SXMElections.com

Dp Faction In Parliament Questions Govt Intentions For Institutions

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Several announcements during the past week have bolstered the confidence of the DP faction in some of our vital organizations to bring about the collaboration that is so necessary to move our country forward.

The agreement between the SHTA and USM and the partnership created, bodes well for the future of our country.

This is the only way lasting progress will be achieved where the empowerment of our people is concerned.

If we want to penetrate the labor market with local and homegrown professionals, we need to give them the tools to do and become exactly that.

Businesses that invest in the development and growth of their workers will thrive and when businesses thrive, our economy offers more opportunities for more people.

This is in stark contrast to the heavy-handedness propagated in some circles of our government today.

Every opportunity that provides the potential for increase of our human capital and contributes to our human development should be wholeheartedly embraced.

What is however regretful is that our government itself remains mum on its stance regarding these vital institutions.

We know e.g that a tertiary education draft law is on its way to Parliament.
How does this draft law jive with the ( new) ambitions of the USM?
Does this law offer the flexibility to USM to pursue its objectives?

Similar comments can be made regarding the St Read more

Close matches mark school soccer tourney

BELVEDERE--Xabel Dias scored five times as Combine Silly Shooters faced Sister Regina's New Stars in the "Nine and Under" division of the 23rd edition of the Interscholastic Soccer Tournament at the Cruyff Court in Belvedere, Saturday. Silly Shooters won 7-0 with Quincy Busby good for one goal and three assists.

The tournament is organised by the St. Maarten Soccer Educational Foundation (SMSEF) and sponsored by the TelEm Group of Companies. The competition features 44 teams representing 10 elementary schools plus five more schools feed into the combined teams.

Fielding players turned out to be a problem for some teams due to road closures for the NAGICO to NAGIO Cycle race.

9+U

Sharky Nowek netted three balls and added an assist to propel Learning Unlimited past Leonald Connor 6-2.

At the half the score was knotted at two all Read more

Editorial - Think twice

The public learned in Saturday's edition that Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever wears a bulletproof vest and was afforded extra police protection late 2014 at his request. The then-still-caretaker minister had filed a complaint of threats when he broke with the DP to help form a new UP-led coalition instead of the NA/DP/US combination for which the three party leaders had signed an accord immediately following the end of August elections.

This was confirmed in a March 18 letter by Justice Minister Dennis Richardson that featured during De Weever's rectification court case in the Netherlands against Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament Member Andre Bosman Read more

Lions’ Health Fair reaches hundreds

PHILIPSBURG--Hundreds turned out for the annual Lion Rudy Hoeve Health and Wellness Fair at Festival Village on Saturday. The free event enabled and encouraged to public to familiarise themselves with different healthcare institutions and illnesses, and have free testing for ailments, including high blood pressure, diabetes, sickle cell disease and HIV/AIDS.

Attendees could see for themselves the newly-launched Collective Prevention Services (CPS) Mobile Health Services bus, which contains two spacious rooms for check-ups Read more

Teen, Senior Queen contestants vie for points in Speech, Cultural Wear

PHILIPSBURG--Twelve Teen and Senior Carnival Queen Pageant contestants modelled impressive custom cultural wear and motivated their opinions on independence and diversity in front of a jam-packed conference room at Sonesta Great Bay Resort on Sunday night.

The annual Speech and Cultural Wear competition proved a hit with the crowd, and was the first segment of the overall pageant. Points gained carry over to the main event at Carnival Village, so no winners were announced. Attendees will have to wait to see who the ultimate winners are, although they hold their opinions on what girls gained a leg-up in the running.

Judging by cheers of the crowd, Jondalin Brown delivered the most impactful speech of the show's first half, which featured the Teen Carnival Queen contestants speaking on "My Village of Diversity." Contestants were asked to described an imaginary village, diverse in terms of colour, religion, culture and sexual orientation, and to motivate their opinions on the pros and cons of this diversity.

"One thing that confuses me is that we do not embrace diversity," Brown said in rhyme at the beginning of her speech, in a more critical take than the other speeches Read more

Lake debunks talk about breaking UP

PHILIPSBURG--"Untrue and baseless" is how United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Maurice Lake described rampant "rumours" in the community about him being "involved in a plot to throw down government and send home the Cabinet of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs."

