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Prime Minister And Minister Of Tourism And Economic Affairs Visits Port

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and Minister of Tourism, Economic and Maritime Affairs Claret Connor visited the harbour facilities to receive a first hand briefing of the incident.

They were provided with a detail report by Harbour CEO Mark Mingo, Head of Security at the Harbour Roberto Leventsone and Police Commissioner Carl John.

Both Ministers stressed that such actions that threaten(s) the corporate and economic image of St Read more

Pm Gumbs Tasked With Completing His Cabinet

St. Maarten – The mandate for United People’s party leader Theo Heyliger as formateur ended shortly after he submitted his final report to Governor Drs. Eugène Holiday on December 17. Heyliger presented a cabinet of five ministers and stated in his one-page report that he had elected “to pursue the appointment of the remaining ministers as soon as possible.”

However, Heyliger’s role as formateur ended when the five ministers were sworn in, the press secretariat of Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs confirms.

In his New Year’s message, Heyliger emphasized that he would like to see a complete 7-member cabinet in place within the first sixty days of 2015 – setting a deadline at March 1.

“The task of nominating remaining ministers falls with Prime Minister Gumbs,” the press secretariat confirmed Read more

Ministers Sign Declarations National Ordinance Registration & Finance

St. Maarten – The five Ministers of the Gumbs Cabinet on Tuesday signed the declaration pursuant to article 53 of the National Ordinance Registration and Finances of political parties prior to the stipulated deadline in the law. All five signed their declarations at the office of the Electoral Council.

Article 53 point 2 stipulates that within 30 days of accepting an appointment as Minister, a Minister must submit a declaration signed by him to the Electoral Council that he did not act in contravention of the provisions of the national ordinance during the election campaign Read more

Three Arrested For Burglary

St. Maarten —Police have arrested three young men who were part of a group that broke into the Ho Supermarket on St. Peters road during the early hours of Monday morning.

Acting police spokesman Inspector Steven Carty explained yesterday that at around 03:00am on Monday the police central dispatch received a call that several unknown persons were busy breaking into the Ho Supermarket on the St Read more

Tracking One Of Saba’S Rare Birds: Wedrego

St. Maarten / Saba – Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC), in partnership with the Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF), recently completed an island-wide survey for the Audubon’s Shearwater on Saba.

The Audubon’s Shearwater, also known locally as the Wedrego, is Saba’s national bird and it’s displayed prominently on the island’s crest. It is notoriously difficult to survey the Wedrego due to its secretive behavior and the steep and dangerous terrain it favours Read more

New Year’S Message Sarah Wescot-Williams: Focus On Climate Change And Flexible Labor Market

St. Maarten – A flexible labor market is one of the priorities the opposition Democratic Party has in the crosshairs for 2015, party-leader Sarah Wescot-Williams wrote in a belated New Year’s message. Climate change, ageing and electoral, financial and fiscal reform are other issues the party intends to champion.

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us” (Hal Borland, American author and journalist) Read more

Editorial - Adequate protection

Two worrisome letters to the editor have appeared already in the New Year about the continued crisis at Caravanserai, where timeshare buyers lost their acquired rights due to the public auctioning of the complex. They were informed by the new owner Alegria Real Estate BV late 2014 that it did not recognise agreements with companies related to the former operator, but instead offered the disadvantaged guests a week's stay in the resort for the same amount normally owed in annual fees if they signed up for such within a short period of time.

However, this also meant these weeks no longer could be sold or exchanged for other destinations and/or properties, while some already had paid their dues to the ex-proprietor and now needed to come up with the money once again Read more

Cuba will attract more tourists with US deal, needs to modernize

HAVANA--Salsa music and cigar smoke swirl round the grand courtyard of Havana's famous Hotel Nacional, and guests enjoy stunning views out over the "Malecon" seafront promenade and the ocean beyond.

But inside, many of its rooms are shabby and musty, the WiFi is costly and weak, customer service is often indifferent, and the food, while plentiful, is generally dull. Although Havana is loaded with charm, great music and architectural jewels, there is a shortage of quality hotel rooms and restaurants, hire cars, taxis and other services.

