Parliament House. The meeting will be one of the last to be chaired by outgoing President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell (United People's party).

The new Parliamentary year 2014-2015 will be opened by Arrindell in a solemn ceremony on Tuesday Read more

Governor requests Marlin to form govt

HARBOUR VIEW--Governor Eugene Holiday has requested that National Alliance (NA) leader incumbent Member of Parliament William Marlin form a new government for the country as "formateur." The Governor, based on the results of two days of consultations, met with Marlin Tuesday to make his request Read more

Market-style reforms widen racial divide in Cuba

HAVANA--Cuba's experiment with free-market reforms has unintentionally widened the communist-led island's racial divide and allowed white Cubans to regain some of the economic advantages built up over centuries.

Under President Raul Castro, who took over from his brother Fidel Castro in 2008, Cuba has expanded its non-state workforce, loosened travel restrictions and promoted private cooperatives and small businesses Read more

Editorial - Horse’s mouth

Party leader Theo Heyliger deserves credit for reacting in a mature way to UP being left out of government despite winning the election with seven seats (see Tuesday paper), as a result of the quickly-formed NA/DP/US coalition totalling eight seats Read more

Population Requested To Step Up Measures To Mitigate Mosquito Population

GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – The Collective Preventive Services (CPS), a government agency under the Ministry of Public Health, is appealing to resident's country wide to step up measures at homes and businesses to mitigate the Aedes Aegypti mosquito that is responsible for the transmission of dengue and chikungunya.

This reminder comes due to recent rain showers that the country has been experiencing.

Minister of Public Health Hon. Cornelius de Weever, 'Get Checked" campaign, is in line with the appeal for residents, and business owners, to check-in and around their homes, and businesses in order to reduce breeding sites of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, and making them mosquito-free zones.

Elimination of mosquitos is an individual responsibility, a community responsibility.

The aggregated number of confirmed chikungunya cases from October 2013 to August 2014 remains small at 372.

On a daily basis check containers such as buckets and water tanks for larvae and eliminate the breeding source Read more

Candidate #11 On The National Alliance Slate Says "Thank You"

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Candidate #11 on the National Alliance slate, Mr. Cedric Peterson would like to take this opportunity to express his sincerest gratitude to the people of St. Maarten.

A statement from the first-time political candidate reads:
"I am truly grateful to my family, friends and supporters for their generous contributions of time, energy, money and effort to my campaign during the recent Parliamentary elections.

The people of St Read more

Closure And Opening Of New Parliamentary Year Next Week

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The Closure of the parliamentary year 2013-2014 will take place on Monday, September 8 at 10.00am in the House of Parliament.

The closure will be carried out by the President of Parliament Hon. Gracita Arrindell.

On Tuesday, September 10 the new parliamentary year 2014-2015 will be opened by the President of Parliament in a solemn ceremony.

His Excellency Governor Eugene Holiday will deliver the traditional speech at the opening of the new parliamentary year.

This solemn ceremony will be held at 10.00am in the House of Parliament General Assembly Chamber on September 10.

The closing and opening of the parliamentary years will be broadcast live on radio and television and via the internet.

The parliamentary sessions will be carried live on St Read more