Since Friday, there has been persistent talk that spun into blogs about Lake breaking with this party over differences Read more

Tourist dies after falling

DAWN BEACH--A man died after falling and hitting his head on a rock at the entrance of Princess Heights Hotel in Dawn Beach, Saturday night.

A source stated that the victim was a tourist who had been driving his car despite being heavily intoxicated. He did not manage to drive his car up the hill at the junction of Oyster Pond Road and Princess Heights, so he got out of his car and continued on foot. However, shortly after getting out of his car he lost his balance and fell, hitting his head.

Despite paramedics being called to the scene, the man could not be revived.

St Read more

Dumont wins Nagico to Nagico cycle race overall by one second

MARIGOT--VCG's Nicolas Dumont won the Classement General of the 2015 Nagico to Nagico Cycle race by the slimmest of margins, just one second, in 5:34:51, it emerged after the finish of Sunday's last race in Rue de La République, Marigot, in front of the Nagico office.

ASBM's Luis Sablon from Guadeloupe was second overall in the Classement (5:34:52) with USR Vélo's Giovanni Rousseau, also from Guadeloupe, taking third overall (5:35:47).

Sunday's 123K race was won by ASBM's Adam Pierzga in 3:15:7, a clear 41 seconds in front of Luis Sablon, while Miguel Ubeto took third to make it a clean sweep on the podium for ABSM Read more

>Fete to fitness Jump-up a success.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The yearly "Fete to fitness Jump around Town up" which was organized by the Sint Maarten Carnival Development Foundation which was held on Saturday March 21st was well attended by revelers and onlookers was a great success. The jump up started on time at 08.00 p.m. on the Sucker garden in the vicinity of Monchi's Bar and headed towards the Philipsburg area via the Freedom Fighters round about, down the Walter Nisbet road making a left turn via the Long wall road onto Front street and then making a circle around the town and ending in Front of the Festival Center Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:----  United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Hon. Maurice Lake says the social media rumours and the story in a daily newspaper over the weekend where it mentions that he is involved in a plot to throw down government and send home the Cabinet of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs as untrue and baseless.

MP Lake who is currently off island says that he was informed about the rumours that started on Facebook and later moved to the blogs.

"There are individuals who sit in front of a computer everyday with nothing to do and try to create news by telling fibs that are untrue Read more

MP Maurice Lake Grievances goes deeper than anyone would imagine – VORST Estate is only a tip of the Iceberg.

style="text-align: center;">Building Permits not Signed by Acting Minister of VROMI --- Reliable Sources

PHILIPSBURG:--- The situation at the Ministry of VROMI is not only disturbing to the former Minister Maurice Lake now Member of Parliament whom it is said tendered his resignation from the United Peoples Party prior to leaving the island Read more

Up Mp Lake Says Social Media Rumours Untrue And Baseless. Lake Remains Loyal To Coalition

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – United People's (UP) party Member of Parliament (MP) Hon. Maurice Lake says the social media rumours and the story in a daily newspaper over the weekend where it mentions that he is involved in a plot to throw down government and send home the Cabinet of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs as untrue and baseless.

MP Lake who is currently off island says that he was informed about the rumours that started on Facebook and later moved to the blogs.

"There are individuals who sit in front of a computer everyday with nothing to do and try to create news by telling fibs that are untrue.

It is sad that many people go based on hearsay and social media chatter which are fabricated for amusement, but at the same time it creates uneasiness amongst the populace Read more

Fete To Fitness Jump-Up A Success

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The yearly "Fete to fitness Jump around Town up" which was organized by the Sint Maarten Carnival Development Foundation which was held on Saturday March 21st was well attended by revelers and onlookers was a great success.

The jump up started on time at 08.00 p.m. on the Sucker garden in the vicinity of Monchi's Bar and headed towards the Philipsburg area via the Free Read more

MP Maurice Lake pulls Support from Current Coalition --- All MP’s have major issues with UP Leader Theo Heyliger.

style="text-align: center;">Prime Minister plans to dissolve Parliament early next week to stop formation of another Government. Reliable Sources.

PHILIPSBURG:--- Several fractures in the United Peoples Party/ De Weever/ Marlin- Romeo and US coalition seems to be beyond repair that Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs have decided that he will send a Landsbesluit to the Governor of St Read more

De Weever, Bosman face-to-face in court

   By Suzanne Koelega

THE HAGUE--In what can be called a historic case, Members of Parliament Cornelius de Weever of St. Maarten and André Bosman of the Netherlands faced each other in court on Friday on allegations of slander. De Weever took Bosman to court to have the latter retract his statements of bribery in a rectification in the newspapers.