Tour operators hope a fledgling detente between Cuba and the United States, announced last month, will lure hundreds of thousands of U.S Read more

Sabotage led to ‘blackout’

BONAIRE--Water and Energy Bonaire (WEB) has confirmed that the electricity blackout which occurred last Saturday was the result of sabotage.

The government-owned utility company started an investigation immediately to determine the cause and extent of the outage, which turned out to be island-wide. The 10-hour power cut was sparked by destruction at Karpata of two underground fibre optic cables that provide the connection between WEB and the feeder diesel plant of ContourGlobal.

WEB filed a complaint of suspected sabotage with the Caribbean Netherlands police Read more

Court allows Dominicano girl to return home after treatment

PHILIPSBURG--The Court of First Instance ruled against a decision of the Ministry of Justice to deny a young girl re-entry into St. Maarten on her return from medical treatment in the Dominican Republic.

The 18-year-old girl has a Dominicano mother and a St. Maarten father who recognised her. The girl has been residing with her mother and father in St. Maarten since March 2010. Her father has Dutch nationality and her mother has a permanent residence permit.

Attempts to have the girl registered at the Civil Registry in March 2011 failed because there were problems concerning the authenticity of her birth certificate and those of two of her brothers Read more

Positive first day of IPKO, integrity discussed at length

THE HAGUE/ORANJESTAD--Chairman Jeroen Recourt of the Dutch delegation taking part at the Inter-Parliamentary Consultation of the Kingdom IPKO in Aruba this week said on Tuesday, that he looked back at a successful first day with very positive talks on integrity in government.

Delegations of the Parliaments of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and the Netherlands spoke elaborately about integrity in government on Tuesday. "The atmosphere was positive and the discussion very constructive, despite the sensitivity of the subject," Recourt told The Daily Herald.

Recourt was positive about the presentation by Chairlady of the Permanent Committee for Kingdom Affairs and Inter-Parliamentary Relations Sarah Wescot-Williams (DP) about the developments and improvements of her country in the area of integrity Read more

Budget preparation continues, no St. Maarten CFT member yet

PHILIPSBURG--The Ministry of Finance continues to work on the preparation of the 2015 budget. The draft budget is due in Parliament in the coming weeks in order for the Gumbs Cabinet to meet the January 31 deadline as set by the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT in December.

Finance Minister Martin Hassink is said to be diligently working on the draft budget

with the goal of meeting the January 31 deadline. As a minister in the Wescot-Williams III Cabinet that demitted office in late December, Hassink has requested more time to get the budget in line with the regulations set out in the kingdom law.

The budget should have been established by Parliament since December 2014 Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The five Ministers of the Gumbs Cabinet on Tuesday signed the declaration pursuant to article 53 of the National Ordinance Registration and Finances of Political Parties prior to the stipulated deadline in the law. All five signed their declarations at the office of the Electoral Council.

Article 53 punt 2 of the stipulates that within 30 days of accepting an appointment as Minister, a Minister must submit a declaration signed by him to the Electoral Council that he did no Read more

style="text-align: left;">PHILIPSBURG:--- NAGICO Insurances recently made a donation to Daniel Tariq Doran, a young local student who has been drafted to play with the Sussex County Cricket team in England.
This donation, which was personally handed over by Chairman of the NAGICO Group; Mr Read more

Ludmilla De Weever to be Appointed Minister of VSA --- Reliable Sources.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The UP/De Weever/LRM coalition will soon appoint the Minister of VSA (Health, Labor and Social Affairs.)
SMN News was reliably informed that Member of Parliament Cornelius de Weever has shuffled the pack again since his uncle Petrus Leroy De Weever failed the screening Read more

Ipko Parties Agree On Need To Meet More Often

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Inter-parliamentary Kingdom Consultation involving the parliaments of Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten is well under way in Aruba.

During their first session on Monday, the law makers expressed the need to meet on a more regular basis to discuss issues of importance for the three countries.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Member of Parliament and leader of the Democratic Party of St Read more

Tracking One Of Saba's Rare Birds: Wedrego

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC), in partnership with the Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF), recently completed an island-wide survey for the Audubon's Shearwater on Saba.

The Audubon's Shearwater, also known locally as the Wedrego, is Saba's national bird and it's displayed prominently on the island's crest.