Main reason for the court case, which took place in The Hague in De Weever's presence, was an article of the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf published on September 29, 2014, headlined "Corrupt St Read more

De Weever wears bullet-proof vest after Bosman statement

THE HAGUE--Member of St. Maarten Parliament Cornelius de Weever (independent) took safety measures, which included wearing a bullet-proof vest, late 2014 following threats against his person when he left the Democratic Party (DP) in support of the United People's Party (UP).

This became clear during a court injunction in The Hague on Friday by De Weever against Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party Read more

Port St. Maarten receives best cruise port destination award

Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Claret Connor (left) receives a plaque from Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. President and Chief Operations Officer Adam Goldstein (right).

 

POINTE BLANCHE--A top Port St. Maarten management and supervisory board of directors delegation will return on Friday after attending the 31st Cruise Shipping Miami 2015 with an award: Port St Read more

Zaandam, McKenzie-Tatem to sit in Statia Island Council

ST. EUSTATIUS--United People’s Coalition (UPC) leader Reginald Zaandam will sit in St. Eustatius’ new Island Council following Wednesday’s election. He will hold his party’s only seat. The other four seats in the council are shared equally by Progressive Labour Party (PLP) led by Clyde van Putten and Democratic Party (DP) St Read more

Suicide bombers kill 137 in Yemen mosque attacks

SANAA/ADEN--Suicide bombers killed at least 137 worshippers and wounded hundreds more during Friday prayers at two mosques in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, in coordinated attacks claimed by Islamic State.

The attacks on mosques used by supporters of the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi fighters who control the city were the deadliest in a years-long campaign of violence in the country, where Washington has been waging a drone air war against a local branch of the Sunni Muslim militant group al Qaeda Read more

Bonds of friendship formed through sports

~ Rotary Clubs reach out ~

By Tom Burnett

Five Rotarians from Canada are visiting St. Maarten and Anguilla for three weeks to support youth sports and life skills through sport. Lezlie Murch, Darren Luong, Jean Montgomery, Michael Hogg and Laura Chatterton, from Rotary District 7090 from the Ontario area, are volunteering their time on both islands and working with the local Rotary Clubs of District 7020.

The group is meeting with local youth sports organizations and school teachers Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- For the first time in St. Maarten an inter-island gymnastics competition was held on March 14, 2015 at Asha Stevens Gymnasium, presented by Club de Gym Saint Martin and National Institute of the Arts (NIA). Forty students under the age of twelve were judged by St. Maarten judges who were trained under Comité Régional of Guadeloupe (Gymnastics Local Committee of Guadeloupe) Read more

Editorial - Never a dull moment

Wednesday's Island Council elections in the Caribbean Netherlands produced some intriguing results. Especially Bonaire's three-way tie in seats caught the eye, but developments in St. Eustatius and Saba also were exciting, to say the least.

In Bonaire it looked for a long time as though PDB was headed for a solid victory and perhaps even a majority with five of nine seats, but newcomer MPB had a strong finish as the last voting districts were announced and miraculously won that race by 33 votes Read more

Safety measures for Saba volcano in place

THE HAGUE--Various safety measures have been taken to monitor the volcanic activity of Saba's Mount Scenery and to deal effectively with a possible disaster. A second and third seismic metre will be installed in June this year, as well as a Global Positioning System (GPS) later this year. A disaster management plan is in place and regular disaster exercises are held.

Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk stated this in response to written questions submitted by Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Wassila Hachchi of the Democratic Party D66 Read more

New fire station, control tower in Grand Case Airport plans

MARIGOT--A new fire station building and an extension to the control tower are among projects due to start this year at Grand Case Airport, falling within an approximate 4.5-million-euro budget for improvements that include renovation of the terminal building, the airport's Managing Director Mongi Djouba disclosed Thursday.

The fire station construction is expected to start at the end of April in the same location as the old premises. The control tower will be extended upwards close to 10 metres in height from the present four metres, giving controllers a higher and better view of aircraft movements.

Renovation work to the terminal building will start in phases some time in July for completion in June 2016.

"We will start with the management and administration offices, as that will not disrupt the passenger flow and processes of immigration, check-ins and security," Djouba explained Read more