It is notoriously difficult to survey the Wedrego due to its secretive behavior and the steep and dangerous terrain it favours.

This seabird spends much of its time out at sea, feeding out in the ocean during the day, and only returning at night to its breeding grounds on Saba and other islands, where it is believed to nest in underground burrows or similarly concealed locations.

This work was funded by Vogelbescherming Nederland (BirdLife Holland), and is part of a collaborative effort co-ordinated by the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance to learn more about the birds that make their home on and around our islands.

Historically, surveys on Saba for the Audubon's Shearwater have only been successful at determining the continuing presence of Wedregos on island, but it has been difficult to locate nest areas, flight paths, and populations.

This work aimed to fill in some of those gaps.

In conjunction with SCF this EPIC-led expedition, used RADAR, to monitor the status and distribution of of Audubon's Shearwaters (Wedrego) on and around Saba Read more

Minister Connor Pays Tribute To D’Shnay

St. Maarten – Minister of Tourism Claret Connor recently paid tribute to St. Maarten’s reigning Teen Carnival Queen D’Shnay York who won the Haynes Smith Talent Teen Pageant in St. Kitts on December 30. He congratulated her on behalf of his entire Ministry.

The Minister presented D’Shnay with a congratulatory letter from his ministry and hailed her as a true ambassador for St Read more

Port Records More Than 2 Million Cruise Visitors: Research: Industry Overstates Spending Per Cruise Passenger

St. Maarten – On the last day of 2014, the Oasis of the Seas docked in the cruise port, bringing the estimated total number of cruise arrivals for the year 2014 over the historic 2 million mark, at 2,000,864. Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Claret Connor honored John and Marleen Tharpe and their three granddaughters from Columbus, Georgia, as the 2 millionth-passengers Read more

Man Stabbed At Francis Bar

St. Maarten —A “minor misunderstanding” has lead to one man being stabbed in the abdomen on New Year’s Day at a bar on the A. Th Illidge Road, according to information provided by inspector Steven Carty, currently the acting public relations officer for the police.

“On Thursday January 1st at approximately 11:00 am the patrol was dispatched to Francis Bar on the A Read more

Economic Affairs Minister Claret Connor: “Service Levels And Standards Are Important Principles”

St. Maarten – The government will share many ideas and initiatives to trigger tangible economic growth in the first few months of 2015 and most of these initiatives will be done in collaboration with the private sector and non-governmental organizations with a strong focus on service, Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Claret Connor states in a press release issued last night.

Echoing UP-party-leader Heyliger, Connor states that he looks forward to starting his tenure with renewed passion and vision “that will hopefully effect sustainable economic growth for our country and a better quality of life for all Read more

Editorial - Not if, but how

Mention of the counterpart policy in Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs’ New Year’s speech has led to several reactions. The idea for such a mandatory regulation when employing expatriates has been contested from the start, because of the feared detrimental effect on the local business community.

Then again, that the policy would be part of the incoming cabinet’s plans was to be expected, especially as now-independent (former DP) parliamentarian Cornelius de Weever had cited the intention to leave such out of a governing programme for the originally envisioned NA/US/DP combination as his main reason to “jump ship” and support a UP-led coalition instead Read more

Today’S Predictions For The New Year: Still No Waste-To-Energy Plant, No Plastic Bag-Ban, No New Hospital

St. Maarten / By Hilbert Haar – “It seems almost too easy: predict what will and what will not happen in St. Maarten in any given year.” that was the first sentence of the article we published exactly a year ago about our predictions for the New Year – and it is still true. Our headline read “Emilio Wilson estate purchase but no waste-to-energy plant.” Needless to say, both predictions were on the mark.

The Today newspaper made its first predictions in 2010, when we looked ahead at 2011 Read more

New Year’S Address Prime Minister Gumbs: Government Wants To Implement Controversial Counterpart Policy

St. Maarten – In his inaugural New Year’s address, Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs has indicated that his government will make work of implementing the controversial counterpart policy and that it will tackle the gray economy. Gumbs’ address is first and foremost a message that holds the promise of an incorruptible government that takes ingerity serious and that intends “to carry out the majority of the recommendations” from the three integrity reports, produced by the General Audit Chamber, the Bob Wit-committee and PricewaterhouseCoopers Read more